Monday, January 20, 2014

"Central African Republic: Foreign Intervention, 'Manipulation of a Resource Rich Area' and Genocide"

2014-01-20 by John Bart Gerald for "nightslantern.ca" [http://www.globalresearch.ca/central-african-republic-foreign-intervention-manipulation-of-a-resource-rich-area-and-genocide/5365486]:
John Ging, operations director for the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, warns of an escalation of violence that risks a genocide. He notes 2.6 million people need humanitarian assistance.
With nearly a million people suddenly internally displaced, and an extreme shortage of seeds, farmers are not prepared to plant; disastrous food shortages are inevitable. Because both Christian and Muslim groups are at risk, the genocide warning, noted for the national group Nov. 8, 2013, is repeated.
The possibility of genocide has occurred suddenly amid ethnic groups, tribal and religious groups accustomed to co-existence. This suggests manipulation of a resource rich area to the eventual benefit of those who will profit. The hatred and violence seem centred in small (tactical ?) groups. Global news services make no effort to identify the presence of international corporations, what countries protect them, what they stand to profit, their current response to the chaos.
No attempt is made to identify mechanisms of destabilization brought into play by Séléka’s political takeover, in a country where changes of government by military force historically occur without widespread disruption. There is an echo here of what we’ve seen before, as genocidal fighting within the national group requires outside intervention, in a formula for peoples and countries to be taken over by international resource interests. This problem has to be addressed before it starts.  Previous.

Partial sources online:
* “UN on Central African Republic Conflict: High Risk of Genocide,” Ludovica Iaccino, Jan. 16, 2014, International Business Times;
* “Central African Republic: Major Food Crisis Looms in CAR,” Jan. 16, 2014, allAfrica;
* “U.N. warns of genocide risk in Central African Republic,” Jan. 126, 2014, firstpost.world;
* "U.N. points to Chadian collusion in Central African Republic killings,” Tom Miles, Jan.14, 2014, Reuters;
* Night’s Lantern, “Genocide Warnings” [http://nightslantern.ca/02.htm].

Saturday, January 18, 2014

EU Italy trains military in Libya, a former colony of Italy


"Italy boot camp trains soldiers from restive Libya"2014-01-18 from "AFP" newswire:
Cassino, Italy -
Libyan recruits are being put through their paces starting this month at a boot camp in Italy as part of an international programme to restore stability amid unrest since the fall of dictator Moamer Kadhafi.
Some of them are former rebels who fought to oust Kadhafi as part of ragtag opposition forces and the training is taking place at an Italian army base in Cassino, 100 kilometres (62 miles) south of Rome.
In one part of the base a soldier could be seen applying camouflage face paint, while in another soldiers trained on monkey bars and obstacle courses.
An imam in army fatigues calls the soldiers to prayer in a special room fitted out for the purpose and the menus at the canteen have been changed to halal.
The new soldiers "support a free Libya", Lieutenant General Claudio Graziano, chief of staff of the Italian army, said Saturday during a visit to the base -- near the site of the famous World War II battle of Monte Cassino.
"A strong army will become a reference point for democracy and security," Graziano told a small group of reporters, as the 341 mostly young infantrymen around him got trained on weapons handling and camouflage.
Britain, Turkey and the United States are all taking part in the initiative to train up a total of 15,000 troops but Graziano said that Italy -- Libya's former colonial master -- was "taking the lead".
Two thousand Libyan soldiers -- most of them from Benghazi, Misrata and Tripoli -- will be trained in Italy and the first group arrived on January 10.
"We are learning to train together, to be one entity. It's very important for us to learn how to stay united," said one soldier from Libya, where there have been deep tensions between different cities and regions.
One of the Italian trainers is Captain Francesca Giardulli, who went on an intensive six-month language course, and shouted out her orders in Arabic.
"These are young civilians with no experience in the military and so we really have to train them as if they were newbies," Giardulli told AFP.
Graziano said some of the soldiers fought in the rebellion but others had no experience of combat.
"None of them were in Colonel Kadhafi's army," he said.
Colonel Mohammed Badi leads the Libyan contingent and one of 34 officers and sub-officers in the first group.
"Our mission is the same as it is for all the armies in the world, to guard our borders and to ensure protection and security for our population, as well as collaborating with other countries," he said.
Graziano, a former head of the United Nations monitoring force in Lebanon, UNIFIL, and a commander in Afghanistan, said this type of co-operation was "a cultural challenge, but it's nothing new for us".
"At the end of the training, the Libyans will speak a bit more Italian... and as for us, we will speak a bit more Arabic," the general said with a smile.

Friday, January 17, 2014

"The Military Market for Africa"


"Africa grows in importance for defense companies"2014-01-17 from "UPI" newswire [http://www.upi.com/Business_News/Security-Industry/2014/01/17/Africa-grows-in-importance-for-defense-companies/UPI-67801389986933/]:
Newtown, Conn. -
Africa is an increasingly attractive market for international arms and military equipment suppliers as economies and defense spending grow.
Market research and analysis firm Forecast International said in a report titled The Military Market for Africa the continent's overall arms market has traditionally been driven by a small handful of key players with more established economic environments but the situation has now changed.
With smaller market countries increasingly taking positive steps toward democracy and overall stability, and governments focusing more on creating strong economies, it's projected that defense spending among African nations will surpass $46 billion by 2018, Forecast International said.
"As optimism about the continent's prospects increases, global defense firms have started to eye the African market more closely," said the report's author, Nicole Auger. "It has ignited an intense competition between non-African defense companies while opening up an array of possible joint ventures and technology transfer agreements with African defense firms."
Nation-on-nation war among African countries has been on the decline, the report noted, and although conflicts between countries still flare up on occasion they rarely escalate to extreme levels.
If the trend continues, decade-long sanctions and arms embargoes could be lifted and opportunities for global defense firms would expand, particularly in the area of internal security products and services.
"Key arms purchases will likely be state-of-the-art surveillance equipment such as unmanned aerial vehicles and electronics," to counter the threat of rising Islamic fundamentalism within some countries.
Porous borders, illegal arms trafficking, and challenging socio-economic conditions have made it difficult for nations to control this escalating problem, the IF report said. North African nations have already experienced firsthand how the lack of proper military surveillance equipment can handicap their militaries and security forces.
As an example, the report cited Mali, where Islamic militants suspected of having ties to the terrorist group al-Qaida staged a rebellion in 2011 and now control the north of the country -- where they are being battled by French expeditionary forces called in to aid the country.
Libya, the report noted, has found it "nearly impossible" to control the rebel-run southern portion of the nation following the rebellion that toppled dictator Moammar Ghadafi. Chaos in the country has sparked increased weapon smuggling, which threatens regional security.
Elsewhere on the continent Somalia's terrorist group al-Shabaab has been showing signs of evolving into a transnational terror group; rebel groups have grabbed control of major towns in the oil producing region of South Sudan; and Boko Haram, an Islamic militant group, is roiling Nigeria with massacres, bombings and other acts of violence.
"Globally, there is concern that terrorism in Africa could spread, affecting the stability of non-African countries," Forecast International said. "A number of Western nations are therefore eager to help equip African militaries, which remain open to practically all weapons suppliers."

Monday, January 6, 2014

USA and Israel implicated in covert campaign to disrupt Sudan


"Israel, US do not want united Sudan: Short"2014-01-06 [http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2014/01/06/343983/israel-us-do-not-want-united-sudan]:
Press TV has conducted an interview with Randy Short, with the Black Autonomy Network Community Organization, from Washington, about the ongoing deadly violence in South Sudan.
What follows is an approximate transcription of the interview.

Press TV: Tell us about the situation that is taking place in South Sudan; is it likely that holding these talks is actually going help solve this problem? How do you see overall what is going on?

Short: The United States has created another directional colony, like you have South Korea and South Vietnam and now you have South Sudan. They have tried to destroy the Sudanese state; John Garang, leader of the SPLM [Sudan People's Liberation Movement] died in the circumstances, while I believe he was assassinated, which allowed South Sudan to even come into being; they put in the vice president, Reik Machar,s who is a mass killer as vice president, a person known for killing women and children to his forces.
You have nine of ten provinces of South Sudan [involved in] armed insurgencies before this fighting started; it is a fraud, it is a failure and if you have got the Dinka and Nuer, who were divided by the racist, colonial policies of Great Britain that pivoted people against each other, I do not think it is a workable model, I do hope the best peace, but there is supposed to be one Sudan; and Israel and the United States do not want it.
There are also other conflicts like the Nuba, where there are a lot of victims of genocide and you have got the conflicts in the area, in Congo and Uganda and Kenya on the brink. So, it shows the stupid, violent, international policy of the United States leading to piles of black bodies, just like it does domestically with its African American people.

Press TV: Ok, just one final question with the situation. Is there anything that have come out of these talks that have been held in Addis Ababa?

Randy: Sure, there can be a fragile peace but like I said, if Machar, a mass killer who fought against on both sides of the war and also was involved in the genocide of Dinka 1991... how can he be a trusted power broker? And this is the fraud that the United States has imposed on a country that should not exist without having a whole out of infrastructure, more preparation, which means it should be one Sudan versus a Balkanized Sudan.


"Sudan strife due to US, Israel ‘dirty hands’: Lendman" 
2014-01-13 [www.presstv.ir/detail/2014/01/13/345428/us-israel-dirty-hands-devastate-sudan/]:
Press TV has conducted an interview with Stephen Lendman, author and radio host, Chicago about the issue of violence in South Sudan after the splitting of Sudan by Western powers.
The following is an approximate transcript of the interview.

Press TV: The situation is getting very, very tough in South Sudan. Interestingly enough because we know it’s a newly-formed country and it broke off from Sudan, but so many of the refugees are actually going to Sudan seeking refuge right now.
Tell me about the situation that’s going on in the country in your perspective. Is it a power play? Are there other entities behind this or how do you see what’s going on, on the ground there?

Lendman: Of course in all of these conflicts civilians always are the ones who suffer the most. It’s happening in South Sudan, the Central African Republic, Syria, one country after another.
I must say in the case of Sudan until July 2011 it was one country; it was the largest country in Africa. And Washington’s and Israel’s dirty hands were behind the Balkanization of the country, splitting it into two pieces. The oil-rich part of the country in the south controlled by Salva Kiir – a US ally, George Bush was very close to Kiir and I think Obama is as well.
Really, it’s a deplorable situation when the country never should have been divided in the first place; it was a civil war that preceded it for so many years. And again the dirty hands of Washington and Israel are behind so much of this and that certainly is the case in South Sudan.

Press TV: We see this time and time again that resource areas of many of these countries that have the most resources are basically, if you want to say, colonized or taken over in some way. In this situation it was the creation of South Sudan; in another place it might be basically giving one area autonomy from a country.
What will it take basically for these various countries to be able to have control over their own resources because basically we’re talking about Sudan itself that of course was a part of not so long ago?  

Lendman: Indeed. That is so important. I’m old enough to remember after World War II so many of the colonized countries became independent. Did they really become independent? They did not become independent. They went from colonialism to neo-colonialism and brutal exploitation that is every bit as vicious and illegal and violent today as it ever was in the bad old days.
And it’s one country after another: In the Middle East, in Africa. I guess as a continent, Africa may be the most exploited continent and the people are suffering so much from violence and poverty and the rest of it.
In the Western countries, the NATO countries; Israel [is] very much involved. And always Washington, the key country the key belligerent in the region and all over the world [is] causing this sort of human misery.
What will it take to end it? The only thing I see is spreading enough truth to get enough people upset enough to absolutely demand change. In America a poll shows over 80 percent of Americans opposed the Afghan war, much greater than ever it was the anti-war sentiment at the height of the Vietnam war. But what’s happening? Nothing. Nothing is happening....      

Press TV: I just want to look at this aspect of it. You talked about the African continent as probably the most exploited of all the continents. What is your take on it? If we look at as you said since World War II we see so many of these created states, created lines of demarcation between countries and then all of a sudden we see these battles, these clashes, conflicts, wars coming up.
A lot of times people do not understand the history and that these demarcations were unofficially made in order to bring about this conflict. Your take?

Lendman: Yes indeed.
I would say categorically that the main reason for these conflicts is the dirty Western hands and Israel’s hands. If the manipulation didn’t go on for control of resources and regional dominance I think most of these conflicts either wouldn’t happen or they’d be much smaller ones.
The devastation to ordinary people wouldn’t happen to the extent that is going on today, but this certainly is the case and I blame the Western responsibility for this and mainly my own country America as the lead belligerent. They are the ones who deserve the blame.


"US, Israeli 'dirty hands' behind conflicts in Africa"
2014-01-14 [http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2014/01/14/345628/us-israel-dirty-hands-stir-africa-clashes/]:
A political analyst says the “dirty hands” of the United States and Israeli regime are behind the ongoing conflicts in South Sudan and the entire African continent, Press TV reports.
In an interview with Press TV on Monday, Stephen Lendman, a US-based author and radio host, described the deadly violence in South Sudan as “deplorable,” stressing that “the dirty hands of Washington and Israel are behind so much of this.”
Lendman also said the “belligerent” US government and its allies were the main reason behind the separation of South Sudan from Sudan in 2011.
Violence erupted in South Sudan on December 15, 2013, after President Salva Kiir accused Riek Machar, a former vice president who was sacked last July, of attempting to stage a coup. The fighting continues despite efforts to get the government and the rebels to begin formal talks on a truce.
On January 10, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said the conflict in South Sudan has so far made some 43,000 people flee to the neighboring states, while 232,000 South Sudanese have been also internally displaced.
Around 10,000 people have also fled north to Sudan, making it the second largest recipient of South Sudanese refugees after Uganda, according to the UN refugee agency.
The analyst further described Africa as “the most exploited continent” throughout the history, adding that the Tel Aviv regime and its western allies are very much involved in the deadly crises in the African countries.
“If the manipulation didn’t go on for control of resources and regional dominance...most of these conflicts either would not happen or they would be much smaller ones,” according to Lendman.

Wednesday, January 1, 2014

South Sudan "leaders" are sell-outs to transnational capitalists

Information about the conquest of South Sudan: [link]

"South Sudan sellout leaders sacrifice our people for personal gain"
2013-12-31 by Luwezi Kinshasa, Secretary General of the African Socialist International [http://uhurunews.com/story?resource_name=south-sudan-sellout-leaders-sacrifice-our-people-for-personal-gain]:
The conflict between Salva Kiir Mayardit and Riek Machar in South Sudan is not a tribal conflict as the imperialist press wants us to believe. It is an imperialist crisis.

The elections are fast approaching in South Sudan. Everyone is jockeying for position. Riek Machar has already made clear that he intends to stand as the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) candidate in the 2015 elections.
None of the African petty bourgeois candidates has an ideology that separates or distinguishes him from the other candidates.
Because of this and the fact that none of them has access to productive capital that makes them clearly identifiable as "entrepreneurs" in the bourgeois sense, tribes become an important factor.
One gets elected because of tribal support, not because one addresses the fundamental needs and aspirations of the people.
One gets power because one can control vast fields of oil, gas or any other minerals to sell to foreign imperialist, not because one wants to make oil accessible or to benefit the impoverished masses of African people.
To portray the conflict between president Salva Kiir and his former vice president as tribal conflict is disrespectful to all honest people around the world who are seeking answers to the conflict.
Salva Kiir, who became the leader of the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) after the mysterious death of John Garang in Museveni's helicopter crash in July 2005, sacked Riek Machar and the entire cabinet in July 2013.
There are rumors that Machar was becoming too powerful. There is clearly a rivalry between the two for the top sell out job of neo-colonial president of South Sudan.
When Kiir dismissed Riek Machar and the entire cabinet, it was based on the allegations that Machar was plotting a coup against him.
Machar and his supporters responded by seizing oil fields, which have a strong economical weight in the contest between the two petty bourgeois camps.
It is a political contest of who will win the power to serve foreign looters.

It is not tribal violence but imperialist violence -
Tribalism obscures the deadly and genocidal role played by imperialism and the treacherous surrender of the African petty bourgeoisie to white imperialists.
While tribalism is used to whip up emotions and mobilize our suffering and impoverished people to shed our blood for the triumph of the opportunist petty bourgeois leaders who have wrapped their ambitions in tribal rhetoric whenever it suits them to hide their true objective and interest.
We know that their loyalty is primarily with imperialism. They do not give a damn about the people.
The white imperialist press has worked overnight to undermine and confuse the world opinion by intoxicating us with the assertion that it is a tribal conflict.
Machar and Kiir have no antagonistic differences. They are united to serve old and new imperialists in South Sudan. Why are they sacrificing our people for personal gain?
Taking a quick glance at Nuer and Dinka populations, one cannot fail to spot the striking resemblance and their common origin as African people. The imperialists are the other—the alien foreigners and the looters—who provide us with weapons and military training to kill each other.
The SPLA was created to make wars against Africans. It is a bourgeois institution created to settle scores between factions of the African petty bourgeoisie.
When SPLA fought against Omar Bashir, they fought another sector of the African petty bourgeois for access to resources and power. The military conflict between Kiir and Machar is a fight between two commanders of the SPLA, fighting to consolidate petty bourgeois power.
Both Kiir and Machar get along with all predators who come into South Sudan—India, China, Britain, the U.S., Malaysia and others—but they cannot get along with each other?

SPLA has long history of serving imperialism -
The U.S. has been supporting the Sudanese People's Liberation Army for decades against the Sudanese army of Omar Bashir. They've used Darfur and South Sudan as an opportunity to seek the balkanization of Sudan.
In 2005, a peace accord agreement was signed between Bashir's government and the Sudanese People Liberation Movement that announced the 2011 referendum.
The U.S., EU and other parasitic capitalist countries campaigned around the clock in 2011 to achieve the secession of South Sudan from the rest of Sudan.
The split has crippled the economy of Omar Bashir's Sudan, which has lost 75 percent of its national revenue since the separation between South Sudan and Sudan.
It is in Sudan that China, before the split, obtained its largest oil import in Africa. Most of the oil is located in South Sudan, a landlocked country.
There is also a pipeline that, once built, will export oil from South Sudan to Kenya's port, making the pipeline that goes through North Sudan to the Red Sea irrelevant. Only U.S. allies will benefit from the pipeline.
On top of this split and the sharp fall of resources, Omar Bashir is under pressure by the imperialist opportunist of the International Criminal Court, a white neocolonial institution set up to get African rulers to submit to white EU will in the name of fighting against crimes against humanity.
African people in South Sudan, manipulated by U.S. white imperialist media which has specialized in disinformation and straight lies, were convinced to vote for the referendum which split Sudan into two countries.
Do Salva Kiir and Riek Machar now want to break South Sudan in more "republiquettes?"
The U.S. government in Sudan is in conquered land. They lent the South Sudan government $600 million. They have military facilities.
One might ask, why? It is bribery.
Nothing happens in this region without the involvement of Museveni from Uganda, which has been in the last two decades, the pivot from which U.S. imperialism has been able to intervene in Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan and Somalia.
South Sudan possesses vast reserves of oil with production of 250,000 barrels per day. They also have gas and other key minerals.
When put in the regional context, it is next to Congo and Central Africa Republic, two neighbors that are in the crosshairs of white imperialism.
One cannot fail to see the unfolding of the new scramble for Africa by the U.S., France, Japan, Canada, and now China, India and the rest of the emerging predators in a feeding frenzy in Africa.
The role of the workers is to reject any sort of tribal or ethnic allegiance. We are African workers first.
We need to call for unity of all African people in Sudan and throughout the region against the African petty bourgeoisie and imperialism in the region.
We are calling on all African soldiers in Sudan to unite and turn their guns on the sellout African petty bourgeois officers.
It is more urgent than ever to respond to the call of the African Socialist International to free and unite the African nation.
Join the African Socialist International!