Africa News Digest
Cheney/Neo-Con Gang Allows North Korea to Arm Ethiopia
U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack admitted on April 9 that the United States did not interdict a North Korean ship supplying weapons to the Ethiopia, according to AFP in Djibouti. The Bush Administration had succeeded in getting the United Nations Security Council in October 2006, to unanimously impose sanctions on North Korea for conducting nuclear tests, which sanctions included intercepting North Korean ships suspecting of transporting weapons to other countries.
The reason for turning a blind eye in this recent case, although McCormack did not spell it out, is that Ethiopia, with military aid, intelligence, and in some cases troops on the ground from the United States, invaded Somalia late last December. The ostensible reason was to crush alleged "Islamic fundamentalists" in Somalia. As a result, the Bush Administration is allowing the Ethiopians to occupy parts of Somalia and do the dirty work for Cheney and his neo-con cohorts.
According to the UN sanctions, the United States has the "authority" to intercept North Korean ships involved in "suspicious" activities. The formal name of this authority is the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI). It is a U.S. initiative, which several seagoing countries have already signed onto, and 60 others have agreed to sign. But apparently, bringing lethal arms to a friend was not considered "suspicious" activity.
In justifying the lack of action in this case, McCormack said: "In terms of activities within the PSI, you are always doing the cost-benefit analysis as to whether or not it is to the benefit of the overall effort to launch particular operations, to intercept, board, ask for boarding rights to any particular shipment."
|