Maravi

Mpombo dismisses reports of CIA prison

Mpombo dismisses reports of CIA prison
Written by Mwala Kalaluka
Friday, January 30, 2009 1:11:23 PM

DEFENCE minister George Mpombo yesterday told Parliament that revelations indicating that Zambia is one of the countries hosting the CIA prisons are a product of cadre journalism.

Delivering a ministerial statement, Mpombo said Zambia had not hosted a secret Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) prison and that the article in the UK’s Guardian of Friday, January 23, 2009 where Zambia was highlighted as one of the countries hosting such facilities was not true.

He said Zambia would not tolerate the setting up of military bases that would compromise the sovereignty of the country.

"That article was a product of cadre journalism," said Mpombo in response to a question from Kalomo UPND member of parliament Request Muntanga on what the government would do to correct the misleading article in the Guardian.

When asked by Lusaka Central PF member of parliament Guy Scott if there had never been discussions between the US and Zambian governments pertaining to the establishment of a secret CIA prison, Mpombo said he was only aware of discussions that had taken place during late president Levy Mwanawasa's time regarding the establishment of Africa Command Centre (AFRICOM).

Scott made reference to an article in the Washington Post of November 2005 where it was indicated that there were plans to set up a secret prison at one of the islands on Lake Kariba.

However, Mpombo said the article amounted to some "tasteless concoction".

He added that even former president George Bush had brushed aside questions over the establishment of AFRICOM.

Mpombo said there was no grain of substance in the revelations brought out in the articles.

When asked by Katombola UPND member of parliament Regina Musokotwane on what government was going to do to the UK's Guardian newspaper over the article, Mpombo said he had no powers to tell the newspapers on what to write.

According to the Washington Post article titled 'CIA holds terror suspects in secret prisons' published on November 2, 2005, among the first steps by the CIA was to figure out where they could hold the captives and one early idea was to keep them on ships in international waters but that the idea was discarded for security and logistical reasons.

" CIA officers searched for a setting like Alcatraz Island. They considered the virtually unvisited islands in Lake Kariba in Zambia, which were edged with craggy cliffs and covered in woods. But poor sanitary conditions could easily lead to fatal diseases, they decided, and besides, they wondered, could the Zambians be trusted with such a secret? Still without a long-term solution, the CIA began sending suspects it captured in the first month or so after September 11 to its longtime partners, the intelligence services of Egypt and Jordan," the article reads in part.

Labels: CIA, GW BUSH

posted by MrK @ 1:10 PM