-------------------------------------------------------------------------
[log in to unmask] has recommended this article from
The Christian Science Monitor's electronic edition.
Very interesting subject-
Who is a terrorist?
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Click here to email this story to a friend:
http://www.csmonitor.com/cgi-bin/send-story?2002/03/20/text/p09s01.txt
Click here to read this story online:
http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/0320/p09s01-woaf.html
Headline: African leaders wary of evolving US definition of 'terrorist'
Byline: Andrew West Special to The Christian Science Monitor
Date: 03/20/2002
As the US-led war on terrorism draws surveillance warships and aircraft
to Somalia, African nations are growing nervous that the emerging US
definition of "terrorist" could put them on the wrong team in the new
world order.
To many Africans, the US appears fickle in its notion of what
constitutes terrorism. And as US warplanes conduct surveillance over
Somalia, and German warships deploy off the Horn of Africa, African
leaders point at what they call a US double standard.
"We are with the United States in that what happened on Sept. 11 was an
act of horror and brutal destruction of life. But because it happened
in the US, it has come to overshadow all other viewpoints and
considerations," says Theo-Ben Gurirab, Namibia's foreign minister and
a leader of the African Union who attended a recent summit of the
Commonwealth Heads of Government in Coolum, Australia.
The US is concerned that Somalia, which has been without a central
government since 1991, could provide a haven for Al Qaeda fighters
leaving Afghanistan. But Dr. Gurirab says the US must provide concrete
proof that Somalia is sheltering Islamic terrorists before the African
Union - currently chaired by America's old adversary, Libyan leader
Muammar Qaddafi - could support any military strike.
"There are accusations, but evidence is still in short supply that
there are Al Qaeda members who are continuing what [Osama] bin Laden
had started,'' he says. "If this is the case, the African Union would
like to be informed and receive evidence, so we can talk to Somalia and
tell them they would be contributing to their own destruction if they
harbor known terrorists."
African leaders at the summit are also rankled at attempts by the US
and Britain to define terrorists. During their own liberation
struggles, many Africans, including South Africa's Thabo Mbeki,
appeared on State Department terrorist lists, but are now considered
allies, even friends. "We are part of the international coalition,"
says Gurirab, "but at the same time we think the very narrow definition
of terrorism is built around only enemies of the US and the West."
The US supported rebel groups in Angola and Mozambique, as well as
oppressive white-minority regimes in South Africa and Zimbabwe. With US
help, Angolan rebel leader Jonas Savimbi not only tried to topple the
Angolan government during the 1980s, but throughout the 1990s he armed
rebels who undermined the newly democratic Namibia.
"They did this against our Constitution," says Gurirab, who for 27
years fought South African rule of the country now called Namibia, with
the South West African People's Organiztion (SWAPO). "They were
attempting to dismember our country by violating the territorial
integrity and sovereignty of Namibia.
"At the same time as we were called terrorists," he adds, "these major
Western powers provided economic and trade support to the apartheid
system, assisted them militarily, and helped the regime in Pretoria to
develop nuclear weapons against us."
Tom Lansner, an Africa analyst with the Ford Foundation in New York,
concedes that some African liberation movements used tactics that could
be considered terrorist, such as blowing up a restaurant in Durban,
South Africa, in the mid-1980s. But he argues that most of their
targets were assets such as electrical transmission lines and bridges,
which had military value to the regimes they were fighting.
The US and Britain will only win African support of any offensives on
the continent by sharing intelligence material with leaders they once
distrusted, says Martin Schonteich, a researcher with the Institute of
Security Studies in Pretoria, South Africa.
"If it was a very targeted attack, if [the coalition] shared what they
know with African leaders, then I think it would be accepted," Mr.
Schonteich says. "But if there is so-called collateral damage or
attacks on state institutions, then very quickly you will see a
backlash," Schonteich says.
Schonteich and Lansner agree that resistance to the US campaign is
already apparent among much of the African population. Even stable
countries with sizable Muslim populations - such as Nigeria, Tanzania,
Kenya, Uganda, and increasingly, South Africa - are witnessing a
stirring on the street. "In a lot of these places, you'll find real
sympathy for the Islamic-fundamentalist position," Lansner says.
Schonteich warns that some African governments may even use the war on
terrorism to crack down on their Muslim minorities. "In Uganda, you
already have non-Muslims exploiting the war to make accusations against
Muslim communities in the hope they will get some aid from the West,"
he says. "They will certainly try."
(c) Copyright 2002 The Christian Science Monitor. All rights reserved.
Click here to email this story to a friend:
http://www.csmonitor.com/cgi-bin/send-story?2002/03/20/text/p09s01.txt
The Christian Science Monitor-- an independent daily newspaper providing context and clarity on national and international news, peoples and cultures, and social trends. Online at http://www.csmonitor.com
Click here to order a free sample copy of the print edition of the Monitor:
http://www.csmonitor.com/aboutus/sample_issue.html
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface
at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html
To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to:
[log in to unmask]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|
