Newsletter: 03/10/02

1. Africa
2. Americas
3. Asia Pacific
4. Europe
5. Middle East
6. South Asia
7. Cyberterrorism and Information Warfare
8. Finance
9. Human Rights
10. Law and Legal Issues
11. Narco-terrorism
12. Transportation
13. Weapons of Mass Destruction
14. Newly Published

FEATURE ARTICLE:
Jonas Savimbi: His Life and Death

NEWS HIGHLIGHTS OF THE WEEK

1. Africa

Angolans drew parallels with the peace process in Sierra Leone, which started after rebel leader Foday Sankoh was imprisoned and a cease fire declared. He was, like Jonas Savimbi, also a charismatic leader, financed by illicit diamond sales. Following Savimbi's death, moderate General Antonio Dembo assumed leadership of UNITA but reports this week indicate that he has also died and the leadership is now likely to go to hardliner Secretary General Paulo Lukamba. UNITA has also asked the United Nations for an international enquiry into Savimbi's death.

Peace talks in the Democratic Republic of Congo have resumed after agreeing that rebels would receive the same size representation as opposition political parties.

The state of emergency continues in Liberia, following the attempted rebel attack on the capital, Monrovia, last week.

A delegation from the Organization of African Unity (OAU) has arrived in Madagascar to help resolve the crisis between current President Didier Ratsiraka and declared President and opposition leader Marc Ravalomanana. Mr. Ravalomanana has set up his own rival government in the capital, including the peaceful takeover of the armed forces ministry building and resignation of the armed forces minister.

In Republic of Congo the sole opposition candidate, Andre Milongo, has withdrawn, essentially handed victory candidate to incumbent Denis Sassou Nguesso. He claims electoral irregularities in the forthcoming elections, the first in 10 years. International observers have not yet commented on the allegations.

Foday Sankoh, leader of the Revolutionary United Front, appeared in court in Freetown, Sierra Leone, where he was charged with murder. The charges followed the lifting of a state of emergency that had allowed the government to hold Mr. Sankoh for 18 months without charge. He is joined by 49 other rebels. All will appear in court again March 11.

The elections dominate the news about Zimbabwe. There has been a very high turnout, with voters facing long waits. Government officials refused to add resources to handle the numbers, but the courts declared the elections would be held for another day to allow all votes to be cast. The extension was welcomed by election observers but has been appealed by the governmnet.

2. Americas

Canadian banker Liban Hussein faces an extradition hearing on the request of US authorities who accuse him and his brother (Mohamed Hussein, in custody in the US) of helping to fund al-Qaeda through the al Barakaat hawala.

In Brazil, the Lebanese Mkael Youssef Nassar and his wife, Marie Noel Nasser, were shot dead. Nassar had close ties to Elie Hobeika, assassinated in January shortly after agreeing to testify in a Belgian genocide case against Israeli Prime Minister Sharon regarding his role in refugee camp massacres.

In Colombia, violence by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and right-wing paramilitary death squads has continued, making it difficult to conduct the current electoral campaign. The US, following reports of a depleted Colombian army, is considering additional assistance. The White House Office of national Drug Control Policy said that coca production in Colombia increased by 25 per cent last year.

The rebels and violence are spreading across the border into Ecuador, which has requested US funding to help strengthen the border.

US and Afghan troops have conducted fierce air and ground fights against suspected al-Qaeda and Taliban troops in the eastern mountains of Afghanistan. The recent fighting has seen the first major US casualties and allegedly hundreds of dead opposition fighters.

Apparently pursuing Libya as the next target in the "war on terrorism", the US has indicated it is pursuing a number of possible options, ranging from support to opposition groups through direct military action. This week , US representatives shared their intelligence data at a UN Security Council meeting regarding sanctions, to bolster their position that Libya is engaged in wide-ranging weapons deployment.

The US has also reportedly drawn up a list of 7 nations (China, Iran, Iraq, Libya, North Korea, Russia and Syria) against which they are prepared to use nuclear weapons.

In Venezuela, protests against President Hugo Chavez grow. Tens of thousands have demonstrated against him and managers at the state oil monopoly went out on strike.

3. Asia Pacific

In Cambodia, the Tui Sleng museum has removed the map of Cambodia that is made of human skulls from the Khmer Rouge genocide. The skulls will be preserved elsewhere.

China plans a large increase in army spending, confirming a trend towards increased defense spending. This increase was announced prior to the information that the US had China on a list of potential first-strike nuclear targets.

Indonesia has increased its cooperation with Malaysia and Singapore to insvestigate of suspected al Qaeda members.

Ethnic violence in the Solomon Islands has reached such heights that the monitors there to oversee last year's peace agreement have had to pull out.

Gracia and Martin Burnham, kidnapped by Abu Sayyaf guerillas in the Philippines 9 months ago, have appeared on another videotape, reading a statement.

In Thailand, 25 men from South Asia and the Middle East were detained at the request of the US. No links to international terrorism have been discovered. Meanwhile, Thailand continues media restrictions, including bans on radio programs, expelling reporters, and banning some printed material.

4. Europe

Manfred Klink, head of Germany's special terrorism unit, has reported active al Qaeda cells persist, despite months of intensive investigation. Meanwhile, Germany's defense ministry protested US publicity over the participation of their troops, saying they preferred to keep actions of their special forces confidential.

Kyrgyzstan is hosting a base, recently constructed by the US, to support up to 3,000 troops in the war in Afghanistan.

In Macedonia, 7 alleged Islamic extremists were killed by government troops who offered unsubstantiated information that they were associated with planned terrorist attacks. It is likely that this was a manufactured threat. However, amnesty for Albanian rebels (Muslims) has been approved by the Parliament. The state of security in Macedonia has led to conflict in the European Union and with NATO over whether the region is secure enough to support an EU peace-keeping force.

Russia has endorsed US aid to Georgia to train anti-terrorist forces. Russian troops have engaged in renewed attacks against Chechen rebels.

In Spain, ETA, the Basque separatist group, has renewed its bombing campaign. It is likely these efforts are designed to increase tension prior to the forthcoming EU economic summit in Barcelona.

Bombings and attempted bombings continue in Northern Ireland as does the peace process. The UK government will likely go ahead with an amnesty plan for fugitive paramilitaries, possibly encouraging another round of decommissioning.

In connection with the Omagh bombing, two suspects have been arrested and are being questioned. They joined four members of the Real IRA who were questioned and released last week. And the decision to allow screening of police witnesses is being appealed by relatives of the Bloody Sunday dead.

Protests over possible UK participation in US military action against Iraq are widespread, and the possibility of a cabinet split has been voiced.

5. Middle East

A meeting of the Arab League is under way. They will discuss the Saudi Arabia proposal for peace between Israel and the Palestinians. This will be the first time that details of the plan will be described and examined.

In Algeria, 6 people were shot dead. Rebels from Armed Islamic Group (GIA) are suspected.

It was the bloodiest week in Israel, the Gaza Strip, and the West Bank for years. There were 21 dead over the weekend, and the toll continued to mount. It saw attacks by lair, land and sea; the storming of refugee camps, gunships and gunmen, suicide bombers, and rockets; the deaths of women and children, doctors, and combatants. Prospects for peace seem far away amid deepening rifts in the Israeli cabinet and the continued lack of a method by which international support could be leveraged.

Following requests by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and many others, the US mediator Anthony Zinn has been dispatched from the US to try to reduce the level of violence between Israelis and Palestinians. Mubarak has also offered to host a meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Sharon and Palestinian leader Yassir Arafat. Egypt is the only Arab country that has diplomatic relations with Israel.

Iraq has refused to allow UN weapons inspectors back in the country. This decision comes on the heels of signals that it is next on the target list for military action by the US, which is pressing for support from Egypt, the UK and other countries. The US presented its evidence of Iraqi weapons activities to the United Nations Security Council, alleging that oil-for-food humanitarian support is being diverted for weapons use.

Lebanese Mkael Youssef Nassar and his wife, Marie Noel Nasser, were shot dead in Brazil. Nassar had close ties to Elie Hobeika, assassinated in January shortly after agreeing to testify in a Belgian genocide case against Israeli Prime Minister Sharon regarding his role in refugee camp massacres.

6. South Asia

US and Afghan troops have conducted fierce air and ground fights against suspected al-Qaeda and Taliban troops in the eastern mountains of Afghanistan. The recent fighting has seen the first major US casualties and allegedly hundreds of dead opposition fighters.

In western Gujarat, India, leaders of Hindu and Muslim groups are attempting to defuse tensions and discuss a peaceful solution to violence that killed over 500 people in 4 days. So far, the talks are at a stalemate. Most of the victims were Muslims, burned to death by the Hindu militants.

In Uttar Pradesh, Manzoor Ahmad, a member of the state assembly and of the opposition Samajwadi Party, was shot dead while demonstrating to protest the Governor's blocking it from forming a government after the recent elections.

In Jammu Kashmir, 12 were killed in separatist violence. Tension between India and Pakistan remains high and India continues to turn down invitations from Pakistan to begin talks.

The communal violence in India, the worst since 1992, poses a serious threat to the Indian government, which is looking to its coalition partners, the police force and the judges for support. Police arrested over 80 bookmakers, who took bets on whether more religious riots would break out.

Pakistani nationals detained in the US are being rapidly released and most of those detained after September 11 will be returned home by the end of March. None are known to have had links to this incident. These accelerated releases followed President Musharraf's request to President Bush last month.

Continuing to make gestures of conciliation to India, Pakistan offered to resume flights to India and begin talks, to no avail. They are also introducing new measures to curb the elite intelligence units that have been active in militant Islamic attacks and have announced a limited amnesty for religious radicals arrested this year if they are not facing criminal charges, agree to shun violence, and do not associated with prohibited organizations.

Norwegian peacekeepers have begun their duties in Sri Lanka.

7. Cyberterrorism and Information Warfare

ICSA Labs published a survey showing increases of 13% in the number of companies experiencing computer viruses.

8. Finance

The US Internal Revenue Service and Justice Department are working with credit card companies to gain access to records of customers who pay bills through known tax havens.

9. Human Rights

International detainees held in the US after September 11 are starting to be released. Several hundred Pakistani and Turkish nationals have been rapidly released in the last few weeks. None are known to have had links to the September 11 attacks. Human rights groups have heavily criticized these detentions.

The hunger strike in Guantanamo Bay continues with 13 of the 300 detainees maintaining their fast.

The US is considering whether to classify membership in al-Qaeda a war crime to allow them to prosecute detainees who have no known ties to specific events. The FBI is considering building a database of DNA samples taken from the detainees.

The US Department of State published its annual human rights report, criticizing such countries as China, Iran, Iraq, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia, and Saudi Arabia.

The United Nations continues investigations into "sex for aid" allegations.

10. Law and Legal Issues

Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin, formerly H Rap Brown of the Black Panthers, was found guilty of murder in a US court in Atlanta, Georgia.

The war crimes trial of former Yugoslavian President Slobodan Milosevic was briefly halted by a fire in the building, but resumed with testimony of Kosovan victims. Paddy Ashdown will be called as a prosecution witness next week.

The US has requested the Pakistani authorities turn over Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, the chief suspect in the Daniel Pearl murder, to face charges issued in a sealed in grand jury indictment issued last year.

11. Narco-terrorism

No action has yet been taken to stop the imminent harvesting of the Afghani poppy crop.

The White House Office of national Drug Control Policy said that coca production in Colombia increased by 25 per cent last year. This statistic may have an impact on US support to the Colombian government.

12. Transportation

Aviation

China is increasing airline security by adding two police officers per plane to each internal flight.

13. Weapons of Mass Destruction

Iraq has refused to allow UN weapons inspectors back in the country.

The US has reportedly drawn up a list of 7 nations (China, Iran, Iraq, Libya, North Korea, Russia and Syria) against which they are prepared to use nuclear weapons. The willingness to consider first strike, as well as moves to build smaller nuclear weapons for use in battlefields, will raise widespread international concerns and make it more difficult to continue existing non-proliferation discussions.

The US General Accounting Office has issued a report confirming that tests of missile defense program were seriously flawed.

Researchers at the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases of the National Institutes of Health have discovered basic information about how Ebola and Marburg work. This information about these deadly hemorrhagic fevers that kill up to 80% of their victims, may now offer avenues to suggest cures and preventive measures.

Vietnam's Red Cross has appealed for urgent help for victims of Agent Orange, the chemical poison used during the Vietnam War, and not wait for more research when so many people are suffering, particularly from severe birth defects.

14. Newly Published

Ginsborg, Paul. Italy and Its Discontents: Family, Civil Society, State 1980-2001. Allen Lane.

Meredith, Martin. Our Votes, Our Guns: Robert Mugabe and the Tragedy of Zimbabwe. Public Affairs.

Power, Samantha. A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide. Basic Books.

FEATURE ARTICLE:

Jonas Savimbi: His Life and Death

Three African leaders - Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos, Botswana's President Festus Mogae, and Mozambique's President Joachim Chissano - met with US President George Bush at the end of February. The meeting, hosted in Washington DC, found common ground in an unexpected occurrence: the death of Jonas Savimbi.

Who was Jonas Savimbi and how could one man's violent death be so widely hailed as an avenue towards peace?

Jonas Malheiro Savimbi was born on August 3, 1934 in the Bie province of Angola. Bie is in the central highlands, an area rich in natural resources, including fertile farmland and diamonds.

Savimbi's grandfather was a tribal chief. After leading a rebellion against the colonial Portuguese authorities, he was removed from this position. Savimbi's father was the station master for the railway line and a Protestant preacher with notable oratorical skills.

The Ovimbundu tribe to which the Savimbis belong, was considered inferior to the coastal Kimbundu tribes. They were considered bush folk who lived off the land. Worse, the land was farmed by the Portuguese and the local Africans were forced to work for them. (In the 17th and 18th centuries, the Portuguese shipped over a million slaves from Angola to Brazil. The slave trade was abolished in 1836.)

The Kimbundu were wealthier and better educated and favored by the colonial authorities. These tribal resentments, combined with the reduced role of the family after the grandfather's downfall, helped to shape Jonas Savimbi's beliefs.

Savimbi was well-educated. A polyglot, he was fluent in Ovimbundu, Portuguese, French and English. He studied political science in Switzerland towards a doctorate. He studied medicine in Portugal in 1958, but abandoned those studies to begin a fight against the Portuguese. Although he preferred to be addressed as "Doctor", it is not clear that he was awarded a relevant degree. He received military training in China and later based many of his ideas on Maoist principals.

Although protests against the colonial Portuguese had occurred from time to time, the modern Angolan independence movement began in 1956 with the founding of the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA). Guerilla warfare was their tactic of choice.

By 1966, Savimbi had gathered together his own guerilla group, named National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA). UNITA's motto was Socialism, Democracy and Negritude. Their goal was to overthrow the ruling elite and replace it with a Maoist-style black African rule.

The Economist, in its March 2 obituary, described Savimbi at the height of his career: