Africa News Digest
Morocco Rejects Bush Administration 'Democratization' Summit
Morocco, host to the Dec. 10 Arab summit launching the United States' Broader Middle East and North Africa (BMENA) Initiative, was nevertheless among the Arab states unfriendly to its program for regime change, deregulation, and liberalization (see Southwest Asia Digest). "The U.S. administration can never bring us a democratic project," said Abdelhamid Amine, the head of Morocco's main independent human rights group. "Look at what happened at Abu Ghraib, at Guantanamo, at Fallujah." An independent Moroccan news magazine, Le Journal Hebdomadaire, called the meeting's organizers "delusional" and called the forum a "flop" before it had even started. "It is legitimate to wonder if the promoters of this charade really believe in it themselves," the magazine editorialized. About 500 people protested outside the Moroccan Parliament building, saying that the mere fact that it was held, legitimized "American military aggression on the Arab and Muslim world." There was also a large anti-G-8 demonstration in Rabat Nov. 30.
The independence shown by Morocco helps to explain the preference of NATO and the U.S. European Command for using Algeria as a base for African operations (and probably explains some of the anti-Moroccan assertions in the Algerian press), as reported in the last issue of Africa Digest (EIW #50).
Moroccan Business Journal in Preemptive Attack on Powell
A Moroccan business journal anticipated Colin Powell's speech at the summit on 'democratizing' the Middle East with a suitably pointed cartoon. On Dec. 10the day before the conference in Rabat on deregulation and liberalizationas the Washington Post reported Dec. 12, "L'Economiste, a conservative business publication here [in Rabat], published a front-page editorial cartoon on the conference depicting a U.S. soldier pointing a machine gun at an Arab man on the ground. In a quote the cartoon attributes to Powell, the soldier sneers, 'I hope we can come to an understanding of the need for reform and modernization of the broader Middle East and North Africa region.'"
The accompanying editorialnot reported by the Postfails to identify the economic threats posed by globalization, saying, in fact, "The integration of the Arab world into the Western sphere need not occur in spite of us, since it can only be the bearer of progress. Moreover, along the way, Arab and Islamic civilization can only bring its values and riches to the common space that emerges." But then comes the report of unpleasant truths:
"Two major dangers threaten this ideal schema. The first comes from today's Arab leaders. Arab leadership elites are in the position of colonizers with respect to their own populations: it is not certain that they will cooperate in the change....
"The second danger is that Western clumsiness causes the change to be experienced as cultural rape by the targetted populations, because of the methods and the violence used to bring about the change...."
Sudan Begins Darfur Troop Withdrawal After AU Ultimatum
The government of Sudan began to withdraw troops from Darfur Dec. 18, after an ultimatum from the African Union (AU), to all armed parties. AU spokesman Assane Ba told Reuters, "General [Festus] Okonkwo [commander of AU observers in Darfur] has confirmed that troop withdrawal by the government was already under way, and we will meet later today to review the situation on the ground."
Okonkwo had said Dec. 17 that "his efforts to mediate between the government and rebels had yielded minimal results and Darfur was now a 'timed bomb that could explode at any moment,'" according to Reuters Dec. 18. He also reported government preparations for a major military offensive. The ultimatum, from AU officials at the Sudan negotiations in Abuja, Nigeria, was issued the same day. It said that after 24 hours, all attacks would be reported to the UN Security Council.
Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Isma'il said in Khartoum that the government's withdrawal was conditional on compliance by the rebels. The rebels deny that Sudan is pulling its troops back, Reuters reported.
U.S. Divestment Campaign Against Sudan Is Underway
Eric Reeves, an English professor at Smith College, is "at the center" of a national effort to pressure pension funds and universities to divest their holdings of stocks and bonds of companies that do business with Sudan, according to the Boston Globe Dec. 10. Reeves authored a Washington Post op-ed Aug. 23 in which he called for the overthrow of the Sudanese government "by whatever means necessary."
Also involved are Joe Madison, a Washington, D.C., radio talk-show host, who is president of the Sudan Campaign, an umbrella group; Rev. Walter Fauntroy, a Washington, D.C., minister and former delegate to Congress; and Rep. Donald Payne (D-NJ).
Madison's Sudan Campaign has received support from the Center for Security Policy, a Washington neo-con think-tank (Frank Gaffney, Jr., President and CEO), in the form of research to identify investments held by U.S. public retirement systems that should be targetted.
Recent news stories report progress of the campaign in Massachusetts, where Harvard University and the pension funds of Boston and the state are targetted; as are those of New Jersey and Alabama.
U.S. companies were banned from operating in Sudan by Executive Order in 1997. The current campaign opposes U.S. investments in foreign companies, such as Siemens and Alcatel, that are involved in Sudan.
ICG Warns of Catastrophe in Congo After Rwanda Invades
The International Crisis Group (ICG) has warned of a "third catastrophe" from Rwanda's latest invasion of Congo, and suggests Rwanda's donors should threaten to cut aid. The ICG briefing, issued Dec. 17, states that "History may be repeating itself in recent weeks as a Rwandan incursion stirs fears of a third catastrophe, but the situation can still be saved. There is uncertainty about what is actually happening on the ground in the isolated and rugged border terrainincluding whether the Rwandans are holding territory.... At the least, however, the crisis threatens the Congo's fragile political transition [to elected government]. At the worst, it could cause the Great Lakes region to go up in flames again."
The briefing reports that "Rwanda's reckless decision to play with fire followed almost immediately the summit pledge of 11 regional leaders, including [Rwandan] President Paul Kagame, to 'fully support the national peace processes in the region and refrain from any acts, statements or attitudes likely to negatively impact them.'" The pledge was signed in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, Nov. 19-20.
The ICG briefing suggests that the donor governments propping up Rwanda (the U.S. being the most important) should threaten to cut certain forms of aid and apply other economic sanctions to obtain compliance with international agreements.
But it warns Kinshasa against attempting to reconquer militarily the city of Goma and the rest of North Kivu from Rwanda's Congolese allies, as was done successfully in South Kivu earlier this year, saying that such an undertaking would profoundly disrupt "the delicate balance of power and interests between Kinshasa and [Rwandan-allied] RCD-Goma that is a cornerstone of the political transition process" in Congo. "Rwanda's threatened invasion and the anticipation of Kinshasa counter-measures ... bolstered an important Kigali ally that had been losing ground both politically and militarily." This advice may be correct; the RCD-Goma party is not expected to do well at all in the planned 2005 elections. But, in light of its source, it is suspect.
The current conflict is of a different nature than the previous two wars, according to "regional analysts" cited by AFP Dec. 15. They indicate a low intensity war. The severe logistical difficulties of the Congo army contribute to the same result.
Zimbabwe Workers Flee, South African NGO Claims
The Solidarity Peace Trust, an NGO registered in South Africa, claimed in a November report that 60-70% of Zimbabwe's working population has left the country to escape the political and economic crisis at home, according to South Africa's Saturday Argus Nov. 20. It quotes the report: "An estimated 25 to 30% percent of Zimbabwe's population has left the nation. Out of five million potentially productive adults, 3.4 million are outside Zimbabwe. This is a staggering 60 to 70% of productive adults." Many have gone to South Africa.
The "political and economic crisis" is a reference to what is better called a civil war induced by massive Anglo-American intervention: U.S. President George Bush formally declared the government of Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe "a threat to U.S. policy."
After allowing for possible exaggeration, the cited figures would still indicate a significant success for the Anglo-American policy of crushing Africa's feeble productive powers.
Morocco Begins Justice and Reconciliation Hearings
The statements of victims of repression in Moroccofrom independence in 1956 to the accession of King Mohammed VI in 1999will be heard before a Tribunal for Justice and Reconciliation, and will be broadcast nationally by television and radio. The initiative came from the royal palace in January, with the intention of launching a national debate on the "years of lead" (lead as in bullets) to prevent the return of repression.
Witnesses will not be permitted to name those who tortured them, on the grounds that legally sufficient proof is usually not available to them, and defamation is thus avoided. However, an official of the Moroccan Association for Human Rights, Abdelkhalek Benzekri, told Le Monde Dec. 16, "We know that a number of them are still in high government posts.... Why should they enjoy impunity?"
The Tribunal, under the Presidency of Driss Benzekri, has already received 22,000 dossiers. The hearing may begin Dec. 20 or possibly at the turn of the new year.
Algeria, Morocco Nix Detention Camps for African Illegals
The Algerian and Moroccan governments do not want detention camps in the Maghreb for Africans attempting to emigrate illegally to Europe, according to statements made by Algerian Foreign Minister Abdelaziz Belkhadem and Moroccan Interior Minister Mostapha Sahel, AFP reported Dec. 14. The idea for the camps came from some European governments. Sahel said that Morocco wished to cooperate with Europe, but "the approach must be economic within the framework of a partnership with the sub-Saharan countries" from which many of the illegals come.
Sahel said that Morocco has added 7,000 policemen as well as some auxiliaries, to the forces policing the frontiers and beaches of the kingdom.
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