In this issue:

South Africa Promotes State Role at Africa Rail Conference

Has Mbeki Abandoned the Free-Market for Malaysia Model?

Sudan's President Orders Disarming of Darfur Militias

Anglo-Americans Active in Congo-Rwanda Mischief

Congolese Diaspora Demonstrations in Paris, London

Congo President Cleans Out His Security and Top Military

Nigerian President Seeks to Break Labor Movement

From Volume 3, Issue Number 26 of Electronic Intelligence Weekly, Published June 29, 2004
Africa News Digest

South Africa Promotes State Role at Africa Rail Conference

South Africa "has adopted the view that because rail and related infrastructure are so critical to our future development, the State should play a pivotal role through its state-owned entities to drive economic growth and investment in infrastructure," said South Africa's Transport Minister, Jeff Radebe, in his keynote address to the three-day Africa Rail 2004 conference held in Midrand near Johannesburg June 22-24. Speakers and attendees were from the public and private sectors involved in transport from across the continent, and much of the focus was on public-private partnerships, and on how to bring in private finance to help build up a dense railway network across the African continent.

Speakers were drawn from national and international institutions based in Egypt, Morocco, Ghana, Kenya, DR Congo, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Angola, Zambia, Botswana, and South Africa.

In Radebe's keynote, he laid out the vision and the problem of how to link river-based transport modes efficiently to road and rail systems, and the need to surmount the problem of the different existing rail gauges, which will present difficulties in integrating the rail systems, particularly between neighboring countries. While acknowledging that the challenge is enormous, particularly with respect to funding, he added that "a great deal of overall work is already under way. I think we should all be excited at the major work emerging around the continent. The Great Lakes Railway proposal to link Uganda, Burundi, and Rwanda to the Tazara [Tanzania-Zambia] line is a modern plan with an older history, but one that has great potential. Similarly, the road and rail infrastructure plans of the West African trade corridor linking Senegal, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Guinea, Mali, and Cote d'Ivoire together, must rank in the same league of importance as the Trans-Sahara Highway linking Morocco with Lagos, or the National Coast Road joining Tunisia with Egypt through Libya.

"The rail developments in the Horn of Africa, notably the link between Djibouti and Addis Abeba carry considerable potential as well. And we note with pleasure the increasing shift towards further investment in national systems, too."

Has Mbeki Abandoned the Free-Market for Malaysia Model?

South African President Mbeki has totally abandoned free-market economics, and has chosen the Malaysia model, say two articles in Business Day (South Africa). One, a news article June 24, claims that Mbeki, in his speech in the National Assembly June 23, "set the seal on a decisive broad policy shift to the left for this final term in office, lashing out at what he called the 'new conservatism' sweeping the world, which 'enshrined the individual and denigrated the state.'"

It continues, "The President's comments, which might prove to be a watershed in South African politics, came as he introduced his budget vote in the National Assembly. They signal not so much a return to the old socialism of the exiled African National Congress [ANC], but a retreat from the ruling party's wholesale conversion to free-market economics just before it came to power. Mbeki devoted the last half of his speech in the National Assembly to an attack on those who supported the liberal and so-called neoliberal values that characterized American conservatives."

An opinion column by Peter Bruce June 25 continues the argument by pointing to the importance of the Malaysian experience for Mbeki: "Will it work? Mbeki has looked enviously upon the successes of countries such as Malaysia, which seem to have defied free market conventions to record mouth-watering economic success. This and other examples have filled him with the conviction that South Africa, like the Asian Tigers and, perhaps, like China today, does not have to ape the old conventions and that it can, indeed, fashion an economy all of its own."

Since these articles appeared, Mbeki has attempted to deny that his government is undergoing any major shift. The text of his speech shows that he quoted from the 2002 book by British journalist Will Hutton, The World We're In, as follows: Hutton argues that Western democracies have been characterized by "one broad family of ideas that might be called Left—a belief in the social, reduction in inequality, the provision of public services, the principle that workers should be treated as assets rather than commodities, regulation of enterprise, rehabilitation of criminals, tolerance and respect for minorities—and another broad family of ideas that might be called Right: An honoring of our inherited institutional fabric, a respect for order, a belief that private property rights and profit are essential to the operation of the market economy, a suspicion of workers rights, faith in the remedial value of punitive justice and distrust of the new." Mbeki said, "There can be no doubt about where we stand with regard to this great divide."

Sudan's President Orders Disarming of Darfur Militias

Sudanese President Umar Al-Bashir ordered a "complete mobilization" to disarm illegal militias in western Darfur province, Reuters reported June 19. The order came one day after the U.S. State Department threatened to impose sanctions if Khartoum did not stop the fighting in Darfur.

Bashir's order includes by name the Janjaweed militias—Arab militias that have been competing with the African population of western Darfur for watering holes and pasturage as the Sahara creeps southward. The government has been accused of backing the Janjaweed, which it denies.

The President's order also calls on the judicial authorities in Darfur to set up prosecution offices and courts to go after plunder gangs and criminals "without delay."

But the government in Khartoum may not have sufficient reach to stop the militias, admits David Mozersky of the International Crisis Group (ICG). ICG is a cat's paw for the Anglo-American powers.

Government officials have accused the West of creating the insurgency in the population that the militias are alleged to be brutally attacking indiscriminately, in a no-win situation.

Anglo-Americans Active in Congo-Rwanda Mischief

British and American diplomats were highly active in Congo-Rwanda diplomacy in late June, as war between Congo and Rwanda loomed. Their motives appear to be, to leave open the possibility of a Rwanda-inspired secession of eastern Congo while sanitizing Rwanda's role.

The background: Congo President Joseph Kabila has been on a diplomatic offensive to present the evidence that Rwandan forces control North Kivu province. Kabila is soliciting "diplomatic or military" support from the targeted African and European countries to help kick Rwanda out and defeat its sympathizers.

The campaign had obviously already made great headway by June 5, when the International Committee to Accompany the Transition (CIAT), the committee in Kinshasa of the heavyweights' ambassadors—including from the U.S., UK, and Belgium—felt it had to issue a statement fingering Rwanda for aggression. Meanwhile a new Congolese popular patriotism is being formed.

The latest developments:

* Congolese Foreign Minister Antoine Ghonda arrived in Paris June 22 to begin a seven-day tour of European capitals, including London and Brussels, taking the high ground that normalization of relations with Rwanda, desired by the international community, "must be based on mutual respect." Congolese ministers have just returned from Tanzania, South Africa, Botswana, and Jordan.

* British Minister for Africa Chris Mullin and U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Donald Yamamoto were in Kinshasa June 22 for "conversations at the highest level," Mullin for 48 hours, Yamamoto for just a few hours. Both then went to Kigali. The Angolan Foreign Minister was also in Kinshasa June 23.

* Yamamoto, in Kigali June 23, after meeting President Kagame, told the press: "In the U.S., we are very, very concerned about the situation in eastern Congo and we have come to discuss with the [Rwandan] government and the President to emphasize in what respect this situation has us so concerned," AFP reported.

* Mai-Mai militiamen—ever hostile to invaders—have been battling the ANC (Rwanda-controlled RCD forces) 70 km northeast of Goma in North Kivu province (very near the Rwandan border) for a week, the UN's Radio Okapi reported June 23. Okapi claimed that at stake is the "control of the interior of the province." Okapi also reported the arrival in Congo of 600 more armed men from across Lake Kivu, who went to Kalehe, where Rwanda's Gen. Nkunda is encamped. But the national army has pushed Nkunda's sidekick, Col. Jules Mutebusi, and his 300 men, to the point that they have taken refuge in Rwanda.

* The State Secretary in the Rwandan Interior Ministry, Joseph Mutaboba, told Radio Okapi June 21 that Rwanda would not hesitate "a single minute" to invade Congo, and that the 10,000 troops Kinshasa has sent to the East are part of preparations for an invasion of Rwanda, AFP reported June 22.

* The President of the UN Security Council, Lauro Baja, June 22, declared that the Council invites the UN Secretary General to determine the need for a possible rapid reaction force to be added to the UN Mission in Congo. The command of this force "will apparently be given to France," according to L'Avenir June 24.

* Kabila and Kagame, under strong Anglo-American pressure, held a summit June 25 in Abuja, Nigeria, at which they agreed on a mechanism to guarantee that Rwandan troops are not in Congo, and Rwandan Hutu refugees in Congo, hostile to the Kagame government, are disarmed. Congolese Foreign Minister Ghonda told AFP June 26, "If, for example, there is information on the presence of Rwandan soldiers in a Congolese locale, a mixed patrol will be formed immediately, consisting of Rwandan and Congolese soldiers and observers from the UN Mission and/or the African Union to go there and verify the facts." The mechanism is to be in place by July 3.

Congolese Diaspora Demonstrations in Paris, London

The Congolese diaspora, angry over the latest assaults on Congo, centered in Bukavu, held demonstrations in Paris and London June 16. At the French National Assembly, the demonstrators handed in a memorandum saying in part, "We support Artemis 2 [the proposed return of French troops to eastern Congo] while desiring its extension to the entire national territory.... until a national army, capable of defending the integrity of the country, is in place."

In London, they submitted a memorandum to Tony Blair recognizing the British government as the most responsible for the atrocities of recent years in Congo, because of its "continuous support for the Rwandan government." It called for an end to all military and financial aid to Rwanda.

Congo President Cleans Out His Security and Top Military

Congo President Joseph Kabila has "suspended" the top two officials responsible for Presidential security, a source close to the Presidency told AFP June 20. They are Damas Kabulo, described by AFP, in quotes, as "the head of the military establishment," and Jean-Claude Kifwa, head of the Special Group for Presidential Security (GSSP). The source also said that Chief of the General Staff Adm. Liwanga Mata-Nvamunvobo had been replaced by his deputy, Kisemkia Songi Langa.

Nigerian President Seeks to Break Labor Movement

Nigeria's "pro-democracy" President, Olusegun Obasanjo, reportedly angry over militant labor opposition to his free-market economic reform program, has sent a bill to the National Assembly to decentralize the Nigerian Labor Congress (NLC) and outlaw strikes. NLC President Adams Oshiomhole, in an address to the inaugural delegate conference of the Congress of Free Trade Unions (CFTU) said, "The right to form and join unions is guaranteed by the constitution and cannot be repudiated by any President, no matter how powerful or angry he might be." NLC national mobilization officer Denja Yaqub said: "It is a threat to democracy. Where there is no opposition, democracy cannot flow well. The political parties do not offer any opposition at all to Obasanjo's government."

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