(LANDDESTROYER REPORT) Al Qaeda Terrorists Pass US Special Forces, CIA Agents on Way to Syria
November 1, 2013
(Tony Cartalucci) - A recent Daily Telegraph article reveals that armies of Al Qaeda terrorists are using NATO-member Turkey as a springboard for their invasion of neighboring Syria.
NATO is the chief executor of the so-called "War on Terror," started in 2001 after Al Qaeda terrorists allegedly flew four passenger planes into various targets on America's east coast, including the World Trade Towers and the Pentagon. Nearly 3,000 people died in a single day. The invasion of Afghanistan promptly followed based on the pretense that it was "harboring" members of Al Qaeda. The invasion and nearly decade-long occupation of Iraq followed shortly thereafter.
Yet despite all of this, Turkey, a NATO member since the early 1950's, appears to be guilty of the very crime Afghanistan was allegedly invaded and to this day still occupied for, harboring Al Qaeda terrorists. An army of Al Qaeda is (and has been for nearly 3 years) using southern Turkey as a safe-haven and staging ground for the invasion of Syria - disingenuously portrayed by the Western media as a "civil war."
Worst of all, these terrorists, literally carrying Al Qaeda's banner into battle, are passing CIA outposts, US, British, and French special operations training camps, and through Western-funded refugee camps, on their way to commit a wide array of atrocities along and within Syria's borders.
This defies all explanations except one - the "War on Terror" is a fraud, and the very terrorists thousands of Western troops have died chasing across the planet, have been armed, funded, trained, propped up, and reconstituted by the West itself as a perpetual excuse to engage in global aggression, occupation, and wars of immense profit in both terms of wealth and geopolitical power.
The Daily Telegraph, in its article, "Al-Qaeda recruits entering Syria from Turkey safehouses," has recently reported:
Hundreds of al-Qaeda recruits are being kept in safe houses in southern Turkey, before being smuggled over the border to wage “jihad” in Syria, The Daily Telegraph has learned.
The network of hideouts is enabling a steady flow of foreign fighters - including Britons - to join the country’s civil war, according to some of the volunteers involved.
These foreign jihadists have now largely eclipsed the “moderate” wing of the rebel Free Syrian Army, which is supported by the West. Al-Qaeda’s ability to use Turkish territory will raise questions about the role the Nato member is playing in Syria’s civil war.
Turkey has backed the rebels from the beginning - and its government has been assumed to share the West’s concerns about al-Qaeda. But experts say there are growing fears over whether the Turkish authorities may have lost control of the movement of new al-Qaeda recruits - or may even be turning a blind eye.
Of course, the Telegraph is plainly deceiving its readers. The use of Al Qaeda as a militant proxy against Syria is not an unpredictable and unfortunate result of the ongoing Syrian conflict, but instead a well documented Western plan exposed as early as 2007 by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, Seymour Hersh in his article, "The Redirection," which stated (emphasis added):
"To undermine Iran, which is predominantly Shiite, the Bush Administration has decided, in effect, to reconfigure its priorities in the Middle East. In Lebanon, the Administration has coöperated with Saudi Arabia’s government, which is Sunni, in clandestine operations that are intended to weaken Hezbollah, the Shiite organization that is backed by Iran. The U.S. has also taken part in clandestine operations aimed at Iran and its ally Syria. A by-product of these activities has been the bolstering of Sunni extremist groups that espouse a militant vision of Islam and are hostile to America and sympathetic to Al Qaeda."
Clearly, the only thing NATO, Turkey, and the Western press have "lost control" of, is the narrative used to deceive the public.
The CIA Not Only Watches Al Qaeda Pass, But is Clearly Arming Them
The New York Times in their March 2013 article titled, "Arms Airlift to Syria Rebels Expands, With C.I.A. Aid," admits that:
With help from the C.I.A., Arab governments and Turkey have sharply increased their military aid to Syria’s opposition fighters in recent months, expanding a secret airlift of arms and equipment for the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad, according to air traffic data, interviews with officials in several countries and the accounts of rebel commanders.
The airlift, which began on a small scale in early 2012 and continued intermittently through last fall, expanded into a steady and much heavier flow late last year, the data shows. It has grown to include more than 160 military cargo flights by Jordanian, Saudi and Qatari military-style cargo planes landing at Esenboga Airport near Ankara, and, to a lesser degree, at other Turkish and Jordanian airports.
The New York Times piece attempts to spin America's role in arming militants in Syria. The Times continues by stating:
The American government became involved, the former American official said, in part because there was a sense that other states would arm the rebels anyhow. The C.I.A. role in facilitating the shipments, he said, gave the United States a degree of influence over the process, including trying to steer weapons away from Islamist groups and persuading donors to withhold portable antiaircraft missiles that might be used in future terrorist attacks on civilian aircraft.
Just like the Telegraph, the Times is overtly lying to its readers. So-called "Islamists" constitute the summation of armed aggression against the Syrian government specifically because the plans outlined by Hersh in 2007 are now being executed by the CIA, within NATO-member Turkey's territory, along the Turkish-Syrian border.
Western Special Forces are Training Al Qaeda Terrorists
In addition to the CIA, Western special forces are also operating along and within Syria's borders. A June 2013 LA Times article titled, "U.S. has secretly provided arms training to Syria rebels since 2012," admitted:
CIA agents and special operations troops have trained the rebels in anti-tank and antiaircraft weaponry in Jordan and Turkey.
The LA Times continued:
CIA operatives and U.S. special operations troops have been secretly training Syrian rebels with anti-tank and antiaircraft weapons since late last year, months before President Obama approved plans to begin directly arming them, according to U.S. officials and rebel commanders.
The covert U.S. training at bases in Jordan and Turkey, along with Obama's decision this month to supply arms and ammunition to the rebels, has raised hope among the beleaguered Syrian opposition that Washington ultimately will provide heavier weapons as well. So far, the rebels say they lack the weapons they need to regain the offensive in the country's bitter civil war.
Al Qaeda's Al Nusra front has established itself on Syria's battlefields allegedly because of its martial prowess, in contrast to the bumbling "moderates" allegedly trained by US special forces. How is it possible that the West, along with their regional partners, including Saudi Arabia and Qatar, are arming, funding, and admittedly training armies of "moderates," and yet Al Qaeda has still managed to prevail? Who is arming, funding, and training them? The answer is simple - there were never any meaningful "moderates" despite ham-handed attempts by the Western media to insist otherwise, and the West is intentionally assisting Al Qaeda, just as was planned in 2007.
Thousands of Western troops have died, and are still dying in the so-called "War on Terror." Many more have been maimed and/or psychologically effected. Evidence suggests that there was no lapse between US backing of Al Qaeda in the 1980's in Afghanistan and today - and that even as US troops fought on in Iraq, the West and its partners in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Israel were arming and funneling terrorists into the country to fuel sectarian violence designed specifically to set up the strategic assets necessary for a covert/proxy war versus Iran, Syria, and Lebanon.
Labels: AL-QAEDA, CIA, COLONIALISM, LYBIA, SYRIA, TERRORISM
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(WHAT'S LEFT) Al Qaeda’s enemy in Mali, friend in Syria, and air force in Libya
Posted in Al Qaeda, Libya, Mali, Syria by what's left on January 17, 2013
By Stephen Gowans
New York Times reporters Mark Mazzetti and Eric Schmitt, writing on January 16 about the
“hazy threat from Mali militants,” note that, “The group most worrisome to American officials is Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, which emerged out of Algeria’s civil war in the 1990s and originally was strictly focused on overthrowing Algeria’s government.”
US officials didn’t find AQIM so worrisome when the Islamist group was focused on overthrowing Libya’s government. At the time, Washington was happy to allow Islamist militants to destabilize a government that wasn’t wholly congenial to US business interests.
As the Ottawa Citizen’s David Pugliese reported last year, Libyan leader Muamar Gaddafi had “said the rebellion had been organized by AQIM and his old enemies the (Libyan Islamic Fighting Group), who had vowed to overthrow the colonel and return the country to traditional Muslim values, including Sharia law.”
AQIM’s goals for Libya raised no alarm in Washington, but according to Mazzetti and Schmitt, the organization’s vow to convert Mali to Sharia law is setting off alarm bells in Washington.
To assist AQIM and other Islamist rebels in Libya, the United States led NATO into an air war against the Gaddafi government. Acknowledging AQIM’s role in the Libyan rebellion, some of the Canadian pilots who participated in the NATO air campaign jokingly referred to themselves as part of “Al-Qaeda’s air force.”
Washington’s use of jihadists to topple leftist and nationalist governments stretches back to its 1980s alliance with Islamist rebels, including Osama bin Laden, in Afghanistan. Today, al Qaeda-linked militants play an important part in the US-backed effort to overthrow the Syrian government.
To mobilize public support for jihadist rebellions, US officials and news media sanitize Islamist militants as “freedom fighters” or part of a “popular movement for democracy.” Few people anymore believe that the Islamists seeking to overthrow the Syrian government represent a popular movement for democracy. They are, instead, a movement for Sunni religious domination.
After the AQIM triumph in Libya, the organization turned to attacking the US consular building in Benghazi. With its transition from US cat’s paw to US enemy, Washington changed its naming protocol. Now AQIM would go by the moniker Gaddafi favored–terrorists. Which is also how Western officials and news media prefer to describe the organization today, now that AQIM’s goals in Mali collide with the West’s goal of maintaining a puppet regime in the country.
Were the AQIM working in Mali to topple a leftist or economically nationalist government, Washington and Western news media would be hailing the jihadists as a force for democracy.
Labels: AL-QAEDA, LYBIA, MALI, SYRIA, WORLD WAR III
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Syria: US-Backed Terrorists Mass Murder Unarmed Civilians
By Tony Cartalucci
Global Research, November 02, 2012
Land Destroyer
The Washington Post claims “soldiers” were executed – terrorists in video clearly refer to victims as civilian “shabih.” Victims had no weapons, uniforms, or IDs indicating they were soldiers.
An egregious war crime was reported on by the Washington Post, but deceitfully and purposefully spun and shrugged off. In the Post’s article, “Syrian rebels execute unarmed government soldiers; dozens killed in fighting,” it is first reported:
Syrian rebels executed at least a half-dozen unarmed government soldiers Thursday after attacks on checkpoints near the town of Saraqeb in northwest Syria.
Then:
The execution of the soldiers, which was documented in a graphic video [GRAPHIC] posted online Thursday, is not the first time that rebel fighters appear to have committed war crimes. U.N. representatives and human rights organizations have repeatedly criticized the Syrian opposition in recent months for carrying out summary executions and for abusing detainees.
The video clearly shows unarmed men, none of whom are wearing uniforms or equipment typical of “government soldiers.” The Washington Post then links to another video while reporting:
A second video posted online Thursday [GRAPHIC], which appears to have been filmed shortly after the execution, shows at least three other bodies spread out around the checkpoint. The man filming approaches two of the bodies and says, “The shabiha of Assad, the dogs.”
“Shabiha,” of course refers to alleged civilian militias organized locally to resist terrorists entering into and attempting to overrun neighborhoods. The term “shabiha” has been used by the Western media as a catch-all to spin any massacre committed against civilians by US-backed terrorists operating in Syria. That the murderers themselves, filming their own crime, refer to the victims as “shabiha” – indicates that civilians, not Syrian government forces, were murdered – contrary to what the Washington Post reported.
The term suspected “shabiha” has become analogous of the Western media’s use of the term “African mercenaries” in Libya during NATO destabilization and regime change operations there in 2011. These “African mercenaries” were lynched, beheaded, shot, burned, and hacked to pieces, just as terrorists are now doing to suspected “shabiha” across Syria.
Photo: Images and reports eventually trickled out as NATO-backed genocide unfolded throughout Tripoli’s streets, indicating the destruction of infrastructure and the specific targeting of black Libyans written off by the corporate media as “suspected mercenaries.” Benghazi rebels have been long reported to harbor extremist ideologies and an intense ethnic and racial hatred. These very Libyan, Benghazi terrorists are now streaming into Syria to commit similar atrocities against the Syrian people.”.
It would later turn out these black Africans were not mercenaries, but citizens who had lived in Libya for generations fighting desperately for their lives against sectarian extremists intolerant of their complexion and creed. Racially motivated attacks by NATO-backed terrorists in Libya would culminate in the extermination of the entire city of Tawarga where an estimated 10,000-35,000 inhabitants were either exterminated, imprisoned, or exiled to refugee camps and then beyond Libya’s borders.
Video: Wiped out. Tawarga, once home to 10,000 (this video claims up to 35,000) people, many part of Libya’s black community who had resided in the country for generations, had its inhabitants either exiled, imprisoned or exterminated. NATO-backed militants told the Telegraph in 2011, ” every single one of them has left, and we will never allow them to come back.” And just as the Western media initially covered up these atrocities by merely labeling all black victims of NATO terrorists as “African mercenaries,” a similar propaganda campaign is underway in Syria, labeling civilian victims of NATO-backed foreign terrorists as suspected “shibiha.”
….
In Syria, suspected “shabiha” are in actuality Syrians unwilling or unable, because of their ethnicity or creed, to capitulate to roving bands of foreign-armed sectarian extremists. The Washington Post and others throughout the corporate-driven Western media are willfully covering up crimes against humanity through overtly deceitful reporting and semantics.
It should be remembered, that these terrorists who have video taped themselves committing a massacre of unarmed men, out of uniform, and referred to as civilian “shabiha,” not soldiers – are at the center of renewed US, NATO, Saudi and Qatari efforts to refocus Western support for the violent, armed overthrow of the Syrian government.
Articles by: Tony Cartalucci
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US-Backed Terrorists Murder US Ambassador in Libya
“I have met with these brave fighters, they are not Al-Qaeda. … They are Libyan patriots who want to liberate their nation. We should help them do it.” – Sen. John McCain, Benghazi, April 22, 2011.
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Syria FSA Terrorists Behind “False Flag” Attack against Turkey
One of the German state television channels, the ZDF, has broadcasted two interesting reports today.
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Labels: AL-QAEDA, LYBIA, SYRIA, TERRORISM
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Anti-war & Black activists unite against Libya war: Cynthia McKinney Tour now to 19 cities
Global Research, August 5, 2011
A continuing mobilization against the U.S. war on Libya has taken place in cities across the country. Packed, standing room only audiences at major meetings have heard former Congressperson Cynthia McKinney report on her June fact-finding trip to Libya with the Dignity delegation. In every meeting the message rings out: Stop the U.S./NATO bombing of Libya.
In the coming ten days Cynthia McKinney is scheduled to speak at meetings in Boston on Saturday, August 6, in Los Angeles on Sunday, August 7, in Vancouver on Tuesday, August 9. McKinney will speak at the Millions March in Harlem of August 13 along with Minister Farrakhan and other opponents of war and sanctions on Libya and Zimbabwe. She is scheduled to speak at 2 meetings in North Carolina on Sunday, August 14 hosted by the Black Workers for Justice in Rocky Mount and later at a historic civil rights church in Durham.
CLICK HERE for FULL LISTING
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The destructive bombing attacks on Libya by the Pentagon and NATO are highly unpopular in the United States, although you wouldn’t know it from corporate media coverage.
Proof of this can be seen in a speaking tour that has now grown to 19 cities. The tour is coordinated by the International Action Center, in coordination with a broad range of other organizations. It is this unified approach of working with a whole range of other progressive political, religious and community organizations that has defined meetings in every city.
Mass meetings in St Louis MO, Pittsburgh PA, Baltimore MD, Detroit MI and Denver CO are now on the upcoming agenda.
In New York City on July 30 McKinney spoke at historic Riverside Church. An overflow crowd of more than 500 people packed a room that seated more than 400.
A link to the NYC Riverside Church meeting is available at:http://www.ustream.tv/ recorded/16383033
The meeting was well attended by activists from various anti-war organizations. It also attracted an equal number of community organizers and leaders from nearby Harlem.
When she was in Congress, McKinney represented a largely African-American district in Georgia. She and other speakers characterized the attack on Libya as a “racist war” that is part of an imperialist strategy to recolonize Africa.
In her talk, McKinney put the war against Libya in the context of the continuing brutality in the U.S. against people of color, despite the election of a Black president. She called out the names of half a dozen innocent young Black men who have recently been gunned down by police, from San Francisco to New York.
Sharing the podium with McKinney were prominent fighters for justice in the New York metropolitan area, including Larry Hamm of the People’s Organization for Progress and Saleem Muhammad Aktar of the Muslim American Alliance and Muslim American Taskforce.
Minister Akbar Muhammed, International Representative of the Nation of Islam, who visited Libya numerous times, stressed at the New York meeting and at previous meetings, the importance of the developing alliance among African-American forces, the anti-imperialist left and Muslims in opposing U.S. aggression in Africa and the Middle East.
Ramsey Clark who spoke at several meetings, including NYC and Atlanta, stressed the responsibility of anti-war forces in the United States to stand up against the Pentagon and the corporate-military-industrial complex, especially at a time when the public treasury is being looted to pay for ever more frequent and costly aggression against poor countries.
Sara Flounders of the International Action Center the coordinator of the tour, now to 19 cities, focused in her talks on the role of corporate media and government propaganda to demonization the Libyan government and justify war crimes and massive destruction. It is an effort to create a racist Pentagon lynch mob mentality to recolonize Africa. It must be resisted.
Khalifa Elderbak, a young Libyan studying in the U.S., told the New York City and Northampton MA audiences he was astounded by the media lies about what was happening in his country. He described how, seeing on the news that the Gadhafi government of Libya had bombed his hometown, he called dozens of relatives and friends back home, only to be told that the story was totally false. But days later it was all too true that NATO jets were bombing his hometown. Khalifa Elderbak will also speak in Boston on August 6.
The New York program also featured speakers who raised issues of unemployment, hunger and homelessness, which are endemic in communities of color. High school student Dinae Anderson spoke eloquently about the hunger already gripping poor areas. She informed about a campaign in New York to restore and expand food stamps under the slogan “Feed the hungry, not the Pentagon.”
Johnnie Stevens, speaking for Workers World Party, got a warm response as he urged participation in an Aug. 13 protest in Harlem against imperialist intervention in Africa. He then recapitulated decades of deadly U.S. imperialist intervention in Africa, from the assassination of Congo’s independence leader, Patrice Lumumba, to today’s build-up of U.S. forces on the continent. He compared the “rebels” in Libya to the “rebels” in the U.S. Civil War who tried to perpetuate the enslavement of African people.
Glen Ford, of the Black Is Back Coalition, analyzed the role of President Barack Obama in carrying out the program of the financiers and warmongers. He reminded the audience that Obama, even while campaigning on the slogan of change, had said two weeks before his election that he would be a compromiser, and he certainly has kept that promise.
Teresa Gutierrez of the May 1 Coalition for Worker and Immigrant Rights, Rocio Silverio of the IAC and Professor Asha Samad co-chaired the rally, which opened with a welcome from the Rev. Robert B. Coleman of the Riverside Church Prison and Imam Aiyub Abdul Baqi of the Islamic Leadership Council of NY.
In Newark, N.J. two days earlier, McKinney had spoken to another standing-room-only meeting in Newark at Abyssinian Baptist Church organized by the Peoples Organization for Progress. At the meeting the Newark City Council gave McKinney an award for telling truth to power. Members of the Newark City Council were part of the program along with the New Black Panther Party and representatives of major African American churches in Newark.
Large crowds in Atlanta, other cities
A week earlier, McKinney had spoken before another large crowd of over 500 in Atlanta on Sunday, July 24 at the Shrine of the Black Madonna in her home state. There, too, turnout was massive from the Black community, whose youth are constantly besieged by recruiters for the armed forces — often seen as the only alternative to nonexistent jobs and education for those in the U.S. who suffer racist oppression. The Atlanta meeting was organized by a broad coalition including the World African Diaspora Union (Georgia), the Nation of Islam, All-African Peoples Revolutionary Party (Georgia), the African Community Centers and the International Action Center.
The current tour began in Houston TX on July 7. It included a meeting organized by Veterans for Peace at the annual Peacestock in Hager City City WI and by Women Against Military Madness and Stop FBI Repression and others in Minneapolis MN on July 9. In Albany the Bethlehem Neighbors for Peace, Women Against War, Veterans for Peace organized a large meeting on July 10. A Meeting in Washington DC was organized by the American Muslim Alliance and American Muslim Taskforce. It was followed by a standing room only meeting on July 14, held at the historic Friends Meeting House in Northampton MA organized by Western Mass IAC and the Northampton Committee to Stop the War in Iraq.
The coalition of forces sponsoring the present tour of 19 cities and earlier six meetings showed that the active anti-war movement, especially those groups affiliated with the United National Antiwar Coalition and the Answer Coalition, had recognized the imperialist, predatory character of a war that the Obama administration claimed was to “protect civilians.”
A Full listing of the current tour follows and is available at: www.IACenter.org
National-tour, now to 19 cities, organized by International Action Center in coordination with many antiwar and community organizations from July 7 to August 28, 2011.
July 7 Thursday- Houston, TX
July 9 Saturday - Peacestock, Hager City, WI & Minneapolis, MN
July 10, Sunday – Albany, NY,
July 11, Monday –Washington DC,
July 14, Thursday – Northampton MA,
July 24, Sunday –Atlanta, GA
July 28, Thursday – Newark, NJ,
July 30, Saturday – New York City, NY
August 6, Saturday – Boston, MA
August 7, Sunday – Los Angeles, CA
August 9, Tuesday – Vancouver BC, Canada
August 13, Saturday - NYC with Millions March in Harlem
August 14, Sunday - Rocky Mount, and Durham, NC
August 19, Friday – St Louis MO
August 21, Sunday - Pittsburg, PA
August 25, Thursday - Baltimore, MD
August 27, Saturday – Detroit, MI
August 28, Sunday – Denver CO
- - - -- - - - - - - - -
HOUSTON, TX
July 7, 2011, 7:00 PM
Texas Southern University,
Public Affairs Building, Auditorium 114, Houston, TX
Sponsored by the Black Justice Coalition, the National Black United Front, Houston 2011 Peace Camp, and the Harris County Green Party
PEACESTOCK, Wisconsin
Saturday, July 9, 2011 - 12 noon to 5pm
Organized by Veterans for Peace, Chapter 115
Bill Habedank, Executive Director
651-764-1866 C
whabedank@yahoo.com
Peacestock address is N2934 750th St., Hager city WI 54014
www.peacestockvfp.org
MiINNEAPOLIS, MN
Saturday, July 9, 2011 at 7pm
Plymouth Congregational Church
1900 Nicollet Ave South Minneapolis, MN
Sponsored by: Minnesota Peace Action Coalition, Twin Cities Peace Campaign and Women Against Military Madness.
FFI: 612-379-3899 or 612-827-5364.
ALBANY, NY
Sunday, July 10, 3:00 - 5:00 pm
First Unitarian Universalist Society of Albany, Channing Hall
405 Washington Avenue, Albany, NY
Sponsored by Bethlehem Neighbors for Peace, Tom Paine Chapter of Veterans for Peace, Women Against War, Upper Hudson Peace Action, The Solidarity Committee of the Capital District, Guilderland Neighbors for Peace. Donation of $10 requested, $5 unemployed and students, no one turned away.
for information: 518-439-1968 Beth lehemNeighborsforPeace@yahoo. com
WASHINGTON DC
Monday, July 11 from 5:30 to 8:30pm
LIBYA: Contemplating Long-Term Consequences of the NATO Invasion
At: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace,
1779 Massachusetts Ave. NW Washington, DC 20036.
Sponsored by: American Muslim Alliance, AMA Policy Forum,
National Director,AMA Foundation (AMA-F) Muhammad Salim Akhtar
Cell: 773-507-5335
Direct: 202-280-7466
NORTHAMPTON, MA.
Thursday, July 14th, 7:00 pm,
The historic Friends Meeting House,
43 Center Street, Suite 202, 2nd floor, Northampton, MA, 01060.
Organized by Western Mass IAC and the Northampton Committee to Stop the War in Iraq. Co-sponsored by: Alliance for Peace and Justice, Pioneer Valley Code Pink and the Pioneer Valley Green/Rainbow Local Party
Contact: Nicholas Camerota, (413) 896-5219, or email: cadonaghy@yahoo.com
ATLANTA, GA
/Sun, July 24 at 4:00 p.m.
At the historic Shrine of the Black Madonna Culture Center,
West End Neighborhood
946 Ralph David Abernathy, Atlanta, GA 30310
Donate $ at iacenter.org/africa/ donatemckinneylibyatour
Sponsored by: Africa Ascension, World African Diaspora Union (WADU)-ATL, The Nation of Islam, All African Peoples Revolutionary Party (AAPRP)-ATL, the Religious Heritage of the African World – Pan African Ministers, the African Community Centers, UNIA/ACL, The Georgia Green Party, International Action Center, African Association of Georgia, the New Black Panther Party, The Dignity Delegation, Sankofa United Church of Christ, Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), The Shrine of the Black Madonna, First African Church, Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, The Congo Coalition…
Contacts: Min. Menelik at 404-527-7756 or Bro. Sobukwe at 404-456-7962.
http://www.wadupam.org
NEWARK, NJ
Thursday, July 28 6:30 pm
Abyssinian Baptist Church
224 West Kinney St, Newark, NJ
Between Broad St & Irving Turner Blvd.
#5 Bus from Newark Penn Station
Organized by POP – Peoples Organization for Progress
(come prepared to contribute)
Contact Lawrence Hamm 973-801-0001
peacejusticecoalition@gmail. com
NEW YORK CITY, NY
JULY 30 • SAT • 5 pm
AT THE RIVERSIDE CHURCH
Assembly Hall, 122nd St & Riverside Dr, NY, NY (Enter at 91 Claremont Ave entrance) Light refreshments served
NYC Program is in coordination with:
The Riverside Church Prison Ministries and Stop the War on Libya Coalition: (List in formation) AMA American Muslim Alliance, American Muslim Task Force, Nation of Islam, Freedom Party, Answer Coalition, Black Is Back Coalition December 12 Movement, The Dignity Delegation, International Action Center.
With support from:
Bail Out the People Movement ,BAYAN-USA, Colia Clark, Green Party Candidate U.S. Senate 2012, December 12 Movement, FIST • Fight Imperialism Stand Together, Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition (NYC), Haiti Liberté, Harlem Fightback Against War at Home & Abroad, Harlem Tenants Council, Honduras Resistencia USA, International Concerned Family & Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal, Jersey City Peace Movement, Manhattan Local of the Green Party, May 1 Workers and Immigrants Rights Coalition, Pakistan USA Freedom Forum, Peoples Organization for Progress, SI • Solidarity Iran, Committee to Stop FBI Repression, UNAC • United National Antiwar Coalition, Washington Heights Counter - Recruitment Group, Workers World Party, World Can’t Wait,
212-633-6646 www.IACenter.org
BOSTON, MA
SATURDAY AUGUST 6 - 4 p.m.
St. Katherine Drexel Church, 175 Ruggles St., Roxbury, MA
Cosponsored by International Action Center • Fanmi Lavalas Boston • Boston United National Antiwar Committee • Minister Don Mohammad, Temple 11, Nation of Islam* • Veterans for Peace, Chapter 9, Smedley Butler Brigade • Chelsea Uniting Against the War • Women’s Fightback Network • Bishop Filipe Teixeira, OFSJC, Diocese of St Francis of Assisi, CCA • Steve Gillis, VP, USW 8751 Boston School Bus Union* • Ed Childs, Chief Shop Steward, UNITE-HERE local 26* • N’COBRA (Reparations), Manchester, NH (list in formation)* for id only
For information in Boston call: 617-522-6626 or go to www.iacboston.org
LOS ANGELES, CA
SUNDAY, August 7th at 2pm
SEIU Local 721 Auditorium, 500 S Virgil Ave, (At 6th & Virgil) L.A.
Cosponsored by: All African Peoples Revolutionary Party-S, International Action Center, UNIA, BAYAN-USA, ALBA-USA, KPFK Unpaid Staff Union, Black August Organizing Committee, Southern California Immigration Coalition, Latino Caucus of SEIU Local 721,
For more information Contact: Dedon - (323) 646-4814 or IAC - (323) 306-6240
VANCOUVER BC, CANADA
Tuesday, AUGUST 9 7pm
Vancouver Heritage Hall
3102 Main St., Vancouver, BC, Canada
Organized by Mobilization Against War and Occupation (MAWO) -
For more information 604-322-1764, info@mawovancouver.org www.mawovancouver.org.
Sat. Aug 13 NYC Speaking at the Millions March in Harlem
ROCKY MOUNT, NC
Sunday, August 14 at 3pm
Booker T. Washington Theatre, 170 East Thomas Street, Rocky Mount, NC.
Event sponsored by Black Workers for Justice. In the Name of Humanity, International Action Center, FIST – Fight Imperialism Stand Together.
Call Shafeah M'Balia-James 252-442-8123 for more info
Durham, NC
Sunday, August 14 at 7pm at
St. Joseph's AME Church, 2521 Fayetteville St, Durham, NC
St Louis MO
Friday, August 19
(Details to follow)
Pittsburgh PA
Sunday, August 21
(Details to follow)
Baltimore, MD
Thursday, August 25
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Labels: CYNTHIA MCKINNEY, LYBIA, NEOCOLONIALISM
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Blow for Libyan rebels as general’s killed
Saturday, 30 July 2011 02:00
BENGHAZI/PRAGUE.
General Abdel Fatah Younes, commander of forces fighting to oust Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, has been killed in mysterious circumstances, dealing military and political blows to the rebels.
Younes was shot dead by an armed gang after he was summoned from the front by the rebel National Transitional Council "for questioning over military issues," NTC chairman Mustafa Abdel Jalil said late Thursday.
His killing, and that of two military officers, is seen as a sign of divisions within the ranks of the rebels in eastern Libya even as they make fresh advances in the west in a pre-Ramadan push to drive Kadhafi out.
"With all sadness, I inform you of the passing of Abdel Fatah Younes, the commander-in-chief of our rebel forces," Abdel Jalil said in a carefully worded statement at a press conference in Benghazi, the rebels' eastern capital.
"The person who carried out the assassination was captured," a somber looking Abdel Jalil said without elaborating.
He added there would be three days of mourning in Younes' honour although his body has yet to be recovered.
Rumours circulated in Benghazi that Younes, Libya's former interior minister and number two in Gaddafi's regime prior to his defection in February, was arrested and killed by the rebels themselves after it was alleged his family still had ties with Gaddafi but these could not be confirmed by AFP.
The scenario that the rebels have started fighting among themselves could pose awkward problems for the many Western powers who have recognised the NTC as the sole legitimate authority in Libya.
Meanwhile, a Reuters report said the Czech Republic will not recognise rebels opposing Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi as Libya's official government until they control the entire country, Foreign Minister Karel
Schwarzenberg was quoted as saying yesterday.
"I may like them, but unless they control the whole country, I will not recognise them officially," he told newspaper Pravo in an interview. - AFP/Reuters.
Labels: COLOUR REVOLUTIONS, LYBIA
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My Turn: When Zuze takes ‘kalata’ to his boss
Wednesday, 27 July 2011 02:00
IT is a tale akin to the legend of Zuze; the illiterate messenger who stole a loaf of bread from a delivery consignment but, unknown to him, the delivery note he eagerly brought back to his boss revealed that the consignment had been one loaf short on arrival.
‘‘Imwi akalata, imwi akalata, munapita kumuzungu mwati ndaja chingwa kuseri kwachidzele, nenani timve achimwene! (How dare you inform the baas (white man) that I devoured a loaf behind the anthill, answer me!),'' lamented poor Zuze as he belaboured the letter with a sapling behind an anthill, leaving it tattered and torn.
However, unknown to him, he had orchestrated his own exposure and punishment.
I was reminded of this primary school tale after reading utterances made by MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai at a rally in Chegutu this week where he said violent protests were an option for the MDC-T in its quest to unseat Zanu-PF.
I found this statement ironic for a number of reasons not least the fact that Tsvangirai has sought to build his unenviable political career on the back of masquerading as a long-suffering democrat.
Firstly, the MDC-T is not in opposition, it is in Government. Tsvangirai himself holds the esteemed office of prime minister in that government with a special brief of overseeing the implementation of Government programmes. So who would MDC-T supporters be protesting against and/or deposing? It appears the MDC-T leader is keen to chop the bough he sits on.
Secondly, why resort to protests when a roadmap to elections has been drafted and agreed upon by the parties to the GPA? A scandalous roadmap whose origins were traced to the parallel structures in the PM's own office and which Zanu-PF surprisingly acceded to even though it was clear that any roadmap had to come from three documents; the country's electoral laws, the Constitution and the Sadc guidelines and principles governing the conduct of democratic elections.
As sure as the sun will rise tomorrow, the end point for the inclusive Government is in the booth. The irony of it all is that it is Tsvangirai and his party who are resisting elections and are already issuing boycott threats while the ‘‘tyrannical'' Robert Mugabe and his ‘‘unpopular'' Zanu-PF are itching to go to the people for a verdict.
So what exactly is this, our Prime Minister, talking about?
Why try to walk the road to perdition, a road that has brought him so much embarrassment and grief over the years?
Has he already forgotten the spectacular flops that were his calls for mass actions and stayaways over the years, culminating in the ill-fated Save Zimbabwe Convention that imploded at Zimbabwe Grounds in Highfields even though the likes of Christopher Dell had made Tsvangirai believe Zimbabwe had reached ‘‘the tipping point?'' That the country was ready for an unconstitutional change of government?
We all know what happened in Highfields when MDC-T supporters thought they could overrun Machipisa Police Station.
Thirdly, and most ironic of all, Tsvangirai talks of Egyptian or Tunisian style uprisings in Zimbabwe in blissful ignorance of the fact that Egyptians and Tunisians were rebelling against their leadership's politics of western appeasement, or to put it bluntly puppetry.
Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali and Hosni Mubarak fronted the type of governments Tsvangirai hopes to foist on Zimbabweans.They fronted client states sworn to protecting the interests of Western big business at the expense of their own people who were completely shut out of their own economies.
Ben Ali was an American stooge and his regime had the tacit support of the United States, Israel, France and Italy. To Uncle Sam, the Tunisian regime fulfilled a security role in the Arab Maghreb.
In 1987, a soft coup d'état deposed president Habab Bourguiba in favour of his interior minister Ben Ali, a CIA agent trained at the US Army Intelligence School, Fort Holabird, in Maryland.
As soon as he assumed power, Ben Ali set up a military commission in conjunction with the Pentagon, which met each year to review the protection of US interests in the Arab Maghreb.
Suspicious of the army, Ben Ali gave it a marginal role, starving it of resources with the exception of his special forces that trained with the US military and participated in Uncle Sam's regional "anti-terrorism" activities. The ports of Bizerte, Sfax, Sousse and Tunis hosted NATO vessels and, in 2004, Tunisia joined the "Mediterranean Alliance" under the auspices of Nato.
Ben Ali systematically bled his country as he guaranteed the US bases to launch sorties into the Arab world. Every big firm was requested to yield 50 percent of its capital plus the accompanying dividends to Ben Ali and his cohorts.
However, things turned sour in 2009 when Ben Ali became greedy and attempted to extort western firms. The State Department promptly began preparing for his inevitable demise. Some 60 figures were identified and trained to take over in the post-Ben Ali era.
The rest as they say is history, and the self-immolation of the street vendor Mohamed el-Bouzaz just provided a spark to well laid cinders.
As for Mubarak, his regime was used as a buffer between the Arab world and Israel, the real power behind the US. Egypt, along with Tunisia, was among the biggest recipients of western Foreign Direct Investment, the two were hailed as model economies of the Arab world.
In terms of IMF, World Bank and World Economic Forum manuals, Tunisia and Egypt ranked highest among liberal economies where, thanks to liberal policies and privatisation, their FDI ranged in the billions.
Their tax regimes became a standard of how to appease westerners.
Their attitude to the West was touted as a lesson for all Arabs but through it all the people were shut out from their own economies.
Tsvangirai should know that Zanu-PF's fallout with the west came about because the party and the Government it led sought to give black Zimbabweans a stake in their economy which can not be said for Egypt and Tunisia.
Talk of the land reform programme and the indigenisation and economic empowerment drive. No sane Zimbabwean can oppose those.
Tsvangirai stands for the obverse.
In other words, what Tunisians and Egyptians were demanding is what has been achieved and implemented in Zimbabwe without street protests. We had to win those rights after a gruelling 14-year struggle for independence that Tsvangirai - who now postures courage before western cameras - had no stomach for.
It is highly irresponsible for Tsvangirai to talk of violent protests as if avenues to democratic expression have been closed.
He is in government; his party is in government, a Government that was put in place to ensure that all political parties - with representation in parliament - work together to create an environment conducive for the holding of elections whose outcome would be accepted by all and bind all.
So serve for either a penchant for violence or fear of defeat at the polls, I do not see any reason why Tsvangirai should dream of violent protests? Unless of cause he hopes for the Libyan scenario where his handlers would rush in with bombs claiming Robert Mugabe is clamping down on ‘‘peaceful'' protesters.
Whatever the reason, Tsvangirai would do well to remember the age-old axiom, ‘fire once teased snarls all the way to ash'. Moto unopisa hausi wekutamba nawo!
caesar.zvayi@zimpapers.co.zw
Labels: CAESAR ZVAYI, LYBIA
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Rupiah off to Libya, Italy
By George Chellah and Mutuna Chanda
Sat 14 Nov. 2009, 04:01 CAT
PRESIDENT Rupiah Banda is tomorrow expected to leave for Libya on business that is yet to be disclosed by State House.
According to well-placed government sources, President Banda will proceed to Italy after his visit to Libya. The President was in Italy recently on his way to the United Nations (UN) General Assembly in New York.
And first lady Thandiwe Banda who travelled to Tanzania after her recent visit to Swaziland is expected to join the President in Libya.
Asked to confirm President Banda's trips to Libya and Italy, State House special assistant to the President for press and public relations Dickson Jere nodded.
Asked what the President's mission on these two trips was, Jere responded: “I will issue a statement as I do every time.”
And President Banda on Thursday met Libyan leader Muammar Gadaffi's special envoy Mokhatar Elgans for about 20 minutes in a room within the control tower building at Solwezi airport after his arrival.
Labels: LYBIA, RUPIAH BANDA
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Aerobatics, fireworks as Gaddafi's Libya turns 40
Written by Tom Pfeiffer
Wednesday, September 02, 2009 3:52:05 PM
TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Italian aerobatic jets, paragliders with fireworks, dancers and an equestrian fantasia electrified Tripoli on Tuesday night when Libya marked 40 years since a bloodless coup brought Muammar Gaddafi to power.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez was Gaddafi's guest of honour at a two-hour military parade that kicked off six days of festivities across the north African desert country.
Organisers said the long-isolated OPEC member wanted to show the world it was open again for business after years of heavy sanctions and show it could be a new gateway to Africa.
Libya has cut support for armed revolutionary groups and made peace with Washington by scrapping a programme to build nuclear weapons and paying compensation for bombings and other attacks for which it was blamed by the West.
Gaddafi, Africa's longest-surviving leader, was shunned by the United States and its allies for years and is still the subject of controversy.
The United States and Britain voiced anger at the "hero's welcome" given to Abdel Basset al-Megrahi, a former Libyan agent freed by Scotland last month from a life sentence for the 1988 Lockerbie bombing that killed 270 people.
At the festivities, pictures of the return of Megrahi to Tripoli were projected on to a giant screen along with images of Gaddafi's 1969 revolution and Libyan achievements.
Libya invited dozens of Western heads of state to the festivities and all but a few declined. The United States said it sent an embassy representative to part of the celebrations.
Many of the guests were African dignitaries invited by Gaddafi who is the current chairman of the African Union.
Foreign companies are back in the former Italian colony searching for oil or vying for contracts to build roads, railways, phone networks and schools.
Chavez swept into Tripoli's landmark Green Square to mix with dignitaries and joke with the press before greeting the veteran Libyan leader, who arrived dressed in military uniform.
The two leaders, known for their anti-U.S. rhetoric, hugged each other and then sat together, flanked by African heads of state including Tunisia's Zine al Abidine Ben Ali and Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika.
GADDAFI'S DAY
Military bands from 17 nations including France, Italy and Australia filed past as the Italian jets zoomed over the Mediterranean in Gaddafi's honour, trailing smoke in the red, white and green of Italy's national flag.
Armoured vehicles and trucks laden with missiles trundled past. Tanks kicked up the tarmac under Green Square's floodlights, palm trees and banks of green Libyan flags.
An international dance troupe helped depict 6,000 years of Libyan history, at one point struggling to the top of a mound of sandbags to triumphantly plant Libya's plain green flag.
Security was tight in the Mediterranean port city and the public were kept well away from the action on stage.
Several hundred Libyans gathered by the sea as fireworks burst from platforms in the harbour, motorised paragliders buzzed overhead and green lasers were fired across the skyline from hotels being built to cater for the influx of foreigners.
Multi-coloured lasers beamed Gaddafi's face on to the side of an oil tanker that loomed over the docks, a symbol of Libya's growing oil wealth.
Gaddafi was a 27-year-old army signals officer when he took power with a group of fellow officers while King Idris was abroad for medical treatment.
Relations with the West reached a low point in the 1980s.
Demonstrators sacked the U.S. embassy in Tripoli and the United States, accusing Libya of organising the bombing of a disco in Berlin, bombed Tripoli, killing more than 40 people including Gaddafi's adopted daughter.
Libya retaliated by striking English off school curriculums.
Gaddafi insists his system of grass-roots rule by town hall committee, in which political parties are banned, will ultimately prevail across the world. Critics say the system smothers dissent and is a cloak for authoritarianism.
Photos of Gaddafi were everywhere across the capital and banners draped above the square's Italian colonial arcades read: "Libya the Green welcomes brothers and friends."
Labels: HUGO CHAVEZ, INDEPENDENCE, LYBIA
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Sata questions Rupiah’s meeting with Gaddafi
Written by Lambwe Kachali and Mwala Kalaluka
Friday, January 23, 2009 7:11:32 AM
PATRIOTIC Front (PF) president Michael Sata yesterday challenged President Rupiah Banda to tell the nation what he had gone to do in Libya since he went without journalists from government-controlled media, including press aide Dickson Jere.
In an interview, Sata said it was shocking that President Banda also refused to talk to journalists at Lusaka International Airport on his return from Libya. Sata reminded President Banda that he went to Libya using taxpayers’ money and, therefore, Zambians had the right to know what he discussed with Libyan President Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, especially that there was an announcement that his visit was official.
“He went to Libya using the people’s money... His only wish is to become more comfortable. He is Rupiah Banda, the walker, because for example in less than 90 days, he has been to Nigeria, he has been to Libya, he has been to Kasaba Bay, he has been to Mfuwe,” Sata said.
“Now how much did he spend? And first of all, what did he go to Libya for? What other business is he going to promote? What other special business did he go to Libya for? Did he go to find another businessman to come and buy the mines?” Sata asked.
“You remember, the Libyans at one time were offered several hectares of land in Central Province by then [late president Levy] Mwanawasa. What did he go there for? That is why many people are confused.”
Sata said even if it was a private visit, any president in the world travels under public eye. He said President Banda's decision to go to Libya without the media was not only surprising but also unprecedented since Zambia's independence.
“This is Rupiah Banda, the walker. Any president all over the world, even if it is a private visit, he must go under the public eye. He cannot go excluding the press. If he wanted to be so secretive, why didn't he go with his own aeroplane? Why did he use a Zambian aeroplane? Why did he use the peoples' money, if he wanted to be so secretive?” Sata asked.
“But since he used Zambians' money to go to Libya, he must tell us what he went to Libya for? If he wanted, he would have gone privately to Libya, where people would have said that 'no it is his private business'. But he used our own aeroplane. He used our own pilots,” said Sata.
“We also want him to tell us, because he has never told us what he went to Nigeria for and what he went to Libya for. Kasaba Bay, he has told us that he went to sale Kasaba Bay. What has he sold in those countries? Let us put pressure on him to tell us. We need to be told.”
And when contacted, chief government spokesperson Lieutenant General Ronnie Shikapwasha said President Banda already made a statement at the airport on his return.
But when reminded that President Banda did not speak to the press, Lt Gen Shikapwasha said he would consult Jere and would later issue a statement.
“I was not aware of that. Öh, I was out for a funeral in Chibombo. So maybe let me find out from Dickson and see if he has a statement he can give you. I am aware, but I have many other areas that I need to fill in. I need to consult, even for the government I consult, that is only normal,” said Lt Gen Shikapwasha.
Labels: LYBIA, RUPIAH BANDA, SATA
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Libya donates tractors to boost food production
January 3, 2009
PRESIDENT Rupiah Banda after driving one of the tractors donated by the Libyan government. This was at State House during a hand over ceremony
Libya has given Zambia several tractors for boosting food production in the country.
Speaking at the occassion, Republican President Rupiah Banda said Zambia appreciates the friendship and brotherhood Libya has always extended to Zambia.
Mr. Banda observed that mechanized farming is key to addressing the challenges of food production in Zambia.
He said the country was currently in need of mechanical farming equipment such as tractors in order to address the challenges being faced as a result of the global financial credit crunch.
Mr. Banda also noted that government considers agriculture as one of the key alternatives to the mining sector following the fall in copper prices on the world market.
He said government is looking forward to receiving more mechanical agriculture equipment as earlier pointed out by the Libyan government to ensure the whole country benefits from the gesture.
Mr. Banda has since assured the Libyan government that the equipment will be well distributed around the country and be used for the intended purpose of boosting food
AGRICULTURE minister Brian Chituwo driving one of the tractors donated by the Libyan government
production in the country.
Among those that witnessed the official handover were Agriculture Minister Dr. Brian Chituwo, Presidential Affairs Minister Gabriel Namulambe and Special Political Advisor to the President Akashambatwa Mbikusita Lewanika.
Libyan Ambassador to Zambia Khalifa Omar Swiexi said the gesture is aimed at helping to develop the Zambian agricultural sector.
Mr. Swiexi said his country is committed to providing assistance to friendly countries like Zambia through the provision of mechanical equipment such as tractors and other agricultural equipment.
He said the gesture is also a symbol of the long standing relationship between the two countries for the purpose of establishing cooperation and the exploitation of the natural resources.
Mr. Swiexi who described the relations between the two countries as excellent expressed confidence that President Banda and his Libyan counterpart Colonel Muammar Gaddafi would continue to provide guidance in developing and enhancing the already existing relations between the two countries.
ZANIS
Labels: LYBIA, TRACTORISATION
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My Pan African beliefs have cost me a job, says Chitala
By Amos Malupenga
Saturday February 02, 2008 [03:00]
Mbita Chitala yesterday said his beliefs in Pan African ideals have cost him a job as Zambia's Ambassador to Libya. Chitala said despite the dismissal, he would not abandon his beliefs in Pan Africanism because it was a matter of conscience for him.
"I have been a Pan Africanist for more than 30 years and I believe in certain issues of conscience," Chitala said. "I have published so many articles and books on this matter and I will continue for as long as my academic prowess is with me."
President Levy Mwanawasa on Thursday fired Chitala following his article titled: “The Federal Union of African States Must be Established Now”, which was published in Libya's Tripoli Post newspaper.
Chitala wrote the article in his private and personal capacity. The article was published as an editorial comment by The Tripoli Post which is essentially Libyan President Muammar Gaddafi's newspaper.
In his letter to Chitala, President Mwanawasa stated that he was extremely upset with Chitala's article in which he described the type of African leaders on the African Union government as disappointing.
"You specifically named the Republic of South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria as cases where the people have shown their dissatisfaction with their performance," President Mwanawasa stated.
"You know that as Ambassador, you are not supposed to issue a statement of such nature without the authority of your foreign affairs minister or as the case is, myself. I regret to inform you that you are immediately recalled to Zambia and since I understand you are already in the country, you should merely return and collect your goods."
Chitala thanked President Mwanawasa for having appointed him ambassador. He said the President had the prerogative to appoint and disappoint ambassadors.
Chitala hoped that his successor would build on the progress he had scored in the last five months he served as Zambia's ambassador to Libya. He said as soon as he arrived, he set for himself a strategic plan of the things he wanted to achieve and tried to get a Joint Permanent Commission established.
"We were negotiating to allow the Libyan airlines to start flying into Lusaka by September.
We signed an agreement on promotion investment and the Zambia Development Agency was to sign another co-operation agreement with the Libyan government," Chitala said.
"We also agreed with the Libya African Investment Bank to invest US $164.6 million to develop Esco complex in Lusaka in conjunction with NAPSA, to do a shopping mall and hotel at Arcades valued at US $94 million, to do another hotel at Chainama Golf Club and to develop a lodge at Kasaba Bay.
For Kasaba Bay, they even gave us a grant of US $470,000 to do a study and make a plan for tourism development in northern Zambia."
Chitala said he also held discussions with Tamoil, a Libyan company, which was ready to either invest in Indeni Oil Refinery or build another oil refinery.
"All I can hope for is that my successor will continue working on these projects to bring investment and development to our great country," Chitala said.
"I am going back on Saturday (today) to collect my family. When I am back, I will continue to teach at the university, will do my private business and will continue advising Zambians on the importance of public service because there is nothing more honourable and satisfying than that.
I hope now I can concentrate on my PhD studies in public finance. If everything goes according to schedule, I will graduate in June. I also hope that history will judge me."
Below is Chitala's article in full as published by The Tripoli Post on January 26, 2008.
Opinion: The Federal Union of African States Must be Established Now. By Ambassador Mbita Chitala Introduction This presentation addresses the subject of the historical necessity and inevitability of the federated African state.
The central argument of the article is that continental integration and empowerment can only succeed if the coordination of efforts is at a continental level through first, the formation of one all African State, that is, by way of a political decision and that economic integration shall only be complementary.
This article does not discuss the benefits that will be derived from Africa's political integration (insure peace keeping, combat disease, environmental concerns, poverty, corruption, oversee good governance, equi-distribute Africa's wealth) as this is already a settled argument nor does it discuss the method and road map for achieving this historical inevitability as this is a detail to be designed by professional managers.
This write up is aimed at imploring African leaders to make the political decision and establish the united one African state as they meet at Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on 31 January, 2008.
Status of Africa's Unity Post independence Africa presents a divided and balkanized states, weak, and for more than four decades has continued to be a play ground for unabated abuse, exploitation and oppression of its peoples by other more organized political regions as exemplified by the hegemonic control the Europeans and Americans still hold on Africa.
Africa's age old yearnings for political and economic integration have been thwarted, of course variously explained by many factors and interest opinions.
These factors include the influence of self-seeking, narrow-minded nationalist African leaders who have continued to opt for personal glory and fame at the expense of the larger Africa using the legalistic excuse of sovereignty, the influence of the vestiges of colonial aberrations and neo-colonial psyches and dominion where Africa in the international division of labour has continued to play the role as a supplier of raw materials and net importer of manufactured commodities which in the process condemns Africa to continue being exploited by way of unequal exchange.
In the area of consciousness, cultural imperialism has been ensuring that Africa is divided between two blocs - Anglophone and Francophone - and this division has been sustained by the former colonial powers variously such as establishing institutions like the British Commonwealth with their British Council, and the French Francophone with their Alliance Francais.
These have continued to sew divisions among Africans by false ideologies such as the Christian-Moslem dichotomy, the Arab-African dichotomy and the ethnicity or tribal ideologies that are used to divide and weaken Africans.
With globalization, Africa has further deepened its integration to the global finance capital from a weak stand point where it cannot get an equal share of the benefits of globalization. African countries have attempted to unite the many small post colonial social formations to address this issue of poverty, underdevelopment and insecurity of Africa but often have fallen short because of the above reasons or because they used unsustainable unworkable methods such as desiring to have economic integration before political unity.
The most notable attempt was the Abuja Treaty - Regulation CM/464 of the 26th OAU Council of Ministers who wanted to create five regional communities who would play the role of the future continental common market.
The recommendation was based on the realization that integrating 53 differently ruled African States would be unsustainable because of the unripe consciousness, the influence of geography, ecosystems and operational precedence.
This attempt failed and more regional communities continued being formed. In pre-Abuja Treaty, there were 8 Regional Economic Communities (RECs) including SACU, MRU, ECOWAS, CEPAL, ECCAS, IOC, IGAD and UMA. In post Abuja Treaty, more RECs have been established. These include SADC, UEMOA, CEMAC, COMESA, CEN-SAD, EAC.
All these have been set up in spite of duplication of programmes and their multiplicity, cross cutting membership and inefficiencies have compromised African integration. An attempt towards rationalizing them has failed because of lack of political will and resentment and opposition by the established public service supported by entrenched rules and contracts. It is unacceptable for African leaders to continue procrastinating or making lame selfish excuses of going to consult their peoples and so on such as has been the case in the last ten years.
There is no need for these countries to hold referendums as Muammar Gaddaffi challenged his colleagues at the Accra Summit. The opposition to integration that was exhibited by Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa in Accra is regrettable as it was based on the false assumption that these three countries would on their own develop to be sub imperialist powers.
It is gratifying that Liberia, Senegal, Ethiopia, Chad and Libya came strongly for immediate political unity. The rest remained look warm. It is no wonder the Africans in South Africa and Kenya have already shown their leaders what they think of their acts in Accra. What is required as the first act is to agree on political integration by establishing the Federated Union of African States.
This was the consensus that was reached after the transformation of the OAU into the AU on 9th September, 1999 at Sirte in Libya where all African Leaders committed themselves to the establishment of the United States of Africa.
Those who want to move on a snails pace or are opposed to Africa's political integration should be left out for now. Their own nationals will deal with them in due course and compel them to join the bigger good - the Federated United States of Africa."
It was therefore amazing at the meeting in Accra, Ghana in July, 2007 that about 50% of African countries continued to give lame excuses at delaying this historical necessity which has as a result continued the tendency of the marginalization of the continent in global affairs as well as deepened the underdevelopment of its people.
As the leaders go to meet again in Addis Ababa on January, 31st, 2008, all progressive Africans are hoping that the final solution to African Unity and integration will be found. Now, Africa has entered the globalization process from a point of weakness. New constraints have emerged, particularly with timeframes imposed by initiatives such as the EU, the WTO, China and so on.
It is therefore imperative that a new momentum and initiative within a better structured continental framework with improved follow up on both the political leadership and rationalization and implementation of one African economic set up be launched.
Political Integration First, then Economic Integration Former Zambian President Dr Kenneth Kaunda and former Algerian President Ben Bela are the only two Africans still living who can attest from first hand account the ideals yearned by Africa's founding fathers of a strong and independent one African State that was championed by African heroes such as Kwame Nkrumah, Julius Nyerere, Patrice Lumumba, Toure, Gamal Abdul Nasser, Emperor Haile Sellassie, Jomo Kenyatta and other African patriots.
These ideals have been taken up by a few progressive African leaders notably Muammar Gaddafi of Libya, and the Senegalese President Wade who have been trying to persuade fellow African leaders to move forward on this African integration process. In the last ten years, Libya has had to spend a lot of money and effort trying to have the project realized.
Muammar Gaddafi and the leaders of this progressive tendency have been opposed by a conservative fringe whose chief response has been that they are not ready or they must first consult their people or that they are afraid of losing their sovereignty or simply remain non committal.
This bloc has been lukewarm and has chosen the road towards Africa's integration by first strengthening regional economic groupings and assumed that the integration process will ripen on its own. The logic of this route is to further divide Africa.
This is the route championed by African colonial masters now united as the European Union. It has been argued by some African leaders and supported by neo colonial think tanks at the secretariats of the Economic Commission for Africa, the African Union and the United Nations that the challenges Africa faces is for the Regional Economic Communities ( RECs) to harmonize their programmes so as to attain convergence and ultimately the African Economic Community.
Even though the REC's are not among the organs of the African Union (AU), it has been argued by these think tanks that they can still be used as building blocks of the African Union government as they were anticipated to be for the African Economic Community under the Abuja Treaty.
It has been obvious from all and sundry that such an approach would forever thwart the advancement of the African confederation and would play in the hands of Africa's enemies who want to continue subjecting the continent to age old disadvantages such as imperialist exploitation and marginalization of the Africans in global affairs.
To the progressive Africans, it must be obvious that this incremental approach is not only unsustainable but must be overthrown and be replaced by a Nkrumah/Nasser and currently Gaddafi/Wade approach that argues for "seek ye the political kingdom first, and all would follow".
The argument that Africa should first rationalize and harmonize the more than fourteen (14) regional economic cooperation groupings and use them as the basis for advancing to Federal Africa is a view point that is against historical experience.
In practice, it is utter mechanistic nonsense and is a road to continued balkanization of the continent, weakening Africa and ensuring that it continues to be a market for imperialist capital. Only political unity can advance the economic integration agenda and break the suffocating tentacles of imperialism which have for the last 200 years constrained Africa's advancement.
The only Question at Addis Ababa and Africa's Prayer It is important that Africans, as they meet at Addis Ababa on 31st January, 2008 realize that unless they create political space in the sense of an all Africa Federal State, all what Africa has always aspired for will be in vain. We will have to wait for another generation to attempt at unity again. What a waste of ten years investment of our time and resources!
At the Accra Summit of the African Union in July, 2007, the decision to establish the federated State of Africa was postponed for six months to allow for further national consultations. About 50% of African States mainly in the CEN-SAD group were for the immediate establishment of the United States of Africa.
Another group mainly from the SADC area was lukewarm to the ideal and politely opposed the immediate creation of the African Union State.
They regressed to the outdated Abuja Treaty argument of basing unity on the gradual development of regional groupings. Today, Africa faces the challenges that Nkrumah and his colleagues faced at the beginning of this argument which resulted in the creation of two blocs - the Casablanca and Monrovia blocs among African leaders.
The question then was principally how to advance the decolonization of Africa. The bloc led by Nkrumah, Nasser, Nyerere, Haile Sellasie, Ben Bella, Kaunda, Toure, Lumumba and others won the day against the African reactionaries who advocated for some regulated independence. Today, there are about 53 politically independent African States - most of them are weak and are simply outposts of imperialist exploitation and subjugation.
It is necessary, nay, a historical inevitability that Africa must first address and achieve political unity under one State for any meaningful progress to be made towards playing any equal role in the global community.
The harmonization and rationalization of the REC's will also follow naturally as politics will lead. The argument which has been advanced by some of our leaders that political unity will only be reached if and when all African States accede to the ideal by way of consensus is obviously, not a useful position.
For practical reasons, this 100% unanimity is utopian as some African States are under the hegemony of imperialism or are simply reactionary and/or will never be allowed by their imperialist masters to accede to Africa's political integration. These countries should not be allowed to hold progress of other Africans.
They should no longer delay this movement towards Africa's emancipation and unity. Those who want to move on a snails pace or are opposed to Africa's political integration should be left out for now.
Their own nationals will deal with them in due course and compel them to join the bigger good - the Federated United States of Africa. About The Author Ambassador Mbita Chitala Ambassador of Zambia to Libya (These are personal views of the author) The Tripoli Post
Labels: AMBASSADOR, LYBIA, MBITA CHITALA, PANAFRICANISM
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