Tuesday, August 31st
Africa takes tough stand on coups
"We've entered a new era," says John Stremlau, head of the international relations department at the University of Witwatersrand here. "Around the region over the last few years, you've seen an increased willingness to be more assertive in the face of this kind of action." Postcolonial Africa has been hobbled by illegitimate political takeovers. According to research by Patrick McGowan, a professor of political science at Arizona State University in Tempe, in sub-Saharan Africa between 1956 and 2001 there were 80 successful coups, 108 failed coup attempts, and 139 reported coup plots. There have been 11 attempted or successful coups since then. Full Article : csmonitor.com
Africa on 08.31.04 @ 12:12 AM CST [ link]
Monday, August 30th
Between Venezuela and Nothingland
Strange dictator this Hugo Chávez. Masochistic and suicidal: he created a Constitution that permits the people to throw him out, and he risked this occurring in a recall referendum. This referendum that took place in Venezuela was the first of its kind in Universal history. He was not cast out. And this makes it the Eighth election that Chávez has won in five years, with a transparency that would have sent dear Bush on a holiday. Obedient to his Constitution, Chávez accepted the referendum, promoted by the opposition, and subjected himself to the will of the people: "You all decide". Up until now, the presidents interrupted their rule only for death, a putsch, an uprising or parliamentary decision. The referendum has inaugurated an innovative form of direct democracy. An extraordinary accountability: How many presidents, of what countries of the world, would be enthusiastic to allow for that? And how many would continue being president afterwards? Full Article : venezuelanalysis.com
Venezuela on 08.30.04 @ 09:04 PM CST [ link]
Protesters in New York Planning to Take On Media Giants
NEW YORK - Demonstrators haven't come to Manhattan solely to denounce President Bush and his policies. At least two protest events are scheduled for the headquarters of big media companies later this week. Organizers of the "March on the Media" hope to draw attention to what they said is uncritical coverage of corporate scandals, terrorism prevention and the war against Iraq. "Corporate media have failed to provide the public with critical, probing coverage of this administration," said Peter Hart, a media analyst at Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting, one of the march's sponsors. "The public needs a watchdog, not a lapdog." Full Article : commondreams.org
USA on 08.30.04 @ 08:48 PM CST [ link]
South Africa considering request to question Thatcher
CAPE TOWN, South Africa South Africa is considering Equatorial Guinea's request to question Mark Thatcher about his alleged role in a foiled coup plot. The 51-year-old son of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher is under house arrest at his swank Cape Town, South Africa, home. He's accused of helping to fund the purchase of a helicopter for use in the alleged plot to topple the president of the oil-rich West African nation of Equatorial Guinea. Thatcher denies any involvement and has until September Eighth to post 300-thousand dollars' bail. His wife, Diane, and their two children drove to the airport today, apparently to catch a flight out of the country. Full Article : kltv.com
Africa on 08.30.04 @ 04:47 PM CST [ link]
Muslim leader here seeks end to crisis in Sudan
When state Rep. Yaphett el-Amin arrived in Sudan two weeks ago, she began looking for the Arabs she had heard so much about. She asked Imam Muhammad Nur Abdullah, who led the delegation of American Muslim leaders to the war-torn country, where the Arab militias were. They have been accused of ethnically cleansing the black Sudanese from the western province of Darfur. Full Article : stltoday.com
Africa on 08.30.04 @ 04:08 PM CST [ link]
Lou Dobbs and the History of Apartheid
Lou Dobbs' recent appearance with Bill Moyers on the Moyers PBS show "Now" made for fascinating television. Dobbs charges that big businesses are "traitors," who conspire to cut their costs of production by "off-shoring American jobs." Dobbs believes that American workers, who are paid $25 an hour, should not be required to compete with Indian workers, who are paid merely "cents." The problem is that Dobbs' job protectionism scheme has been tried before. Apartheid South Africa's so-called "civilized labor policy" was based on a similar principle. It proved to be an unambiguous failure. After gold was found in South Africa's Transvaal province in 1873, mining became the country's chief industry. South African capitalists soon recognized that blacks could do many of the jobs previously done by whites and for much less money. In an efficiency drive, they fired whites and hired blacks instead. Between 1911 and 1922, the number of white miners decreased from 24,746 to 14,207. Full Article : techcentralstation.com
Africa on 08.30.04 @ 04:03 PM CST [ link]
South Africa Charges Men in Equatorial Guinea Coup Plot
South African police have filed charges of violating anti-mercenary laws against two men acquitted by a Zimbabwe court of involvement in an alleged coup plot in Equatorial Guinea. Police say they met Monday with the men, Harry Carlse and Lourens Hort, who returned home from Zimbabwe on Saturday. Last week, the two were among 66 alleged mercenaries cleared of weapons violations by a Zimbabwe court. The British leader of the group, Simon Mann, was convicted of the charges. Full Article : voanews.com
Africa on 08.30.04 @ 03:59 PM CST [ link]
Sunday, August 29th
Anti-Bush Protesters March in New York
NEW YORK - Demonstrators carrying colourful banners and signs have marched up one of New York's main avenues to protest President George W. Bush's policies over the Iraq war and the economy the day before the Republican convention opens. Full Article : commondreams.org
USA on 08.29.04 @ 05:53 PM CST [ link]
Britain dragged into coup plot
Britain dragged into coup plot as rumours swirl over London meeting Thatcher's business partner turns state witness as diplomatic row builds over alleged west African putschby Antony Barnett, Martin Bright and Patrick SmithOne of Sir Mark Thatcher's key business partners has turned 'state witness' and is alleged to have given dramatic new evidence to South African police investigating Thatcher's role in the alleged coup to overthrow the President of Equatorial Guinea. The revelation comes as speculation mounts over what British and US officials knew about the alleged plot and when. Insiders claim that officials in both countries were aware of a planned attempt to topple the leader of the oil-rich west African state, although both governments have denied this claim. Thatcher's business partner, former crack mercenary pilot Crause Steyl, is believed to have handed over details of Thatcher's investment in an aviation firm that had contracts with Simon Mann, the old Etonian and former SAS officer in jail in Zimbabwe Full Article : guardian.co.uk
UK on 08.29.04 @ 04:52 PM CST [ link]
Black Contribution to Local Culture Has Been Largely Ignored
When Berta was a little girl, she met Micaela, "an old black woman, whose back was full of scars." When she asked the adults around her why, she was told "it was the whips and red-hot iron bars, because she was a slave." This is one of the personal accounts presented in ”Obscurity, Silence and Rupture: 150 Years Since the Abolition of Slavery in Venezuela”, an exhibit currently on display in the Museum of Fine Arts in Caracas, which also presents photos, prints, paintings, musical instruments, tools, weapons, masks, carvings and posters reflecting Venezuela's African heritage. Slavery was officially abolished in Venezuela on Mar. 24, 1854. At that time there were 25,000 slaves, accounting for three percent of the population. Full Article : ipsnews.net
Venezuela on 08.29.04 @ 12:48 PM CST [ link]
How new Africa made fools of the white mischief-makers
The days when white mercenaries could walk into small African countries and take them over appear to be gone. The coup plot against Equatorial Guinea, with its cast of old Etonians, adventurers and shady money men, failed because of its leaders' incompetence - and because of a new spirit of co-operation among AfricansBy Raymond Whitaker and Paul Lashmar"Things have changed in Africa over the past few years," said a friend of Simon Mann, the old Etonian now awaiting sentence in Zimbabwe for attempting to buy arms illegally. "The days are gone when you could recruit a bunch of moustaches, load up some ammunition and take over a country - especially if you are a white man." Mr Mann says the weapons were for a mine security operation in the Democratic Republic of Congo; the Zimbabweans and others say they were for a coup in the oil-rich state of Equatorial Guinea. But the truth of his friend's words are evident as the 51-year-old former SAS officer sits in Chikurubi prison near Harare, facing a heavy sentence at his next hearing on 10 September. Full Article : independent.co.uk
Africa on 08.29.04 @ 04:18 AM CST [ link]
Tribe without names for numbers cannot count
Amazon study fuels debate on whether the concept of numbers is innate.A study of an Amazonian tribe is stoking fierce debate about whether people can count without numbers. Psychologists, anthropologists and linguists have long wondered whether animals, young children or certain cultures can conceptualize numbers without the language to describe them. To tackle the issue, behavioural researcher Peter Gordon of Columbia University in New York journeyed into the Amazon. He carried out studies with the Pirahã tribe, a hunter-gatherer group of about 200 people, whose counting system consists of words which mean, approximately, 'one', 'two' and 'many'. Full Article : nature.com
Science on 08.29.04 @ 04:06 AM CST [ link]
Saturday, August 28th
FBI Probes Pentagon Spy Case
CBS News has learned that the FBI has a full-fledged espionage investigation under way and is about to -- in FBI terminology -- "roll up" someone agents believe has been spying not for an enemy, but for Israel from within the office of the Secretary of Defense at the Pentagon. 60 Minutes Correspondent Lesley Stahl reports the FBI believes it has "solid" evidence that the suspected mole supplied Israel with classified materials that include secret White House policy deliberations on Iran. At the heart of the investigation are two people who work at The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), a powerful pro-Israel lobby in Washington. Full Article : cbsnews.com
USA on 08.28.04 @ 08:26 PM CST [ link]
Kissinger backed dirty war against left in Argentina
Henry Kissinger gave Argentina's military junta the green light to suppress political opposition at the start of the "dirty war" in 1976, telling the country's foreign minister: "If there are things that have to be done, you should do them quickly," according to newly-declassified documents published yesterday. Kissinger knew of Argentine dictators' repression: US documents Former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger, shown here in February 2004, did not try to stop Argentine military dictators from violating human rights in 1976, according to newly declassified US documents. State department documents show the former secretary of state urged Argentina to crush the opposition just months after it seized power and before the US Congress convened to consider sanctions. "We won't cause you unnecessary difficulties. If you can finish before Congress gets back, the better," Mr Kissinger told Admiral Cesar Augusto Guzzetti, the foreign minister, according to the State Department's transcript. Full Article : guardian.co.uk
USA on 08.28.04 @ 08:22 PM CST [ link]
SAS Brit Guilty Of Africa Plot
A CLOSE pal of Mark Thatcher was yesterday convicted over a plot to topple the government of oil-rich Equatorial Guinea. Simon Mann was found guilty as Margaret Thatcher cut short her holiday in the US to fly home for briefings on her son's crisis. Mann, the ringleader of the plot, was convicted in Zimbabwe of trying to buy weapons and faces 10 years in jail. The verdict came as Equatorial Guinea - which still has the death penalty - asked for Mark Thatcher to be extradited from South Africa to face charges linked to the plot. Full Article : dailyrecord.co.uk
Africa on 08.28.04 @ 05:42 PM CST [ link]
Equatorial Guinea Seeks Thatcher Warrant
Equatorial Guinea has requested international arrest warrants for Mark Thatcher, son of the former British prime minister, and other British financiers accused in an alleged coup plot in this tiny oil-rich nation, the deputy premier said Saturday. The warrants are necessary before extradition can be sought, but Deputy Prime Minister Ricardo Mangue Obama Nfube said Equatorial Guinea was still studying whether to seek the handover of Thatcher, who was arrested Wednesday in South Africa. Nfube told reporters in the capital, Malabo, that Equatorial Guinea had asked for "international arrest warrants for all responsible in this coup d'etat." Nfube named Thatcher, the 51-year-old son of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, financier Eli Calil and Simon Mann. Mann, a former Etonian, British Special Forces operative and noted mercenary in Africa, was convicted Friday in Zimbabwe in an arms deal connected with the alleged plot here. Full Article : mercurynews.com
Africa on 08.28.04 @ 05:16 PM CST [ link]
Chavez, supporters celebrate defeat of recall referendum
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and throngs of his supporters jammed avenues in downtown Caracas yesterday to celebrate the president's defeat of an August 15 recall referendum. "Chavistas," as the president's supporters are known, waved Venezuelan flags and chanted "Oh, No! Chavez Didn't Go!" while pro-government jingles boomed from loudspeakers mounted on trucks. One banner read: "Chavez until 2021!" "This is a day of jubilation," said Yoimar Becerra, 39, who celebrated with several thousand other "Chavistas" outside Venezuela's National Elections Council. Full Article : jamaicaobserver.com
Caribbean on 08.28.04 @ 12:23 PM CST [ link]
Prison in the Cards
Many black men face a rough new rite of passageBy Silja J.A. Talvi The future of the young black man? According to two recent research studies, the path that awaits young, undereducated African-American men is more likely to lead them to prison than anywhere else. In fact, with the expansion of the nation's sprawling prison industrial complex since the 1980s, things have gotten far, far worse for black men everywhere. Consider that in 1954—the year that the Supreme Court weighed in favor of desegregation with their Brown v. Board of Education decision—an estimated 98,000 African-Americans sat behind bars. Today, that figure stands at 884,500, or nine times the number of black men and women incarcerated at the advent of the Civil Rights movement. Full Article : inthesetimes.com
USA on 08.28.04 @ 11:04 AM CST [ link]
Friday, August 27th
Global Eye
By Chris Floyd If you would know the hell that awaits us -- and not far off -- there's no need to consult ancient prophecies, or the intricate coils of hidden conspiracies, or the tortured arcana of high-credentialed experts. You need only read the public words, sworn before God, of top public officials, the great lords of state, the defenders of civilization, as they explain -- clearly, openly, with confidence and pride -- their plans to foment terror, rape, war and repression across the face of the Earth. Earlier this month, in testimony before Congress, the Bush Regime unveiled its plans to raise a host of warlord armies in the most volatile areas in the world, Agence France-Presse reports. Bush wants $500 million in seed money to arm and train nongovernmental "local militias" -- i.e., bands of lawless freebooters -- to serve as Washington's proxy killers in the so-called "arc of crisis" that just happens to stretch across the oil-bearing lands and strategic pipeline routes of Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia and South America. Full Article : moscowtimes.ru
USA on 08.27.04 @ 08:37 PM CST [ link]
Thirty-One Years and Counting Inside the Belly of the Beast
"You Won't Be Leaving Tomorrow"By VERONZA BOWERS, Jr.I send each and every one of you my very warmest greeting from 31 years deep inside of the Belly of the Beast. As you know, I'm a former member of the original Black Panther Party, and even though government officials claim that there are no political prisoners in this country's prisons and jails, it's simply not true. Having already "served" over three decades in continuous custody in federal prison, I'm one of the longest held political prisoners in the U.S. of A. There are quite a number of us scattered about & but that's a very long story. Picture this in your mind ... if you dare:
USA on 08.27.04 @ 02:58 PM CST [ more..]
Darfur A Key Test For Africa's Ability To Make Peace
CAPE TOWN, Aug 26 (AFP) - The crisis in Darfur is a litmus test for Africa's ability to broker peace, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said here Thursday, two days after he visited the strife-torn area in Sudan. "The situation in Sudan represents a crucial challenge to Africa and the African Union (AU)," said Straw, who is heading the biggest-ever delegation to South Africa for talks aimed at forging closer bilateral ties. Full Article : turkishpress.com
Africa on 08.27.04 @ 01:19 PM CST [ link]
Talks to extradite Mark Thatcher
MALABO : Equatorial Guinea and South Africa are discussing the possibility of extraditing Mark Thatcher, son of the former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher, accused of bankrolling a coup plot in Malabo, an official said. "Equatorial Guinea and South Africa are currently in very close contact with a view to allowing the Malabo government to lodge a demand for the extradition of Mark Thatcher as quickly as possible," lawyer Lucie Bourthoumieux, legal counsel to the government of President Teodoro Obiang Nguema, said. Full Article : channelnewsasia.com
Africa on 08.27.04 @ 11:53 AM CST [ link]
Thatcher family had bags packed ready to flee to US
Sir Mark Thatcher was preparing to flee South Africa when he was arrested over his alleged involvement in a botched coup attempt, police in Cape Town alleged yesterday. As the apparent plot to overthrow the president of Equatorial Guinea continued to unravel, the elite Scorpions police unit said it had arrested Sir Mark after learning that he had put his house on the market, arranged to sell four of his cars, found boarding school places in the US for his two children and bought his family plane tickets to the US. Full Article : guardian.co.uk
UK on 08.27.04 @ 10:08 AM CST [ link]
Thursday, August 26th
Outspoken Canadian Legislator Calls U.S. 'Idiots'
OTTAWA (Reuters) - It was damned bastards last year, "idiots" this year. Canadian Member of Parliament Carolyn Parrish had said she hated "damned Americans" and called them bastards in the run-up to the Iraq (news - web sites) war. She found a new moniker, idiots, on Wednesday in discussing the planned U.S. missile defense system. "We are not joining the coalition of the idiots. We are joining the coalition of the wise," the Liberal legislator told a small group of demonstrators. Full Article : news.yahoo.com
USA on 08.26.04 @ 11:42 PM CST [ link]
SA seeks answers on Britain's role in Iraq
South African Foreign Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma was expecting a briefing from the British government on Iraq during a two-day visit by a delegation of Prime Minister Tony Blair's ministers. "We will expect them to brief us since they are on the spot," Dlamini-Zuma told the Cape Times on Wednesday. She was referring to the fact that British troops were still fighting in Iraq after Blair had decided to support United States President George Bush's war in 2003. "If we see things differently, there will be a discussion," Dlamini-Zuma said. Full Article : iol.co.za
Africa on 08.26.04 @ 03:38 PM CST [ link]
UK and SA call for fair Zimbabwe elections
Cape Town/Harare - Britain and South Africa called jointly on Thursday for Zimbabwe to establish a conducive environment for fair elections next year - after the main opposition party said it would boycott them. British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw and his South African counterpart Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma highlighted Zimbabwe - a worsening headache for both countries - when they met in Cape Town. "The ministers agreed on the importance of the forthcoming elections in Zimbabwe," they said in a joint statement. Full Article : iol.co.za
Africa on 08.26.04 @ 03:34 PM CST [ link]
Thatcher 'planned to quit S Africa'
Sir Mark Thatcher was planning to leave South Africa when he was arrested, authorities in the country said. The son of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher is under house arrest and facing the possibility of 15 years in jail after being accused over an alleged plot to topple the government of oil-rich Equatorial Guinea. The 51-year-old, who denies the charge, was arrested on Wednesday at his Cape Town home and appeared in court in the city later. Full Article : icnetwork.co.uk
Africa on 08.26.04 @ 03:32 PM CST [ link]
Africa puts hope in Darfur talks
ABUJA : Sudan's government defiantly dismissed a UN deadline for it to disarm its proxy militia in the Darfur region, insisting it would resolve the conflict there through ongoing African Union peace talks. The talks here between the government and Darfur's rebel groups entered their fourth day with delegates seeking to put a row over disarmament to one side in order to tackle a mounting humanitarian crisis in the western region. Full Article : channelnewsasia.com
Africa on 08.26.04 @ 03:03 PM CST [ link]
Danny Glover arrested in Sudan protest
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. actor Danny Glover has been arrested on the steps of Sudan's embassy in Washington during a protest against the humanitarian crisis in the country's Darfur region. Before he was led away in handcuffs on Wednesday by the uniformed division of the U.S. Secret Service, Glover addressed a small crowd of protesters, calling for a peacekeeping force to stop the violence in western Sudan. Full Article : news.yahoo.com
USA on 08.26.04 @ 02:39 PM CST [ link]
Wednesday, August 25th
Blindsided in Haiti
This February, I came face to face with one of Izmery's killers. He was wearing a crisp Army uniform, aviator glasses, a cell phone clipped to his shirt pocket, and a pistol in a holster at his hip. His name was Louis-Jodel Chamblain. His eyes were bloodshot and he looked a bit drawn — the stress, obviously, of leading an insurrection. He called himself the commandant of Haiti's New Army. Full Article : journalism.ubc.ca
Haiti on 08.25.04 @ 10:45 PM CST [ link]
Vital to bridge racial income gap
Affirmative Action (AA) is a topic that always generates controversy. And in recent times this practice has once again been making headlines, with a number of prominent people renewing calls for sunset and exit clauses that will put an end to employment equity. What these people fail to grasp is that AA is about more than getting the numbers right in individual companies. Although this is critical, the real value of AA is that it holds out potential for broad-based black economic empowerment (BEE) and economic growth. Far from being just a political whim, AA is an economic necessity and there should be renewed vigour both in the private sector and at government level to ensure that employment equity continues apace. Full Article : capetimes.co.za
USA on 08.25.04 @ 02:55 PM CST [ link]
US seeks 'coalition' to force Zimbabwe regime change
By Basildon Peta, Southern Africa CorrespondentThe United States has called for the building of a "coalition of the willing" to push for regime change to end the crisis in Zimbabwe. The new American ambassador to South Africa, Jendayi Frazer, said quiet diplomacy pursued by South Africa and other African countries in its dealings with the Zimbabwe president needed a review because there was no evidence it was working. She said her country would be willing to be part of a coalition if invited. The US could not act on its own, "put the boot on the ground" and give President Robert Mugabe 48 hours to go as requested by beleaguered Zimbaweans but the US would be willing to work in a coalition with other countries to return Zimbabwe to democracy. Full Article : independent.co.uk Was overthrowing Mugabe the deal Bush and Blair made? Blair helps bush with his bogus war in Iraq, in exchange for U.S. support to overthrow the leader in Zimbabwe who is definitely no friend of Blair?
Africa on 08.25.04 @ 01:52 PM CST [ link]
Mugabe voted history's third-greatest African
London - Zimbabwe's controversial President Robert Mugabe was voted the third-greatest African of all time, topped only by South Africa's Nelson Mandela and former Ghanaian president Kwame Nkrumah, in a survey for New African magazine announced Wednesday. Mugabe, widely criticised outside Zimbabwe for stifling dissent and crippling the economy of his once prosperous southern African nation, was an "interesting" choice because "a high-profile campaign in the media has painted him in bad light", the New African wrote. The London-based magazine said responses flooded in after the survey was launched last December to nominate the top 100 most influential Africans or people of African descent. Heroes of independence movements in Africa and African-American figures in the United States figure prominently on the list. Patrice Lumumba, Congo's first post-colonial prime minister, ranks sixth, followed by US civil rights leader Martin Luther King. Pele, the legendary Brazilian soccer star, comes in 17th, followed by Jamaican reggae singer Bob Marley, numbering among those called "Diasporans" by New African. Full Article : iol.co.za
Africa on 08.25.04 @ 01:35 PM CST [ link]
Angola and SA must beef up economic ties: Zuma
Jacob Zuma, the deputy president, has called for swift remedial action from government and business in Angola and South Africa to strengthen bilateral economic ties. Addressing the Angolan Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the South African business community of Luanda on the final day of an official visit to Angola, Zuma said: "The end of the conflict that had engulfed Angola and the dawn of freedom in South Africa affords us the opportunity to take active and sustained remedial measures to improve economic activity between the two countries. Full Article : sabcnews.com
Africa on 08.25.04 @ 12:48 PM CST [ link]
'All equal before SA law, including Thatcher'
Sir Mark Thatcher will have to take his chances with the law, like every other South African, Foreign Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said in Cape Town on Wednesday. Thatcher, the son of former British prime minister Baroness Margaret Thatcher, was arrested early on Wednesday on charges of contravening the Regulation of Foreign Military Assistance Act by allegedly helping to bankroll a coup attempt in oil-rich Equatorial Guinea. Full Article : iol.co.za
Africa on 08.25.04 @ 12:11 PM CST [ link]
DRC war unlikely - Zuma
Cape Town - An outbreak of a full-scale war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is most unlikely, Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said on Wednesday. "I don't think there is going to be full-scale war in the DRC and I don't think anyone wishes that to happen," she told journalists at Parliament. Full Article : news24.com
Africa on 08.25.04 @ 12:01 PM CST [ link]
'Breakthrough' in Sudan talks
ABUJA, Nigeria -- The Sudanese government has agreed to an African Union proposal to send more AU troops to the Darfur region to garrison rebel fighters, a top government negotiator told reporters. Full Article : cnn.com
Africa on 08.25.04 @ 11:58 AM CST [ link]
S.Africa Police Arrest Thatcher Son in Coup Probe
Mark Thatcher, the son of former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher, has been arrested in South Africa in connection with the financing of an alleged coup plot in the West African country of Equatorial Guinea. Full Article : cnn.com
Africa on 08.25.04 @ 10:45 AM CST [ link]
Tuesday, August 24th
Black History Revisited
Every February I invariably hear the same thing: "Why is Black History taught in school?" My response is usually, "Isn't it obvious? The rest of history is about white people – specifically white men." The real reason to teach 'Black History' is the same for teaching any type of history: Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Florida, New Mexico, et al, are dangerously close to repeating history. And it is not recent history (the 2000 Presidential Election) to which I am necessarily referring. No, the history that I refer to is that which America all too often wishes it could forget but all too willingly reminds itself of on a regular basis. America has a racist history, ladies and gentlemen. That is an irrefutable fact. Full Article : counterbias.com
USA on 08.24.04 @ 02:18 PM CST [ link]
Diversity doesn't give SA any leading edge
By Tim WoodThere is no harm in spreading cheer and good feeling about us, but it is harmful to stoke exceptionalism. Exceptionalism breeds complacency. New agey multi-culti "diversity" is complacency's pathogen. Fortunately most people know it and see well past the fadspeak. Diversity may appear in the odd annual report and human resources brochures, but no organization (other than government) hires for reasons other than skill and expected contribution. Having a company composed of many cultures offers no competitive or comparative advantage whatsoever if the cultures are not subordinated to profit specific goals. Being "diverse" is in fact more often than not a liability which is why managers don't tolerate deviancy in their employees. Full Article : marketingweb.co.za
Africa on 08.24.04 @ 02:10 PM CST [ link]
London's hidden Black history
LONDON'S HIDDEN Black history will be brought alive this coming Saturday by historian Steve Martin, who will lead a heritage river journey as part of Rendezvous of Victory week The Thames boat ride will take people from Westminster to Greenwich Pier – a trip which unveils the historical connection between a number of the capitals' landmarks and the transatlantic slave trade. Renowned historian Martin said: "The boat trail will give an overview of London’s relation to the slave trade and the growth of the docks. We will look at the black communities along the river settlements in Wapping, Greenwich and Deptford". Full Article : blink.org.uk
Africa on 08.24.04 @ 01:52 PM CST [ link]
Help the African Union protect Darfur's people
There are two rays of hope, both stemming from the African Union, which has energetically taken the lead on monitoring the April 8 cease-fire agreement and setting up a political process for Darfur. With little fanfare, the African Union has deployed most of the observers for the cease-fire commission operating in six sites in the region - five in Darfur, one in Chad - and is currently deploying a protection force of 308 Rwandan and Nigerian troops to Darfur. Full Article : iht.com
Africa on 08.24.04 @ 01:41 PM CST [ link]
Our Role in Rebuilding Africa
By Gov. Howard Dean, M.D.The American government's record on encouraging self-reliance and prosperity in Africa is dismal. During the Cold War, our main interest in Africa was to use it as a chess board to counter the ambitions of other players, especially the former Soviet Union and China, and to remove her natural resources with total indifference toward ordinary Africans. Since the Cold War ended, however, we have at least shifted toward neutral. Full Article : sitnews.us Dean is really in denial, as the U.S. was never neutral in Africa; they remained active supporters of dictators who supported their interest against the interest of the majority of people.
Africa on 08.24.04 @ 01:38 PM CST [ link]
Financiers behind coup bid, trial told
Oil-rich Equatorial Guinea target
89 stand trial in 2 African countriesMALABO, Equatorial Guinea—Financiers in Europe and Africa were behind a plot to overthrow the government of Africa's third-largest oil producer, an accused ringleader testified yesterday at the opening of Africa's biggest trial of mercenaries in decades. Equatorial Guinea accuses 89 suspected mercenaries of signing on to a $5 million plot to oust President Teodoro Obiang, who has ruled this country, split between volcanic islands and a mountainous jungle mainland, since deposing his uncle in a 1979 coup and executing him. The trial opened in a government convention centre converted to a courtroom, hung with crystal chandeliers and ringed with armed troops. Seventy suspects are on trial separately in Zimbabwe, where they were arrested March 6. A 90th defendant, a German, died in prison here after what Amnesty International said was suspected torture. At stake are hundreds of millions of petrodollars in this mildewed, rain-streaked nation of 500,000, Africa's biggest oil producer after Nigeria and Angola. Full Article : thestar.com
Africa on 08.24.04 @ 10:42 AM CST [ link]
Africa 'faces new polio threat'
Africa could be on the verge of a major polio outbreak, the World Health Organization has warned. Mali and Guinea have reported their first cases of the disease in five years. Three cases have also been reported in the Darfur region of Sudan. Full Article : bbc.co.uk
Africa on 08.24.04 @ 10:37 AM CST [ link]
Monday, August 23rd
We're No Symbol of Freedom, Iraq Coach Says
THESSALONIKI, Greece (Reuters) - Iraq's Olympic soccer coach said Monday his side should not be seen as a symbol of freedom, taking issue with a campaign commercial for President Bush. The flags of Iraq and Afghanistan appear in a commercial as part of Bush's drive for re-election in November. A narrator says: "At this Olympics there will be two more free nations -- and two fewer terrorist regimes." Full Article : abcnews.go.com
Iraq on 08.23.04 @ 06:01 PM CST [ link]
Du Toit admits recruiting for coup bid
Malabo - South African alleged mercenary leader Nick du Toit told a court here Monday that he had recruited personnel and taken charge of logistics for an attempted coup bid in Equatorial Guinea. Full Article : iol.co.za
Africa on 08.23.04 @ 05:53 PM CST [ link]
My 'revolution' will not hurt you, Chavez tells foes
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez told his opponents on Sunday they should not fear his left-wing "revolution" after his referendum win and pledged to respect private wealth and fight corruption. Chavez said he would no longer deal with the opposition Democratic Coordinator coalition, which promoted the referendum challenge and now refuses to accept his win. "We cannot talk with people who don't recognize this result or the constitution ... if they want to start a rebellion in the mountains, then let them," said Chavez. Full Article : chinadaily.com.cn
Venezuela on 08.23.04 @ 03:00 PM CST [ link]
Somalia parliament to be inaugurated on Sunday
NAIROBI : Somalia's new parliament was due to be inaugurated on Sunday at UN offices in Nairobi, marking a major step towards ending 13 years of anarchy in the Horn of Africa country, chief mediator Bethuel Kiplagat said. "Definitely, the members of the Somali parliament will be sworn in tomorrow (Sunday) after 22 months of negotiations," Kiplagat, a long-serving Kenyan diplomat, told AFP. Full Article : channelnewsasia.com
UK on 08.23.04 @ 11:11 AM CST [ link]
Britain to stop poaching nurses overseas
LONDON - Britain is to crack down on the recruitment of nurses from Asia and Africa, which are themselves short of medical staff, following pressure from the World Health Organisation (WHO). National Health Service (NHS) and private hospitals are poaching record numbers of overseas nurses from developing countries because of chronic staff shortages in Britain. Full Article : straitstimes.asia1.com.sg
UK on 08.23.04 @ 11:07 AM CST [ link]
Africa brings Sudanese parties to the table
ABUJA : The African Union will bring Sudan's warring government and rebel armies into talks with regional power-brokers aimed at heading off a mounting humanitarian crisis in the province of Darfur. Delegations from the Khartoum government and from Darfur's two rebel groups have gathered in the Nigerian capital Abuja to make their rival cases before an audience of African leaders, AU officials and the head of the Arab League. Full Article : channelnewsasia.com
Africa on 08.23.04 @ 11:05 AM CST [ link]
14 accused of Africa's biggest mercenary plot
A trial in Africa's biggest mercenary case in decades was set to open today in the rain-streaked capital of Equatorial Guinea, with soldiers of fortune from Europe, Africa and Asia accused in an alleged plot to take control of the country’s oil wealth. Fourteen men are accused in the alleged March coup plot. A 15th defendant, a German, died in prison of what Amnesty International said was suspected torture. Seventy other European and African mercenaries accused in the same alleged plot are in custody in Zimbabwe. Full Article : iol.ie
Africa on 08.23.04 @ 10:21 AM CST [ link]
Sunday, August 22nd
What's behind the crisis in Darfur?
The province of Darfur in western Sudan is the newest global hot spot. All of a sudden our corporate media are full of reports by U.S. and UK-based human rights organizations alleging mass murder, rape and ethnic cleansing. Secretary of State Colin Powell and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) have recently toured the region. The have called, in effect, for a "humanitarian intervention." U.S. and British imperialism, their hands still stained by Iraqi blood, are threatening to send in military troops. The situation on the ground is certainly bad. Human rights groups suggest that, over the past year, thousands of people have been killed and more than 1 million people have been displaced in the region. But wait a minute. How can we tell if the U.S. government and the mass media are telling us the truth about Sudan, when they lied to us about Iraq? Perhaps Washington and big business have another, less obvious agenda in Sudan. The remoteness of Darfur, the small number of journalists inside the province, and the traditional Western demonization of the Sudan and Arabs generally — all these factors color mainstream news reports about the situation and should give us pause. A better understanding of the crisis in Darfur requires an objective overview of the situation in the country and the region. It also requires looking at Washing-ton’s imperial ambitions in the world today. Full Article : pww.orgCheck out AfricaSpeaks.com Sudan's Crisis page at:
www.africaspeaks.com/articles/2004/sudan.html
Africa on 08.22.04 @ 04:51 PM CST [ link]
Straw to urge Sudan to end Darfur crisis
LONDON, Aug 22, 2004 (AP) -- Britain's Foreign Secretary Jack Straw flies to Sudan on Monday to press the government to end the humanitarian crisis engulfing the western region of Darfur. Full Article : sudantribune.com
Africa on 08.22.04 @ 04:20 PM CST [ link]
Ancient pest crunches through Africa's food
A plague of Biblical proportions threatens to decimate the fragile agricultural communities of west Africa. The culprit is a six-legged munching machine called Schistocerca gregaria, otherwise known as the desert locust. The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) in Rome has warned repeatedly that not enough is being done to contain the immense swarms of locusts that are eating their way through vast swathes of food crops stretching from Mauritania in the west to as far as Chad in the east. Swarms up to 40km long and containing billions of insects have been sighted in southern Mauritania, northern Senegal, Mali and Niger. The FAO said there is a high risk of them spreading to Bukina Faso and the troubled Darfur region of western Sudan. The FAO said that the situation is getting worse by the day as a series of prolonged rains have helped the locusts to breed quickly and go through four generations in quick succession. Full Article : iol.co.za
Africa on 08.22.04 @ 03:46 PM CST [ link]
The Caricom divide over Haiti's regime
PEOPLE who are familiar with the workings of our Caribbean Community (Caricom) would not be holding their breaths for any 'special meeting' of Heads of Government on "full engagement" with the interim Haitian regime before the 'special summit' scheduled for the first week in November in Port-of-Spain. Full Article : jamaicaobserver.com
Caribbean on 08.22.04 @ 03:02 PM CST [ link]
Where are Garvey's children?
DOES IT ever seem to you that other people, you know the Chinese, the Americans, the Jews, followers and devotees of Elvis Presley, have anniversary celebrations with crowds of people all dressed up, street parades, hundreds of dozens of candles, fireworks, while we, you know, black people, have remembrances of humiliation, or remembrances that turn into something bordering on humiliation anyway. Take August 17, for example, the birthday of Jamaica's first National Hero. Well, who is a national hero becomes a very important question here. Seems like they are mostly people who stood up for something, for which they got hunted, persecuted, humiliated and sometimes killed, and then end up on a coin, or as a truncated bust in a park as a symbol of what others might become should they get it in their heads that they too would like to stand up for something. Anyway, the Honourable Marcus Mosiah Garvey is one of those persons. Full Article : jamaica-gleaner.com
Caribbean on 08.22.04 @ 03:01 PM CST [ link]
Saturday, August 21st
Guaranis, Brazil's Original Owners
When Brazil was discovered by Europeans in 1500, there were an estimated one million Guarani Indians living on millions of square kilometers in what is now southern Brazil, parts of Argentina and Bolivia, and most of Paraguay. In modern Paraguay, Guarani remains an official language, and is spoken by more people, especially in rural areas, than Spanish. Along with the Guarani, another large Indian group lived in Brazil. They were the Tupi, who formed what we would call a nation-state, inhabiting an area that ran from modern São Paulo north to Maranhão. Although the Guarani Indians shared a common cultural heritage, they never formed a single socio-political unit like the Tupi. Rather they lived in different areas sharing only their language, a lingua franca which permitted easy communication throughout their vast lands. Full Article : brazzil.com
Brazil on 08.21.04 @ 10:20 PM CST [ link]
Brazil Vows Better Care to Blacks
Municipal and state administrators of the Brazilian Federal Health System are gathering now in Brasília, Brazil's capital, to discuss the health care given to blacks by the government. To deal with Brazil's recognized racism, the Lula administration has created the Secretariat for the Promotion of Social Equality. Full Article : brazzil.com
Brazil on 08.21.04 @ 10:13 PM CST [ link]
Audit of Venezuelan vote backs Chavez
Monitors find no evidence of fraudCARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) -- An audit of Venezuela's referendum results has confirmed that President Hugo Chavez won the poll fairly and found no evidence to support the opposition's claims of widespread vote-rigging, international observers said Saturday. Full Article : cnn.comhttp://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3587184.stm
USA on 08.21.04 @ 08:52 PM CST [ link]
Africans must define themselves: Mbeki
Africans are faced with a challenge of defining themselves, president Thabo Mbeki said today. "It is a challenge that confronts all Africans everywhere on our continent and in the Diaspora to define ourselves, not in the image of others, or according to the dictates and fancies of people other than ourselves," he said. Full Article : sabcnews.com
Africa on 08.21.04 @ 05:11 PM CST [ link]
Furious but not so fast
When I read in my local newspaper that a Hollywood studio was seriously considering making a movie about the mighty Carthaginian warrior Hannibal, I was beside myself with glee. Hannibal is the indomitable north African military genius who caught the Roman empire napping in 218BC when he turned up with a vast army in northern Italy after miraculously crossing the Alps. What particularly impressed the Romans was the fact that Hannibal's retinue included a number of colleagues mounted on elephants. If nothing else, this bold gesture demonstrated a certain element of panache. For the next 10 years, Hannibal raced up and down the countryside wreaking havoc hither and yon. All the while, the Romans cowered behind their walls, fearful of facing him in open battle. Only when Hannibal was recalled to Carthage to defend the city-state against the depredations of one Scipio Africanus - and defeated at the epic battle of Zama - was Rome freed forever from the scourge of its insolent neighbours across the Mediterranean. Full Article : guardian.co.uk
USA on 08.21.04 @ 05:09 PM CST [ link]
America’s painful history laid bare
WESTPORT -- Children growing up in this part of the country aren’t usually taught about it, but James T. Campbell of Brown University said New England, Rhode Island in particular and old institutions like Brown University are deeply implicated in the history of slavery. Campbell, an associate professor of American civilization, African studies and history at Brown, was the guest speaker Thursday at a meeting of the Fall River Rotary Club at White’s of Westport. He heads Brown’s Steering Committee on Slavery and Justice, which was appointed by President Ruth Simmons in 2003. Full Article : heraldnews.com
USA on 08.21.04 @ 05:05 PM CST [ link]
The Black Book history or Darfur's darkest chapter
CAIRO, August 20, 2004 -- One Friday after prayers in May 2000, as many as 1,000 copies of an unremarkable A4 manuscript appeared mysteriously in mosques and other public places in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan. And not just in public places. Omar Hassan el-Bashir, the president of Sudan, found one on his desk when he returned from his devotions. Thereafter, the document, in its Arabic original, was in and out of photocopying machines across Sudan. One Sudanese academic who was involved in its translation claims that as many as 50,000 copies were eventually circulating - reaching remote and undeveloped parts of the country, where the internet was as yet science fiction. Full Article : sudantribune.com
Africa on 08.21.04 @ 01:14 PM CST [ link]
Friday, August 20th
Voting While Black
The smell of voter suppression coming out of Florida is getting stronger. It turns out that a Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigation, in which state troopers have gone into the homes of elderly black voters in Orlando in a bizarre hunt for evidence of election fraud, is being conducted despite a finding by the department last May "that there was no basis to support the allegations of election fraud." Full Article : smirkingchimp.com
USA on 08.20.04 @ 09:15 PM CST [ link]
Texas politician seeks custody to 'save' African child
A white Texan politician is trying to win custody of the 20-month-old son of his African former maid, claiming that he and his wife want to help the boy because of "the terrible problem that black male children have growing into manhood without being in prison". Full Article : guardian.co.uk
USA on 08.20.04 @ 09:14 PM CST [ link]
Back with a Vengeance
The Return of Racial ProfilingRacial profiling is back. Not that it ever left. But for a time it was unacceptable for commentators to argue that law enforcement should target suspects based on skin color. Today, it's the edgy thing to advocate. This isn't racism, the claim goes, but expediency in the post-911 world. Full Article : counterpunch.org
USA on 08.20.04 @ 09:04 PM CST [ link]
America's Disease is Greed
The most serious spiritual problem in the country today is reckless and untrammeled greed. Greed caused the disgraceful corporate scandals that fill our newspapers. Greed is responsible for crooked cops and crooked politicians. Greed causes the constant efforts to destroy unions that protect basic worker rights. Full Article : commondreams.org
USA on 08.20.04 @ 04:34 PM CST [ link]
The Lynching of Emmett Till
FlashbackOn August 20, 1955, Emmett Till, a 14 year-old, African-American boy from Chicago, left his home to visit relatives in Money, Mississippi, a tiny cotton gin town on the eastern edge of the Mississippi Delta. His mutilated corpse would return to Chicago in a coffin less than two weeks later. Emmett wasn't a civil rights activist. He wasn't politically active. He didn't go to Mississippi to change the Jim Crow culture. But, the national media attention surrounding his death and the trial and acquittal of his alleged killers had an impact that no one ever could have imagined. The Emmett Till case became one of the key incidents of 1955, the explosive year that launched the modern Civil Rights Movement. Full Article : jimcrowhistory.org
Africa on 08.20.04 @ 03:47 PM CST [ link]
Ethopian Jew directs Institute of Semitic Studies in Princeton
As an Ethiopian Jew, Professor Isaac, director of the Institute of Semitic Studies in Princeton, bridges the divide between Africa and the West, Africa and the Middle East, blacks and whites and between Christians, Muslims and Jews. It's quite a lot for one man, but his résumé lists enough accomplishments for several lifetimes. Professor Isaac speaks 17 languages, was the first faculty member appointed to Harvard University's Department of African American Studies, translated Handel's "Messiah" into Amharic — the main language of Ethiopia — and helped set up a literacy program that taught 1.5 million Ethiopians to read since the mid 1960s. Full Article : zwire.com
Africa on 08.20.04 @ 03:15 PM CST [ link]
Historians work to set record straight on Cuba's Taino Indians
YARA, Cuba - (KRT) - In a sweltering coastal settlement, Alejandro Hartmann pulled out a spiral notebook and jotted notes as a local peasant described his family's ties to a long forgotten indigenous group that is witnessing a modest resurgence. "What is the name of your mother and father?" Hartmann asked Julio Fuentes, a wisp of a man parked on a wooden bench. "Where do they live? How old are they?" Hartmann fired off a dozen more questions as part of his effort to complete the first census of the descendants of the Taino Indians, an indigenous group that once thrived in this remote region of eastern Cuba and later were thought to be extinct. "Julio is a mixture of Spanish and Indian like many people," explained Hartmann, a historian and Taino expert. "I want to eliminate the myth once and for all that the Indians were extinguished in Cuba." Full Article : duluthsuperior.com
Caribbean on 08.20.04 @ 02:02 PM CST [ link]
Identity Crisis: the last fortress of Somalism is about to fall
The attack on our society has many fronts, and particularly the destruction of our once proud, serene and unadulterated culture found its momentum today in everywhere in our communities. We are in identity crisis for the first time ever today in our own villages and homes, as the nation that was once vibrant and proud has been brought to its knees by its own people and by others who have seized the opportunity to finish the business that they have been longing for centuries. Our own Somali language has been diluted so much to the point that our heritage and cultural values are in the risk of becoming extinct. This is not an accident that we just woke up to it, but it has been the interest of many Arab countries to force the issue of Arabism into the Somali people by way of adulterating and raping our language, so much so it got to the point that it could be replaced with Arabic language today. Full Article : afrol.com
Africa on 08.20.04 @ 01:36 PM CST [ link]
South Africa: Apartheid Reparations Update
Reparations for historical crimes against humanity, such as the centuries-long slave trade, slavery itself, and the more recent apartheid system in South Africa, are not currently on the agenda for governments preoccupied with more immediate goals. But the issues raised will not go away, as long as the deep inequalities and injustices that these crimes produced continue to exist. Full Article : africafocus.org
Africa on 08.20.04 @ 01:33 PM CST [ link]
Accused Mercenary Insists He Was Only A Mine Guard
An unemployed former South African army sergeant denied knowing of any mission to overthrow Equatorial Guinea’s president, telling a court today he had been recruited to guard a diamond mine and was not a mercenary. Louis Du Preez is one of 67 people accused in Zimbabwe of being a mercenary hired for a planned coup attempt in the oil-rich West African nation of Equatorial Guinea. All have pleaded not guilty to charges of trying to buy weapons in Zimbabwe for the alleged coup, saying they knew nothing of any mission to overthrow President Theodoro Obiang Nguema in the former Spanish colony. Full Article : scotsman.com
Africa on 08.20.04 @ 12:07 PM CST [ link]
Acquit Zim 70 - lawyers
Harare - Lawyers representing 70 suspected mercenaries held in Zimbabwe on charges of plotting a coup in Equatorial Guinea asked the court on Friday to acquit most of the men. The men were arrested in March when their Boeing 727 landed in Harare to pick up a consignment of weapons, including rifles, grenades, rocket-launchers and mortars which Zimbabwe says were to be used to oust the regime in Equatorial Guinea. Full Article : news24.com
Africa on 08.20.04 @ 12:05 PM CST [ link]
Us Kids 'Left' In Africa
A mother is under investigation after her seven adopted children were found abandoned in a state orphanage in Nigeria. The Texan had left the youngsters with a relative of her fiance before going to Iraq as a contract worker. They were found by a missionary 10 months later malnourished and suffering from malaria and typhoid. The children, aged between seven and 16, are now back in America in the care of foster parents. The adoptive mother has been identified by authorities in America as 47-year-old Mercury Liggins. Authorities believe she took the seven children to Nigeria in October and left them with a businessman, before returning to Houston alone. She then went to work as a waitress in US military mess halls in Iraq before quitting in July, authorities said. Full Article : sky.com
Africa on 08.20.04 @ 12:03 PM CST [ link]
Thursday, August 19th
Drug-Resistant Malaria Brought to Africa from Asia
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - In a new study, researchers present molecular evidence to show that malaria parasites in Africa that are resistant to the drug pyrimethamine actually originated in southeast Asia. Previous reports have suggested that African strains resistant to chloroquine, another widely used anti-malaria drug, came from southeast Asia. In light of the new findings, the authors speculate that resistance to both drugs may have been brought to Africa by one malaria parasite from Asia. Full Article : reuters.co.uk
Africa on 08.19.04 @ 08:10 PM CST [ link]
Alan Keyes on Reparations
Tuesday, August 17, 2004CHICAGO -- Republican U.S. Senate candidate Alan Keyes has just released a statement clarifying what appeared to be a surprising position he took at a news conference yesterday. "I think a cogent argument could be made for reparations in principle," Keyes is quoted as saying to reporters yesterday, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. The Chicago Tribune expanded: Keyes gave a brief tutorial on Roman history and said that in regard to reparations for slavery, the U.S. should do what the Romans did: "When a city had been devastated [in the Roman empire], for a certain length of time--a generation or two--they exempted the damaged city from taxation." Keyes proposed that for a generation or two, African-Americans of slave heritage should be exempted from federal taxes--federal because slavery "was an egregious failure on the part of the federal establishment." Full Article : illinoisleader.com
USA on 08.19.04 @ 01:31 PM CST [ link]
Nigerian senate approves sending 1,500 peacekeepers to Darfur
The Senate has approved a request by President Olusegun Obasanjo to send up to 1,500 Nigerian troops to Sudan's troubled Darfur region to serve with an African Union (AU) protection force. Senator Daniel Saror, deputy minority leader of the Senate, told IRIN on Wednesday that the upper chamber of the Federal Parliament had approved Obasanjo's request, based "on the need to arrest the ugly situation in Sudan which we find absolutely unacceptable." Full Article : irinnews.org
Africa on 08.19.04 @ 10:40 AM CST [ link]
Nigerian Foreign Minister sees early peace in Darfur
Nigeria's foreign minister Oluyemi Adeniji has predicted an early restoration of normalcy to the troubled Darfur region of Sudan. Adeniji spoke in Lagos Tuesday, ahead of peace talks in Abuja between the Sudanese government and the two rebel groups fighting in the region -- the Justice and Equality Movement and the Sudan Liberation Army. Full Article : sudantribune.com
Africa on 08.19.04 @ 10:36 AM CST [ link]
Mugabe: Blair is arrogant
Harare - Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe said on Wednesday new "political systems" adopted at a regional summit in Mauritius will prevent Western nations like Britain "interfering in the affairs" of Southern African countries. The long-time leader accused Zimbabwe's former master Britain of harbouring colonial and neo-colonial tendencies, as well as a desire to change regimes. Full Article : news24.com
Africa on 08.19.04 @ 10:31 AM CST [ link]
Burundi rebels 'terrorists'
Dar Es Salaam - African leaders have appealed to the United Nations Security Council on Wednesday to impose sanctions on the Burundian rebel group that claimed responsibility for the weekend massacre of at least 160 refugees at a UN camp in Burundi. Full Article : news24.com
Africa on 08.19.04 @ 10:29 AM CST [ link]
Genocide in Africa
IN the five years before 2002, no fewer than three million people were slain in a genocidal conflict between Hutus and Tutsis. The battles raged in the triangle made up of Burundi, Rwanda and the eastern border country of the Democratic Republic of Congo. The enormity of this savagery which began with the wholesale massacre of Tutsis in Rwanda is still almost impossible to grasp. Yet despite the intervention of the United Nations and agreements between the three governments to end the massacres, the killing goes on. Most recently, 160 Congolese Tutsi refugees in Burundi were massacred by Hutu thugs from the Congo. In West Africa, the carnage in Liberia and Cameroon and Sierra Leone seems to have been halted, at least for the present but the region remains chronically unstable. Diplomats remain concerned that whatever peace exists in those brutalized societies may not last. Full Article : arabnews.com
Africa on 08.19.04 @ 10:26 AM CST [ link]
Wednesday, August 18th
Enough Imperial Crusades
The Alternative to Armed Intervention in Darfur is not Passive Resignation, but Support for an African Union-led Solution by Peter Hallward What is exceptional about the violence of the government-backed Janjaweed militia in Darfur, is less its scale than the intense - if belated - international attention it has received. To oppose direct western intervention in Sudan is not to downplay Khartoum's crimes during this latest twist in the catastrophic war that has cost perhaps two million lives since 1983. Over the last 20 years, in order to shore up their exclusive and authoritarian rule, Sudan's succession of military rulers have done everything possible to sustain an often imaginary distinction between "Arabs" and "Africans", pitting Muslims against Christians and herders against farmers. Full Article : commondreams.org
Africa on 08.18.04 @ 08:07 PM CST [ link]
SA slams Burundi massacre
Durban - The South African government has called for sanctions against the leadership of the armed group that claimed responsibility for last week's massacre in Burundi. Addressing journalists at the Non-Aligned Movement ministerial conference in Durban on Tuesday, deputy foreign affairs minister Aziz Pahad also suggested the group, the rebel National Liberation Forces (FNL), be formally declared a terrorist organisation. Full Article : news24.com
Africa on 08.18.04 @ 04:29 PM CST [ link]
Venezuelan Opposition Demands Recount of Referendum Votes
Caracas, August 17, 2004—Opposition leaders in Venezuela are calling for a recount of referendum results, despite repeated assurances by both the Carter Center and the Organization of American States (OAS) that their numbers coincide with those announced by Venezuela’s national electoral authority (CNE), which gives President Hugo Chavez a win over recall efforts. Leaders of the opposition refused to accept the CNE’s announcement of results that showed that more than 58 per cent of voters favored Chavez to stay on as President of Venezuela during this past Sunday’s historic presidential referendum. Opposition leaders had said they would abide by CNE results before the referendum. With their refusal to accept the CNE’s results after the referendum, opposition leaders said they would only accept the judgment of international observer organizations. However now, with the Carter Centre and OAS supporting the CNE and its figures as well as categorically refuting the possibility of fraud, the opposition is demanding a recount of votes. Full Article : venezuelanalysis.com
Venezuela on 08.18.04 @ 04:16 PM CST [ link]
Burundi army may hunt down rebels
The Burundi army says it might cross into neighbouring Congo to pursue rebels and militia it blames for massacring 160 Congolese Tutsi refugees at a camp in western Burundi. The head of Burundi's army, Brigadier-General Germain Niyoyankana, said the military was prepared to move into Democratic Republic of Congo if the Kinshasa government failed to disarm the rebels and allied militia. Full Article : swisspolitics.org
Africa on 08.18.04 @ 12:53 PM CST [ link]
Iran, South Africa review expansion of defense cooperation
Visiting South African Defense Minister Mosiuoa Lekota conferred here Monday with his Iranian counterpart Rear Admiral Ali Shamkhani on expansion of mutual cooperation especially in the domain of defense. At the meeting, Shamkhani said Lekota was the first South African defense minister to visit Iran since the triumph of the Islamic Revolution which should be considered as a turning point in expansion of defense cooperation between the two sides. Full Article : tehrantimes.com
Africa on 08.18.04 @ 12:51 PM CST [ link]
UN warns of worsening locust situation in Africa
United Nations experts warned in Rome on Wednesday of a worsening locust crisis in Mauritania, Mali and Niger as huge swarms of the insects cut a swathe through the West African countries. North-moving swarms are threatening crops and vegetation in Mauritania, where the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said the situation is expected to worsen once a new generation of adult locusts starts appearing by the end of August. Full Article : mg.co.za
Africa on 08.18.04 @ 12:48 PM CST [ link]
South Africa denies Israeli claims
South Africa denies Israeli claims about uranium deal with Iran South Africa will not help Iran's nuclear development and will not sell any uranium to Tehran, the South African Ministry of Defense told The Jerusalem Post Wednesday. A Spokesman for the Ministry, Sam Mkhwnazi, confirmed statements made earlier in the day by South Africa's ambassador to Tel Aviv, Maj.-Gen Fumanekile (Fumie) Gqiba, who told Army Radio that SA will not assist Iran's nuclear plans, and will not support any country wishing to develop nuclear weapons. Mkhnazi and Gqiba were reacting to Israeli media reports Tuesday which claimed that a recent South African-Iranian defense accord included a sale of uranium to Tehran. On Tuesday night, Israel's Channel 1 TV reported that the understanding between the two sides included an arrangement for South Africa to sell uranium to Iran. Full Article : albawaba.com
Africa on 08.18.04 @ 12:38 PM CST [ link]
Marcus Garvey and the age of terror
Marcus Garvey, Jamaica's first National Hero, made an observation in the early 20th century as relevant today as it was then, about the terror that accompanied the colonial process. Garvey wrote in poetic form: "They (the colonialists), have stolen, murdered, on their way here, Leaving desolation and waste everywhere; Now they boastingly tell what they have done, Seeing not the bloody crown they have won." The "they" that Marcus Garvey spoke of were the "great men" of colonial exploits regaled by venal historians, but such was Garvey's insight that it may well apply to the modern-day crusaders and their bloody adversaries on the world stage as well as our own home-grown terrorists, engulfed in an orgy of murderous mayhem. Full Article : jamaicaobserver.com
Africa on 08.18.04 @ 12:18 PM CST [ link]
Tuesday, August 17th
Great Lakes region hit by new crisis
Bujumbura - Tiny Rwanda and Burundi have threatened action against the central African giant, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), after the massacre of Congolese Tutsi refugees in Burundi, which has pushed Africa's volatile Great Lakes region into a new ethnic crisis. "I have not ruled out an offensive against the DRC aimed at making them respect our country's borders," General Germain Niyoyankana, head of Burundi's army, told reporters on Tuesday, four days after 160 Tutsis were slaughtered at a refugee camp four kilometers inside Burundi from the DRC border, by suspected Hutu extremists. "There is no longer any doubt that the site at Gatumba was the target of a coalition of negative forces made up of the Burundi Hutu rebel FNL, acting as guides, former Rwandan armed forces and part of the DRC army," he said, alleging that the Congolese military was involved in the massacre. The United Nations, which has been trying to mediate an end to Burundi's decade-long ethnic-driven civil war, broke off talks with the FNL after the group's claim it had carried out the attack. Full Article : iol.co.za
Africa on 08.17.04 @ 05:22 PM CST [ link]
European paedophiles flock to Gambian 'Smiling Coast'
Alex Duval Smith in Banjul
Sunday July 4, 2004
The Observer UKIn the Gambia's package tour hotels, the most striking thing at breakfast is the high number of holidaymakers here on their own. White men and women in their 50s or 60s sitting alone with their bowls of cereal. You wonder what and who they left behind. What they are waiting for becomes clearer by the afternoon, around the pool, where the same men can be seen having their sun-reddened backs stroked by teenage Gambian women dressed like dancers from a Beyoncé video. European women - known locally as 'Marie Claires' - are often surrounded by three or four young dreadlocked men. Full Article : guardian.co.uk
Africa on 08.17.04 @ 12:14 PM CST [ link]
AU leader says Darfur crisis test case for Africa
Sudan's humanitarian crisis in Darfur has become a test case for Africa's ability to resolve its own problems, a senior African Union official said on Monday. Patrick Mazimhaka, deputy chairman of the AU, told an annual summit of the 13-nation African Development Community (SADC) that his organisation was trying to boost peacekeeping troops in the troubled Sudanese region. "Africa is overwhelmed by conflict situations. A real test case is the horrifying situation in the Darfur region of the Sudan where more than a million people have been displaced with a thousand dying each day mostly of hunger-related diseases." Full Article : alertnet.org
Africa on 08.17.04 @ 10:52 AM CST [ link]
Madagascar becomes SADC member
Port-Louis - Thirteen Southern African leaders have approved a new regional charter on free and fair elections that specifies how they should be conducted to guarantee democracy, officials said on Tuesday. At a summit on the Indian Ocean island nation of Mauritius, all the heads of state and government from across the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region, which includes Tanzania and Democratic Republic of Congo, gave their blessing to the charter. They also promoted the large island nation off Africa's south-east coast, Madagascar, to full SADC member status, but the decision to upgrade its membership will take effect only next year. Full Article : news24.com
Africa on 08.17.04 @ 10:48 AM CST [ link]
163 Tutsi victims of Burundi massacre buried
GATUMBA, Burundi - Survivors of a massacre at a U.N.-run refugee camp buried 163 Congolese Tutsis in a dusty cotton field on Monday, wailing in anguish over the latest spasm in ethnic conflicts that have killed millions over the past decade in central Africa. Full Article : azcentral.com
Africa on 08.17.04 @ 10:45 AM CST [ link]
Africa leaders seek common guidelines for polls
Southern African leaders are ready to adopt a set of common electoral rules, but most do not want Western observers to play a big role in the polls, officials at a regional summit said on Tuesday. Full Article : alertnet.org
Africa on 08.17.04 @ 10:43 AM CST [ link]
Bush's Venezuelagate
The year was 1996 and the Clinton-Gore re-election campaign was facing massive criticism from its acceptance of foreign funding from Asian sources. The media and Republican party leadership was alleging a sinister quid pro quo, and the “selling of the Lincoln Bedroom” was widely seen as yet another indiscretion of a sitting President who had more than his share of major and minor scandals. Impetus for the subsequent McCain – Feingold campaign finance reform act derived support from the nearly xenophobic suspicion that outsiders were buying the domestic political process. Fast forward to 2004, and a similar tinkering, this time by U.S. government money in the Venezuelan referendum, is aggressively defended by Washington. The Washington Post loudly proclaimed an American right to give U.S. funds “in an effort to organize a free election,” justifying this position by saying that Venezuelan political parties have been funded by Washington for years, and alleging that Venezuela’s use of Cuban doctors is somehow comparable (The Washington Post’s own reporter has shown that the doctors’ work is not political .) This represents the basic “Washington Consensus” on the matter: that the funding is helping Venezuelans to exercise their constitutional right to a recall. Full Article : americas.org
Venezuela on 08.17.04 @ 10:37 AM CST [ link]
BBC: Observers endorse Venezuela vote
International observers in Venezuela have confirmed President Hugo Chavez's victory in a referendum on whether he should be removed from office. The former US president, Jimmy Carter, said Mr Chavez had won fairly, and the Organization of American States said it had not found any element of fraud. With nearly all the votes counted, Mr Chavez has 58% backing him. Mr Carter, who helped monitor Sunday's vote, said his team of observers had concluded there was a "clear difference in favour" of Mr Chavez. The head of the Organization of American States, Cesar Gaviria, also said his monitors had not found "any element of fraud". Full Article : bbc.co.uk
Venezuela on 08.17.04 @ 02:46 AM CST [ more..]
Monday, August 16th
Forgive us, says Germany
A TOP German government official on Saturday asked for forgiveness for the killing of thousands of Namibia's ethnic Hereros during the colonial era. The tribe immediately invited Berlin for dialogue "to finish the unfinished business". The interchange came at a ceremony at Hamakari marking the centenary of imperial Germany's brutal campaign to crush an uprising by the Herero people. "We Germans accept our historical and moral responsibility and the guilt incurred by Germans at that time. Full Article : namibian.com.na
Africa on 08.16.04 @ 07:58 PM CST [ link]
1.3 billion reasons to worry about oil
American leaders have good reason to worry about the price of oil. Oil price shocks can play a decisive role in ending a presidency, as in the cases of Presidents Jimmy Carter and George H. W. Bush. The Nov. 2 election may well hinge on the cooling of the economic recovery caused by sustained high levels of oil prices. But that's not really what the next president should be so concerned about. The real oil shocks -- much more damaging and sustained than ever before -- will come a bit later, but much sooner than anyone had expected, from a part of the world not even discussed seriously in the current campaign: Full Article : smirkingchimp.com
USA on 08.16.04 @ 07:21 PM CST [ link]
Venezuela's Chavez Triumphant
History Making Democracy in Latin America By: Sharmini Peries, www.venezuelanalysis.comPresident Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, first elected in 1998 made democratic history today in a triumphant defeat of the recall referendum on his Presidency. The very Constitution that he championed in 1999, that re-elected him in 2000, allows for a mid-term recall referendum for the President’s term in office. After six years in office, in this recall referendum held on Sunday, August 15th, Chavez lead with a 58% majority. Voters clearly exercised their constitutional right to confirm the President in a historic referenda process, never practiced in the history of this hemisphere. Under the watchful eyes of over six hundred international observers and media scattered throughout the country, a majority of Venezuelan’s prevented their president from being ousted by a coalition opposition led by Accion Democratica (AD) and the Christian Democrats (COPEI), both parties representing the moderate and ultra right. Renowned international election observer delegations from the Carter Center, Organization of American States (OAS), and European Parliamentarians hailed the referendum process as free and fair. Full Article : venezuelanalysis.com
Venezuela on 08.16.04 @ 12:55 PM CST [ more..]
Over 180 Congolese Massacred In Refugee Camp
BUJUMBURA, Burundi -- United Nations workers say there are "many, many bodies of children, women and men" -- after refugees were attacked as they slept Friday night in the African country of Burundi. Full Article : thebostonchannel.com
Africa on 08.16.04 @ 10:49 AM CST [ link]
Land reform programme in Zimbabwe
The colonial conquest of the country by the British in the late 1880s destroyed these systems and subordinated the African people in both political and economic terms. Economic subordination started by the passing of the Land Apportionment Act in 1930, which formalised racial separation of land. Africans lost their coveted land and substantial economic power as they were driven to marginal areas with inherently poor soils and erratic rainfall. Although farming was part of their livelihoods and the sole source of food and income, a series of repressive legislation prohibited them from participating on the mainstream of the economy. This, apparently led the disgruntled majority blacks to take arms and fight a protracted war against the injustices. In 1980, they won political independence and the new ZANU PF government promised the empowerment of the people by giving them land. A policy tool identified for this purpose was the land redistribution and resettlement programme. Full Article : kubatana.net
Africa on 08.16.04 @ 09:54 AM CST [ link]
'Beyond Sanctuary' disturbing reminder of bias today
DETROIT - It's the most provocative exhibit to appear in Michigan in years, and a troubling wake-up call to thinking viewers. "Without Sanctuary: Lynching Photography in America" graphically illustrates the gruesome, extra-legal killing rampant for years in southern and other states. But the grisly pictures are not just historical records. They draw attention to bigotry and bloodlust still raging today. Full Article : mlive.com
Africa on 08.16.04 @ 09:31 AM CST [ link]
Rwanda troops airlifted to start AU mission in Darfur
Rwandan troops were airlifted today to Sudan's Darfur as the first foreign force there, mandated to protect observers monitoring a cease-fire between the Sudanese government and rebels in the troubled western region. Some 154 Rwandan troops and military equipment were being sent to Darfur at the weekend as part of an African Union (AU) force. Rwandan President Paul Kagame said on Saturday his soldiers would also intervene to protect civilians in danger. Dressed in new, beige camouflage uniforms and green berets sporting AU badges, the troops made last-minute phone calls to friends and family from the airstrip before shouldering their backpacks and boarding two Antonov-12 planes as a military band played. "This is the last departure, they're all gone," Rwandan government spokesman Joseph Bideri said after the planes left. Full Article : sabcnews.comKagame said soldiers would use force to protect civilians, if needed Rwandan troops have arrived in Sudan to help protect African Union (AU) ceasefire monitors in the war-ravaged western region of Darfur. "We welcome the 150 Rwandan soldiers," Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Ismail told reporters. He said 150 Nigerian soldiers would join the protection force this month. The small AU team is overseeing a ceasefire between Khartoum and two rebel groups in Darfur, where fighting has claimed 50,000 lives. Full Article : bbc.co.uk
Africa on 08.16.04 @ 09:08 AM CST [ link]
First African Union troops leave Rwanda for Darfur
KIGALI : The first elements of a 300-strong African Union protection force left Kigali for Sudan's troubled region of Darfur, where they are to help restore stability after clashes between the government and rebel forces. Full Article : channelnewsasia.com
Africa on 08.16.04 @ 09:06 AM CST [ link]
Sunday, August 15th
US and France Begin a Great Game in Africa
PARIS - France and the United States have begun a new race to compete for favors with undemocratic regimes in Africa. The competition is growing particularly in the oil-rich North and West Africa. Full Article : antiwar.com
Africa on 08.15.04 @ 09:12 PM CST [ link]
Chavez: Despot or champion of the poor?
Once in office Chavez used his country's membership of OPEC to push for a boost in world oil prices in order to garner revenues to pay for social programmes. In doing so, he signalled his country would no longer be beholden to the US. Then there was the America-baiting. He enraged the US by making official visits to Libya and Iraq, hobnobbing with Cuba's Fidel Castro, and floating the idea of fixing oil prices in euros instead of dollars. The US, which is heavily dependent on Venezuelan oil, was not amused. Full Article : aljazeera.net
Venezuela on 08.15.04 @ 09:02 PM CST [ link]
Venezuela Voters Turn Out in Huge Numbers
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - Summoned by bugle calls and firecrackers, millions of Venezuelans turned out in unprecedented numbers Sunday to vote on whether to force leftist President Hugo Chavez from office. Full Article : guardian.co.uk
Venezuela on 08.15.04 @ 09:00 PM CST [ link]
Saturday, August 14th
The Next Imperial Lunacy
by Aseem ShrivastavaSuper-bully going to Iran?"My idea of our civilization is that it is a shabby poor thing and full of cruelties, vanities, arrogances, meanness, and hypocrisies. As for the word, I hate the sound of it, for it conveys a lie; and as for the thing itself, I wish it was in hell, where it belongs." - Mark Twain"The budget should be balanced; the treasury should be refilled; public debt should be reduced; and the arrogance of public officials should be controlled." - Cicero. The coming months may eliminate the question mark from the title of this article. And American civilization may well end up where Twain wished in his despair that it should. Full Article : zmag.org
Africa on 08.14.04 @ 09:23 PM CST [ link]
Globalization And Racialization
by Manning MarableIn 1900, the great African-American scholar W.E.B. Du Bois, predicted that the "problem of the twentieth century" would be the "problem of the color line," the unequal relationship between the lighter vs. darker races of humankind. Although Du Bois was primarily focused on the racial contradiction of the United States, he was fully aware that the processes of what we call "racialization" today – the construction of racially unequal social hierarchies characterized by dominant and subordinate social relations between groups – was an international and global problem. Du Bois's color line included not just the racially segregated, Jim Crow South and the racial oppression of South Africa; but also included British, French, Belgian, and Portuguese colonial domination in Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean among indigenous populations. Full Article : zmag.org
Africa on 08.14.04 @ 09:18 PM CST [ link]
The NYTs & Chavez: More than the Usual Bias
Ooops, Chavez Does It Again!By Justin PodurHugo Chavez might actually win yet another election, the recall vote scheduled for this Sunday, against the rich and the elite of Venezuela (and the United States, it seems.) So, what does the New York Times refer to this rare example of a politican who wins electorally with votes from the poor majority and who doesn't let a small group of already rich elites plunder the nation's economic wealth? "Free-Spending Chávez Could Swing Vote His Way." What a headline. Full Article : counterpunch.org
Venezuela on 08.14.04 @ 03:31 PM CST [ link]
Last stalwart of white rule resigns from his party
SOUTH Africa's last white president, FW de Klerk, turned on his former party yesterday for merging with its one-time enemy, the African National Congress (ANC), and renounced his membership. De Klerk, who guided the National Party in its historic moves to scrap apartheid and permit the country's first all-race elections in 1994, said his political successors within the New National Party (NNP) had gone too far. "The NNP has abandoned its right to differ publicly with the ANC," de Klerk said in a statement. "I am accordingly withdrawing from the NNP. I am not considering joining the ANC and shall decide in due course for what party I shall vote." Full Article : scotsman.com
Africa on 08.14.04 @ 01:34 PM CST [ link]
Uh! Ah! Chavez is here to stay!
By: Alvaro F. Fernandez"Uh! Ah! Chavez no se va!" was everywhere last week when I visited Caracas. What I saw was a sea of red with a big white NO wherever you turned. A NO that signifies the vote against undoing Hugo Chavez' populist revolution during a referendum election that will take place this Sunday, August 15. Chavez, Venezuela's democratically elected leader, is often criticized by many—inside and outside the country—for not being, acting and speaking as the president of a large and resource-rich country should, they say. I wanted to see for myself what the Venezuelan commotion—pro and con—was all about. Believe it or not, the six little words at the beginning seem to define the latest brouhaha. Although it doesn't rhyme as in Spanish, the English translation is: Uh! Ah! Chavez is not leaving. And if my five day stay in Venezuela is any indication, then count on the strong possibility that the Revolution will not soon be overturned. In fact, it seems to be consolidating and growing stronger as many of the Chavez-instituted grassroots projects are starting to flower and garner tangible results. Full Article : venezuelanalysis.com
Venezuela on 08.14.04 @ 07:15 AM CST [ link]
Friday, August 13th
Iraq: U.S. Keeps Winning Battles, Losing Wars
WASHINGTON - Once again, U.S. armed forces appear on the verge of winning a decisive military victory in Iraq -- this time in the holy city of Najaf. And once again, they appear closer to losing the larger wars for a stable and friendly Iraq and for an Islamic world that will cease producing anti-U.S. terrorism. That is the rapidly growing concern of Middle East and Islamic specialists as U.S. Marines, after a week of fighting, captured virtually all of central Najaf on Thursday, including the home of Mahdi Army leader Moqtada al-Sadr, and launched a final siege of the Imam Ali mosque, which is considered the world's holiest shrine by some 120 million Shiite Muslims. Full Article : commondreams.org
Iraq on 08.13.04 @ 02:12 PM CST [ link]
An antidote for apathy
Venezuela's president has achieved a level of grassroots participation our politicians can only dream of Increasing numbers of people, especially the young, seem disconnected from an electoral process which, they feel, does not represent them. This is part of a general cynicism about every aspect of public life. Venezuela has many problems, but this is not one of them. Its big trouble - but also its great possibility - is that it has oil; it is the fifth largest exporter. The US depends on it and thus wants control over it. But the Venezuelan government needs the oil revenue, which US multinationals (among others) siphoned off for decades, for its efforts to abolish poverty. Hugo Chávez was elected to do just that in 1998, despite almost all of the media campaigning against him. Full Article : guardian.co.uk
Venezuela on 08.13.04 @ 01:57 PM CST [ link]
Aristide thanks Mandela
Deposed Haitian leader Jean-Bertrand Aristide and his wife Mildred called on former South African president Nelson Mandela on Friday to "thank him for his role in Haiti". Full Article : iol.co.za Check out Africa Speaks Haiti's coup section at:www.africaspeaks.com/haiti2004/
Africa on 08.13.04 @ 09:46 AM CST [ link]
Sudan riches go on show
Ancient artefacts saved in a race against time before a new dam floods miles of the Nile Valley in Sudan are to be included in a new exhibition at the British Museum. The artefacts, from the Nile's fourth cataract which is due to be flooded by 2008, will be among 320 pieces lent by the National Museum in Khartoum, itself one of the oldest museums in Africa. Full Article : independent.co.uk
Africa on 08.13.04 @ 09:41 AM CST [ link]
Thursday, August 12th
All of Latin America is Watching
What's a Stake in VenezuelaSupporters of democracy should be watching Venezuela this weekend. Has respect for the rule of law and constitutional government truly taken root in Latin America or will traditional ruling elites and their backers in Washington bring us more of the same old "respect for the electoral process, but only if you vote the way we want" you to vote? Full Article : counterpunch.org
Venezuela on 08.12.04 @ 07:08 PM CST [ link]
Big Test for Embattled Populist
"Chavez has the votes," William Camacaro from Queens predicted yesterday as he boarded a plane at Kennedy Airport for his homeland of Venezuela. The war in Iraq may get all the press attention these days but for Camacaro and thousands of New York Latinos, this week's big story is Sunday's recall referendum in Venezuela, where voters will decide the fate of President Hugo Chavez. Not since Fidel Castro in the 1960s has Latin America produced a more controversial figure than Chavez. A charismatic former army paratrooper who won landslide elections in both 1998 and 2000, Chavez has moved ahead with a populist program to improve conditions for the 80% of Venezuelans who live in poverty. Full Article : commondreams.org
Venezuela on 08.12.04 @ 07:05 PM CST [ link]
Sudan Accuses West of Seeking Its Oil and Gold
Sudan's president Thursday accused the West of exploiting the Darfur conflict in the hope of seizing the country's gold and oil, but Washington replied its only aim was to halt mass murder and starvation. Full Article : reuters.com
Africa on 08.12.04 @ 06:19 PM CST [ link]
US and France Begin a Great Game in Africa
PARIS - France and the United States have begun a new race to compete for favors with undemocratic regimes in Africa. The competition is growing particularly in the oil-rich North and West Africa. The French government announced last month that it is due to sign a military pact with former colony Algeria that would include weapons and technology transfer, training and intelligence sharing. Full Article : antiwar.com
Africa on 08.12.04 @ 11:25 AM CST [ link]
Reporter Finds Al Qaeda Links to Blood Diamonds
The arrest of a Tanzanian fugitive in Pakistan last week, release of the 9-11 Commission report in Washington and a forthcoming finding by a war crimes tribunal in Sierra Leone have rekindled the debate over what role, if any, West African diamonds played in financing the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States. Full Article : pacificnews.org
Iraq on 08.12.04 @ 11:23 AM CST [ link]
World's Shiites Warn US
World's Shiites Warn That US Is Treading on Sensitive Ground BAGHDAD — With its twin minarets and glinting gold dome, the Imam Ali Mosque in Najaf has been a beacon for the Muslim faithful for more than a thousand years. But with fighting raging around the Iraqi shrine, one of the holiest sites in Shiite Islam is reprising a different historical role: rallying point against foreign forces. In 1920, rebels intent on kicking out British troops occupying the region gathered at the mosque and readied for revolt. Among their leaders was Sayyid Mohammed Sadr — the scion of a prominent Shiite family and a future prime minister. Full Article : commondreams.org
Iraq on 08.12.04 @ 11:20 AM CST [ link]
Venezuela Floridated
Will The Gang That Fixed Florida Fix the Vote in Caracas this Sunday?by Greg Palast Hugo Chavez drives George Bush crazy. Maybe it's jealousy: Unlike Mr. Bush, Chavez, in Venezuela, won his Presidency by a majority of the vote. Or maybe it's the oil: Venezuela sits atop a reserve rivaling Iraq's. And Hugo thinks the US and British oil companies that pump the crude ought to pay more than a 16% royalty to his nation for the stuff. Hey, sixteen percent isn't even acceptable as a tip at a New York diner. Full Article : africaspeaks.com
Venezuela on 08.12.04 @ 12:45 AM CST [ link]
US Support for Anti-Democratic Forces in Venezuela Recall
Imagine the scandal if a foreign government had for years funneled millions of dollars to political groups in the United States in an attempt to affect the outcome of a U.S. election. Even worse, what if some of the groups that received money had been involved in a failed coup attempt against a democratically elected U.S. president? Would the U.S. public not have a right to be outraged at the attempt to manipulate our political process? Of course we would -- which is why the people of Venezuela have a right to be outraged at the U.S. government's ongoing attempts to meddle in the electoral process in Venezuela. Full Article : africaspeaks.com
Venezuela on 08.12.04 @ 12:44 AM CST [ link]
Wednesday, August 11th
Libya agrees to pay Berlin bomb victims
Berlin - Libya has agreed to compensate more than 160 victims of the 1986 bombing of a West Berlin nightclub on Tuesday, making another major step towards ending its international isolation. The Libyan ambassador to Germany, Said Abdulaati, told Reuters the compensation would total $35 million, a figure later confirmed by the German government. Full Article : iol.co.za
Africa on 08.11.04 @ 07:23 PM CST [ link]
Sudan faces new atrocity charges
Pro-government militias in Sudan are still attacking civilians despite pledges by Khartoum to end the violence, a human rights group says. A report by the US-based group Human Rights Watch details recent cases of rape and assault in the Darfur region. Up to 50,000 residents have been killed and many more driven from their homes. Full Article : bbc.co.uk
Africa on 08.11.04 @ 11:59 AM CST [ link]
HRW Issues New Report On Darfur
A new report from Human Rights Watch Says civilians in Sudan's Darfur region continue to face atrocities despite government pledges to protect them. The report is entitled "Empty Promises: Continuing Abuses in Darfur." Georgette Gagnon is deputy director of Amnesty's Africa Division. From London, she spoke with English to Africa reporter Joe De Capua about the report's accusations. Full Article : voanews.com
Africa on 08.11.04 @ 11:58 AM CST [ link]
SA 'should be Africa's financial centre'
South Africa is positioning itself to be the Financial Centre for Africa (FCA) much as Hong Kong and Singapore act as financial centres for Asia, SA Treasury Director General Lesetja Kganyago said on Wednesday. To achieve this meant that South African exchange controls would be abolished and replaced by prudential limits. Full Article : iafrica.com
Africa on 08.11.04 @ 11:55 AM CST [ link]
N Africa's deadliest roads
Algeria's roads are of the deadliest in the world with 550 people killed in accidents since the beginning of June, according to official figures released on Wednesday. The figures show that every two hours a person is killed in a traffic accident in Algeria, with more that 4 000 killed annually and more than 57 000 injured, among them 500 who are left severely handicapped. Full Article : news24.com
Africa on 08.11.04 @ 11:53 AM CST [ link]
Democracy a dream in Africa, says Ngugi
LEGENDARY Kenyan author Prof. Ngugi wa Thiong'o has said the democratisation process in Africa is not yet complete because people are yet to be empowered politically and economically. "The work of democratic forces in Africa is not yet over as long as people have not yet been empowered politically and economically. The struggles for political, economic and psychological empowerment is not over," he said. "Politics is about power to make decisions," he added. Full Article : newvision.co.ug
Africa on 08.11.04 @ 11:51 AM CST [ link]
Bush Team on Defensive Over al-Qaeda Leak
WASHINGTON - One of the greatest coups in Washington's nearly three-year war against al-Qaeda has suddenly turned sour with reports the White House prematurely exposed the identity of a key source whose contacts and communication with the terrorist group's operational masterminds had yet to be fully exploited. The source, 25-year-old computer wizard Mohammed Naeem Noor Khan, had been co-operating with Pakistani police and the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) since he was quietly detained in Lahore on Jul. 12, until the 'New York Times' published his name last Tuesday after receiving a ''background'' briefing by the White House. Full Article : commondreams.org
USA on 08.11.04 @ 09:08 AM CST [ link]
Tuesday, August 10th
Chavez Supporters Gather in Capital for Largest Pro-Chavez Rally
 Credits: Venpres & venezuelanalysis.comSupporters of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez filled Caracas' largest public venue yesterday, packing the Avenida Bolívar for well over a mile and overflowing onto side streets all over the downtown. Clad in red—the colour that has come to represent chavismo in Venezuela—supporters bore t-shirts, hats, berets, placards, puppets, and inventive home-made signs all uniformly declaring "No!" to the recall on Chávez' mandate scheduled for next Sunday, August 15th. Since his election in 1998 Venezuela's opposition has tried ousting Chavez with a failed coup, a series of economically devastating general strikes and lockouts, and violent street protests and paramilitary activity. It is only since those efforts proved unsuccessful in defeating Chávez that the opposition has put its weight behind a constitutional effort in the form of the recall referendum. Opposition rhetoric rarely points out that it was Chávez' new constitution, drafted and ratified by the National Assembly in 1999 that allows for a Presidential recall—an option not open to the citizens of most other countries. "If Chávez goes or if he stays, the people will stay because now we have power," declared a jubilant Dimas Salazar who had traveled to Caracas from the state of Monagas on Venezuela's Atlantic coast to attend the march. "Chávez is using the history of this country to change it, and a country's history is its primary strength," continued Salazar. Full Article : venezuelanalysis.com
Venezuela on 08.10.04 @ 03:04 PM CST [ link]
Neglect of Sudanese, regrettably, follows historic pattern
What's more important -- the possible death of a few hundred Americans by terrorist attack in the next few months, or the very likely death of 300,000 Sudanese by next spring? The vulgarity of the question isn't nearly as offensive as the answer. In spite of decades of never-again pledges, one more genocide is ravaging an African province the size of Texas, because the war on terror ensures that all other calamities command only a coalition of indifference. Relatively limited but forceful steps could be attempted to stop the mass rapes and massacres of black Africans by Arab horsemen. An oil-embargo would starve the oil-revenue-dependent Sudanese government; a Western-funded but African-manned military intervention would restore order and prevent famine. But it's an election year. There's a convention to script, homegrown fears to stoke, deceptions to refine. Let Sudan eat cake, so to speak. Full Article : news-journalonline.com
Africa on 08.10.04 @ 08:33 AM CST [ link]
Artist's quilt of lynching victims tells tragic stories
When April Elaine Shipp discovered the picture of a female victim of lynching, she got a shock. "I had no idea they would lynch women," says the teary-eyed Southfield artist on a recent morning at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History. Full Article : detnews.com
Africa on 08.10.04 @ 08:30 AM CST [ link]
28 African immigrants die trying to reach Italy
ROME (AFP) - Twenty-eight refugees died attempting to reach Italy by boat from north Africa, Italian police said Sunday, citing accounts from some of the dozens of survivors rescued by a freighter off the Sicilian coast. A total of 73 would-be immigrants were picked up from their drifting boat Saturday by the crew of the Gibraltar-registered container ship Zuiderdiep some 130 nautical miles southeast of Sicily, Italian authorities said. Full Article : brunei-online.com
Africa on 08.10.04 @ 08:26 AM CST [ link]
Sudan may now face locust plague
As if the people of Darfur, in western Sudan, didn't have enough to contend with, now there's the prospect of a plague of locusts. Agricultural officials in West Africa say that if the current locust swarms worsen, up to one million people could face hunger. The swarms, the worst in a decade-and-a-half, have already caused severe damage to crops in Mauritania, Mali, and Niger. Full Article : abc.net.au
Africa on 08.10.04 @ 08:22 AM CST [ link]
Sudan rejects AU peace force
Sudan has rejected African Union proposals to deploy more than 2,000 troops in the Darfur region to prevent further conflict. Full Article : bbc.co.uk
UK on 08.10.04 @ 08:16 AM CST [ link]
CIA plot to overthrow Chavez
CIA executives gathered in Santiago de Chile revealed in contingency plot to overthrow Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez FriasVenezuela state-owned news agency VENPRES is quoting an El Mundo de Madrid (Spain) report that the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is set to put a contingency plan in motion in the (likely) event that President Hugo Chavez Frias wins next weekend's Recall Referendum. The Madrid newspaper says that the White House strategy is to avoid a regional expansion of the President Hugo Chavez Frias 'Bolivarian Revolution' which is seen by Washington D.C. as a direct step into the kind of socialism espoused by many European nations and envisaged in the United States if John Kerry wrests control of the White House from the Bush 2 administration this coming fall. El Mundo says the CIA plan appears to concede a Chavez Frias victory next weekend "for good or bad" and that Langley spooks are already working on a strategy to "neutralize" Chavez Frias by fair means or foul. Full Article : vheadline.com
Venezuela on 08.10.04 @ 08:04 AM CST [ link]
Monday, August 9th
Tidal wave catastrophe looms
WORLD leaders were yesterday urged to wake up to the threat from a collapsing mountain which at any moment could unleash a massive tidal wave on the east coast of North America. A chunk of a volcano in the Canary Islands the size of the Isle of Man is on the brink of falling into the sea, a leading expert warned. Scientists think it could break away when the Cumbre Vieja volcano in La Palma next erupts. If that happened, a giant tsunami up to 500 feet high would be sent racing across the Atlantic at the speed of a passenger jet. About nine hours later it would hit the Caribbean islands and the east coast of Canada and the United States. Full Article : scotsman.com
UK on 08.09.04 @ 09:56 PM CST [ link]
Venezuela President Dominate Polls for Recall Referendum
A week before the Aug 15 recall referendum on Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, new polls continue showing the embattled leader as the winner of the long awaited recall. Chavez's advantage ranges between 8 and 31 percent, depending on the poll. Ultimas Noticias, Venezuela's highest circulation newspaper, reported yesterday that pro-opposition pollsters Consultores 21 gave the "no" recall option 55% support, and 45% to the opposition's "yes". According to the paper, U.S. opinion research firm Evans McDonough Company and Venezuelan firm Varianzas Opinion, gave Chavez a 51% of support and 43% to the opposition. Polling firm Impediosa puts the "no" option at 53%, and the anti-Chavez "yes" at 39%, according to Ultimas Noticias. Full Article : venezuelanalysis.com
Venezuela on 08.09.04 @ 07:21 PM CST [ link]
EU: no genocide in Darfur
The European Union said today that its fact-finding mission to Sudan had found widespread violence in the afflicted region of Darfur, but there was no evidence of genocide. After returning from western Sudan, Pieter Feith, an adviser to the EU's foreign policy chief Javier Solana, told reporters in Brussels that "it is clear there is widespread, silent and slow killing going on, and village burning of a fairly large scale". Full Article : guardian.co.uk
UK on 08.09.04 @ 06:32 PM CST [ link]
SUDAN: Oil profits behind West's tears for Darfur
For at least 18 months now, Western governments have quietly stood by as the non-Arabic-speaking black farmers of the Darfur region in western Sudan have borne the brunt of a vicious ethnic-cleansing campaign carried out by state-sponsored bandits known as the janjaweed. Full Article : greenleft.org.au
Africa on 08.09.04 @ 06:15 PM CST [ link]
BURUNDI: Regional leaders to meet on power sharing deal
KAMPALA, 9 Aug 2004 (IRIN) - Regional leaders are to hold a two-day summit beginning on Wednesday on the latest power sharing agreement that 19 political parties signed in Pretoria, South Africa, last week. Ten Tutsi-dominated parties refused to sign. The acting permanent secretary in the Ugandan Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Julius Onen, told IRIN on Monday that the Dar es Salaam summit was expected to ratify the Pretoria agreement and reconfirm Burundi's election process and timetable. "The summit will also receive reports from both the facilitator, [South African] Deputy President Jacob Zuma and the United Nations special envoy in Burundi who recently held talks with one of the rebels groups," Onen said. The UN envoy, Carolyn McAskie, held a meeting recently with the Forces nationales de liberation. Full Article : irinnews.org
Africa on 08.09.04 @ 12:03 PM CST [ link]
Mauritania and Mali battle 'dreaded swarms'
Nouakchott - Authorities in Mauritania battled on Sunday to contain an invasion of locusts saying that one million hectares had been infested nationwide by the dreaded winged insects. "We believe that our initial high estimate that 800 000 hectares would have to be treated has been surpassed and we have revised our battle plan to one million hectares," said Abdallahi Ould Babah, the director of the agriculture ministry's anti-locust task force. Full Article : iol.co.za
Africa on 08.09.04 @ 12:00 PM CST [ link]
Sudan: We're getting there
Islamabad - Sudan has given assurances that it is making efforts to comply with a United Nations Security Council resolution to rein in its Janjaweed militia blamed for atrocities in Darfur, Pakistan said on Monday. Foreign ministry spokesperson Masood Khan said Sudan's president and foreign minister had given the assurances to Foreign Secretary Riaz Khokhar, who visited Khartoum as a special envoy of President Pervez Musharraf. Full Article : news24.com
Africa on 08.09.04 @ 11:59 AM CST [ link]
Sunday, August 8th
210 Darfur rebels surrender
Khartoum - More than 200 members of a rebel group fighting Sudanese government forces in the war-torn Darfur region surrendered to the authorities, official media outlets reported on Saturday. Full Article : news24.com
Africa on 08.08.04 @ 07:06 PM CST [ link]
Africa's Last Northern White Rhinos Decimated by Poaching
Gland, Switzerland, 6 August 2004 (IUCN) - The results of a recent survey of the world's only wild population of northern white rhinoceros in the Garamba National Park, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) make depressing news for anyone concerned about the survival of this charismatic symbol of African wildlife. Full Article : enn.com
Africa on 08.08.04 @ 07:04 PM CST [ link]
South Africa's apartheid party to merge with ANC
The party that ruled South Africa during apartheid, but which saw its support crash to a record low in the April general election, has announced it will merge with its traditional arch-rival, the governing African National Congress (ANC). Full Article : abc.net.au
Africa on 08.08.04 @ 07:01 PM CST [ link]
Gruesome hostage murder video a hoax
A VIDEO aired yesterday that purportedly showed an American being decapitated in Iraq was a hoax. The American, Benjamin Vanderford, contacted in San Francisco, said he videotaped the staged beheading at his friend's house using fake blood. Vanderford, 22, said he began distributing the video on the Internet months ago in hopes of drawing attention to his one-time campaign for city supervisor. When his political aspirations waned, he thought the video would serve as social commentary. "It was part of a stunt, but no one noticed it up until now," Vanderford said. "I did this for a couple of reasons. One is to attract attention. But two is to just make a statement on these type of videos and how easily they can be faked." On the tape, Vanderford sat on a chair in a dark room, his hands behind his back, trembling and rocking back and forth. The tape showed a hand with a knife cutting at the motionless man's neck, but did not show any militants. Full Article : heraldsun.news.com.au
Europe on 08.08.04 @ 12:02 PM CST [ link]
Saturday, August 7th
China in Africa: All Trade, With No Political Baggage
BEIJING - A look of satisfaction played on the trade official's face as he reeled off statistics recently from a ministry report about China's booming commerce with Africa. "Forty African countries have trade agreements with China now," said the official, Li Xiaobing, deputy director of the West Asian and African Affairs division of the Trade Ministry. "We are doing a railway project in Nigeria, a Sheraton hotel in Algeria and a mobile telephone network in Tunisia. We are all over Africa now." Full Article : nytimes.com
USA on 08.07.04 @ 10:21 PM CST [ link]
Sudan agrees with UN to set up safe zones for Darfur villagers
UNITED NATIONS -- Sudan has pledged to set up safe areas for uprooted African Darfur villagers, work to disarm marauding militias and stop actions by its own troops in civilian areas, according to an agreement completed yesterday. Full Article : theglobeandmail.com
USA on 08.07.04 @ 08:48 AM CST [ link]
Oil company's deals in Africa investigated
WASHINGTON - The Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating Marathon Oil Co. and Amerada Hess Corp.'s business dealings in the West African nation of Equatorial Guinea. Regulators want to learn more about payments the firms made to that oil-rich country's government, as well as to government leaders and people affiliated with those officials, the companies said. The probe by the SEC's Forth Worth office follows a Senate investigation, which uncovered some eyebrow-raising business arrangements involving Marathon, Amerada Hess and Exxon Mobil Corp. Full Article : chron.com
USA on 08.07.04 @ 08:45 AM CST [ link]
Locusts plague West Africa crops
BAMAKO, Mali—Desperate West African farmers, whose crops are being devoured by tens of millions of locusts, have been urged to burn, drown and stamp on the insects. Full Article : thestar.com
Africa on 08.07.04 @ 08:41 AM CST [ link]
Why Hugo Chávez is heading for a stunning victory
by Richard Gott in Caracas
Saturday August 7, 2004
The Guardian UK To the dismay of opposition groups in Venezuela, and to the surprise of international observers gathering in Caracas, President Hugo Chávez is about to secure a stunning victory on August 15, in a referendum designed to lead to his overthrow. First elected in 1998 as a barely known colonel, armed with little more than revolutionary rhetoric and a moderate social-democratic programme, Chávez has become the leader of the emerging opposition in Latin America to the neo-liberal hegemony of the United States. Closely allied to Fidel Castro, he rivals the Cuban leader in his fierce denunciations of George Bush, a strategy that goes down well with the great majority of the population of Latin America, where only the elites welcome the economic and political recipes devised in Washington. While Chávez has retained his popularity after nearly six years as president, support for overtly pro-US leaders in Latin America, such as Vicente Fox in Mexico and Alejandro Toledo in Peru, has dwindled to nothing. Even the fence-sitting President Lula in Brazil is struggling in the polls. The news that Chávez will win this month's referendum will be bleakly received in Washington. Full Article : guardian.co.uk
Venezuela on 08.07.04 @ 08:29 AM CST [ link]
Friday, August 6th
A plot, or not?
Why Heathrow bomb plan was a media dreamThe source of the alarming stories about a plan to bomb Britain's biggest airport appears to be four-year-old information held by an al-Qa'ida computer expert arrested in Pakistan last month. Mohammed Naeem Noor Khan, who was arrested on 13 July, had stored photographs of Heathrow, as well as pictures of underpasses beneath several buildings in London, Pakistani intelligence officials say. Full Article : independent.co.uk
UK on 08.06.04 @ 10:07 PM CST [ link]
All About Eve
Look out, ladies! The divinely-appointed duo of George W. Bush and Pope John Paul II are on the prowl again, bringing their patented one-two punch to boudoirs and back alleys everywhere. Last summer, the pious pair launched simultaneous broadsides against the apocalyptic threat of gay marriage; now they're firing their missiles of moral correction at the ultimate source of the world's distemper: uppity females. This week, the pope's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (known as "The Inquisition" back in the glory days) released a "major statement" on the status of women. The Inquisitors declared that women who resist their subordination to men too strongly are "giving rise to harmful confusion" and perverting their "natural characteristics" of "listening, welcoming, humility, faithfulness, praise and waiting." Full Article : themoscowtimes.com
USA on 08.06.04 @ 09:43 PM CST [ link]
Conviction squashed for crimes in East Timor
JAKARTA An Indonesian appeals court announced on Friday that it had overturned the convictions of four security officers for crimes against humanity during the East Timor massacres in 1999. The decision means that all police and military officials indicted by the ad hoc Indonesian human rights tribunal on East Timor have been released. Full Article : iht.com
Asia on 08.06.04 @ 04:48 PM CST [ link]
Burundi's Peace Talks Fail Again
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa -- The two main sides in Burundi's peace talks failed again Friday to agree on a power-sharing formula, splitting along ethnic lines with Hutus accepting the proposal and Tutsis rejecting it. Jean Baptiste Manwangari, leader of Uprona, the main party representing Tutsis, told The Associated Press that all 10 Tutsi parties at the talks rejected the deal proposed by South African mediators. Full Article : newsday.com
Africa on 08.06.04 @ 04:47 PM CST [ link]
UN says Sudan agrees Darfur steps
The United Nations says Sudan has agreed to a plan to tackle the crisis in Darfur, where thousands have been killed by pro-government militias. The measures include steps to disarm the militias and improve security. UN special envoy Jan Pronk said if the proposals were implemented, he was hopeful Sudan could avoid UN sanctions. Full Article : bbc.co.uk
UK on 08.06.04 @ 11:33 AM CST [ link]
George Bush’s Religious Crusade Against Democracy
Religion has always played a powerful role in the daily lives of Americans. But it has never wielded such influence in the highest levels of American government as it does under the Bush presidency. Moreover, the religious conservative movement that has come into political prominence with the election of George W. Bush views him as its earthly leader. As Washington Post staff writer Dana Milbank, puts it: "For the first time since religious conservatism became a modern political movement, the president of the United States has become the movement’s de facto leader–a status even Ronald Reagan, though admired by religious conservatives, never earned. Christian publications, radio and television shower Bush with praise, while preachers from the pulpit treat his leadership as an act of providence. A procession of religious leaders who have met with him testify to his faith, while Web sites encourage people to fast and pray for the president." Full Article : dissidentvoice.org
USA on 08.06.04 @ 11:29 AM CST [ link]
Why Bush has More to Fear than Fear Itself
The latest terrorism alert -- which, like the others, has thankfully produced nothing but fear itself -- was based primarily on at least three-year-old communications in Pakistan. Though there is unsettling material, nothing in these documents suggests that any attack was planned for this period of time. Yet the Bush administration went ahead with another dire terror alert anyway, spreading alarm through Gotham. The President then turned up the hysteria volume another notch. "We are a nation in danger," he said. For George W. Bush's reign of fear, it was a fitting declaration. With his narcissistic strut, he tries to project strength. But how does a president project anything but weakness in having the world's greatest power tremble over evidence of file-updating by an enemy with a tiny fraction of his military capacity? Full Article : commondreams.org
USA on 08.06.04 @ 11:21 AM CST [ link]
Downpour leaves Sierra Leone in ruins
Freetown - Days of torrential rains across Sierra Leone have washed away any doubts about the massive need in Freetown to rebuild the crumbled infrastructure and disrepair plaguing the war-ravaged West African capital. Decrepit buildings have tumbled and perimeter fences wrenched from the ground after more than a week of rain, sending huge chunks of concrete and building material into the already impassable streets, officials from the ministry of lands and environment told reporters. Full Article : iol.co.za
Africa on 08.06.04 @ 10:04 AM CST [ link]
South Africa is not immune to terrorism
There is no terrorist threat to South Africa – not by al-Qaeda nor any other terrorist group, says the government. Government spokesperson Joel Netshitenzhe, National Intelligence Agency director-general Vusi Mavimbela and head of police crime intelligence Rayman Lalla on Wednesday denied reports that key South African sites had been targeted by al-Qaeda Full Article : iol.co.za Black Africans in South Africa KNOW what Terrorism is.
Africa on 08.06.04 @ 10:00 AM CST [ link]
Locust Swarms Devastate Africa
Locusts settled on the desert capital of Nouakchott yesterday in vision-blurring clouds – prompting traffic collisions, and crunching underfoot with each step in sand-covered streets. "It's beautiful to see and funny, the locusts on parade in the sky," marvelled Aicha Bint Sadibouh, a woman in Noaukchott. "But when they invade the streets and homes, it's disastrous," Sadibouh said. Full Article : scotsman.com
UK on 08.06.04 @ 09:57 AM CST [ link]
Terror link to South Africa after gun battle
The security alerts in the US and the UK have also reverberated in South Africa because Pakistani police have raised the possibility that al-Qaida supporters were planning terrorist attacks in Pretoria and Johannesburg. Two South Africans of Asian descent were arrested during the 12-hour gun battle with Pakistani police in the eastern city of Gujrat that led to the capture of Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, a Tanzanian wanted for the 1998 bombings of US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. Full Article : guardian.co.uk
UK on 08.06.04 @ 09:55 AM CST [ link]
Thursday, August 5th
Bush misspeaks again?
Bush misspeaks, says his administration seeking 'new ways to harm our country' President Bush offered up a new entry for his catalog of "Bushisms" on Thursday, declaring that his administration will "never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people." Bush misspoke as he delivered a speech at the signing ceremony for a $417 billion defense spending bill. "Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we," Bush said. "They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we." Full Article : sfgate.com
USA on 08.05.04 @ 08:11 PM CST [ link]
Jab to beat addiction
CHILDREN could be injected with an "anti-junkie" vaccination being developed by drug companies under a radical plan to combat rising addiction. Under the plan, being considered by British MPs, doctors would immunise at birth babies considered to be at risk of becoming nicotine or drug addicts. The injection would be similar to an inoculation for measles or mumps. Doctors believe the childhood jab would block the euphoric effects of drugs later in life, rendering useless narcotics such as heroin and cocaine. The vaccinations are expected to be on the market within two years. Full Article : thecouriermail.news.com.au
UK on 08.05.04 @ 07:43 PM CST [ link]
A Picture Worth Exactly One Thousand Words
You are looking not only at the image of a war crime, but at the worst fears of a war criminal; the reason that those accused will cooperate, but not implicate. Full Article : motherjones.com
USA on 08.05.04 @ 01:05 PM CST [ link]
Dean Sees Red Over Code Orange
Dr. Dean spoke out on CNN. "I am concerned that every time something happens that's not good for President Bush, he plays this trump card, which is terrorism," he said. "It's just impossible to know how much of this is real and how much of this is politics, and I suspect there's some of both in it." Two days after the Ridge press conference, the truth about the "new" threat leaked out. On the front pages of The New York Times and The Washington Post, various unnamed officials revealed that the data cited by Mr. Ridge was actually "three or four years old." According to the newspapers, there is no fresh evidence of a planned assault by Al Qaeda on East Coast financial institutions. That doesn't mean Osama bin Laden's minions won't try to strike the buildings they surveyed years ago. Vigilance is imperative. But as one senior law-enforcement official confided to the Post, there was no clear reason for Mr. Ridge to hit the "orange" button last Sunday. Full Article : commondreams.org
USA on 08.05.04 @ 12:00 PM CST [ link]
Africa losing nurses to Britain
Concern is mounting in Africa over the growing number of well-educated and much-needed nurses who are leaving the continent for better salaries and working conditions in Britain. The British nursing register shows the number of nurses being certified from Botswana, Ghana, Malawi, Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe -- all former British colonies -- has soared since 1999. As a result, more than 60 per cent of nursing positions remain unfilled in countries such as Ghana and Malawi. Full Article : ghanaweb.com
Africa on 08.05.04 @ 09:06 AM CST [ link]
SA's top court rejects 'mercenaries' appeal
JOHANNESBURG - South Africa's highest court yesterday rejected an appeal by a group of suspected mercenaries held in Zimbabwe who tried to force president Thabo Mbeki's government to seek their extradition. Full Article : namibian.com.na
Africa on 08.05.04 @ 09:01 AM CST [ link]
UN to help Africa Union deploy peacekeeping force in western Sudan
UNITED NATIONS, Aug. 4 (Xinhuanet) -- United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan threw his backing on Wednesday behind the Africa Union's plan to deploy a 3,000-strong peacekeeping force in Darfur, west Sudan, to help stabilize the situation there. Full Article : xinhuanet.com
Africa on 08.05.04 @ 08:58 AM CST [ link]
Wednesday, August 4th
What's his name with the turban?
Where is Osama bin Laden? In fact, the question should be, "Who is bin Laden?" Go on, scratch your head and see if anything comes out other than dandruff. Remember, He was the guy with the beard and the turban, who was on every TV screen and newspaper front page for months, usually with a "Wanted Dead or Alive" sticker on it. Full Article : atimes.com
USA on 08.04.04 @ 11:45 PM CST [ link]
They Knew...
Despite the Whitewash, We Now Know that the Bush Administration was Warned Before the War That Its Iraq Claims were WeakBut as author Flannery O’Conner noted, "Truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it." That means no matter how much defensive spin spews from the White House, the Bush administration cannot escape the documented fact that it was clearly warned before the war that its rationale for invading Iraq was weak. Full Article : commondreams.org
USA on 08.04.04 @ 07:51 PM CST [ link]
Questioned at Gunpoint, Shackled, Forced to Pose Naked
British Detainees Tell Their Stories of Guantánamo Bay Britain and the US last night faced fresh allegations of abuses after a British terror suspect said an SAS soldier had interrogated him for three hours while an American colleague pointed a gun at him and threatened to shoot him. The allegation is contained in a new dossier detailing repeated beatings and humiliation suffered by three Britons who were captured in Afghanistan, then held in Guantánamo Bay for two years, before being released in March without charge. Full Article : commondreams.org
UK on 08.04.04 @ 07:48 PM CST [ link]
'Bird flu' outbreak halts ostrich moves
A suspected outbreak of avian influenza (bird flu) in the Eastern Cape province has halted all movement of ostriches to the Western Cape until a confirmed diagnosis has been made regarding the cause of serious mortalities at three ostrich farms in the Cradock-Somerset East region of the Eastern Cape. Full Article : iafrica.com
Africa on 08.04.04 @ 04:42 PM CST [ link]
Sudanese threaten holy war
Khartoum - Tens of thousand of people demonstrated in Khartoum on Wednesday against a possible intervention by western troops in the troubled Darfur region. The demonstration, organised by the government, brought together tens of thousands, possibly even a hundred thousand people, onto the streets of Khartoum. Full Article : news24.com
Africa on 08.04.04 @ 04:39 PM CST [ link]
South Africa denies terror plot claims, expresses outrage
PRETORIA : South Africa expressed "outrage" at reports that two of its nationals detained in Pakistan had allegedly confessed to planning terror attacks on key sites back home, saying there was no evidence of such plots. Government spokesman Joel Netshitenzhe said Pretoria wished "to express its outrage at the manner in which these matters have been aired without any credible substantiation from security agencies in our country and in Pakistan." Full Article : channelnewsasia.com
Africa on 08.04.04 @ 04:37 PM CST [ link]
SA, UK sign military pact
South Africa's peacekeeping capabilities received a major boost with the signing of two bilateral defence co-operation agreements with Britain. The agreements - the ninth signed between the two countries since 1994, would see Britain providing technical and logistical personnel and equipment to South Africa. Full Article : iol.co.za
Africa on 08.04.04 @ 11:14 AM CST [ link]
S. Africa accuses Burundi of poll delaying tactics
PRETORIA, Aug 3 (Reuters) - South Africa's chief peace mediator accused Burundi's government of delaying tactics on Tuesday, saying it must put in place an electoral framework and hold elections by November or risk losing its legitimacy. Full Article : alertnet.org
Africa on 08.04.04 @ 08:19 AM CST [ link]
Role for Marijuana in Aids Treatment
Advocates of new medical treatments for people living with HIV and AIDS are compiling scientific studies and anecdotal evidence to make a case for the use of the locally-grown illegal weed dagga (marijuana) to assist those who have contracted the virus or have developed AIDS. Currently, it is illegal to grow, transport or possess dagga in the 14-member states of the Southern African Development Community (SADC). The countries are also signatories to various international agreements that commit them to eradicate the intoxicating plant. Full Article : allafrica.com
Africa on 08.04.04 @ 08:16 AM CST [ link]
S Africa alarm over 'terror plot'
The South African government is trying to secure access to two of its nationals arrested in Pakistan over alleged terrorist activities. Full Article : bbc.co.ukOur son is not a megalomaniacTerror suspect Zoubair Ismail's family are distraught. They say they don't believe a word of what has emerged about their "child and son" from interrogations in Pakistan. "There is no ways he would do something like that. He is a religious person, not some megalomaniac who wants to rain death and destruction on earth," said Ismail's brother, Hassan Ismail, speaking from Pretoria for the family. Full Article : iol.co.za
UK on 08.04.04 @ 08:10 AM CST [ link]
Tuesday, August 3rd
One of the Biggest Heists in History
In Iraq, $8.8 billion is MIA. Serious dough even for the big spenders in Washington, D.C. Offshore bankers must be burning the midnight oil these days with all the new secret accounts pouring out of Baghdad! And small wonder that L. Paul Bremer went to ground in June after he turned the running of Iraq over to the Iraqis, closed down the CPA and flew home for an attaboy lunch with President Bush at the White House. I'm not suggesting that he's living high on the hog on some Cayman-type island in the Caribbean, but I am saying that he was the guy in charge in Iraq – and when it came to handling the funds in his trust, the IG report clearly states that he "did not exercise adequate fiduciary responsibility over DFI funds provided to Iraqi Ministries." Full Article : sftt.org
USA on 08.03.04 @ 08:50 PM CST [ link]
Sudan Army Calls U.N. Resolution 'declaration Of War'
KHARTOUM, Aug 2 (AFP) - Sudan's army has vowed to fight any foreign military intervention in Darfur, even after the government reluctantly accepted a UN demand to end the killing and atrocities in the troubled region within 30 days. The World Food Programme (WFP) meanwhile announced that it had started to airdrop supplies to some of the hundreds of thousands of people displaced by the conflict, as Arab foreign ministers said they would meet in emergency session on Sunday to discuss the crisis. Full Article : turkishpress.com
Europe on 08.03.04 @ 08:01 AM CST [ link]
Around 100 bodies found in mass graves in Ivory Coast: UN
ABIDJAN : Three mass graves containing at least 99 bodies have been discovered in northern Ivory Coast in a region under rebel control, the United Nations mission in the west African country said. "Some of these people were killed by gunshots. According to reliable witnesses, others were suffocated," the UN Operation in Ivory Coast said in a statement. Full Article : channelnewsasia.com
Africa on 08.03.04 @ 07:57 AM CST [ link]
Darfur gets a familiar response from the west
Sudan is becoming a dark study in disillusion. Only two weeks ago, Britain was openly hinting at military intervention to end the humanitarian crisis in the Darfur region. In an echo of the build-up to war in Iraq, Tony Blair spoke gravely of a "moral responsibility" that must not be shirked. Full Article : guardian.co.uk
UK on 08.03.04 @ 07:53 AM CST [ link]
Monday, August 2nd
The Mask of Altruism Disguising a Colonial War
Oil will be the Driving Factor for Military Intervention in Sudan If proof were needed that Tony Blair is off the hook over Iraq, it came not during the Commons debate on the Butler report on July 21, but rather at his monthly press conference the following morning. Asked about the crisis in Sudan, Mr Blair replied: "I believe we have a moral responsibility to deal with this and to deal with it by any means that we can." This last phrase means that troops might be sent - as General Sir Mike Jackson, the chief of the general staff, immediately confirmed - and yet the reaction from the usual anti-war campaigners was silence. Mr Blair has invoked moral necessity for every one of the five wars he has fought in this, surely one of the most bellicose premierships in history. The bombing campaign against Iraq in December 1998, the 74-day bombardment of Yugoslavia in 1999, the intervention in Sierra Leone in the spring of 2000, the attack on Afghanistan in October 2001, and the Iraq war last March were all justified with the bright certainties which shone from the prime minister's eyes. Blair even defended Bill Clinton's attack on the al-Shifa pharmaceuticals factory in Sudan in August 1998, on the entirely bogus grounds that it was really manufacturing anthrax instead of aspirin. Full Article : commondreams.org
Africa on 08.02.04 @ 07:11 PM CST [ link]
Brazilian president wraps up African trip
July 29, 2004 Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva ended his visit to Africa Thursday by kicking off a business seminar in Cape Verde attended by executives from both countries. Portuguese radio and television stations said Lula, who was on a one-day visit to Cape Verde, met Thursday with that nation's prime minister, Jose Maria Neves. The day before, the Brazilian leader praised Cape Verde President Pedro Pires as a "worthy successor" to Amilcar Cabral, an independence hero both in Cape Verde and Guinea Bissau, where he was assassinated Jan. 20, 1973. Full Article : africana.com
Africa on 08.02.04 @ 11:46 AM CST [ link]
Locust emergency in scared Gambia
Vast swarms of locusts have already arrived in neighbouring countries and a BBC reporter in the Gambian capital, Banjul, says anxiety is growing. More than 70% of the population in Gambia are dependent on farming for their survival. The insects can devour within a day food that would feed thousands of people and hundreds of livestock. Full Article : bbc.co.uk
Africa on 08.02.04 @ 06:52 AM CST [ link]
South Africa: Right to carry arms
South Africa in heated debate over the right to carry armsThe anti-gun lobby used the frightful scenario of a father mistakenly shooting his daughter to underscore their point that South Africans simply revert to guns too easily - that it is symptomatic of a gun-crazy society. The pro-gun lobby has been using situations like that of the two boys getting shot to illustrate the need for self-protection, in the form of gun ownership, against armed criminals for whom life is not worth anything. The cause of the polemic is legislation just passed by the South African parliament that aims to restrict gun ownership. The Firearms Control Act will require all registered and prospective gun owners to undergo strict proficiency tests, and to prove that their firearms are safely stored. Applicants with criminal records, a history of drug or alcohol abuse, or with mental problems can forget about getting a license. Full Article : fortwayne.com
Africa on 08.02.04 @ 06:51 AM CST [ link]
Bringing genocide to the big screen
A line of grim-faced United Nations peacekeepers force back hundreds of desperate Tutsis trying to fight their way onto trucks. Close by, Hutu militias wait, sharpening their machetes. The truck engines start up, but only white people are allowed to board. Full Article : bbc.co.uk
Africa on 08.02.04 @ 06:46 AM CST [ link]
Africa gets promises but not much more from WTO talks
GENEVA : West African countries left here with the promise that their struggle against US cotton subsidies will be taken into account by the WTO but with no concrete guarantees that their struggling workers face a rosier long-term future. Full Article : channelnewsasia.com
Africa on 08.02.04 @ 06:44 AM CST [ link]
Sunday, August 1st
Venezuela army officers arrested
A Venezuelan court has ordered the arrest of 59 military officers on charges of conspiracy, civil rebellion and instigating insurrection. The men took part in a protest against President Hugo Chavez in October 2002 by taking over a square in Caracas and urging civil disobedience. Some of those charged by judge Rita Hernandez also backed a failed coup against Mr Chavez in April 2002. Full Article : bbc.co.uk
Venezuela on 08.01.04 @ 04:15 PM CST [ link]
Women Criticize Vatican Document on Feminism
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Women have reacted with anger and amusement to a Vatican document on feminism, with some saying the Catholic Church is run by men who live in a time warp and want to keep women in their place. Full Article : yahoo.com
USA on 08.01.04 @ 12:49 PM CST [ link]
Brazil Is Leading a Largely South American Mission to Haiti
RIO DE JANEIRO, July 31 - One American administration after another has tried and failed to maintain order and restore democracy in Haiti. Now, with Washington's enthusiastic support, Brazil has stepped in at the head of a United Nations mission, and is using unconventional diplomacy to complement the usual military show of force. Brazil has a long tradition of taking part in United Nations peacekeeping forces, from Central America to East Timor. But the Haiti mission is "the first time that a U.N. force has been established with South American troops in a clear majority" and with South Americans leading the political and military sides of the operation, Brazil's defense minister, José Viegas, noted in an interview in Brasília. Full Article : nytimes.com
USA on 08.01.04 @ 10:39 AM CST [ link]
Mandelson rented flat from oil tycoon in coup claim
Peter Mandelson, the twice-sacked minister who is to be Britain's new European Commissioner, rented a luxury London home from the Lebanese millionaire now accused of funding an illegal African coup. Mandelson's links to Ely Calil - the British-based tycoon who was Lord Archer's financial adviser - will once again raise questions about the former minister's links to rich businessmen. Mandelson was forced to resign as Northern Ireland secretary in 2001 after he was accused of helping one of the Hinduja brothers obtain a British passport. Calil, who made his fortune trading oil in Africa, is being sued in Britain for allegedly funding a coup to overthrow the president of the oil-rich west African state of Equatorial Guinea. Full Article : guardian.co.uk
UK on 08.01.04 @ 10:29 AM CST [ link]
France Ferries Aid in Chad, Soldiers to Deploy
France Ferries Aid in Chad, Soldiers to Deploy ABECHE, Chad (Reuters) - France on Saturday flew a planeload of United Nations aid into eastern Chad where French soldiers prepared to deploy from their base in Abeche toward the border with Sudan's Darfur region. Full Article : nytimes.com
UK on 08.01.04 @ 10:23 AM CST [ link]
British soldiers on standby for Darfur
British soldiers on standby to avert humanitarian disaster in DarfurBritish soldiers are being put on standby this weekend for possible deployment to Sudan as aid agencies warned that hundreds of thousands of lives could be at risk in the western region of Darfur. Full Article : independent.co.ukBritish Petroleum forces they should say
UK on 08.01.04 @ 10:20 AM CST [ link]
Sudan rejects UN resolution over Darfur
The Sudanese government has announced its rejections of the resolutions adopted by the UN Security Council over Darfur, giving a grace period of 30 days to settle the current crisis, otherwise it will face international sanctions. The Sudanese minister of information al-Zahawi Ibtahim described the resolution as misleading. Sudan's representative at the UN al-Fateh Muhammad Ahmad Erwa said that the issuance of the resolution in such a timing reveals what he called the hidden agenda of certain countries. He added " I am unable to express when I see such unfair policy and the double- standard behavior. It is a disappointing action." Full Article : arabicnews.com
Arab on 08.01.04 @ 09:33 AM CST [ link]
Fair price for a life?
Army pays Iraqi family £390 after shooting girl deadThe Army has paid out £390 to the family of an eight-year-old Iraqi girl who was killed after being hit by a bullet fired by a British soldier, The Independent on Sunday can reveal. Hanan Saleh Matrud died in an alleyway near her home in northern Basra after a British soldier with the King's Regiment opened fire nearby. The ricocheting bullet left a deep wound across her stomach, and she later died in hospital. The soldiers claim they fired a warning shot in the air after being targeted by "heavy stone-throwing" by mobs. Local eyewitnesses dispute the claim, and allege that only children were in the streets. Full Article : independent.co.uk
UK on 08.01.04 @ 07:51 AM CST [ more..]
US forces hunt down al-Qa'eda in Sudan
American special forces teams have been sent to Sudan to hunt down Saudi Arabian terrorists who have re-established secret al-Qa'eda training camps in remote mountain ranges in the north-eastern quarter of the country. The terrorists, who are thought to take orders from Saudi Arabia's most wanted man, Saleh Awfi, have taken refuge in at least three locations in the Jebel Kurush mountains, which run parallel to the Red Sea coast of Africa's biggest country. Full Article : telegraph.co.ukHunting al Qaeda, the euphemism for any opposition to U.S. tactics, gives the pretext for planting troops in Sudan ahead of the African Union’s efforts to place African troops there.
UK on 08.01.04 @ 07:41 AM CST [ link]
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