Essential The Africa the Media Doesn't Tell You About

[Yehuda]

“Tell no lies, claim no easy victories”: Remembering Amílcar Cabral

96 years after the birth of revolutionary Amílcar Cabral, his life, struggle and contributions continue to guide us

September 12, 2020 by Amilcar Cabral Study Group

Amílcar Cabral (center) with members of the Partido Africano para a Independência da Guiné e Cabo Verde (PAIGC).

Working people across the world are struggling against the economic domination and exploitation, which has been greatly intensified amid COVID-19 pandemic. On the 96 anniversary of the birth of Amílcar Cabral, we examine the life and revolutionary contributions of Amílcar Cabral, that remind us that a well devised strategy undertaken by an organized people can become the force that unravels a decaying empire.

Fidemar (Son of the sea)

On September 12, 1924 – just a few years before the establishment of the fascist regime of Estado Novo in colonial Portugal – Amílcar Cabral was born to a shopkeeper and school teacher in Bafatá, Guinea-Bissau. Though growing up in this small brickmaking town and trading center of the Portuguese colonizers, Cabral would attend secondary school in Cabo Verde and develop a strong sense of common cause with its people. The laboring people of the archipelago were descendants of enslaved people forcibly brought from Guinea Bissau and greater West Africa. During the anti-colonial struggle for liberation, one of Cabral’s highest aspirations was for the political and national unity between the people of Cabo Verde and Guinea Bissau.

During his studies in post-WWII Portugal, Cabral immersed himself in the anti-war and anti-imperialist student organizations and political movements. He was exposed to radical anti-colonial and socialist thought, alongside future African leaders Agostinho Neto and Mário Pinto de Andrade of Angola, and Marcelino dos Santos and Eduardo Mondlane of Mozambique. Cabral experienced a rapid political and intellectual development that would galvanize him towards the task of returning home and beginning to prepare the conditions for revolution.

Return to the Source

As a young man, Amílcar Cabral saw African people, largely without access to land, starve and suffer through recurring famines. It was the hunger of his people, hunger for decent living and liberation, that drove Cabral to study agronomy, in the hope that he could transform the contradictory situation. Returning to Guinea-Bissau in 1952, Cabral helped establish an experimental farm and conducted an agricultural census, where he was able to engage closely with the people and cultivate deeper knowledge about the conditions in the country. About 12% of the total area of the country was being cultivated in monocultures, and a few cash crops dominated. In 1953, groundnuts constituted 70% of the total exports. He believed that this single-crop economy led people to be dominated and exploited by commerce and taxes.

Cabral’s work not only allowed him to survey the agricultural landscape but its social, historical and cultural dynamics as well. Giving him insight into the fabric of Portuguese colonialism in the daily lives of African people, Cabral saw no other way to eradicate the suffering of his people than to develop and lead a people’s revolution.

National Liberation: Organizing for freedom

Following the end of the Second World War, key political shifts were occurring across the African continent and people’s struggles were underway pursuing national liberation from colonial domination. We see this in the massive uprisings in Algeria in the late 1940s, the pivotal meeting of anti-colonial leaders at the 1945 Pan African Conference in Manchester, the Libyan independence from Italy in 1951,the Mau Mau rebellions growing in Kenya and the increasing momentum in the neighboring French Guinea in early 1950s.

Cabral was inspired and compelled by these events and saw the importance of forging an international front of anti-colonial movements. However, he knew that national liberation could only be fully realized by the inhabitants of each dominated people, saying:

“National liberation and social revolution are not exportable commodities; they are, and increasingly so every day, the outcome of local and national elaboration, more or less influenced by external factors (be they favorable or unfavorable) but essentially determined and formed by the historical reality of each people, and carried to success by the overcoming or correct solution of the internal contradictions between the various categories characterizing this reality.”

Amongst the agricultural workers at an experimental farming unit and former classmates, and in social spaces such as a football sports club, Cabral began the clandestine work of organizing radical forces for national liberation.

The colonial regime became aware of the political intentions behind his work. Exiled from Guinea, Cabral made political homes in countries like Angola, Mozambique and Sao Tome, even helping in the creation of the MPLA.

In 1954, Partido Africano para a Independência da Guiné e Cabo Verde (PAIGC) was formed. The Party became the indispensable instrument in building a revolutionary movement. The strategic objective of the PAIGC was to overthrow the Portuguese colonial system.

The PAIGC chose armed struggle as the path to win national liberation for Guinea-Bissau and Cabo Verde, after witnessing the brutality of Portuguese colonial domination following the Pidjiguiti massacre of 3 August 1959, when 50 striking ship workers were killed by the colonial authorities.

Through the armed struggle, the territories were freed of the colonial forces and became liberated zones. Following the PAIGC inaugural congress in 1964, key decisions were made that began to develop the liberated zones into an alternative, people-led state. By then the PAIGC had control over two-thirds of the country. As Cabral explained in a mass meeting in London, on 26 October 1971:

“We ended the autonomy of guerrilla units, linking them to a guiding committee; and we decided to form units of a regular army. We also decided to start work in the liberated zones, setting up schools, medical posts, a system of commerce and so on, while at the same time reinforcing our political effort.”

This form of waging struggle was an important process of building the agency of the people, and addressing their material and social needs. This was the strength of Cabral’s leadership: a commitment to building the material and social structures for people’s self-determination and liberation. This power of the organized, revolutionary people is what Cabral symbolized; the ultimate threat to the colonial regime who had happily underdeveloped the people, erased their culture and history, violated and exploited their humanity.

A dream deferred

In his small corner of the world, Cabral led a revolution that would lead to the collapse of the entire Portuguese empire in Africa and fuel the liberation of the people of Portugal from almost five decades of fascist dictatorship. Yet, in the decades that followed his assassination, the full liberation of the African people was deferred, thwarted by neo-colonialism, imperialism and corruption. For the African people, the COVID-19 pandemic comes as a historic reckoning of how colonial economic relations and social conditions, against which Amílcar Cabral fought, have not changed.

In the case of the health care system of a population well over one million, Cabral observed that “throughout the golden age of Portuguese colonialism we had only two hospitals, with a total of 300 beds, in the whole country and only 18 doctors, 12 of them in Bissau.” As of May 2020, Guinea-Bissau had 50 intensive care beds and 10% of the necessary equipment to deal with COVID-19. By 16 June, more than 170 of Guinea-Bissau’s 2,000 health workers had contracted coronavirus.

The anger has long been brewing over the failing economic system. Its inability to prioritize peoples health and well being is spilling over. Like Cabral, today the people must uncover the cause of people’s misery in order to begin to build a new social order that put the lives of people above profit.

The Amílcar Cabral Study Group is comprised of Lindi, Mika, Vuyo, Subin, Blaise, Ovidiu, Zoe and Ahmed. This is part of their research done in a course on Marxism and National Liberation.

“Tell no lies, claim no easy victories”: Remembering Amílcar Cabral

 

[Yehuda]

Multinationals and oil companies are imposing their greed on the people of Mozambique

Vijay Prashad explores the role of multinational companies in the deepening social, economic and political crisis in Mozambique

September 11, 2020 by Vijay Prashad

Many have had to leave their homes in Cabo Delgado due to violence and the erosion of social-economic conditions. Photo: MSF

Three years ago, on October 5, 2017, fighters with the Al Sunnah wa Jama’ah (ASWJ) entered the town of Mocímboa da Praia in northern Mozambique. They attacked three police stations, and then withdrew. Since then, this group—which has since proclaimed its allegiance to the Islamic State—has continued its battle, including capturing the port of Mocímboa da Praia in August 2020.

Mozambique’s military has floundered. Under pressure from the International Monetary Fund, Mozambique’s government has cut the salaries of government employees, including the military. It now relies on private security companies hired by multinational corporations to do its fighting; this outsourcing of defense is permitted by the IMF and the wealthy creditors. That is why Mozambique’s Ministry of Interior has hired the South African Dyck Advisory Group (DAG), the Russian Wagner Group, and Erik Prince’s Frontier Services Group. Colonel Lionel Dyck, the head of the Dyck Group, recently told Hannes Wessels that “The Mozambican Defense Forces are unprepared and under-resourced.”

Dyck, Wagner, and Frontier Services Group are joined in northern Mozambique by a range of other mercenary security forces (such as Arkhê Risk Solutions and GardaWorld) hired by the French energy company Total and the US energy company ExxonMobil. Both firms have interests in the gas fields in Area 1 and Area 4 of Mozambique’s Rovuma Basin, which increases the country’s natural gas reserves to 100 trillion cubic feet (third only to Nigeria and Algeria in Africa). These firms are to invest more than $55 billion in the extraction of natural gas and in the construction of liquefaction plants.

Total, the French firm, and Mozambique’s government signed a deal to create a joint force to provide security to these gas fields. Mozambique’s minister of mineral resources and energy—Max Tonela—said that this deal “reinforces security measures and efforts to create a safe operating environment for partners like Total.”

The narrative fed by Total, Mozambique’s government, and the private security firms is that the conflict in northern Mozambique is authored by the Islamists, and that all measures must be taken to thwart this three-year-old insurgency.

The Forgotten Cape

This area of northern Mozambique—Cabo Delgado—is known colloquially as the “forgotten cape” or Cabo Esquecido. A study of government statistics shows that the people of this part of Mozambique—where the anti-colonial war against the Portuguese broke out on September 25, 1964—experience all the traps of poverty: low income, high illiteracy, and low morale. Lack of opportunities alongside social aspirations led to the emergence of various forms of economic activity, including artisanal mining for rubies and trafficking of Afghan heroin toward South Africa. The arrival of Islamism simply provided another outlet for the deep frustrations of sections of the population.

It is called the “forgotten cape” because not much of Mozambique’s social wealth has come into the communities of the region; it is not forgotten by the oil and gas companies. These companies—and their predecessors such as Texas-based Anadarko—as well as the other large multinationals such as Montepuez Ruby Mining (owned by the UK-based Gemfields) have participated in the eviction of thousands of people from their homes and livelihoods. Given permission by the government in Maputo to settle the land to remove the rubies and the natural gas, these firms have returned little to the people of the north.

The Phantom of ISIS

There’s nothing like the appearance of Islamist groups that fly the flag of ISIS to allow Western firms to set aside their own role in the creation of poverty. Everything becomes about terrorism. In June 2019, two Mozambican scholars—Mohamad Yassine of the Higher Institute of International Relations (ISRI) and Saíde Habibe, who co-authored a 2019 study on Islamic radicalization in northern Mozambique—said that ISIS will not find fertile ground in northern Mozambique; this is largely because the Muslim population in that region is small. These so-called Islamists, Habibe said, are better known for their role in the illicit trades than in the creation of an Islamic State.

A French NGO—Les Amis de la Terre France—published a report in June 2020 that made the point that the insurgency “was built on a tangle of social, religious, and political tensions, exacerbated by the explosion of inequalities and human rights violations linked to gas projects.” The militarization of the conflict to protect the gas installations, the NGO argues, “contribute to fuel the tensions.” Indeed, “Human rights violations are on the increase in [these] communities, caught between insurgents, private military and paramilitary forces, multinationals or their subcontractors.”

South Africa’s Institute for Security Studies published a report in October 2019 called “The Genesis of Insurgency in Northern Mozambique.” The institute is known to be quite hawkish when it comes to security issues. But reality is too difficult to avoid. This report cautions that “a lasting solution to the extremist violence in Cabo Delgado cannot be brought about by hard power and military might.” Social inequality is the main problem. The introduction of the energy firms, rather than bringing prosperity to the people, says the institute, “appears to have brought discontent.”

Interventions

Just off the coast of Mozambique is the island of Mayotte, which is a French possession with a French military base (and which is facing unrest). The governments of France and Mozambique are considering a maritime cooperation agreement, which could eventually allow direct French intervention to protect Total’s investments.

At a briefing on drug trafficking in Africa, US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Heather Merritt said that the issue of the heroin trade is very significant, and that the US is willing to assist the government in Mozambique in any way.

South Africa’s intelligence chief Ayanda Diodlo has said that her government is “taking very, very seriously” the threat in northern Mozambique. South Africa is considering a military intervention, despite a warning from ISIS that it would open up a new front inside South Africa if this happens.

Such interventions—by France, the United States, and South Africa—will not solve the problem of northern Mozambique. But they will certainly provide a reason for Western countries to create a military foothold on the continent.

Meanwhile, for the people of Mocímboa da Praia, it would be business as usual.

Multinationals and oil companies are imposing their greed on the people of Mozambique

 

[Red Shield]

Multinationals and oil companies are imposing their greed on the people of Mozambique

Vijay Prashad explores the role of multinational companies in the deepening social, economic and political crisis in Mozambique

September 11, 2020 by Vijay Prashad

Many have had to leave their homes in Cabo Delgado due to violence and the erosion of social-economic conditions. Photo: MSF

Three years ago, on October 5, 2017, fighters with the Al Sunnah wa Jama’ah (ASWJ) entered the town of Mocímboa da Praia in northern Mozambique. They attacked three police stations, and then withdrew. Since then, this group—which has since proclaimed its allegiance to the Islamic State—has continued its battle, including capturing the port of Mocímboa da Praia in August 2020.

Mozambique’s military has floundered. Under pressure from the International Monetary Fund, Mozambique’s government has cut the salaries of government employees, including the military. It now relies on private security companies hired by multinational corporations to do its fighting; this outsourcing of defense is permitted by the IMF and the wealthy creditors. That is why Mozambique’s Ministry of Interior has hired the South African Dyck Advisory Group (DAG), the Russian Wagner Group, and Erik Prince’s Frontier Services Group. Colonel Lionel Dyck, the head of the Dyck Group, recently told Hannes Wessels that “The Mozambican Defense Forces are unprepared and under-resourced.”

Dyck, Wagner, and Frontier Services Group are joined in northern Mozambique by a range of other mercenary security forces (such as Arkhê Risk Solutions and GardaWorld) hired by the French energy company Total and the US energy company ExxonMobil. Both firms have interests in the gas fields in Area 1 and Area 4 of Mozambique’s Rovuma Basin, which increases the country’s natural gas reserves to 100 trillion cubic feet (third only to Nigeria and Algeria in Africa). These firms are to invest more than $55 billion in the extraction of natural gas and in the construction of liquefaction plants.

Total, the French firm, and Mozambique’s government signed a deal to create a joint force to provide security to these gas fields. Mozambique’s minister of mineral resources and energy—Max Tonela—said that this deal “reinforces security measures and efforts to create a safe operating environment for partners like Total.”

The narrative fed by Total, Mozambique’s government, and the private security firms is that the conflict in northern Mozambique is authored by the Islamists, and that all measures must be taken to thwart this three-year-old insurgency.

The Forgotten Cape

This area of northern Mozambique—Cabo Delgado—is known colloquially as the “forgotten cape” or Cabo Esquecido. A study of government statistics shows that the people of this part of Mozambique—where the anti-colonial war against the Portuguese broke out on September 25, 1964—experience all the traps of poverty: low income, high illiteracy, and low morale. Lack of opportunities alongside social aspirations led to the emergence of various forms of economic activity, including artisanal mining for rubies and trafficking of Afghan heroin toward South Africa. The arrival of Islamism simply provided another outlet for the deep frustrations of sections of the population.

It is called the “forgotten cape” because not much of Mozambique’s social wealth has come into the communities of the region; it is not forgotten by the oil and gas companies. These companies—and their predecessors such as Texas-based Anadarko—as well as the other large multinationals such as Montepuez Ruby Mining (owned by the UK-based Gemfields) have participated in the eviction of thousands of people from their homes and livelihoods. Given permission by the government in Maputo to settle the land to remove the rubies and the natural gas, these firms have returned little to the people of the north.

The Phantom of ISIS

There’s nothing like the appearance of Islamist groups that fly the flag of ISIS to allow Western firms to set aside their own role in the creation of poverty. Everything becomes about terrorism. In June 2019, two Mozambican scholars—Mohamad Yassine of the Higher Institute of International Relations (ISRI) and Saíde Habibe, who co-authored a 2019 study on Islamic radicalization in northern Mozambique—said that ISIS will not find fertile ground in northern Mozambique; this is largely because the Muslim population in that region is small. These so-called Islamists, Habibe said, are better known for their role in the illicit trades than in the creation of an Islamic State.

A French NGO—Les Amis de la Terre France—published a report in June 2020 that made the point that the insurgency “was built on a tangle of social, religious, and political tensions, exacerbated by the explosion of inequalities and human rights violations linked to gas projects.” The militarization of the conflict to protect the gas installations, the NGO argues, “contribute to fuel the tensions.” Indeed, “Human rights violations are on the increase in [these] communities, caught between insurgents, private military and paramilitary forces, multinationals or their subcontractors.”

South Africa’s Institute for Security Studies published a report in October 2019 called “The Genesis of Insurgency in Northern Mozambique.” The institute is known to be quite hawkish when it comes to security issues. But reality is too difficult to avoid. This report cautions that “a lasting solution to the extremist violence in Cabo Delgado cannot be brought about by hard power and military might.” Social inequality is the main problem. The introduction of the energy firms, rather than bringing prosperity to the people, says the institute, “appears to have brought discontent.”

Interventions

Just off the coast of Mozambique is the island of Mayotte, which is a French possession with a French military base (and which is facing unrest). The governments of France and Mozambique are considering a maritime cooperation agreement, which could eventually allow direct French intervention to protect Total’s investments.

At a briefing on drug trafficking in Africa, US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Heather Merritt said that the issue of the heroin trade is very significant, and that the US is willing to assist the government in Mozambique in any way.

South Africa’s intelligence chief Ayanda Diodlo has said that her government is “taking very, very seriously” the threat in northern Mozambique. South Africa is considering a military intervention, despite a warning from ISIS that it would open up a new front inside South Africa if this happens.

Such interventions—by France, the United States, and South Africa—will not solve the problem of northern Mozambique. But they will certainly provide a reason for Western countries to create a military foothold on the continent.

Meanwhile, for the people of Mocímboa da Praia, it would be business as usual.

Multinationals and oil companies are imposing their greed on the people of Mozambique

I was wondering what the hell isis was doing there... and now it makes sense. Oil/Gas. West destablizing shyt again

 

[loyola llothta]

 

[loyola llothta]

17 September 2020


The ‘Israeli’-Emirati Alliance: Geopolitical Impact on Africa

The misleadingly described “peace” deal between “Israel” and the UAE will enable the self-professed “Jewish State” to use the latter’s military and civilian port infrastructure in the Gulf of Aden, thus challenging recent Turkish inroads in this part of the world and allowing Tel Aviv to project itself as a trans-regional power of significance, especially in East Africa and eventually everywhere else on the continent too.

From Diplomatic “Peace” To Military Partnership

“Israel” and the UAE finally formalized their hitherto not-so-secret ties earlier this week after agreeing to a misleadingly described “peace” deal brokered by the US. The author recently explained the regional strategic and soft power dividends that the self-professed “Jewish State” hopes to achieve through this development in his piece about how “The US-Brokered Mideast ‘Peace’ Deals Aren’t What They Seem”, so this present piece will therefore discuss its most likely trans-regional geopolitical dividends. The UAE commands a vast empire of military and civilian ports across the world, but the most important jewels in its crown are found in the Gulf of Aden region, specifically in Eritrea, South Yemen (including the strategic Socotra Islands), and the internationally unrecognized Somali breakaway region of Somaliland. It’s therefore predicted that “Israel” will soon have access to these facilities for the purpose of projecting itself as a trans-regional power of significance.

“Containing” Turkey

Although Turkey hasn’t withdrawn its decades-long recognition of “Israel”, President Erdogan has recently presented himself as the most high-profile supporter of the Palestinians. He’s also at odds with the UAE since the Gulf State fears his ideological alliance with its Muslim Brotherhood foes, especially those based in nearby Qatar. For this reason, both “Israel” and the UAE have vested interests in “containing” the spread of Turkish influence, which they can attempt to do in East Africa by combining their military and other potential in and around the Bab el Mandeb chokepoint following their mutual recognition of each other. It’s unclear how this would play out in practice, but there’s no denying the impact that a more visible “Israeli” military presence in the UAE’s relevant ports would have on changing the regional narrative in all respects. If anything, it would at the very least boost “Israeli” prestige, both at home and in the targeted region, especially the African hinterland where the self-professed “Jewish State” has been silently expanding its influence over the past decade.

The African Angle

To explain, “Israel” already has considerable influence in East Africa, especially in Ethiopia, South Sudan, Kenya, Uganda, and Rwanda.


It naturally follows that it would like to expand its reach to the littoral region along the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden in order to entrench its influence in this larger space, hence the need for more closely cooperating with the UAE to that end. “Israel” and Eritrea already have relations with one another, but the UAE is the latter’s dominant partner since it uses its territory for waging the War on Yemen. The self-professed “Jewish State” can now “piggyback” on the its official ally’s military gains there to do the same, just like in South Yemen and Somaliland. Taken together, the military dimensions of the “Israeli”-Emirati alliance perfectly complement the diplomatic and economic (agricultural, electrical, hydrological, telecommunication) influence that it’s already established to solidify its sway. The only “holdouts” are Sudan, which is already under the UAE’s influence after its military coup, tiny Djibouti, and Somalia, the last of which hosts a Turkish base.

Cultivating UN Support On The Continent

“Israel’s” trans-regional strategy with the UAE, using the Gulf of Aden as its springboard for expanding influence into Africa, is therefore twofold. Firstly, it hopes to “contain” Turkish influence in this part of the world, and secondly, it wants to leverage its predicted gains to recruit more diplomatic allies in the UN. That global body’s resolutions are superficial since they lack any enforcement mechanism, but they’re still an impressive soft power tool for shaping perceptions. Since the UAE is becoming more active in the African hinterland, both on its own independent initiative and to counter Turkish influence there, “Israel” hopes to combine their efforts to turn targeted states away from the Turks and towards the “Israeli”-Emirati alliance instead. Incentives such as loans and investments (in the earlier described spheres) could basically buy off corrupt governments there who have little to lose by siding with those two since it’s extremely unlikely that voting in support of “Israel” at the UN will set off a pro-Palestinian Color Revolution anywhere on the continent.

Concluding Thoughts

Many commentators have already extensively discussed the implications of “Israel” and the UAE’s mutual recognition on Mideast geopolitics, but few have asked what the future holds for Africa in this respect. The UAE is already the predominant power in the interconnected Horn of Africa-Gulf of Aden region, so it naturally follows that its “Israeli” ally will “piggyback” off the gains there to combine them with its existing accomplishments in the East African hinterland.

Together, “Israel” and the UAE might pool their efforts in order to seriously challenge Turkish influence on the continent, which has been spreading over the past decade despite most foreign observers being unaware of this fact except when it comes to North Africa. The overarching trend is that foreign powers — which include “Israel”, the UAE, and Turkey, but also the US, France, India, Russia, and China — are increasingly “scrambling” for Africa in order to improve their grand strategic prospects in the emerging Multipolar World Order, and it’s only a matter of time before they clash.

Link:
The Geopolitical Impact Of The 'Israeli'-Emirati Alliance Will Be Felt In Africa

 

[loyola llothta]

 

[Red Shield]

Link:
The Geopolitical Impact Of The 'Israeli'-Emirati Alliance Will Be Felt In Africa

with the way things are going.. I can see why the israeli's are making these plays..

not good for Africa though

 

[loyola llothta]

US tells Kenya to publicly support Israel or forget free trade deal




The inclusion of a third party, Israel, in the negotiation agenda, has seen lobby groups in Nairobi warn that the agreement could be too risky to Kenya's interests.

By AGGREY MUTAMBO

Monday . 21 September 2020


IN SUMMARY

• 
  
  • Inclusion of a third party, Israel, in the negotiation agenda, has seen lobby groups in Nairobi warn that the agreement could be too risky to Kenya's interests.
  • The US indicates that the deal with Kenya should, with respect to commercial partnerships, discourage actions that prejudice or discourage business between the US and Israel.
  • Kenya has often recognised Israel, but rarely makes a public statement endorsing one side or the other and supports the ultimate two-State solution for Palestine and Israel.

The US wants Kenya to support Israel’s political and commercial interests, or forget a free trade deal (FTA) with the world’s biggest economy.

This is one of a raft of conditions set in the ongoing FTA negotiations between Nairobi and Washington.

The US has indicated in its objectives seen by The EastAfrican that the deal with Kenya should, with respect to commercial partnerships, discourage actions that prejudice or discourage business between the US and Israel.

Washington argues that the FTA should “discourage politically motivated actions to boycott, divest from, and sanction Israel.”

The US also wants the “elimination of politically motivated, non-tariff barriers on Israeli goods, services, or other commerce imposed on Israel; and the elimination of State-sponsored, unsanctioned foreign boycotts of Israel, or compliance with the Arab League Boycott of Israel.”

The inclusion of a third party, Israel, in the negotiation agenda, has seen lobby groups in Nairobi warn that the agreement could be too risky for Kenya.

The US has for decades been a staunch supporter and defender of Israel on the global stage and in volatile Middle East.

“The United States published its negotiating position before negotiations began for all to see. We are negotiating with transparency and openness,” said the US ambassador to Kenya, Kyle McCarter, when asked about the inclusion of Israel in the negotiations. “This is how we have treated the numerous other countries with which we have concluded successful free trade agreements benefiting both parties,” he added.

Political connotation
The East African Tax and Governance Network (EATGN) and East African Trade Network (EATN), the groups who have been following developments on the matter, said Nairobi was being ‘‘entrapped’’ in the Palestine-Israeli conflict.



“Due to Kenya’s own special relationship with Israel and its pragmatic approach in dealing with issues like tensions in the Middle East, US demands for such political connotations in the USFTA would undercut the country’s reputation,” argued Leonard Wanyama, the co-ordinator of the EATGN and vice-president of the International Relations Society of Kenya, a lobby for foreign policy experts in Nairobi told The EastAfrican.

The Network and other groups had raised a petition opposing the negotiations, unless there is clarity on tax exemptions to avoid any revenue losses for the government.

But the demand for protection of Israeli interests means Washington is pursuing the goal of ending any possible support for Palestine’s Boycotts, Divestments and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel, a global initiative by various groups across the world friendly to Palestinian grievances. The groups often seek to have Israel meet obligations under international law.

These include withdrawal by Israel from the occupied territories; removal of the separation barrier in the West Bank; full equality for Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel; and “respecting, protecting, and promoting the rights of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and properties,” according to a bulletin by the BDS Committee.

Traditionally, Kenya has often recognised Israel, but rarely makes a public statement endorsing one side or the other and supports the ultimate two-State solution for Palestine and Israel. It allows Palestine to establish a representative office in Nairobi.

This week, the Tax Network said Washington’s demand could place Nairobi in a difficult situation and called for officials to reject the call.

On Thursday, Johnson Weru, the Trade and Industry Principal Secretary told The EastAfrican that political issues are not part of the agenda, but declined to discuss the issues they agreed to.

Controversial objectives
Nairobi’s own published objectives indicate the agreement must be discussed within the limits of the EAC and the World Trade Organisation regulations. Kenya also wants a deal that takes into consideration the “special and differential treatment applicable to Kenya as a developing country.”

Under the WTO guidelines, developed countries provide certain preferential treatment to developing partners such as duty-free market access without expecting reciprocal treatment.

Whether Kenya’s refusal to accept political discussions is because of the petition filed earlier last month is yet to be clear. But the US has also included other controversial objectives, which the lobbies are opposed to.

For example, the US insists Kenya must not tax digital products like e-books or music, and Nairobi must include no provisions that require US firms operating to store data locally.

Under the WTO moratorium on e-commerce, Customs duty should be charged on ‘‘transmission’’ of those services and products, not the products or their contents themselves.

The 1998 moratorium has been challenged in situations where physical products have been digitised.

Peter Lunenborg, a Senior Programmes Officer for Trade and development at trade policy research group, South Centre, told The EastAfrican it was not unusual for countries to include conditions like this in trade negotiations, as long as they enhance their market access.

“These are disciplines that are also in USMCA(US-Mexico-Canada Agreement), so there are no surprises there. Essentially these rules, inter alia, aim at maintaining the dominance of US-based e-commerce firms,” he said, referring to the US deal that came into force last July.

Mr Lunenborg said there have been concerns, however, raised at the WTO by some members who argue e-commerce needs to be structured to protect developing countries.

Since 2017, for instance, the Africa Group at the WTO has argued that developing countries need to look beyond the possible benefits of digital solutions, and to start assessing the impact that the lack of digital and technological capabilities would have in cementing and widening the technology divide.

A report on the ‘‘digital industrial policy and development’’ by the Africa Group concluded that “a thorough assessment is required, particularly for developing countries, to assess the opportunities and threats that digital transformation will bring.

Link:
US tells Kenya to publicly support Israel or forget free trade deal | The East African

 

[Red Shield]

US tells Kenya to publicly support Israel or forget free trade deal




The inclusion of a third party, Israel, in the negotiation agenda, has seen lobby groups in Nairobi warn that the agreement could be too risky to Kenya's interests.

By AGGREY MUTAMBO

Monday . 21 September 2020


IN SUMMARY

• 
  
  • Inclusion of a third party, Israel, in the negotiation agenda, has seen lobby groups in Nairobi warn that the agreement could be too risky to Kenya's interests.
  • The US indicates that the deal with Kenya should, with respect to commercial partnerships, discourage actions that prejudice or discourage business between the US and Israel.
  • Kenya has often recognised Israel, but rarely makes a public statement endorsing one side or the other and supports the ultimate two-State solution for Palestine and Israel.

Link:
US tells Kenya to publicly support Israel or forget free trade deal | The East African

This shyt is pretty damn brazen. None of this shyt endears israel to any of these countries though.


I'd bush this shyt if I was Kenya or at least delay any further progress until I see if Biden gets elected

 

[loyola llothta]

25 September 2020

Mali Opens Its Doors to Russia
By Kester Kenn Klomegah

With strict pressure from the African Union (AU) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the August coup leaders have installed an interim government that will run state affairs until next elections. Plucked from obscurity, the former Defense Minister Bah Ndaw became the transitional President, while Colonel Assimi Goita serves as Vice President. The transitional committee made up of representatives of political parties, civil and religious groups agreed on both positions.

According to their biographical reports, both had part of their professional military training in the Soviet Union and Russia respectively. The transitional civilian government, swearing-in ceremony and inauguration into office took place on Sept 25, completely closed the political chapter on the political administration of Ibrahim Boubacar Keita.

The military takeover, Mali’s fourth since gaining independence from France in 1960, came after months of protests, stoked by Keita’s failure to roll back a bloody jihadist insurgency and fix the country’s many economic woes.

Over the years, reform policies have had little impact on the living standards, majority highly impoverished in the country. As a developing country, it ranks at the bottom of the United Nations Development Index (2018 report). The country, however, is a home to approximately 20 million population. The primary task, right now, is to draw up “a comprehensive road map” for economic recovery.

Earlier before the Sept 25 ceremony, Assimi Goita had issued a public statement at a media-covered conference to the Malian population,

“We make a commitment before you to spare no effort in the implementation of all these resolutions in the exclusive interest of the Malian people. We request and hope for the understanding, support and accompaniment of the international community in this diligent and correct implementation of the Charter and the transition roadmap. The results you have achieved allow me to hope for the advent of a new, democratic, secular and prosperous Mali.”

While West African leaders would likely remove the economic sanctions imposed in the wake of last month’s coup, following the installation of a civilian interim president, a number of foreign countries including Russia have already recognized these new developments taken toward stability.

Russia, apparently, is exploring all possibilities to regain part of its Soviet-era influence as Mali begins to restructure and systematize its state administration. In an official statement to mark Mali’s 60th anniversary of its independence from France, Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) hoped that Mali would fix in place civilian form of government and, focus on holding free and democratic elections following a short transitional period with the assistance of the Economic Community of West African States and the African Union.

It is noteworthy to recall here that Russia and Mali are linked by friendship and cooperation. In 1960, Mali attained independence following a prolonged struggle and opted for a socialist orientation.


There were major projects implemented with Soviet assistance. These includes a cement factory, the Kalana gold-mining company, a stadium in Bamako, the Gabriel Toure Hospital, an airfield in Gao and a number of national education facilities. Large-scale prospecting operations were conducted, and 9,000 hectares converted into rice paddies.

Thousands of Soviet educators, doctors and other specialists worked in Mali. Over 10,000 Mali citizens received higher education in Russia.

“We hope that the time-tested Russia-Mali ties will continue to develop steadily in the interests of both states. We would like to congratulate the friendly people of Mali on their national holiday and to wish them every success in achieving nationwide reconciliation, reviving their country as soon as possible, and we wish them peace, prosperity and well-being,” the statement particularly stressed.

As Russia pushes to strengthen its overall profile in the G5 Sahel region, Mali could become a gateway into the region. Russia has made military-technical cooperation as part of its diplomacy and keen on fighting growing terrorism in Africa.

Experts suspected that the regime change in Mali could see Russia-friendly new leaders taking over the country from the French-friendly Ibrahim Boubacar Keita and his government, thereby dealing a severe blow to French influence and interests not just in Mali but throughout the Sahel zone.



Research Professor Irina Filatova at the Higher School of Economics in Moscow explained recently in an emailed “Russia’s influence in the Sahel has been growing just as French influence and assistance has been dwindling, particularly in the military sphere. It is for the African countries to choose their friends and people who are now in power will be friendlier with Russia.”

That said, the transitional government could continue to leverage with Russia. Reports indicate that Russia has established cordial relations with transitional government. On August 21, Russian Ambassador to Mali and Niger Igor Gromyko met with representatives from the National Committee for the Salvation of the People (CNSP). The CNSP is an umbrella organization of military personnel involved in the coup, which wishes to oversee an 18-month transition before returning power to civilian authorities. Russia signed a military cooperation agreement with Mali in June 2019.

In November 2019, demonstrators in Bamako urged Moscow to repel Islamist attacks in Mali as it did in Syria. At the Independence Square demonstrations in Bamako that followed the coup, protesters were spotted waving Russian flags and holding posters praising Russia for its solidarity with Mali.

Samuel Ramani, DPhil candidate at the Department of Politics and International Relations at St. Antony’s College, University of Oxford, wrote in the Journal of the Foreign Policy Research Institute that “Since Russia possesses a diverse array of partnerships in Mali and Sahel countries are frustrated with the counterterrorism policies of Western powers. Moscow could leverage the Mali coup to secure economic deals and bolster its geopolitical standing in West Africa.”

According to the expert, Kremlin-aligned research institutes and media outlets have consistently framed France’s counterterrorism operations in Niger and Mali as a façade for the extraction of the Sahel’s uranium resources. Russian nuclear energy giant Rosatom, which directly competes with its French counterpart Avenda for contracts in the Sahel, could benefit from favorable relations with Mali’s new political authorities. Nordgold, a Russian gold company that has investments in Guinea and Burkina Faso, could also expand its extraction initiatives in Mali’s gold reserves.

As one of the largest on the continent, Mali is a landlocked country located in West Africa. For centuries, its northern city of Timbuktu was a key regional trading post and center of Islamic culture. Mali is renowned worldwide for having produced some of the stars of African music, most notably Salif Keita. But, this cultural prominence has long since faded.

After independence from France in 1960, Mali suffered droughts, rebellions, and 23 years of military dictatorship until democratic elections in 1992. Mali has struggled with mass protests over corruption, electoral probity, and a jihadist insurgency that has made much of the north and east ungovernable. President Ibrahim Keita, who took office in September 2013, proved unable to unify the country. With time and commitment to sustainable development and good governance, there is still hope for Mali.

Link:

Mali Opens Its Doors to Russia - Global Research

 

[Yehuda]

Expanding Monstrous US Drone War to Kenya is Bi-Partisan Madness

Netfa Freeman 23 Sep 2020

Expanding Monstrous US Drone War to Kenya is Bi-Partisan Madness

The absence of a domestic backlash against US Africa policy is testament to the blind spots of our movement.

“The whole world must begin to see AFRICOM and the militarization of police departments as counterparts.”

Instead of being a remnant of its past, US genocidal repression, labor exploitation and resource plundering against Indigenous and African (Black) people now extends to peoples across the planet. The tyranny of US racial capitalism over Black people stretches to the African motherland, without the bat of an eye by Black misleaders.

Side by side with domestic militarized police repression and racist vigilante violence in reaction to the George Floyd uprisings are persistent US air strikes and “special operations” in Africa. Despite the fact that US military efforts to “combat terrorism” actually encourages it, and that the US Africa Command (AFRICOM) is guilty of untold numbers of civilian deaths , the Pentagon is now seeking authority to expand its drone war into Kenya. This would potentially expand a war zone across the border from Somalia.

Deploying US troops to combat terrorism tends to encourage asymmetric types of resistance like terrorism. The more bombing there is, the more terrorism is inspired, which justifies more bombing.

Just like in cases when US domestic police kill people, the criminals reserve the authority to investigate themselves, which too often means impunity.

“The more bombing there is, the more terrorism is inspired.”

"’Not only does AFRICOM utterly fail at its mission to report civilian casualties in Somalia, it doesn't seem to care about the fate of the numerous families it has completely torn apart,’ Deprose Muchena, Amnesty International's director for East and Southern Africa, said after AFRICOM's last quarterly report on civilian casualties was released on July 28.”

Waging war and militarization is the intransigent response to any form of resistance in both US foreign and domestic policy. Activists protesting fascism and racist policing within the US are met with Gestapo-like arrests and extrajudicial execution by militarized police (murder).

Concurrently AFRICOM carries out counterpart anti-Black operations in Africa with the complicity of comprador leaders. The Muriel Bowers and Uhuru Kenyattas of the world do not enjoy the popular political legitimacy needed to keep them in power without a MDP and a KDF to impose their authority. Like all compradors they are obliged to the parasitic global capitalist class, not to the people.

In the capital city of the US, Democratic Mayor Bowser postures as being opposed to Republican President Trump on issues of police brutality, while presiding over police killings of her own and insisting on the prosecution of so-called “violent” activists. The violence that the ruling class is concerned with is actually damage to inanimate property of capitalists.

“Activists protesting fascism and racist policing within the US are met with Gestapo-like arrests and extrajudicial execution by militarized police.”

President Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya betrays his people’s interest with subservient requests to the racist US President Trump. In addition to AFRICOM’s desire for expanded authorities, President Kenyatta asked Trump during a White House visit in February for additional counterterrorism assistance, including “armed aerial support” to help combat Al Shabaab.

The persistence of the civil disobedience against racist police terror in the US is admirable. That the US, however, can at the same time expand a murderous predator drone war in Africa without a concomitant denunciation shows a collective disconnect in the understanding of the essential problem. The absence of a domestic backlash against US Africa policy is testament to the blind spots of our movement.

How can the US, whose wealth and power is based on economic exploitation and repression of the indigenous and Black working class, gain tacit permission to police our motherland? Imagine another country conducting 46 airstrikes on the US in eight months, as the US has done against Somalia.

The intent to expand Washington’s massively lethal predator drone wars should spark immediate condemnation from decent lawmakers on Capitol Hill, especially Black lawmakers.

“How can the US gain tacit permission to police our motherland?”

And not only does there need to be a mass movement in the US to shut down AFRICOM and the US drone war, this mass movement needs to become inseparably bound with the movement that has swept this country to end murderous police brutality against Black and Brown people. The whole world must begin to see AFRICOM and the militarization of police departments as counterparts. The US public must come to realize that no matter which party controls the legislature, no matter whether the President of the United States is Republican or a Democrat, the greatest existential threat to the planet is the US oligarchy.

“Peace, human cooperation, substantive equality and commitment to People(s)-Centered Human Rights are possible. These values represent the only rational basis for sustaining human life on the planet. Join Black Alliance for Peace at 4 p.m., EST, on September 24th, for our webinar, Full Spectrum Dominance: From AFRICOM to Indo-Pacific Command , where we will discuss and strategize on how we can put a brake on the global bi-partisan war machine.” -Black Alliance for Peace 9/21/2020 Newsletter

Netfa Freeman is an organizer in Pan-African Community Action (PACA) and on the Coordinating Committee of the Black Alliance for Peace. And is also co-host/producer of the WPFW radio show and podcast Voices With Vision.

Expanding Monstrous US Drone War to Kenya is Bi-Partisan Madness

 

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Saturday, October 03, 2020


U.S. Continues Efforts to Bring Non-signatories to Sudan Peace Process


October 2, 2020 (JUBA) - The U.S. special envoy to Sudan said he is continuing his efforts to persuade the non-signatory parties to join peace in Sudan in order to achieve stability in the country.

US special envoy Donald Booth speaks at the Atlantic Council on Sudan and South Sudan (State Department courtesy photo)Donald Booth met on Friday with the Sudanese government negotiating team in Juba where he arrived to attend the signing ceremony of a peace agreement with the armed group s of the Sudanese Revolutionary Front and the Sudan Liberation Movement of Minni Minnawi on Saturday.

In statements to the official news agency, SUNA, Both said the meeting discussed the implementation of the agreement and how the international community can contribute and its role in this regard.

Booth further said he was in contact with Abdelaziz Adam al-Hilu, head of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N al-Hilu), and Abdel-Wahid al-Nur, head of the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM-AW) to bring them to the negotiating table.

He praised the meeting between the Prime Minister, Abdallah Hamdok and al-Hilu in Addis Ababa early last September, during which it was agreed to resume peace talks on the relation between the state and religion.

The U.S. diplomat said he is still continuing his efforts with the exiled rebel leader al-Nur for the same purpose.

In a joint agreement reached in Addis Ababa on 3 September, Hamdok and al-Hilu agreed to hold informal discussions on the relationship between the state and religion and once a consensus is reached they would resume formal talks.

It is worth mentioning that Booth met also with the SRF and SLM-MM leaders but no statements have been released on the discussions.

Ending war in Sudan is one of the main tasks of the transitional government to prepare the country for democratic elections 30 years after an Islamist regime that waged war across the country and displaced millions of Sudanese.

Regarding the file of sanctions imposed on Sudan, the special envoy said his administration is working to get the country off the terror list.

"Sudan is still on the list of state sponsors of terrorism, and we are working hard with the government to reach a settlement of this file," he said.

(ST)


Pan-African News Wire

 

[Yehuda]

South African unions prepare for historic strike on October 7

The strike has been called by the Congress of South African Trade Unions, the largest trade union confederation in the country and a traditional ally of the ruling ANC. The union now says the ANC has betrayed the working class

October 04, 2020 by Pavan Kulkarni

The 1.8 million-strong member COSATU will also be joined by other trade unions confederations such as SAFTU and FEDUSA. Photo: Times Live

South Africa is bracing for one of the decade’s most significant general strikes on Wednesday, October 7. Unions are protesting rampant corruption and looting of COVID-19 funds, and the government’s failure to honor a 2018 wage agreement in the public sector.

Unions from across sectors are mobilizing for the strike, called for by the 1.8 million-strong Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU). It is the largest trade union confederation in the country.

COSATU has traditionally been an ally of the ruling African National Congress (ANC), which, it now believes, has openly betrayed the country’s working class. This shift in COSATU’s position raises questions about the future of this alliance. It may also open up possibilities for greater unity in the trade union movement, which has faced divisions over the question of the ANC.

The left-wing South African Federation of Trade Unions (SAFTU), the second largest trade union confederation in the country with a membership of 800,000, will also hold demonstrations and pickets on October 7, as will the 550,000-strong Federation of Unions of South Africa (FEDUSA). Its affiliated unions mainly represent public sector workers.

The decision to go on strike was taken by COSATU in the last week of August, after prolonged negotiations with the government at the National Economic Development and Labour Council (NEDLAC) and at Public Service Coordinating Bargaining Council (PSCBC) failed to yield a resolution.

Money meant for workers stolen by employers

One of the central issues around which the strike was called is corruption. Over the past week, numerous senior politicians and businessmen have been named as suspects by investigative authorities. However, no concrete action has been initiated to plug leakages and stop the systematic corruption deeply ingrained in South Africa’s economy, COSATU maintains.

The union had demanded that President Cyril Ramaphosa issue a decree instructing the Special Investigative Unit (SIU) to investigate employers accused of stealing from the Temporary Employee/Employer Relief Scheme (TERS).

TERS is meant to provide assistance in form of a stipend to employees who could not be paid by their employers due to shutting of operations during the lockdown. TERS is financed from the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF), accumulated over the years with contributions from the employees and employers.

“The fund was not originally designed to help workers in a lockdown situation. So there was no infrastructure to pay workers individually. The money was sent to employers, who were expected to pay it out to the workers on their payroll. But when they got the money, often only 50% was actually paid to the workers, and rest was stolen,” COSATU’s national spokesperson, Sizwe Pamla, told Peoples Dispatch.

In order to maintain transparency, he said the government and the unions had agreed on an arrangement where as soon as any amount is dispatched to an employer under TERS, the employees should be alerted with a text message, specifying the amount that was sent.

“This was not complied with,” Pamla said. “As a result, the employers have a monopoly on information regarding how much they have received from the government.” This has made it difficult for the workers to hold their employers accountable.

“The government acknowledged this problem. But acknowledgement is not enough. We need concrete actions and the government is not willing to commit,” he complained.

COVID-19 spread due to rampant corruption

The handling of the COVID-19 pandemic is another issue. “We used their own statistics to show that there is only 60% compliance in healthcare facilities. 300 health workers have died. This failure is also a result of corruption,” Pamla said.

According to the first report of the Auditor General (AG), who is investigating the use of R500 billion (US$299 million) COVID-19 fiscal package, the orders placed by health departments had many products “priced at more than double and even five times the prescribed (market) price.”

“We identified similar instances in the procurement of PPE in the education sector where the national and provincial departments are not procuring PPE at market-related prices,” the report further states.

The AG has also documented “matters such as suppliers not having valid tax clearance certificates, quotation and competitive bidding processes not being correctly applied.. conflicts of interest, and the awarding of a contract in the health sector to a supplier with no previous history of supplying or delivering PPE.”

Many beneficiaries of such tenders have familial connections to ruling politicians. To prevent such corruption, COSATU had demanded that the families of politicians should be barred from conducting business with any government departments.

However, at the NEDLAC negotiations, the government strongly resisted this demand, arguing that it would be a violation of the constitutional rights of the family members of politicians.

COSATU argued that such a measure to prevent the conflict of interest is well within the constitutional framework. The union said that government officials could always resign if they felt the businesses of family members was a higher priority.

After the discussion, NEDLAC consulted the law firm Cheadle Thompson & Haysom, which said that South Africa’s constitutional framework does permit the imposition of such a restriction. The government, nevertheless, has remained reluctant.

Government refuses to honor wage commitments

In parallel to these disputes at NEDLAC, discussions also reached a deadlock at the Public Service Coordinating Bargaining Council (PSCBC). These were over the government’s refusal to honor the wage agreement it had signed with the unions representing employees in public service. Titled Resolution 1 of 2018, this agreement specifies the pay hikes the government had committed to for the years 2018/19, 2019/20 and 2020/21.

The pay hike agreed for the latter, which was supposed to be effected from April 1, was Consumer Price Index (CPI) +1% for employees Level 1 to 7, +0.5% for those employed at Level 8 to 10, and an amount equal to the CPI for Level 11 to 12. Soon after this date, when the government had failed to affect the hike, COSATU had taken the matter to PSCBC.

After months of negotiation, in August, the National Treasury, in an outright violation of the agreement, said in its guidelines: “No additional funding will be made available to directly fund costs associated with implementing the last leg of PSCBC Resolution 1 of 2018. No adjustment to salaries should be effected in 2020/21.”

The following month, the government also approached the labor court, seeking an order declaring the wage agreement null and void. “They say it costs 37 billion rands to honor the wage agreement, and that they cannot budget it. But they are losing much more on corruption… 80 billion rands is lost to illicit financial flows every year according to the State Security Agency,” Pamla argued.

“The only real way to stop this”, he said, “is by imposing capital controls. But the government has refused to do it, because it is running a corporate welfare state.”

Its refusal to impose capital controls has turned South Africa’s economy into what he calls a “casino economy”, in which capital gambles on the market and leaves with the booty at will. And the burden of the crisis left behind as a result is shifted on to the shoulders of the working class by the government’s policy of austerity.

“A class-war long overdue”

Due to all these reasons, COSATU has finally come to characterize the ANC as a “class-collaborationist” party which “betrayed the working class.”

COSATU has called upon all the trade unions to unite in a common struggle, not only for the limited purpose of the general strike on October 7, but to “fight the class-war that has been long overdue,” said Pamla.

The General Industries Workers Union of South Africa (GIWUSA) was the first of the SAFTU affiliates to declare “full support” to COSATU’s call.

“GIWUSA is encouraged that COSATU is becoming conscious of the class character of the ANC government and will not defer to it the historic demands of the working class. GIWUSA hopes that this decisive action shall spark the beginning of a sustained collaboration between the two biggest federations in the country,” its statement reads, calling on all SAFTU affiliated unions to mobilize.

“History is calling us to act decisively and we dare not fail.”

South African unions prepare for historic strike on October 7

 

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