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Belgium behind murder of Patrice Lumumba in 1961 Posted: Monday, November 26, 2001 In a messy, controversial end to 40 years of soul-searching about one of the darkest chapters of the country's colonial past, Belgian MPs said that King Baudouin knew of the plans to get rid of the charismatic African leader, but did nothing to save him. It is the first time for more than half a century that the Belgian Parliament has criticised the normally sacrosanct monarchy. No single conclusively incriminating document was found in the two-year inquiry, but it did unearth a telegram from Count Harold d'Aspremont Lynden, then minister for African affairs, which spoke of Lumumba's "definitive elimination". Two Belgian officers linked to other attempts to kidnap or kill Lumumba operated under Aspremont Lynden's "political responsibility", the MPs said. He and other ministers lied about their role. Lumumba, an articulate nationalist, was freed from jail in 1960 and elected prime minister when the Belgians left the vast country they had ruled with a mixture of greed and paternalism since King Leopold II won his "place in the sun" 80 years earlier. MORE Hundreds reported killed in Nigeria Posted: Wednesday, October 24, 2001 LAGOS (Reuters) - Soldiers have opened fire on villagers in central Nigeria and razed four communities, killing more than 200 people, witnesses say. The massacre began Monday afternoon in Gbeji and spread to neighbouring Vaase, Anyiin and Zaki-Bian near the place where the bodies of 19 soldiers were found hacked to death on October 12, regional government officials said. MORE No Palestinian Ever Called Me A Nigger! Posted: Tuesday, October 16, 2001 By Lorenzo Komboa Ervin Curtis Gatewood is the outspoken leader of the Durham, North Carolina branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). He recently made "controversial", though truthful and courageous remarks denouncing the United States government for planning military retaliation for the Pentagon and World Trade Center attacks, and the use of Black males as cannon fodder and mercenaries in any front line attack. At a September 15th monthly local NAACP meeting, he said that African Americans should not have to fight in any military action, and that a violent U.S. counterattack would be wrong. "Black males can no longer be used as sacrificial lambs at the time of war," he said in his three-page statement. "Those black males who make it back home alive from war are likely to come home and be discriminated against by the [very] people whose businesses were headquartered in the World Trade Center, racially abused/profiled by an American police officer, killed on the streets in their crime-infested neighborhoods, or harmed by Bush administration policies," he said. He also said that the U.S. government has oppressed Africans, Middle Easterners, and other people of color worldwide. Because Bush was selected president by a "right-wing Supreme Court", he said, the attacks were *not* "an attack on freedom." Media reports of the remarks sparked threatening phone calls to the NAACP offices, according to an NAACP officer, Anita Keith-Foust. It also caused NAACP national President, Kweisi Mfume, to denounce the remarks and to apparently silence him from making other such comments in the future, similar to the fashion former Nation of Islam spokesperson Malcolm X was silenced by NOI leader Elijah Muhammad in 1963, when he spoke out about the assassination of President John Kennedy, calling it a case of "...chickens coming home to roost..." What should we make of all this? These comments by Gatewood certainly echoed my own, and I am sure those of many other Black people. We are supposed to, as Malcolm X put it over 35 years ago, "...bark when the white man says bark, and bite when the white man says bite!" He was referring to our being used as troops all over the world. Now we are supposed to fight and die for a racist corrupt government in yet another imperialist war, when it is the USA which has clearly brought on this attack. We are supposed to fight for a country where we still have limited social, economic and political rights, and where we are still subject to death by any racist cop or citizen, where there is widespread poverty, mass imprisonment of the youth, and massive unemployment concentrated in the Black community. The obvious question is what the hell are we fighting for? To avenge America? To mourn America? Why, we don't owe this country anything, and what we do owe them, they don't want! They have killed and enslaved generations of our people, down to the present day. They have yet to pay reparations for those crimes they have committed against our people; they refused to even discuss the matter at the recent World Conference Against Racism in Durban, South Africa. Our fight is *in America* and *with America* for full human rights and liberation, not in Kabul, Pakistan, Khandahar, Islamabad, Algiers, or hundreds of places we know nothing about and have no beef with their people. It is this country which is *our* enemy, and which is depriving us of our human rights. This hypocritical country, which is bleeding us dry and subjecting us to continued oppression and servitude in numerous forms. We ain't got this situation straight yet, and now we are supposed to go galavanting across the globe to fight for this white racist government. Colin Powell may be a dog for Bush, but it don't mean the rest of us have to be! Curtis Gatewood just said something that all of us should be saying. We need an *independent political stance* away from military intervention, and to say *no you cannot just use Black kids for the next Vietnam*. However, shamefully, most of the Left, Liberal, and Black organizations (even so-called "radical", or "nationalist" groups) did not follow the lead of this courageous man, instead they mourned with America. Well, our time of mourning has to be tempered with the cold understanding that we have to look out for *our interests*, not the Pentagon's or Wall Street's. We regret the thousands of deaths of people who died in the process at the WTC, but we know it is Washington's fault this happened. We also know that if this happened in the Middle East, carried out by Israel or the US Army, hardly anybody in this country would say anything. Clearly this country is not the "peace-loving, innocent country" that George W. Bush claims it is. This is the biggest gun runner in the world, and the biggest instigator of wars. This is a government of thieves and enslavers, and they have dominated the peoples of color of the world with military and economic force ever since its creation. We cannot jump like dogs to defend these people. It is not the people in the Middle East or Africa who call us nigger, and keep us oppressed, it is the white government in America. If anyone on the face of the earth attacks the slavemaster's plantation, I ain't going to be standing out front growling to stop them from setting his house on fire. That's his problem, and you reap what you sow. The real terrorists are in the Pentagon, the executive boardrooms on Wall Street, and in the White House, where they have always been. Hell, the United States secret intelligence services (CIA, military intelligence, DEA and others) created the Taliban as a government and Osama Bin Laden as a terrorist, if that is what he is. Do we now want to die and kill others over this cynical reality? Don't be fooled by right-wing patriotism, which is nothing but American fascism. So we should support Curtis Gatewood, hold him up as an outspoken hero. We need to ask why all of the other Black and progressive organizations have not been as forceful in their comments, and we need to ask why they are not building an anti-war response to this military retaliation planned by Bush. We need to all start to speak the truth to our people, and not curry favor for jobs or social approval. We need to do things which are considered unpopular in a hysterical climate, but have to be said and done nevertheless. George W. Bush is not our friend, Colin Powell is not our brother. They want to kill us off, either in war, in prison, or with a policeman's gun. We face genocide from this government, always have. Now we need to get organized to build a movement which can put forth a progressive agenda on how to use military spending, so that money they want to squander on war can be used for schools, hospitals, and to rebuild the inner cities of this country which look like bombed out cities already. Whatever organization you belong to, start to push them to come out against the war and to actively campaign against war in the Middle East or anywhere else. We have got to get our kids to say "Hell no, we won't go!" and "No Viet Cong ever called me a Nigger!" just like they did during the Vietnam war of the 1960s. Copyright (c) 2001 Lorenzo Ervin. All Rights Reserved. Black Man Created All Other Races Posted: Wednesday, October 10, 2001 An analysis by Dr. Kwame Nantambu It is quite clear that any human that had its birth in Afrika could not have survived in an equatorial region without pigmentation. According to Senegalese scientist, deceased Dr. Cheikh Anta Diop (pronounced Jop), the world's modern-day multi-genius or Imhotep, since nature does not do anything by chance, then humankind that was born in a sub-equatorial region was given melanin to protect its skin from the hot rays of the sun. For this reason, it is certain that the first man had to be a BLACK man. It is only after that Black race left Mother Afrika to people other parts of the world that had different climate conditions that that original Black man changed and took on different aspects or physical characteristics. He acquired a different look as a result of his migration. Indeed, scientific evidence suggests that nature created six specimens of man before we get to man as we know him today. According to this evidence, it appears that the first three of these species never acquired the potential to leave Afrika. Three others did leave Afrika. The fourth and fifth of these species disappeared. What remains is man as we know him today B that is, the sixth species. The fifth species did not have a forehead; the eyes were situated very close to the top of the head. However, the brain inside this species was very different from the brain of man today. He did not have the anterior lobe of the brain. That's the major difference between Homo sapiens sapiens B what we are today and the fifth specimen. This species was never able to overcome nature to an extent that he was able to create works of art. The sixth species was a BLACK man who in pre-historic history is called Grimaldi man. He is the man whom we are today. Between 40,000 and 20,000 years ago, this BLACK man left Mother Afrika and went into Father Europe at a time during the last glaciazation. The climate in Europe was extremely cold; it was much colder than it is now and during this period of some 20,000 years, this BLACK man underwent significant physical adaptations to eventually become what we call or know today as the WHITE man. This original BLACK man had to adapt or adjust to his new cold environment. In other words, this BLACK MAN DID NOT need his sun-required melanin in this cold environment. He lost that. He DID NOT need Black skin in this cold environment. He lost that. He DID NOT need his sun-required broad nose, large, thick lips and hair in this new cold environment. His environmental adaptation caused him to loose all of these Afrikan physical features. As a result, his nose had to contract and become thin and narrow so that the cold could not enter, his lips also became thin and the colour and thickness of his hair had to change. He thus became WHITE to survive in his new cold climatic surroundings. However, a more vital adaptation took place. In his original Afrikan form, this human man was in-tuned with nature but in his derived European human form, he became anti-nature as a result of 20,000 years spent in the ice cold caves during the Ice Age. According to Dr. Diop, it is very clear to all the scientists in this field that the man we know conventionally today to be a White man evolved from a Black man over a period of some 20,000 years of adaptation to a different climate. That is the only scientific conclusion at which to arrive. If this sixth specimen has never left Afrika to people in other parts of the world and if those people in other parts of the world in different climates had not through the process of adaptation become what they are in various regions of the world, all humankind would be homogenous and all humankind would be BLACK. If that sixth species, that Black man, had not left Mother Afrika then the rest of the world would be just a desert; it would never have been peopled. The bottom-line is that the first man was BLACK and it was he who gave birth to other races of the world. In terms of human anthropology, there are two theories in regard to the origin of man. They are first; the monogenetic theory which contends that man was born in one place and subsequently became different as he migrated to populate other parts of the world. There is only one source for the origin of humankind. The second is the polygenetic theory, which suggests that man was born in Africa and also in Europe and Asia. In other words, there are different and several sources or locations for the origin of humankind. Africa is just one of them but NOT the primary one. At face value, the polygenetic theory may seem to make a lot of sense but under very strict scientific scrutiny and analysis, it quickly falls apart and collapses just like a deck of stacked Euro-centric, racist, supremist cards. There are two basic flaws in this theory; namely first, nature never creates the same being twice or it never strikes twice in its evolution. Second, in the animal kingdom, throughout the evolution of animals, a being was created and it either disappeared or changed somewhat or a new being was created completely. The same being was never created twice. And if we are to remain strictly scientific, it does not make common sense to say that man was created twice. This is total circular reasoning which does not even compute in the arena of historical sanity. In Kenya, the most ancient evolutionary information of humankind is found and it is for this reason scientists can state with certainty that man can only have been created one time. All fossils that were found outside Mother Afrika have only been found much recently compared to those found in Afrika. In fact, no other Continent contains the complete set of the six human species of man but Afrika. The only species that appears in America is that Homo sapiens sapiens. America was peopled through the Bering Strait at the end of the final glaciazation and it is only for that reason we find only Homo sapiens sapiens in America. In Asia, we have Homo erectus, Neanderthal man and Homo sapiens. In Europe, we have Homo erectus, Neanderthal man and Homo sapiens. Through their migration process from Mother Afrika to populate and civilise the rest of the world, the original Afrikans used the Suez Canal or the Isthmus of Suez to go into Asia and Eastern Europe or the Straits of Gibraltar to the north into Europe. It must be borne in mind that the polygenetic or polycentric theory seeks to establish a hierarchy among races and to indicate that some races are superior to others. This theory thus represents European anthropological supremacy at its racist zenith. This is all part of the manifestation of "the evil genius of Europe" in their attempt to maintain, perpetuate and strengthen their global power control intent. In sum, the polygenetic theory represents the Euro-centric thought process in its geo-politically coded, multi-diversified supremist context. It seeks to deny Afrika and Afrikans of any sense of human originality. It suggests that Mother Afrika and Afrikans cannot stand-alone; we need a European or Asian connection or imprimatur to make us legit. Indeed, history of humankind totally rejects this European racist and supremist master-plan. It must be understood that within the context of European global supremacy, Asians are regarded, treated and respected as "honorary Whites" or "quasi Europeans". In the United States of America, they are regarded, treated and respected as "probationary Whites". On the contrary view, if man has the same origin then, of course, there can be no intellectual hierarchy because all the three races of the world have the same intellectual ability and capacity. If the three races had different origins then one can argue that they had different intellectual capacity as a result of having a different intellectual history. The polygenetic theory is essential to defend the position that there must be inequality between races. On the other hand, the monogenetic theory supports the notion and contention that because our origins are the same then we have the same intellectual capacity. This theory DOES NOT contend that BLACKS are superior to Whites; that would also be false in the reverse. The salient fact of the matter is that no race is superior to any other; all races have the same intellectual capacity and human dignity. However, as a result of the original and derivative aspects of the human race, we now have two different peoples existing on the planet today. We have the Afrikan from the so-called "Southern Cradle" and the European from the "Northern Cradle". These are two different modern-day peoples with two different ways of life, mind-sets and value systems. According to Dr. Diop, the characteristics of the "Southern Cradle", Afrika, are: 1. Abundance of Vital resources 2. Sedentary agricultural economy 3. Gentle, idealistic peaceful nature 4. Matriarchal family structure 5. Emancipation of women in domestic life 6. Territorial state 7. Xenophilia 8. Cosmopolitanism 9. Social Collectivism 10. Material solidarity of right for each individual which makes moral or material misery unknown 11. Ideal, peace, justice, goodness and optimism Literature emphasis, novel, tales, fables and comedy Those of the "Northern Cradle", Europe, are: 1. Bareness of resources 2. Nomadic hunting economy (piracy) 3. Ferocious, war like nature with a spirit survival 4. Patriarchal family structure 5. Debasement/enslavement of women in domestic life 6. City, state 7. Xenophobia 8. Parochialism 9. Individualism 10. Moral solitude 11. Disgust for existence, pessimism 12. Literature favours tragedy The fact of the matter is that as a result of this ancient Afrikan global migration and adaptation, if one were to go to any part of the world, including Europe and Asia, one would find remains, remnants and reminders of Afrikan original life forms. The monogenetic theory proves scientifically that Afrikans are the ancestors of Europeans. This theory rejects the slightest notion of Afrikan superiority; it only proves the Afrikan human originality in Mother Afrika. It does not represent reverse supremacy. The monogenetic theory coincides with the reality that in real life, there is only one original life to live, not three as the polygenetic theory contends. Furthermore, in the musical arena, there is only one original master copy, not three; in real life, a child has only one original mother and father, not three. Afrikans are the original peoples with original ideas; we are the global majority. Every human being on this planet, whether European, Asian, Chinese, Syrian, Indian, Portuguese or even "Dougla" is derived from the original Black, Afrikan race. Shem Hotep Dr. Nantambu is an Associate Professor, Dept. of Pan-African Studies, Kent State University, U.S.A. a Public Policy versus Human Needs http://www.trinicenter.com/kwame/ Catastrophe facing Angola Posted: Friday, September 28, 2001 A report released by a British-based charity describes the humanitarian situation in Angola as catastrophic and calls on international donors to provide more support to relief efforts. The report, issued by the humanitarian and development charity Oxfam, looks at the state of Angola, a country where decades of war continue to cause widespread hunger and homelessness. It does not only assess the country's humanitarian situation, but looks at the causes of poverty and concludes that the Angolan Government, the Unita rebels and the international community should be doing more to put an end to the war there. But it goes beyond this assessment to examine why such a situation prevails in a potentially wealthy country and looks at the reasons why the war continues in Angola, despite repeated peace efforts. It declares that a military solution to the Angolan conflict is not feasible, and calls on the international community to support a peaceful solution to Angola's problems - a solution which has the full backing of Angolan society and not just the warring parties. Angola Peace Monitor America Under Attack Posted: Wednesday, September 12, 2001 ( Woizero Sera'el Tafari ) Yesterday morning, I, like most of the world, sat and watched in awe, as the 'Great' America came under seige. Again, I watched and listened to the responses of righteous indignation from the various leaders, governmental officials and the ordinary man on the streets of America, condeming this "cowardly act of terrorism on the strongest democratic nation in the world." That this 'evil and merciless' act, was the worst tragedy in the history of the world. BULLSHIT!!! In watching this scenario unfold in America, the images conjuring in my mind, was that of my African homeland being invaded by a blood-thirsty, EVIL nation, hounding and capturing innocent BLACK people; uprooting them from their homes, their family and loved ones, their stability and sense of security, their FREEDOM. I watched countless of ones jumping from the fifty-something and upper floors of the World Trade Center, trying to escape from the fury surrounding them; but instead jumping straight to their deaths. In my minds' eye, I saw countless of BLACK people jumping into the Great Ocean, to their deaths, from slave ships herding them off to a life of UNTOLD, UNFELT anguish, despair and sufferation. I MAKE NO APOLOGIES, but the compassion and mercy that I could have afforded the Great America, is STILL not even enough, for my own people, and other deserving nations, MUCHLESS America. Life follows the cycle of KARMA: Cause and Effect. In the REVOLUTIONARY spirit of EQUAL RIGHTS AND JUSTICE, Woizero Sera'el Tafari Race conference adopts declaration Posted: Saturday, September 8, 2001 (CNN) Charlayne Hunter-Gault said even though the declaration was approved, various countries involved were expressing concerns about parts of it. Canada said too much attention had been paid to trying to "delegitimise the state of Israel." Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk al-Sharaa rejected the paragraph recognising the Holocaust, saying that Europeans were responsible for the genocide and "are trying to spread their guilt around the world." Hunter-Gault said that in the words of the conference chairwoman, South African foreign minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, "they have arrived at this process all a bit bruised." Delegates from the 160 countries in Durban had had very little sleep over the last couple of days, she said. The document was approved by consensus shortly before the plenary session, the final meeting of the conference which went into an unscheduled ninth day because of the deep divisions among the delegates. The EU and African delegations agreed to acknowledge that slavery is a crime against humanity. On the issue of compensation, the parties made reference to debt relief and other economic and development assistance to Africa. "We are happy we found a solution," Hans Winkler, an Austrian delegate, told the Associated Press. It remained unclear what the new language would mean for European fears of potential lawsuits seeking reparations, though several European delegates told the Associated Press their fears had been addressed. "It's certainly an issue that warrants further exploration," said Wade Henderson, a lawyer and executive director of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, a U.S. organisation, told AP. Hunter-Gault said that because the conference had gone into an extra and ninth day, many of the countries had left by the time the document was approved. MORE ON CNN Americans Remain Slaves to the Past Posted: Friday, September 7, 2001 (Mail & Guardian Johannesburg) Slavery is America's incubus. It made racist hypocrites of the founding fathers who drafted a Constitution and Bill of Rights that proclaimed individual liberties for all as long as they were white, knowing exactly what they were doing. It disfigured American society for 250 years while it was practised, and for another 100 years after it was banned because North and South alike turned a blind eye to the idea of "separate development" in the old Confederacy ñ the suffocating discrimination of the Jim Crow laws that denied southern blacks civil and social rights. Its legacy hangs over every American inner city and every exchange between black and white. With the Democrats now agreeing they will champion up to $440-billion of reparations, slavery and its fall-out promises to become the hottest, most contentious issue in American politics. The 1960s civil rights movement brought the curtain down on the world of Jim Crow, and 30 years of affirmative action has tried to redress the position. Bill Clinton apologised, but still the issue has lost none of its sting. The Democrats' last-minute conversion a fortnight ago was acutely judged. The National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations America (N'Cobra) has been lobbying for an investigation into slavery and then legislation for reparations for years and has launched a suit against the government. But the United Nations Conference on Racism (WCAR) was the catalyst. The Bush administration's position is easy to portray as racist, but there is also hard cash at issue. Any US government signature on an international declaration even remotely agreeing to reparations in principle will damage its defence to N'Cobra's suit in court ñ maybe make it impossible. But the politics are deadly; the Democrats can confirm their black support, and the Republicans emerge as the racists. The sums at stake are enormous. If every American black got $50 000, the gross bill would be around $435-billion (R3 624-billion). In the context of a 10-year tax cut of $1,4-trillion, this is affordable ñ just ñ but it would be the largest reparations payment in history. But reparations on this scale are not without precedent. Half a dozen Indian tribes have won reparations from the government over the past 20 years; and the tobacco industry has had to accept a $206-billion liability after a protracted lawsuit. MORE Zimbabwe land reform breakthrough Posted: Thursday, September 6, 2001 The government in Zimbabwe has agreed to take sweeping measures to curb the occupation of white-owned farms and violence against farmers and their workers. A statement released after a Commonwealth foreign ministers meeting in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, announced that in return, Zimbabwe would receive funding for its land redistribution programme. The statement said that President Robert Mugabe's government agreed to observe the rule of law when redistributing land from white farmers to landless black Zimbabweans. The Nigerian foreign minister hailed the agreement as a "breakthrough", but UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said: "Ultimately, whether it represents real progress will depend on events on the ground and that can only be judged in the future." Zimbabwe has also agreed to allow close monitoring of the human rights situation in the country, and of its presidential election, due for next year. MORE US struggles with slavery's legacy Posted: Wednesday, September 5, 2001 On the outskirts of Charleston in South Carolina, on a thousand acres of steamy wooded land stands majestic Drayton Hall. It is just one of many plantations built by the sweat of West African slaves. But slaves didn't just build plantations. As Drayton Hall's director, historian, George McDaniel points out, until its abolition in 1865, slavery helped turn a colonial backwater into a major economic power. "The contribution of African Americans to the economy of America, inclusive of the Old South, was tremendous. The plantation society of the Old South was based on slave labour." "The industry that developed in the North, the cotton mills in the 19th Century, as well as much of the industry in England itself, was grounded in slavery and forced labour," he said. "It would be impossible to extract from history the results of African American slavery," he added. Now almost 140 years since the end of slavery many African Americans believe there is a debt to be paid. MORE Racism 'helping spread of Aids' Posted: Wednesday, September 5, 2001 The head of the United Nations' Aids programme has told the world racism conference in South Africa that racial prejudice is helping the spread of the disease around the world. Dr Peter Piot told delegates gathered in Durban if the Aids epidemic had centred on Europe, rather than Africa, and had affected predominantly white people, the response to it would have been faster and more generous. Dr Piot called on countries attending the conference to adopt legislation banning discrimination against HIV sufferers. There are about 36 million people infected with HIV around the world, 25.3 of whom live in Africa, according to Dr Piot's UNAIDS organisation. "When we think of Aids, it's Africans, black people and so in that sense there is probably that racist underground," Dr Piot told a round table meeting. Dr Piot said laws against prejudice and AIDS should encourage sufferers to feel safe in publicly revealing their infection. "Why would you come out if you may lose your house, you may lose your job, your husband or wife throws you out, you may be stoned to death?" asked Dr Piot. The BBC's Elizabeth Blunt in Durban says one problem in the fight against Aids is that few countries have the statistics which can reveal racial differences in the incidence of Aids and the care of sufferers. A speaker from the World Health Organisation accepted there might be fears that collecting racially based statistics would increase prejudice, but said as long as there were groups exposed to discrimination it was important to monitor their well-being. Our correspondent says racism in the form of apartheid has led to southern Africa having the world's highest levels of infection. Lighter skin, darker lives Posted: Thursday, August 16, 2001 (SIMON DENYER) As they celebrate their engagement, a Congolese man boasts about his fiancee's beauty and declares himself the luckiest man in the world. Seconds later, a lighter skinned woman enters the room and all heads turn towards her. "What a beauty. What skin colour," the awe-struck fiancé declares. All the men in the room flock to the woman's side, leaving the wife-to-be forlorn and alone at her table. The advertisement for Rico Lemon Plus cream promises African women lighter skin, and with it the admiration of their menfolk. But women across the continent are finding the dream turn to into a nightmare as they ruin their skin in an ill-starred quest to bleach it. Most of the popular creams and soaps contain chemicals like hydroquinone and mercury, the latter a powerful poison the use of which has long been outlawed in skin-care products. More From Union to common market? Posted: Thursday, August 16, 2001 (Munetsi Madakufamba And Zarina Geloo.) African leaders have buried with honours the 38-year old Organization of African Unity (OAU) at July's Summit in Lusaka, which has seen the birth of a transformed, stronger African Union (AU), modelled along the lines of other regional groupings in the Americas, Asia and Europe. In a bid to achieve economic development and move the continent into the mainstream of global economics, the summit merged the South African-led Millennium Africa Recovery Plan (MAP) with Senegal's proposal, code-named Omega, into one blueprint called "A New African Initiative". The summit elected former Ivorian Foreign Minister Amara Essy as the new secretary-general, replacing Tanzanian Salim Ahmed Salim whose third term as head of the OAU effectively ends in September. Zambian President Frederick Chiluba takes over as the new chair of the AU until the next summit. OAU headquarters will remain in Addis Ababa. "These are initiatives intended to forge Africa ahead in its socio-economic recovery," said Chiluba, who added that the important decisions made needed to be implemented without delay. More Mugabe has vowed to defy any threat of US sanctions Posted: Saturday, August 11, 2001 Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has vowed to defy any threat of sanctions by the United States and other Western countries and to continue with his controversial land reform. Addressing a rally in honour veterans of the guerrilla war that ended white rule, Mr Mugabe also warned white farmers against organising attacks on black squatters. On Friday, 21 whites were denied bail after being charged with violence and assault after they clashed with a group of squatters in the northern town of Chinhoyi. "We will proceed with land reform with or without their cooperation, with or without sanctions. Let that be known here and abroad," Mr Mugabe said. Saturday's rally came after a week of rising tension following the clashes and subsequent arrest of the white farmers. They are accused of ganging up on and brutally attacking defenceless resettled farmers at a farm on Monday. [More] Sixteen killed, 56 injured as train strikes landmine in Angola Posted: Saturday, August 11, 2001 (Sapa-AFP) Sixteen people have been killed and 56 injured after a train struck a landmine near the Angolan capital Luanda. According to reports, the accident occurred yesterday afternoon between Zenza and Dondo towns in Cuanza Norte Province, some 150 kilometers east of Luanda. Some of the injured are said to be in a serious condition at a local hospital. Angola, ravaged by civil war almost non-stop since independence from Portugal in 1975, is one of the most heavily mined countries in the world. About 500 000 people are trapped in areas littered with anti-personnel and anti-tank mines or where fighting continues, according to a UN report issued on Wednesday. Estimates vary on how many landmines are in the country. Independent groups put the number between eight and 15 million, while the government says the number is five to eight million. The war between government forces and rebels of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (Unita) has left an estimated 500 000 dead, another 100 000 mutilated, and four million people displaced out of a population of 12 million. |
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