UN holds memorial for staff killed in Haiti earthquake

United Nations staff and family members of the 101 personnel who perished in the Haiti earthquake are gathering in New York today for a ceremony to honour the victims and to commemorate the single greatest loss the world body has suffered in its history.

UN rights chief calls for new approach to end cycle of violence in Nigeria

The United Nations human rights chief said today she was appalled by the latest “massacre” of hundreds of villagers in northern Nigeria, and called for authorities to tackle the underlying causes of the tension in the region.

Chile quake moved a city by three metres

The magnitude 8.8 earthquake that struck Chile moved the city of Concepcion by around 3 metres

Nigerian Acting President Fires National Security Adviser Over MassKillings in Jos

Jonathan fires NSA over Jos mayhem

Nigeria Vanguard
Headlines Mar 9, 2010

*Aliyu Gusau is new Security Adviser *400 victims get mass burial *UN, Vatican mourn, appeal for calm

By Taye Obateru & Emmanuel Aziken

ABUJA— THE Jos crisis which led to the death of about 400 people on Sunday, has led to the sacking of the National Security Adviser, Sarki Mukhtar, by the Acting President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan.

To replace him is Aliyu Gusau, a one time National Security Adviser to former President, Olusegun Obasanjo.

Meantime, about 400 corpses of the victims of Sunday’s massacre were, yesterday, given a mass burial at Dogon Na Hauwa village in Jos South Local Government Area of Plateau State amid tears and wailings.

This emerged as, former Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon, said there was no alternative to dialogue in resolution of conflicts. He spoke at a peace conference on the recurring crisis in Jos.

Strong stench of decomposing human bodies permeated the air as the bodies were removed from the truck which conveyed them to the burial site. An elderly man collapsed and had to be revived on sighting the bodies lined up in the mass grave. He was later led away from the scene by some of his relations.

The burial was preceded by a funeral service at the village square where various clerics preached on the need for all to accept what has happened as the will of God.

State Commissioner for Works and Transport who headed the Rescue and Recovery Committee said three mass graves were dug for the bodies.

He said about 380 were being buried at Dogon Na Hauwa while about 36 corpses would be buried in the two other graves. According to him, some of the bereaved made their own burial arrangements.

Police arrest 96 over the massacre

Meanwhile the Plateau State Police Command said that about 96 persons had been arrested over the massacre, with the Police spokesman, Mohammed Lerama, indicating in a statement, that four of the fleeing Fulanis were shot dead by the security men.

Speaking at the workshop on peace organized by the Institute for Governance and Social Research, Gowon lamented that the peaceful nature for which Plateau was known had been disrupted. He said the issues must be addressed honestly to resolve the problem.

While reiterating his commitment to one indivisible country, Gowon recalled that it was this commitment that made him resort to the use of force to keep the country one during the civil war.

He said: “Those who know me know that I have been on the side of peaceful resolution of all conflicts. If you will recall, as head of state, I did all that was possible to secure a peaceful resolution of the Nigerian crisis in the second half of the 1960s. Unfortunately, due to circumstances beyond my control, I had to use force to preserve the unity of our nation.”

Second Republic President, Alhaji Shehu Shagari, regretted that present leaders of the country were not doing enough to sustain the unity of the country which former leaders stood and fought for.

He lamented: “if past national leaders fought to keep the unity of this country like Gowon did and late J.S Tarkar fought to keep the Middle Belt one, what are the present leaders doing to sustain the unity of Nigeria and Middle Belt?”

The conference was almost disrupted by pandemonium in the town following rumour of an outbreak of violence in some parts. This led to shut down of business houses and schools as people ran helter-skelter and scampered to their homes. However, there was calm after a while as people went about their businesses with most shops remaining shut throughout the day.

Troops deployed

Authorities deployed troops to arrest the marauding gangs that rampaged across villages near the city centre, where hundreds died in clashes early this year. Under fire for failing to prevent another outburst of sectarian violence, authorities said they had arrested scores of people in connection with the attacks.

Agency reports said that Muslim residents of the villages had been warned by phone text messages, two days prior to the attack, so they could make good their escape.

Dozens of university students, yesterday, carried placards outside a Jos hotel where several former heads of state and the state government held a peace conference.

Placards read: ‘We want peace in Plateau State’ and ‘Say no to genocide’.

In Bukuru and Dadin Kowa on the fringes of Jos, police fired warning shots to disperse protesters and rounded up youths trying to demonstrate, according to a police source.

Witnesses meanwhile described how victims in Sunday’s three-hour systematic orgy of violence, mainly women and children, were caught in animal traps and fishing nets as they tried to flee attackers who hacked them to death.

Vatican expresses sadness, concern

The Vatican, yesterday, lamented “horrible acts of violence” committed by machete-wielding gangs. Vatican spokesman, Federico Lombardi, told a news agency that the church reacted with “sadness and concern” to the violence in Jos, blaming it on Muslim pastoralists.

Asked to comment on the nature of the conflict, Lombardi deferred to Nigerian church authorities. The Archbishop of Abuja, John Onaiyekan, told Vatican Radio, yesterday, that the violence was rooted not in religion but in social, economic, tribal and cultural differences.

Ban Ki-moon appeals for calm

The United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, also appealed for “maximum restraint” amid revulsion at the slaughter of more than 500 Christians, as survivors told how the killers chopped down their victims.

Survivors said the attackers were able to separate the Fulanis from members of the rival Berom group by chanting ‘nagge’, the Fulani word for cattle. Those who failed to respond in the same language were hacked to death.

One report said the gangs shouted Allahu Akhbar before breaking into homes and setting them alight in the early hours of Sunday. Churches were among the buildings that were burnt down. Ban told reporters he was “deeply concerned,” adding: “I appeal to all concerned to exercise maximum restraint.”

200 hospitalized after attack – Plateau govt

The Plateau State Information Commissioner, Gregory Yenlong, who gave details of the attacks said more than 200 people had been hospitalized in Jos.

He said: “Most of the survivors are … receiving treatment. Over 200 are admitted in hospitals in Jos. People were attacked with axes, daggers and cutlasses – many of them children, the aged and pregnant women. Churches, houses and food stores were torched and crops were slashed with cutlasses.”

Atiku seeks improved intelligence gathering

Meantime, former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, has tasked security agencies in the country to improve their intelligence gathering mechanism to be able to prevent the frequent massacre of innocent people in internal conflicts in the country.

Condemning the weekend killings in Jos, Plateau State in a statement, yesterday, Atiku called on the government to bring the perpetrators of what he described as a massacre to book.

He said: “Such horrific massacre of innocent people, especially women and children, has assumed a disturbing trend in the country and all those behind it must be prosecuted. Such killings dehumanize all of us. Nigerian security forces must review and overhaul their intelligence gathering capability to be able to nip in the bud this sort of wanton loss of lives and property.”

Atiku who said he was worried by the culture of impunity and brazenness with which these crimes were being committed, stressed that both the Federal Government and the Plateau State Government must do every thing possible to protect the lives of the people.

U.S. Says It Will Assist With Offensive Against Resistance Forces inSomalia

U.S. Says It Will Assist in Offensive Against Resistance Forces in Somalia

Imperialists pledge aerial bombardments in attempt to crush opposition forces

By Abayomi Azikiwe
Editor, Pan-African News Wire
News Analysis

A recent statement issued by the Obama administration indicates that it is planning to carry out aerial bombardments in the Horn of Africa nation of Somalia. The announcement comes amid intense fighting in the capital of Mogadishu between the two Islamic resistance movements, Al Shabaab and Hizbul Islam and the U.S.-backed Transitional Federal Government that is ruling the country.

It is broadly acknowledged that the TFG only controls a small section of the capital having conceded other areas in Mogadishu and throughout the south and central regions of the country to both resistance organizations. The U.S. in financing the presence of a African Union peacekeeping force known as AMISOM which consists of approximately 5,000 troops from the pro-western regimes of Uganda and Burundi.

Complicating matters further, there has been growing hostility between Hizbul Islam and Al Shabab, resulting in clashes over the control of the southern port city of Kismayo. Hizbul Islam has stated its willingness to engage in dialogue with Al Shabaab but has refused to hold negotiations with the TFG headed by Sheikh Shariff Sheikh Ahmed.

Sheikh Ibrahim Bare Mohammed, the Deputy Commander in the Bandir region for Hizbul Islam, pledged to retain control of the areas occupied by his organization . “We are controlling many parts of Mogadishu and we will defend these areas because we are already here.”

The Hizbul Islam official continued by saying that ‘”We cannot accept our enemy controlling this region and we are not afraid of the American government. We will defeat any attack from the Somali government.” (Garowe Online, March

U.S. officials have said that “What you are likely to see is air strikes and Special Ops moving in, hitting and getting out.”(Garowe Online, March The Obama administration has continued the same policy carried out against Somalia by the previous regime of George W. Bush.

Gen. Mohamed Gelle Kahiya, the recently appointed commander of the TFG military, confirmed that the U.S. would be involved in the offensive. The Obama administration, just like its predecessors, views the nation of Somalia as strategic to imperialist interests.

According to the New York Times in an article on March 5, “The United States is increasingly concerned about the link between Somalia and Yemen, a growing extremist hot spot, with fighters going back and forth across the Red Sea in what one Somali watcher described as an ‘Al Qaeda exchange program.” (NYT, March 5)

In order to minimize casualties and exact maximum damage to the Somali people, the U.S. Special Forces are training and coordinating the TFG to stage ground operations while they are involved in bombings from the air and offshore. “This is not an American offensive,” says U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Johnnie Carson. “The U.S. military is not on the ground in Somalia. Full stop.”

However, the New York Times reports in the March 5 article that “The Americans have provided covert training to Somali intelligence officers, logistical support to the peacekeepers, fuel for the maneuvers, surveillance information about insurgent positions and money for the bullets and guns.”

This same articles continues saying that “Washington is also using its heft as the biggest supplier of humanitarian aid to Somalia to encourage private aid agencies to move quickly into ‘new liberated areas’ and deliver services like food and medicine to the beleaguered Somali people in an effort to make the government more popular.”

The Obama administration has increased U.S. military assistance to Somalia over the last several months. The New York Times admits that during 2009, when the TFG was on the verge of collapse, the U.S. sent in millions of dollars in weapons.

In addition to the Obama administration’s commitment to launch military strikes against Somalia, the activity of various European imperialist states and Canada, are designed to increase pressure on the resistance forces in the country.

On March 5, European Union Naval spokesperson Commander John Harbour revealed that his forces have anticipated a spike in so-called piracy attacks off the coast of Somalia in the Gulf of Aden.

“We know they’re coming,” said Harbour. “We’re taking the fight to the pirates.” (Associated Press, March 5)

On the same day the French frigate Nivose reported seizing 35 “pirates” in three days off the coast of Somalia. In four operations between March 1-5, eleven people were reported taken into French custody with the assistance of a Spanish maritime airplane that was engaged in the European Union military mission in the region.

The EU initiated what it calls the “Atalanta Anti-Piracy Mission” in December 2008 in a concerted plan with the U.S., NATO and other countries to guarantee safe passage for vessels traveling through the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean, which is noted as the busiest shipping lane in the world.

However, despite this massive build-up over the last 15 months, it has not eliminated attacks on ships by Somalis seeking compensation from firms for use of the waterways. In April of 2009, the U.S. Navy shot dead three Somali teenagers who had held a U.S. boat in the Gulf of Aden. One 16-year-old was taken into custody and is awaiting trial in New York City charged with crimes under U.S. law.

Somalia and the “War on Terrorism”

In preparation for the upcoming offensive against Al Shabaab and Hizbul Islam in Somalia, the Canadian, British and U.S. governments have taken measures against expatriates living in these imperialist states. Canada has agreed to list Al Shabaab as a “terrorist group” purportedly to prevent the organization from raising funds inside the country.

In a March 8 statement, Vic Toews, Canada’s Minister of Public Safety stated that “This government is determined that terrorist groups do not receive support from Canadian sources.” (WIC, March The Canadian authorities have announced that anyone convicted of aiding the Somali resistance organization will be guilty of a criminal offense.

The government of the U.K. is taking similar action against Al Shabaab, claiming that the Somali group is connected to Al Qaeda. “I have today laid an order which, subject to parliamentary approval, will proscribe Al Shabaab. Proscription is a tough but necessary power to tackle terrorism and is not a course of action we take lightly,” according to Home Secretary Alan Johnson. (Reuters, March 3)

In the United States, a man was recently brought to New York City in order to face charges of assisting a foreign “terrorist” organization. The indictment unsealed on March 8 claims that Mohamed Ibrahim Ahmed had traveled to Somalia in April 2009 and was trained at an Al Shabaab camp.

Al Shabaab has been designated by the U.S. as a “terrorist” organization.

In 1992, the administration of George H.W. Bush sent thousands of U.S. Marines into Somalia under the banner of United Nations Mission “Restore Hope.” Over the next 18 months, Somali resistance forces fought the U.S. military which engaged in brutal acts of occupation and aggression against the people.

As a result of the losses by U.S. military forces, the Clinton administration withdrew from the country. After 2001, Somalia became a central focus of the so-called “war on terrorism” which is really designed to establish U.S. imperialist control over the Horn of Africa region and the surrounding waterways.

In 2006, the U.S. administration of George W. Bush, financed and coordinated a military invasion by the pro-western government in neighboring Ethiopia. Most of the Ethiopian soldiers withdrew in January 2009 but have periodically entered the border regions to carry out operations against the resistance forces of Al Shabaab.

Haiti Frees U.S. Missionary Held Over Kidnapping

Haiti frees U.S. missionary held over kidnapping

Mon, Mar 8 2010
By Joseph Guyler Delva

PORT-AU-PRINCE (Reuters) - A court in Haiti on Monday freed a U.S. missionary jailed for weeks on charges of kidnapping children in the chaos that followed the country’s devastating January 12 earthquake, witnesses said.

Charisa Coulter was due to fly out of Haiti for the United States. Haiti authorities arrested 10 missionaries in January but eight were released in February and only the group’s leader, Laura Silsby, remains in jail.

Asked by Reuters how she felt on her release, Coulter said: “Bittersweet. I am glad to go back home but the experience has been very difficult.”

She then climbed into a U.S. embassy car and left the central police station.

The case threw a spotlight on fears that child traffickers could prey on vulnerable children after the quake and also on the merits of rapid international adoptions for earthquake orphans, a practice the government later banned.

Critics say the case has diverted attention from the hardships faced by more than 1 million Haitians displaced by the quake including thousands of orphaned children.

Silsby, Coulter and eight other Americans, most of whom are members of a Baptist church in Idaho, were arrested on January 29 on charges that they tried to take 33 Haitian children out of the country without proper documents.

All have protested their innocence and a judge found no evidence of criminal intent on their part of the eight who were released earlier.

Silsby went to court on Monday but was due to return to jail as an investigating judge looks into a new charge that she was trying to organize travel from Haiti for others without proper papers, a lesser crime under Haitian law.

A Haitian judge on Friday signed an order to free Coulter, but delayed her release until Monday because court officials could not find a stamp used to validate the release document.

(Writing by Matthew Bigg, editing by Jane Sutton.)

Conservationists unveil plans to restore bison to North American plains

Bison, the iconic animal of the American west, could once more roam wild across the great plains under a recovery roadmap prepared by international scientists.

A report by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) (pdf), prepared by dozens of scientists and bison experts from Mexico, America, and Canada, says there is a chance of a second recovery, nearly a century after the animals were rescued from the brink of extinction.

But success depends on allowing large herds to roam free over thousands or perhaps millions of acres, an overhaul of government regulations, and a rethink of public attitudes to the animal.

Currently, there is only one population of plains bison, in Yellowstone national park.

“The next 10-20 years present opportunities for conserving American bison as a wild species and restoring it as an important ecological presence in many North American ecosystems,” the study says. It says the animals are critical to the restoration of the prairie grasslands.

But Americans, especially ranchers in the west who view the animals as competition for grazing lands or a potential source of disease in their cattle, need to accept its presence on the plains.

“The greatest challenge is to overcome the common perception that the bison, which has had a profound influence on the human history of North America, socially, culturally and ecologically, no longer belongs on the landscape,” the study says.

Tens of millions of bison once grazed the rolling hills and prairies of North America, from Alaska to northern Mexico. But by the beginning of the 20th century, the great herds had almost completely wiped out by hunters trying to satisfy the European fur trade.

Early efforts managed to save the bison from the brink of extinction, and about 31,000 now roam free. But conservationists say more needs to be done to protect the genetic diversity of such herds to assure their long-term survival.

Aside from harsh winters, bison in the wild face a range of diseases from anthrax to BSE, or mad cow disease.

The study says the new conservation strategy should aim to recreate the traditional range of the bison.

“While substantial progress in saving bison from extinction was made in the 20th century, much work remains to restore conservation herds throughout their vast geographical range,” said Cormack Gates, a University of Calgary conservationist who co-edited the study.

Several states continue to view bison as livestock rather than wild animals and about 400,000 bison are being raised in commercial herds. Some 55,000 of those belong to Ted Turner, the media magnate and CNN founder, who has ranches in seven states.

“The key is recognition that the bison is a wildlife species and to be conserved as wildlife, it needs land and supportive government policies,” Gates said.

But persuading the public the bison should be free and not food may not be easy. In 2002, Turner’s ranches were so successful in raising bison that he opened up a chain of bison burger restaurants that now stretches from Montana to Florida.

Source:
The London Guardian, “Conservationists unveil plans to restore bison to North American plains“, by Suzanne Goldenburg, accessed March 7, 2010

Zimbabwe Thirty Years After National Independence

Zimbabwe Thirty Years After National Independence

Indigenization and Gender Equality on Agenda

By Abayomi Azikiwe
Editor, Pan-African News Wire
News Analysis

Against all odds the Southern African nation of Zimbabwe is celebrating its 30th year of independence from British settler colonialism. In February and early March of 1980, nationwide elections were held inside the former Rhodesia, named after racist colonialist Cecil Rhodes, in which the two leading national liberation movements, the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) and the Zimbabwe African People’s Union-Patriotic Front (ZAPU-PF), won the overwhelming majority of votes leading to the recognition by the international community of an independent state on April 18 of that same year.

The elections grew out of a 14-year armed struggle waged by the African majority against the Rhodesian state headed by Prime Minister Ian Smith. After tremendous gains were made in the national liberation war during the late 1970s, the imperialist states of the U.S. and Britain pressured the Smith regime to negotiate an end to the war.

These talks held in December 1979 resulted in what became known as the Lancaster House Agreements. A ceasefire was declared and 16,500 guerrillas from the Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army (ZANLA), which was the armed wing of ZANU-PF and 5,500 fighters from the Zimbabwe African People’s Revolutionary Army (ZIPRA), the military section of ZAPU-PF, returned to the country.

The survival of Zimbabwe as an independent country committed to the empowerment of the African majority as well as an anti-imperialist foreign policy, is a testament to the unity and fortitude of the ZANU-PF party which merged with ZAPU-PF in late 1987. Over the last decade, since the imposition of the Third Chimurenga, a radical land reform policy that seized control of half of the farm land previously controlled by white settlers even after national independence, the western imperialist states have enacted sanctions against the country and its leadership.

Over the last twelve years, since the land redistribution process became national policy in 1998, the governments of Britain, United States and the European Union (EU) have taken hostile measures against Zimbabwe. During 2000, after much political discussion and debate, revolutionary war veterans took control of hundreds of farms operated by British settlers who held both Zimbabwean and U.K. citizenship.

After 2000, the imperialist interference in the internal affairs of Zimbabwe became apparent. In that year, an election held in June witnessed the wholesale financing and political support by western interests and local capitalists of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). Although ZANU-PF maintained its majority in the national government, the opposition utilized its electoral gains to further push for the regime-change policies of the U.K. and U.S. administrations.

Zimbabwe’s leaders were banned from traveling to various European countries and the United States during this period. The U.S. under George W. Bush, unsuccessfully attempted to pressure the African National Congress-led government in South Africa to cut off electrical supplies to Zimbabwe and to refuse to allow goods to enter the country.

In 2002, when ZANU-PF won an overwhelming victory in the national elections, the sanctions imposed by the imperialists intensified. By 2008, the national currency was in a free fall and the country was under fire by the western states who sought to add more sanctions against the Zimbabwe government.

Nonetheless, the ZANU-PF government maintained its unity and forced the opposition MDC, which had by then split into two factions, to enter into negotiations for the creation of a Global Political Agreement and a national coalition government. The MDC-Tsvangirai boycotted the presidential elections in June 2008 after it had won a narrow majority in the parliamentary poll earlier that year.

The realization of the GPA was a major victory for the government of President Mugabe. Since the western imperialist states were saying that ZANU-PF should be removed from power, the appointment of opposition leaders Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara as Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister of the coalition government created the conditions for the Zimbabwe state to demand the immediate lifting of sanctions against the country.

However, the sanctions and political attacks on President Mugabe and ZANU-PF have continued. The United States under the Obama administration and Britain led by Gordon Brown have maintained the sanctions against the government.

South African President Jacob Zuma traveled to Britain in early March and demanded that sanctions be lifted. The Brown government in the U.K. refused to consider this request and called for the Zimbabwe government to make greater concessions to western imperialist interests before this economic war would be ended.

Zimbabwe Domestic and Foreign Policy in the Current Period

During the process of attempted isolation and regime change in Zimbabwe, the country has intensified its relations with neighboring states including the Republic of South Africa, and other members of the regional Southern African Development Community (SADC). In 2008, in contravention to the pressures exerted by the U.S. and Britain, the African Union meeting in Egypt reaffirmed its support for the government’s efforts to reach a political settlement with the opposition MDC-T in which the Republic of South Africa was the principal mediator.

In addition, Zimbabwe enhanced its economic and political cooperation with the People’s Republic of China, whose socialist government extended credits and trade agreements that bolstered the national economy of the country. China was also instrumental in blocking several attempts to pass resolutions against Zimbabwe before the United Nations Security Council.

In January a new series of agreements between Zimbabwe and the PRC were signed involving projects in the national steel, pharmaceutical and fertilizer industries. Government officials from both countries reached a Memorandum of Understanding for financing these projects.

According to the Zimbabwe Herald, Ziscosteel is one of the companies on the West’s illegal sanctions list, a development that has constrained its operations. Officials from the Ministry of Finance, representatives from China’s Eximbank and Sinosure, a Chinese State enterprise, signed the deals in Harare on January 27.” (Zimbabwe Herald, January 28, 2010)

This agreement was further explained by pointing out that “The first phase of the program will see Eximbank financing fertilizer supply, medicines and water chemicals for the City of Harare. The team paid a courtesy call on Vice-President Joice Mujuru after the deals were sealed. “

Mujuru stated at the occasion that “Your visit is most welcome because of the results brought about by this meeting. Zimbabwe is happy with the readiness by your Government to appreciate the difficulties we have been encountering, particularly in the past 10 years. “

The Vice-President of Zimbabwe continued by acknowledging the critical role China is playing in combating the economic crisis facing the Southern African nation. “I am glad that you have agreed to reschedule the debt. This will enable us to solve some of the problems that we have been facing regarding the loan repayment.” (Zimbabwe Herald, January 28)

In regard to domestic economic policy, the government has emphasized “indigenization” of local industries. The Minister of Youth, Indigenization and Empowerment Saviour Kasukuwere said that the aim is to achieve sustainable development of the national economy and to fight poverty among the majority African population.

An article in the Zimbabwe Herald recently pointed out that “The indigenization regulations require companies to—within the next three months—explain how they intend to fulfill the requirements of the law on empowerment and to have 51 percent ownership by blacks in the next five years.” (Zimbabwe Herald, March

Minister Kasukuwere continued by stating that the Government had made progress in the areas of social issues, including health and education since independence in 1980 but had achieved little in the area of participation and ownership in the mainstream economy. The official noted that the western initiated sanctions were still negatively impacting the country because the economy was foreign-run and dominated.

“We are under sanctions and these sanctions work because the economy is in the hands of foreigners, Kasukuwere said. He also illustrated the role of the western media by saying that “Journalists are being asked to write hate stories about their country and surprisingly they write as many stories as they can falsifying some facts in a bid to find negative stories about their country.” (Zimbabwe Herald, March

Efforts to Achieve Gender Equality Through the Revised Constitution

The nation of Zimbabwe is also undergoing a process of formulating a new constitution resulting from the Global Political Agreement between ZANU-PF and the two MDC parties. In a recent article by Biata Beatrice Nyamupinga, who is the chairperson of the Zimbabwean Women Parliamentary Caucus and a ZANU-PF Member of Parliament, she cites that “with 52 percent of its population being women, it is paramount and legitimate that women participate in this process as respected and equal citizens.” (Zimbabwe Herald, March

Nyamupinga indicated that the country must work toward 50 percent representation for women within governmental structures. This policy is in line with the regional SADC Protocol on Gender and Development, which was adopted by the Zimbabwe Parliament on October 23, 2009.

“However, as women have already argued, it is quite evident that they are underrepresented in the management structures of the constitution-making process,” Nyamupinga said. The level of women’s participation in the process stands at 16 percent.

The ZANU-PF Member of Parliament continues by pointing out that the “Women’s Caucus expresses gratitude to Vice President Joice Mujuru and Deputy Prime Minister Thokozani Khupe for coming out forcefully to seeing to it that women representation is effected within the constitution-making process management structures.” (Zimbabwe Herald, March

At a January meeting held of the ZANU-PF Women’s League, the national secretary of the organization, Oppah Muchinguri, also noted that the country is obligated to reach the 50-50 representation in decision-making as mandated by the SADC protocols. Muchinguri announced that a two week induction course would prepare women party activists to ensure the achievement of these goals.

“We will also walk them through various achievements the League has made since independence and the effects of sanctions on ordinary persons. It is also in this context that we are urging the MDC-T to tell the West to remove sanctions,” she said.

The ZANU-PF Women’s League secretary for information Monica Mutsvangwa also said that they were demanding that the sanctions be lifted. She pointed out that “David Miliband, the British Foreign Secretary has finally owned up to the imposition of illegal sanctions on Zimbabwe.” ( Zimbabwe Herald, January 31)

Mutsvangwa also emphasized that “The ZANU-PF Women’s League appeals to Britain, the European Union and the United States to remove the sanctions. We call for a new chapter in Africa-Europe relations.”

The ZANU-PF Women’s League secretary for information also said that “For the first 15 years of independence, we went through the bliss of hard won freedom. We saw our country make great progress in all human indices of progress as we filled our granaries. Alas our respite from pain and suffering was short-lived. Soon after we embarked on the land reform program the West imposed sanctions.”

Dr. Olivia Muchena, the Zimbabwe Minister of Women’s Affairs, Gender and Community Development stated in a recent lecture inside the country that “with adequate support, women could contribute significantly to the turnaround of the country’s economic fortunes. (Ziana News Agency, February 2)

African Alibi: What We Learn From Anglo-Saxon Fear of Lumumba

African alibi: What we learn from Anglo-Saxon fear of Lumumba, President

AFRICAN FOCUS By Tafataona Mahoso
Courtesy of the Zimbabwe Herald

Despite the nominal co-optation and ascendancy of an African-American, Barrack Obama, to the presidency of the leading Anglo-Saxon power on earth, the intensity of Anglo-Saxon fear of an African revolution in 2010 is at the same level if not worse than it was in 1961 during the Congo crisis.

This is the context in which renewals of illegal US and EU sanctions against Zimbabwe must be viewed.

One indicator of that fear is the frantic search for African masks and alibis to cover up the white man even so many centuries after the slave holocaust. For instance, Anglo-Saxon crimes against the Congo (DRC) in 1960 and Zimbabwe in 2010 are comparable:

–Both have for a long time been considered too rich to be left alone; and Zimbabwe can use the Congo experience in 1960 to defend itself better in 2010.

–Both have been subjected to multiple, well-documented Anglo-Saxon crimes which require and deserve massive reparations as well as prosecutions of the living criminals for war crimes and crimes against humanity. It is these well-documented crimes together with the natural riches of the two countries which make the Anglo-Saxon powers scared and yet unable to let go. For DRC some of the crimes are as follows:

Between the end of the Berlin Conference (1884-1885) and 1908, the people of the Congo were subjected to a holocaust and to modern slavery where they were forced to produce certain quotas of rubber on pain of having their fingers, toes and arms chopped off if they failed to meet those quotas.

During the Hitler wars, Belgium was over-run by the Nazis and the Belgian state wiped out. Belgians established a government in exile in London which subsisted on looted Congolese natural resources and minerals. Re-establishment of the Belgian state after 1945 was made possible through Congolese resources.

Between 1960 and 1998, the people of the Congo were subjected to successive stooge regimes sponsored by the same Western powers and intelligence agencies which destroyed the first Congolese government and revolution and murdered Congo’s popular and first prime minister Patrice Lumumba on January 17 1961.

Between 1998 and 2003 the same Western powers interfered in the internal affairs of the DRC by opposing Sadc’s intervention against their proxies and Zimbabwe was particularly singled out for punishment for leading the Sadc intervention and stopping genocide against the Congolese people.

In the Zimbabwe case, British settlers and companies dispossessed the people of their land and minerals for a hundred years; and when the people reclaimed that land between 1992 and 2002 they were put under illegal Anglo-Saxon sanctions which Europe and the US renewed in February and March 2010 respectively.

For the people of Zimbabwe to be able to reclaim their land between 1992 and 2002, they had to wage a protracted guerilla war from 1965 to 1980 in which Europe, the US and white South Africa supported the white Rhodesian settler side. In 1973 the Convention for the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid made it clear that the punishable crimes of apartheid were committed not only in South Africa but throughout the Southern African region and against most of the indigenous people and nations of the region by white Rhodesia, white South Africa and their Anglo-Saxon supporters who provided arms, mercenaries, trade and finance to all the white settler regimes and to their puppet regimes in the then Zaire (DRC) and to Jonas Savimbi’s Unita in Angola.

Therefore in both Zimbabwe and Congo (DRC), because of the historical realities of racism, war crimes, crimes against humanity and crimes of mass dispossession and looting — the Anglo-Saxon powers have always been eager to use African masks and alibis.

Before Jonas Savimbi of Angola, the biggest mask for white racist interests and the biggest provider of alibis for Anglo-Saxon imperialism was Moise Tshombe, the puppet African prime minister of the white corporate breakaway province of Katanga. With the agreement of all the key Western powers, the Belgians arranged a system where Tshombe himself and all the ministers of his puppet government were controlled and run by white Belgian private secretaries.

The police and military structures were also managed by white officers in the same way. The Western powers figured that all the crimes and atrocities required to destroy Lumumba’s government and reverse the small gains of the Congo National Movement (MNC) could be blamed on Tshombe and his stooge ministers, or on the African population itself, while maintaining the image of the white powers and their looting corporations as civilised, humane and well-meaning.

Coming to Zimbabwe, on Tuesday March 2 2010, the media reported that Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai had finally stated bluntly that all illegal Anglo-Saxon sanctions against Zimbabwe must be lifted.

This was followed by passage of a double motion in the House of Assembly praising the Prime Minister for his decision to call the illegal sanctions by their real name and asking him and Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara to proceed to lobby the Anglo-Saxon powers for the complete removal of the same sanctions.

These events mark a new stage in the struggle to unite the people against the illegal and racist sanctions in order to strip the Anglo-Saxon powers of the criminal mask and alibi which they have enjoyed through the MDC formations for the last 10 years. This is the moment to unite all people for Zimbabwe.

Mr Tsvangirai and MDC-T had reached a new stage indeed:

-First, President Jacob Zuma of South Africa was going to the UK to deliver two messages: that South Africa under the ANC government will never play for imperialism in Zimbabwe the same role which South Africa under apartheid played for imperialism in Rhodesia; and that it makes no sense for the Anglo-Saxon powers to retain illegal sanctions against Zimbabwe in the hope that sanctions will motivate the liberation movement in the inclusive Government to implement the so-called GPA to its fullest, since the GPA document itself requires the very same illegal sanctions to be condemned and defeated or lifted before the GPA can be considered complete. How can the same evil sanctions condemned in the GPA be considered an incentive to encourage completion of the GPA?

-Second, the demonstration against sanctions by the Zanu-PF Youth League which was followed by the music gala celebrating President Mugabe’s 86th birthday in Bulawayo on February 26 2010 helped spread the anti-sanctions campaign from the realm of political commentary and party politics to the realm of popular Pan-African culture. Having Jamaican reggae musician Sizzla Kalonji as the focus of the gala and having him condemn the sanctions on behalf of both Rastafarians and Pan-Africanists was indeed the stroke of genius which crowned all the communiqués of Sadc, AU, ACP and NAM, which had condemned the same sanctions in the last seven years!

Linked to Bob Marley’s performance of “Zimbabwe” and “Africa Unite” on April 18 1980, Kalonji’s performance against white racist sanctions in Bulawayo truly globalised the struggle to defend
Zimbabwe’s sovereign independence and economic empowerment.
Popularising the defence of Zimbabwe’s sovereign independence and economic empowerment at the same level as Bob Marley’s 1980 visit increased pressure for the Anglo-Saxon powers to look for cover or for an alibi.

Mr Tsvangirai, too, had to take cover because on January 19 2010, UK Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary David Miliband sought to reinforce imperialism’s criminal mask by claiming a false alibi. He claimed that the sanctions were not hurting ordinary Zimbabweans because they had no impact on the economy.

That was the alibi. But Miliband went further to say that the same illegal and racist sanctions, which supposedly did not hurt anyone, would, however, be lifted only when Tsvangirai’s MDC-T (who originally begged for them to be imposed) came out and asked the same sanctions to be lifted.

The Standard, through its UK-based writer Alex Magaisa, correctly sensed danger for Mr Tsvangirai in David Miliband’s alibi and mask. In fact, he felt that Miliband should not have revealed that for the last 10 years the Anglo-Saxon powers had been using the MDC formations to create an alibi for their intrusive and illegal intervention in the internal affairs of Zimbabwe.

Magaisa felt that the MDC-T as a British mask in Zimbabwe would no longer be able to perform its function once Miliband pointed to it and identified it as a British-EU mask. Magaisa’s Standard article was entitled “A case of the embarrassing uncle”.

Magaisa is worth quoting at length to demonstrate the importance of the present moment for patriots in Zimbabwe.

“It doesn’t matter that Sekuru Rameki’s (David Miliband’s) speeches may contain a grain of truth. Often he says it as it is. The trouble (for whom?) is that he knows neither the location nor the time to make his utterances . . . I was reminded of the likes of Sekuru Rameki last week when the furore broke over the statements made by British Foreign Secretary David Miliband in relation to the contentions issue of sanctions in Zimbabwe.”

It is obvious that Magaisa has painted a picture of the relationship between MDC-T and the white racist Anglo-Saxon powers which is meant to flatter MDC-T and dismiss Miliband as a drunken uncle. Yet it is significant that even Magaisa recognises or imagines that a family relationship does exist. Where in 2000 Mr Tsvangirai called the Rhodies “cousins” of the MDC formations, Magaisa says the Anglo-Saxons, represented by Miliband, are the same family as MDC-T, Miliband is the uncle of MDC-T who mis-spoke!

History shows otherwise. The issue involved is more serious than a slip of the tongue. First it shows that the sanctions are illegal and racist. Therefore the people of Zimbabwe have the right to be compensated for the economic terror and damage caused.

Tsvangirai cannot end by calling only for all the sanctions to go. Why must the sanctions be lifted immediately? Because they are evil and destructive. Why were they imposed in the first place? Well, to restore white Rhodesian property in land and minerals which the British stole from the African majority in 1890 and gave to their Rhodie children. So, how has the African nation been injured? Well, it has been doubly injured because it lost the use of its land and minerals for 100 years and then got 10 years of illegal and racist sanctions for reclaiming and redeeming that same stolen land!

Such serious crimes have always required alibis. When the slave holocaust against Africa came under moral attack, the Anglo-Saxon powers said they were not responsible because some African chiefs sold their people to white slave-catchers. What that was meant to hide was the fact that whites waged wars to capture African slaves.

Africa Spends $20 Billion Yearly to Import Food

Africa spends $20bn yearly to import food — Sanusi
National News Mar 9, 2010

By Henry Umoru
Nigeria Vanguard

ABUJA—GOVERNOR, Central Bank of Nigeria , CBN, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi disclosed yesterday that the total projected demand for agri-business financing required in Africa from now till 2050 stands at $620.4 billion, just as the annual demand is put at $6.5 billion.

According to him, funding globally from various sources had been declining over the years, just as he said Official Development Assistant, ODA, to sub Sahara Africa’s agriculture dropped from $1.450billion in 1998 to $713million in 2002.

Sanusi who noted that Africa’s food import bills stand between US$2billion and 20 billion per annum in addition to the continent’s US$2billion annual food aid, stressed that these huge financial resources being expended could be used internally to develop Africa’s agricultural potential.

Speaking yesterday at the ongoing a three-day conference on the development of Agri-Business and Agro-Industries in Africa in Abuja, warned that if the continent fails to address the problem associated with agriculture, there could be impending food crisis in the African continent.

The Apex Bank boss who noted that the proportion of people living below the poverty line of less than US$1 a day increased from 47. 6 per cent in 1985 to 59 per cent in 2000 and still growing, stressed that a large proportion of people in Africa had limited access to food, clothing and shelter, adding that more than 200million people, particularly women and children were still undernourished.