Libya blamed for W Africa wars

by Chekov Tue Mar 09, 2004 15:58

For a start, it is undoubtedly true that Gaddaffi has long been trying to win influence in West Africa. However, these allegations of a 10 year plan to take over the region is nonsense. Especially when you consider that he had to come up against the ambitions of the UK, France, US, Nigeria and South Africa, all of them much bigger fish than Gaddaffi, and much more deeply implicated in the violence that has been endemic to the region in the last 10 years. Gaddafi's attempts to win influence in the region mostly amount to his occasional willingness to bail out African countries in desperate need of cash, who do not want to go to the IMF and have their economies given away to the West. I suspect that that heinous crime is why the US are dragging Gaddafi into this one.

Consider Crane's CV:
"Initially a judge advocate in the U.S. Department of Defense,"
"Crane retired in 1996 from the US Army as the Waldemar A. Solf Professor of International Law at the Judge Advocate General’s School, U.S. Army, "
And "According to Crane, the United States has stayed in the background in other war crimes trials, such as those for Yugoslavia and Rwanda, but was particularly interested in this one. "

I wonder why?

by R Isible Tue Mar 09, 2004 17:13

Seems like a lot of the instability in S.Africa results directly from colonialism, interventions by apartheid-era S.Africa and the French. It used to be that Cuba sent troops to help out against the S.African proxy armies in Angola too.

Below is a report of a US-registered plane carrying 64 mercenaries being arrested in Equatorial Guinea.

by righteous pragmatist Tue Mar 09, 2004 20:54

"Gaddafi's attempts to win influence in the region mostly amount to his occasional willingness to bail out African countries in desperate need of cash, who do not want to go to the IMF and have their economies given away to the West. "

Gaddaffi is only interested in Africa to use it as a source for the black market trade in diamonds.
He buys them off the thuggish governments and rebel groups in West Africa in return for modest Swiss bank accounts and cheap left over Kalashnikovs and RPG launchers from the Warsaw Pact so that he can flog them for much more to Pakistan and North Korea to buy nuclear weapons, ballistic missile technology and chemical weapons manufacturing know how who act as fences for the French and Russian governments who like to pretend they are supporting non ploriferation of nukes and other WMD.
The rebels and governments of the west African countries can then use their toys to kill and maim and butcher who they dislike.

The only reason that Gaddaffi opened the gates to the UN weapons inspectors is because Saddam Hussein was dragged beard dirty from a rat hole which used to be a septic tank. Gaddaffi is scared the same will happen him.
The French post 9/11 and the iraq War have seen the error of their ways and went into the Ivoty Coast to clear up the mess they created after tut tutting the UK for intervening in Sierra Leone next door. Like wise the US and Nigeria took charge of the situation in Liberia.
Post colonial governments were usually supported by the Soviets but post 1989 when that well run dry dictators like Gaddaffi have been trying to create a little empire of their own.
Same happened in Somalia when Al-Qaeda gave training to Muhammed Adid's militia in techniques for bringing down U.S. helicopters in Mogadishu.

The post World War 2 policy of cutting and running from colonies by european governments was a disaster.
They should have remained and established democratic civilised regimes instead of growing cash crops and strip mining and killing the fuzzy wuzzies when things got hot.

Leaving things on the long finger has landed the world in this mess.

by - Wed Mar 10, 2004 12:53

Burlusconi and Aznar.
-Between them they have succeeded in helping Ghadaffi meet US criteria for becoming a "leader we can do business with". These reforms mostly being connected to the twin concerns of Gas and Immigration.
Libya has lots of both, and is now prepared to share them in a more _equitable_ and _liquid_ way with her northern Mediterranean partners.

by righteous pragmatist Wed Mar 10, 2004 17:31

If you think that just because Blair called Gaddaffi a "statesman" and appluaded his "courage" in opening the doors to weapons inspectors everything is finished?
This merely a ceasfire.
Blair and Bush know a leopard dosn't change its spots.
Gaddaffi is going to come crashing down in a coup etat one of these days. You mark my words.

by Phuq Hedd Thu Mar 11, 2004 20:59

Accusations are now that the UK is behind an attempted coup in Equatorial Guinea. Not sure about this as the main source seems to be from the Zimbabweans. However it is plausible. So perhaps the headline should have been "Imperialist countries behind wars in W. Africa"?