Africa

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Re: Africa

Post by blindpig » Mon Mar 14, 2022 1:57 pm

Many Africans Reject Washington’s Position on Ukraine Crisis
Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on MARCH 13, 2022
Abayomi Azikiwe

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Africa solidarity with Russia in Ethiopia on Victory Day, 2022. | Photo: Amanuel Sileshi/Agence France-Presse

HALF OF THE COUNTRIES ABSTAINING FROM THE UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY RESOLUTION CONDEMNING MOSCOW WERE AFRICAN UNION MEMBER STATES

Since the post-World War II period national liberation movements and independent countries in Africa have developed solid diplomatic and economic relations with the former Soviet Union and today’s Russian Federation.

It is this history which underlines the refusal of numerous African governments and mass organizations to side with the United States and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in its efforts to encircle Russia in order to leave it as a diminished state dependent upon the dominant imperialist nations globally.

In the immediate aftermath of the beginning of Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine, the racist treatment of approximately 16,000 African students as well as thousands of others from Asia gained international news coverage. Africans were denied admission onto trains, refused food provided to Ukrainians, while attempting to seek refuge in neighboring countries such as Poland.

These incidents should not have been surprising considering the expansion and institutionalization of fascist and nazi ideology among those governing the Ukrainian state since the U.S.-backed Euromaidan coup of February 2014. Washington, under the administration of former President Barack Obama, sought to subvert any efforts by ousted President Viktor Yanukovych to walk a middle-line between the U.S., European Union on the one side and Russia on the other.

The first-person accounts of the African students who were more than willing to speak about what had been done to them in Ukraine, had to be swiftly suppressed in the western media. Although any keen observer of the unfolding crisis in Ukraine would know of the role of groupings such as the Right Sector and the Azov Brigades in creating an atmosphere of reaction against Russian-speaking Ukrainians because their worldview encompasses many of the assumptions which fostered the philosophical underpinnings of the rationale for the initiation of World War II (1939-1945).

United Nations, African States and the Ukraine War

A debate on March 2 over a resolution to essentially condemn and apportion exclusive blame on Moscow for the current military situation, was voted on by 141 UN representatives out of 191. 35 countries abstained from the vote including 17 member-states of the African Union (AU). Cameroon, Ethiopia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Burkina Faso, Togo, Eswatini and Morocco were absent. Algeria, Uganda, Burundi, Central African Republic, Mali, Senegal, Equatorial Guinea, Congo Brazzaville, Sudan, South Sudan, Madagascar, Mozambique, Angola, Namibia, Zimbabwe and South Africa abstained on the resolution.

Although the resolution passed, it has not brought about an end to the fighting in Ukraine which has prompted over two million people to leave the Eastern European country. The only African state to vote against the resolution was Eritrea. In recent months, the government of Eritrea has been in discussions with Russia about the utilization of Red Sea ports inside the country. A similar situation is developing in neighboring Republic of Sudan where Port Sudan, also on the Red Sea, has been the subject of talks between Moscow and the military regime now controlling Khartoum.

Another leading African state, the Republic of South Africa, abstained from the March 2 UN General Assembly vote noting that the resolution did not emphasize the need for a negotiated diplomatic settlement to the crisis. The ruling party in South Africa, the African National Congress (ANC) has maintained close ties to Moscow since the period of national liberation from the 1960s to the 1990s. The former Soviet Union provided diplomatic, educational and military support to the ANC and many other liberation movements turned independent governments such as the South-West African People’s Organization (SWAPO) of Namibia, the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), the Mozambique Liberation Front (FRELIMO), just to mention a few.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa who has been under tremendous pressure by the U.S. State Department over its position on Ukraine was quoted as saying:

“South Africa expected that the UN resolution would foremost welcome the commencement of dialogue between the parties and seek to create the conditions for these talks to succeed. Instead, the call for peaceful resolution through political dialogue is relegated to a single sentence close to the conclusion of the final text. This does not provide the encouragement and international backing that the parties need to continue with their efforts.”

A clear indication of the uneasiness and disapproval of the U.S. role in Ukraine was voiced by several African journalists during a briefing webinar on March 3 with Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Molly Phee. Several journalists asked critical questions related to the U.S. position in Ukraine probing Phee in regard to the demands by the White House and State Department that every country around the world denounce Russia and its President Vladimir Putin.

Journalists raised the issue of racism against Africans attempting to flee Ukraine into Poland along with unreasonable demands being placed on AU member-states. The transcript of the webinar read in part:

“This is Simon Ateba with Today News Africa in Washington, D.C. You just mentioned reporting about Africans facing racism in Ukraine and Poland, being denied entry into trains in Kyiv, and being turned back at the border with Poland. Is there any reason why the State Department has not publicly condemned racism against Africans in Ukraine and Poland?’…. ‘Yes, this is Katlego Isaacs from Mmegi News. I wanted to ask, why should African countries support the position of the U.S. to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine when the U.S. supports the aggression in Israel against Palestinians?’…. My name is Swift from Gabz FM in Botswana. I wanted to ask, what is the position of the U.S. on censoring of social media and the complete wipeout of the other party, in this case obviously Russia, since free speech and free press is the cornerstone not only of democracy but a tool that can create a counterculture or counternarrative?’”

Within the streets of countries such as Mali, Central African Republic (CAR) and Ethiopia there have been pro-Russian demonstrations. Mali recently called for the departure of the French ambassador and military forces after Paris objected to the involvement of the Wagner Group, a Russian-based defense services company working to curtail rebel attacks in the northern and central regions of the West African state.

Ethiopia in early March commemorated “Victory Day” which celebrates the defeat of Italian colonialism in 1896 at the Battle of Adwa. Photographs were released of Ethiopians carrying their own national flag while some others waved the flag of Russia in solidarity with the military operation in Ukraine.

The German newspaper DW reported on the military ties between AU member-states and Moscow noting:

“In recent years, Russia has increasingly used this historic Soviet connection to expand its political, economic and, above all, military relations with African nations. In 2019, Vladimir Putin hosted a Russia-Africa Summit attended by 43 African leaders. Just one year later, Russia became Africa’s biggest arms supplier. According to a 2020 analysis by the peace research institute SIPRI, between 2016 and 2020 around 30% of all arms exported to sub-Saharan Africa countries came from Russia. This vastly overshadows weapon supplies from other nations such as China (20%), France (9.5%) and the USA (5.4%). This increased the volume of Russian arms shipments by 23% over the previous five-year period.”

These and other factors have frustrated the U.S. in its diplomatic efforts to win unconditional support for its war against Russia in Ukraine. The existence of the U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) since 2008 under the guise of enhancing the security capacity of AU member-states in their struggles against what is described as “Islamic Jihadism”, has proved to be an utter failure. Despite the existence of a military base housing thousands of Pentagon troops in the Horn of Africa state of Djibouti and the building of other makeshift installations, along with joint military operations and training opportunities for African military officers, the overall stability and security of many states has worsened.

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Central African Republic solidarity demonstration with Russia.

Ending Imperialist War Requires a Rejection of U.S. Foreign Policy

Several countries within Latin America have maintained their trade and diplomatic relations with Russia. These states include Cuba and the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.

Caracas has been under siege by successive administrations in Washington, both Democratic and Republican. In recent years, the White House has attempted to install a puppet regime in Venezuela while denying recognition of the government of President Nicolas Maduro. Billions of Venezuelan assets have been frozen in U.S. banks along with the expulsion of high-level employees of embassies and other outlets for Caracas.

Yet during the first weekend of March, the U.S. deployed a delegation to Venezuela to discuss the possibility of replacing banned Russian oil shipments with supplies from the Maduro administration which has been under a blockade by Washington at least since 2017. The move illustrates the illogical foreign policy positions under which President Joe Biden finds himself. Moreover, the opposition to the talks has forced Biden to publicly move away from this latest energy strategy.

Energy, transportation and food prices are skyrocketing in the U.S. compounding the already 40-year high inflation rate. Although the corporate and government-controlled media agencies are proclaiming the dire straits that Russia is undergoing since the withdrawal of several banking services, McDonalds, Coca-Cola and other corporations, it is the Biden administration and the Democratic Party politicians who must face the U.S. electorate in 2022 and 2024.

Attitudes towards U.S. military policy among Africans and people in Latin America reveals the unsustainability of this approach to international affairs. These peoples know that the reckless approach by Washington and Wall Street will have a negative social impact on billions around the globe.

The inability of the Biden White House to pass legislation in Congress which would address the social crisis unfolding in the U.S. portends much for the political landscape in Washington. A U.S.-inspired war in Eastern Europe will not solve the economic stagnation and hyperinflation faced by the majority of working people and nationally oppressed.

These forces must unite to overturn the war program of the White House and Pentagon which only robs the people of their rights to decent housing, education, food, water, environmental justice and all other necessities of modern life. A new foreign policy must be developed which defunds the defense department and dismantles the U.S. bases which are waging war around the globe.

https://libya360.wordpress.com/2022/03/ ... ne-crisis/
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

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Re: Africa

Post by blindpig » Wed Mar 16, 2022 3:12 pm

WORKING PAPER: The Afro-Asian Solidarity Movement: The Threat of A Communist-Nationalist Alliance Against the West, 1958
Editors, The Black Agenda Review 15 Mar 2022

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Declassified papers from NATO’s archives detail a comprehensive counter-revolutionary strategy against decolonization, including the active sabotaging of Afro-Asian solidarity and the “spirit of Bandung.”

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, or NATO, was organized in 1949 to provide for collective military defense of the United States and its white Western allies against the Soviet Union and the perceived threat of global Communism. For NATO, the perceived Communist “threat” included anti-colonial Third World nationalism and the movements for Afro-Asian unity. They saw the decolonizing world’s attraction to what they deemed the “Sino-Soviet” bloc - especially the bloc’s deep economic, cultural, and political collaboration with emerging nations - as an existential threat to the white west. And they stated that clearly - that the Sino-Soviet’s influence on the Third World “appears to be that of accelerating the destruction of the West by depriving it of the markets and sources of raw materials in Asia, Africa and Latin America on which it is believed to depend for survival.”

As such, the NATO member nations decided to develop strategies to counter the Soviet Union. These strategies were tied to the suppression of Third World nationalism and “the spirit of Bandung.” Here, the “spirit of Bandung” refers to the political energies that gave birth to the non-aligned movement following the 1955 Afro-Asian Conference held in Bandung, Indonesia, in 1955, and that were carried forth in the African Asian Peoples' Solidarity Conference, hosted by Gamal el-Nasser in Cairo, Egypt from December 26, 1957 to January 1, 1958.

Following the Cairo conference, NATO’s Committee on Political Advisors met to assess the potential ramifications of the dangers of Afro-Asiatic solidarity. After considering proposals and comments from NATO’s member states, the Committee drafted a fifteen-page internal white paper (reprinted below) that strategized how best to counter, undermine, and ultimately destroy what they described as “the threat of Communist-nationalist alliance against the West.” The white paper is striking for both its thoughtfulness and thoroughness. The Committee is clear that for NATO, the danger of both Communist-nationalist alliance and Afro-Asian solidarity is in the threat to the hegemony of NATO and the western capitalism and colonial projects of NATO’s member states. NATO members were, in fact, worried about not only losing access to raw materials and markets, but of the potential slowing of the global expansion of western ideals and ideologies.

Through nakedly racist terms, the white paper assessed the “psychology” of African and Asian anti-colonial nationalists, determining that they desired “respect and recognition,” that they carried a “hypersensitive resentment,” that they were “insecure,” “frustrated,” “emotional,” “irrational,” and susceptible to “flattering attention.” For NATO’s committee, such a psychological disposition – such irrational “feelings” – were were “expressed by a demand for the end of colonies, of racial discrimination, and of the Algerian war; for represenation in international conferences, for terms of foreign aid compatible with national respect and sovereignty; in vast programmes to promote education, national culture, social welfare and economic progress on a Pan-African or Pan-Asian scale; and by plans for joint political action in the future.”

The Committee combined these psychological assessments with analyses of the Soviet Union’s Afro-Asian political, economic, and cultural strategies, and with their perceptions of Nasser’s efforts at Afro-Arab and Pan-Arab solidarity. Together, these shaped the range of countermeasures proposed to NATO’s governing councils. Many of the measures were drawn from previous efforts to undermine Communist Front organizations in the West; others were borrowed from tactics currently in use by local governments and colonial administrators; almost all echoed the infamous domestic tactics of the FBI’s Counterintelligence Program, or COINTELPRO. The countermeasures included: the co-optation of intellectuals and cultural workers, students and the youth; the establishment of pro-Western schools, cultural centers, newspapers, radio and television stations, film and documentary productions; the organization of cultural and literary forums and academic conferences; embarrassing local governments and disseminating “damning” disinformation on political leaders; circulating information that discredited the Soviet Union, especially in relation to Russian “colonialism” and its views on religion, especially Islam; mobilizing technical assistance and economic aid to undermine Communist influence; Harassing” the solidarity movement by blocking the organization of future conferences and distributing negative publicity about it. A key strategy was to encourage the promotion of an “African personality” and other expressions of nationalism that would promote historical and cultural differences between African and Asians peoples, potentially breaking their political and economic bonds .

Only a deep dive into the archives of NATO and its member states would reveal how many of these countermeasures were actually deployed. What is regrettably clear is that they obviously worked. The proof is not only in the curtailment of Afro-Asian political and economic unity, but also in the cultural and educational sectors. We need only look at the curricula of political science or “development” or “cultural studies” or “area studies” courses - in both western and Global South universities - to see the success of this counter-revolution.



The Afro-Asian Solidarity Movement: The Threat of A Communist-Nationalist Alliance Against the West

Committee of Political Advisors, North Atlantic Treaty Organization

The Afro-Asian Peoples Solidarity Conference, which met in Cairo in December 1957, drew attention in the West to the dangerous potential collaboration developing between the Sino-Soviet bloc and anti-Western, nationalist elements of Africa and Asia.

2. The Conference failed generally to attract delegates of any national standing, with the exception of those from the five Communist and the seven non-Communist states (Egypt, Syria, the Yemen, Ethiopia, Tunisia, the Sudan, Ghana) which sent delegations. The USSR, however, used the conference effectively to identify itself with the forces of discontent and change in Africa and Asia. In the establishment of a Permanent Secretariat in Cairo and proposals for the organization of a galaxy of new Afro-Asian organisations, Moscow threatened to control a new regional “front” organization which could, more effectively than the existing international “fronts,” serve as a transmission belt for Sino-Soviet penetration into Africa and Asia.

3. The Afro-Asian Solidarity movement has not thus far built up the momentum apparently envisaged by either the Communist or nationalist delegates to the Cairo Conference. Only three of the ten secretaries of the permanent organization have arrived in Cairo and no very serious efforts have been made to organize the various new Afro-Asian associations. Outside of the Soviet bloc, relatively little attention is being paid either to the local solidarity committees or to the periodic demonstrations organized by the Cairo Secretariat. The Egyptian Government has, however, apparently taken steps to organize and control the Permanent Secretariat, suggesting an intention to at least hold the organization in reserve as an instrument of Nasser policy. At present the semi-clandestine Egyptian radio “Voice of Free Africa ,” organized after the Cairo Conference, is the principal mouth-piece of the solidarity movement.

4. The shift of the capital of the solidarity movement from New Delhi to Cairo was no doubt partially due to the generally cold reception given in Asia to an organization exploiting the “spirit of Bandung.” It reflected in particular the shift in the focus of Soviet penetration efforts after 1956 to the Middle East and Africa. Moscow apparently saw in the solidarity movement one of many weapons of a broad strategy toward the under-developed regions rooted in the teachings of Lenin. Immediate strategic objectives may vary but the broad purpose appears to be that of accelerating the destruction of the West by depriving it of the markets and sources of raw materials in Asia, Africa and Latin America on which it is believed to depend for survival.

5. The conduct of the Sino-Soviet delegation at the Cairo Conference offered a case study in contemporary Communist tactics in under-developed countries. The bloc delegates sought in particular:

(a) to encourage the peoples of Africa and Asia actively to promote the "national liberation" of all colonies and trust territories;

(b) to persuade them that a policy of "positive neutrality" based on co-operation with the bloc is to their advantage, since it ensures them of political support in any conflict with the West and of trade, credits and technical assistance should they be withheld by the West;

(c) to encourage them, however, to depend primarily on their internal resources and not foreign assistance for economic development, and for this purpose to nationalise all foreign properties (Moscow is apparently anxious lest a programme of economic competition between the bloc and the West for the favour of the less-developed regions be very costly and result only in a tightening of the Western economic grip);

(d) to convince them, that unlike the "imperialists", Communist countries are inspired to extend assistance only by understanding and unselfish love of their fellow men;

(e) to persuade them that only by “defending peace”, i.e., Soviet foreign policies, can they protect a freedom, jeopardised by the tensions of the "cold-war.”

6. It is understandable that the Sino-Soviet bloc should find Nasser and the nationalist intellectual and military circles which support him, responsive to its wooing. Lacking the strength to achieve his objectives alone, Nasser has sought to capitalise on the conflict between the Communist and Western blocs to obtain economic and diplomatic support. To unify all Arab peoples under his leadership, he has needed to offer them a feasible alternative policy to that of alliance with the West. The fact that he can expand his influence only at the expense of Western-backed regimes has increased his dependence on the USSR for political support. It is difficult to measure his real attitude toward the USSR because of his efforts to reassure the West about his intentions. He appears at least not unaware that there are dangers in his policy; in particular, he cannot afford politically to become known as a “tool of Communism”.

7. Doctrine as well as practical considerations compel Soviet support of Nasser. In Egypt as elsewhere, the “national bourgeoisie and national intelligentsia” have shown that they can successfully lead a “bourgeois-democratic anti-imperialist” revolution - defined in Soviet doctrine as the necessary transitional step to Communist revolution in more advance [sic] under-developed countries. The Communists are told that they should support the nationalists under these circumstances, but that they should at the same time extend their influence among the masses and so prepare the way to a seizure of power through parliamentary majority. The Soviet press has noted with pleasure the progress made with this tactic in India and Indonesia. The dissolution of the Communist party in Syria violated one premise of this strategy. The fact that Moscow acquiesced in this action without, a public murmur only underlined the extent to which ungrudging public support of the UAR [the United Arab Republic: a short lived (1958-1961) political union of Egypt and Syria] had perforce become the cornerstone of Soviet policy in Africa and the Middle East. The reduction of Western influence in the Arab world through the policies of Nasser would well justify a derogation of principle. The Soviet leaders probably hope at the same time, that the economic and political difficulties encountered by the UAR will force it to rely increasingly on the Communist bloc and will provide continuing opportunities for Communist penetration.

8. Suggestions of reserve in the attitude of Nasser toward the USSR have not altered the fact of growing collaboration. For example, in addition to granting extensive economic aid, Moscow has promised to establish vocational training centres in ten Egyptian cities and in this connection to supply educators, experts and machines for eight different industries including atomic energy. Egyptian students and teachers are being trained in the USSR, while Soviet teachers are to teach Russian in Egyptian high and secondary schools. The UAR has become the only non-Communist member, outside of Finland, in the International Radio Organization in Prague; (the session at which the UAR was admitted discussed inter alia the production of "small economic" radios adapted to "hot tropical countries"). There is the continuing danger that the Egyptians may find it expedient to use Communist experience and even propaganda materials in their own extensive radio, films and other propaganda efforts or, at least not to hinder substantially the distribution of Soviet Bloc materials. The effect of Nasser's policy and of Egyptian statements praising the bloc countries is inevitably to enhance their prestige among people susceptible to Egyptian influence in a manner which the bloc could not hope to achieve by itself.

9. For the time being, Moscow has reason to be satisfied with the results of its policies towards the new nations of Africa-Asia. It apparently regards its collaboration with the UAR as the best possible opportunity to advertise the benefits of cooperation with the bloc. It probably hopes thereby to influence states currently oriented toward the West, hence its periodic overtures to such countries as Iran, Pakistan, Tunisia, Ghana. Present Soviet policy is not without potential complications. By giving unqualified support to the expansionist policies of Nasser, for example, Moscow may risk both tarnishing its reputation as a champion of peace, and making enemies among other national forces in Africa which it may wish to woo. Equally, it faces the problem of how much to strengthen nationalist movements which, at the same time, collaborate with the West.

10. The trend is for an increase in Soviet bloc pressures of attraction and penetration against the under-developed world as a whole, not merely against the UAR. To illustrate the scope of this effort, Arab-language broadcasts have tripled over the last year but Moscow has also increased or initiated broadcasts in Persian, Tamil, Burmese, Indonesian and Pushtu, and most recently in England and French to Africa. In 1957, some 2,000 technicians and students from less developed countries studied in the bloc: and in the last half of the year, some 2,300 bloc technicians spent at least a month in nineteen less-developed countries. A vast programme of Oriental language and area training is to be supplemented this Autumn with extensive African language courses in Leningrad University (e.g., the Swahili, Amharic, Hausa, and later Luganda, Luba., Congo and Yoruba tongues). Since 1956, Moscow has taught Hindi, Urdu, Arabic and Chinese in its secondary schools; this year Persian and Arabic are to be introduced in Tazhik secondary schools. When supplemented by film festivals, the publication of literature by Asian and African authors, etc., this display of interest in the under-developed countries not merely develops needed cadres of Soviet experts but is extremely flattering to the ego of people who have long resented the tutelage of the West.

11. The danger of the Soviet bloc and Nasser programmes lies not so much in the intensity of effort devoted to the task of undermining the West, as in the appeal which both programmes can hope to exert in the irrational, emotional climate of opinion of the under-developed areas, characterised by:

(a) the aspiration and expectation of change, which is the real leaven of revolution;

(b) a profound psychological longing for respect and recognition and hyper-sensitive resentment of any suggestion of disrespect;

(c) an anti-Western feeling rooted not only in experience, but also in the need of an

Insecure people to vent their frustration on a convenient scapegoat;

(d) the wish to build a new national society, which combines the best of traditional and

Western values but is somehow unique;

(e) the desire of a frustrated intelligentsia for a meaningful and constructive outlet for its energies;

(f) unrealistic hopes to build overnight the foundations of a modern, industrial state;

(g) a feeling that the less-developed nations represent an under-privileged "proletariat” in the family of nations which can throw off the shackles of history only through joint action.

12. Translated into concrete issues, these feelings are commonly expressed by a demand for the end of colonies, of racial discrimination, and of the Algerian war; for represenation in international conferences, for terms of foreign aid compatible with national respect and sovereignty; in vast programmes to promote education, national culture, social welfare and economic progress on a Pan-African or Pan-Asian scale; and by plans for joint political action in the future. If, to achieve these objectives, many nationalist look to the USSR and Communist China for support and guidance, it is not only because they think they have found a friend; the fact that these two multi-racial and under-developed countries, have seemingly “lifted themselves up by their bootstraps” makes their experience of planned social revolution appear more relevant to the needs of Africa and Asia than that of the West.

13. The Accra Conference of Independent States demonstrated that, despite their great mass appeal, the extremist politics of Nasser and of the Communists have not hitherto commanded the support of the majority of present African leaders. The spirit of this conference was that of Bandung not of Cairo: the solidarity movement was not even mentioned by name. If the conference was evidence that there are genuine nationalist forces willing to seek a solution to their problems in collaboration with the West, it also a reminder that the forces of social change are on the march in Africa as well as Asia, and time for the West is running out.

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DIRECT COUNTER-MEASURES TO THE "SOLIDARITY" MOVEMENT

14. The following counter-measures are suggested as possible means to hamper the “Solidarity” movement wherever it is particularly active. Many of these measures have, of course, been applied against Communist Front organizations in the West.

15. Enlisting the support of Local Governments – by pointing out the consequences of inaction (e.g., perversion of the principles of Bandung, intrusion of the "cold war” into social and humanitarian fields, the dangerous tendency to divide the world along “colour” lines, the growing interference of Nasser and the Soviet bloc into the affairs of sovereign states, etc.,), it may be possible to persuade some local governments to take the responsibility for action against subversive organisations. Local co-operation is a vital element of any Western counter-measures.

16. Adverse Publicity.

Direct efforts to discredit “front” or to play on the latent suspicion of all Great Powers, including the USSR, could be counter-productive if handled in an indiscreet or aggressive manner. Depending, however, on opportunities available, the dissemination could he useful of:

(a) damning biographic information on leading local members of “Front” organizations;

(b) samples of pro-Soviet, clearly non-neutral resolutions and statements made in the name of the "spirit of Bandung";

(c) analyses of the "united front" as a Russian Communist tactic practised since the early 1920s;

(d) analyses of Russian Communist doctrine the exploitation of nationalist movements in “colonial and dependent countries”;

(e) analyses of Russian "colonialism" notably in Soviet Central Asia, including the testimony of refugees from this area;

(f) analyses of the Communist attitude towards religion, notably Islam (for selected audiences only).

17. Administrative Measures.

The proposal of one NATO Government that Western-oriented delegates be encouraged to infiltrate both the local Solidarity Committees and the Secretariat would seem to have merit only if the Solidarity Movement should greatly enhance its prestige. In the meantime, ignoring the movement or, at most, harassing it, e.g., by obstructing the holding of conferences and unfavorable publicity, would seem to be a better policy.

18. Exploitation of Local Government Sensitivity.

Governments professing to follow a policy of neutrality might be pushed by embarrassing publicity to disassociate themselves publicly from subversive movements or to modify the politics of such movements. The presence of an Egyptian as Secretary of the Afro-Asian Permanent Secretariat provides such an opportunity.

19. Provision for alternative constructive activity

In some cases it should be possible to promote alternative forums and activities having some of the appeal provided by the Communist-front or other subversive movements, ie., opportunity for self-expression, an impression of constructive work, recognition, a sense of solidarity. The frustrated intelligentsia in the less developed regions has too often lacked some permanent organization, ad hoc conference or regular publication into which to pour his energy and enthusiasm. Such forums need to be established as a general principle and not only to draw off support from specific Communist activities.

20. Encouragement of the Sense of National Difference

The impression in the less-developed regions that “solidarity” can be a panacea for the problems of the area reflect in part, an unrealistic view concerning the extent to which the peoples of Africa and Asia have similar backgrounds and problems. One concrete achievement of the Accra Conference was to bring home to the assembled delegates the extent of their differences. The evident desire of the Asian and African people to study their own history and problems should be encouraged, among other reasons, because they may become thereby less prone to over-simplified generalisation. The wish to express an "African personality” enunciated at the Accra Conference, is possibly a step in the right direction away from the emotional concept of an Afro-Asian bloc. The West needs to be very careful, at the same time, lest it gives the impression of wishing to divide the peoples of less-developed regions by accentuating their national differences.

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A LONGER RANGE POLICY

21. Those NATO Governments which presented views on what should be done to counter the dangers implicit in the Afro-Asian Solidarity Movement were in general agreement that purely negative measures were not enough. The need was expressed for “comprehensive Western policy taking into account the psychology and aspirations of the Afro-Asiatic peoples”. In the words of another Government “The answers the West makes to the feelings that … undergirded the Cairo resolutions will certainly affect the Western position in Asia and Africa in the decades ahead ... In the interests of the Western position, the answers made must be positive and constructive”.

22. The proposals submitted by these governments were, however, very general in character. The promotion of an “African personality” has already been mentioned, as well as the organization of rival conferences to those sponsored by the Solidarity Movement. Other suggestions were for cultural exchange and scholarship programmes in Africa, and for support of organizations promoting co-operation and technical and financial assistance. The most ambitious proposal mentioned by a NATO member was for a “massive and concentrated” programme of economic assistance, on unconditional terms, divorced from military assistance, responding to the desire of local governments for industrialisation und foreign markets, and directed at key geographic areas to avoid a “small package” dispersal of means. It was suggested that the Western states should even apportion tasks in such a co-ordinated economic effort.

23. In accordance with the view voiced in the NATO Political Committee, that this report should focus on the possible actions which the Western Governments might undertake rather than restricting itself to purely factual reporting of the Solidarity Movement, the Secretariat has drawn together a wide variety of proposals, which it does not pretend are original, but which may serve to illustrate the far-reaching implications of a positive and comprehensive policy for this area. A paper of this scope cannot hope to give credit to the many-faceted programmes which are already in existence or to the imagination and devotion of local governments, colonial administrators and foreign aid specialists throughout the underdeveloped regions. It can hope only to indicate the broad lines of approach, so that what is not being done might be considered, and what is begun might perhaps be expanded.

24. It is the view of at least several governments that any NATO programme as such should be avoided. Individual governments should rather implement those types of measures which each feels best able to undertake. It is in this spirit that the following suggestions are set forth.

A. The Approach

25. In view of the psychological atmosphere in the less developed areas, the manner of presenting any Western program is as important as its content. Obviously, the more comprehensive the programme, the more it is presented as a new and long-term approach to the problems of the area, the more likely it is to have impact and credibility. There is a danger in this approach, however, of giving people who are already unrealistic in their expectations, an impression that the West is prepared to do more than is actually the case.

26. Only if the West is able first to establish a relationship of trust with at least the governments of the less-developed regions, will it be in a position to exert effective influence. They and their peoples need to feel that the spirit underlying any Western programmes is one of real generosity, understanding, respect and service. Where at all practical, the West should be guided in what it does by what the local governments feel they need. This approach implies some concessions to the impractical desire to have the outward symbols of a developed society before the base is laid. It is important, however, in view of the inevitable disparity between expectation and actual progress, that peoples be given tangible evidence of improvements in their living standards and the promise of more to come. Western programme might also usefully take into-account the desire for regional and even Pan-African or Pan-Asian development. In view of the sense of Afro-Asian solidarity, it may be important to offer Western assistance to all states without discrimination; in practice, it should be possible to concentrate aid where it is felt it will do the most good.

27. Even a very ambitious Western programme will not, of course, radically alter the emotional climate in the less-developed regions. The West will still be criticised and many will continue to look to the Soviet bloc for help and guidance. Greater opportunities for self-development and economic progress may reduce local interest in remote political issues. The existence of of colonies and of racial discrimination will nevertheless continue to exacerbate relations between the West and the less-developed countries.

B. Recognition

28. There are many small gestures which might bring a disproportionate return in good feeling:

(a) regular consultation, in particular with the permanent Afro-Asian delegates at the United Nations, but also with diplomatic missions wherever they are to be found;

(b) other forms of flattering attention: selection of African and Asian delegates to head organizations or conferences; location of conferences in Africa or Asia; frequent social invitations; requests to lecture; favourable press and official comments; acknowledgement of “Africa Day” and other national holidays; exchange visits of scholars; request for advice on the part of Western scholars interested in the less-developed areas, etc.

C. Economic and Technical Assistance

29. A detailed discussion of this issue was not attempted since a Western programme is so directly dependent on the amount of resources made available. There are, however, certain general opportunities for Western action which might deserve attention.

30. The Principles of Foreign Aid.

In contrast to the Cairo Conference, the Accra meeting strongly encouraged the use of foreign capital and technicians, but proposed that the African powers should first agree among themselves on terms of assistance compatible with national sovereignty. It is to be hoped that the African terms will be practicable. The West might, however, consider taking the initiative by drawing up in consultation with the Afro-Asian bloc a statement of liberal principles of economic and technical assistance.

31. UN Economic Commission for Africa [UNECA]

This new organization comprising all states with territorial responsibilities in Africa (five NATO members), with headquarters in Addis Ababa, would seem to offer a useful channel through which to deal with the peoples of Africa in matters of economic and social development. To the extent that Western economic assistance programmes might be associated, if only formally, with UNECA, they might not so easily be made the object of suspicion.

32. Common Market Overseas Development Fund

Depending on its application, the Development Fund for Overseas Territories could serve to lessen apprehension in Africa concerning the economic and political implications of the European Common Market, as well as to demonstrate Western interest in promoting the economic development and welfare of less fortunate people. In particular, if money were spent on developing educational and other facilities, as well as in building factories to process locally the agricultural products of the colonies, it would rebut the Communist charge that the purpose of the fund is to tie part of Africa more closely to Europe as an “agricultural appendage” to be exploited. The fear that colonial territories will have unfair economic advantage in marketing their products in Europe might perhaps lessen if an understanding attitude were adopted by the members of the Common Market toward requests for tariff concessions on the part of less-developed countries.

33. Community Effort

The “campaign” approach used most conspicuously by Communists to solve problems of hygiene, land clearance, house and road construction, irrigation, etc., in which mass human will and energy is a substitute for capital and machines, has obvious psychological and social value - as well as being utilitarian. Some non-Communist governments have initiated similar community efforts. Western governments might find it useful to offer whatever assistance they can to such programmes, where they exist; and Western technicians employed by local governments might, in turn, encourage this approach to economic development. Because local governments use extensive publicity to generate support for such community projects, any Western assistance might well benefit from gratuitous advertisement.

34. Recruitment and Use of Western Technicians

Until local governments can, with Western assistance, train their own cadres of specialists, technicians will remain in critically short supply. In attempting to fill this gap, the West faces the problem of getting the right sort of people in adequate numbers and on conditions which make- them most effective in their relations with the local government. Two approaches to this problem might be examined:

(a) Some arrangement whereby local governments can afford actually to hire Western technicians. In at least some instances, the relationship of the Western technician to the local government and his working colleagues has appeared to be better when he was an employee of the local government and not of a foreign state or organization. The Western employees would require, of course, some assurance of job tenure.

(b) A greater use of young people, who have just finished their training, in jobs where long experience is not essential. It should be easier to hire them, combining effective publicity appealing to their idealism with material inducements, e.g., bonuses, exemption from military service, priority employment rights upon return from a tour of duty in a less-developed country, etc.

D. Education

35. The following are among the measures which the West might take to develop trained cadres in the less-developed regions:

(a) establish as a “show piece”, a Pan-African university in some Western-oriented state or expand an existing institution for this purpose;

(b) distribute technical schools specialising in a particular field among the states of the region, so as to avoid rivalry in educational facilities and encourage an inter-regional

exchange of students. It might be necessary to use preferential stipends to channel students into professions currently lacking prestige;

(c) scholarships for study in the West are also necessary but no substitute for local training;

(d) educational films and television could be applied to training in many fields;

(e) free lessons in the principal Western languages would probably be popular; local citizens interested in-learning English should at least not have to learn it, as has sometimes happened, from Nasser-oriented Egyptians.

E. Cultural Activities

36. The following types of programmes might be helpful to establish essential services in a new society, and to provide creative employment for the intelligentsia. The West would need, however, to supply both capital and know-how:

37. Cultural Centres

A civic centre incorporating a theatre, museum, lecture halls and even recreation and sport facilities, dedicated perhaps to some symbolic Western figure (e.g. Rousseau, Booker T. Washington, Wilberforce) would serve as a dramatic reminder of the continuing interest in the West in the happiness and cultural development of the local population.

38. Radio and Television

To syphon off the current audience for the Moscow and Cairo radios, and use these media for propaganda and education purposes, radio and TV facilities under responsible government supervision, as well as training courses for producers, announcers, etc., should be established where they do not exist. Some schemes to provide cheap sets would need to be expanded. The West might also examine the value of increasing its own radio broadcasts in the vernacular.

39. Encouragement of a Responsible Press

A school of journalism organized by a responsible, Western-oriented government, on a scale to attract would-be journalists from the whole region, perhaps with lectures by Western correspondents, and focused on the responsibility for objective reporting of a free press, could play an important role in democratic development. A primer course on the Communist press and the Communist use of ambiguous words might be a useful feature of any such school.

40. Film Distribution

To combat the distribution of cheap films by the Soviet bloc and particularly Egypt, and provide a medium for both diversion and education, the West might consider:

(a) distributing appropriate Western features and documentaries at virtual cost;

(b) establishing local film studios and schools for training necessary actors and technical personnel.

41. Publications Distribution

To counter the influx of cheap Soviet bloc periodicals in the local language, the West might examine the possibility of:

(a) distributing in the original, as well as in translation, cheap copies of basic cultural,

technical and scientific literature;

(b) to set up a translation service supplying the local population with Western writings in the vernacular, and the West with translations of the local vernacular press;

(c) sponsoring the publication of books, poems, literary magazines, etc. by local intellectuals.

42. The Study of National Culture

To counter the “scholarly” studies of former colonial countries issued in Moscow, satisfy local demands for courses in national history, and demonstrate Western appreciation of local culture, the West might usefully finance various research projects, regional history and art faculties in local schools, regular publications run for local historians, conferences of specialists in African and Asian studies, exchange visits of students and professors specialising in this field, etc.

F. Language and Area Studies

43. The West is hampered in any large-scale programme involving Africa and Asia by a lack of people having the combination of language, knowledge and needed technical skills. To overcome this lack, the West might study where best to organize intensive training programmes for both area specialists and technicians or administrators going to work there. It would seem most practical to have one centre in North America, one in Europe, plus local programmes in different parts of Africa and Asia where the students could complete their education. Nationals of Africa and Asia should, of course, be consulted and closely associated with this training programme.

G. The Encouragement of Democratic Institutions

44. To the extent that Western philosophical concepts and institutions take root in Africa and Asia, Communist or other extremist practices and beliefs will meet opposition. To encourage this development, the West might usefully examine how better to present its beliefs and what regional training programmes might be established to train officials in the key elements of good government.

45. Propaganda for Democracy

In presenting principles of democracy which have ironically often inspired African and Asian intellectuals in their opposition to the West, the West might emphasize the following:

(a) while seeking the welfare of their citizens, societies differ in the means used to achieve their goals. In the long run, a policy which justifies bad means to achieve a good objective is bound to fail. This is the internal contradiction of Communism which is rooted in the belief that conflict and violence must be the mid-wife of progress, that a single political party can have the monopoly of wisdom, that justice is a relative value, depending against whom it is exercised, and that the collective is more important than the individual. To accept any one of these principles is to invite tyranny;

(b) Courses teaching political theory and institutions should stress that the essential

difference between Western “capitalism” and Communism is not that of a "plan less" as

against a planned society; in fact, all societies plan in varying degrees. Rather it is a question of what forms of planning are considered in different countries necessary and compatible with the objective of developing the individual. From a propaganda standpoint a label like “democratic humanism” emphasising the spiritual content of Western life, might be more appealing in the under-developed countries than “capitalism” or “socialism” which describe society in terms of economic form.

46. Government Training Programmes

To train local officials in democratic government, it would seem valuable to establish:

(a) law courses for lawyers, jurists and also perhaps police officials;

(b)a special regional police academy which might well teach not merely crime detection but techniques of Communist penetration;

(c) training in proper tax, economic and administrative practices which can make the difference between stability and chaos;

(d) A regional military academy attended by officers from various African and Asian

states who might complete their training with a period of study in the West. An army might seem like an unnecessary economic burden for a new state, but the Soviet bloc has appealed effectively to nationalist feelings of prestige by providing arms and military training. To avoid this, the West should perhaps encourage the formation of a small, highly trained professional army. Any such measure would need to be accompanied by stringent safeguards to ensure that the army, and especially its officers, could not become a centre of political ambitions.

47. The attraction of all these regional training courses would lie, of course, in the quality of equipment and teaching staff and the feeling of potential students that the focus of the courses was on effective “modern” government.

***

48. Clearly the tentative suggestions set forth above would need far more thorough examination and working out in detail before they could constitute the basis for a practicable programme or policy. Especially in economic, educational and cultural questions there would need to be an accurate survey of conditions in specific areas.

Palais de Chaillot

Paris, XVIe.

Committee on Political Advisers, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, “The Afro-Asian Solidarity Movement: The Threat of A Communist-Natioalist Alliance Against the West ,” July 17, 1958. NATO Archives Online

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Sudanese Resistance Committees Reject UN Calls to Negotiate with Coup Leaders
Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on MARCH 15, 2022
Pavan Kulkarni

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Youth in Khartoum protest the coup and stand up to the repression of security forces. Photo: Mohamed Mustafa

UN’s calls for negotiation with the coup leaders “is extremely disrespectful” of Sudan’s struggle for democracy, says Resistance Committee spokesperson Dania Atabani

“No negotiation, No compromise, No Partnership with the military” remains the main slogan in the unrelenting mass-protests, rallies, and barricades organized in cities across Sudan since the military coup on October 25, 2021.


Now in the fifth month, the civil resistance continues to draw hundreds of thousands week after week to the streets. On March 14, the nation-wide demonstrations, like in other weeks, were met with repression from the army and the militia of the military junta.

Since the coup, at least 87 young protesters, including minors, have been killed in the crackdown while over 3,300 have been injured, and over 500 are still undergoing treatment, according to data compiled by Hadhreen Organization. 28 have lost limbs or other organs and at least eight have been paralyzed as on Friday, March 11.

Several dozen youth arrested during the protests and movement leaders abducted from their homes remain in the custody of the security forces, many in undisclosed locations, facing risks of torture. Among them is 17-year old Tupac, who was arrested in January.

“He has many injuries in head, neck and nose. They broke his leg and used nails with electric drills on his feet,” said Dania Atabani, member of the Resistance Committee in Al Mamura neighborhood in capital city Khartoum.

“There is a difference between how they treat the politicians and the protesters. They just arrest the politicians, but the protesters, they torture.”

Yet, hundreds of thousands of protesters led by a network of over 5,200 Resistance Committees in the neighborhoods across the country remain unwavering in their determination to overthrow the coup and establish a fully civilian government which will prosecute the coup leaders.

However, the politicians of the center and right-wing parties, part of the Forces of Freedom and Change (FFC) coalition, are once again tending towards compromise. The FFC had shared power with the army in the transitional government that was formed after the signing of the Constitutional Document in 2019, which ceded much political power and impunity to the military.

The army broke its end of the agreement and seized all power by removing the FFC-chosen civilian leaders from the government after the coup on October 25. FFC has welcomed the decision of the UN and the African Union (AU) to jointly facilitate a negotiated settlement for the return to an arrangement on the basis of the Constitutional Document.

“We don’t have much time, and we’ve seen in the last four months the deterioration of the security, political and economic situation,” said Volker Perthes, head of United Nations Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in Sudan (UNITAMS), in a joint press conference with African Union (AU) envoy Mohamed Lebatt in Khartoum on March 10.

The UNATIMS was established in mid-2020 by a resolution of the UN Security council (UNSC). In its statement three days after the coup on October 28, 2021, the UNSC, which did not use the word ‘coup’, called upon Sudan’s military authorities to “restore the civilian-led transitional government on the basis of the Constitutional Document”.

“This term ‘civilian-led’ is in itself a form of manipulation by the international community”

Earlier, on the day of the coup, the US had also issued a statement without using the word ‘coup’, condemning the “dissolution of the civilian-led transitional government and its associated institutions” and calling for their “immediate restoration”.

The ‘Friends of Sudan’ group – US, France, UK, Canada, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, UK and the European Union (EU), along with regional countries, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and UAE – also called for restoration of the “civilian-led government”.

“This term ‘civilian-led’ is in itself a form of manipulation by the international community. Any political power for the military makes it no longer a civilian government,” protested Atabani.

“This is something the Western countries know and understand well when it comes to their countries. But they seem to think that in Sudan, and in the Global South in general, we are not worthy of a government held accountable to the people and shall always be ruled by the power of weapons and militaries,” she told Peoples Dispatch in an earlier interview.

While this sentiment has been evident on the streets, most manifestly in the rejection of the temporary return of the civilian Prime Minister Abadalla Hamdok, the UNITAMS opened a fruitless round of negotiations in January.

“The UN is an impartial actor and is not prejudging the outcome of the process,” its statement said. “However, the UN is committed to supporting a civilian-led government as the ultimate objective as per our mandate.”

“Ultimate” is the operative word here, reflecting a lack of acknowledgement of the urgency, provoking much anger among the Sudanese people, subjected to military rule for most part since independence.

Adding to this provocation, the UNITAMS explained that the “process will be inclusive. All key civilian and military stakeholders.. will be invited to participate in the UN-facilitated political process.” This proposal to seek an agreement with the leaders of the coup has been met with outrage by the Resistance Committees, which command the majority on the streets.

“This is extremely disrespectful of the Sudanese people”

“While the UN and these foreign governments believe that it is not realistic to remove the military from power in Sudan, it is totally not realistic to achieve peace, democracy and development by compromising with the criminal coup. It is clear that these governments are only interested in short term stability and are willing to sacrifice the population of Sudan for that,” argued Atabani.

“The dialogue and discussion led by the UN mission have almost no impact on the streets. Yet, they keep insisting. This is extremely disrespectful of the Sudanese people,” she said. “The international and regional push for holding negotiations with the coup leaders are the only thing legitimizing the coup now. They are meeting the coup leaders and even calling him the head of the sovereignty council.”

“While these foreign governments are legitimizing the coup,” she added, “the RCs in Sudan are discussing new government structures.”

The Charter for the Establishment of People’s Authority proposed by the Khartoum Coordination of Resistance Committees on February 28, calls for the scrapping of the Constitutional Document of 2019. Rather than settling for a return to an arrangement on its basis, as urged by the international community, the Charter proposes the formation of new transitional government structures “under the supervision and monitoring of the resistance committees and the active revolutionary forces”.



This fully-civilian government, unlike the one which was dissolved after the coup, is to prosecute the coup leaders, subjugate the armed forces to its authority and reform its structures, free the vast portion of the country’s economy from its control and ownership, and withdraw troops from Yemen, among other tasks.

Competing with such visions of radical transformation that has mobilized an entire generation of youth in Sudan, is this attempt at bringing together for a so-called “Sudanese-Sudanese” dialogue, under the aegis of an “impartial actor” which will treat the pro-democracy protesters and the army shooting them down as equal “stakeholders”.

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Re: Africa

Post by blindpig » Thu Mar 17, 2022 2:23 pm

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Africa solidarity with Russia in Ethiopia on Victory Day, 2022. | (Photo: Amanuel Sileshi/Agence France-Presse)

Many Africans reject Washington’s position on Ukraine crisis
Originally published: Internationalist 360 by Abayomi Azikiwe (March 13, 2022 ) - Posted Mar 15, 2022

HALF OF THE COUNTRIES ABSTAINING FROM THE UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY RESOLUTION CONDEMNING MOSCOW WERE AFRICAN UNION MEMBER STATES

Since the post-World War II period national liberation movements and independent countries in Africa have developed solid diplomatic and economic relations with the former Soviet Union and today’s Russian Federation.

It is this history which underlines the refusal of numerous African governments and mass organizations to side with the United States and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in its efforts to encircle Russia in order to leave it as a diminished state dependent upon the dominant imperialist nations globally.

In the immediate aftermath of the beginning of Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine, the racist treatment of approximately 16,000 African students as well as thousands of others from Asia gained international news coverage. Africans were denied admission onto trains, refused food provided to Ukrainians, while attempting to seek refuge in neighboring countries such as Poland.

These incidents should not have been surprising considering the expansion and institutionalization of fascist and nazi ideology among those governing the Ukrainian state since the U.S.-backed Euromaidan coup of February 2014. Washington, under the administration of former President Barack Obama, sought to subvert any efforts by ousted President Viktor Yanukovych to walk a middle-line between the U.S., European Union on the one side and Russia on the other.

The first-person accounts of the African students who were more than willing to speak about what had been done to them in Ukraine, had to be swiftly suppressed in the western media. Although any keen observer of the unfolding crisis in Ukraine would know of the role of groupings such as the Right Sector and the Azov Brigades in creating an atmosphere of reaction against Russian-speaking Ukrainians because their worldview encompasses many of the assumptions which fostered the philosophical underpinnings of the rationale for the initiation of World War II (1939-1945).

United Nations, African States and the Ukraine War

A debate on March 2 over a resolution to essentially condemn and apportion exclusive blame on Moscow for the current military situation, was voted on by 141 UN representatives out of 191. 35 countries abstained from the vote including 17 member-states of the African Union (AU). Cameroon, Ethiopia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Burkina Faso, Togo, Eswatini and Morocco were absent. Algeria, Uganda, Burundi, Central African Republic, Mali, Senegal, Equatorial Guinea, Congo Brazzaville, Sudan, South Sudan, Madagascar, Mozambique, Angola, Namibia, Zimbabwe and South Africa abstained on the resolution.

Although the resolution passed, it has not brought about an end to the fighting in Ukraine which has prompted over two million people to leave the Eastern European country. The only African state to vote against the resolution was Eritrea. In recent months, the government of Eritrea has been in discussions with Russia about the utilization of Red Sea ports inside the country. A similar situation is developing in neighboring Republic of Sudan where Port Sudan, also on the Red Sea, has been the subject of talks between Moscow and the military regime now controlling Khartoum.

Another leading African state, the Republic of South Africa, abstained from the March 2 UN General Assembly vote noting that the resolution did not emphasize the need for a negotiated diplomatic settlement to the crisis. The ruling party in South Africa, the African National Congress (ANC) has maintained close ties to Moscow since the period of national liberation from the 1960s to the 1990s. The former Soviet Union provided diplomatic, educational and military support to the ANC and many other liberation movements turned independent governments such as the South-West African People’s Organization (SWAPO) of Namibia, the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), the Mozambique Liberation Front (FRELIMO), just to mention a few.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa who has been under tremendous pressure by the U.S. State Department over its position on Ukraine was quoted as saying:

South Africa expected that the UN resolution would foremost welcome the commencement of dialogue between the parties and seek to create the conditions for these talks to succeed. Instead, the call for peaceful resolution through political dialogue is relegated to a single sentence close to the conclusion of the final text. This does not provide the encouragement and international backing that the parties need to continue with their efforts.

A clear indication of the uneasiness and disapproval of the U.S. role in Ukraine was voiced by several African journalists during a briefing webinar on March 3 with Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Molly Phee. Several journalists asked critical questions related to the U.S. position in Ukraine probing Phee in regard to the demands by the White House and State Department that every country around the world denounce Russia and its President Vladimir Putin.

Journalists raised the issue of racism against Africans attempting to flee Ukraine into Poland along with unreasonable demands being placed on AU member-states. The transcript of the webinar read in part:

This is Simon Ateba with Today News Africa in Washington, D.C. You just mentioned reporting about Africans facing racism in Ukraine and Poland, being denied entry into trains in Kyiv, and being turned back at the border with Poland. Is there any reason why the State Department has not publicly condemned racism against Africans in Ukraine and Poland?’…. ‘Yes, this is Katlego Isaacs from Mmegi News. I wanted to ask, why should African countries support the position of the U.S. to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine when the U.S. supports the aggression in Israel against Palestinians?’…. My name is Swift from Gabz FM in Botswana. I wanted to ask, what is the position of the U.S. on censoring of social media and the complete wipeout of the other party, in this case obviously Russia, since free speech and free press is the cornerstone not only of democracy but a tool that can create a counterculture or counternarrative?’

Within the streets of countries such as Mali, Central African Republic (CAR) and Ethiopia there have been pro-Russian demonstrations. Mali recently called for the departure of the French ambassador and military forces after Paris objected to the involvement of the Wagner Group, a Russian-based defense services company working to curtail rebel attacks in the northern and central regions of the West African state.

Ethiopia in early March commemorated “Victory Day” which celebrates the defeat of Italian colonialism in 1896 at the Battle of Adwa. Photographs were released of Ethiopians carrying their own national flag while some others waved the flag of Russia in solidarity with the military operation in Ukraine.

The German newspaper DW reported on the military ties between AU member-states and Moscow noting:

In recent years, Russia has increasingly used this historic Soviet connection to expand its political, economic and, above all, military relations with African nations. In 2019, Vladimir Putin hosted a Russia-Africa Summit attended by 43 African leaders. Just one year later, Russia became Africa’s biggest arms supplier. According to a 2020 analysis by the peace research institute SIPRI, between 2016 and 2020 around 30% of all arms exported to sub-Saharan Africa countries came from Russia. This vastly overshadows weapon supplies from other nations such as China (20%), France (9.5%) and the USA (5.4%). This increased the volume of Russian arms shipments by 23% over the previous five-year period.

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Central African Republic solidarity demonstration with Russia.

These and other factors have frustrated the U.S. in its diplomatic efforts to win unconditional support for its war against Russia in Ukraine. The existence of the U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) since 2008 under the guise of enhancing the security capacity of AU member-states in their struggles against what is described as “Islamic Jihadism”, has proved to be an utter failure. Despite the existence of a military base housing thousands of Pentagon troops in the Horn of Africa state of Djibouti and the building of other makeshift installations, along with joint military operations and training opportunities for African military officers, the overall stability and security of many states has worsened.

Ending Imperialist War Requires a Rejection of U.S. Foreign Policy

Several countries within Latin America have maintained their trade and diplomatic relations with Russia. These states include Cuba and the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.

Caracas has been under siege by successive administrations in Washington, both Democratic and Republican. In recent years, the White House has attempted to install a puppet regime in Venezuela while denying recognition of the government of President Nicolas Maduro. Billions of Venezuelan assets have been frozen in U.S. banks along with the expulsion of high-level employees of embassies and other outlets for Caracas.

Yet during the first weekend of March, the U.S. deployed a delegation to Venezuela to discuss the possibility of replacing banned Russian oil shipments with supplies from the Maduro administration which has been under a blockade by Washington at least since 2017. The move illustrates the illogical foreign policy positions under which President Joe Biden finds himself. Moreover, the opposition to the talks has forced Biden to publicly move away from this latest energy strategy.

Energy, transportation and food prices are skyrocketing in the U.S. compounding the already 40-year high inflation rate. Although the corporate and government-controlled media agencies are proclaiming the dire straits that Russia is undergoing since the withdrawal of several banking services, McDonalds, Coca-Cola and other corporations, it is the Biden administration and the Democratic Party politicians who must face the U.S. electorate in 2022 and 2024.

Attitudes towards U.S. military policy among Africans and people in Latin America reveals the unsustainability of this approach to international affairs. These peoples know that the reckless approach by Washington and Wall Street will have a negative social impact on billions around the globe.

The inability of the Biden White House to pass legislation in Congress which would address the social crisis unfolding in the U.S. portends much for the political landscape in Washington. A U.S.-inspired war in Eastern Europe will not solve the economic stagnation and hyperinflation faced by the majority of working people and nationally oppressed.

These forces must unite to overturn the war program of the White House and Pentagon which only robs the people of their rights to decent housing, education, food, water, environmental justice and all other necessities of modern life. A new foreign policy must be developed which defunds the defense department and dismantles the U.S. bases which are waging war around the globe.

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Re: Africa

Post by blindpig » Tue Mar 22, 2022 3:28 pm

Africa Supports Russia’s Operation in Ukraine and Advocates a Revival of the Non-Aligned Movement
Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on MARCH 21, 2022
Vladimir Danilov

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And a significant number of those who have supported Moscow’s position are countries of the African continent, whose citizens have considerable combat experience and were among the first to declare their willingness to join Russia’s special operation. It is Africans who have personally confronted terrorists supported by the collective West for years that recognize the EU and NATO fingerprints in the conflict in Ukraine. The Cameroonian fighters, for example, expressed their strong opposition to Nazism, believing that it had no place in the modern world. They know firsthand about racial neglect, as many of their loved ones were victims of abuse from white colonizers who did not consider them human for hundreds of years.

The citizens of the CAR also well remember the assistance of the collective West to the Coalition of Patriots for Change (CPC), a conglomerate of groups that plunged the country into years of armed conflict. They therefore also express their support for Russia in Ukraine and stress that they are prepared to personally participate in the denazification of Ukraine, if necessary.

For the people of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Vladimir Putin and his courageous policies are also a model of his willingness to defend world peace, and they have shown a readiness to stand shoulder to shoulder with him in preventing Nazism in Ukraine.

North African countries such as Algeria and Libya have not stood idly by either. Libyans, for example, recalled that before the criminal intervention by the US, their homeland was a prosperous state. That is why the Libyan military is ready to help Russia fight back against the collective West, which is destabilizing the world through Ukraine.

Similar assessments have been made by Sudanese, South Africans and several other African states, stressing that the Ukrainian Nazis are one of the cruelest tools the EU and NATO could ever create. They also stressed that the collective West has once again shown how indifferent it is to the fate of civilians, whom it is prepared to sacrifice to satisfy its predatory interests.

This reaction of support for Russia from Africa is not surprising. Africa and Russia have always had a warm relationship. Any Russian on the African continent is not associated by the population with a white colonizer, but with a true friend who is strict about his commitments. After all, it was Moscow that showed the people of Africa that it was ready to develop equal mutually beneficial relations with them, develop their economy, build economic facilities on favorable terms and, even in difficult times for itself, write off multibillion debts of African states. African citizens therefore understand that the Russian special operation has an important purpose. They are well aware of the dangers of Nazism, what it can lead to and why it must be combated by all available means.

A number of African countries abstained in the vote on a UN resolution condemning Russia’s special operation in Ukraine, Frankfurter Allgemeine noted. As the outlet notes, the reasons are different and may include, for example, their historical relations with the USSR, which supported liberation movements in Algeria, Angola, Congo, Ethiopia, Guinea, Morocco, South Africa and many other states. Most of the elite of the African continent studied in the USSR. They are doctors, engineers, scientists, pilots in Africa. For this and many other reasons, Africans are deeply grateful to the Russians. However, Moscow’s noticeable expansion of its presence on the continent since 2014 also plays a role. Moreover, many African countries see Russia and China as important allies within the UN.

As South African President Cyril Ramaphosa pointed out during his last speech to parliament, the conflict in Ukraine could have been avoided if NATO had heeded Moscow’s warnings not to expand eastwards. The South African president stressed that if NATO had listened to the warnings of its own leaders and other officials, who have stressed for years that eastward expansion would provoke greater instability in the region, this would not have happened.

The South African president also noted that in recent days there has been increased pressure on the African country, given its international weight, its business contacts with Russia, including within BRICS, to adopt a more “hostile stance.” Nevertheless, the state’s approach seeks to achieve a “lasting solution to the conflict.”

Cooperation between Russia and South Africa within the BRICS and G20 frameworks does contribute to creating a multipolar world and strengthens Russia’s position on the world stage. It also helps to make the multipolar system of international relations more legitimate. The BRICS, meanwhile, is an important intermediate negotiating platform between individual country interests and the G20.

As for South Africa itself, it is the largest economy on the African continent, accounting for a third of sub-Saharan Africa’s combined GDP. South Africa has a well-developed infrastructure, one of the most developed financial markets in the world, and is also a leader in institutional development. In addition, the African continent has the largest reserves of natural resources. There is therefore no doubt that many countries are very interested in cooperating with South Africa, just as Pretoria itself is interested in playing an increasingly important role in world politics.

It is therefore not surprising that South Africa is among the countries that have already offered to be involved in the resolution of the conflict in Ukraine. The country’s leader, Cyril Ramaphosa, called Vladimir Putin on March 10 about Ukraine and cooperation within the BRICS framework. The Russian president briefed on the reasons and objectives of the special military operation to protect Donbas, as well as on the situation in negotiations with representatives of the Ukrainian authorities. For his part, the South African leader “expressed support for the ongoing political and diplomatic efforts.”

South Africa’s particular interest in resolving the Ukrainian conflict is also due to the fact that the authorities are concerned about the treatment of its citizens in Ukraine. In particular, the South African government has expressed concern about the Kiev regime’s brutal treatment of Africans trying to leave Ukraine because of the widespread racist attitude towards them. They have to make detours from cities such as Kiev and Kharkov to get to Lvov, but in the end they are not allowed to cross the Ukrainian-Polish border because priority is given to white people. At the same time, organizations controlled by the Kiev regime are trying to recruit African nationals, including in South Africa, to be used in their military operations. Argus reports, in particular, that African mercenaries are recruited through Ukrainian diplomatic channels. Social media speak of several Africans who have come to Ukraine as such mercenaries, and even that after one of them got into an altercation with fighters from the nazi battalion, they shot him dead.

In light of the conflict in Ukraine, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa called for a revival of the Non-Aligned Movement and also spoke of the weakness of the UN in the current situation. It should be recalled that the Non-Aligned Movement was an international organization, founded in 1961 during the Cold War, which brought together states in Asia, Africa, Latin America and Europe that adhered to the principle of non-alignment with any military bloc. Speaking to South Africa’s parliament, President Ramaphosa said: “We must work to revive the Non-Aligned Movement so that those countries that are not in a rivalry for hegemony between the major powers can work together to build world peace.” At the same time, he pointed out that while South Africa was in solidarity with the UN position calling for an end to military action in Ukraine, the entire situation demonstrated “the weakness of the structure and practical actions” of this organization. There is a need for a multilateral approach to peace and security issues, he said.

https://libya360.wordpress.com/2022/03/ ... -movement/

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King Mswati’s soldiers abduct children of a Communist Party leader in Swaziland
40 soldiers invaded the home of a Communist Party leader and kidnapped his two children who were held in custody for several hours before being released

March 21, 2022 by Pavan Kulkarni


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The banned Communist Party of Swaziland has been facing heavy repression due to their involvement in the pro-democracy, anti-monarchy struggle. Photo: CPS

Army soldiers kidnapped two children of a National Organizer of the Communist Party of Swaziland (CPS), Ayanda Ndwandwe, on Sunday, March 21. About 40 soldiers, “armed-to-teeth” and driving four armored vehicles, “invaded his home” in the rural area of Lubulini in the Lubombo Region at around 3 pm, the banned party said in a statement.

The party believes that the contingent of soldiers had most likely come to Ndwandwe’s home with the intent to arrest him. When they did not find him at home, they instead abducted his cousin, a 23-year-old woman, along with his two children, who are three and five years old. They were held in custody for several hours before being released later in the day, Manqoba Motsa, a Central Committee (CC) member of the CPS, told Peoples Dispatch.

“Comrade Ayanda was critical in helping the rural community in the region organize themselves for their welfare and security. He also had an important role to play outside of his region as a member of the party’s National Organizing Committee,” he said.

After this incident, Ndwandwe, along with other local cadres of the party who had been attacked by security forces in the area a day earlier, have been forced to go underground.

CPS has been organizing “Sunset Rallies” around Swaziland (renamed Estawini) to reiterate that the reign of King Mswati III, the last absolute monarch in Africa, is now in its evening, nearing its end, Motsa said, explaining the symbolism.

On the evening of March 19, rallies were held in the regions of Manzini, Mbabane, Limpopo and in Lubombo. In the Lubulini area of Lubombo, security forces, including the army and the police, fired tear gas to disperse the small rally there that was being led by Ndwandwe.

“One live bullet was also fired. Many comrades were injured while escaping,” Motsa said. Even before the rally had begun, heavily armed police, outnumbering the rally itself, had arrived on the scene and set up barricades along the route of the planned rally, he added. The evening before, on March 18, several activists on the way from Manzini to join this rally had been detained in the Big Bend region.

While cycles of protests against the monarchy and repression by its security forces have been repeating over the last decades, these were mostly limited to urban areas such as Manzini and Mbabane. The well-organized student organizations and trade unions – especially of the civil servants, including doctors, teachers and staff in government offices – have been at the forefront of this long struggle for democracy.

However, last year, the struggle for democracy rose to a new level with anti-monarchist demonstrations sweeping across the rural areas and rallies organized in every single constituency across the country. When violence was unleashed against these peaceful rallies, an uprising erupted in the urban industrial centers, with attacks on businesses and properties owned by the King and his associates.

In the midst of this uprising in late-June and early-July of 2021, the king had briefly fled the country while the army put down the uprising by killing at least 70 and wounding hundreds. However, pro-democracy protests and armed repression have continued, especially on the trade union and student front.

The security forces appear to be especially concerned about political activities in rural areas, which until the country-wide protests last year, were perceived to be largely loyal to the King. Community organizers such as Ayanda Ndwandwe, who play a key role in politicizing rural areas, are perceived as a major threat.

A clear example of this fear felt by the security forces is that on March 20, armed police intervened in Lomahasha constituency in Lubombo region to stop residents who were only fixing accident-causing potholes on a road, using picks and shovels.

The perceptible paranoia of the Mswati’s security establishment that any collective action by people could trigger off another anti-monarchist upheaval is not entirely misplaced. “Democracy Now!”, which had long been a slogan of the Communist Party, has become a national cry in Swaziland.

https://peoplesdispatch.org/2022/03/21/ ... swaziland/

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False flag operations that the US promoted to attack Libya

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US military patrol a Libyan city after the 2011 invasion. | Photo: Europe Press
Published 19 March 2022

The military invasion of the US and its allies led to the overthrow of Gaddafi's government and his subsequent assassination in October of the same year.

On March 19, 2011, the armed forces of the United States (USA) began their intervention in Libya to force the overthrow of the leader Muammar Al Gaddafi, whose Government promoted a significant advance in social, political and economic matters in the North African country.

Between March 19 and 20, 2011, the US launched around 110 Tomahawk missiles on Libya, while the French air force carried out an attack with its Rafale fighters, killing hundreds of civilians.

To "justify" these bombings, the US military created false flag operations that "legitimized" their actions of force.

USA and the revolt
The US organized in February 2011 opponents of Gaddafi's government in Benghazi (northeast) who produced a revolt. In this way, anti-government demonstrations encouraged by the West were registered in the streets to demand better living conditions.


As background, an article published on rebelion.org recalls that a Mossad agent (the Israeli intelligence agency) admitted that, in 1984, that secret service planted a radio transmitter in Gaddafi's compound in Tripoli, Libya, which made transmissions false terrorists registered by the Mossad, in order to show Gaddafi as a supporter of terrorism.

Then US President Ronald Reagan bombed Libya immediately afterwards.

false accusations

Western countries denounced to the world that allegedly forces loyal to Gaddafi used fighter planes to attack the rebels, but that these operations affected civilians, something that was repeatedly denied by the Libyan government.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) immediately asked Gaddafi to be investigated for alleged crimes against humanity for the military actions undertaken in the anti-government demonstrations.

To these accusations was added one from Interpol, which considered that the Libyan leader had ordered aerial bombardments against defenseless civilians.


The US, France and Great Britain took advantage of that opportunity and on March 19, 2011, launched a UN-protected military operation under the guise of creating a no-fly zone, supposedly to protect Libyan civilians.

The offensive culminated in the overthrow of Gaddafi's government and the assassination of the Libyan leader in October of the same year.

International analysts maintain that the real objective of the Operation in Libya "was not to establish democracy, but to take possession of its oil reserves, and to privatize the country's oil industry, transferring control and ownership of its oil wealth to foreign hands."

two governments

Currently, in Libya, two executive powers coexist - facing each other in arms - each of which has different international backing: the Government of National Accord (GAN), based in Tripoli, and the Government of the East, headed by Abdullah Al Zani, who is installed in the city of Tobruk and is supported militarily by the Libyan National Armed Forces (FANL), commanded by the military Khalifa Haftar, a former collaborator of Gaddafi, although he later distanced himself from him.

Both command structures compete with each other for the management and control of oil, which is the main source of income for the North African nation.

https://www.telesurtv.net/news/libia-ee ... -0005.html

Google Translator

Stealing oil and gold certainly figure in this aggression, but Qaddafi's gold was to be the basis for a pan-African currency which would have gotten the greedy hooks of the dollar out of Africa, a relationship more valuable than all that was stolen.
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

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Re: Africa

Post by blindpig » Fri Mar 25, 2022 2:28 pm

Africa in horror

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Lionel Zinsou Former President of Benin
“Now we all only hear about this crisis, anti-Russian sanctions, oil, gas… Do you understand what this crisis means, for example, for Africa? Russia supplies us with grain and corn. All logistics go through the Black Sea. And the African world froze in horror from what was happening. Terrified by the actions of the US and the European Union.
You don't buy Africans with stories about democracy. These are only your fairy tales for internal consumption. The majority of the African elite was formed in the Soviet Union - doctors, engineers, pilots, teachers, scientists. The Russians were the only Europeans who decolonized Africa. And Africa remembers it. Just as Africa remembers European atrocities.
If you notice, African countries did not support the UN resolution condemning Russia. And they will never support any resolutions against Russia. This is hardwired into the backbone of every African: Russia is good, no matter what you think about it. This is a constant.
All of Africa is watching the Central African Republic and Mali. What the Europeans could not do for decades, the Russians did in a year. In place of the Central African Republic there were gangs, today there is a real state there.
I know that there are diplomats and employees of the Foreign Ministry in the hall. I appeal to you, to French diplomacy: look for a solution to your problem, as soon as possible, because if the conflict does not end in a month, Africa will break out.
It is for you that energy problems are at the forefront. In the worst case, you will have less heat and fewer cars, and we will have a hunger problem in Africa! Hear me, the crisis in Africa will entail the destruction of Europe.
Come to your senses, look for diplomatic solutions. And don't forget that countries like India and China support Russia. Africa supports Russia.
I do not want to talk about democracy, and you will not pity me, an African, with stories about the unfortunate Ukraine and calls for humanity. Your democracy is your business. There is no need to impose on us your ideas about how we, Africans, should live.
Again! Look for compromises, let the diplomats work. Time is against us. We have 30 days! Thirty! No more!"


In Africa, they are really worried, since the expected famine will hit African countries first of all.

https://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/7517476.html

Google Translator

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80% of rural African population lack safely managed drinking water

UNICEF and WHO reported that the SDG target of universal access to safely managed drinking water will not be met in Africa, barring major changes

March 23, 2022 by Pavan Kulkarni

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In absence of a massive expansion of public investment, ensuring water, sanitation and hygiene services for all remains a distant dream.
80% of the rural population on the African continent lack safely managed drinking water, 75% lack safely managed sanitation, and 70% lack basic hygiene services, according to a special report of the WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Program for Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene (JMP).

While accessibility in urban regions of the continent is better, 40% of the population in urban Africa also lacks safely managed drinking water. According to UNICEF’s press release on the joint report “2 out of 3 people lack safely managed sanitation, and half the population lacks basic hygiene services.”

This report was launched on Tuesday, March 22, at the 9th World Water Forum on the topic of “Water security for peace and development”. The forum, extending from March 21 to 26, is being hosted for the first time in sub-Saharan Africa, in Senegal’s capital city of Dakar.

Organized every three years by the World Water Council since 1997, this Forum is described on its website as the “world’s largest event on water”, bringing together participants from “all levels…including politics, multilateral institutions, academia, civil society, and the private sector.”

“Universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water for all” and “access to adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene for all” are among the key targets set by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for 2030.

Africa is a long way from meeting these targets. The report noted that an estimated 418 million people lacked “even a basic level of drinking water service”. 839 million have no access at all to basic hygiene services. 779 million lack basic sanitation services, 208 million of whom must resort to open defecation.

UNICEF and the WHO warned that the SDG targets will not be met in Africa, unless a 12-fold increase can be achieved in the rate of expansion of access to safely managed drinking water that has occurred over the first two decades of this century. Safely managed sanitation requires a 20-fold increase to meet the SDG target and basic hygiene services need a 42-fold increase.

While the population of Africa increased by 500 million—from 800 million to 1.3 billion —between 2000 and 2020, only 290 million have gained access to basic sanitation services.

“In a time when water scarcity fuels conflicts and water points are targeted, UNICEF calls for urgent actions. We need water, sanitation and hygiene in schools, especially for girls who may miss school because there are no toilets or because they have to fetch water. Women and children need safe access to water,” said Marie-Pierre Poirier, UNICEF’s Regional Director for West and Central Africa.

“As climate change puts additional pressure on resources, we need climate risk-sensitive and resilient water, sanitation, and hygiene services for children and their communities. And we need it now,” she stressed.

Africa is not resource poor. Most countries in Africa have sufficient ground water to sustain the whole population for over 50 years of drought, according to a study presented at the forum on March 21 by British Geological Survey (BGS) and WaterAid.

The exceptions include Rwanda, whose aquifers can supply water for less than five drought years. Burundi and Uganda have ground water to suffice for five to ten years of drought. “Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi are showing up as anomalies as they have large populations residing on relatively low storage aquifers,” its report said.

Guinea Bissau, Guinea. Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ghana and Toga on the western Atlantic coast have enough ground water for 10-50 drought years.

The “groundwater resources are maybe 20 times the amount of water we have in the rivers and lakes of Africa,” said BGS chief researcher Alan MacDonald.

While such reserves are reassuring, extracting water to supply the rural communities most in need requires infrastructure most African countries lack. Governments have not sufficiently invested in such infrastructure with many being dominated by a neoliberal economic orientation that de-incentivizes investment in the public sphere.

As the report recommends: “Increasing water and sanitation financing for communities who are marginalized from these essential resources through a fixed percentage of annual government budgets and increased international donor and private sector investment.”

However, recommendations to limit government spending and rely on private investment are in line with the very same neoliberal austerity policies which have created the water crisis.

“Private investment cannot fix inequitable water supply, since they are meant to maximize their earnings by targeting densely populated areas,” argued Peninah Kisa, a Kenya-based member of People’s Health Movement.

Supplying water, sanitation and hygiene services to the rural population is not a profit-making enterprise, and provides no incentive for private interests.

In absence of a massive expansion of public investment, which is actively discouraged by international agencies and the western governments, ensuring water, sanitation and hygiene services for all remains a distant dream.

https://peoplesdispatch.org/2022/03/23/ ... ing-water/

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Tigray rebels announce ceasefire in Ethiopia

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They celebrate the cessation of hostilities between the Ethiopian government and the Tigray rebels. | Photo: nuso.org
Published March 25, 2022 (2 hours 26 minutes ago)

The Ethiopian prime minister declared an indefinite truce on Thursday to allow the movement of humanitarian aid in the Tigray region.

The rebel forces of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Tigray (FPLT) promised this Friday to respect a ceasefire in the war that has been waged in that region against the Government of Ethiopia since November 2020.

"The government of Tigray is committed to implementing a cessation of hostilities, effective immediately," they said in a statement asking the government for concrete measures to facilitate humanitarian access to the region in the north of the country.

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed declared an indefinite truce on Thursday to allow the free movement of humanitarian aid in the famine-threatened Tigray region where no aid convoy has entered since December 15.


The FPLT rebels pointed out that linking political issues to humanitarian ones is unacceptable, however they assured that they will do their best to give peace a chance.

Ethiopian forces and the FPTL have been clashing since November 2020, when the prime minister ordered an offensive against the Tigray People's Liberation Front, the ruling party in the region, in retaliation for an attack on a federal military base and after an escalation of political tensions.


After being defeated, in 2021 the TPLF took control of the region and has since spread to neighboring Amhara and Afar regions.

The almost 17 months of conflict have caused a serious humanitarian crisis in northern Ethiopia, where more than nine million people are in need of food aid.

https://www.telesurtv.net/news/rebeldes ... -0007.html

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Re: Africa

Post by blindpig » Sat Mar 26, 2022 1:56 pm

South African CP, SACP welcomes government response in favour of providing humanitarian aid to, and reiterates its solidarity with the people of Cuba
3/23/22 4:22 PM

The South African Communist Party (SACP) welcomes the statement by the Minister of International Relations and Co-operation, Dr Naledi Pandor, in response to the interim order granted by Judge Brenda Neukircher of the North Gauteng High Court pausing the implementation of the humanitarian aid that South Africa had agreed it would provide to the Republic of Cuba. On Wednesday, 23 March 2022, Dr Pando made it clear that the department was studying the judgment and consulting with its legal representatives to prepare heads of argument for a return to court in 20 days’ time.

Dr Pando emphasised that the African Renaissance Fund does not provide money to any beneficiary but humanitarian aid, be it food, medical supplies, or other forms of support, and that the fund lies within the budget of the Department of International Relations and Co-operation and no other department.

While the application by AfriForum against South Africa’s decision to provide humanitarian aid to Cuba appears to be a legal issue, the reality is that it is a political matter that goes far beyond that. This can be traced back to the apartheid era and apartheid sub-imperialism in Southern Africa. Between mid-August 1987 and the end of March 1988, Cuba defeated apartheid armed forces in Angola, in the historic Battle of Cuito Cuanavale. This led to the independence of Namibia and the transition from apartheid to the current democratic dispensation in South Africa. Intransigent beneficiaries of the racist regime of apartheid remain anti-Cuba, because of that.

Besides the defeat of apartheid forces by Cuba in the Battle of Cuito Cuanavale, the people of Cuba in exercising their national sovereignty chose their own trajectory, that of building a socialist transition from capitalist barbarity and safeguarding Cuban independence from imperialism. The imperialist regime of the United States reacted by imposing an illegal blockade on Cuba. Imperialist agents in different countries seek to extend the extra-territorial impact of the illegal blockade, which the United Nations General Assembly has been condemning year in, year out.

The SACP pledges its unwavering solidarity with the people and government of Cuba. We will strengthen our independent support for and deepen our fraternal ties with the Cuban people. Nothing whatsoever from the ranks of apartheid beneficiaries or imperialism will temper with our solidarity with the Cuban people.

http://solidnet.org/article/South-Afric ... e-of-Cuba/

CP of Swaziland, Mswati's police kidnap CPS member in Mbabane
3/23/22 4:24 PM

Wednesday 23 March 2022:- Today, around 13:00, Mswati's police kidnapped Communist Party member, Bongi Nkambule - fondly known among his comrades as "Comrade Bongo".

The police who were travelling in a police truck kidnapped Comrade Bongi at the Mbabane Park on his way home after attending a court case of Comrade Bakhe Sacolo and Comrade Sethu Nkambule which was held in Manzini this morning.

The police did not state their reasons for kidnapping Comrade Bongi. Thus far, no one knows where they have detained him.

The CPS has been under heavy attack from the regime's security forces for some time now. On Sunday, they kidnapped the children of one of our organisers, CPS member Comrade Ayanda Ndwandwe, whose home remains under surveillance, while also pursuing CPS comrades who were leading rallies at Lubulini community in the eastern part of Swaziland.

This action by the regime’s forces is a clear indication of desperation to torture and kill as many comrades as they can in order to keep oppressing the people.

The CPS calls upon democracy activists to demand the immediate and unconditional release of Comrade Bongi. We know that the police will torture him for his relentless fight for freedom in our country.

http://solidnet.org/article/CP-of-Swazi ... n-Mbabane/

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ANCYL Gauteng condemns DIRCO's statement on Ukraine
Stanley "AK47" Letsoalo - Ntsako Mogobe | 24 February 2022

Old guard in SA is now plunged headfirst into a political situation which is the doing of the West
Statement of the African National Congress Youth League in Gauteng on DIRCO utterances on Russia-Ukraine tensions

24 February 2022

The African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) in Gauteng is baffled by the sudden utterances of pensioners who have all but abandoned their responsibility of governing the Republic of South Africa. This is in light of a series of statements attributed to the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) regarding the ongoing Russia-Ukraine tensions and the apparent "intervention" of South Africa.

Minister Naledi Pandor, the chief-pensioner in pursuit of appeasing the West and Africa's former coloniser has been bending over backwards to reiterate western propaganda and paint a pro-USA narrative through statements issued by DIRCO.

Instead of dealing with the mammoth task of dismantling apartheid systems and transforming our country for the benefit of the African majority, the old guard in South Africa is now plunged headfirst into a political situation which is the doing of the West.

Instead of our government confronting the massive unemployment crisis facing the young people of this country, the government is engaged in a bizarre and fruitless PR exercise to carry favour and with no doubt additional loans and donations from the west, a shadow of their former revolutionary character which was imparted to them by the mighty African National Congress.

These demented pensioners have clearly run out of ideas, they are failing to grapple and deal decisively with the triple oppression faced by the masses of our people, in the contrary, they opt to write irrelevant statements about everything but the plight of South Africans.

When King Mswati slaughtered innocent people right at our doorstep the myriad of statements were nowhere to be found.

DIRCO suddenly has a hunger to intervene in Kyiv whilst only weeks ago it hosted the Apartheid state of Israel, which has for more than half a century been committing acts of genocide against the indigenous Palestinian population in the occupied Palestine.

The posturing on the part of the elders in government was nowhere to be seen when the USA proudly killed Gaddafi in Libya, when the children of Yemen, Iraq and Afghanistan cried to the world as the USA slaughtered them.


The South Africa government in its pursuit to impress the imperialist has seemingly forgotten of its governing and moral responsibility to the people of South Africa and its historic allies that helped them through the gruesome apartheid regime.

The ANC-led government of South Africa must always stand on the side of Russian people. Russia played an integral role in what our country has become. The inclusion of South Africa in BRIGS ought to be the guiding path towards our country fully supporting Russia.

The old guard should do us a favour and retire immediately, before any of their remaining revolutionary morality is a distant memory.

It seems like they have selective amnesia, they have forgotten the training from the KGB which contributed significantly to the liberation of the people of South Africa.


The ANCYL in Gauteng calls on the South African government to urgently deal with the economic stagnancy the country has been facing in the past decade.

Stanley "AK47" Letsoalo Provincial coordinator
Ntsako Mogobe Provincial convener

Issued by the ANCYL Gauteng, 24 February 2022

https://www.politicsweb.co.za/politics/ ... on-ukraine

The Voice of the Future.
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

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Re: Africa

Post by blindpig » Sat Apr 09, 2022 2:35 pm

Blaise Compaoré Convicted for the Murder of Revolutionary Burkinabé Leader Thomas Sankara
Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on APRIL 8, 2022
Tanupriya Singh

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A court has sentenced former Burkinabé president Blaise Campaoré to life in prison for the 1987 murder of Burkinabé revolutionary Thomas Sankara. Photo: Muigwithania/Wikimedia

The trial of Compaoré for the murder of revolutionary Thomas Sankara lasted six months and 100 witnesses testified against him and 13 others.


After over three decades, a court in Burkina Faso has convicted former President Blaise Compaoré in the assassination of his predecessor, and revolutionary leader, Thomas Sankara. The verdict was announced by a military tribunal in the capital of Ouagadougou on April 6th, following a six-month trial.

Sankara was a Marxist, Pan-Africanist icon who became the president of Burkina Faso in 1983. Under his leadership, the government implemented a progressive and socialist program of self-sufficiency, nationalization and distribution of land, education, healthcare, and the emancipation of women.

Sankara once said, “The revolution and women’s liberation go together. We do not talk of women’s liberation as an act of charity or out of a surge of human compassion. It is a basic necessity for the revolution to triumph”. He was revered across Africa for his principled opposition to the imperialist policies and “aid” of institutions such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

His politics earned him the name “Africa’s Che Guevara”. Sankara condemned the debt imposed on African countries as a form of neo-colonialism, “a skillfully managed reconquest of Africa”. In his famous speech at the 1987 summit of the Organization of African Unity, Sankara called for a united front against debt. “That is the only way to assert that the refusal to repay is not an aggressive move on our part, but a fraternal move to speak the truth.” However, he warned that he would not live to attend another meeting if Burkina Faso remained alone in resisting against its debt.

A few months later, on October 15, Thomas Sankara and 12 of his aides were gunned down by soldiers outside his office. The coup was led by his friend, and comrade-in arms, Blaise Compaoré. It was also suspected to be backed by the United States and France, the former colonial power. Compaoré subsequently came to power, and remained president until he was ousted by a popular uprising in 2014. He fled to the Ivory Coast with the help of French soldiers, and has remained in exile since. In 2016, Burkina Faso issued a warrant of arrest against Compaoré, but Ivorian authorities rejected a request for extradition.

The landmark trial in the assassination of Sankara began in October, 2021 in front of a panel of civilian and military judges. Over the following months, more than 100 witnesses gave their testimonies against Compaoré, and 13 others. The former leader was tried in absentia. According to ballistics experts, Sankara was shot in the chest at least seven times. Compaoré and his former head of security, General Gilbert Diendéré, were charged with complicity in murder and the concealment of corpses, and harming state security. Both men were convicted and have been sentenced to life in prison. Diendéré is already serving a 20 year sentence in relation to a coup attempt in 2015. Compaoré’s former security chief Haycinthe Kafando, who remains at large, has also been handed a life sentence. He was accused of leading the soldiers who killed Sankara. 8 other defendants were handed sentences between three to twenty years on charges including giving false testimonies. 3 have been acquitted.

Thomas Sankara’s wife, Mariam, was present outside the courtroom when the ruling was announced on Wednesday. Speaking to the Associated Press, she stated “The judges have done their jobs and I am satisfied. Of course, I wished the main suspects would be here before the judges. It is not good that people kill other people and stop the process of development of a country without being punished.”

https://libya360.wordpress.com/2022/04/ ... s-sankara/

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DOCUMENT: Covert Action Exploitation of Cuban Involvement in Angola, 1977
Editors, The Black Agenda Review 06 Apr 2022

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CIA Director Stansfield Turner and President Jimmy Carter

A declassified CIA document outlining their strategies for covert action in Angola in the 1970s offers lessons for the present.

It is sometimes said that the first casualty of war is truth. As with any aphorism, this is only partly correct. For truth is not merely collateral damage in conflict, it is the site of conflict itself. To prepare for war is to prepare for a battle over information. Take, for instance, the United States interventions in southern Africa in the 1970s. The US had already provided military support to Portugal, its NATO ally, in an attempt to halt the inevitable process of Angolan decolonization. After Angola gained independence in 1975, the US exacerbated an already tense civil conflict by beginning covert military operations to undermine the left-wing Movimento Popular de Libertação de Angola, or MPLA. The CIA funneled cash and arms and provided logistical support to UNITA (National Union for the Total Independence of Angola) and to Roberto Holden’s FNLA (National Front for the Liberation of Angola).

In response, Cuba came to the aid of the MPLA, helping them to tilt the balance of power away from Angola’s US proxies, and their South African allies. Recognizing they were losing the conflict on the ground and in the public sphere, the CIA initiated a massive anti-Communist disinformation campaign meant to discredit the Cubans. They recruited journalists at international news services who planted fabricated reports about the presence of Soviet advisors in Angola and about the capture of Russian and Cuban soldiers. They made up a story that Cuban soldiers were raping Angola women, and circulated photos allegedly showing the women executing the Cubans after they had been captured and tried. Such stories appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, The Guardian, and other major papers, often with little in the way of either attribution or critical scrutiny. As historian William Blum has argued , they served to affirm the belief of a public already besotten by anti-Communism and an uncritical belief in the goodly powers of the West.

By 1976, the US Congress restrained the CIA’s ability to engage in foreign paramilitary adventures. The CIA continued with the covert propaganda war under the new constraints. In Angola, this meant supporting a comprehensive disinformation campaign against the Cubans. Some of the strategies and tactics of this campaign were outlined in a 1977 memorandum from CIA director Stansfield Turner to Zbigniew Brzeziński, President Carter’s National Security Advisor. The memo, reproduced below, appears in the declassified volumes of the National Archives compendium Foreign Relations of the United States as “Document 16.” Turner suggested that the CIA use its “controlled media assets and influence agents” to place false but damaging stories about the Cubans in both the international and the African press. He also proposed providing Andrew Young, the Black US ambassador to the United Nations, with a script that he could use to help turn Africa and Latin America against Cuba.

In short, the Cuban-Angolan case demonstrates that the CIA has long recognized that war is a battle over truth and that the media is one of its greatest military assets. It is a lesson we should not forget in the present.

Document 16. Memorandum From Director of Central Intelligence Turner to the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Brzezinski),

Washington, November 11, 1977

SUBJECT

Action Exploitation of Cuban Involvement in Angola


1. The purpose of this memorandum is to provide you with a preliminary status report on actions being taken by the Central Intelligence Agency to commence a covert action campaign abroad on the issue of Cuban involvement in Angola.

2. Pursuant to our discussion with the President on 8 November 1977, I am forwarding, as an attachment to this memorandum, a background paper for Ambassador Young’s use in preparing a speech on this subject. We have included in this paper a number of themes on issues stemming from the presence of Cuban armed forces in Angola along with supporting factual information derived from our intelligence reporting. This approach will allow Ambassador [Andrew] Young to pitch his speech or other public comments to an African, Latin American or internal Cuban audience, as he desires. If, after Ambassador Young reviews this paper, he requires additional information or other assistance on his speech, we, of course, stand ready to render all possible help.

3. Following the President’s formal authorization of this effort on 8 November 1977, we immediately notified the Hughes/Ryan committees of the Congress that a new covert action finding had been made, and that we are ready to brief the committees at their convenience on the nature and scope of these operations. A schedule for these briefings is being arranged commencing early next week.

4. Along general lines it might be helpful if I first provide you with some conceptual comments on our approach to the implementation of the covert action aspects of this proposal. First of all, although there have been a few sketchy reports in the press about some of the problems resulting from the presence of Cuban troops in Angola, this is not now a prominent issue in the international press. For the purpose of credibility and to protect the security of our covert action assets we need a pretext for this effort. However, as you know, the anniversary of Angola’s independence from Portugal is 11 November. Therefore the appearance of press and editorial comments on this issue at this time will not appear unusual. We also need to get the story out in the open so that our controlled assets can use it. For this purpose we are arranging to place a major feature story drawing on our intelligence in a prestigious [redacted] daily. We will also try to arrange through [redacted] pick up this story for replay into Africa and other areas. [redacted] At this point our controlled media assets and influence agents can also draw on this placement for press stories, local editorial comments, and to encourage political or psychological action within their governments or organizations. The text of this story has been prepared and was cabled to [redacted] on the evening of 8 November 1977 along with guidance and implementing instructions. We expect to know shortly when the story will be placed and in what outlet.

5. Along more specific lines, also on the evening of 8 November a preliminary guidance cable was sent [redacted]. This cable stressed the urgency and importance of this covert action assignment, outlined the intelligence facts relating to this effort, articulated the covert action theme lines, provided general operational and tasking guidance and solicited suggestions for actions beyond routine media placements. For the latter purpose, we are also sending out today a cable to these stations and bases providing a summary of press items that have appeared spontaneously recently that coincide with our covert action theme lines. This will enable our media assets to commence replay of editorial comment now as we await the surfacing of our major feature story in [redacted].

6. As a result of the preliminary guidance cable, a number of our stations have already forwarded some suggestions, for example:

a. [redacted] notes that Peking domestic broadcast service is hitting the issue of “the Angolan people oppose the Soviet mercenaries.” Selective replay of this material where Chinese opinion holds some weight may prove useful.

b. [redacted] reports that it will be difficult to get a handle on this proposal in [redacted] because of the strong support that government has given to the Cuban presence in Angola. [redacted] notes that the government might be susceptible to approaches by influential Africans reporting on the problems that Cuban troops are causing the Angolan people and we are looking into this possibility.

c. [redacted] has asked for and we are cabling an intelligence brief on this subject for use by a well placed local agent of influence.

d. [redacted] reports that it will pass the guidance and supporting materials to local press assets.

e. [redacted] asked for and is being provided with a tailored story for placement in a leading [redacted] weekly.

f. [redacted] have indicated they can possibly place appropriate materials in the local press and have asked for background materials which are being provided.

g. [redacted] all report that they are ready to undertake appropriate local press exploitation as soon as they have a suitable international press item for attribution. The [redacted] story will serve this purpose.

h. [redacted] reports that it is moving to task several local media assets on this requirement.

i. [redacted] reports that it will utilize a number of local media assets and has suggested that an influential local contact be encouraged to invite journalists from key foreign countries to UNITA-held territory in Angola to collect first-hand stories about Cuban actions. We are considering the advisability of the latter suggestion.

7. The foregoing information is intended to provide you with some of our initial thoughts on and early field reactions to this proposal. I will be providing you with regular status reports as this campaign proceeds.

Stansfield Turner

Source: Document 16. Memorandum From Director of Central Intelligence Turner to the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Brzezinski), Washington, November 11, 1977 , National Security Council, Carter Administration Intelligence Files, Subject Files A–E, Box 25, Angola 11 July 1977–18 April 1978. Secret. Published in Foreign Relations of the United States, 1977-1980, Volume XVI, Southern Africa (Washington, DC: United States Government PRinting Office, 2016).

https://www.blackagendareport.com/docum ... ngola-1977

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Re: Africa

Post by blindpig » Wed Apr 13, 2022 1:51 pm

Cold War Under the Scorching Sun: A New Conflict is Brewing in Africa
Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on APRIL 10, 2022
Robert Inlakesh

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A picture taken from the Moroccan region of Oujda shows Algerian border guards patrolling along the border with Morocco on November 4, 2021 [FADEL SENNA/AFP via Getty Images]

Dubbed North Africa’s new ‘Cold War’, the tensions between Morocco and neighboring Algeria threaten to escalate and the consequences of this have a lot more to do with Western meddling in the affairs of the two countries than meets the eye.

In August 2021, Algeria’s foreign minister, Ramdane Lamamra, announced that Algiers was severing all diplomatic ties with Rabat. “The Moroccan kingdom has never stopped its hostile actions against Algeria,” he stated at a press conference at the time. Algeria justified its move further by citing examples, such as Morocco using the Israeli Pegasus spyware against Algerian officials, supporting terrorists groups, failing to uphold bilateral commitments, the normalisation of ties with Israel, and refusing to engage diplomatically on the Western Sahara issue. Rabat has denied most of the charges laid out against it by the Algerian government.

Tensions again escalated on October 31, when Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune announced the end of their gas supply contract with Rabat. This led to a reported shortage of gas in both Morocco and also Spain, which had previously received gas supplies through the Gazoduc Maghreb Europe (GME) pipeline, despite claims made by Moroccan officials that the move would have little impact. The following day, alleged drone strikes carried out by Morocco directly targeted clearly marked Algerian trucks near the Mauritanian border with the disputed Western Sahara region. The“barbaric attack,” as described by Ennahar, Algeria’s national broadcaster, killed 3 Algerians and generated a large outpour of rage from the Algerian government.

Although many of the accusations made against Morocco by Algeria have been strongly denied, they nonetheless have a real impact on public perception of the two sides. An example of such allegations is an announcement on October 13 in which Algerian state-media claimed that the “General Directorate of National Security managed to thwart a conspiracy plot that dates back to 2014” [sic]. To blame for the attack, according to the authorities, was “the Zionist entity [Israel]” and a “North African country,” broadly interpreted to have meant Morocco.

What’s interesting here is that the conflict between Morocco and Algeria has not just been limited to affecting Rabat and Algiers alone, but has also implicated several other players; notably France, Israel, Spain, and the Polisario Front that represents the national liberation movement for the Sahrawi people.

To get to know more about this conflict, I spoke to Zine Labidine Ghebouli, an analyst and researcher who specializes in the political and security dynamics of Algeria. Ghebouli says that the ‘Cold War of North Africa’ “has already erupted,” claiming that this war will manifest itself in three main ways; the battle for regional supremacy, a propaganda war, and the persecution of dissenting voices. He said that “first you are going to have them [Algeria and Morocco] seeking regional supremacy, through the arms race that we have been seeing for nearly a decade now, but also through the diplomatic race. Morocco obviously normalized relations with Israel so it’s expanding its diplomatic influence. Algeria, on the other hand, is trying to devise diplomatic efforts and we have seen the visits of Foreign Minister Ramdane Lamamra to the Gulf and also to many African countries … so that’s the first way that will make either Algiers or Rabat as the leading regional power.”

On the second point of escalation, he states that “you have the war of propaganda,” which “we have been seeing from the official Algerian authorities. Obviously, there are some pro-Moroccan websites that also spread disinformation about Algeria, but so far that hasn’t been the stance of the official Moroccan authorities. On the other hand, Algeria mobilized both the official and unofficial media platforms to target Rabat and social issues in Morocco, economic issues, [and] political issues and we’ve seen a lot of propaganda recently.”

Zine Ghebouli then said, on the third way the war will manifest itself, “you have the judicial prosecution of activists, journalists of Algerian origins who may be perceived by Algiers as assets to the Moroccan authorities, we’ve seen with the designation of both the MAK and Rashad movements [alleged Separatist groups] as terrorist organisations … mainly with the MAK that it is [being accused of being] in contact with the Moroccan authorities to impose a security approach and this will continue, that anyone who is in contact with the Moroccan authorities will be designated as an enemy and will be treated as such.”

On February 20, thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of the Moroccan capital to protest rising fuel prices and an economic crisis they blame on the authorities. Similarly, Algeria witnessed a sharp economic decline, which has been going on “since last summer, because Algeria banned the imports of several products, so that led to a scarcity of foods in supermarkets … During the new year, the problem has been exacerbated by the economy of Algeria,” Ghebouli says.

When asked whether he believes that the economic issues will exacerbate tensions, Zine said that “to the Algerian side the socio-economic issues are perceived as a conspiracy against Algeria, by some regional powers and that even includes Morocco implicitly,” going on to say that it’s possible that economic decline “could be perceived as an attack against Algeria.”

“In that sense, the more socio-economic issues we see in Algeria and also Morocco, the more tense the situation will be, because both governments will likely try to divert the attention from these socio-economic grievances to another, what’s considered to them as an important issue, which is the security tensions. Basically, the idea is, the more we delve into the socio-economic issues, the more the tensions will increase, diplomatically and militarily.”

I then asked whether the signing of the Abraham Accords, or the normalization deal between Rabat and Tel Aviv, had been a factor in the recent escalation or if this is an overreach. He replied:

“When it comes to the normalization of Rabat with Tel Aviv, I think that was the last straw that broke the camel’s back when it comes to the Algerian perception, whether popularly or officially, of the Moroccan authorities. Before this normalization, Algiers was considering that all issues with Morocco could be resolved at the table of discussions, or negotiations, however, now I am afraid with the normalization that was the tip of escalation as perceived by the Algerian authorities because they consider that Morocco is taking Israel’s support with its war with Algeria. In that sense, I think that more normalization will lead to more escalation with Algeria.”

“Algiers at this point does not consider Morocco as an independent state, they consider them as a tool for what they call the Zionist project in North Africa and Algiers feels especially targeted by the normalization move, and some opinions, whether in the military institutions in Algeria or in the political scene, they do consider that it is not Algeria that is targeting Israel or Morocco, but that Israel has put Algeria on its target list and so their problem now is not with Morocco, their main problem is with Israel and has always been with Israel.”

Whilst Rabat and Algiers have been in the crosshairs, tensions between Algeria and its former colonialist occupier France have also been brewing. Despite French President Emmanuel Macron condemning colonialism as a “crime against humanity” in 2017, last year Macron called into question Algeria’s very legitimacy as a nation prior to French colonialism. He also accused Algeria’s military establishment of fomenting “hatred towards France” and re-writing history, refusing to apologize for the devastating French occupation of Algerian lands. As a result, Algeria withdrew its ambassador to Paris. In October, the Algerian authorities also closed their airspace to the French military.

I asked Zine Ghebouli whether he believes that the recent international condemnation of human rights abuses committed in Algeria have directly resulted from the deterioration in ties between Algiers and Paris. Ghebouli says “some reports have alluded that the new approach of the international community, vis-a-vis Algeria, is the consequence or collateral damage of the tensions with Morocco and France … I believe that there has been some engagement from some French NGOs and political actors in putting more pressure on the Algerian government when it comes to human rights conditions in Algeria and also when it comes to socio-economic reforms and foreign policy.”

He noted that “the International scrutiny was lacking throughout the past few years, especially since the beginning of the protest movement in 2019. I think the international community did not want to intervene, it did not want to be there or assist [the protests] in any way, because of fear of the reaction of the Algerian authorities and also because of the post-colonial skepticism and paranoia of the Algerian society at large.”

Yet, according to Ghebouli, “The international community has reached a consensus or at least a conclusion at this point, seeing the geo-political context, seeing the emerging tensions between the two countries, seeing also the situation in the Sahel [North Africa] and the instability across the region. I think the international community today considers that giving a green pass to the Algerian authorities on everything and anything does not serve the purpose of stability in the region.”

For Morocco, one of the primary concerns they have with Algeria is its consistent support for the Polisario Front, which operates in the Western Sahara area, which Morocco controls the large majority of. Frente Polisario, or the Polisario Front, is considered by Rabat as a terrorist organization and a security threat. Algiers sees it, however, as a national liberation movement and hosts its government in exile. The issue of the fight over Western Sahara is that it’s considered both an occupied territory belonging to the native Sahrawi people by Polisario and an integral part of Morocco by the Kingdom’s authorities in Rabat. The United Nations considers the territory disputed and the issue is important here, as one of the guarantees made by America’s Trump administration, as part of the Israeli normalization package, was US recognition of Morocco’s sovereignty over Western Sahara.

The Moroccan annexation of Western Sahara in 1975 led to a devastating war, ending with a ceasefire agreement in 1991, which held for the best part of 30 years, until November 13, 2020, when Polisario declared the ceasefire over. Roughly one month later, Rabat would normalize ties with Israel.

I spoke with Dr. Sidi Omar, the Polisario Front’s ambassador to the United Nations, on their ongoing conflict with the Moroccan government. He said the following, when asked about some of the costs on the Sahrawi people of the ongoing conflict between the two sides:

“Human rights activists in particular are daily subjected to all sorts of violence and unspeakable atrocities without the world knowing about their plight. This is because of the media blackout imposed on Occupied Western Sahara that remains encircled by the 2700 kilometer-long Moroccan wall of shame, which is the second longest wall and the greatest military barrier in the world. The Moroccan occupying authorities have also been engaged in a large-scale scorched policy in Occupied Western Sahara. The policy, which is organized and implemented by the occupying security forces, includes destruction of houses and livelihoods, vandalism of properties, and the killing of livestock with the declared objective of uprooting Sahrawis from their homes and lands, which are given to Moroccan settlers. On the battlefield, the Moroccan forces have been using all types of weapons, including unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), to callously kill not only Sahrawi civilians but also civilians and nationals of neighboring countries while in transit through the Sahrawi Liberated Territories [Western Saharan territories held by Polisario].”

Ambassador Omar blamed Morocco’s expansionist aspirations, when asked about the recent deterioration in ties between Rabat and Algiers, and said that since the conflict between the two sides, “We [the Sahrawi people] are being subjected to a new Moroccan aggression, which is a continuation of the same expansionist policy pursued by Morocco, whose aim is to annihilate our people and seize our land.”

“In addition to the continued illegal occupation of parts of Western Sahara, Morocco’s expansionism and aggressiveness show the extent to which the Moroccan regime owes its own survival to territorial conquest as a tool to divert attention from its deep-rooted domestic legitimacy crisis. Morocco’s expansionism is therefore the root cause of the enduring tension in North Africa and the main obstacle to the achievement of a united, prosperous, and inclusive Maghreb that brings together all its nations and peoples,” Omar stated.

Polisario’s Sidi Omar also claimed that Israeli weapons are being used to kill civilians in Western Sahara, stating: “As for the consequences of Morocco’s ‘normalization’ deal with Israel, we have already seen an increase of military cooperation between the two countries, especially in the light of the ongoing war of aggression unleashed by Morocco on our people since November 2020. Israeli-made unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have been frequently used by Moroccan forces to kill not only Sahrawi civilians but also civilians and nationals of neighboring countries.”

Dr. Omar also voiced frustration over the normalization deal between Israel and Morocco, adding that “it is also well known that, as a quid pro quo for the deal, the outgoing US president, Donald Trump, made a proclamation declaring [the] United States’ recognition of ‘Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara’ and the intention to open an American consulate in the Sahrawi occupied city of Dajla (Dakhla). Obviously, this unilateral proclamation violates basic principles of international law, distances itself from the traditional US policy regarding Western Sahara and breaks a longstanding position on the right of self-determination of the Sahrawi people. It also infringes on the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the SADR [Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic] and hampers the UN and AU efforts to achieve a peaceful solution to the question of Western Sahara. Consequently, the proclamation is null and void and has no effect whatsoever.”

Morocco continues to tighten its ties with Tel Aviv, purchasing Israel’s Barak MX air defense systems and recently striking a deal with Israel to boost economic ties. Israeli Economy Minister Orna Barbivai signed a trade and investment cooperation agreement with her Moroccan counterpart on February 21, hoping to boost trade to 500 million dollars annually. Israel’s NewMed Energy company “is looking into the energy market in Morocco. Specifically natural gas exploration opportunities,” according to its chief executive, Yossi Abu. All making it clear that the relationship between the two countries is not going anywhere anytime soon.

A major issue, of course, is how this tightening relationship will end up faring in the long run and whether it serves regional security or not. Certainly from the Algerian government’s point of view, normalization serves the very opposite goal and its opposition to Morocco based upon this may well complicate the standing of Algiers in the West.

Another issue that has to be analyzed is how Morocco ended up here. It is clear that the deal it signed with Israel came with certain gifts, but it has also become clear that it may have come with certain pressures too, principally from the United Arab Emirates and the United States. In February 2020, the UAE signed a $2 billion investment in facilities in Mauritania. Rabat was enraged by the investment in its southern neighbors’ port facilities at Nouadhibou. It believed that this investment by Abu Dhabi would pose a threat to its own Dakhla Port and Tangier Med projects. In March of that year, Morocco withdrew its ambassador to the UAE, sparking a feud that was followed by many accusations of Emirati pressure tactics being used against Rabat, one of which was an accusation that the UAE were backing its arch-enemy, the Polisario Front, however there is no evidence to support this claim.

Suddenly, for reasons publicly unknown, the UAE decided to perform a one hundred and eighty degree shift and became the first ever Arab country to open a consulate in the Moroccan controlled Western Sahara, in October of 2020. Then, less than a month later, the Polisario Front declared the end of their ceasefire with Rabat. The normalization deals announcement came the following month and with it the US recognition of Moroccan sovereignty over the Western Sahara, breaking from the international consensus. This information at the very least suggests that Morocco perhaps did not go so willingly into the normalization agreements and had external pressure applied upon it in order to pressure Rabat into the move. It is not an absolute that the above stated reasons are the sole motivators, but it is likely that they played a role to some degree.

As was the case during the Cold War itself, since Morocco was on the side of the West, whereas Algeria sided with the East. We now see renewed efforts by the Algerian government to align themselves with Global South liberation causes and, equally, Algiers currently maintains a friendly relationship with Russia. Interestingly, Algeria also set up a meeting in order to discuss the future of the Palestinian liberation movement and invited all key political parties, including the likes of Hamas, the PFLP, the DFLP, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. As Algeria aligns itself further with the Palestinian people in their fight for statehood, so too does the Polisario Front.

In response to the question of whether Polisario is seeking greater ties with Palestinians in their struggle for self determination, Polisario’s ambassador told me that, “Efforts are ongoing to reinforce and diversify ties between the two peoples as they continue their national liberation struggles for freedom and peace.” He also added that, “The struggles waged by peoples under foreign occupation are morally and politically connected because they defend fundamental human and peoples’ rights.”

All of this seems to indicate a clear alignment on a pro- and anti-Western axis when it comes to Algeria and Morocco, but whether this feud between the two and the war over Western Sahara will escalate, or simmer down through diplomacy, is very much an open question. The answer to this question may ultimately prove whether Israel’s presence in North Africa is toxic, or rather, in benefit of regional security as both Rabat and Tel Aviv claim.

https://libya360.wordpress.com/2022/04/ ... in-africa/

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Thousands March in Tunisia Against President’s Continuing Power Grab
Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on APRIL 11, 2022
Peoples Dispatch

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The demonstrations went ahead despite heavy presence of security forces and riot control personnel to prevent protesters from joining

On Sunday, April 10, thousands of Tunisians took part in fresh protests against president Kais Saied and his ongoing measures to seize all power in the country. The protesters denounced the president’s unilateral arbitrary moves since last July as “unconstitutional” and “anti-democratic”. They also opposed the upcoming constitutional referendum and other reforms announced by him. President Saied wants to replace the post-revolution constitution formed in the years following the 2011 revolution against former dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.

According to reports, between 3,000-4,000 protesters marched in the streets of capital Tunis, including on the prominent Bourguiba avenue, chanting slogans like, “Get out”, “the people want to dismiss the president”, “down with the coup”, “The people don’t want what you want” and “there is no democracy without legislative power”. Several protesters were seen waving the Tunisian flag.

The demonstrations were jointly organized by Ennahda, the biggest party in the now dissolved parliament, and Citizens Against the Coup, a civil society group formed after the president’s power grab last year to resist his takeover. News reports and several social media posts stated that the demonstrations went ahead despite a heavy presence of security forces and riot control personnel. Several security barriers were erected and severe restrictions were imposed on roads leading up to the capital to prevent more protesters from joining the demonstrations.

Similar protests have been witnessed in the recent past against the president’s actions even as he continues to introduce additional measures to consolidate his power. Last month, he dissolved the parliament after some members met in an online session and voted to declare his actions as “illegal”. Several parliamentarians who took part in the session, including the head of Ennahda Rached Ghannouchi, were later summoned for questioning by the anti-terrorism police.

Since July last year, President Saied’s extraordinary moves have plunged Tunisia into political uncertainty and crisis as he fired the prime minister, dismissed the government, suspended the parliament, and delegated all executive and legislative powers to himself. In the following months, he suspended parts of the constitution and gave himself additional powers to pass laws through issuing presidential decrees. In addition to the constitutional referendum, the president also announced general elections to be held in December 2022, to be conducted according to the new constitution. He subsequently dissolved the country’s top judicial authority, the Supreme Judicial Council, and replaced it with a provisional body whose members are to be appointed by the president himself.

Such moves have systematically targeted branches of government as well as independent institutions that could oppose the president’s authority, gradually bringing them under his control. The president also recently announced changes to the country’s voting system, a move bitterly opposed by parties across the political spectrum who have vowed to not participate in any elections held under the new rules or under a new constitution. Parties have also signaled their intention to boycott the referendum.

The opposition has claimed that all these arbitrary decisions were taken without any consultation with other political stakeholders or the broader civil society, which is also becoming increasingly vocal against the president’s actions.

Tunisian president announces changes to electoral system in yet another controversial move

Peoples Dispatch

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Tunisian president brings electoral changesTunisian president Kais Saied. (Photo: Middle East Online)

Several opposition parties have already indicated that they will not participate in any constitutional referendum or elections based on a new set of rules drawn up unilaterally by the president

On Wednesday, April 6, Tunisian president Kais Saied introduced changes to the voting system for the forthcoming elections. The move is the latest in a series of unilateral arbitrary actions taken by the president without any consultation with other stakeholders in the country’s political process. The president had assumed virtually all legislative and executive powers in the country last July in what the opposition termed a “presidential coup”. He has since initiated several measures to alter the political and judicial systems established after the 2011 revolution against then president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.

In his statement on Wednesday, President Saied said that the election will be held in two rounds and that the previous mechanism of voting for party lists will be done away with and replaced by direct voting for individual candidates. He said that the Independent High Authority for Elections (ISIE) will supervise the elections but its composition will most likely be changed. Currently, the ISIE has nine members and 27 branches across Tunisia, along with six overseas branches to serve Tunisians abroad – four in Europe, one in Canada and one in the United Arab Emirates.

Saied also spoke on the upcoming national referendum to replace the post-revolution constitution with a new one. He said that “the national dialogue has been launched, and the national consultation will be the basis of the dialogue, and a new constitution will be prepared, and the word will be for the people through a referendum.” His push to replace the constitution is in complete disregard of the widespread opposition to the move.

The president also threw barbs at his political opposition, remarking that “dialogue with national organizations is the beginning and we will continue [it] with the parties, but there will be no dialogue with thieves and with the putschists, traitors and thieves.” He claimed that “conspirators will be forbidden from running” in the upcoming elections.

Commenting on the president’s latest move, Said Benarbia, Middle East and North Africa director at the International Commission of Jurists, said in a tweet, “the president is illegally and arbitrarily changing the rules of play, deciding who should play, and selecting the arbiter as well. Rampant, unbridled authoritarianism in full display.”

The leaders of Ennahda and the Free Constitutional party also expressed their intention to not participate in any referendum or elections that are held under a restructured system. Many others like the Citizens Against the Coup movement and the Tunisian General Labor Union (UGTT), the country’s biggest labor union, also denounced the president’s actions, including his most recent move to dissolve the national parliament after over a hundred parliamentarians met in a virtual online session and voted in favor of labeling all the president’s actions since last July illegal. Tunisian anti-terror authorities in the aftermath of the vote summoned several of the members for questioning for unconfirmed reasons. Among those summoned was Ennahda leader Rached Ghannouchi.

In July 2021, president Saied dismissed the prime minister and the entire cabinet and delegated virtually all legislative and executive powers to himself. Among the reasons he cited for the move was the country’s failing economy and the inept healthcare system that was struggling to handle the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. He subsequently appointed a self-chosen interim government, gave himself the power to rule by decree, and suspended parts of the constitution, all in an effort to consolidate his position in power. In January this year, he announced the controversial decision to hold a referendum to bring in a new constitution, to be followed by general elections in accordance with the new constitution. The president’s moves have been condemned and opposed by all sections of society including political parties, activists, journalists, lawyers, judges, labor unions and the general public.

https://libya360.wordpress.com/2022/04/ ... ower-grab/

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Communist Party of Swaziland activist abducted and beaten up amid rising repression

Bongi Nkambule, a Communist Party activist, was allegedly kidnapped by the police while returning from the Manzini court where charges against his comrades, including the former general secretary of the students’ union, were being heard

March 24, 2022 by Peoples Dispatch

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Bongi Nkambule, an activist of the Communist Party of Swaziland (CPS), was abducted by police from capital Mbabane on the afternoon of Wednesday, March 23. Without pressing any charges, the police “heavily assaulted him and dumped him very late at night just outside the capital city Mbabane,” CPS said in a statement on Thursday, March 24.

“As the police were assaulting me, they accused me and the CPS of burning a police camp in Mbabane,” Nkambule said on the morning of March 24, before seeking treatment for his injuries on legs, arms and head.

He added that the police complained of what is known as Sunset Rallies. These rallies are being led by the CPS in several parts of the country to signify that the reign of King Mswati III, the last absolute monarch in Africa, is nearing its end.

At the time he was abducted by over 40 policemen in a truck, 33-year-old Bongi was returning from the Manzini court where charges against two other activists, Bafanabakhe Sacolo and Sethu Nkumbule, were being heard.

The duo were arrested on May 22, 2021, on accusations of vandalizing and burning the Manzini police station. The said incident had occurred after police forces attacked the memorial service for a student, Thabani Nkomonye. The body of the student had been found earlier that month, four days after he was allegedly killed by the police who tried to cover up the murder.

Bafanabakhe, who was at the time the general secretary of the Swaziland National Union of Students (SNUS), and Sethu, who remains a student at the Limkokwing University of Creative Technology, were both subsequently released on bail.

While court proceedings dragged on, protests against police brutality in the aftermath of Thabani’s killing had by June snowballed into unprecedented country-wide anti-monarchist and pro-democracy protests. For the first time, protests swept across rural Swaziland as well.

When violence was unleashed on these protesters by the police and the army, an uprising broke out in industrial areas, especially in and around Manzini city, which is the country’s economic hub. Businesses and factories owned by King Mswati III, who controls most of the economy and runs it for personal profit, were key targets.

Amid this situation, the King allegedly fled the country briefly. He returned only in mid-July after the army had put down the uprising by killing at least 70 protesters. However, despite the crackdown, a strong anti-monarchist sentiment continues to persist.

Be it students protesting for scholarships, or nurses, teachers and other civil servants protesting for better work conditions and living wages, “Mswati must Fall!” and “Democracy Now!”, originally the slogans of the communist party, are now raised by all.

Meanwhile, persecution of CPS activists has intensified. Earlier this week, on March 21, 40 heavily armed soldiers invaded the home of Ayanda Ndwandwe, a national organizer of the CPS, in the rural area of Lubulini in the Lubombo region. After failing to find him at his residence, they briefly kidnapped his five-year-old son. Ayanda and other CPS members in his area, who had been attacked by the security forces while leading a Sunset Rally on March 19, remain underground.

While torture in detention is very widespread, charges against arrested activists are seldom proven in court. On Wednesday, March 23, police told the Manzini court that they had lost the case docket of Bafanabakhe and Sethu.

“Consequently, they have no case against the two comrades. They are already looking to withdraw the case against them. They will, however, be returning to court on March 28, when the official withdrawal of the case is expected to take place,” Pius Vilakati, international secretary of the CPS, told Peoples Dispatch.

After forcing the two activists to regularly report to the police station for 10 months in accordance with the bail conditions, “the police have discovered that they have no case,” CPS said in a statement. The long and repeated travels to the court have inflicted financial losses as well as academic losses due to missed classes.

Bafanabakhe, who is now a Central Committee (CC) member of the CPS, said that the “police have been claiming over the months that they are waiting for footage to prove the case. Our case has been postponed repeatedly. This is in addition to spending six days in police cells and maximum prison in Matsapha following arrest. After all this, the police claim they have lost the docket. It is clear that they never had a case against us.”

On March 23, the same that Bongi Nkambule was kidnapped, protesters who were demonstrating in solidarity with the jailed pro-democracy MPs in parliament – Bacede Mabuza and Mthandeni Dube – were also attacked and abducted from Mbabane.

Among them were two women members of the People’s United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO), known to be among the largest political parties, all of which are banned. The women were reportedly stripped and beaten by over 50 male police personnel in a truck, before being abandoned in another part of the city.

Pro-democracy political parties and organizations have asserted that such desperate means of repression by the security forces is only a sign of the fear and uncertainty felt about the future by Africa’s last absolute monarchy.

https://peoplesdispatch.org/2022/03/24/ ... epression/

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Notes from Wartorn Ethiopia
Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor 13 Apr 2022

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Internally Displaced Person camp in Ethiopia (Photo: Jemal Countess)

BAR Contributing Editor Ann Garrison reports from Ethiopia.

I’m writing from Ethiopia, where the war that began in November 2020 continues, with the US backing their former puppet, the Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), who ruled Ethiopia with an iron fist from 1991 to 2018, when they were finally overthrown by a popular uprising.

The TPLF started the war by attacking the national army's five Northern Command bases in Tigray on November 3rd and 4th, 2020, but the West’s dominant state and corporate press narrative quickly became that Prime Minister Abiy had started the war by sending troops into Tigray, alleging the attack as his excuse. This was one of many early indicators that the US, the NATO nations, and their press were backing the TPLF.

I’ve been here for eleven days. For most of this time I’ve been traveling with American photojournalist Jemal Countess, who went home yesterday, and Ethiopian American multimedia producer Betty Sheba Tekeste. These are my observations about the first leg of our trip.

Lalibela: Churches, water, electricity, and a surgical strike

After landing in the capital, Addis Ababa, I flew directly to Lalibela, in Amhara Region, site of the rock-hewn Ethiopian Orthodox churches built by King Lalibela in the 12th century. The churches are a UNESCO World Heritage Site and tourism is Lalibela’s lifeblood. It was hit hard when tourists stopped traveling because of COVID at the end of 2019, then hit even harder when the TPLF occupied the town for five months, from August to December 2021. Tourists were beginning to trickle back in while I was there.

After seizing Lalibela in August 2021, the TPLF negotiated with the clergy at the churches to protect them. Damaging the churches would have been devastating PR for any parties responsible. The national army, the Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF), was also committed to protecting the churches, so almost all of the fighting took place outside the city until the national army prevailed.

A Chinese firm had been paving roads in and out of Lalibela and beyond but the TPLF drove them away, stole all their equipment, and occupied their base. I was loving the Chinese whenever we were riding on the sections of the road they had paved, and cursing the TPLF whenever we were bouncing up and down on gravel roads including all sorts of hazards.

Hotels abound in Lalibela since tourism is the sole industry of any significance. The TPLF looted and damaged many of them, leaving others owned by TPLF members or sympathizers in place. We were told that the TPLF had looted the hotel we stayed in, the Mezena, but that the computers and television screens had been replaced.

There was no electricity in Lalibela—unless you had a generator—because, we were told, the TPLF had blown up the substation in Alamata, a town further north, just across the border of Amhara and Tigray Regions. Hadn’t they shot their own foot by doing so? Jemal Countess said he thought so, but I wondered whether they hadn’t simply disabled the 285-mile high voltage transmission line that the Chinese had constructed to transport electricity from Alamata to Legetafo in central Ethiopia.

The Chinese are building roads and electricity infrastructure, the first steps toward development, while US policymakers sponsor the TPLF, who chased the Chinese off and incapacitated the electricity and thus the plumbing for nine poor towns. Sometimes I think that Samantha Power, Antony Blinken, Susan Rice, and other US policymakers must have secret investments in China since they keep doing their best to push Ethiopia and other African nations into its arms.

We couldn’t travel to Alamata because it’s under TPLF control, but whatever they had done to the substation or the transmission line, there was no electricity for anyone without a generator in the nine cities south of Alamata on the road that goes in and out of Lalibela. The hotel we stayed in has a generator that they turn on from 7 pm to 10 pm, so that guests can enjoy the evening and charge their electronic devices. They only do so, however, if there are enough guests to justify the fuel expense, so we were lucky that a dozen or so Spanish tourists arrived just as we did.

Because there was no electricity in Lalibela, there was no plumbing—again, unless you had a generator. Our hotel managed to keep the water flowing during the day, but hot water was available only for a few hours at night while the generator was also keeping the lights on.

Many families had one spigot in their homes vut those were now dry. Instead people lined up at water tanks with jerry cans or carried them to streams even though it’s the dry season so the water was very low.

We drove north of Lalibela—on those partially paved, partially gravel roads—to Sekota to see the three IDP camps there. Along the way we were stopped at several checkpoints where national army soldiers asked for our passports. Just past the entrance to Sekota, we passed a college now serving as an area command base for the national army. Jemal said we were near the front line, but we didn’t see any fighting.

From there we drove on to three IDP camps populated by Amhara IDPs who had fled their homes very near Amhara Region’s northern border with Tigray. One after another told us that the TPLF had taken everything they had until they finally fled for their lives. In the first camp there wasn’t nearly enough water or food and people were cooking on open fires inside large tents delivered by the UNHCR, some of which were sheltering a hundred or more people. Some people did have thin mattresses to sleep on. If there were any sanitation facilities besides the open space surrounding the camp we didn’t see them.

The second IDP camp was even worse, with hundreds of people all gathered in one tent, sleeping on the floor without mattresses. Food and water was again in short supply, some people looked desperately thin, and those with food to cook were doing so on open fires where they lived. We talked to one young woman who said she wanted peace, she wanted to go home to whatever was left there, but if she couldn’t do that, she wanted to put on a uniform and fight with the national army.

The third camp, on the edge of Sekota, was even worse, with hundreds of people living under the most rudimentary shelters, tarps stretched overhead but without sides. Again, food and water was scarce, and people were cooking on open fires in the same space they lived in, and here, animals mingled with people and it was evident that there were no sanitation facilities.

As much as I hate the pattern of US proxy wars with all the big NGO businesses following in their wake, I couldn’t leave such misery without hoping that the UN and NGOs would arrive soon and/or do more for these people. Better yet, the government, but the government has twice declared unilateral ceasefires that the TPLF has not respected, so its resources continue to be drained by the war.

The surgical strike

My last observation about Lalibela and the surrounding region for now is that we went to visit the site of a surgical strike that ended the TPLF occupation. I have to admit that I’ve never thought such a thing was possible, but the Ethiopian national army hit the hotel taken over by the top TPLF officers with a drone strike that destroyed the hotel and killed the officers without damaging the rest of the community, and that was the end of the occupation.

The site wasn’t pretty. There were large bloodstains left where officers had died in pools of blood and the hotel walls were pocked with pellet-sized indentations that suggested the use of anti-personnel weapons. However, this strike ended the occupation and freed the people of Lalibela. And it belied accusations that the national army is just drone bombing indiscriminately.

More to come next week.

https://www.blackagendareport.com/notes ... n-ethiopia

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Fresh trouble in Libya as rival governments struggle for power

Though the UN had initially supported the Government of National Unity (GNU) led by interim prime minister Abdul Hamied Dbeibah, the special advisor on Libya to the UN secretary general, Stephanie Williams, has now refused to take sides and has called for talks

April 12, 2022 by Abdul Rahman

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(Photo: Libyan Express)

The UN-led peace process in Libya is facing its toughest challenge now with two different governments claiming legitimacy and vying to control power in Tripoli. On Tuesday, April 11, Fathi Bhashagha, head of the so-called Government of National Stability in Libya, expressed hope that he will soon take full control of the government in Tripoli “by peaceful means” from the Government of National Unity (GNU) headed by prime minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah.

He claimed that by refusing to step down even after being removed last month by the House of Representative (HoR) – the Libyan parliament based in eastern city of Tobruk – Dbeibah is “disgracefully seeking to deepen the divisions” in the country. He also accused Dbeibah of prolonging the “security chaos and financial corruption,” Alwasat reported.

Bhashagha was the interior minister in the Dbeibah-led government which was formed in March 2021 at the end of a UN-led peace initiative called the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum (LPDF) aimed at ending the decade-long war in the country. The interim government had the mandate to conduct national elections in December 2021, which it failed to do. Following its failure to conduct the elections, Libya’s HoR voted to sack Dbeibah and elected a new government led by Bhashagha.

However, Dbeibah refused to step down and continues to run the government claiming that his government is recognized by the UN.

Threat of resumption of hostilities
The three-member Presidential Council headed by Mohamed al-Menfil elected along with the GNU has refused to take sides and is trying to mediate with the HoR to prevent the country from once again slipping into war.

The chances of renewed clashes between the western and eastern forces in the country have increased following the split in the 5+5 Joint Military Commission which was created to coordinate the armed forces in the country.

Five of its eastern members announced the suspension of their participation in the commission on Saturday demanding Dbeibah’s resignation. They also asked the Libyan National Army (LNA) led by Khalifa Haftar, which controls the majority of the eastern territories, to block the road linking the country’s east with the west and the immediate suspension of all oil exports.

Reacting to the announcement made by the eastern members of the Joint Military Commission, Dbeibah, who also holds the defense ministry, asked the commanders to stay away from “politics” by saying that their job is rather a technical one.

Uncertainty over elections continues
This escalation of tensions among the political class in the war-ravaged country is despite Stephanie Williams, the Libya advisor to UN secretary general, expressing the hope that the of talks between Aguila Saleh, the speaker of the HoR, and the breakaway parliamentarians who call themselves the High Council of State (HCS), to resolve the issues related to the two governments and the constitutional basis for fresh elections in the country.

Williams refused to state the UN’s position on the two governments, claiming that it will not adopt a policy of recognizing one government over the other. This was a major change in the UN’s policy as following the talks of sacking Dbeibah in February, spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric appeared to be supporting Dbeibah by questioning the vote in the HoR.

Williams’ move came after 76 members of the HoR issued a joint statement in March reiterating their opposition to her earlier proposal to form a committee to create new legal basis for elections in the country. They had demanded that the election be held according to the 12th constitutional amendment approved in February forming a 24-member committee to draft a new constitution for the country.

The present Libyan parliament which was elected in the 2014 elections was divided after the failure of the UN-led peace process between the HoR and the HCS in 2015. The latter remained loyal to the UN-recognized Government of National Accord (GNA) led by Fayez al-Sarraj. The GNA was dissolved following the LPDF and the formation of GNU last year.

Libya, once Africa’s richest and most stable country, plunged into a decade-long war following the NATO-led invasion in 2011 which killed president Muammar Gadaffi and divided the country into various parts controlled by different warlords, each supported by a different set of foreign players. The UN was finally successful in negotiating a ceasefire in November 2020 and a new interim government was created in 2021. Though the ceasefire has held so far, failure of the interim government to hold national elections in December last year has created fresh troubles.

https://peoplesdispatch.org/2022/04/12/ ... for-power/
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Re: Africa

Post by blindpig » Sat Apr 16, 2022 2:30 pm

‘Rain Bomb’ kills over 300 in South Africa, exposing political hypocrisy
April 14, 2022

Greenwash and lies cause disaster, while government promotes coal and methane

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Floodwaters pour through an informal settlement in Durban, April 12, 2022.

Patrick Bond and Mary Galvin teach at University of Johannesburg, in sociology and development studies, respectively.

by Patrick Bond and Mary Galvin

(Johannesburg, April 14, 2022) Floods have again ravaged South Africa’s third-largest city, Durban, killing at least 300 residents on Monday, forcing thousands more to evacuate their homes, and preventing movement of people and emergency goods due to collapsed roads and bridges. In many areas, broken water reticulation pipes and the electricity system’s collapse have left taps dry and power out for days.

The toll in lost human life exceeds Durban’s prior record of 64 deaths from the “Rain Bomb” of April 2019, when 168 millimeters fell in 24 hours, doing at least $75 million in damage. In October 2017, 108 mm fell in one day, killing 11.

Going back further, in 2011 Durban hosted the annual United Nations COP17 climate summit, generally considered a global policy failure (though not according to U.S. State Department negotiator Todd Stern who celebrated to Hillary Clinton what he termed a “significant success for the United States”). Still, city officials appeared numb to the imminent threat, not bothering to make basic infrastructure repairs after 2017 even in high-profile sites like the violence-afflicted Glebelands migrant labor hostel whose roof was not repaired two years later.

On Monday, the skies dumped 351 mm. Once again, it was obvious that Durban municipality (officially known as eThekwini), KwaZulu-Natal province and the national state government all lack a genuine commitment to climate-crisis adaptation, including sufficiently robust civil engineering and simple maintenance of already-inadequate storm water drainage systems. State housing provision and construction standards for thousands of the city’s residential structures were revealed as inadequate. Hardest hit were Durban’s poor communities: of the city’s 550 informal shack settlements, at least 164 are located in floodplains.

Greenwashed Durban

The municipality is often accused of slacking on climate protection, in spite of backslapping rhetoric to the contrary – e.g., in 2020, claiming “to be at the cutting edge of climate change action, assisted by its progressive leadership and engagement within… the C40 Leadership Group” (a network promoted by former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg). There is far too much praise by out-of-touch scholars, although occasionally, journalists separate fact from C40 fiction.

The 2019 Durban Climate Action Plan lacks urgency, although at least it is premised on what climate scientists were predicting a decade before: dry areas will be much prone to drought, and wet coastal and eastern areas of South Africa much rainier, with greater intensity of extreme weather events.

But no can deny Durban’s notorious green-washing, which even entailed a 2014 WWF award nomination for which city bureaucrats hired a professional internet trickster who hijacked twitter accounts, partly to promote a failed World Bank carbon-trading scheme.

And in 2018, notwithstanding media reports of then-Mayor Zandile Gumede’s impending prosecution on multiple corruption and solid-waste procurement-scam charges, the San Francisco Global Climate Action Summit’s “One Planet City Challenge” recognized Durban as “a leader in climate action” because it “continues to combine ambitious targets and focused action with community development initiatives.” Gumede was from 2016 until her mid-2019 arrest and forced resignation, the C40 urban climate network’s Vice Chair, again revealing the shallow incompetence of global climate elites.

Talk generous and green, walk stingy and dirty

In the same spirit, immediately after Durban’s 2019 Rain Bomb, President Cyril Ramaphosa visited – alongside Gumede – to survey the damage, conceding that “the force of nature is so huge and this is partly what climate change is about that it just hits when we least expect it.”

As for emergency relief and paying for what termed by the United Nations “Loss & Damage” costs, he promised: “I immediately contacted our Treasury and said, do we have money to assist our people? And they said ‘President, we have the money.’ So money will be mobilized to assist our people. These are emergency situations that we budget for, so resources will be mobilized in the biggest way so that our people who are currently in need are assisted.”

Yet only $6.25 million was then provided by Treasury to meet emergency housing needs: just 14% of the city’s own estimate of the April storm’s $46 million in residential damage, itself considered low given the scale of the destruction and need for proper reconstruction.

On Wednesday Ramaphosa returned to Durban to visit flood victims, and pledged, “This disaster is part of climate change. It is telling us that climate change is serious, it is here. We no longer can postpone what we need to do, and the measures we need to take to deal with climate change.”

Notwithstanding soothing words, his hypocrisy was glaring, for prior to 2016, when he sold his private conglomerate Shanduka, Ramaphosa was so desperate to dig for coal that he failed to obtain required water licenses (apparently due to regulatory corruption), displaced local residents and also teamed up with the notorious Swiss-based corporation Glencore at a time the latter was facing international lawsuits on dozens of ethics grounds. (The point was not lost on locals who remember its founder Marc Rich’s role in apartheid-era sanctions-busting.) A year ago, even some former Ramaphosa labor-based allies rounded on him, given plausible concerns he favored Glencore’s coal division at consumers’ expense during a 2014-15 electricity pricing battle when Ramaphosa was already serving as South Africa’s deputy president.

Until South Africa was threatened with trade-related climate sanctions last year, Ramaphosa proved resistant to activist demands that the state curtail its destructive love affair with fossil fuels, electricity-intensive deep mining, refining and smelting. For example, last July, in order to fight a Mozambican insurgency in the gas-rich Cabo Delgado province, Ramaphosa deployed more than 1000 army troops and much-needed helicopters (leaving only one in Durban for emergency rescues this week). They are mainly defending the interests of Western and Chinese oil companies drilling at the world’s fourth-largest methane field. The insurgents continue to operate from the shadows although Total has announced a resumption of its gas drilling and processing.

Why the sudden turn to meth-addict energy? In 2020 Ramaphosa’s public enterprise minister – who a decade earlier as finance minister had arranged for the World Bank’s largest-ever loan, to pay for the world’s largest coal-fired plants then under construction – hired a former executive of Sasol known as “Mr Coal” to run Eskom, the electricity parastatal. There, in mid-2021, he announced 44% of his “Just Energy Transition” funds – including $8.5 billion in supposed decarbonization finance from last November’s Glasgow COP26 – would convert coal-fired power plants into methane gas plants (and new ones would be built). It is now widely understood that methane is far more potent than CO2, and indeed is now measured as eighty times worse over the course of a century.

The Ramaphosa government’s other ongoing contributions to the climate crisis are prolific. The first presidential infrastructure priority mega-project within the National Development Plan (whose 2012 deputy chair was Ramaphosa) is to export 18 billion tons of coal from a site in his parents’ home province, Limpopo; if associated rail and power infrastructure is ever completed, it will cost at least $100 billion. His Transnet team is hell-bent on privatizing rail lines so as to increase coal exports – last year, just 59 million tons thanks to thieves and vandals – back to 75 million a year.

Also in Limpopo, his government promotes the $17 billion Chinese-driven Musina-Makhado Special Economic Zone MMSEZ (located next to his traditional home village), one proudly announced in 2018 after he and Xi Jinping co-chaired the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation: “The following projects within the MMSEZ have been prioritized for implementation: a 4600MW coal-fired plant, a cement plant and other metallurgical projects.” Even without the originally-planned coal generator, which climate activists appear to have defeated last month, “other metallurgical projects” will emit 34 megatons of CO2 annually, according to officials. Hence by 2030, if the project proceeds, they will comprise 8% of the 420 megaton national pollution target.

Meanwhile without presidential objection, Ramaphosa’s energy minister recklessly pushes methane gas and coal, his environment minister rejects court orders to cut pollution at the two largest greenhouse gas emitters (Eskom and Sasol), and his finance minister delays (by more years) ratcheting up what is an absurdly low carbon tax, one currently just $0.42/ton due to exemptions, compared to most recent estimates of a $3000/ton cost of carbon.

The cost of not transitioning justly

The latter point is vital, because by applying a rudimentary “polluter pays” principle as a means of raising funds – but in a progressive not regressive way (as did French and Ecuadorean governments in 2018-19, generating massive social protests) – funds could be raised for not only Loss & Damage reparations, but also for necessary climate-proofing investments in poor communities.

Thanks to dramatically-increased unemployment in these areas due to Covid-19, there are pent-up supplies of construction laborers and general workers who can repair and strengthen drainage systems, rebuild damaged roads, construct sturdier houses and safer bridges, restore wetlands and rehabilitate riverine systems to act as a sponge. Solar and wind energy plus public transit improvements also need generous subsidies. By one account, a “million climate jobs“ could be provided here, were there the political will.

But government broke many promises to “build back better” after the Covid-19 economic lockdown. Even though in October 2020, Ramaphosa committed the state to hiring 800 000 new workers, Treasury’s unprecedented budget cuts kicked in soon thereafter. That dried up the funding needed not only to repair damaged infrastructure, but to implement a genuine “Just Transition”: support for workers dislocated by decarbonization, whether in the coal fields or South Durban’s refinery complex (where both Engen and Sapref recently reached the end of their lifespans).

Had more state funds been available for Durban’s 2019 recovery – and ring-fenced so as not to fall victim to Gumede’s alleged graft tendencies – the necessary climate adaptation work could have taken place. Yet as local journalist Des Erasmus remarked this week, an underlying case of malgovernance cannot be disguised: “Local and provincial government spoke of climate change until they were reminded that notwithstanding climate change, poor infrastructure, drainage and sewer maintenance, poorly-built houses, and allowing residents to build homes on river banks had also significantly contributed to the fallout.”

What sort of climate-resilient investments are needed? A first vital step is improving early warning systems and flood preparedness, since the SA Weather Service admitted that it vastly underestimated the storm’s power. Other labor-intensive construction is needed for small dams and seawalls; stronger roads and bridge reinforcements; better-quality pipes and water treatment; back-up generators for pumping stations; firebreaks; and much more effective storm water drainage, including maintenance.

Most obviously, improvements in housing stability are required across the working-class areas of the city, as well as for all structures built on vulnerable hills and near oceans and rivers. And much more investment is needed in green infrastructure, including better maintenance of forests, floodplains and wetlands.

Elusive red-green politics

To get there, the balance of forces will need deep, urgent change. How that happens is still unclear, given that although Ramaphosa is fast losing power internally within his badly-divided ANC party – which scored only 42% in the 2021 election (25% lower than it did 20 years ago) and lost most major cities to center-right opposition parties – a new danger has arisen: far-right, xenophobic organizing in working-class communities targeting African and Asian immigrants (reminiscent of Brexit, Trump, Bolsonaro, Duterte, Orban, etc).

At the same time, there are major splits in the progressive community: two different climate justice coalitions, a terrible cleavage in the left labor movement, ongoing disconnections between community activists fighting similar battels but without organizational coherence, and other well-known woes the independent left faces everywhere.

Desperation to change that power balance has led some brave climate activists to call for international sanctions against Ramaphosa’s government, reflecting their valid sense that this kind of punishment is what motivates elites, as demonstrated in 1985 when anti-apartheid sanctions bit hard. In addition, a wedge may well be driven by the European Union’s (and other Western) Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism climate tariffs sufficiently deep as to break the bloc of high-carbon emitters away from the rest of the economy. Responding directly to the Durban Rain Bomb, that movement and Durban-based Oceans Not Oil also opened a case of culpable homicide against top government officials, including Ramaphosa.

Another place to look for optimism is ordinary Durban residents, who are striving to provide mutual aid (especially the respected emergency relief group Gift of the Givers) and toughen their already-vibrant critiques of local, provincial and national governments. Over the past half-century, the city’s activists have often been at the epicenter of such struggles: in 1973 with port worker organizing that helped seed a national labor movement; in mid-1980s community-based anti-apartheid resistance; in the late-1990s “We are the Poors” movement that reignited urban social movements; in the 2005 rise from the shacklands of the impressive group Abahlali baseMjondolo (now raising funds to support flood victims); and in environmental justice advocacy by the NGO groundWork and especially the South Durban Community Environmental Alliance.

Working-class residents battered by the rains and flooding, and furious with the lack of state support in several parts of the city, are already out protesting against municipal state failure, mainly by blocking key arterial roads. Desperate people also broke into shops and shipping containers in search of food, water and anything of value. But while social psychology is stressed, it did degenerate as far as feared: on the prior Sunday, April 10, a downtown march by the xenophobic movement (called Operation Dudula, meaning “to drive back”) was a failure, attracting only a few dozen local participants. Nevertheless, as another sign of the times, on the same day, former mayor Zandile Gumede was voted by ANC members as head of the ruling party’s Durban branch, which in recent years was the single largest in the country, although her ongoing prosecution on corruption may prevent her from serving. All these political processes in Durban confirm once again how dynamics remain fluid and difficult to predict.

They may help the broader society determine, once again, how to fight oppression with an organizational response, one that transcends handwringing, meagre reforms and charity, no matter that emergency relief is needed for hundreds of thousands of people right now. The one certainty is that the latest Durban Rain Bomb heralds far more profound climate injustices to come.

https://climateandcapitalism.com/2022/0 ... hypocrisy/

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Health workers in South Africa protest as post-pandemic austerity looms

Workers in health institutions in several provinces of South Africa have organized protests and industrial action as they face threats of job loss and reorganization of services

April 15, 2022 by Peoples Health Dispatch

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(Photo: Masego Mafata)

Health workers in several provinces of South Africa have engaged in protests and strikes since late March, reacting to missed payments, announced losses of working places, and rearrangements of services that significantly alter access to care. While workers’ grievances differed between provinces, they all pointed towards the discrepancies between the workers’ demands and what is likely to be the government’s path towards post-pandemic recovery: better staffing and working conditions, as opposed to a new round of austerity measures.

At the beginning of March, workers from Orsmond and Empilweni Hospitals, specialized in TB care, rallied in front of Uitenhage Provincial Hospital protesting the intention to shut down the two institutions with a significant overhaul of services provided. During the protest, members of the National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union (NEHAWU) said to Ground Up that the provincial Department of Health in Eastern Cape should prove that TB is no longer killing patients before discontinuing services to patients and disrupting workers’ routines.

One of the largest actions took place at Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital (Bara) in Soweto, Gauteng province. Around the time when protests were taking place in Eastern Cape, workers at Bara Hospital started to warn that without government intervention, more than 800 temporary workers employed to aid pandemic support would be dismissed at the end of the month as their contracts expired. While the workers were demanding that their colleagues be kept on a permanent basis, hospital administration faced budget constraints which caused problems in equipment maintenance and delivery of food, making the outcome of the workers’ actions unclear.

Health authorities in the province echoed the doubt of whether the temporary posts created in Gauteng since the beginning of the pandemic could be maintained in light of the overall lack of funds. Health workers in the Western Cape Province faced the same scenario, and approximately 400 of them lost their jobs around the end of March as funds were not allocated to extending temporary contracts. Earlier this year in Eastern Cape, the threat of losing posts opened during the pandemic extended to more than 2,700 health workers, provoking protests by the workers themselves and solidarity actions by health workers and right to health groups such as the South African Care Workers Forum.

In Bara, workers’ pressure resulted in a renewal of the contracts for 12 more months on March 22, allowing for more time to find a long-term solution to the staff shortage problems that have been experienced all over the country long before COVID-19 as a result of poor governance, mismanagement, and austerity measures. Yet, this is still far from an outcome that could provide concrete improvements for health workers’ rights and access to care for patients.

Pandemic support policies near an end

The possibility of a long-term solution including more healthcare jobs and adequate remuneration doesn’t depend only on the position of the government in South Africa, but also on the funds that are available, especially those coming from international finance institutions. South Africa is, in fact, one of the 90 countries which negotiated funding from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to boost pandemic response.

According to a 2021 Oxfam report, the overwhelming majority of the IMF pandemic loans include provisions to cut public expenditure, reform subsidies policies, and cut wage bills. In other words, they envisioned that after a brief period of investment in social protection mechanisms and support for people during the early waves of COVID-19, austerity was to return as soon as the pandemic subsided. In the case of about 20 countries whose loans with IMF Oxfam first analyzed, the Fund recommended introducing structural adjustments as early as 2020 and 2021, when the pandemic was still very much under way.

When African countries are concerned, the IMF included structural adjustment measures among the loan conditionalities of all countries that received a loan except for one, said Nadia Daar from Oxfam’s Washington DC office during a panel at the IMF and WB Civil Society Policy Forum. At the same time, in 2021, debt payments cost Africa 8.6 times more than healthcare expenses, casting a doubt over IMF’s claims of still prioritizing support mechanisms for the countries’ population as the pandemic continues.

In fact, Daar noted, there was no sign of the Fund changing direction even as multiple crises were adding to the pandemic burden. According to Oxfam’s predictions, over half a billion more people could be pushed into extreme poverty in 2022 alone because of rising food and energy prices, COVID-19, and war.

Paying for pandemic recovery

Although IMF loans play a key role in ensuring that austerity measures are taken up by governments during pandemic recovery, their implementation is also related to the vision of local policy and budget makers. In South Africa, the 2022/2023 budget already includes a number of cuts to public services and mechanisms of social support. According to a statement by the Assembly of the Unemployed & the Cry of the Xcluded, planned cuts to public expenditure will prove to be particularly harmful for the poor and the unemployed, whose numbers have grown during the pandemic.

Instead of increasing taxes on the rich and using the funds to ensure workers are kept in decent workplaces on a full-time and permanent basis, especially in health, education, and other public services, the plan seems to be offering “inflationary relief” for the rich and transnational corporations, especially in the mining sector, who pay their employees poverty wages and ignore health and safety concerns.

Echoing the health workers’ requests for decent jobs, the Assembly of the Unemployed and the Cry of the Xcluded stated: “We are on a disastrous economic and political trajectory, one that austerity and tokenistic social support cannot rescue us from. We need radical progressive alternatives centered on decent health and education, the right to work, the right to say no, basic income grant, and a large functional public sector focused on the provision of public goods.”

https://peoplesdispatch.org/2022/04/15/ ... ity-looms/

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Durban: Fuel Stations Start To Dry Up

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Durban has suffered heavy floods causing damage to the Bayhead Road. Apr. 15, 2022. | Photo: Twitter/@UmzintoUpdates

Published 15 April 2022 (10 hours 54 minutes ago)

Durban has suffered recent floods, which have caused damage to the Bayhead Road, an essential critical access route to the Durban Container Terminal.

Resulting from the torrential rains in Durban, gas stations have started to dry up, as floods have affected the Bayhead Road; in KwaZulu-Natal.

Msawakhe Mayisela, Spokesperson for eThekwini Municipality, said on Friday that several fuel stations have run dry, and even more are potential to suffer the same affectation. "We are told the supply will likely be restored in about two days," told Marisela. "Apparently, what has compounded our woes is a sinkhole which I am told is at Bayhead and makes it difficult for trucks to ferry fuel from the refinery to depots."

The eThekwini municipality released an announcement explaining that the deluge resulted in extensive damage to Bayhead Road, the principal access route to the Durban Container Terminal and Island view complex. In the meantime, it was agreed by the port stakeholders that the Bluff route will be used by the trucking industry effective starting on Saturday, April 16 for the movement of essential goods from the terminal while Bayhead Road is being repaired.

"Municipal by-laws have been relaxed to open up the alternative route from the harbor to the M7 Solomon Mahlangu Drive for trucks. Trucks transporting essential cargo such as food, fuel, and pharmaceutical products will be prioritized," said the announcement. "Relaxation of by-laws will be effective up until the Bayhead outbound carriageway is repaired and operational. Law enforcement will be on hand to manage traffic and residents' safety in the alternative route."

euronews: RT @euronewsgreen: Heavy rains on the east coast devastated thousands of homes, roads and bridges in Durban, a major African port and epicentre of the disaster.

The destruction is being linked to "worsening climate change" with extreme events … https://t.co/HVc61Fuxu4

— Radio Télé 6 Univers (@tele6cayes) April 15, 2022


On Friday, the South African Petroleum Industry Association (SAPIA) issued a statement that said there would be adequate petroleum product availability in the country following the recent floods in KZN. The impact on operations across the supply chain does not represent a risk for the availability of fuel.

The Petroleum Industry called on the population to avoid panic buying as it would result in the sites running out of fuel gradually. "Work to the damaged infrastructure is underway, clearing debris at the Durban port. Shipping of petroleum products is currently halted. Most Island View terminals have been restored and pipeline injections have commenced. Pipelines were not affected by the floods," SAPIA said.

"The Sapref [refinery] remains flooded but all staff has been accounted for. The industry is working together with its stakeholders to safely restore all operational infrastructure and mitigate any further fuel supply risks," told SAPIA.

https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Dur ... -0020.html

The Death Toll Caused by Deluge in S. Africa Reaches 395

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Floods in South Africa leave 395 casualties. Apr. 15, 2022. | Photo: Twitter/@indiaExam12

Published 15 April 2022

On Friday, 395 people were reported dead in South Africa's KwaZulu-Natal Province a cause of the floods.

Since the weekend, torrential rains have affected the KwaZulu-Natal Province of South Africa, resulting by Friday in a death toll of 395 people, according to a report issued by a Government official.

To date, at least 40 723 people have suffered the consequences of the deluge in South Africa. A member of the Executive Council for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs in KwaZulu-Natal, Sipho Hlomuka, briefed an update on the fatalities, which stands at 395.

More than 4000 members of law have been supporting the relief efforts and maintaining law and order in the affected areas. At the same time, some other staff is busy repairing damaged infrastructure like roads, water supply, sanitation, and electricity.

The South African Weather Service foresees more rainfall in some parts of the province in the coming days. "Damaging winds are forecast for areas along the coast from midday today into Saturday evening. Disruptive rain is forecast," told Hlomuka.


According to Hlomuka, provincial and municipal disaster management teams are on high alert to have a response plan for communities at increased risk to avert and minimize the disaster impact.

https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/The ... -0023.html

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A Civil War Threatens to Resume in Libya
Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on APRIL 14, 2022
Alexandre Lemoine

The situation in Libya has seriously deteriorated. This happened after the statement of the representatives of the Libyan National Army (LNA) of Khalifa Haftar who work in the Joint Military Commission in the 5+5 format. They suspended the October 23, 2020 ceasefire agreement and left the commission. Experts believe that such statements could lead to the most undesirable consequences for Libya: from deepening the split between east and west going to a new war.

The senior LNA officers participating in the commission put forward four main demands: to stop the export of Libyan oil, to block the coastal road linking the east and west of the country, to cease cooperation and contact with the Tripoli-based Government of National Unity (GNU) of Abdel Hamid Dbeiba, and to stop flights between Cyrenaica and Tripolitania. In effect, this would mean giving up the commission’s most important achievements at the cost of immense efforts.

The Joint Military Commission was created in accordance with the decisions of the Berlin Peace Conference. Its actions helped stop the bloodshed and sign a ceasefire agreement after a failed campaign by Marshal Khalifa Haftar in Tripolitania (western region of Libya) launched in April 2019. In addition, negotiations began on the unification of the country’s military institutions, the necessary conditions were guaranteed to elect a transitional government, and an agreement was reached on the organization of a presidential and parliamentary elections in late 2021, which did not take place for several reasons.

According to experts, the sudden activation of the LNA representatives could be explained by at least two things:

First, the willingness of Khalifa Haftar and parliament speaker Aguila Saleh to help their political ally Fathi Bachagha to occupy the seat of the new ministerial cabinet to replace Abdel Hamid Dbeiba, who refuses to resign.
Secondly, the desire of the power center in the east to impose its own way of paying salaries to the LNA military on the government.
Abdel Hamid Dbeiba insists on paying the money into the individual accounts of each soldier. While Khalifa Haftar prefers the government to pay the entire sum in one installment, after which the military accountants will decide for themselves how and what amounts should be paid to the military.

In any case, the exit of senior LNA officers who are part of the Joint Military Commission of the ceasefire agreement was taken with great concern by the government of Abdel Hamid Dbeiba, who also holds the post of Minister of Defense. On the same day, he met with Army Chief of Staff Gribil al-Fitouri. The interlocutors stressed the important contribution of the Joint Military Commission to peace. According to the Chief of Staff, the work of the commission is clear and detailed, it has nothing to do with political issues. General Mustapha Yahia then said on behalf of the western participants of the commission that the views of colleagues from the east did not reflect the opinion of the entire commission.

The demands of the LNA commission members leave a controversial impression. Immediately after the senior officers’ statements, several Libyan media outlets reported that oil production in some LNA-controlled fields in the country had stopped. However, Brigadier General Ahmed al-Mismari, spokesman for the LNA, immediately denied the reports. It may be that Khalifa Haftar decided at the last moment that it would be counterproductive for him and Fathi Bachagha to play the oil card. Oil is the only source of income for Libya.

https://libya360.wordpress.com/2022/04/ ... -in-libya/

Mali: Counter-Terrorism Successes and Effective Resistance to Interference
Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on APRIL 14, 2022
Mikhail Gamandiy-Egorov

At the very moment when the Republic of Mali is experiencing successes on the ground in the fight against terrorism, and this without the involvement of any Western forces, the Elysée establishment and its Western allies are trying by all means to denigrate these successes. Although this was perfectly predictable.

For Malians, the recent anti-terrorist military operation in Moura (Mopti region, center of the country) is undeniably a notable victory. And while the hexagonal establishment, along with several Western actors, persists in accusing the Malian Armed Forces (FAMA) of alleged exactions, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Mali rejects these accusations and calls for restraint against defamatory speculation.

Paris had also tried to get an initiative to launch “independent investigations” at the UN Security Council – an attempt blocked by Russia and China. A Sino-Russian solidarity welcomed by many representatives of Malian and more generally African civil society, who beyond seeing it as another example of solidarity between the two great world powers, are above all convinced that it blocks the well known Western destabilization schemes.

Indeed, do we need to recall the countless examples of accusations that emanated from the Atlanticist elites against any state whose actions did not conform to the desires of these elites? Syria, Central African Republic, Iran, Venezuela… Now it is Mali’s turn. This was indeed perfectly predictable.

But in the particular case of CAR and Mali, it is not only a matter of Paris trying to take revenge against two African nations that have chosen a firm sovereignty and a diversification of external partnerships, but it is above all a matter of the Elysée and the Quai d’Orsay trying to stop the contagion.

Yes, contagion. Because if during the long years of French and Western presence, these two countries had been taxed with the most negative characteristics (for the anecdote by these same media affiliated to the political establishment of the West), now the two states have become very important sources of inspiration for many other African peoples. People even from countries that are still under the Western diktat.

The neo-colonial and Atlanticist West had never experienced such difficulties in Africa in recent history. Popular mass mobilizations, patriotic political and military leaders who are increasingly listening to their people, the rise of pan-African values and the recent international geopolitical realities of the multipolar era – all of this presents a huge challenge to Washington, London and Paris – so long accustomed to seeing Africa as a land where they could do as they pleased. Indeed – those days are over.

As for the Western smear campaigns against the Malian authorities and Armed Forces – it should certainly be said that this is in some ways positive and reassuring. If we look at the last few years and at events in the Syrian Arab Republic and the Central African Republic, we can see that this almost always took place at a time when the West and its elements were in trouble.

From this point of view, not only should Mali not pay much attention to pseudo-accusations from the same instigators, but it should pursue the hard line against terrorism chosen with the support of the vast majority of the country’s people. As for “independent” investigations, these will become acceptable options – only when the UN system of human resources and the various administrations – will adapt to the new global realities. And in these realities, knowing all the more that the People’s Republic of China is one of the UN’s major creditors, it is high time that a large part of the Western or Western-affiliated executives be replaced as soon as possible in the respective UN bodies.

https://libya360.wordpress.com/2022/04/ ... erference/
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

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Re: Africa

Post by blindpig » Tue Apr 19, 2022 1:48 pm

A New Phase Against Western Colonialism in Africa
Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on APRIL 18, 2022
Vladimir Danilov

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The support by many African leaders and governments of Moscow’s actions in Ukraine, or at least reluctance to condemn the Russian military special operation, has frankly alarmed the current political elite in the West.

Foreign Policy believes that much of this has allegedly to do with the African countries’ devotion to non-alignment, their desire to follow China’s line and reliance on Russia for arms and security, which has led Africa to ignore Washington’s demands to support its position on Ukraine.

At the same time, according to Britain’s The Guardian, some observers are talking about the possibility of a new strategic shift in Africa away from the West, similar to what happened during the Cold War. The publication recognizes, however, that the objective reality of the international system is now so different that it raises many questions about the commitment of some African countries to the post-Cold War order and its values.

The refusal of South Africa’s ruling African National Congress party to criticize Russia, while claiming it hoped to remain neutral and encourage dialogue between the parties to the conflict, draws the attention of Western observers in particular. Meanwhile, other countries on the Dark Continent take the same line and, while calling for peace, blame the conflict in Ukraine on NATO’s expansion eastwards, complain about Western “double standards” and resist any call to criticize Russia.

Many now recognize the similarities between the current criticism of the West in Africa and its struggle for independence a few decades ago. This is not surprising, since many countries on the African continent are still ruled by parties that enjoyed Moscow’s support during their struggle for liberation from colonial or white racist rule. Ruling party leaders in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Angola and Mozambique remember how Soviet arms, money and advisers helped African countries win their freedom.

African states have not forgotten the neo-colonial aspirations of the West in recent decades, its desire to get rich at the expense of African wealth and its continued political and economic pressure, including the imposition of sanctions. In particular, Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa said this today, describing Russia and China as “reliable pillars over the years” that have not only “helped Africa in its struggle for independence, but equally defended sovereignty against relentless attacks from detractors.” This is a clear reference to Western sanctions on Zimbabwe under the previous president, Robert Mugabe.

Pauline Bax, deputy director of the International Crisis Group’s Africa Program, acknowledges that there is a strong anti-Western sentiment in the Sahel today, an anti-imperialist trend in public opinion in particular, and that anti-imperialist orientation means anti-American and anti-Western orientation.

For example, events in Mali, the Central African Republic and Sudan are developing blatantly not in favor of the West, given that the previous Western patrons were unable to do anything about the growing criminality in these countries and the activities of various terrorist groups for many years. Under the guise of such instability, the West has only continued to enrich itself, engaging in tacit “cooperation” with criminal elements in a number of countries. It is for this reason that Russia’s active steps, which in the shortest possible time led to the normalization of the situation in these countries and the security of the population, were not only welcomed on the African continent, but have also led to a virtual break with the previous “trusteeship” of France in Mali and the CAR and a rise in anti-Western sentiment. Mali, in particular, was enraged with France when it massacred the civilian population during Operation Barkhane, and this laid the groundwork for Russian expansion in that African country. As a result, Mali has steadily withdrawn from under “the French umbrella.” A similar situation occurred in the CAR.

These African grievances against the West have objectively intensified with the start of Moscow’s special operation in Ukraine. This was particularly evident in the blatantly dismissive treatment of African students fleeing the war in Ukraine, as was highlighted in particular by the Guardian Nigeria, which wrote: “the world is happy to tolerate the dehumanization of the Africans caught up in the war in Ukraine.” It is also incomprehensible in Africa that Europe is reorienting itself so quickly to help Ukrainian refugees, while African refugees have been without similar attention in the EU for a long time.

Others point to an increasing policy of “double standards” on the part of the West. This has manifested itself, in particular, in the lightning-fast adoption of international actions against Russia, but at the same time in ignoring calls to expel African human rights violators from the HRC.

Some African leaders, having judiciously assessed their countries’ vulnerability to instability in economic markets, the growing discontent of their youth, whose numbers are constantly increasing, and faced with their own security problems, have simply concluded that it is not advisable to continue to follow Washington’s policies. African countries were already moved by Washington’s hasty flight from Afghanistan and the horrific scenes of people falling out of take-off planes to the point where Washington was no longer viewed as a defender of its allies. This has created a perception among some African politicians that Washington is an unreliable partner for whom its own security comes first.

The recent shift in thinking in Africa and its increasing anti-Western attitude can be clearly seen in the speech delivered on March 12, 2022 at the Cercle des Nouveaux Monde debate club in Paris by Lionel Zinsou, former Prime Minister of Benin, a graduate of the French High School of Political Science, financier and employee of the Rothschild group:

“All we hear now is this crisis, anti-Russian sanctions, oil, gas… Do you understand what this crisis means, for example, for Africa? Russia supplies us with grain and corn. All logistics go through the Black Sea. And the African world froze in horror watching just what was going on. Terrified by the actions of the US and the European Union. Africans won’t buy your stories about democracy. These are just your fairy tales for internal consumption. The majority of the African elite was educated in the Soviet Union – doctors, engineers, pilots, teachers, scientists. Russians are the only Europeans who have decolonized Africa. And Africa remembers it. Just as Africa remembers European atrocities.”

https://libya360.wordpress.com/2022/04/ ... in-africa/

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Notes from Wartorn Ethiopia
April 16, 2022
By Ann Garrison – Apr 13, 2022

I’m writing from Ethiopia, where the war that began in November 2020 continues, with the US backing their former puppet, the Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), who ruled Ethiopia with an iron fist from 1991 to 2018, when they were finally overthrown by a popular uprising.

The TPLF started the war by attacking the national army’s five Northern Command bases in Tigray on November 3rd and 4th, 2020, but the West’s dominant state and corporate press narrative quickly became that Prime Minister Abiy had started the war by sending troops into Tigray, alleging the attack as his excuse. This was one of many early indicators that the US, the NATO nations, and their press were backing the TPLF.

I’ve been here for eleven days. For most of this time I’ve been traveling with American photojournalist Jemal Countess, who went home yesterday, and Ethiopian American multimedia producer Betty Sheba Tekeste. These are my observations about the first leg of our trip.

Lalibela: Churches, water, electricity, and a surgical strike

After landing in the capital, Addis Ababa, I flew directly to Lalibela, in Amhara Region, site of the rock-hewn Ethiopian Orthodox churches built by King Lalibela in the 12th century. The churches are a UNESCO World Heritage Site and tourism is Lalibela’s lifeblood. It was hit hard when tourists stopped traveling because of COVID at the end of 2019, then hit even harder when the TPLF occupied the town for five months, from August to December 2021. Tourists were beginning to trickle back in while I was there.

After seizing Lalibela in August 2021, the TPLF negotiated with the clergy at the churches to protect them. Damaging the churches would have been devastating PR for any parties responsible. The national army, the Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF), was also committed to protecting the churches, so almost all of the fighting took place outside the city until the national army prevailed.

A Chinese firm had been paving roads in and out of Lalibela and beyond but the TPLF drove them away, stole all their equipment, and occupied their base. I was loving the Chinese whenever we were riding on the sections of the road they had paved, and cursing the TPLF whenever we were bouncing up and down on gravel roads including all sorts of hazards.

Hotels abound in Lalibela since tourism is the sole industry of any significance. The TPLF looted and damaged many of them, leaving others owned by TPLF members or sympathizers in place. We were told that the TPLF had looted the hotel we stayed in, the Mezena, but that the computers and television screens had been replaced.

There was no electricity in Lalibela—unless you had a generator—because, we were told, the TPLF had blown up the substation in Alamata, a town further north, just across the border of Amhara and Tigray Regions. Hadn’t they shot their own foot by doing so? Jemal Countess said he thought so, but I wondered whether they hadn’t simply disabled the 285-mile high voltage transmission line that the Chinese had constructed to transport electricity from Alamata to Legetafo in central Ethiopia.

The Chinese are building roads and electricity infrastructure, the first steps toward development, while US policymakers sponsor the TPLF, who chased the Chinese off and incapacitated the electricity and thus the plumbing for nine poor towns. Sometimes I think that Samantha Power, Antony Blinken, Susan Rice, and other US policymakers must have secret investments in China since they keep doing their best to push Ethiopia and other African nations into its arms.

We couldn’t travel to Alamata because it’s under TPLF control, but whatever they had done to the substation or the transmission line, there was no electricity for anyone without a generator in the nine cities south of Alamata on the road that goes in and out of Lalibela. The hotel we stayed in has a generator that they turn on from 7 pm to 10 pm, so that guests can enjoy the evening and charge their electronic devices. They only do so, however, if there are enough guests to justify the fuel expense, so we were lucky that a dozen or so Spanish tourists arrived just as we did.

Because there was no electricity in Lalibela, there was no plumbing—again, unless you had a generator. Our hotel managed to keep the water flowing during the day, but hot water was available only for a few hours at night while the generator was also keeping the lights on.

Many families had one spigot in their homes vut those were now dry. Instead people lined up at water tanks with jerry cans or carried them to streams even though it’s the dry season so the water was very low.

We drove north of Lalibela—on those partially paved, partially gravel roads—to Sekota to see the three IDP camps there. Along the way we were stopped at several checkpoints where national army soldiers asked for our passports. Just past the entrance to Sekota, we passed a college now serving as an area command base for the national army. Jemal said we were near the front line, but we didn’t see any fighting.

From there we drove on to three IDP camps populated by Amhara IDPs who had fled their homes very near Amhara Region’s northern border with Tigray. One after another told us that the TPLF had taken everything they had until they finally fled for their lives. In the first camp there wasn’t nearly enough water or food and people were cooking on open fires inside large tents delivered by the UNHCR, some of which were sheltering a hundred or more people. Some people did have thin mattresses to sleep on. If there were any sanitation facilities besides the open space surrounding the camp we didn’t see them.

The second IDP camp was even worse, with hundreds of people all gathered in one tent, sleeping on the floor without mattresses. Food and water was again in short supply, some people looked desperately thin, and those with food to cook were doing so on open fires where they lived. We talked to one young woman who said she wanted peace, she wanted to go home to whatever was left there, but if she couldn’t do that, she wanted to put on a uniform and fight with the national army.

The third camp, on the edge of Sekota, was even worse, with hundreds of people living under the most rudimentary shelters, tarps stretched overhead but without sides. Again, food and water was scarce, and people were cooking on open fires in the same space they lived in, and here, animals mingled with people and it was evident that there were no sanitation facilities.

As much as I hate the pattern of US proxy wars with all the big NGO businesses following in their wake, I couldn’t leave such misery without hoping that the UN and NGOs would arrive soon and/or do more for these people. Better yet, the government, but the government has twice declared unilateral ceasefires that the TPLF has not respected, so its resources continue to be drained by the war.

The surgical strike

My last observation about Lalibela and the surrounding region for now is that we went to visit the site of a surgical strike that ended the TPLF occupation. I have to admit that I’ve never thought such a thing was possible, but the Ethiopian national army hit the hotel taken over by the top TPLF officers with a drone strike that destroyed the hotel and killed the officers without damaging the rest of the community, and that was the end of the occupation.

The site wasn’t pretty. There were large bloodstains left where officers had died in pools of blood and the hotel walls were pocked with pellet-sized indentations that suggested the use of anti-personnel weapons. However, this strike ended the occupation and freed the people of Lalibela. And it belied accusations that the national army is just drone bombing indiscriminately.

https://orinocotribune.com/notes-from-wartorn-ethiopia/

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Nine People Injured as Mortar Shells Hit Somali Parliament

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Hole left in the pavement by an improvised explosive device, Kismayo, Somalia, April 18, 2022. | Photo: Twitter/ @RadioDalsan1

Published 18 April 2022


Al-Shabab militant group, which has intensified attacks to disrupt the elections, claimed responsibility for the latest attack, saying it was targeting the lawmakers.

At least nine people were injured after several rounds of mortar shells hit the parliament building where the newly elected lawmakers were holding a joint session on Monday.

A police officer at the scene said two guards attached to an opposition leader were among those injured at Villa Hargeisa, which is located within the presidential palace in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia.

"Several mortar shells landed in the vicinity of the parliamentary building, or Villa Hargeisa, located within Villa Somalia," a police officer said.

The shelling happened a few minutes after the lawmakers approved measures to hold elections for the speakers of the House of the People and the Senate on April 26 and 27.

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Al-Shabaab group claimed responsibility for the latest attack. The shells struck just as the lawmakers ended their session and were getting out of the building.

"Today's attempt was a cowardly act to frighten the Parliament which is within its constitutional obligation to ensure that the elections are over soon," Somalia's Prime Minister Mohamed Roble said and praised the lawmakers' efforts to race against time to complete the electoral process that will soon culminate in the election of the president.

Over the last weeks, Shabaab militants have staged a series of attacks against delegates to disrupt the electoral process.

https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Nin ... -0007.html
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

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