AFRICA NEWS DIGEST
Mbeki at ASEAN Summit Calls for Africa/Southeast Asia Collaboration
South African President Thabo Mbeki has called on the Southeast Asian countries to collaborate with their African counterparts to ensure that changes are made in governance to meet the needs of the developing countries of the South.
Mbeki was addressing delegates at the 8th ASEAN summit in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. "Together, we must collaborate to ensure that we change the structures of global governance as well as the structure of the global economy such that we achieve democracy, equity, fairness, as well as sustained development," he was quoted as saying. "It is our earnest belief that multi-regional cooperation and stronger all-round relations among the peoples of the South increase not just the volume of our collective voice, but the quality of this voice, adding the appropriate weight to our demand for a just and equitable world order." "To achieve our common objectives in this regard, requires that we work in a systematic, purposeful and conscious manner in fact to deepen the relations among ourselves."
Mbeki also addressed the Iraq situation at the ASEAN meet. "We trust that sense will prevail so that no country or combination of countries take it upon themselves to embark on unilateral action against Iraq." (See this week's INDEPTH for details on this important ASEAN meeting.)
Saddam Hussein Asks South Africa To Help Stop War
According to a Nov. 5 South Africa Press Agency (SAPA) article called "MPs Back Mbeki on Iraq," Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has asked South Africa President Mbeki, who is chairman of the Non-Aligned Movement, to do all he can to stop the U.S. campaign against Iraq. This followed a visit to Iraq by Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Aziz Pahad, who delivered a special message from Mbeki to Saddam Hussein during the visit to Baghdad for the highly successful international trade fair.
The letter from Mbeki commended the Iraqi leader for offering UN weapons inspectors unconditional access to Iraq, and Mbeki said the inspections, if conducted objectively, would lead to a comprehensive resolution of Iraq's political and economic woes. Mbeki reportedly asked Saddam Hussein to convey to him any concerns about the imminent weapons inspections. The South African government, in its capacity as chair of the Non-Aligned Movement, would then raise these with the UN and individual Western nations, such as the U.S. and Britain.
At the South African Parliament Nov. 5, Pallo Jordan, an African National Congress MP and chairman of the National Assembly's foreign affairs committee, urged Parliament during a special debate on Iraq to unite behind Mbeki in his efforts to ensure that war was avoided, and that the stand-off between Washington and Baghdad was resolved. "And because war is bad for little children, their mothers, their fathers, and other living things, this august house should lend its support to our President's efforts," Pallo Jordan said.
More Economic Relations Would Mutually Benefit Iraq and South Africa
Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has instructed his government to increase trade with South Africa, following his meeting with Deputy Foreign Minister Aziz Pahad in the Iraqi capital on Nov. 4, while Pahad was attending the trade fair there. A report published Nov. 5 in the Iraqi daily Babil indicates that Saddam Hussein said he advised his ministers to cultivate economic relations with South Africa, particularly in the fields of food and science and technology. He also suggested holding a trade fair featuring South African products in Baghdad early next year.
A pioneer group of South African businessmen participated in this year's Baghdad International Trade Fair. International business facilitator Rodney Hemphill of Falcon Trading noted that he and his counterparts are duly excited by the prospects of increased trade with Iraq, and they are equally concerned about the consequences of America leading an attack on Iraq. "This will lead to a war, which will not only further destroy the economy of Iraq, but in turn affect all business trade from other countries, amounting to billions and billions of dollars each year," Hemphill.
Hemphill's partner and international trader, Shakir Alkhafaji, said even under the current rigorous sanctions, Iraq's economy was equal to the Arab-Gulf countries combined. "War will destroy this all," said Alkhafaji.
Echoing Hemphill's concerns, Deputy FM Pahad said the international community needs to ensure that UN arms inspectors enter Iraq as soon as possible to carry out their work objectively and with the sole purpose of determining whether Iraq has weapons of mass destruction or not.
UK Defense Minister Hoon Meets Hostility in South Africa
When British Defense Minister Geoffrey Hoon arrived to brief the South African Parliament on Oct. 30, he faced "harshly critical questions" from African National Congress MPs on the defense and foreign affairs committees of the South Africa, reported Business Day, the Johannesburg daily. The article said it was "the most public demonstration yet by members of the ruling party that they blame Britain for the situation in Zimbabwe, and not President Robert Mugabe." The MPs accused Britain of having contributed to the "demise" of Zimbabwe and of having "reneged" on Lancaster House undertakings to fund land reform that was to begin in 1980.
Hoon "came under fire" on a number of other foreign policy issues, including "Britain's failure to condemn the military coup in Pakistan," while "being highly critical of Mugabe and the situation in Zimbabwe."
"Hoon was also criticized by the ANC over Britain's support for attacks on Iraq, and was accused of being a mouthpiece for the Bush Administration," Business Day reports. ANC defense committee chairwoman Thandi Modise zeroed in the question of oil, saying "there was concern in South Africa over the increased U.S. interest in Angola. She said there was a common thread linking the U.S. desire for attacks on Iraq and its interest in Angola and that was oil."
U.S. Expands Anti-Terrorism Operations in Africa
The U.S. embassy in Addis Ababa has confirmed that the U.S. is planning to set up an anti-terrorist headquarters in the Horn of Africa. Some 400 troops are to be sent in to Djibouti to set up a headquarters. At present there are already some 800 U.S. Army and Special Forces troops stationed in Djibouti.
The embassy said that according to Pentagon officials in Washington, al-Qaeda members are believed to have infiltrated and are "hiding" in the region.
"The United States is increasing its forces stationed around the Horn of Africa to about 1,200 troops," the embassy said. It added that the troops could "stage attacks against fighters of al-Qaeda who are believed to be hiding throughout the region."
The new base is expected to operate from a naval command ship off the coast, but may then move onshore. It is also expected to work with "friendly nations" in the region to help in the fight against terrorism.
Both inside the United States and internationally, there is concern over U.S. so-called "anti-terrorist operations," since the U.S. has adopted the Israeli model of "preemptive assassinations" with the Nov. 2 killing of suspected al-Qaeda terrorists in Yemen. (See ASIA and MIDDLE EAST DIGESTS for more details.)
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