Africa

Russia To West: We Told You Not To Overthrow Qaddafi!

"'Those whom the French and Africans are fighting now in Mali are the [same] people who ... our Western partners armed so that they would overthrow the Gaddafi regime,' Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told a news conference. The toppling of Libyan ruler Muammar Qaddafi led to 'perhaps the greatest proliferation of weapons of war from any modern conflict,' Emergency Director of Human Rights Watch Peter Bouckaert told The Telegraph. Those weapons stockpiles were raided by both sides, and both sides had connections with radical militants." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingRussia To West: We Told You Not To Overthrow Qaddafi!

Zimbabwean Finance Minister Says the Country Has Just $217 In The Bank

"After paying public workers' salaries last week, the balance in cash-strapped Zimbabwe's government public account stood at just $217, Finance Minister Tendai Biti said Tuesday. Zimbabwe's economy went into free-fall at the turn of the millennium, after President Robert Mugabe began seizing white-owned farms. The move demolished investor confidence in the country, paralysed production, prompted international sanctions and scared off tourists. Zimbabwe's government has warned it does not have enough money to fund a constitutional referendum and elections expected this year." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingZimbabwean Finance Minister Says the Country Has Just $217 In The Bank

French special forces ‘to protect’ Niger uranium mines

"France is to deploy special forces to protect uranium mines belonging to French nuclear energy giant Areva in Niger, according to a report in a news magazine this week. The move comes amid a heightened security threat following a French-led offensive to drive Islamist separatists out of northern Mali, and the deadly hostage crisis at the In Amenas gas facility in Algeria, which militants said was in revenge for the French military intervention. The decision to deploy troops, however, was taken earlier in January, after a botched operation to rescue a captured French intelligence agent Denis Allex in southern Somalia, according to Le Point." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFrench special forces ‘to protect’ Niger uranium mines

U.S. military plans to build drone base in North Africa

"The US military plans to set up a base for drones in northwest Africa to bolster surveillance of Al-Qaeda’s affiliate in the region as well as allied Islamist extremists, a US official told AFP on Monday. The base for the robotic, unmanned aircraft would likely be located in Niger, on the eastern border of Mali, where French forces are currently waging a campaign against Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. If the plan gets the green light, up to 300 US military service members and contractors could be sent to the base to operate the drone aircraft, according to the New York Times." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingU.S. military plans to build drone base in North Africa

French-led forces in Mali take Timbuktu airport, enter city

"French-led troops in Mali have seized control of the airport in Timbuktu from Islamist militants and are fighting their way into the city center, a spokesman for the Malian military said Monday. The United States has also stepped up its involvement in the conflict by conducting aerial refueling missions on top of the intelligence and airlift support it was already providing. Covering the fighting up close is almost impossible for journalists, who are prevented from gaining access to the front line. Journalists are only allowed to enter after a town after it has been freed and its security guaranteed by French and Malian troops." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFrench-led forces in Mali take Timbuktu airport, enter city

North Africa Explodes?

"The Financial Times is reporting that the West 'faces decades of conflict in N. Africa.' The world's biggest news aggregator, Matt Drudge, is featuring the news on his front page. No doubt it's being promoted throughout the mainstream media as if what's going on is a surprise. The current war blowing up in Mali is, however, a perfect example of directed history. It has been 'in the works' for at least two years but probably far longer than that. Not only has it been planned, it has been gradually developed through a series of supporting wars in the Middle East and Africa. All of this manipulation was intended to make this outcome look inevitable and natural. It is not." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingNorth Africa Explodes?

How cigarette smuggling fuels Africa’s Islamist violence

"The key role cigarettes play in facilitating terrorism has been inexplicably ignored. But it has become of urgent interest to western intelligence agencies as they seek to check al-Qaida’s diverse factions operating across the Saharan region. The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) has concluded that 'cigarette smuggling has provided the bulk of financing for AQIM'. The total value of the illicit tobacco trade in north Africa is thought to exceed $1bn (£632m). The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) estimates that Africans smoke 400bn cigarettes a year, of which 60bn are bought on the black market." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingHow cigarette smuggling fuels Africa’s Islamist violence

Pepe Escobar: Burn, burn – Africa’s Afghanistan

"Business is good; French president Francois Hollande spent this past Tuesday in Abu Dhabi clinching the sale of up to 60 Rafales to that Gulf paragon of democracy, the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The formerly wimpy Hollande - now enjoying his 'resolute', 'determined', tough guy image reconversion - has cleverly sold all this as incinerating Islamists in the savannah before they take a one-way Bamako-Paris flight to bomb the Eiffel Tower. According to the UN Office of Drugs Control, 60% of Europe's cocaine transits Mali." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPepe Escobar: Burn, burn – Africa’s Afghanistan

On To Timbuktu II

"This bloody action has awoken Algeria’s hitherto quiescent Islamic resistance groups. They waged a ten year war against Algeria’s US and French backed military regime, one of the continent’s most repressive regimes, after Algeria’s armed forces crushed Islamists after they won a fair election in 1991. Over 250,000 Algerians died in a long, bloody civil war. The Algiers government often used gangs of its soldiers disguised as rebel fighters to commit gruesome massacres to blacken the name of the opposition. Algeria may again be headed for a new bloodbath, this time with minority Berber people calling for their independent state." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingOn To Timbuktu II

Africa’s Resources Beckon

"For the USA, its ambitions have a new locus in Africa. These wars, as in Libya and Mali, have not been joined by this trio of imperialists because of terrorism threatening Europe or the U.S. This is, for one thing, about controlling African governments and enabling the extraction of wealth from resources in this region of Africa. It was Gaddafi's (Libya's) sympathy and outreach toward these regions and peoples that helped bring about his downfall. He stood in the way of western business interests, and his ideas for controlling the resources for Africans could not be abided by the western business interests and their allies in government." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingAfrica’s Resources Beckon