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Post by blindpig » Tue Dec 14, 2021 2:40 pm

“Every Option is On the Table”: US Prepping for Libya-Style Intervention in Ethiopia
Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on DECEMBER 11, 2021
Alan Macleod

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– Amid a bloody civil conflict and increasing great-power competition between the United States and China, there are a number of alarming signs that Ethiopia will become the next Libya – an African nation where the U.S. intervenes militarily under the pretext of stopping an impending genocide.

A considerable military buildup is now underway. Last week, the U.S. military announced it was sending over 1,000 National Guard members to nearby Djibouti. This is on top of the special operations forces already sent in November. Perhaps most notably, a government official told CNN that the aircraft carrier USS Essex – along with two other large amphibious vehicles – was steaming towards the Horn of Africa and standing by for further orders.

For weeks, the drums of war have been growing louder in our nation’s media. “Ethiopia’s civil war is a problem U.S. troops can help solve,” Admiral James Stavridis, former supreme allied commander of NATO. wrote in Bloomberg and The Washington Post. “Sending peacekeepers to the pivotal nation of East Africa wouldn’t be popular domestically, but may be the only way to stop the conflict,” he added. Meanwhile, former Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer argued that the West should establish a “no fly zone” across Ethiopia – a country of 115 million people and twice the size of France.

When it comes to Ethiopia, said head of USAID Samantha Power, one of the architects of the U.S. intervention in Libya, “every option is on the table” – using a phrase that has long been understood to be a threat of war. Secretary of State Antony Blinken also refused to rule out sending troops into Ethiopia when directly asked.

Given its bloody record, the talk of a “humanitarian” invasion has many Ethiopians worried. “The U.S. is looking for a pretext for military intervention in Ethiopia. The play books of interventions in Iraq, Syria, Yugoslavia, and Libya are being referred to,” Dr. Berhanu Taye, an Ethiopian physician and member of the Global Ethiopian Advocacy Nexus, told MintPress.

The military buildup comes on the back of economic actions already taken. In September, President Joe Biden labeled Ethiopia a national security threat as he imposed sanctions upon government officials. Last month, the U.S. also placed sanctions on Eritrea, whose troops are also heavily involved in the fight against the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF).

The White House is currently withholding over a quarter-billion dollars of aid from Ethiopia and has ended the country’s special trade status under U.S. law, which had allowed it to export goods freely to the United States. Critics say that this could have the effect of crashing the already shaky economy, threatening over a million jobs.

Earlier this week, a number of Western governments (including the U.S.) signed a statement condemning the Ethiopian government for its human rights violations while fighting the TPLF, which they did not censure. The State Department is reportedly considering labeling the actions in Ethiopia a “genocide,” a word that would have considerable implications, given NATO’s self-declared “right to protect” doctrine, whereby it claims it has the right to intervene anywhere in the world to stop ethnic cleansing.

A year of deadly fighting

Bordering Eritrea and Sudan, Tigray is Ethiopia’s northernmost region, home to 7 million people. Although ethnic Tigrayans constitute only around 6% of Ethiopia’s population, they play an outsized role in public life, as the TPLF controlled the country between 1991 and 2018, when popular protests forced them out of power.

Tigrayans were near ubiquitous in the upper ranks of the country’s military and intelligence services, and were greatly overrepresented among its economic elite. This, for Dr. Taye, amounted to no less than a system of informal “Apartheid” that was ignored by most of the West. MintPress also contacted a spokesperson for the TPLF, but did not receive a response.

Since coming to power in 2018, the new prime minister, Abiy Ahmed, has moved against the TPLF in a set of changes that supporters see as much needed reforms to reduce corruption and the TPLF’s grip over public life, but opponents see as overstepping his mandate and as the persecution of an ethnic minority.

The spark for war came in November 2020, when Ahmed attempted to remove military officers belonging to the TPLF from their command. The TPLF fought back, attacking Northern Command headquarters in Mekelle, the capital of the Tigray region. Later that month, TPLF forces also shelled Asmara, the capital of Eritrea. As the TPLF reportedly have drawn closer to the capital, Addis Ababa, a number of the country’s sports stars, including long-distance running hero Haile Gebrselassie, have volunteered for government military service.

Ethiopia

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An Ethiopian woman argues with others over food aid in Tigray, northern Ethiopia, May 8, 2021. Ben Curtis | AP

The fighting has continued since then, save for a unilateral government ceasefire in the summer in order that the country’s harvest would not be ruined. Nevertheless, the humanitarian costs have been extremely grave. More than 9 million people live in conflict regions, an estimated 400,000 of those suffering under famine-like conditions, according to the United Nations. Tens of thousands have died in the conflict, which has seen documented atrocities from all sides. The number of displaced people, already high, has now grown to an estimated 4 million.

The TPLF maintains that the Ethiopian government is blocking international aid convoys from reaching Tigray and that Prime Minister Abiy must step down. Yet Abiy won a landslide victory earlier this year, and was only inaugurated in October. While there were clear drawbacks with the process (voting did not take place in war-ravaged regions like Tigray, for instance), it is difficult to interpret his party winning over 90% of the seats contested as anything other than a national mandate.

Media’s demonizing chorus

Thus, the conflict is ultimately a struggle between two political forces for the control of Ethiopia’s economy. Yet this is not at all how corporate media have presented the issue, preferring instead to frame it as the Ethiopian and Eritrean governments exterminating an ethnic minority group. CNN, for example, wrote:

Eritrean troops aren’t just working hand in glove with the Ethiopian government, assisting in a merciless campaign against the Tigrayan people; in some pockets they’re fully in control and waging a reign of terror… [that] bears the hallmarks of genocide and has the potential to destabilize the wider Horn of Africa region.

The New York Times has followed a similar line in much of its reporting. Embedding themselves with the TPLF, they described their companions as “a scrappy force of local Tigrayan recruits” that had, against the odds, “scored a cascade of battlefield victories against the Ethiopian military, one of Africa’s strongest.”

Many Ethiopians have been critical of this coverage. Dr. Kassahun Melesse, an Ethiopian economist from the Oregon State University, noted:

Let alone the framing, the mainstream media got the most fundamental fact about the military conflict wrong: the date the military conflict between the Ethiopian National Defense Forces and the TPLF began. For instance, in virtually all of its reporting on conflict, The New York Times has stated that the federal government launched the war on Nov. 4, 2020. And because the media got this basic fact wrong, all the major theories and framing based on this premise are wrong.”

Taye was even more blunt. “Western mainstream media continue to fabricate lies and disseminate disinformation intended to demonize the Ethiopian government,” he said.

One example of bias pro-Abiy Ethiopians have pointed to is the Times’ apparent whitewashing of the TPLF’s alleged use of child soldiers. Possibly referring to this, the Times describes the TPLF as consisting largely of “highly motivated young recruits.” Even more incriminating, the article’s co-author shared a series of (since deleted) images on his Instagram to promote the story, one of which shows not only children but obviously pre-pubescent boys carrying rifles, complete with a caption seemingly describing them as “highly motivated young recruits.” The TPLF maintains that it does not use child soldiers.

via @besabestin, a New York Times photographer shared this image of the “highly motivated young recruits” he was talking about. pic.twitter.com/RQJfkmRXpn

— Alan MacLeod (@AlanRMacLeod) December 7, 2021


Unfortunately, many individuals challenging the established Western media narrative are now being excised from social media, including massive accounts – like @HornofAfricaHub, Simon Tesfamariam (@STesfa) and Abdirahiman Warsame’s @SomalianFacts – some of which had millions of followers. Ethiopian journalist Hermela Aregawi claimed that Twitter Senior Program Manager Martha Wolday, herself a Tigrayan, appeared to be abusing her position to ban anti-TPLF and pro-Abiy voices and suppress the anti-interventionist hashtag #NoMore.

Libya: a warning from history

At the height of the Arab Spring in 2011, demonstrations against Muammar al-Gaddafi broke out across Libya. Gaddafi had historically been a thorn in the side of the West, refusing to follow orders and attempting to unite both the Arab and African worlds against the established order. Seeing their chance, Western nations immediately began warning that the dictator was on the verge of massacring all those protesting his rule. Immediately, media were filled with lurid and false stories about Gaddafi giving his soldiers Viagra before making them rape protestors. We were, if accounts were to be believed, on the edge of genocide.

Obama era officials like Samantha Power and Susan Rice were among the loudest voices demanding a military response, invoking the controversial “Right to Protect” doctrine, which stated that NATO could intervene anywhere in the world to prevent human rights violations.

Media interest in Libyan human rights went through the roof, peaking in mid-March at the time of the intervention, before falling off a cliff and barely being discussed in the decade since, according to data from Google Trends. Despite the PR blitz, Americans remained dead against military intervention. Thus, it was intially sold to the public as merely imposing a “no-fly zone” on the country, to prevent Libyan planes from bombing forces we now know to have been U.S.-supported Jihadists.

Of course, NATO’s intervention quickly escalated far beyond a no-fly zone, turning the tide of the war and helping the beleagured Jihadists take Tripoli and depose Gaddafi. Since then, Libya has descended into chaos, replete with slave markets where one can buy humans for as little as $400. Today, Rice and Power are back in charge and there is already serious talk of imposing a no fly zone on the Horn of Africa. For many Ethiopians, things are starting to feel worryingly similar to 2011.

US legitimizes TPLF insurgence

The Tigray People’s Liberation Front came to power in 1991 after a long and bloody conflict against the military government of Mengistu Haile Mariam. The same conflict ultimately led to the independence of Eritrea from Ethiopia.

During their 27 years in office, the TPLF enmeshed itself into the state, with Tigrayans continuing to occupy senior positions across the country. Throughout this time, Ethiopia was a loyal ally of the United States, in contrast with the Marxist-Leninist Mengistu. Ethiopia helped the U.S. carry out its foreign policy objectives across the region. This support led to the United States turning a blind eye to many of its excesses. In 2015, for instance, President Barack Obama endorsed the country’s elections, where the TPLF coalition won 100% of the seats, as legitimate, while his State Department described Ethiopia as a “democracy.” This was in contrast to Human Rights Watch, which claimed it was “one of the most inhospitable places in the world for people speaking out against government policies, as well as for any human rights research and advocacy,” noting that the TPLF held thousands of political prisoners in the country’s prison system.

Melesse said that, by refusing to formally take a side between an elected government and a group that it has declared a terrorist organization, the U.S. has effectively legitimized the TPLF struggle. The reasons for this position, he argues, include “the return of several Obama-era officials in the U.S. State Department, USAID, and other U.S. government agencies who are sympathetic to the causes of the rebels in Tigray,” and “the misguided view within the U.S. foreign policy establishment that conflates support to the people of Tigray with support to the TPLF.”

Samantha Power Ethiopia

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Samantha Power meets with ministers from donor countries to drum up financial support for Tigray. Photo | DVIDS

In November, the TPLF met with nine opposition political groups in Washington, where they signed an agreement to work together to depose Abiy and to form a rival government of their own. “As a response to the major crisis facing various nations of the country and to reverse the harmful effects of Abiy Ahmed’s autocratic rule, to our peoples and beyond, we have recognized the urgent need to collaborate, join our forces towards a safe transition in the country,” a spokesperson told gathered reporters. The symbolism of holding the event in Washington could hardly be missed.

The government fired back, claiming that their war was not only against the TPLF, “but also with colonialism of the powerful states of the West.”

US “Help” unwelcome

The background of this conflict also includes the wider geopolitical struggle between the United States and China. As part of its Belt and Road Initiative, a long-term plan to develop much of Afro-Eurasia and bring it economically closer to China, Beijing has been investing massively across Africa, with Ethiopia one of the continent’s top recipients of Chinese investment. Between 2000 and 2018, Ethiopia borrowed $13.7 billion from China, compared to $9.2 billion from the U.S. Most of that money has gone into huge infrastructure projects or to developing Ethiopian manufacturing.

Chinese money has helped build more than 50,000 kilometers of new roads since 2000, including an $86 million ring road for Addis Ababa. It has also funded the construction of a $475 million light railway system for the capital and the 750 kilometer Addis Ababa to Djibouti railroad, which will greatly boost trade and has reduced transport times from three days to ten hours. The Chinese-built port of Djibouti is rapidly becoming one of the world’s most advanced and busiest trading centers.

Walking the streets in Addis Ababa, individuals are as likely to see Chinese brands as American ones. Huawei and Tecno far outrank Apple in smartphone sales, with Infinix and Itel poised to overtake the California giant as well. China has signed dozens of memoranda of understanding with Ethiopia, helping it to become, by most measures, the country’s number one import and export partner. Currently, there are more than 10,000 Chinese firms doing business in the country.

The big loser in this is the U.S., which was long ago overtaken as Ethiopia’s primary economic partner. Americans have warned that this relationship is little more than debt-trap diplomacy, and that China is engaging in neocolonialism across Africa.

In recent years, the United States has become increasingly alarmed by China’s economic rise, and has attempted to stymie it. In addition to sanctions on Beijing, it has also tried to block the growth of Chinese tech companies like Huawei and TikTok, all the while building up its military in the South China Sea, under the guise of protecting Taiwan. Thus, there are fears that, as it is losing economic control over Ethiopia, the U.S. could be preparing to reassert control militarily.

For its part, the Chinese government has unequivocally backed Abiy. “China will steadfastly stand with the Ethiopian people, and keep to the consistent position of opposing external intervention in Ethiopia’s internal affairs with the disguise of human rights or democracy,” Zhao Zhiyuan, Chinese ambassador to Ethiopia, said last week.

However, it would be a mistake to label Abiy as some sort of communist Trojan Horse. As Melesse noted, this rupture with the U.S. was unexpected, as his government, “both in ideology and practice is more aligned with the West’s capitalist, liberal democratic order than was the TPLF-led regime it succeeded.” The new prime minister has passed a number of pro-market reforms and privatized government-owned businesses. He has also been willing to borrow money from both the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, two institutions often seen as extensions of American power.

HAPPENING NOW: At least 500 members of Ethiopian & Eritrean diaspora are outside the State Dept demanding the US stop supporting TPLF terror & stop its economic aggression in the region.

“Joe Biden: Hands Off Ethiopia!”

“Hands off Eritrea!”

“USA! Stop supporting TPLF!”#NoMore pic.twitter.com/7hxS6WjgKi

— Wyatt Reed (@wyattreed13) December 10, 2021


The conflict in Tigray and other regions has devastated Ethiopian society. With the TPLF in a strong position and promising to march all the way to Addis Ababa to depose Abiy, it is unlikely that there will be any decisive military victory one way or another any time soon. This means that the humanitarian crisis will continue. Tens of thousands of refugees have fled to neighboring states, while continued violence threatens supplies of food and medicines.

While many clearly need help, judging by the large rallies held across the world, including in Washington, demanding “No More” U.S. intervention in Ethiopia and Eritrea, it seems clear that they are aware that the Biden administration’s idea of “help” might not be exactly what they had in mind.

Feature photo | A protester from Ethiopia’s community in Lebanon holds a placard against the U.S. and other western country’s intervention in her country in Beirut, Lebanon, Dec. 5, 2021. Hussein Malla | AP

https://libya360.wordpress.com/2021/12/ ... -ethiopia/

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Ethiopia: ‘UN WFP and USAID Have Been Using Humanitarian Crisis to Prepare Grounds for Western Intervention’
Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on DECEMBER 13, 2021
Pavan Kulkarni

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People participate in a rally to condemn the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) and Western intervention in the internal affairs of Ethiopia in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Dec. 5, 2021. Photo: Xinhua/Wang Ping

Horn of Africa TV’s editor, Elias Amare, talks to Peoples Dispatch on the latest military developments in Ethiopia, the setbacks faced by the TPLF and the collusion of international aid agencies

The UN World Food Program’s (WFP) suspension of food aid to Dessie and Kombolcha after the liberation of these two strategically important cities in the war-torn northern Ethiopian state, Amhara, is a “travesty of the highest degree”, said Horn of Africa TV’s editor, Elias Amare.

The UN has cited as its reason the looting of WFP’s warehouses and the intimidation of its staff in these cities by the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF). The TPLF started the war by attacking a federal army base in Tigray in November 2020, and subsequently invaded the neighboring states of Amhara and Afar in July 2021.

However, the UN’s decision to suspend aid to the two cities came after the TPLF was pushed out of it by the joint force of the national army and Amharan militias. “All this while, when the TPLF had been occupying these cities and other towns in Amhara and openly raiding the UN’s storage facilities, they said nothing about it,” Amare told Peoples Dispatch in a phone interview.

Suspending food-aid to cities brought back under government control – while continuing to send aid into TPLF-controlled Tigray where over a thousand aid-trucks are allegedly being commandeered by TPLF for military purposes – “is a crime,” he said. “It amounts to using food-aid as a weapon of war.”

Despite the support the TPLF is receiving from allegedly partisan international bodies and from the US, which is using its “client states in the region” to diplomatically isolate and encircle the Ethiopian state, Amare remains confident that the TPLF is losing.

While the fight is ongoing in Weldiya [about 120 km to the north of Dessie], the TPLF’s forces “are in a disarray” he said. “More importantly, the federal government’s forces have taken control of the highway connecting Weldiya to Tigray’s capital, Mekele. So their logistics line and their route to retreat has been choked. Apart from this, it is mostly some villages along the border with Tigray and some mountain areas that remain under TPLF’s control in Amhara. Soon, TPLF will be kicked back to its base in Tigray.”

Amare believes the government will pursue the TPLF into the state of Tigray, and not stop at the border and seek negotiation – an end towards which the US appears to be mobilizing the diplomatic positions.

“TPLF has to be held accountable for the massive atrocities in the Amhara and Afar – killing of civilians, sexual violence and rapes, destruction of medical facilities, schools and what have you,” he said. “It has committed war crimes.. It has openly declared its intention to march on Addis Ababa and overthrow the government. So it is an existential threat.”

Reports of civilians fleeing Tigray into Amhara, Afar and even Eritrea to avoid conscription by the TPLF is an indication of its weakening military and political position inside its home-state.

“Every family is forced to provide at least one son or daughter for conscription. The use of child soldiers is a common practice,” he added. “It’s a very terrible situation inside Tigray. Many families are beginning to openly ask where their children are.”

Frontlines are closing in on this eroding base of TPLF inside Tigray from Amhara in the south and from Afar in the east. Eritrea on its north is supporting the Ethiopian government. While Sudan is alleged to be supporting the TPLF, the region of Welkait and Humera along the border with Sudan is held by a joint force of federal army and Amharan militias, blocking TPLF’s corridor to Sudan.

“They are surrounded. This is the beginning of TPLF’s end,” he said. Following the phone interview, reports emerged on December 12 that the TPLF had recaptured the Amharan town of Lalibela (about 115 km to the west of Weldiya). Asked in a follow up conversation if this could be an indication that the direction in which the frontline is moving is once again changing in favor of the TPLF, Amare replied in the negative.

Rather than having captured the town of Lalibela, the TPLF, he argued, is trying to break through it to find an alternative escape route to Tigray for its forces surrounded in Weldiya, since the highway connecting it to Mekelle has been cut-off.

Having been marginalized by mass pro-democracy protests in 2018, after 27-years of dictatorial rule over Ethiopia, the TPLF, while capable of causing much destruction, is highly unlikely to be able to reign over Ethiopia again.

Nevertheless, Amare maintains, the US continues to support it, “because when imperialism cannot control an area, it seeks to unleash chaos and destabilize it until such time as it can take control.”

Controlling the Horn of Africa is a strategically important objective for the US because the region “is a part of the Red Sea Arena and the Nile Basin. It is part of the Belt and Road Initiative of China. The US believes that in order to control Africa, it has to expand US Africa Command (AFRICOM) across the Horn of Africa.”

But the coming together of Ethiopia, Eritrea and Somalia for the “New Horn of Africa Project”, after the TPLF was sidelined and Abiy Ahmed took charge as Ethiopia’s prime minister, is a major setback to the American ambitions. It is to neutralize this threat to its objectives, posed by the prospects of peace in the region, that the US is attempting to destabilize the Horn of Africa by supporting the TPLF, he argued.

However, the civil society’s resistance to this attempt – started by the Ethiopian, Eritrean and Somali diaspora who organized the #NoMore movement in the US – has become an important factor that will determine the outcome.

“It started as an opposition to the war in Ethiopia and the destabilization of the Horn of Africa, and grew into a pan-African movement against imperialism. Tomorrow its echoes might be heard in Latin America as well,” he said, adding, “It has the potential to evolve into a global anti-imperialist movement against endless wars.”

Read the edited interview below:

Peoples Dispatch: Can you begin by explaining the strategic importance of the retaking of Dessie and Kombolcha by government forces?

Elias Amare: Dessie is the capital of Amhara’s Wollo province. Kombolcha is an industrial town. It is a center of manufacturing and production. So retaking those two towns means that the entire province of Wollo will be liberated soon.

PD: Which portions of Amhara and Afar remain under the TPLF’s control?

EA: Afar is completely liberated. TPLF has been kicked out of the region. In Amhara, fighting is ongoing in Weldiya [about 120 km to the north of Dessie]. But their forces are in a disarray. More importantly, the federal government’s forces have taken control of the highway connecting Weldiya to Tigray’s capital, Mekele. So their logistics line and their route to retreat has been choked. Apart from this, it is mostly some villages along the border with Tigray and some mountain areas that remain under TPLF’s control in Amhara. Soon, TPLF will be kicked back to its base in Tigray.

PD: Does it seem to you that the government intends to stop at the Tigray border and seek to negotiate, or is it likely to pursue the TPLF into Tigray?

EA: I doubt it would stop at the border. TPLF has to be held accountable for the massive atrocities in the Amhara and Afar – killing of civilians, sexual violence and rapes, destruction of medical facilities, schools and what have you. It has been exposed as an ethno-fascist group. It has committed war crimes. Many human rights organizations are condemning this. It has openly declared its intention to march on Addis Ababa and overthrow the government. So this is an existential threat. I don’t think the government will stop at Tigray’s border.

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The Lalibela Airport in Amhara, Ethiopia was ransacked by TPLF forces while under their control. The city has since been liberated by government forces. Photo: Breakthrough News

PD: Inside Tigray, the TPLF remains strong militarily and politically, doesn’t it?

EA: Well, it’s difficult to say because it is inaccessible right now. But from reports we are hearing, civilians are fleeing Tigray to Amhara and Afar region. Some are even fleeing to Eritrea. Fear of conscription by TPLF is the number one reason. Every family is forced to provide at least one son or daughter for conscription. The use of child soldiers is a common practice. It’s a very terrible situation inside the Tigray. Many families are beginning to openly ask where their children are.

Initially, when the TPLF expanded the war into Amhara and Afar after the government’s unilateral ceasefire on June 29, Tigrayans forced to join the war were told that the TPLF would undertake a quick march to Addis Ababa and capture the capital in two or three months. Now it has been six months. They have suffered massive losses and are being forced into retreat.

PD: The frontlines appear to be closing in on the TPLF in Tigray from the south in Amhara and the east in Afar. With its historic enemy, Eritrea as its northern neighbor, it appears that if TPLF’s forces have to retreat and regroup, the best chance is to push across the western border into Sudan, which is believed to be supporting it. How well defended is this border region of Western Tigray, which for now remains under the control of Ethiopian army and Amharan militias?

EA: The Welkait and Humera region, which has come to be known as Western Tigray, was never traditionally a part of Tigray. Tigrayans did not live in this part; it was Amaharan land. Tigray did not have a border with Sudan. The TPLF annexed this land when they took Ethiopian state power in 1991. But this portion of the land has been reclaimed into Amhara during the war.

When the government had withdrawn its forces from Tigray after declaring the unilateral ceasefire in June, it was only from traditional Tigray that it had withdrawn – the land to the east of Tekeze river on today’s Tigray map. To its west is Amharan land, which is very well defended. The TPLF cannot access it anymore. In fact, they had waged several military campaigns since the ceasefire to break through Welkait and Humera and open the corridor to Sudan. They were defeated every time. They are surrounded. This is the beginning of TPLF’s end.

PD: If TPLF’s end has begun, what about the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), which had joined forces with the TPLF? OLF is one of the oldest political parties with deep roots in Ethiopia’s largest state, Oromia.

EA: It is not correct to say that OLF [as a whole] has joined the TPLF. OLF has several factions. Only its most extreme [ethno-centric] faction has joined the TPLF, waging an insurgency in the Western part of the country. But I don’t think they are a significant threat. This faction does not have that much of a following in Oromia. It was the TPLF which was a real threat, with all the financing and armed force it had. Once the TPLF is finished off, all other ethno-nationalist insurgencies in the country do not pose a major threat.

PD: What is the picture emerging from the recently liberated towns of Dessie and Kombulcha? Have they suffered serious destruction?

EA: An inventory is being made. The government is yet to come out with figures. But from reports and pictures, we know that destruction has been massive, systematic and wanton. 80% of the enterprises in Kombolcha have been looted. Factories and industrial centers have been destroyed. Any machinery the TPLF could not take with them to Tigray has been destroyed. Other institutions like schools and hospitals have also been vindictively attacked when they had to retreat. Rebuilding these two cities, especially Kombolcha which is an industrial hub, will take many years.

PD: The UN has suspended food aid to Dessie and Kombolcha after they were liberated and brought under government control. This is reportedly because of widespread looting of its storage facilities and intimidation of the UN staff while it was under TPLF’s control. But what is the rationale behind suspending aid after the TPLF has been pushed out of the area?

EA: It is incredible, isn’t it? All this while, when the TPLF had been occupying these cities and other towns in Amhara and openly raiding the UN’s storage facilities, they said nothing about it. But now, after the two cities have been liberated, the UN World Food Program (WFP) has suspended food-aid distribution. Now that the cities are in government control, they should step up the distribution. There are more than a million internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Amhara, sleeping in temporary shelters. They are in critical need of food aid. Suspension of food aid under these circumstances is a travesty of the highest degree. It is a crime. It amounts to using food-aid as a weapon of war. The government, you see, is allowing food aid to go into the TPLF-controlled Tigray from air and via land through the Afar region.

PD: UN Ethiopia had revealed in September that more than 400 of its trucks which entered Tigray since mid-July had failed to return. These are reportedly being used by the TPLF for its military maneuvers. Has there any progress towards securing the return of these trucks?

EA: They have not been returned. And the latest figure now is 1,010 trucks. Ethiopia’s Ambassador to the UN, Taye Atske Selassie, recently said in a statement that 1,010 food-aid trucks of the UN are being commandeered by the TPLF for its military purposes. No condemnation whatsoever from the UN. And yet, they are making noise about three trucks that have apparently gone missing on the government’s side. They are playing politics with relief and food-aid. This had been going on all along the past year of this tragic conflict. There has been no neutrality, whatsoever.

In fact, UN personnel in the Tigray region have exposed the UN organizations to be working in cahoots with the TPLF. And they were suspended for exposing this. The UN WFP and USAID have been using this humanitarian crisis to prepare the grounds for Western intervention. This is what we are nearing, in my opinion.

PD: In the meantime, US Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa, Ambassador Jeffrey Feltman, has been on a tour to Turkey, UAE and Egypt to discuss this war in Ethiopia. How is the geopolitical alignment of Ethiopia’s neighboring countries evolving?

EA: Feltman has been traveling back and forth between Ethiopia’s neighboring Sudan and Egypt, East Africa and the Gulf countries to bring pressure on Ethiopia by encircling it. So I think his recent tour is a continuation of this shuttle diplomacy to isolate Ethiopia in the region. It is a precursor to the imposition of sanctions. But the Ethiopian government has been firm in its position that this war is an internal, sovereign matter and it will not give in to foreign pressures.

PD: It is quite evident that the TPLF retaking state power in Ethiopia is a highly unlikely scenario. Under the circumstances, what interests of the US, or of the neighboring states like Sudan and Egypt, are served by supporting the TPLF?

EA: Sudan and Egypt are simply toeing the US-line. None of their national interests will be served by destabilizing Ethiopia. But client states don’t have an independent foreign policy in such matters of geopolitical importance. They have to blindly follow their imperial patrons. And the US is putting all kinds of pressure on its client states in the neighborhood to isolate Ethiopia and prevent the emergence of what we call the New Horn of Africa: a Horn of Africa that is at peace with itself, stable and without the vicious cycles of conflict between its countries.

This coming together of Ethiopia, Eritrea and Somalia undermines the expansion of the US military garrisons in this region, which is strategically very important. It is a part of the Red Sea Arena and the Nile Basin. It is part of the Belt and Road Initiative of China.

The US further believes that in order to control Africa, it has to expand US Africa Command (AFRICOM) across the Horn of Africa, the Greater Horn of Africa and East Africa all the way to Congo and the Great Lakes Region. And always, when imperialism cannot control an area, it seeks to unleash chaos and destabilize it until such time as it can take control.

So it is doing everything it can to disrupt the New Horn of Africa Project. It has already sanctioned Eritrea. It is en route to sanctioning Ethiopia. And who knows, with Somalia beginning to reconstitute itself after decades of war, more proxy wars seem to be in offing there too.

PD: The Horn of Africa’s diaspora, particularly the Ethiopians and Eritreans in the US, have started #NoMore movement against the US sanctions on these countries and its support for the TPLF. How impactful has this movement been?

EA: This is really an incredible phenomenon. Within a month since it was started by the Ethiopian, Eritrean and Somali diaspora, it has grown global. Massive demonstrations and protests have been held in Washington D.C, in San Francisco and many other cities in the US and other Western countries, with the slogan: “Hands off Ethiopia; Hands of Eritrea; Hands of Horn of Africa”. They are saying “#NoMore” to western intervention; to economic warfare on countries in the form of sanctions.

Inside the continent, we have also seen demonstrations outside the Horn of Africa in countries as far as West Africa and Niger, raising the slogan “#NoMore Neo-colonialism” in French. Echoes of #NoMore are found in the murals on walls in South Africa. It started as an opposition to the war in Ethiopia and to the American attempts to destabilize the Horn of Africa, but grew into a pan-African movement against imperialism. Tomorrow its echoes might be heard in Latin America as well. It has the potential to evolve into a global anti-imperialist movement against endless wars.

https://libya360.wordpress.com/2021/12/ ... ervention/
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

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Re: Africa

Post by blindpig » Thu Dec 16, 2021 3:32 pm

Libya: The Muslim Brotherhood Escalates Campaign Against Elections
Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on DECEMBER 8, 2021

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The Brotherhood in Libya escalates against the elections with a sit-in in front of the headquarters of the Commission

Tripoli – A group of demonstrators affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood in Libya began a sit-in in front of the headquarters of the Electoral Commission in the capital, Tripoli, to demand the postponement of the elections until a referendum on the constitution is held.

This reveals the Brotherhood’s escalation in the face of the presidential elections scheduled for the twenty-fourth of December, especially after they reached a consensus on positions with parliamentarians affiliated with the abandoned army commander and presidential candidate, Khalifa Haftar, regarding the postponement of the aforementioned entitlement.

The position of the Islamists in Libya against the presidential elections is not a matter of the moment. For years, they refused to hold them, justifying their position every time under the pretext of the necessity of a referendum on the constitution.

Video clips posted on social media showed the moment the protesters arrived at the commission headquarters and set up tents in front of it to carry out a sit-in, raising slogans “No to elections without a constitution.”

Libyan media confirmed on Tuesday evening that these elements belong to the Agniwa militia (affiliated with Abdulghani al-Kikli), the Zawiya and Misrata militias, which are affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood.

Observers believe that the Brotherhood’s escalation against the elections, which comes after calls from Brotherhood leaders to sit in front of the commission, reflects their lack of confidence that the caretaker prime minister, Abdel Hamid al-Dabaiba, who is close to them and Turkey, will win the presidency.

Their fears increased about the defeat of Dabaiba, who launched a large-scale propaganda campaign, after the return of the candidate, Saif Al-Islam Qaddafi, to the presidential race by a judicial decision, after the commission excluded him in the first stage.

Followers of the Libyan issue know that the Brotherhood opposes the presidential elections, which enjoyed wide international support before developments in the electoral process did not guarantee victory of any candidate completely loyal to them, especially in light of the decline in their popularity.

Parliament member Saleh Fahima called to stop tampering with the elections, saying in a Facebook post, “When you confiscate the opinion of the majority and impede the realization of their desires in exercising their democratic right, you have abandoned the peaceful expression of your opinion and entered the process of trying to subject the opinions of others to yours.”

Afhima stressed that elections are not a goal in themselves, but rather a means to reach political stability, adding, “Whoever accepts democracy as a way to rule and a way to reach it, must accept its results.”


This comes at a time when attitudes have begun to change regarding holding the presidential elections on time, as Parliament, which was one of the most prominent supporters of the aforementioned election, is seeking to postpone it in light of the recent developments.

This change in the position of Parliament, according to observers, reflects the failure of its efforts to counter the Islamists’ maneuvers regarding the elections, especially after those efforts had counterproductive results, as they contributed, for example, to the return of Dabaiba, who is close to the Brotherhood to the presidential race, like other candidates armed with legal loopholes, most of which are found in the election law. The president set by the House of Representatives itself.

On Wednesday, parliamentarian Ziad Daghim, who is known for his supportive positions for Haftar and the Libyan army, called for the postponement of the elections, which reflects the Brotherhood’s stance against holding the aforementioned elections on time.

Daghim said in a statement to the local “24 hour” website, that “the electoral process entered the recovery room and the parliament is trying to save it by forming a follow-up committee and communicating with the commission and the relevant institutions,” stressing “the need to renew blood in the legislative authority next February in two steps; The first is to hold parliamentary elections, even if partial, until a settlement is found in the presidential elections.”

He continued, “The second is the re-election of a new presidency in Parliament, according to the partial parliamentary elections.”

Prior to that, on Wednesday, the President of the Brotherhood’s Advisory Council of State, Khaled Al-Mashri, called for postponing the presidential and parliamentary elections to February.

Al Arab

Translation by Internationalist 360°

https://libya360.wordpress.com/2021/12/ ... elections/

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Libya: Mass Demonstrations Demand Elections Not Be Postponed
Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on DECEMBER 15, 2021

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The Independent High Electoral Commission in Libya announced on Wednesday that it had handed over the final report on the stage of electoral appeals to elect the president, to the committee formed by members of the House of Representatives concerned with following up the electoral process, coinciding with the outbreak of demonstrations in different parts of the country demanding there be no postponement of the polling date.

This came during the meeting, which took place on Wednesday in the House of Representatives, between the Chairperson of the Council of Representatives, Imad Al-Sayeh, and the Chairman of the Representatives Committee, Hedi Al-Saghir.

And last week, the House of Representatives formed a committee to communicate with the Commission and the Supreme Judicial Council on the “difficulties and obstacles” facing the electoral process, provided that its work ends by submitting its final report to the Office of the Presidency of the Council within a maximum period of one week from the date of this decision.

Sami Al-Sharif, Director of the Media Office of the High Electoral Commission, confirmed that the final lists of candidates have become a joint matter between the Commission and the committee formed by the House of Representatives, pointing out that any developments regarding the electoral process and the final lists will be in the parliament session scheduled for next Monday.

Al-Sharif explained that the fate and date of the elections have become linked to the upcoming parliament session, adding that all current data confirm that the twenty-fourth of December is not a date for the elections, noting that the logistical equipment is ready for the elections, but the failure to announce the final list of candidates has frozen all procedures and the plan in place, stressing However, the dates and times for the plans set by the commission will change by changing the date of the elections.

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This comes as demonstrations took place in the cities of Sirte, Tripoli, Sabha and Tobruk, calling for the elections not to be postponed and the need to announce the final lists of candidates, in addition to supporting the Libyan Joint Military Committee 5 + 5 in its tasks.

The demonstrators raised slogans such as “Yes to the election box, no to bullets”, and “Yes to the exit of foreign forces and mercenaries from Libya”, praising the Libyan judiciary and calling for support for the independence of the judiciary.


The Special Adviser to the Secretary-General of the United Nations on Libya Stephanie Williams, who arrived in the capital Tripoli two days ago, intensified her meetings with all political parties in Libya, to support the holding of the elections on time, and to confirm that the twenty-fourth of this December is the date of the constitutional entitlement.

“Today (Wednesday) I had the opportunity to hear from Interior Minister Khaled Mazen about planning and preparations to secure the Libyan elections,” Williams said on her Twitter account.

“I also discussed with him the general security situation in Libya and ways in which the United Nations can support the Libyan security services,” she added.


Williams had earlier met with the Vice-President of the Libyan Presidential Council Abdel Lafi, where she explained to him that “the goal of her mission in Libya is to lead the three Libyan tracks: political, economic and military, and support the electoral process.”

She also met Khaled Al-Mashri, head of the Supreme Council of State, and discussed with him the latest developments in Libya, and they exchanged views “on the way forward with regard to the electoral process.”

The head of the Libyan Presidential Council, Muhammad al-Manfi, stressed, during his meeting with the head of the Libyan Judicial Council, Muhammad al-Hafi, that “Libyans have no choice but to hold the presidential and parliamentary elections simultaneously.”

Al-Minfi stressed the need for the judiciary to be independent and to keep it away from political squabbles so that it can play its role in holding presidential and parliamentary elections, stressing that the Presidential Council will continue to support judicial institutions and their role in establishing the elections on time and simultaneously.

Libya is preparing to hold the first presidential elections in its history, after nine days, but the specter of a delay looms on the horizon, especially since the electoral campaign has not started yet, and the High National Elections Commission postponed on Saturday the publication of the final list of presidential candidates until some legal and judicial issues are settled with the Supreme Council. For the judiciary and the committee formed by Parliament to communicate with the Commission.

This delay places strong pressure on the date of the elections scheduled for the twenty-fourth of December, and does not leave enough time to conduct the campaign for the candidates accepted in these elections, and leaves only the option to delay the elections for weeks or months.

The international parties fear that the postponement of the elections will lead to a derailment of the peace process in Libya, and the return of violence and fighting to the country, especially in light of the failure of the Libyan actors to agree on the rules or qualified candidates.

While the upcoming elections were expected to unite the Libyans and the country and end a decade of chaos, the political and regional divisions are emerging again between three camps in the west and east of Libya, and with them the current of the former government that is strongly returning.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that the United States had no right to object to Saif al-Islam Qaddafi’s candidacy for the presidency of Libya in the elections scheduled for the twenty-fourth of this December, advising “Americans and Europeans to let the Libyans decide for themselves.”

“We know that Saif Qaddafi and in general the Qaddafi clan has many supporters, as well as for Field Marshal Haftar, Aqila Saleh, Abdel Hamid al-Dabaiba and other participants in the presidential race,” Lavrov added in a television interview.

Al Arab

The people of Sirte organize a protest against the postponement of the elections

Today the people of Sirte organized a protest against the postponement of the elections and against attempts to politicize the Libyan judiciary.

A statement issued by the group affirmed its refusal to accept the postponement of elections, and demanded adherence to holding them on the specified date, Friday, December 24, 2021 AD. Postponing elections is rejected by the popular will of those who hold the ballot papers and those behind them who are lovers of peace and stability.

The group called on the House of Representatives, the Presidential Council, the Government of National Unity and the military to stand by the will of the voters, away from favoritism, bias and courtesy to achieve the elections on schedule, urging the United Nations, through its mission in Libya, to fulfill its obligations regarding the agreement that it supervised and to implement what has been done, correcting the defect that occurred in the Libyan political track.

In its statement, the group warned the High Elections Commission against yielding to the dictates of power centers, strongly condemning what it described as “the vagueness it pursues in disclosing the obstacles to carrying out its entrusted and time-bound work, and its violation of the agreed-upon timetable”, calling at the same time for the immediate issuance of the two lists of candidates; presidency and parliament.

Afrigate

The people of Sirte reject any postponement of the presidential elections in Libya

A number of civil organizations in Sirte organized protest vigils in the city, rejecting any postponement of the elections scheduled to be held at the end of this month and the turmoil surrounding the electoral process.

And the people of Sirte expressed in a statement their surprise at the postponement of the announcement of the final list of candidates for the presidential elections and the ambiguity surrounding the electoral scene, stressing the necessity of holding the elections on schedule.

The statement added that the people refuse to exclude any candidate for the elections and not to politicize the Electoral Commission because it is a neutral national body that has nothing to do with what is happening in the political arena.

They also affirmed the integrity and independence of the judicial institution in Libya and the non-interference in its internal affairs, based on judgments issued regarding some candidates for the elections.

Afrigate

Translation by Internationalist 360°

https://libya360.wordpress.com/2021/12/ ... postponed/

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Armed Clashes in Sebha: Manufacturing Consent to Postpone Elections
Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on DECEMBER 14, 2021

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One dead and two wounded in armed clashes in Sebha, southern Libya following clashes between forces affiliated with the Libyan army and others loyal to the Dabaiba government after an attempt to storm the Military Intelligence headquarters.

Armed groups are a security dilemma threatening the Libyan elections

Sebha (Libya) – The city of Sebha, west of southern Libya, witnessed on Monday/Tuesday night armed clashes between forces affiliated with the Libyan army and others loyal to the Government of National Unity headed by Abdel Hamid al-Dabaiba, which resulted in the death of one person and the injury of two others, following a local and international efforts to unify the military institution.

The Sebha Medical Center announced in a brief statement posted on its Facebook page, “We received last night, as a result of the events in the city, two wounded and one dead.”

The fighting erupted after the “116 forces” loyal to the government, led by Masoud Al-Jadi, with the support of the Sebha Security Directorate, tried to storm the headquarters of the Military Intelligence and other sites and positions controlled by the “Tariq bin Ziyad” battalion of the Libyan army, in order to expel them. The clashes that shook the city of Sebha lasted for several hours, using heavy and medium weapons.

The Sebha Security Directorate said that the storming operation came in response to the seizure of 11 four-wheel drive cars by force of arms by forces of the General Command, affiliated with the commander of the Southern Region Operations Group, Major General Al-Mabrouk Sahban , when they were on their way to the southern region, which the government sent to the directorate in order to secure the elections.

The directorate stated that the forces, armed with heavy weapons and armored vehicles, took the policemen who were riding in cars to the Brak base in the Shati municipality.

Pictures and videos broadcast by local media show heavy gunfire in the center of Sebha on Tuesday before dawn. The Sebha Security Directorate condemned these events, which, according to it, aim to “destabilize and create chaos in Fezzan” in southern Libya.

The Libyan army confirmed that it would not allow the security of Sebha to be compromised, and the army general command said in a brief statement that “any attempt to destabilize the security of the citizens in the southern regions, specifically in the city of Sebha, will be met by the armed forces with force.”

“The Libyan army forces will strike with an iron fist any attempt to attack the citizen or the forces located in the south of the country.”

Clashes with medium and heavy weapons caused an exodus from the nearby “Al-Qarda” area, at a time when shells continued to be fired randomly between the two parties.

And media outlets quoted local sources as saying that schools and public services were closed Tuesday in all parts of the city.

These confrontations come as a new episode of military and security tension in the city of Sebha, between forces loyal to the army and dissident ones backed by the government.

It also comes two days after a meeting between the Chief of General Staff of the Interim National Unity Government, Lieutenant-General Muhammad al-Haddad, with the task force of the Commander of the General Command of the Libyan Army, Lieutenant-General Abdel Razek al-Nadori, in the city of Sirte.

At that time, the Chief of Staff indicated that understandings had been reached, including “non-internal conflict, non-politicization of the military institution, support for efforts to establish a civil state, setting a plan to organize militants and armed formations, and developing mechanisms to unify the military institution,” a step that was welcomed and politically supported.

These tense field conditions will increase doubts about the authorities’ ability to hold the elections, which are naturally faltering due to legal disputes, on schedule after ten days, and in stable security conditions.

Al Arab

Translation by Internationalist 360°

https://libya360.wordpress.com/2021/12/ ... elections/

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How the Left Can Get Ethiopia Right: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly with #NoMore
Filmon Zerai 14 Dec 2021

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Protesters chant slogans during a demonstration over what they say is unfair distribution of wealth in the country at Meskel Square in Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa, Aug. 6, 2016." Source: VOA

The best way for leftist anti-imperialists to support Ethiopia is to not take a hardline position on the internal politics of the country.

In the last few months, the left media outlets from various camps, in their sincere attempts to demonstrate solidarity and spotlight conflict in the Horn of Africa and internal developments in Ethiopia, got it wrong. They have been uncritically centering active ideological players on two opposing camps. The significant focus on the TPLF attacks on Eritrea, its invasion of Afar and the Amhara region, and its existence as a willing proxy actor of Washington was correct. They got it wrong, however, in their uncritical framing of neoliberal Abiy. They have chosen to over-amplify the Abiy camp’s reactionary narrative on the long ideological internal struggle concerning the path forward for Ethiopia and the Horn.

In 1915 Lenin gracefully asserted: “We demand freedom of self-determination, i.e., independence, i.e., freedom of secession for the oppressed nations, not because we have dreamt of splitting up the country economically, or of the ideal of small states, but, on the contrary, because we want large states and the closer unity and even fusion of nations, only on a truly democratic, truly internationalist basis, which is inconceivable without the freedom to secede.” It is in the same framework that the principled Ethiopian and Eritrean revolutionaries during the 1960 and 70s warmly embraced this materialist line on the National Question. One of the most noted and often quoted Ethiopian Marxist is Wallelign Mekonnen. Mekonnen, who is of Amhara background, is famous for this 1969 article , "On the Question of Nationalities in Ethiopia." This article is very relevant for today, and offers an effective ideological compass to navigate around the war of narratives taking shape, particularly on social media. Mekonnen specifies the basis of the Ethiopian settler state and its class foundation, which operated to benefit the Abyssinian ruling class in both Amhara and Tigray regions. The oppressed nations were not Amhara or those in the Tigray region, but the other non-Abyssinian nations in the south who were conquered, colonized, and their names erased for the creation of Ethiopia. Mekonnen writes:

"To anybody who has got a nodding acquaintance with Marxism, culture is nothing more than the superstructure of an economic basis. So cultural domination always presupposes economic subjugation. A clear example of economic subjugation would be the Amhara and to a certain extent Tigray Neftegna system in the South and the Amhara Tigray Coalition in the urban areas. The usual pseudo-refutation of this analysis is the reference to the large Amhara and Tigray masses wallowing in poverty in the countryside."

Following Mekonnen, I argue that the left must cautiously navigate around the two opposing ideological battlegrounds that have co-opted the language and performativity of “anti-imperialism” or “decolonization.” This language works to impede wider radical investigation of the Horn of Africa and its various contradictions.

As Lenin and the elder Eritrean and Ethiopian revolutionaries from the 1960 and 1970s advocated a dialectical understanding of the National Question, so must the left as they seek to understand Ethiopia and the Horn. What is the national question of Ethiopia? Voices from the revolutionary Ethiopian student movement of the 1960s and 1970s echoed much of V. I. Lenin’s point on the national question that nation-states should be based on “voluntary ties, never compulsory ties.” Lenin insisted upon the “right of every nation to political self-determination,” which includes the right to secession. Following Lenin, Tilahun Takele (pseudonym name for a member of the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Party (EPRP)), argued : "How could Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin, of all people support the right of nations to secession when they were, on the other hand, the most committed advocates of the unity and integration of the world proletariat? The answer is simple. Briefly, it is precisely because they wanted to promote the genuine, equality and fraternal unity of the proletariat of all nations, the general unity of the oppressed toiling masses of all nations.”

What are examples of the two opposing voices on The National Question that are attempting to get leftist legitimacy and credibility online? The first example uses the facade of decolonial positioning to cover for the attempted imperialist intervention against Ethiopia and also absolve TPLF of its violent aims to continue the settler-colonial legacy of Abyssinian king Yohaness of Tigray. The second one gives cover to neoliberal Abiy’s vision, a vision that aims to continue the settler-colonial legacy of Abyssinian king Menelik of Amhara without addressing the grievances of the oppressed nationalities.

We can see an example of the first camp in a popular event that occurred on Dec 8, 2021. Haymarket hosted a webinar called “What's Happening in Ethiopia,” with panelists Ayantu Tibeso and J. Khadijah Abdurahman, and facilitated by an anti-China Hong Kong “leftist,” Promise Li, who is a member of a NED affiliated organization Lausan Collective . Haymarket attracts pro-TPLF academics, such as Andom Ghebreghiorgis, with similar pro-Amnesty International politics and NED connections. One of the panelists referenced Wallelign Mekonnen by aiming to manipulate the “Nations and Nationalities'' discussion toward vilifying the Amharas and the Eritrean state while simultaneously giving cover to the Washington-backed TPLF as the vanguard of the oppressed nationalities. In other words, the discussion was intellectually dishonest both in its inability to acknowledge Ethiopia as a settler state that has primarily benefited the Amhara and Tigray ruling classes, and in its echoing the U.S. State Department propaganda that is running interference for the TPLF while demonizing the Eritrean state.

An example of the second ideological camp can be seen at an event that occurred on September 11, 2021. The People's Forum NYC hosted a webinar on “Imperialism, Ethiopia & Conflict in the Horn of Africa,” with panelists Simon Tesfamariam and Elias Amare who are part of the People's Front for Democracy and Justice(PFDJ) camp and co-leading the #NoMore social media campaign. Simon and Elias echoed the usual Abyssinian pejorative slur of “Ethnic Federalism” and discredited the Nations and Nationalities argument by attributing it to “tribalism” and saying that “tribalism is a problem throughout Africa.” The term “ethnic federalism” is not one of facts to the current Ethiopian constitution as there is no ethnic federalism but mult-national federalism in name which has not been implemented during the last 28 years under the TPLF regime and now under Abiy as well. They also ridiculed the radical assertion around Nations and Nationalities, equating anyone that supports that line with being a “tribalist”. In the same vein, Tesfamariam attempted to discredit the voices who put critical anti-colonial framing on the formation of Ethiopia, which challenges the mythological narrative of a 3000 years old independent Christian African state. Further, on his Twitter account, Tesfamariam deployed Abyssinian slurs “ethnofascist” and “tribalists” to de-legitimize the historical grievances of the oppressed nationalities.

Why are Eritreans like Simon Tesfarmian and Elias Amare, who support the People's Front for Democracy and Justice (PFDJ) so keen on dismissing the real struggles of oppressed nationalities in Ethiopia, a position that is in contradiction to the spirit of the Eritrean revolution? Under the direction of Isaias Afwerki, the PFDJ has taken a line of concentrating on the primary contradictions which is imperialism and the management of the region via proxy actors like TPLF. In fact, for the past 18 years, the Eritrean state was the home of oppressed nationalities liberation fronts (OLF, ONLF etc) struggling against the Washington-backed TPLF regime. However, after the 2018 peace deal, and after the re-igniting of war in the region in 2020 by the TPLF,the rhetoric in support of the oppressed nationalities has been abandoned.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly With #NoMore

"We have the Marxist-Leninist weapon of criticism and self-criticism. We can get rid of a bad style and keep the good."- Mao Zedong

How did the #NoMore form online and what is the social, political, class structure abehind it? The #NoMore campaign is an online diaspora projection or formalization involving the PFDJ in Eritrea and the Amhara region, plus Abiy Ahmed in Addis Ababa, in political alliance against the TPLF. The sporadic social media campaign came at a time during the violent occupation of the Amhara region as TPLF was making gains militarily and attempting to advance to Addis Ababa. The Twitter accounts who support the campaign are led by the three dominant ethnic and political bases in both Eritrea and Ethiopia represented by Hermela Aregawi (Tigraya), Simon Tesfamariam (Tigrinya) and Nebiyu Asfaw (Amhara). The #NoMore campaigns and protests have attracted very large crowds in the U.S. But the large crowd is primarily Amhara because this is the main group that forms the Ethiopian diaspora in North America. The Amhara population also numbers 20 million in Ethiopia, and are the second largest group after the Oromos who number over 40 million people.

Despite the claim to represent all of Ethiopia, the Oromos and other historically marginalized groups are hardly part of the social media campaign. The same can be said with all of the Eritreans and Somalis. Both the Amhara and Tigrayans, due to their dominant grip of Ethiopia over the century, enjoy the settler-colonial privilege with scholarships, visas, and aid to live in the diaspora. This is the reason why they are the dominant voices of what we call “Ethiopia” - online and offline.

The good aspect of the #NoMore campaign is that it is significant to witness Eritreans and Ethiopians engaging each other and sharing a common struggle. That, itself is historic.The campaign focused on the crimes of the TPLF on Eritrea, Amhara, and Afar region is the best thing about it. What is problematic is the shifty co-option of “anti-imperialist” rhetoric. While the leaders of the #NoMore campaign are vehemently critical of Washington’s foreign policy, if at least temporarily, their opposition seem to only demand that the leaders Isaias Afwerki and Abiy Ahmed have a seat at the table – presumably with the imperialists. They should be calling, instead, for the destruction of the table.

The bad aspect of the #NoMore campaign is its deployment of reactionary rhetoric and symbolism: the foregrounding of the imperial Abyssinia flag; the exaltation of feudal Abyssinian monarchs; the romanticization of the “Battle of Adwa ;” and the pushing of the propaganda that “Ethiopia is 3000 years old independent state.” This social media campaign has alienated the Oromos and other marginalized communities.

The ugly is that the national question - the goal of decolonizing the settler-state of Ethiopia, and the overall need for a wider class struggle of the masses in the Horn of Africa - has taken a back seat in the #NoMore campaign. In fact, the articulated electoral strategy of “Vote Republican” should demonstrate that this is not a sincere anti-imperialist campaign.

How Can The Left Get It Right?

It is important for western leftists to focus on imperialism and not take a hardline position on the internal politics of Ethiopia by not being sensitive to all the contradictions. The PFDJ is able to recognize the primary contradiction being the imperialist lackey TPLF in Ethiopia but fails to recognize the other internal contradictions (the national question). This is where the TPLF has a lifeline. For the PFDJ to not acknowledge the secondary contradiction is also to not have the correct analysis on the ways that the Abyssinian ruling class exploits these contradictions to further their settler-colonial agenda. These secondary contradictions are weaponized to exasperate the primary contradiction. We see, for example, how the TPLF is using the plight of the oppressed nationalities to mask their settler-colonial ambitions. PFDJ representatives dismiss the oppressed nationalities as just “tribalists” and “ethnofascist,” a move that alienates the historically oppressed nationalities.

Failure to actively engage the contradictions of the national question also gives legitimacy to Abiy who, in addition to espousing more neoliberal policies than TPLF, has denied the historical grievances of Oromos and others in Ethiopia.

The left should oppose imperialism, but without ignoring the Ethiopian national question. Tigray was never a part of the oppressed nationalities but benefited from the fruits of settler colonialism. Tigray region’s political struggle with the Amhara region dates back to the period of Ethiopia’s creation in the late 1800s. The ideological struggle in the present is over who is to be the face of the Ethiopian settler-colonial state.

The left or anti-colonial forces in the past also got it wrong when they gave solidarity to slave-owning Menelik with the “Battle of Adwa,” legitimizing the conquest of the oppressed nationalities; to Selassie during the fascist Italian invasion of Ethiopia by helping to restore his feudal rule; to the pseudo-Marxist Derg regime which hijacked the revolutionary momentum in Ethiopia; and to Meles Zenawi under the banner of state developmentalism.

The modern left must not make the same historical mistake in not being sensitive to the decolonial question of Ethiopia.

The left must heed to words of the Eritrean and Ethiopian revolutionaries of the 1960s and 70s. One noted Ethiopian voice from that time is Tilahun Takele, who stated: “We believe that the recognition and support of the right of secession by revolutionary Ethiopians, especially those from the dominant nations, will foster trust and fraternity among the various nationalities.”

https://www.blackagendareport.com/how-l ... gly-nomore
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

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Re: Africa

Post by blindpig » Sat Dec 18, 2021 2:56 pm

The Fall of the Dream of Elections in Libya
Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on DECEMBER 17, 2021
Dr. Mustafa Al-Zaidi

Many, including myself, did not believe that the international community managing the Libyan crisis was serious about establishing a Libyan national authority with popular legitimacy, so they looked with suspicion at the announcement of general elections on the twenty-fourth of December, especially since the so-called Dialogue Committee, appointed by the UN mission as a guardianship authority over Libya, adopted the declaration and formed the temporary authority entrusted with the task of the elections.

I admit that the scenario was confusing in a way that convinced the majority of Libyans that a solution appeared on the horizon, so they raced to register in the voter register, and advanced massively to run for the position of the president and for membership of the House of Representatives, until the total of candidates’ nominations reached one million voters, or 40% of the total voters, and the remaining period of the elections was calculated in hours. Then something suddenly happened that stopped everything!

The so-called international community, represented by the ambassadors of America, Britain and France, discovered that the reins had slipped from their hands, so the theatrical performance could no longer continue, and it was necessary to immediately change the scene so that the play would fool the audience. They were sure that the elections would undoubtedly produce an authority consisting of patriotic people who would work to build a strong independent state, achieve true national reconciliation and get Libya out of the cycles of chaos, corruption, dependency, and end the power of militias. Especially after the popularity of the supporters of the Al-Fateh revolution and the armed forces’ overwhelming support appeared. During random salary increases, uncontrolled loans, and squandering billions, and despite his pledge not to enter the elections, polls showed that the Dabaiba’s chances were close to zero, so it was decided to return to square one.

And suddenly Stephanie Williams returned in a new position to circumvent the positions of some members of the Security Council opposing the Western position.In any case, Stephanie was returned to rewrite and revise the scenario, according to two conditions: the first to postpone the elections until it is ascertained that the results will undoubtedly be in the interest of the West, and the second is to re-enforce the exclusion laws so that they prevent certain people from participating in them.

We can say with confidence, the elections have fallen! This poor chapter of the farce has ended, and Libyans must wait for another time – which will not be soon – to dream of restoring the state.

A message to those who understand the extent of the nation’s suffering: There is no alternative to self-reliance, and the cohesion of national forces with the people and the military and security establishment to launch a purely national project to build the new Libya.

Dr. Mustafa Al-Zaidi is the head of the Libyan National Movement Party (formerly the Libyan Peoples National Movement).

https://libya360.wordpress.com/2021/12/ ... -in-libya/

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Militias Threaten Military Escalation to Postpone the Libyan Elections
Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on DECEMBER 17, 2021

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Editorial Comment: The Dabaiba government, following orders from Turkey, failed to prepare the security environment for holding elections. Meanwhile, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation in the Government of National Unity, Najla Al-Manqoush, is in Istanbul today, attending the Turkish-African Summit. – A.V.

Libyan political circles described the military escalation that some militias waved as the last card in the plan to cancel the elections, especially after the arrival of the Adviser to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Stephanie Williams, whose visit was accompanied by the cessation of news that circulated recently regarding an agreement between Prime Minister Abdel Hamid Dabaiba and the leader of Army Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar to share power and postpone the elections.

These circles said that American diplomacy closed all outlets to politicians leading to the postponement or cancellation of the elections, so the militias raised local and international fears of a war if the delay demands were ignored.

The commander of the so-called “Sumoud Brigade,” Salah Badi, threatened to close all state institutions in Tripoli, because they “work abroad, not inside.”

Badi appeared in a video circulated on social media pages as he spoke during a meeting with a group of his supporters, and launched a violent attack on Stephanie Williams, and the way the elections are supposed to take place. He stressed that “there will be no presidential elections as long as the men are present, and I agreed with the men to close all state institutions in Tripoli.” Badi’s statements (one of the most prominent militia leaders in Misrata) came after a visit by Stephanie Williams to the city with important political and military weight in western Libya.

Followers of the Libyan political affairs say that Williams’ approach reflects an American insistence on holding the elections on time, and that the installation of a stable authority is what the United States wants, which requires paying attention to the next step, which may be forming an alliance with that authority to expel the Russian Wagner mercenaries from the east and south of the country.

These observers believe that Washington does not have a specific candidate for these elections, and is ready to work with any party except for Saif al-Islam Qaddafi, and that Washington and Stephanie Williams are keen to prevent his candidacy.

Badi’s threats preceded a military escalation in the southern city of Sebha, where clashes took place on Tuesday between forces loyal to the Government of National Unity and another affiliated with the army, during which two people were killed. While it is not yet clear who is behind this escalation and whether they want war, local sources indicated that Haftar demanded the 166th Brigade withdraw from the city after the commander of Major General Masoud Jedi, who belongs to the Awlad Suleiman tribe – the major tribes of the south. Arab – defected from the army.

At first, the clashes seemed to be accidental, and it is not surprising that they occurred in light of the fragile security and political stability in the country. However, the publication of alerts regarding a huge mobilization of army forces in preparation for the attack on the city raised serious fears of a war.

These developments reflect the failure of the Dabaiba government to deal with the militia challenge, especially after it held a press conference a few days ago in which it reassured the people and the world that everything is fine and that there are no problems that will hinder the elections.

Preparing for the elections is the main task for which the national unity government came into being, but its president’s involvement in political quarrels, and then launching a premature election campaign using public money, confused its work and deviated it from its main goal.

Observers say that Dabaiba, who worked during the past months to build popularity that would allow him to run and win elections, now does not want these elections at all. They believe that the popularity that he built quickly also collapsed quickly on the impact of media campaigns launched against him by his competitors, especially after publication of news that he lied about obtaining a degree from a Canadian university, in addition to raising issues related to waste of public money and corruption.

During recent days, Dabaiba raised the salaries of some sectors, in addition to allocating forty thousand dinars (about $10,000) grants to encourage young people to marry. However, his inability to solve several living problems, such as the rise in the prices of basic commodities, in addition to the continuing problems of the electrical network, coinciding with the advent of winter, reduced the momentum of any measures he had taken.

Al Arab

Translation by Internationalist 360°

https://libya360.wordpress.com/2021/12/ ... elections/
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

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Re: Africa

Post by blindpig » Thu Dec 23, 2021 2:30 pm

Libyan presidential elections postponed

The Libyan election committee has proposed January 24 as the new date for the elections due to unresolved disputes regarding the electoral laws and the presence of foreign troops in the country

December 23, 2021 by Peoples Dispatch

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President of the High National Electoral Commission, Emad Al-Sayeh (L), with chairman of the parliament-selected committee, Al Hadi Al-Saghyeir. (Photo: LANA)

On Wednesday, December 22, barely two days before the scheduled presidential vote in Libya on December 24, the High National Electoral Commission (HNEC) recommended January 24, 2022 as the new date for the elections. The head of the HNEC proposed the new date after the parliament refused to officially announce the postponement of the elections. In the absence of an official declaration, this effectively means the scheduled elections are finally postponed.

“After consulting the technical, judicial and security reports, we inform you of the impossibility of holding the elections on the date of December 24, 2021 provided for by the electoral law,” Al-Hadi al-Sagheer, chairman of the committee, wrote to the head of the parliament on Wednesday, Al-Jazeera reported.

The conflict over the electoral law has made it impossible for the HNEC to publish the final list of candidates yet. There were several candidates like Khalifa Haftar and Saif al-Islam Gaddafi who were first disqualified by the HNEC but were later reinstated by courts. The candidature of interim prime minister Abdelhamid Dbeibah has also raised concerns. This has undermined the legitimacy of the electoral process. Apart from the electoral law, questions related to the presence of foreign troops in the country and uncertainty about the roles of certain institutions have also raised questions about the electoral process.

The HNEC had already announced in November the postponement of parliamentary elections to January next year. They were originally supposed to be held together with the presidential elections,

Following its failure to publish the final list of candidates, the HNEC announced the dissolution of all local poll committees on December 21, but refrained from formally announcing the postponement of the elections.

Even before the announcement of the postponement, concerns about the possible re-emergence of armed conflict were expressed by the UN. On December 21, the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) raised concerns about regrouping of armed groups in the capital Tripoli and asked the parties to resolve their dispute through dialogue.

National elections were agreed upon by all major parties involved in the decade-long war in Libya through the political process started last year under UN leadership. A permanent ceasefire was agreed to in October last year and an interim administration was elected by the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum (LPDF) in February and approved by the parliament in March. The interim administration, known as National Unity Government, consisting of a presidential council and a cabinet headed by Abdelhamid Dbeibah, was charged with conducting the December 24 elections.

https://peoplesdispatch.org/2021/12/23/ ... postponed/

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Humanitarian Hawks Demand War on Ethiopia, National Guard Deploys to the Horn
Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor 14 Dec 2021

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Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti

News of the deployment of National Guard troops to an unspecified location in the Horn of Africa is an indication that US interference in the region will continue.

The dominant corporate and state media have reported for months that Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, will soon fall to the Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), a treasonous splinter of the Ethiopian National Defense Forces (ENDF) that started a civil war by attacking an Ethiopian federal army base on November 3, 2020. However, the dominant press have of late been unable to deny that the ENDF has retaken cities, towns, and territory in the Amhara and Afar Regional States, both of which border the Tigray Regional State.

The TPLF is a longstanding ally of the US, which supported its brutal 27-year, minority rule in exchange for its army’s service to the US agenda on the African continent. Its proponents have stridently called for US military action to stop what they call genocide in Tigray, even though UN and Ethiopian Human Rights Commission investigators concluded that there is no genocide taking place.

I spoke with Ann Fitz-Gerald, Director of the Balsillie School of International Relations at the University of Waterloo in Ontario. She has extensive experience in Ethiopia.

AG: Ann Fitz-Gerald, news came out this week that a thousand National Guardsmen from Virginia and Kentucky are deploying to Ft. Bliss, Texas now to train for deployment to the Horn of Africa at the turn of the year.

Nearly half the troops in Afghanistan and Iraq were National Guardsmen, so that's nothing new. But what do you think of this escalation of boots on the ground? Especially to a region as increasingly volatile as the Horn?

AF: It’s not totally clear what these troops have been deployed for. A press release stated that it was to support safety and stability in the region. The statement said the objective is to provide security for the forward operating bases maintained by the Department of Defense, to build partnerships with host nations, and to improve safety and stability in the region.

Other sources have disclosed that it is the largest single unit Virginia National Guard mobilization since WWII . So it’s definitely gained a lot of interest.

The National Guard is a unique element of the military, with a direct line of command both to the state governor and the federal authorities. But they respond to domestic emergencies and overseas combat missions, counter drug efforts, reconstruction missions, and more. Sometimes the National Guards, which are often called “paramilitary forces” in other countries, are more effective than the regular military units in supporting things like domestic emergencies such as crowd control, disaster management, and community defense and resilience.

In this case, the deployment may be for contingency purposes, augmentation purposes. Should the military contingency force, known as CJTF—the Horn of Africa Combined Joint Task Forces— be deployed, maybe the National Guard troops would provide security to this and other forward operating bases and/or be used for other augmentation purposes, not only in the case where the main force would become deployed, but also for the purposes of drawing on wider competencies of the Guards, which are more oriented to domestic crises like civil unrest and natural disasters.

One may argue that it’s quite surprising with troops returning home from Iraq and Afghanistan, and the drawdowns in those theaters of operations, that the government would draw on the National Guard to deploy overseas. On the other hand, the National Guard could arguably cover a wider range of missions. We are dealing these days with wider security threats. So maybe the US government is looking for that wider flexibility and agility in support of its ongoing operations on the continent.

AG: It seemed for a moment that you might be saying the National Guard does especially nice things. But this is alarming, to say the least, to Ethiopians who’ve expected the US to start drone bombing, or invade in some other way, for the past year.

AF: That’s what the risk always is when the directives come across as very general or slightly unclear, and when there is a crisis in the region as well. It is easy to jump to conclusions and make assumptions.

And I am sure that constituencies in the US might also be alarmed by the costs of losing domestic support in states like Virginia to overseas missions. They might ask whether that’s the best use of the National Guard while we’re still in the COVID crisis and facing climate calamities like wildfires, hurricanes, and rising sea levels.

Others may assume that the US is scaling up its military operations in the Horn of Africa so as to take military action in Ethiopia, but I would encourage people not to jump to conclusions. This may be part of a wider vision that the US government has for its military footprint in Africa, not just in the Horn.

The US recently announced, back in March 2021, a new direction for national security that was intricately tied to the US’s economic interests at home and overseas. So it may be part and parcel of a wider mission, all of which would involve a more deeply embedded footprint in the Horn of Africa.

AG: I can’t say I find that reassuring.

AF: Well, it may also relate to the US Embassy in Addis Ababa encouraging US nationals to get out of the country as soon as they can and suggesting that they might need help.

In addition to that, there are more regional issues such as the recent coup in Sudan. The US military still has a dominant presence in the Sudanese government. We also see election uncertainty and unrest in Somalia.

AG: Do you think there’s any good reason for the US military to be in Africa and/or any benefit for the African people?

AF: Well, we’ve been talking for a long time now about African solutions to African challenges and a wider role to be taken on the by the African Union. And not just the African Union, but the continent’s regional economic mechanisms and regional economic communities.

The US Department of Defense was in the past focused on the potential for mass migration to Europe and North America. Another concern is keeping shipping routes and waterways protected and open.

AG: Today California 30th District Congressman Brad Sherman suggested blocking trade going in and out of Ethiopia and Eritrea through the Red Sea and the Gulf of Oman. With a Chinese base as well as a US base in Djibouti, that could cause a greater logjam than that cargo ship that got stuck in the Suez Canal earlier this year.

AF: I agree that doesn’t sound wise. Are Americans really served by a wider US military footprint than the one we have already seen on the African continent? During a time when the number of African standby forces across the continent has increased? When there have been efforts to develop a collaborative arrangement between the UN and the African Union (AU) to support African peacekeeping missions? One would think this US presence should now be scaled down to let Africans solve their own problems.

AG: Lots of people on the African continent, and those who are critical of US and Western policy in Africa, think that elite Western interests are just there to dominate, exploit, and indebt them, and steal their natural resources. Do you think they are honestly there for anything else?

AF: They are there to protect US foreign policy interests and US national security interests. It should also be noted that earlier on this year, the US announced new plans for their national security strategy to be indistinguishable from their plans for a new economic strategy.

That economic strategy has implications for building back better at home in the US vis a vis its overseas economic interests. So it seems that there is a renewed interest that the US has taken in mineral resources across the African continent and the Arabian/Nubian Shield . There is an interest in having access to those natural resources: lithium, niobium, and other minerals that are key to pivoting to a cleaner, greener economy, which is the main thrust of the US economic plans. That would require access to these minerals and resources, but also stability to support that access.

AG: But the US sows chaos wherever it goes, as it has in Libya, Syria, and Somalia, just to name those nations nearest Ethiopia.

AF: Well, its logical goals should be stability, peace, and security on the African continent. In the longer term, stability should in fact benefit the pursuit of American economic interests across the continent.

AG: I can’t help laughing. I’m sure you’ve noticed that I talk more colloquially, like a journalist, while you talk like an academic. We are both who we are.

AF: Yes we are. As an academic I’m required to discuss things in a certain way, but we agree about a lot and have enough in common to talk.

AG: OK, the TPLF has been claiming that they are winning the war in Ethiopia, and the western press has been chanting day after day that the TPLF is close to seizing Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia. Every day there are reports in the US and European capitals that they are withdrawing embassy personnel and that NGO staff and foreign citizens are fleeing at the behest of their governments.

Today, however, these outlets, even the dominant corporate outlets, are reporting that the Ethiopian National Defense Force is recapturing northern towns and districts. What do you think is going to happen militarily?

AF: We’ve seen a lot of different media reports on issues concerning the trajectory of the conflict, and developments on the battlefield. And of course CNN published a story with photos taken way back in May in the Tigray Regional State, but said that they were TPLF rebel forces on the outskirts of Addis, and that the TPLF had the city encircled.

On the contrary, we’ve now learned from local Ethiopian media that the town of Lalibela has been retaken, as have a number of other northern districts in the North Wollo Regional State, the region just south of the Tigray Region. North Wollo is where there are communities all along the border with Tigray.

Lalabella is an historic and holy city, famous for its churches carved out of rock in the 12th and 13th centuries. It’s a UNESCO world heritage site, and people both inside and outside Ethiopia were alarmed when the TPLF seized it.

The national defense forces have also retaken cities including Gashena, where five strategic routes come together, including the road into Tigray Region and onward onto Tigray’s capital, Me’kele. We have also been informed by national and local media sources that the TPLF has suffered some very heavy losses at the front lines of these battle areas.

I understand that the TPLF no longer have a presence at all in the Afar Region.

Forced recruitment by the TPLF rebels, however, has continued across different segments of the Tigray Regional State population, and as a result, many people who lack experience in soldiering are coming to the front lines. This has resulted in large, tragic losses.

Local Ethiopian news is also reporting that there’ve been significant losses to the TPLF leadership. There was an announcement last week citing that 12 senior leaders had been killed. The Ethiopian army’s air strikes are also continuing and they have targeted the TPLF supply lines that were running between Mek’ele and other areas, and in the border region with Amhara Regional State.

We are seeing a likely TPLF defeat in the Amhara region, but the question is, now that Afar has been cleared of conflict, why do remaining TPLA fighters from Amhara keep increasing in numbers? What happens next? I expect a TPLF defeat, after which democracy and peace should be declared as the pillars of the post-conflict pathway.

Priority has to be given to an interim administration set up in the Tigray Region which makes space for all political groupings, all opposition groups as well—plural politics. And in all the conflict-affected regions, rebuilding the infrastructure must take priority.

The Ministry of Peace reported back in August that some critical infrastructure in Tigray had been destroyed repeatedly by TPLF fighters and had been reconstructed and rebuilt several times. But these services extend to banking as well. All these critical services need to be supported. And social programs. Support to these sorts of programs will win the support of the people. It is the confidence of these conflict -affected communities that the government really needs to win back.

Social programs are important for community healing and community-based and political-based dialogue. There are issues concerning accountability and rule of law, which very much depends on which leaders remain in position at the top of the TPLF organization.

What leaders were responsible for strategic command and control of the fighting, and specifically the attack on the northern manned outposts that launched this war in the first place? I would say, in the spirit of prioritizing peace and democracy, that in parallel with holding this very small group of leaders to account, the government should consider granting a blanket amnesty to all others. It would be a magnanimous move on the government’s part and it would help support the much needed healing and space for dialogue.

AG: The US has seemed determined to see the government of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed fall. The constant calls of genocide in Tigray are like those that usually precede US bombing campaigns, as they did in Libya and Syria. There was a piece in The Guardian saying that genocide is imminent and we must act. One of its authors was a former head of the United Nations Development Program, whom WHO Chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus—a former TPLF minister—had appointed to co-chair the WHO’s Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response.

Do you see any retreat from all this crusading and the very real possibility that the US might attack Ethiopia, claiming it has to “stop genocide?”

AF: I’ve seen some concerning things that have come out as statements by US policy makers, particularly by the State Department. That has generated anti-U.S. sentiment back in Ethiopia and also across the Ethiopian diaspora community. There’s been constant criticism of the Ethiopian government, and punitive sanctions imposed on Ethiopia and its ally Eritrea, but none on the TPLF. This has emboldened the TPLF and given it no incentive to stand down. So the TPLF incursions outside Tigray have continued, the insurgency has continued, and the violence and destruction has continued.

On the genocide issue, I read some online US national news about this, which referred to a decision to halt any official decision made on a genocide designation. The claim of genocide has been debunked by a recent report written by investigators from the UN and the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission, but despite this report, many media outlets, most of all CNN and its foreign correspondent Nima Elbagir, have continued to cry genocide. Elbagir, in her recent moderation of a panel hosted at Yale University—which featured 2 senators from the human rights caucus—seemed to be pushing the US to disregard the UN report and adopt a domestic designation of genocide.

AG: You were disinvited from that panel at Yale, weren’t you? I read this report, Yale hosts Ethiopia conference amid social media controversy, disinvites speaker . It quotes you saying, ““I had no objection to being asked to stand down from the event. I understand that others did complain on the basis that Ethiopian voices were not represented at the event.”

AF: There wasn’t a single Ethiopian voice and in the end, the panel was not only all white but also all male. CNN’s Nima Elbagir, the only woman and the only person of color, moderated.

AG: So they didn’t even much bother with the optics of ten white men debating the fate of a Black African nation.

AF: No, they didn’t.

AG: The US has also demanded “negotiations without preconditions” for almost a year, implying that the TPLF and the federal government are equals who should surrender everything, then just sit down and talk to each other. What do you think about that?

AF: The issue of negotiations, much less negotiations without preconditions, is a non-starter with Ethiopians. You can flip this on its head and say the Biden administration wouldn’t go to the negotiation table with the insurrectionists who stormed Capitol Hill after Trump lost the last US presidential election. Ethiopia should not be treated with different standards.

The Ethiopian people need this war to end. The world needs this war to end. The unnecessary loses, the destruction to livelihoods, all of this needs to stop. And a more peaceful pathway involving rebuilding, needs to start. This is not going to be an easy task, but it is one that the country must prioritize, one that should be supported and cannot be rushed. Healing, development, forgiveness, and social reconstruction will take many years. That’s what we should be thinking about, as western partner countries at the moment. Support for peace.

AG: Despite its protestations about negotiations, the US government has acted as though peace in the region is the last thing they’re interested in. Just as peace is the last thing they were interested in when they went to war with Libya and Syria. So why would you expect anything different?

AF: That’s the disappointing side of things about US policy on Ethiopia and the wider Horn of Africa region. While the US takes a very short term view of its own interests, enormous diplomatic and cooperative opportunities are foregone. Arguments about the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, which US ally Egypt does not want to see completed, has taken away from discussions on regional economic cooperation that could have gone on in the meantime. The US needs to take a longer view of its own interests and those of the region.

AG: As a journalist, I feel it’s my job to describe what is as well as I can, and I can’t help being cynical, but I know that, as a professor at the Balsillie School of International Affairs , you need to propose a better way forward, as you’re doing.

AF: Trying to.

AG: This week, we’ve seen leaked footage of a meeting in which former and current western diplomats met with a senior TPLF member and spokesperson, despite US claims to neutrality. What do you think of this video?

AF: The video became viral and infamous quite quickly. It was a big leak. My own concerns about the video were the way in which a so-called civil society organization platformed a known leader of a nationally declared terrorist group, the TPLF.

AG: Hold on, you need to explain what you mean by “nationally declared terrorist group.”

AL: There was a vote in the Ethiopian parliament which designated the TPLF as a terrorist group following its attack on the Northern Command post on the 3rd and 4th of November 2020. To give a platform to Berhane Gebre-Christos, a leader and spokesperson of that group—for a civil society organization to do that—is not good practice. No one should provide platforms for groups that commit high crimes.

Berhane Gebre-Christos said he wanted to create a “transitional government,” meaning to topple the legitimately elected government of Ethiopia, and the Western diplomats and former diplomats there agreed with him.

It’s totally inappropriate for any current or previously serving diplomat to get mixed up with a group plotting a coup.

My other concern is that the website of this NGO in question claimed that the organization had been receiving funds from the USAID and the NED. And then, very quickly, after the video was released, we saw many so-called board members and founding members speaking out, claiming that they had in fact not been playing the role suggested by the video and the organization’s website.

AG: What organization?

AF: The civil society group that was hosting the meeting. It’s called Peace and Development Center Ethiopia, and its website is pdcethiopia.org . They hosted the meeting that the leaked video had covered.

AG: Is there anything you’d like to say about the role of the USAID and NED?

AF: I don’t know the extent of their projects that USAID and NED are funding.It just stated on the website that the organization did receive funds from both USAID and NED.

AG: The US government’s aggressive policy is so short sighted that it’s obviously pushing Ethiopia into collaboration with China, which is exactly what they’re trying to stop. It’s incredibly stupid. One might imagine that USAID Administer Samantha Power and Secretary of State Anthony Blinken are agents of the Chinese government.

AF: I agree that it’s very unwise and short-sighted. And it is the opposite of the U.S.’s stated and perceived goals.

AG: Is there anything else you’d like to say?

AF: I hope to see peace take root in Ethiopia and across the wider Horn of Africa region very soon. I hope we’ll be having interviews of a very different sort in the near future.

https://www.blackagendareport.com/human ... ploys-horn

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BRIEFING ON THE POLITICAL SITUATION IN SUDAN
Posted by MLToday | Dec 21, 2021 | Other Featured Posts | 0

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BY THE SUDANESE COMMUNIST PARTY
DECEMBER 13, 2021


– As a background to the recent developments before and after the military coup of the 25th October 2021, it is worth mentioning that the struggle in the country since the uprising in September 2013 is between the forces demanding radical change, that include the overthrow, dismantling and liquidating the dictatorial regime of the Muslim Brotherhood and establishing a democratic civilian rule, and the forces that stand for a compromise, as included in the project of Soft Landing developed and proclaimed by US imperialism. This project seeks to draw certain political parties and armed groups whose interests are similar to the foreign interests and form a part of the ruling circles and to enlarge their social base.

– The Sudanese Communist Party, together with the patriotic and democratic forces, continues to reject the imperialist and reactionary forces and to pursue the revolutionary path by coordinating, mobilizing and organizing actions by the workers peasants, the Resistance Committees and the professional bodies. This was reflected in the first mass protest actions in January 2018. And since then the grassroots work has resulted in drawing tens of thousands who joined the struggle on the platform provided by the Sudanese CP and its allies. In fact the main popular slogan of the masses is the slogan of the 6th Congress of the Sudanese CP.

– It is along these lines the struggle continues till today.

– With the sharpening of the political and class contradictions, the advances made by the mass democratic peaceful protest actions, the Security Committee of Al-Bashir regime staged its coup on 25th October 2021 with the main purpose of blocking the advance of the masses and aborting the gains of the December 2018 Revolution.

-The attempts of the Security Committee and those political and armed groups to hide behind the Revolution’s slogan of Freedom, Peace and Justice did not deceive anyone, and is a lie that has no legs.

-The 25th of October coup was preceded by the introduction of amendments to the Constitutional Document, as its most important provisions were totally violated and torn apart. These amendments, that were included in the first announcement by the coup leaders, stressed on the Juba Agreement and the establishment of the Council of Partners which paved the way for the political and constitutional onslaught against the revolutionary process.

– The Sudanese CP has condemned the coup and the arrest of civilians, including the active members of the Resistance Committees, and the usurping of political and democratic rights. It strongly condemned the use of brutal force against the protesters which resulted in the death of 54 demonstrators and over 150 wounded, some of them are in very critical condition.

-To legitimize the coup and under the pressure of international and regional pressure, the coup leader Burhan signed a political agreement with Hamdok promising to establish a civilian government under the tutelage of the Security Committee. This agreement was rejected by the overwhelming majority of political forces. The coup paves the way for a sharp right-wing turn at the top of the present regime. It constitutes a return to dark days of Al-Bashir’s era of “Ghost Houses” which were secret detention and torture centres.

– The Sudanese democratic and patriotic forces have achieved many victories, and with awareness and courage they have defeated their enemies and have protected their revolution. The epics of the mass marches numbering in millions, during the period from 30th June 2019 to October, November and December 2021, are the most prominent features of the resilience and steadfastness of the masses in heroic resistance to the dictatorial regime.

– The Sudanese CP is working with all the relevant forces to strengthen and establish the broadest front to resist and defeat the coup. In this context, cooperation, coordination and united actions with the workers, the Resistance Committees, and the Preparatory Committees to establish trade unions, the Demands Committees, the Professional Alliance and the civil society are vital for the defeat of the coup.

– The Sudanese CP calls for the continuation of mass actions. These actions are a result of mobilization of the grassroots where the party local branches, the workers the youth, students and women organizations play their role to draw the masses, irrespective of their political affiliation, to the battle against the coup and for dismantling and liquidation of the dictatorial rule. The SCP calls on the masses and their organizations to redouble their joint efforts for the realization of an economic policy aimed at solving the present hardship faced by the majority of the people. This includes rejecting the dictates of the IMF and the World Bank. Furthermore, it demands the dissolution of all militias, including the Rapid Defence Force, and the establishment of a comprehensive popular peace in Darfur as an alternative to the quota-based Juba Agreement, achieving justice and retribution for all the martyrs and the handing over of the deposed dictator to the International Criminal Court.

– The Sudanese CP expresses its gratitude to all Communist and Workers parties who have expressed their prompt and unwavering support to the struggle of our people. The SCP strongly denounces the position of certain communist parties which have remained silent, thus betraying the ideals and principle of internationalism and solidarity that unite our movement.

-To defeat the coup and continue the struggle to achieve the goal of establishing the complete democratic civilian rule, the Sudanese CP emphasize the importance of escalating mass actions in various forms, including protest marches, protest strikes and vigils, besieging the coup at home and abroad, as well as the mobilization of the widespread and persistent popular movement to prepare for launching the general political strike and civil disobedience. All these actions of struggle are being waged to achieve and build the complete democratic civilian rule in Sudan.

https://mltoday.com/briefing-on-the-pol ... -in-sudan/
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

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Re: Africa

Post by blindpig » Sat Dec 25, 2021 3:54 pm

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Eritrea Versus AFRICOM
December 23, 2021
By Dina M. Asfaha – Dec 2, 2021

The rapid expansion of AFRICOM on the African continent should be a cause for concern as African nations are quickly surrendering their sovereignty to the US. As the only country without a relationship to AFRICOM, Eritrea bears the brunt of US vilification. We must salute Eritrea’s ongoing project of national liberation.

The U.S. has built military-to-military relations with 53 out of the 54 African countries that include agreements to cede operational command to AFRICOM, the U.S. Africa Command. The broad network of AFRICOM military bases, as well as those from France and other world powers, are examples of how African states are surrendering their sovereignty through neocolonial relationships with Western countries. African self-determination and national sovereignty are impossible as long as the U.S. and its European allies are allowed to use military power to control African land, labor, and resources.

A major component of AFRICOM’s activities includes the indoctrination of African security forces through military training, including through the Africa Contingency Operations Training and Assistance Program (ACOTA) (formerly the African Crisis Response Initiative) (ACRI) ), Africa Center for Strategic Studies (ACSS) , International Military Training and Education (IMET) Program, and the numerous military exercises carried out by AFRICOM forces, including African Lion , Cutlass Express , Phoenix Express , Obangame Express , and Flintlock , among many other exercises, which have included participation from almost every African country. As Netfa Freeman pointed out in a recent article, “an indoctrination about the inherent goodness of the U.S.-European role in Africa accompanies this military training with blindspots about the true legacy of colonialism.”

The U.S. military uses the myriad security challenges facing the African continent as an important justification for AFRICOM’s existence, and the most prominent of these justifications is the threat that the U.S.-led “war on terror” is seemingly addressing. However, these security challenges and terror threats are actually driven in large part by the presence of foreign militaries on the continent. Before September 11, 2001, Africa seemed to be free of transnational terror threats . Since then, U.S. military efforts on the continent have grown in every conceivable way, from funding and boots on the ground to missions and outposts, while at the same time the number of transnational “terror” groups has increased in linear fashion . Despite this increase, extremist groups are active in less than 10 of the 54 countries in Africa. Justifications for AFRICOM’s presence on the continent, such as the rise of terrorist groups, ignore that the Pentagon and the CIA have recruited and trained extremists to fight as their proxies on many occasions.

It is clear that the African heads of state with working relationships with AFRICOM are surrendering their sovereignty and inviting a destabilizing presence.

Eritrea is the only country on the African continent without US military relations. In 1977, the last Americans at Kagnew Station, the U.S. military station in present-day Asmara, Eritrea, officially left the US’s listening post in the region. Kagnew was initially acquired through a deal with the Ethiopian government in 1943, an important geostrategic location for the US Navy during the Cold War. At the time, the Eritrean Armed Struggle for Independence against imperial Ethiopia (1961-1991) was ongoing; it was fear of heightened violence and warfare in Eritrea that led to the US’s ultimate and official withdrawal from Asmara and its closure of Kagnew in 1975.

This history is important in understanding the West’s contemporary vilification of Eritrea, as it is the only country on the African continent without a relationship with AFRICOM. We can’t and shouldn’t ignore the significance of this vilification as it relates to any African country’s sovereignty and the refusal to govern based on directives from the United Nations (or its allied entities). Eritrea’s defense forces are not only organized, but soldiers’ military training, skills, and expertise do not come from France, the United States, or any other major Western power. This is a notable difference from other African countries. Even the African Union’s standing army, the African Standby Forces, operates according to the UN’s notion of peacekeeping .

Today, a focal point of critique when it comes to Eritrea is its national service program, “Sawa,” which high school students complete in their final year (12th grade). In its conception in 1994, national service was supposed to be for a limited time period. However, conditions in Eritrea changed when the former political party of Ethiopia, the TPLF, an organization that initially claimed anti-imperialist aims , became a client to US interests in the Horn of Africa. This led to a border conflict and warfare from 1998 – 2000, which ended the period of peace between Eritrea and Ethiopia after formal Eritrean independence in 1991. Post-war, Eritrea was in a no war-no peace situation, whereby the specter of territorial infringement was a real possibility in a TPLF-led Ethiopia that consistently preached a vision of an Abay Tigray (Tigrinya for “large Tigray”) — a dream to expand into and occupy Eritrea, making it a Tigrinya ethno-state. For many, national service in Eritrea is ongoing.

National service is not a totally uncommon feature of modern day nation-states; countries from South Korea to Israel have national service, which include a military training component. But these countries are seldom critiqued for requiring military service of their citizens. The origin of Eritrea’s national service program, “Sawa,” in 1994 came from a need to give youth work post-war. Decades of colonialism and war left a nascent Eritrean society with purposefully destroyed infrastructures in an effort to de-skill Eritreans both technically and militarily. We can tie this to the US’s goal of “policy [and] security interests in Eritrea”when it sponsored the UN resolution to federate Eritrea with Ethiopia in 1952, setting off Haile Selassie’s imperial expansionist project in the Horn. These historical-political events are germane to understanding what it means for an African country like Eritrea, whose policies largely focus on developing human capital and capacity and protecting national sovereignty, and which chooses not to have US-European military relations.

It is helpful and interesting, then, to link Max Weber’s theory of states (and sovereignty), in which he posits that one feature of a legitimate state is a standing army, with how Jemima Pierre theorizes the manifestation of white supremacy and racism in Africa. What does it mean for African people to be organized and possess the military capabilities to defend themselves and their nation? We must eradicate the legacies of imperialism enacted through mechanisms like AFRICOM, which often manifest in unfounded accusations about terrorism and the levying of unjust sanctions . And we must salute and support Eritrea’s project of national liberation.

https://orinocotribune.com/eritrea-versus-africom/
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Re: Africa

Post by blindpig » Wed Dec 29, 2021 3:22 pm

Sudan: Protesters Vow to Stay on the Streets Despite Crackdown
Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on DECEMBER 28, 2021
Pavan Kulkarni

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Photo: Sudanese Professionals Association

At least 235 demonstrators were injured in a crackdown by Sudanese security forces on December 25 when people took to the streets in large numbers. The day marked two months since the military consolidated its power through a coup


At least 235 demonstrators were injured in a crackdown by Sudanese security forces on Saturday, December 25. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters took to the streets in cities across Sudan once again to resist the military’s consolidation of power by a coup two months ago. Despite the crackdown, protesters are defiant, and another ‘March of Millions’ is scheduled on Thursday.

Many of the injured were reportedly prevented from receiving treatment and detained from hospitals. Attacks on hospitals and medical personnel treating injured protesters were also reported.

“Apart from live bullets, they also use tear gas like bullets, firing canisters directly at the protesters,” Osama Saeed, a protester who is a member of the Sudanese Communist Party (SCP), told Peoples Dispatch.

The Central Committee of Sudan Doctors (CCSD) reported 20 injuries due to protesters being directly hit by the canisters. One of the injured is reportedly in an unstable condition. The doctors’ committee added that another 32 have suffered head injuries after being hit with batons.

In its statement on Sunday, December 26, CCSD added that 173 of the injuries occurred outside the Presidential Palace in the capital city Khartoum, where the offices of the members of the military junta are located.

The presidential palace was the destination where all the marches originating from different places in the three cities of Khartoum state – Khartoum, Khartoum North and Omdurman – were to congregate, Saeed said.

But the day before, the security forces closed all the bridges over the Nile connecting the three cities. Inside the three cities, “on all the main roads through which the rallies were to go through, they stationed the army, police and militias,” he said.

“There was fighting on all the main roads. Protesters clashed with the security forces preventing them from reaching the Presidential Palace,” Saeed added. The Khartoum State Security Affairs Coordination Committee maintains that 58 policemen were also injured.

When the protesters in Khartoum city overcame the cordons and reached the Presidential Palace, security forces opened live fire, shot tear gas and stun grenades, and attacked them with batons.

In Omdurman, protesters were attacked on the 40 Street beside the El Fithaab bridge which was blocked by the forces. The Mak Nimir Bridge which connects Khartoum North to Khartoum was blocked with containers – a move condemned by civil society as “a dangerous precedent that occurred for the first time in Sudan.”

The closure of bridges hampered the movement of medics and ambulances, even as hundreds of injured were in need, Joint Doctors Office (JDO) said in its statement. Security forces, its statement added, barged into Khartoum Teaching Hospital, and attacked medical staff who were treating the injured. Tear gas and stun grenades were also allegedly fired into the campus.

“A total of 114 suspects have been arrested and legal measures have been taken against them,” the State’s security committee said in a statement. The arrested protesters include the injured, who were prevented from receiving medical treatment and detained from hospitals.

The Sudanese Professionals Association (SPA) – a trade union coalition which along with the neighborhood Resistance Committees is leading the resistance to the coup on the streets – had called on lawyers to rush to the detention centers to secure the release of the detained. Concerns about torture of detainees are widespread in civil society.

During the previous ‘March of Millions’ on December 19, security forces killed at least two protesters, and wounded 300. “We have received deeply disturbing reports of sexual violence and harassment by security forces during [December 19] demonstrations,” the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights had said.

“Joint Human Rights Office in Sudan has received allegations that 13 women and girls were victims of rape or gang rape. We have also received allegations of sexual harassment by security forces against women who were trying to flee the area around the Presidential Palace on Sunday evening,” the UN body said.

Nevertheless, “the Sudanese people’s resistance to the coup.. continues steadily and vigorously, and it will not be stopped by oppressive actions” the SPA said in a statement on Tuesday, December 28, reiterating the call for another “March of Millions”, on December 30.

https://libya360.wordpress.com/2021/12/ ... crackdown/

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‘TPLF’s regime was throughout supported by US, EU financially, militarily, and politically’
Why have the western powers supported TPLF all this time? What has been the history of TPLF’s rise and fall from power in the country? Elias Amare, editor of Horn of Africa TV, explains.

December 28, 2021 by Peoples Dispatch



Throughout its regime, and even now during the current civil war in Ethiopia, the TPLF has enjoyed support from the United States and the European Union. Why have the western powers supported TPLF all this time? What has been the history of TPLF’s rise and fall from power in the country? Elias Amare, editor of Horn of Africa TV, explains.

https://peoplesdispatch.org/2021/12/28/ ... litically/

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Mass Demonstrations in Libya Demand an End to the Transitional Phase, the Overthrow of the Corrupt Political Class
Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on DECEMBER 25, 2021
Suzan Al-Ghitani

The wall of silence collapsed, and citizens broke the barrier of negativity, saying no to the continuation of chaos, the extension of the transitional stages, and the tampering with the future of country and the Libyan people. The demonstrations delivered strong messages as people gathered in various Libyan cities on December 24, the seventieth anniversary of Independence Day and the date that was scheduled for the first round of Presidential elections in Libya.

Demonstrators in Benghazi, Sebha, Sirte, Al-Bayda, Al-Jafra, Al-Jabal Al-Akhdar, Tobruk, Derna and many other cities took to the streets demanding that the elections not be postponed again and that the country not enter into a new transitional stage.

The participants also demanded not to confiscate or deny the right of the Libyan people to choose their executive and legislative authority through the elections, to confirm the final date proposed by the commission, which is January 24, not to postpone again, holding all those obstructing the electoral process accountable and holding the United Nations responsible for not fulfilling its obligations to the Libyan people.

The former head of the General Authority for Media, Culture and Civil Society in the interim government, Khaled Negm, confirmed that the participants in the Benghazi demonstrations protested the postponement of the elections. Negm added citizens condemned the confiscation of the Libyan people’s opinions and desire for elections, and demanded accountability from those obstructing the electoral process and stressed the need to hold the elections on January 24. Negm added that voters were very upset, especially as they were hoping to hold the elections, but they were shocked by the procrastination, whether from the High National Elections Commission or the House of Representatives.

Among the most important messages carried by Friday’s demonstrations, according to Libyan political analyst Fawzi Al-Haddad, is that the Libyan people have begun to wake up, indicating that they are counting on this transformation to become a strong popular movement that overthrows the corrupt political class in Libya.

Al-Haddad added that politicians were controlling the appearance of citizens in various areas, so we were witnessing demonstrations in one city with a set of demands, while other demonstrations came out rejecting these demands.

But what happened yesterday was very promising, as the masses of the Libyan people, east, west and south came out and issued statements emphasizing support for the peaceful democratic path, adding that we count on this transformation to become a strong popular movement that overthrows all the corrupt political class and spares Libya the dire fate in which it is still languishing until now.

Al-Haddad said that December 24 was the date that was supposed to change the Libyan political scene through the presidential elections but the politicians and those in control of the scene disappointed the hopes of all Libyans, especially 2.5 million Libyans who received their cards and eagerly waited for this dream to resolve the conflict over legitimacy in Libya. The politicians tampered with the aspirations of the Libyan people and obstructed the elections because of their deep differences.

Demonstrations in Sebha Reject a New Transitional Phase

A demonstration took place in front of the headquarters of the High National Elections Commission in the city of Sebha to express the refusal to enter Libya into a new transitional phase.

The head of the Supreme Council for Tribes and Cities of the South, Ali Misbah Abu Sbeiha, called the people of the city of Sebha to join the demonstrators in front of the Electoral Commission, stressing that it is a national duty to express their refusal to postpone the elections and to enter the country in a new transitional phase, which leads to an increase in suffering of the citizens and perpetuates insecurity.

Africa News Portal

Protests in the South Demand the Dissolution of Parliament if a New Transitional Period is Introduced

The people of the south of Libya demanded during a protest today that the parliament be considered dissolved in the event of its establishment of a new transitional period that exceeds the proposed date for holding the presidential elections by the Commission on January 24 and the overthrow of all existing bodies and executive bodies after postponing the elections until after January 24 for exceeding the specified periods for their work according to the road map approved by the Political Dialogue Forum, including the United Nations Security Council in its Resolution No. 2570 of 2021.

In a statement, the social components, political currents and entities, national forces, civil society institutions and a number of candidates for the parliamentary elections in the southern region affirmed the right of the Libyan people to choose the legislative and presidential authority through the ballot boxes and to expedite the announcement of the final list of presidential candidates within a week from today.

The statement rejected any postponement the date of the elections after January 24, and holds the House of Representatives and the Commission judicially accountable for violating the duties and tasks entrusted to it in accordance with the law regulating the presidential elections, and to hold the international community and the United Nations responsible for not fulfilling its obligations towards holding the elections on time, rejecting statements issued by some diplomatic missions Libya as blatant interference in Libyan internal affairs, calling on all the Libyan people to go out to the squares to express their opinion until this electoral process is accomplished.


Africa News Portal

Translation by Internationalist 360°

https://libya360.wordpress.com/2021/12/ ... cal-class/

Screenshots at link.
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Re: Africa

Post by blindpig » Mon Jan 03, 2022 2:52 pm

Sudan's prime minister resigns amid military coup

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"I announce my resignation from the post of prime minister to give the opportunity to a son or daughter of this country," said the premier. | Photo: EFE

Published 2 January 2022 (13 hours 38 minutes ago)

"We must renounce violence and division and believe in victory to build a new Sudan," said Abdullah Hamdok.

The Prime Minister of Sudan, Abdullah Hamdok announced his resignation on Sunday amid the repression and the demonstrations that took place in the country due to the establishment of a military coup on October 25, 2021.

"I announce my resignation from the post of Prime Minister to give the opportunity to a son or daughter of this generous homeland to lead and direct it during the remainder of the transition period towards a civil and democratic state," said Abdullah Hamdok.

Local media report that the Sudanese politician did not explicitly state the reason behind the resignation, but despite that he addressed "the young men and women of the resistance committees," those responsible for convening the days of protest against the coup de State and in favor of a civil government.


"You have done well and your firmness was inspiring and shaped the characteristics of a new Sudan," stressed Abdullah Hamdok, who sent the message of resignation 42 days after reaching an agreement with the military to return to the post. of the one who had been expelled by the blow.

“We must renounce violence and division and believe in victory to build a new Sudan. The future of the country is a democratic civil government. The people have the final authority and the security forces are under their orders to maintain their unity and territorial integrity (...). The revolution is advancing towards its goal and victory is inevitable, "said the Sudanese politician.

Hamdok was appointed prime minister in August 2019 and as a result of the coup, where the military dissolved the government, he was under house arrest for several weeks until he returned to office on November 21.

https://www.telesurtv.net/news/primer-m ... -0017.html

Google Translator

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Sudanese Communist Party, Urgent Call for International Solidarity and Condemning Bloody Repression of Mass Demonstrations
12/31/21 12:31 PM

To demand the immediate release of detained leaders of Resistance Committees and all political detainees
30 December 2021

The mass demonstrations that came out today, 30 December 2021, in the Sudanese capital Khartoum, Omdurman and other cities against military rule have been subjected to bloody repression. Security forces, police and Rapid Support Forces fired live bullets and tear gas against peaceful demonstrators, killing four people and wounding more than 200. Many leaders of the Resistance Committees have been detained as part of this wave of brutal repression, in a desperate attempt to crush the mounting mass protest movement since the military coup on 25 October.

An urgent appeal issued today by several medical associations called for urgent help to save the lives of the injured who were taken to hospitals, including critical cases. Some ambulances were prevented from evacuating the injured to hospitals.

The Sudanese Communist Party strongly condemns the escalation of bloody repression by the coup authority. It will continue working with all the relevant forces to strengthen and establish the broadest front to resist and defeat the coup and achieve complete democratic civilian rule in Sudan.

We call for urgent international solidarity to demand an end to the bloody repression in Sudan and the immediate release of all political detainees, especially the leaders of the Resistance Committees.

http://solidnet.org/article/Sudanese-Co ... strations/

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Indefinite Postponement of Elections

Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on DECEMBER 31, 2021

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Dabaiba states he will not relinquish his position and that his government will continue to operate, which constitutes a definitive departure from legitimacy,

In a tone of defiance, Abdel Hamid al-Dabaiba, head of the caretaker government in Libya, said that his government will continue its work until a constitution is drawn up and real elections are held that will produce a leadership for the country.

With such a statement, Libyans will have to wait for years during which a new draft of the constitution will be drawn up, consultations will be held, and a public referendum organized in which the people will either accept or reject that draft.

In light of the inaction and procrastination that serves the interests of the political elites and preserves their privileges, the Libyan people will endure a repeat of the scenario of the Government of National Accord headed by Fayez Al-Sarraj, which came to lead the country in a transitional phase that was not to exceed two years, yet it remained in power for five years, during which it perpetuated discord instead of reconciliation, war instead of peace, and division instead of unity.

On the fifth of last February, it was announced from within the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum in Geneva that Abdel Hamid al-Dabaiba had won the position of head of the new transitional government, and was on a joint list with the candidate for the presidency of the Presidential Council, Muhammad al-Manfi, and the candidates for its membership, Abdullah al-Lafi and Musa al-Koni, as they signed a commitment not to run for the elections, which they were tasked to organize for the twenty-fourth of December.

In mid-March, after receiving feedback and pressures from inside and outside, the House of Representatives held a plenary session in Sirte with the aim of considering granting confidence to the new government. This was done with the stipulation that this government would be a caretaker government until the twenty-fourth of December.

Al-Dabaiba felt that getting to rule a rich and influential country like Libya was not difficult, and would not cost him much compared to the gains he could achieve for himself, those around him, and those at the head of the executive authority, and it was easy to convince the United Nations, its agencies and major countries not to publish the results of the investigation into suspicions of corruption at the Tunis Forum in November 2020 related to huge sums paid to buy members’ votes.

Dabaiba surrounded himself with a professional communication team that polished his image to promote him as a candidate for the presidency of a country with a constitution which would allow him to practice not his own individual dictatorship, but the dictatorship of forces and groups that were behind planning to push him into power many years before – forces and groups linked to money, business, credit, financial and administrative corruption,the oil and gas markets, that have mobile hands inside the Central Bank of Libya with an external cover that is no longer hidden from anyone.

Dabaiba launched a wide propaganda campaign targeting most groups of society including the youth, workers, the poor, the needy, retirees, widows, divorced women, those married to foreigners, stateless persons and others. Within a few months, he approved unprecedented measures, including helping those wishing to marry, and raising the salaries of employees, thus turning into one of the most prominent Leaders of voting intentions, and to one of the most important candidates to compete for the presidency of the country.

Dabaiba had to move in another direction to win the support of militias, warlords, militants of the February 17 movement, political Islam groups and others, by expressing hostility to the army leadership in the east of the country and to Khalifa Haftar, marginalizing members of his government from the Cyrenaica region, including his deputy, Hussein al-Qatrani, and with an attempted coup against the articles of the political agreement. His advisers told him that he should appear as a popular leader capable of inspiring optimism in citizens about the possibility of benefiting from the vast looted wealth of their country, as well as as a regional leader, given that Tripoli represents a demographic majority that guarantees the majority of votes from the voter register to the polls.

On the ninth of September, the House of Representatives announced the final ratification of the presidential election law, which included the conditions for candidacy, stated in Article 12, that any official or civil or military employee must give up his job three months before the polling date. Parliament Aqila Saleh and army commander Khalifa Haftar abided by this condition, while Dabaiba ignored it.

On the twenty-second of September, the House of Representatives, the only legislative body in the country, decided to withhold confidence from the Dabaiba government, and limit it to operate strictly within its mandate until the twenty-fourth of December, after which it would become nil. On the twenty-first of November, when Dabaiba advanced his candidacy for the presidency, he exceeded his moral obligations to the Dialogue Forum and Article 12 of the Presidential Election Law.

Dabaiba was convinced that his relationship with the Electoral Commission and its head, Imad al-Sayeh, with its influence on judicial decisions, would help him to address any legal challenge to his candidacy to become a contender for the position of the first elected head of the Libyan state since its founding in 1951, which is precisely what happened,

The presidential elections were postponed for many reasons, most notably due to the legal and political violations that Dabaiba created by his candidacy, and the country entered a stage of sharp debate over the future of the government that lacked parliamentary legitimacy that acted within the framework of a de facto policy under the cover of international powers that shield corrupt lawbreakers, paying them to continue in their authoritarian positions, where they have been looting billions in Libyan wealth for over a decade.

Today, Dabaiba says he will not give up his position and that his government will continue. This constitutes a definitive departure from legitimacy, but what legitimacy? And when was legitimacy ever respected? Everything that has been going on in Libya for ten years is related to interests, deals and promises, which have resulted in internal and external looting by the wealthy. Just as Al-Sarraj remained in power for five years by de facto law, Dabaiba will balance the interests of local and foreign thieves. As for the elections, even if they are organized, their results will only lead to more disagreements as long as the militias and the criminal gangs are frolicking.

Al Arab

Translation by Internationalist 360°

https://libya360.wordpress.com/2021/12/ ... elections/

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Using and Abusing Djibouti: How the US Transformed a Tiny African State into a Hub of Imperial Aggression
Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on JANUARY 2, 2022
TJ COLES

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U.S. Army Mountain Warfare School instructors with the Vermont Army National Guard travelled to Djibouti to teach a five-day Joint Expeditionary Mountain Warfare Course to service members from France’s 5th Overseas Interarms Regiment (5e RIAOM) at the Arta Range Complex, Dec. 12-16, 2021 (US Army photo) “>

From Djibouti, the US trains proxies and bombs strategically-important countries in the name of democracy and counterterrorism. To justify the country’s militarization, Washington hypes fears over China’s regional ambitions.

In a blatant threat to China’s presence, Djibouti recently hosted the US-led “Allied Appreciation Day,” in which Britain, France, and Japan showcased “a variety of equipment that is part of their military operations in the Horn of Africa” (HOA). The Pentagon’s Combined Joint Task Force-HOA reported that the events fused Armistice, Remembrance, and Veterans’ Days. Attendees participated in “demonstrations featuring a variety of allied military capabilities to include a military flyover.”

Successive Djiboutian regimes have clung to power by promoting their small country in the Horn of Africa as a vital tool in the West’s quest for global dominance. During Europe’s late-19th century Scramble for Africa, the French colonists understood the strategic importance of the region for trade ships and naval deployments. After the Second World War and particularly after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the US, the Pentagon seized France’s imperial mantle and expanded a major military base, Camp Lemonnier (which, for many years, the US misspelled by leaving out an “n”).

Today, American military and political planners fear the presence of China in what they consider to be “their” African territory. In 2017, China opened its first, and at the time of writing, only confirmed foreign military base — the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Support Base — 30 minutes northwest of Camp Lemonnier.

As the right-wing NY Post cited dubious warnings by unnamed US officials about China’s construction of a secret base in Equatorial Guinea (EG) on the other side of Africa, the US Africa Command has quietly expanded its operations in Djibouti.

A former colonial power maintains its grip on Djibouti

Djibouti has a population of around 1 million. With 48 deaths per 1,000 live births, its infant mortality rate remains one of the worst in the world, while life expectancy hovers around 67. Over 400,000 Djiboutians live in extreme poverty, with 90 percent of the nation’s food dependent on imports. Around 60 percent of the population is ethnic Issa (sometimes broadly referred to as “Somali”) and 35 percent Afar (a.k.a., Danakil).

Between 600 and 1000 migrants and asylum seekers pass through Djibouti daily, nearly half of whom are children. The US Department of Labor (DoL) says: “Children in Djibouti are subjected to the worst forms of child labor.” In addition to begging and selling drugs, “[s]treet work, such as shining shoes, washing and guarding cars, cleaning storefronts, sorting merchandise, collecting garbage, begging, and selling items” is common. In addition to human trafficking, Djiboutian children are at risk of rape and other forms of sexual abuse. The country hosts “the largest number of foreign military installations in the world, including thousands of military personnel and security contractors.” The DoL concludes: “This foreign military presence heightens the risks of commercial sexual exploitation of girls.”

Western colonial rule in what is now Djibouti began in the mid-1800s. France purchased land on which it established stations for the steamships that passed through Egypt’s Suez Canal, north of the territory. In the decades that followed the Second World War, the broader region was known as French Somaliland. A likely-rigged vote in 1958 saw the population choose to remain under French control. In response to several factors including domestic independence movements, Somali claims to the territory, and continued Ethiopian usage of the ports, the French established the Territory of the Afars and the Issas in 1967.

A decade later, and following negotiations with the colonial power, Hassan Gouled Aptidon of African People’s League for Independence, became President, forming the People’s Rally for Progress. Gouled governed the one-party state until his alleged nephew, Ismaïl Omar Guelleh, replaced him in 1999. With France’s Indian Ocean navy squadron based there, the Franco-Djiboutian Defense Treaty 1977 granted the “former” colonial power unimpeded access to air and maritime facilities.

Enter America: “Use Djibouti,” maintain a “pro-Western course”

Basing his assessment on a commissioned CIA report in 1979, Paul B. Henze of the National Security Council Staff advised President Jimmy Carter’s National Security Advisor, Zbigniew Brzezinski, that the French military presence in Djibouti would be enough to prevent the Soviet-backed Ethiopian government from invading. “If we are going to continue to use Djibouti (and there are good reasons for doing this), we need to be frank with the French about our need for their alertness and support there.”

President Gouled saw foreign de facto occupation as a bulwark against potential aggression by Djibouti’s neighbors, Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Somalia. A heavily-redacted CIA Intelligence Estimate from 1986 describes the country as basically a city-state. “Largely because of its excellent deepwater port and chokepoint location on the Bab el Mandeb Strait (sic),” which separates the Gulf of Aden from the Red Sea, “Djibouti has long been subject to competing African, Arab, Soviet, and Western interests.” Indicative of Cold War paranoia, the Soviet “interests” highlighted at the outset of the report are later revealed to be scholarship programs and a maritime visit.

The CIA lauded Gouled’s “pro-Western course,” rejecting, for instance, aid packages offered by Libya’s then-ruler, Muammar Gaddafi. “In a region dominated by Marxist and military regimes, the Gouled regime enjoys French security protection and supports Western interests,” particularly by providing the US with a port, airfield, and reconnaissance airspace.

When Ethiopia’s ruler was deposed in 1991, Eritrea gained independence. Robbed of its port, Ethiopia turned to Djibouti, but Afar rebels known as the Front for the Restoration of Unity and Democracy (FRUD) based themselves in Ethiopia. The Dini faction of FRUD later claimed that Ethiopia was supporting Djibouti’s Issa-majority government. A Civil War ensued leading to a peace agreement in 1994, when a small number of Afar were given token positions in Gouled’s government.

Post-9/11: “The primary base for US operations”

Significant elite US interests in Djibouti began after 9/11, when the Navy and the Central Command (CENTCOM) effectively took over the old French Foreign Legion fort, Camp Lemonnier, and established a permanent presence. In 2002 under President George W. Bush, the Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa (CJTF-HOA) began surveillance and reconnaissance of alleged “al-Qaeda” operatives in neighboring Somalia from Lemonnier.

By the end of that year, at least 800 US Special Operations Forces were present. The period also saw the launch of exercises by the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit.

In November 2002, six Yemeni “al-Qaeda” suspects were killed by a CIA Predator operator whose drone was launched from Djibouti. In a rare moment of honesty, the New York Times article exposing the attack added: “The sea lanes near Djibouti are particularly crucial since they are used for commercial shipping and to transport American war matériel to the Persian Gulf.” In May 2003, CJTF-HOA personnel had arrived.

Lemonnier is described by the US Center for Naval Analysis (CNA) as “the largest U.S. military installation in Africa.” The CNA highlights Djibouti’s importance to rival powers: its regional “stability,” “strategically important position next to the Bab el Mandeb (sic), a critical maritime chokepoint[,]” while serving “as the main port for landlocked Ethiopia.” The oddly-named “Commander, Navy Installations Command” describes Lemonnier as “the primary base of operations for U.S. Africa Command in the Horn of Africa.”

Between 2004 and 2011, Presidents Bush and Barack Obama respectively sold Djibouti a total of $68 million-worth of arms and services under a single program. In late-2006, the US and Britain used Ethiopia as a proxy to invade Somalia and replace the moderate Islamic Courts Union government with an extremist entity called the Transitional Federal Government. Djibouti later posed as a peace-broker between the warring Somali and Ethiopian factions, but behind the scenes the Franco-American-backed Djiboutian Armed Forces were training hundreds of Somali military officers.

Besides using Djibouti as a base for the CIA, Special Forces, the Navy, and other operations, the US trains domestic enforcement units in the country. In 2007, as domestic tensions simmered with the Afar people and potential conflicts brewed with neighbors, the Marines were pictured instructing the Djibouti National Police “on basic weapons procedures and room clearing.”

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US psy-ops in the Horn of Africa: celebrating MLK on a military base and “the gift of hope”

In 2008, the newly-created US military alliance known as AFRICOM took over operations in Djibouti from CENTCOM. That June, the French and British joined with the militaries of 10 African nations to cooperate on maritime operations.

At the time, countering Somali “piracy” was a widely-used pretext for regional dominance. As the transfer to AFRICOM was arranged, CJTF-HOA continued its propaganda offensive against Djiboutians by painting US military personnel in a positive light. Staff “donated more than 50 book bags containing school supplies, flip flops, shampoo, soap and treats to girls at Center Aicha Bogoreh [sic],” in Djibouti City.

As he rang in Christmas in 2008 with the lighting of trees and singing of festive songs, Rear Admiral Philip Greene said of the Navy: “We are sharing our time and talents with the people of Eastern Africa, giving them the gift of hope for a better, more secure future.” The “gift of hope” is part of US psychological operations, soft power, or political warfare as the tactic is interchangeably called.

In January 2009, in a prime example of the soft power tactic, CJTF-HOA personnel “celebrated” Martin Luther King Day with a program entitled, “Realizing the Vision,” in which AFRICOM highlighted King’s life through speeches, a slideshow, and a performance of the somber Sam Cooke ballad, “A Change is Gonna Come.”

A “Hollywood Handshake Tour” later that year took the “gift of hope” to new heights with visits by industry b-listers Christian Slater, Zac Levi, Joel Moore, and Kal Penn, who each “personally thank[ed] members for their sacrifice.” In July, the Navy Seabees and CJTF-HOA built a canteen for the newly-constructed Douda de Ecole Primary School. A year later, the US hosted a meeting by the Djiboutian Chamber of Commerce in an effort to present the de facto US occupation as an investment opportunity for the business class.

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Actor Kal Penn signs autographs for troops at Camp Lemonnier in 2009

As the PR-friendly pleasantries continued, so too did the military training. In September, officers of the Ugandan Senior Command and Staff College visited Djibouti to study with the CJTF-HOA. Facilitated by the Lemonnier-based 449th Air Expeditionary Group (or Flying Horsemen), Ethiopian Air Force officers convened with Djiboutian forces to discuss operations including airdrops.

Remote warfare: overcoming “the tyranny of distance”

In addition to acting as a hub for the training of Ethiopian, Somali, Ugandan, and other forces, Djibouti hosts regional propaganda broadcasters and privatization outfits that operate as aid agencies.

A 2010 US Embassy cable notes that Djibouti is home to “[US government] broadcasting facilities used by [the] Arabic-language Radio Sawa and the Voice of America Somali Service, the only USAID Food for Peace warehouse for pre-positioned emergency food relief outside [the continental U.S.], and naval refueling facilities for U.S. and coalition ships.”

That same year, Lemonnier hosted Africa’s first Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Summit Conference. Basing forces near strategic locations and using digital relays to aid drone strikes defeats what the Pentagon calls “the tyranny of distance.”

Seated in joint operations rooms, at least three British officers in the Camp assisted CJTF-HOA-led drone operations against targets in Yemen. By the mid-2010s, drone killings had been committed from Djibouti against people in Afghanistan, Mali, Libya, Somalia, and Yemen.

In 2012, BT (formerly British Telecom) built a $23m fiber-optic cable for the US Defense Information Systems Network and National Security Agency. The cable ran from the US Air Force-run Royal Air Force Croughton (north of London) to Naples (Italy) and onto Camp Lemonnier. The broadband service was 30 times faster than commercial capacity and could carry live drone video.

Describing Lemonnier and by extension Djibouti as “a sun-baked Third World outpost,” the Washington Post reported that the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) was instrumental in setting up Lemonnier and its crucial drone component, with at least 300 JSOC personnel working secretly at the base.

Enter China: threats are “exaggerated”

The Trump-era Secretary of State’s Policy Planning Staff kept a close eye on China’s presence in Djibouti. It wrote: “In 2017, China established in Djibouti its first foreign military base. The base looks out on the Bab-el-Mandeb Straits in the Gulf of Aden, through which passes nearly 10 percent of the world’s total seaborne-traded petroleum.” The report highlighted the perceived threat to US energy market dominance. “This comprises 6.2 billion barrels per day of crude oil, condensate, and refined petroleum. Together with China’s anti-piracy activities in the Gulf of Aden and growing presence in the Gulf of Guinea,” it concluded, “the base has extended China’s military reach off Africa’s coasts and into the Indian Ocean.”

China and Djibouti established diplomatic relations in 1979 but did not expand militarily until 2009, with China’s counter-piracy operations in the nearby Gulf of Aden. In 2015, China announced plans to join seven other countries, including the US, to establish its first and only foreign base in Djibouti.

Under the subheading “Don’t Believe the Headlines,” the US Center for Naval Analysis wrote: “media reporting on Chinese economic ties is sometimes exaggerated.” It does not list threats to US “interests” or allies in the context of China’s military expansion, but rather China’s intentions to launch counter-piracy, intelligence collection, evacuation missions, counterterrorism, and peacekeeping operations (i.e., China’s contribution to UN forces).

In July 2015, the Pentagon reported that the 1st Marine Regiment, the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU), the Navy Battalion Landing Team 3rd Battalion, and the USS Anchorage exercised on Arta Beach, Djibouti. Executing attack and maneuver drills with machine guns, squads, and night attacks, the 15th MEU went ashore “for sustainment training to maintain and enhance [their] skills.” Between September and October 2015, the 15th MEU participated in a bilateral training exercise with the French 5th Overseas Combined Arms Regiment.

The 15th MEU’s reconnaissance element trains Rapid Response Teams to send ashore in Djibouti, Hawaii, Iraq, and Singapore and to “push secure voice, video, and data back to the ship with a very small foot print.” Maj. Matthew Bowman of the Communications Department, said: “we have … to be able to project power ashore quickly.”

What US forces do with the training

Much of the US-led allied training traces back to Djibouti. So-called violent extremist organizations are entities that operate outside domestic law and make local environments unsafe for US operations and unstable for US investors. For these reasons, the Pentagon seeks to counter VEOs.

Through military information support operations (MISOs), the Lemonnier-based CJTF-HOA oversees the Ohio-based 346th Tactical Psychological Operations Company (Airborne). Under the rubric of the African Union Mission in Somalia to counter al-Shabaab, the MISO operations involve training the Ugandan People’s Defence Force (UPDF). Because locals tend to broadly support extremist groups as leverage against US imperialism, PSYOPs try to propagandize locals into backing the US.

Another example is the Sicily-based Special Purpose Marine Air Ground Task Force 12 (SPMAGTF-12), which worked with the California-based 4th Force Reconnaissance Company to train the UPDF to counter the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), a cohort of bandits which seeks to overthrow the US-backed government of Uganda.

The continued existence of the LRA gives the US military an excuse to maintain a troop presence, or at least proxy presence, in Democratic Republic of Congo, the Central African Republic, and South Sudan, where LRA leader Joseph Kony is supposedly hiding. He is a “Christian” version of the omnipresent Osama bin Laden, who for many years offered the US a pretext to invade multiple nations from the Middle East to Central Asia. The SPMAGTF-12 relies on support from Marines in Lemonnier.

Much of the US activity in Djibouti is either covert and therefore not reported or confined to press releases by the Pentagon. Recently, however, CNN painted the Pentagon as the Lone Ranger riding to the rescue in its coverage of the presence of the US Army 1st Battalion 75th Ranger Regiment in Djibouti, which was ready to deploy for supposed evacuations in Ethiopia.

Beyond the growing deployment of ground and special forces in the Horn of Africa, the US Navy is making waves. In August 2021, Comorian and Somali personnel worked with US service members as part of Cutlass Express at L’Escale Marine, Djibouti, to practice “visit, board, search and seizure” procedures and simulate various scenarios, including counter-piracy.

A de facto occupation

The US presence in Djibouti is a de facto occupation which ensures American naval dominance of the region, as well as continuing training of regional forces and growing surveillance operations. European militaries are also benefiting from shared, US-led exercises in the region. The build-up exacerbates a power struggle between what the US hopes is a unified West against what they are trying to turn into an increasingly isolated China.

In recent years, the US has sought to weaponize Japan by pushing successive governments to drop the Peace Clause of their constitution and turn up the heat on China. In September, the Japanese Ambassador to Djibouti, Umio Otsuka, met with the US Army Commander at Lemonnier, Maj. Gen. William Zana, “to discuss future plans for combined cooperation.” Under CJTF-HOA, the so-called Japanese Self-Defense Forces trained in target practice at the Djiboutian Police Range.

In November, a US Air Force B-1B Lancer from the 9th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron and a C-130 Hercules, two F-35 Lightning IIs from the UK Carrier Strike Group’s HMS Queen Elizabeth, two French Dassault Mirage 2000s, and a Japanese P-3 Orion flew missions over Djibouti. In December, it was reported that, as part of Exercise Bull Shark, Spanish forces had trained with the 82nd Expeditionary Rescue Squadron in the Gulf of Aden, “to strengthen personnel recovery capabilities in support of the Warfighter Recovery Network initiative throughout Africa.”

As the Pentagon takes the brute-force approach to countering China’s Africa presence, the US increasingly relies on old proxy outfits like NATO while developing new ones, like allied forces in the Horn of Africa. Given that all three major powers have nuclear weapons, Western concerns over pandemics and climate change could prove ephemeral in the face of a miscalculation or worse, a deliberate military action.

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Re: Africa

Post by blindpig » Tue Jan 04, 2022 2:08 pm

Africa in Review 2021
Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on DECEMBER 31, 2021
Abayomi Azikiwe

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Sudan: Crowds of people marched in different parts of the Sudanese capital and other cities in demonstrations to reject military rule. October, 2021

Part I: Continuing Pandemic Highlights Public Health Crisis

From the lack of vaccines to the discovery of the Omicron variant, the continent is struggling to recalibrate its developmental trajectory

A gathering entitled “1st International Conference on Public Health in Africa (CPHIA)” took place during mid-December organized by the African Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (ACDC) based at the African Union (AU) headquarters located in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

The COVID-19 pandemic has reinforced the longstanding problems related to the lack of public health infrastructure on the continent of Africa and its resultant social consequences.

In late November of 2021, scientists in the Republic of South Africa detected the Omicron variant of coronavirus. South Africa has been on the frontline in the battle to contain the pandemic since the country has more confirmed cases than any other state on the continent.

Statistics from the final days of 2021, indicate that South Africa has detected 3.4 million COVID cases while more than 90,000 people have succumbed to the disease. The population of South Africa is rapidly approaching 60 million.

The overall number of coronavirus cases in Africa stands at 8.6 million with 222,000 deaths reported from the disease. These figures, like those in other geo-political regions of the world could very well be underestimated. The lack of testing, particularly in developing countries, could conceal the magnitude of the public health crisis on the continent and internationally.

In specific reference to South Africa, instead of being applauded for its scientific discovery, the western capitalist countries led by the United States, immediately imposed a travel ban on South Africa and seven of its neighbors. It was reported that the Omicron variant sample was taken from someone in Botswana which shares a border with South Africa. However, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Namibia, Malawi, Eswatini and Mozambique were included in the sweeping and apparently arbitrary measure.

The travel ban was issued during the holiday season when countries in Southern Africa rely on tourism to bolster their foreign exchange earnings. After announcing the ban due to the appearance of Omicron, the decision by the administration of President Joe Biden and other western leaders, came under intense criticism. Charges of racism and double standards came from a myriad of sources both within and outside the African continent. The ban was lifted in late December of 2021.

Omicron has been noted as substantially more transmissible than the dreaded Delta variant which has resulted in the hospitalizations and deaths of millions of people internationally. Since the advent of the pandemic in early 2020, there have been approximately 284 million known infections and more than 5.4 million deaths.

There are far more detected cases in the U.S. than any other country where 53.3 million infections and in excess of 820, 000 deaths have been devastating to the economic and social stability of the population. The presence of Omicron has only accelerated the number of infections prompting disruptions in the labor force, industrial supply chains, educational services, among other issues.

In Africa the economic impact has been substantial since in several of the most advanced states restrictions on gatherings, schooling and travel rendered millions idle. The decline in domestic and world trade has posed challenges to the AU member-states making the recent CPHIA summit quite timely.

The three-day conference was addressed by scientists, medical practitioners, businesspeople, government officials and social scientists. After the conclusion of the event, a statement was issued which read in part that: “Over 140 African policymakers, scientists, public health experts, data experts, and civil society representatives presented the latest learnings and research from the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the actions needed to better guard against current and future health crises…. The opening ceremony was followed by a plenary discussion on the epidemiology of SARS-COV-2. This included a presentation by Prof. Salim Abdool Karim, Director of the Center for the AIDS Program of Research in South Africa (CAPRISA), who is among those leading research into the Omicron variant. Explaining the variant’s trajectory in South Africa, he emphasized the need to continue trusting and implementing strong public health interventions. ‘There is no need to panic. We’ve dealt with variants before, including those with immune escape. Closing borders has almost no benefit. Public health systems work, public interventions like masks and social distancing work. Let’s use them,’ said Prof. Karim. Other presenters featured included Prof. Penny Moore, Virologist, University of Witwatersrand, and Prof. Ibrahim Abubakar, Dean, Faculty of Population Health Sciences, University College London.” (https://africacdc.org/news-item/first-i ... lth-order/)

Plans for Vaccine Manufacturing in Africa

There has been much discussion emanating from the African continent through the ACDC and the World Health Organization (WHO) on the question of vaccine inequality. Some have gone as far as to categorize the disparities as “vaccine apartheid.”

The fact that only 10% of eligible Africans living on the continent have been fully vaccinated illustrates clearly the international division of healthcare access. These grim statistics has drawn sharp comments as well from the Director Generals of both the ACDC, Dr. John Nkengasong, as well as Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus of the WHO. Both of these institutions find it unconscionable that western states are providing widespread availability to boosters, while most Africans have not had even one dose of the numerous vaccines available.

There are other medicines which are used to treat COVID that are not accessible to most people in Africa and other developing states. However, there are operations underway in Africa where coronavirus vaccines are being produced in partnership with international institutions.

Even prior to the advent of COVID-19 two years ago, the African Vaccine Manufacturing Initiative (AVMI) was formed. Its mission is described on its website as being: “Looking beyond the provision of vaccines in emergency situations the AVMI will coordinate efforts of African vaccine manufacturers and other interested parties, who have a vision to see Africa produce its own vaccines and biologicals for both routine and emergency situations. Working with governments, regional bodies, NGO’s, the private sector, academic institutions, and relevant key opinion leaders AVMI aims to create, through partnerships, an environment on the African continent, which is conducive to the emergence, development and sustainability of vaccine and biological manufacturers that meet global quality standards.” (https://www.avmi-africa.org/about-us/who-we-are/)

In July it was announced that Pfizer and BioNTech would collaborate with South Africa’s Biovac Institute to “fill and finish” the production process of COVID-19 vaccines for shipment to other African states. According to Reuters: “The agreement comes as Pfizer and BioNTech try to sway World Trade Organization (WTO) members from supporting a waiver on some intellectual property rights for COVID-19 vaccines. It will make Biovac – a joint venture between the South African government and private sector partners – one of the few companies in Africa processing and distributing COVID-19 shots, and the first to do so using the mRNA technology.” (https://www.reuters.com/business/health ... 021-07-21/)

Egypt is working in conjunction with the People’s Republic of China in its vaccine manufacturing and distribution project. China has developed its own coronavirus vaccines which are being shared with numerous African states. The process of manufacturing is essential in closing the gap between the continent and other geo-political regions.

Xinhua news agency in China says of the joint project with Egypt that: “The vaccines are being produced by Egyptian Holding Company for Biological Products and Vaccines (VACSERA) as per an agreement signed in April with Chinese biopharmaceutical company Sinovac. ‘Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and in response to the global need of vaccines, we prepared ‘Factory 60’ inside one of the factories and production lines of VACSERA to produce COVID-19 vaccines in partnership with China’s Sinovac,’ said Egyptian Health Minister Hala Zayed in a recent tour inside VACSERA factory in Agouza district of Giza province near downtown Cairo. The minister pointed out that the Sinovac production line inside VACSERA factory in Agouza can meet the local needs of vaccines with a production capacity of 200 million doses annually.” (http://www.news.cn/english/africa/2021- ... 173667.htm)

These joint operations related to COVID-19 vaccination production are being planned or are already underway in other states such as Senegal, Morocco and Algeria. Nonetheless, the demand for vaccines of all types along with adequate pharmaceutical and medical equipment require greater cooperation among African states in regard to the acquisition and manufacturing of these products. (https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-01048-1)

In the medium and long-terms, the manufacturing of healthcare necessities combined with scientific medical research will require the socialization of production. The last two years has revealed further that the 1.3 billion people on the continent cannot afford to wait for the charitable contributions of the West and other geo-political regions of the world.

Moreover, the democratization of healthcare resources on a global scale entails a protracted political struggle against world capitalism. Consequently, a united Africa will be in a much better position to acquire what is essential to effectively compete within international community.

Part II: Regional Conflict and the Role of Imperialism

From the western to the eastern regions the struggle against destabilization continues

Since 2020, the number of military interventions in African politics has accelerated.

However, what is often overlooked is the role of western governments and their military institutions in the deliberate undermining of national and regional stability.

The North African state of Libya is a prime example of the devastating impact of the Pentagon, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the State Department and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) under the direction of Washington when a decade ago the oil-rich state was destroyed. This imperialist project was the first full operation of the United States Africa Command (AFRICOM) founded three years earlier in 2008.

Today Libya remains mired in chaos failing on at least three occasions to establish a United Nations brokered functional government of national unity and to stem the persistent internecine warfare in the country. On December 24 elections were scheduled to take place. Nevertheless, the elections could not occur as a result of the incapacity of the elites to establish a coherent political system based on the interests of the majority of people within the society.

Under the Jamahiriya political dispensation headed by the late Col. Muammar Gaddafi, Libya had become the most prosperous state within the African Union (AU). The state was a bulwark of support for national liberation movements and social justice causes across Africa and the world.

Over the course of the last decade, Libya has become a source of conflict and instability throughout North and West Africa. Human trafficking has endangered lives of nationals and millions of migrants funneled through the country enroute to the Mediterranean and the European continent.

When looking at the current security situation in Mali, the origins of the present crisis beginning in 2012, can be traced to the Pentagon-NATO mission in Libya. The rebel groups which were recruited, paid, armed, coordinated and promoted by the imperialists had no consistent ideological orientation that could lead to the creation of a modern political state.

The rebel insurgencies in Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad and other states in the West Africa region follow a similar pattern. The focus of these armed groupings has been to create insecurity and destroy whatever development which exists.

Mali opposition parties and mass organizations were dissatisfied with the role of the former President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita for several months in the aftermath of a disputed parliamentary election. The AU immediately attempted to intervene after the coup to encourage the restoration of civilian rule. An interim administration was established with the aims of transitioning to multi-party elections in the near future.

Problems involving the interim arrangements resulted in yet another coup in ten months. Col. Assimi Goita, the leader of both the 2020 and 2021 coups was trained in Pentagon war colleges in the U.S. The U.S. has groomed military figures such as Goita along with Col. Mamady Doumbouya, providing an explanation as to possibly why the AU has not been able to dislodge either of these men from state power.

Col. Doumbouya, as has Col. Goita, openly defied the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), which had imposed sanctions in conjunction with the AU. Both military leaders are able to hold on to power while allowing transnational corporations to continue their exploitation of African land and resources.

The Federal Republic of Nigeria, the most populous state on the African continent, has proven incapable of resolving the Boko Haram insurgency in the north of the country since 2009. Current President Muhammadu Buhari, a career military official, ran for office in 2015 saying under his leadership Boko Haram would be defeated in six months.

Not only has Boko Haram continued to terrorize the people of the northeast it has spread to other contiguous states in the region such Chad, Cameroon and Niger. The group under the guise of radical Islam, has engaged in kidnappings, extortion, murder and sexual assault of children. The inability of the federal government to end the insurgency has created an atmosphere of greater insecurity in other regions including the northwest, central and south.

During 2021, Buhari was quoted as requesting the relocation of AFRICOM headquarters from Stuttgart, Germany to Nigeria. Such statements illustrate the lack of a strategic outlook among the current leadership of Nigeria with its more than 200 million people. What people should tell Buhari and other African leaders who believe that a greater Pentagon presence will translate into higher levels of national security, is that quite the opposite is true.

Since the advent of AFRICOM the security situation within the AU region has worsened. Until Africa can initiate its own independent military system to maintain security in the face of constant imperialist destabilization and exploitation, the overall development of the continent will remain stifled.

Horn of Africa and the Strategic Interests of Imperialism

The conflicts in Ethiopia, Sudan and Somalia are all related to a similar effort to determine the economic future of these important states. Ethiopia is considered by many contemporary historians as the cradle of human civilization. Sudan has a history that is just as ancient and pivotal as Ethiopia. Somalia as well, with its location on the Indian Ocean and in close proximity to the Gulf of Aden and the Arabian Peninsula, is coveted by Washington and Wall Street.

All of these states have natural resources which are important within the world economic system dominated by capitalism and imperialism. Sudan has enormous petroleum and other energy deposits along with Somalia. The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam Project (GERD) provides the potential for a major enhancement of hydro-electric capacity in the East and North African regions.

U.S. machinations in Ethiopia has drawn the attention of many Africans within the continent and internationally. In many cities in the U.S. and around the world the #NoMore movement has gained recognition. Within the Ethiopian media there are numerous references daily to the need for unity against the hegemonic efforts of Washington. The rebel Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) is being groomed by Washington once again to takeover the government in Addis Ababa. The sanctions imposed by President Joe Biden are a continuation of the misguided foreign policy by the U.S. against Africa and its people. With the defeat of the latest rebel advances in Ethiopia, the administration of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has won respect among African people and genuine anti-imperialists around the globe.

A beleaguered Transitional Military Council (TMC) leadership in the Republic of Sudan are approaching the point of being further exposed for its inextricable links to imperialism. The democratic movement in Sudan is central to the overall crisis in the Horn of Africa. Egypt, which is the second largest recipient of aid from Washington, next to the State of Israel, is working feverishly to undermine the transformational process in Sudan and Ethiopia. Following its lead from Washington, Cairo has politicized the negotiations with the Abiy government over the filling of the GERD project. Sudan is being swayed due to the political orientation and economic vulnerability of the military junta.

Egypt wants to secure a permanent role for the western-backed military interests in Sudan. President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi was a military official who retired from the army to run for head-of-state after overthrowing a civilian administration in 2013. The U.S. cannot afford a politically independent government in Egypt, which is a gateway to the rest of Africa, West Asia and Southern Europe.

Pan-Africanism Becomes Critical to the Discussions Around Security

Pan-Africanism is being demonstrated to a new generation of Africans. The only solution to the security crisis in Africa is unification.

The masses in Sudan and Ethiopia have pointed towards a new direction in political organizing and resistance to imperialism. Biden’s foreign policy in the Horn of Africa has incentivized the unity among Ethiopians, Eritreans and other peoples from around the continent. Any talks related to achieving stability in the Horn of Africa, West Africa and other regions must consider the destabilizing effect of imperialist militarism. Through the purported military training of the armed forces, to the supply of weapons and techniques of warfare, the U.S., France, Britain, the European Union (EU) and NATO have deeply penetrated the structures of the post-colonial African state.

During the coup in Conakry in May 2021, the presence of AFRICOM troops were strongly in evidence. These military leaders could not act with this degree of impunity absent of the full backing of transnational corporations, international finance capital and their security apparatuses. Stability and security will only be realized once the resources, land and labor of African people are retaken and used for the benefit of the majority.

Part III: Unification is Essential to Progress and Development

Economic stagnation requires immediate attention to foster qualitative growth and advancement

At the beginning of January of 2021, the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) officially launched its ambitious efforts to unify the economies within the African Union (AU) region.

The plans stemmed from discussions which extend as far back as the 1950s and 1960s when the early Pan-Africanists and socialists in independent states and burgeoning national liberation movements recognized the need for breaking the colonial bondage imposed by Europe and the United States.

These detrimental links to colonialism and imperialism could not be thoroughly broken without an economic base from which to assert genuine independence and sovereignty. Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, the founder and leader of the Convention People’s Party (CPP) which pioneered the liberation of the Gold Coast (Ghana), stated at the independence ceremonies on March 6, 1957, that the independence of this former British colony was meaningless unless it was connected to the total freedom of the African continent.

A series of symbolic and substantive initiatives occurred between 1958 and 1963 including the Ghana-Guinea-Mali Union; the alliance of anti-imperialists states labeled the Casablanca Group; the Conference of Independence African States; the All-African People’s Conference; and the eventual founding of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) in Addis Ababa. The OAU was transformed into the African Union between 1999 at the Sirte conference in Libya through 2002 when the transition was completed in Durban, South Africa.

Of course, Dr. Nkrumah during the years between 1945-1972, wrote extensively on the necessity of African unification. The union of African governments and people would encompass the national economies, the trade unions, youth, women, military institutions and the establishment of a continental market based in socialist planning.

The urgency under which Nkrumah and other Pan-Africanists and anti-imperialists acted during the 1950s and 1960s was met with the obstinance and obstructionism of the colonial and neo-colonial power centers in Western Europe and North America. Today there are 54 independent AU member-states on the continent while the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) remains in a valiant fight to gain independence from the Kingdom of Morocco. Yet the economic and consequent genuine political independence remains elusive.

The AfCFTA has its Secretariat based in Ghana, which served as the fountainhead of Pan-Africanism and national liberation between 1957-1966, when Dr. Nkrumah, the president, was overthrown in a military coup backed by the U.S. and other imperialist governments. Other national liberation movements in the former Portuguese colonies, Rhodesia, South Africa, and Namibia were compelled to take up arms in their struggle for independence.

Africa Renewal in a report on the activation of AfCFTA said of the situation that: “The new market, created under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement is estimated to be as large as 1.3 billion people across Africa, with a combined gross domestic product (GDP) of $3.4 trillion. This has a potential of lifting up to 30 million Africans out of extreme poverty, according to the World Bank. ‘This is not just a trade agreement, this is our hope for Africa to be lifted up from poverty,’ said Wamkele Mene, the Secretary-General of the AfCFTA Secretariat, at the virtual launch event. It is also expected to boost intra-African trade, promote industrialization, create job, and improve competitiveness of African industries on the global stage.” (https://www.un.org/africarenewal/magazi ... n-business)

These aspirations will not be met in the short term due to the ongoing structural impediments to African unification and development. The dependency on foreign exchange payments for raw materials, agricultural products and bilateral trade agreements with the imperialist states and institutions are designed for the benefit of the West. Consequently, a redirection of economic priorities is required to achieve economic growth that is qualitative and sustainable.

This same report from Africa Renewal reveals: “The pact will also empower women by improving their access to trade opportunities. Women make up the largest share of informal traders, representing 70 per cent to 80 per cent in some countries. ‘Today is a historic day for Africa. In 1963 the founders of the Organization of African Unity had a vision of creating an Africa common market. The start of trading under the Africa continental free trade area today is an operational start towards the Africa common market. It has been a long journey of focus, determination and resilience,’ said Moussa Faki Mahamat, the Chairperson of the African Union Commission, at the launch.”

However, there are other aspects which are critical to the success of the AfCFTA, that being the defense of African sovereignty amid the continuing legacy of imperialist plunder through enslavement, colonization and neo-colonialism. With the fracturing of nation-states, albeit inherited from the period of classical imperialist domination, represents a clear threat to the economic and social advancement of the majority of the 1.3 billion people. The AU needs greater political unity and efficacy to ensure that the societal underpinning necessary for market integration which can only be the logical outcome of the AfCFTA program.

Mozambique Security Crisis and the Southern African Development Community (SADC)

All along the Indian Ocean coast of East Africa there have been monumental discoveries of strategic energy resources over the last decade. From Somalia, to Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania and Mozambique, natural gas and petroleum deposits are to be found in abundance.

Mozambique, a former Portuguese colony for five centuries, has overcome a national liberation war, a civil war, only to be challenged in the present period with an insurgency which has halted a monumental liquified natural gas project in the Cabo Delgado province. Islamic rebels claiming to represent the interests of the local population have disrupted the extraction and production process while dislocating hundreds of thousands of people inside the country.

The 16-member Southern African Development Community (SADC) has been drawn into the conflict since the rebels represent a warning to the entire subcontinent. Southern African has been the most consistent in fostering regional unity and therefore serves as a model for the rest of the continent. Although several nations within SADC have deployed troops to northern Mozambique along with the Central-Eastern African state of Rwanda, the problems of destabilization have not been resolved.

Eyewitness News based in the Republic of South Africa said of the contemporary situation: “Nearly 4,000 Mozambicans have fled their villages in a month due to intensifying jihadist attacks in Niassa, a province neighboring insurgency hotbed Cabo Delgado, a government official said Friday. Militants terrorizing the gas-rich northern Cabo Delgado province for the past four years have in recent weeks shifted their attacks to the west into Niassa. ‘There are 3,803 displaced so far. These are people who fled from areas targeted by attacks in Mecula district,’ Felismino Patricio, a government spokesman in Niassa province, told AFP by phone.

The latest displacements add to the more than 820,000 that have fled the insurgency in Cabo Delgado since 2017.” (https://ewn.co.za/2021/12/31/thousands- ... ft-attacks)

These problems, which are by no means unique to the SADC region, require the attention of the AU and its Peace and Security Council (PSC). If the insurgency cannot be contained, it portends much for the future of similar development projects on the continent whether in the Horn of Africa, West Africa, the Northern region and the equally mineral-rich states of Central Africa in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Central African Republic and Chad. The indispensable demand for African wealth within the world economic system must become an asset rather than a grave liability for the people as the 21st century proceeds.

Climate Change and the Failure of Global Consensus

The 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) took place during late October and early November amid a two-years resurgence in mass action globally to end environmental degradation and its concomitant socioeconomic consequences. Mozambique and the SADC region are not only battling the insurgency within Cabo Delgado they are facing renewed climate disasters such as Cyclone Idai and Kenneth.

Internal conflict and the cycle of underdevelopment further threatens the capacity of governments and the people to maintain social stability. Dislocations from imperialist-influenced conflicts are compounded by the failure of the industrialized capitalist states to curb the production and distribution of harmful toxins into the atmosphere. The deforestation of large swaths of territories not only destroys communities, it results in the weakening of the ability to reproduce the essentials of a national and regional economy.

The role of the U.S. and other western states in delaying the imposition of a cohesive international environmental policy based upon mandates and timelines, illustrates the necessity of challenging the existing global division of economic power and labor. The Pentagon is by far the world’s greatest polluter, yet these issues were not adequately addressed at COP26 and other forums related to the impact of climate change.

Consequently, Pan-African unification programs cannot ignore the struggle against imperialism and its various manifestations. The hegemony of the U.S., Britain, the EU and their allies around the planet must be removed as an obstacle to the well-being and social advancement of the majority.

Abayomi Azikiwe is the editor of Pan-African News Wire , an international electronic press service designed to foster intelligent discussion on the affairs of African people throughout the continent and the world. The press agency was founded in January of 1998 and has published thousands of articles and dispatches in newspapers, magazines, journals, research reports, blogs and websites throughout the world. The PANW represents the only daily international news source on pan-african and global affairs.

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Re: Africa

Post by blindpig » Fri Jan 07, 2022 2:26 pm

Southern Libya Emerges as a Third Force: Meeting in Sebha Demands Free and Fair Elections Including All Candidates
Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on JANUARY 5, 2022

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The political and social forces in southern Libya (the Fezzan region) are unifying their position to appear as a third force in the political scene that has a position which must be taken into consideration in both the general political scene and the course of the electoral process.

The Forum for Uniting the Speech of the People of the South, which was held on Monday at the House of Culture theater in Sebha, demanded the amendment of Article (20) of the Parliament Election Law and setting a date that cannot be postponed for the polling day, calling for full reconciliation in Libya starting from the south and forming a working group to nurture and carry it forward.

The one-day forum which was held with the participation of representatives from the southeast and west, emphasized that “the south is an integral part of Libya,” stressing the need to “unify in order to demand all economic, political, security, service and media rights” and that “the people of the south enjoy the riches of the region”.

The local “gateway” website quoted the forum as confirming the unification of the people of the south on the need to implement “the electoral entitlement urgently and quickly, while removing all obstacles that stand in the way of conducting the elections in a fair and just manner for all candidates in order to ensure equal opportunities for all candidates and to set a clear and unalterable date,”, January 24, 2022, and the amendment of Article No. (20) of Law No. (2) regarding the election of the House of Representatives.

Article No. (20) of the House of Representatives Election Law stipulates that “The House of Representatives determines the election day after (30) days from the date of the election of the head of state based on a proposal from the Commission, and this day shall be an official holiday, and if one of the polling stations is unable to conduct the poll in on that day, the commission announces within (48) hours, the date and place of polling within a period not exceeding one week from the date of the first date”.

The Awlad Suleiman tribes have a good relationship with the Qadhadhfa tribe, to which Saif al-Islam al-Qaddafi belongs, and therefore an alliance may be formed between the two tribes to expel the army.

Since the start of the preparations for the elections, the positions of institutions and affiliated parties of the eastern and western regions have dominated while no position in the south appeared until the Sebha Court considered the appeal submitted by the defense of Saif al-Islam, son of the late Colonel Muammar al-Qaddafi.

Before the forces of the army led by Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar.

Since 2017, the army has controlled the south, which is comprised of Arab tribes, including the Qadhadhfa tribe, from which Ibn Qaddafi descends, the Tabu and the Tuareg.

The forum’s affirmation reflects the need to allow all candidates to participate in the electoral race in support of Saif al-Islam Qaddafi, while several parties are calling for his exclusion in light of his continued prosecution by the International Criminal Court.

Observers consider that the south’s support for the son of Qaddafi is justified in light of the suffering of its residents due to the marginalization practiced by the authorities in the center against them, as the southern cities face continuous electricity cuts and a frequent absence of cooking gas and heating.

In the previous era, the south received great attention from Qaddafi, as he was keen to appease his tribes, whether Arab, Tuareg and Tebu.

Since the fall of the government, the south is no longer mentioned except during the formation of governments, as the region emerges as a party in the federal distribution of positions, or one of its cities has been subjected to a terrorist attack or by the Chadian opposition.

In mid-December, Sebha witnessed military tension between forces affiliated with the Libyan army and dissident forces led by Massoud Jedi Soleimani.

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Observers linked this tension, which was quickly cordoned off, to Saif al-Islam Qaddafi’s return to the political scene after announcing his candidacy, in addition to the tension between Haftar and Russia due to its support for Saif al-Islam, which prompted Haftar to return to the alliance with France in a military operation to expel the Chadian opposition from the south.

The 116th Infantry Brigade – under the command of Masoud Jedi al-Sulaimani and other armed formations – controls large parts of the city of Sebha militarily with the support of the tribes of southern Libya supporting Saif al-Islam Qaddafi.

Observers say that the conflict between Haftar’s forces and Masoud Gedi began with a struggle for influence over the southern region regarding smuggling routes, control of regions, and direct financing from Tripoli. According to them, the Awlad Suleiman (Arab) tribes to which Masoud Gedi belongs have a good relationship with the Qadhadhfa tribe, and therefore an alliance may be formed between the two tribes to expel the army and coordinate in order to regain control of the south following Saif al-Islam al-Qaddafi ‘s appearance in public and his need to move openly and directly.

Reports of the Russian Wagner Group’s control of military bases in the south reinforce these expectations, as it is not excluded that Russia, which is interested in expanding in Africa, plans to empower Saif al-Islam and encourage a political front for the south in which the most important oil fields (the spark and the elephant) are concentrated.

Al Arab

Translation by Internationalist 360°

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Neocolonialism Haunts the Horn of Africa
Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on JANUARY 5, 2022
M.K. Bhadrakumar

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Ethiopian troops vanquish US-backed Tigray rebels (File photo)

Chinese foreign ministers have traditionally marked the new year by visiting the African continent. Wang Yi’s 2022 African tour begins with Eritrea against the backdrop of the US strategy in the Horn of Africa to gain control of the strategically vital Red Sea that connects Indian Ocean with the Suez Canal.

Eritrea and China are close friends. China was a supporter of the Eritrean liberation movement since the 1970s. Eritrean President Isaias Afewerki, the veteran revolutionary who led the independence movement, had received military training in China. More recently, Eritrea was one of the 54 countries backing China’s Hong Kong policy (against 39 voicing concern in a rival Western bloc) at the UN General Assembly in October 2020.

Last November, Eritrea signed an MoU with China to join the Belt And Road Initiative. Neighbouring Djibouti is already a major participant in the BRI. So is Sudan along the Red Sea coastline.

Central to regional cohesion in the Horn of Africa is the relationship between Ethiopia and Eritrea. It has been a conflict-ridden troubled relationship but China, which also has close ties with Ethiopia, is well-placed to meditate reconciliation.

One common view is that Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed pulled off a stunning victory in the conflict with US-backed Tigray Peoples Liberation Front (TPLF) with the help of armed drones supplied by the United Arab Emirates, Turkey and Iran. But civil wars are won on the ground. And the politico-military axis between Ethiopia and Eritrea to take on the TPLF proved to be the decisive factor. China encouraged the rapprochement between Addis Ababa and Asmara.

Effectively, the two leaderships understood that they have a congruence of interests in thwarting the TPLF which is an American proxy to destabilise their countries and trigger regime changes. (Read the analysis in CounterPunch titled Ethiopia Conflict by US Design.)

Washington is mighty displeased that China’s influence in Djibouti is on the rise and resents that the Marxist regime of Isaias Afewerki keeps the US at arm’s length.

The Horn of Africa is of great strategic importance, and Ethiopia sits at its heart. Destabilise Ethiopia and impact the whole region; install a dictatorial expansionist ethnocentric regime (TPLF); sow division and poison the atmosphere of mutual understanding and cooperation that is being built within the region — this is the neocolonial agenda.

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President Uhuru of Kenya, speaking at Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s inauguration had said, “Ethiopia is the Mother of African independence……for all of us on the continent, Ethiopia is our Mother… As we know, if the Mother is not at peace, the family cannot be at peace.”

The US is going for the jugular veins of the Mother of post-colonial Africa. Ana analogy would be destabilising India to gain control of the South Asian region, the difference being that Ethiopia is the only African country never to have been colonised.

The widespread revulsion among Afghans all over the continent is palpable over the US using its TPLF proxy to destabilise Ethiopia. Their collective cry is “No more” — no more colonialism, no more sanctions, no more disinformation, no more lies by the CNN, BBC, etc. The cry resonates widely amongst the Ethiopians, Eritreans, Sudanese, Somali, Kenyan, and friends of Ethiopia.

The paradox is, Ethiopia today has a democratically elected government after decades of thuggery under the TPLF that ruled with an iron fist for over 30 years with US backing. The Tigray people actually add up to only 5% of Ethiopia’s population but such details were irrelevant to Washington so long as the government in Addis Ababa obeyed its diktat.

There is also a religious sub-text. The Tigray people are Christians whereas the largest ethnic group in Ethiopia is the Oromo, native to the region of Ethiopia and Kenya. They are a Cushitic people who have inhabited the East and Northeast Africa since at least the early 1st millennium. The Oromo people have a glorious history of forced resistance to religious conversion, primarily by European explorers, Catholic Christians missionaries.

Broadly, the resistance ideology is embedded in the Oromo collective memory. Abiy Ahmed is the first ethnic Oromo to become prime minister. Nobel laureate Abiy Ahmed is an extraordinary politician, far-sighted and deeply committed to his country’s plural identity national sovereignty.

In geopolitical terms, Washington would see many advantages in the destabilisation of Ethiopia as it would trigger a multi-vector regional conflagration, as happens when multi-ethnic nations unravel — such as the former Yugoslavia or today’s India or Russia. And neighbouring countries would be inevitably sucked into ethnic wars such as Sudan, Eritrea, Djibouti, Somalia and Kenya — and even Egypt and Persian Gulf states.

The fact that the UAE, Turkey and Iran — improbable allies — are supporting Abiy’s desperate effort to preserve Ethiopia’s sovereignty and national cohesion and helped boost his military campaign to ward off another attempt by the US-backed TPLF to capture power speaks volumes.

In this matrix, while the US aims to dominate the hugely strategic Horn of Africa, “Plan B” will be to be the spoiler by throwing the region into turmoil so that China is also a loser. The point is, the Western world has no answer to China’s BRI.

China and Ethiopia have a strong political affinity and deep economic bonds, and Ethiopia is one of China’s top five investment destinations on the African continent. Beyond investment, relations extend to trade, infrastructure finance and other areas. Economic engagement with China has provided Ethiopia with many opportunities.

Curiously, even prior to the advent of the BRI, China was already a major financier of Ethiopia’s infrastructure. Chinese investment in the manufacturing sector — incidentally, one of the Abiy government’s focus areas currently — has contributed to the country’s economic transformation and diversification and to job creation.

A recent report by the well-known London-based global think-tank ODI titled The Belt and Road and Chinese Enterprises in Ethiopia estimates that China’s BRI “has the potential to open up new development pathways through infrastructure development, stimulating investment and job creation and promoting economic transformation… BRI can be an engine for growth and development. However, this is not a given…”

The ODI report, dated August 2021, concludes, “Chinese investors are concerned regarding economic and political uncertainty in Ethiopia. Political uncertainty has to do with domestic conflict and political instability, which may affect not only investors’ profitability, but also their personal safety and the safety of their assets. The economic challenges relate to high production and transport costs and the difficulties of accessing foreign exchange, which is a problem for virtually all Chinese businesses in the country. The challenges identified by Chinese investors could pose a threat to the sustained development of China–Ethiopia economic cooperation.”

Simply put, if there is mayhem in Ethiopia, the locomotive of China’s BRI in the vast regions of the Horn of Africa and East Africa can be potentially slowed down if not derailed. That is the least the US can do faced with the grim prospect that it has no alternative offer to make to the African nations to counter the BRI.

If the BRI locomotive chugs along unimpeded, the entire Western neocolonial project in Africa in the 21st century is threatened with extinction. The existential angst shows in the Biden Administration’s announcement on New Year’s Eve terminating Ethiopia’s access to the US duty-free trade program under the U.S. African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA “amid the widening conflict in northern Ethiopia.”

President Biden had threatened in November already that Ethiopia would be cut off from the AGOA because of alleged human rights violations in the Tigray region. Biden spoke up in sheer despair in anticipation of Wang Yi’s working visit to Ethiopia on December1!

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Re: Africa

Post by blindpig » Mon Jan 10, 2022 3:29 pm

Libya: The United States Obstructs Elections, Fearing the Victory of Dr. Saif al-Islam Qaddafi
Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on JANUARY 8, 2022

Editorial Comment: Not only is the US manipulating events to place their own operatives in power, they are also laying the foundation for a protracted civil war and the balkanization of Libya to better serve imperial interests, which extend past Libya’s borders, to threaten all of Africa. – A.V.

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The United States is following Britain’s example in interfering in Libya’s internal affairs, with the aim of canceling or postponing the elections, for fear of Dr. Saif al-Islam al-Qaddafi’s victory in the elections.


To achieve this goal, the United States is playing an underhanded game, as it announces its support for the elections on the one hand, while working to obstruct them on the other. The statements of Democratic Representative in the US Congress, Ted Deutsch, are evidence, as he said, “The Libyan people overwhelmingly want to choose and have the right to do so in an environment free of violence and intimidation under a clearly defined legal framework.”

He added, “The Libyan High Electoral Commission has postponed the presidential elections scheduled for December 24 due to a broad agreement to hold elections under the current legal framework that will lead to civil unrest,” commenting, “I support the decision to ensure that the elections are free and fair and urge all parties to support the continuation of non-violence and continuous dialogue.”

However, here the American deception unravels, as the Libyan people refused to postpone the elections, and were eagerly waiting for them, as evidenced by the massive demonstrations that took place in the streets in various Libyan cities.

“I acknowledge and appreciate the engagement of senior US officials, including Special Envoy and Ambassador Richard Norland, along with UN Special Adviser Stephanie Williams, Libyan officials, civil society and members of the international community,” said Ted Deutch.

On that, observers confirmed that the United States had already intervened through its agents in Libya to postpone the elections, and through American citizen Stephanie Williams, who some describe as the real ruler of Libya today. Observers attributed these American efforts to obstruct the elections to Dr. Saif Al-Islam Qaddafi’s candidacy when the scales turned, especially with the international community certain that he would win the elections if they were conducted fairly and freely.

Observers prove this with the statement by the regional spokesman for the US State Department, Samuel Warberg, last November on Saif al-Islam Qaddafi’s candidacy for the presidency that “it is difficult to imagine his presence in any future Libyan government, and the matter will present a challenge to the international community,” and added, “This is not a position of only America, but the entire international community.”

And this was confirmed when a member of the House of Representatives, Ibrahim Al-Darsi Al-Ani, revealed that Stephanie Williams had informed the House of Representatives of the necessity of postponing the elections for fear of the victory of the presidential candidate Saif Al-Islam Qaddafi.

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Africa Intelligence revealed a scenario devised by the Adviser to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Stephanie Williams, allowing Khalifa Haftar to enter the elections, as well as Abdel Hamid al-Dabaiba, while excluding presidential candidate, Dr. Saif al-Islam Qaddafi.

All these statements prove their fear that Dr. Saif Al-Islam Qaddafi will win in Libya and assume the reins of the country’s leadership, because those countries will no longer be able to impose their control over Libya and plunder its wealth, and they are also aware of Saif’s ability to achieve national reconciliation, which they do not want as they could no longer exploit the division among the Libyan people. Their goal is to provide and maintain opportunities to their clients and traitors.

Mandela Libya

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US, UK and UNSMIL’s Dirty Game in Libya
Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on JANUARY 8, 2022

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Well-informed Libyan sources said that the Acting Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations to Support Mission in Libya, Stephanie Williams, is working to use the roadmap committee formed by Parliament Speaker-designate Fawzi Al-Nuwari to cancel the presidential and parliamentary elections.

Sources revealed that Williams met with the President of the State Council, Khaled Al-Mashri, just hours before holding a Zoom meeting with representatives of Britain, Italy, Germany, the United States and France. This meeting was also preceded by a meeting with members of the Parliament’s Road Map Committee.

Al-Mashri reiterated his absolute rejection of holding the elections, saying that the solution is in a referendum on the draft constitution, which the entire eastern region rejects, and that the cultural components of the Berbers, Tebu and Tuareg refrained from participating in its preparation.

Observers expect that the constitution will fall in the referendum if it is conducted on the basis of regions, which means returning it to the Constitution Drafting Assembly, which will be required to amend rejected items from the Cyrenaica region (East), and this process may take years.

According to the same sources, some Arab countries and a number of permanent members of the Security Council prefer to focus on setting a new date for the presidential and parliamentary elections, and above all, addressing the legal problems of forging documents and scientific certificates that prevented Imad al-Sayeh, the head of the High Elections Commission, from announcing the final list of candidates.

Observers of the situation in Libya believe that the movements of the UN adviser and her failure to specify a clear vision and to send different messages after each meeting she conducts will lead her to clash with the position of Libyan civil society, which began to raise its voice after a demonstration in the city of Tobruk in which activists demanded the holding of elections and the non-formation of a new interim authority and the non-convening of any political deal that guarantees the survival of the current political bodies.

The sources expected that Williams’ moves would also be met with the rejection by some candidates for the parliamentary and presidential elections who began to gather politically to support the options for holding the elections without delay and removing obstacles to not holding them, pointing out that some members of the House of Representatives in Tobruk will not support the decisions of the Road Map Committee, which is moving to announce the failure of holding elections, restructuring the executive authority, and setting a date for a referendum on the draft constitution.

Williams’ moves coincide with the revival of negotiations between Parliament and the State Council, amid expectations that this rapprochement will facilitate the end of the legitimacy of the government of Abdel Hamid Dabaiba, which insists on remaining in power.

Council member Moussa Faraj said that there is communication between the State and Parliament aimed at consensus on mechanisms to achieve the constitutional due and to complete the rest of the national dues based on it.

Faraj added, in local media statements, that the parliament realized that there is no alternative to national partnership in addressing the blockage facing the political process, after the failure to hold the elections with the laws issued by the Parliament alone.

Faraj pointed out that the Libyan political scene is witnessing an active movement that should be consciously interacted with without pessimism.

Observers say that there is a conviction among Libyan and international circles that it is impossible to hold elections and that what is preoccupying these circles now is no longer the elections, which are in the process of being postponed, but rather the formation of a new executive authority or the survival of the Dabaiba government.

These observers say that the political conflict and the risk of war erupting again remain real scenarios in light of the continuing international competition over Libya and the failure to reach understandings between the major powers, especially Russia and the United States.


These divisions have recently intensified with the emergence of a British tendency opposing the American one. For years, the British and American position remained united on Libya. While there are indications of discomfort between the Dabaiba government and the US administration, as no meeting took place between the prime minister and any US official except for the ambassador, who sends messages promoting news circulating about the cold relations between the two parties, Britain insists on supporting Dabaiba and refusing to form any “parallel authority”.

The US ambassador had confirmed during a meeting with Dabaiba that those wishing to run for elections should resign and not run their election campaign from their positions. Which was considered indirect US support for the formation of a new executive authority.

Observers say that the appointment of Stephanie Williams as Adviser to the Secretary-General of the United Nations on mediation in Libya, an American diplomat who held the position of Chargé d’Affairs at the US Embassy in Tripoli for years before she assumed the position of Deputy UN envoy, reflects an American tendency to prevent elections whose results may lead to new chaos.

Democratic Representative of the US Congress Ted Deutch said that the vast majority of the Libyan people want elections “free of violence and intimidation, and within a clear legal framework.”

In a series of tweets, Deutsch stressed the importance of “ensuring that the elections are free and fair,” calling on all parties to “support the continuation of non-violence and continuous dialogue.”

He added that the High Elections Commission postponed the presidential elections due to “a broad agreement that holding the elections under the current legal framework will lead to unrest.”

https://libya360.wordpress.com/2022/01/ ... -in-libya/

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LPNM: The Greatest Danger Libyans Face after Foreign Intervention is Armed Militias
Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on JANUARY 8, 2022

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Spokesman for the Libyan People’s National Movement, Nasser Saeed

The spokesperson for the Libyan People’s National Movement, Nasser Saeed, confirmed that the dangerous enemy to the Libyans and to the state of security and stability in Libya after foreign intervention are the armed militias (criminal – regional – ideological).

Saeed said, in a post on his personal account on the social networking site Facebook, entitled: “The militias are the fuse of war,” that the fuse of the crisis may ignite the war again inside the capital, after the crowds that Tripoli witnessed these days, amid the silence of the government and a state of popular anger over these life-threatening moves against citizens.

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He added, that negotiating its solution is a priority for the 5 + 5 Committee and the House of Representatives, noting that militias (guns for rent) are used to resolve the political conflict within the Prime Minister’s election campaign and his continued stay in power whenever the elections are postponed while continuing to tamper with public money within the framework of personal promotion as a candidate, pointing out that the Prime Minister is ready for this to drown Tripoli in blood.

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Libyans are seeking to hold the elections scheduled for January 24, after they were postponed against te background of several obstacles in the country, while the hope for democratic change in Libya is at stake.

Libyan Position

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