Congo Civil War still killing, 6 years after truce

[otheadp]

Like McDonalds?

You need to lay off of that crap. All the fat desposits in the brain make you say stupid shit

 

[spidergoat]

Africa has it's own native crops. They might not have the yield that GM seeds do, but they have innate disease, insect, and drought resistance. Also, you aren't even allowed to replant GM seeds from the crops they grow.

 

[shichimenshyo]

You need to lay off of that crap. All the fat desposits in the brain make you say stupid shit

Schwat!?!?

 

[15ofthe19]

Like I said earlier, beggars can't be choosers.

Reminds me of what my boss says all the time about our customers: "No good deed goes unpunished."

You know what, don't eat the food. Just sit there and starve to death on your principles. That'll teach us.

 

[S.A.M.]

Beggars? They are loaded with mineral and oil resources. Why do you think the US has been there for so long?

In April of 2001, Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney held a hearing on Western involvement in the plunder of Africa, in which she stated, “at the heart of Africa’s suffering is the West’s, and most notably the United States’, desire to access Africa’s diamonds, oil, natural gas, and other precious resources . . . the West, and most notably the United States, has set in motion a policy of oppression, destabilization and tempered, not by moral principle, but by a ruthless desire to enrich itself on Africa’s fabulous wealth.”

Link

Most of the violence is around the mining areas which are heavily militarised and have the profits going abroad.

They should make the beneficiaries of the contracts public, we're sure to see some interesting names.

 

[shichimenshyo]

China, India exploiting Africa?


HUNGRY for oil and minerals, India and China have become Africa's new colonialists, exploiting the world's poorest continent in the same way as its old European masters, billionaire financier George Soros said on Tuesday.

http://www.bt.com.bn/en/business/2008/02/07/china_india_exploiting_africa





Always pointing the finger at others...tsk tsk

 

[S.A.M.]

http://www.bt.com.bn/en/business/2008/02/07/china_india_exploiting_africa





Always pointing the finger at others...tsk tsk

Look up Chinese and Indian policy in Africa.

Its certainly not this:

Another multinational aerospace and defense corporation directly benefiting from this regional U.S. war is Boeing Aircraft Corporation. The U.S. military used Boeing Chinook helicopters in the U.S. invasion of Somalia in 2006. Tom Pickering, former U.S. Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, is senior vice president for International Relations and a member of the Boeing Executive Council since January 2001. Pickering played a decisive role in the Clinton Administration overthrow of Rwanda (1990-1994) and Congo (1996-1997). He is a leading advocate for the “Save Darfur” propaganda. He is also a member of the Africa Society of the National Summit on Africa along with Ed Royce (R-CA), former U.S. Senator Nancy Kassebaum Baker (R-KS), Donald Payne (D-NJ), and Andrew Young.

While the New York Times reported in December 2006 that the Ethiopian invasion of Somalia began in late December, military involvement of U.S. covert forces had been ongoing, and was heightened significantly in the early spring of 2006 when the U.S. Department of Defense and the Central Intelligence Agency openly complained about cross purposes in Somalia. Private military companies were all over Somalia, as were known international arms syndicates, including of course the criminal networks of John Bredenkamp, one of Britain’s fifty richest tycoons and one of the primary financial backers behind the rise and fall of Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe.

John Bredenkamp reportedly acquired three SRAM missiles with nuclear warheads jettisoned in shallow water off the coast of Somalia by a U.S.A.F. B-52 that soon after crashed into the Indian Ocean near the U.S. military base on the island of Diego Garcia. The U.S. invasion of Somalia is believed to have been partly an aborted attempt to recover the lost nukes—called “broken arrows” in Pentagon speak. While the story of the dumped nukes “lost” by Dick Cheney has received some attention, no one has publicly identified John Bredenkamp as the likely weapons dealer involved.43

Or this:

In March 2007 the Pentagon deployed an additional 150 SOCOM Forces in Uganda. The troops were part of the Combined Joint Task Force Horn-of-Africa, an “anti-terrorist naval force” deployed around the Horn of Africa with support points in Bahrain and Djibouti. Ugandan sources divulged that the SOCOM troops would be dispersed “around the country” to “support UPDF troops” and “provide support to distribute humanitarian aid.” It was openly reported that the SOCOM are “possibly training the South Sudanese army, which has just signed an agreement for this with its Ugandan counterpart, strengthening Ugandan capacity to fight terrorism.” The U.S. military has also modernized the old Entebbe airport for UPDF operations, and the Entebbe airport supports a small but permanent U.S. military contingent. 56

It is believed that U.S. SOCOM troops are operating in blood-drenched Eastern Congo. Ugandan opposition sources have reported that SOCOM forces in UPDF uniforms have joined the more than 2000 Pentagon-trained UPDF forces sent by Museveni to Somalia. The UPDF troops operating in Somalia behind a “peacekeeping” propaganda front have been accused of widespread atrocities. More than 1000 people die daily in Eastern Congo where fighting since 1996 has claimed at least 7 million lives. The Democratic Republic of Congo has seen multiple genocide campaigns, and multiple genocide denials are ongoing.

SOCOM forces have been openly reported in Niger, where operations are billed as “humanitarian” and “human rights” training of Nigerien troops.57 But the insurgency and “rebellion” by the Tuareg and Toubou nomads has always been about uranium and depopulation: Canadian and Chinese companies have recently gotten involved but Esso (Exxon), Japan and French corporations were exploiting the Agadez and Air regions in the 1970’s and 1980’s (at least), dumping radioactive sickness and social devastation on another indigenous population.58 Niger is the poorest country in the world. Yet another genocide?

Exxon, Elf and Hunt Oil are in Niger for oil. Barrick Gold is also in Niger, and in Guniea, Burkina Faso, Tanzania, Madagascar and Mali; through their partnership with Anglo-Ashanti, Barrick is responsible for atrocities and plunder in eastern Congo. Directors of the G.H.W. Bush-connected Barrick Gold include former U.S. Senator Howard Baker (R-TN), whose wife, Nancy Kassebaum Baker, has been an outspoken advocate for immediate action on Darfur.

Or this:

Darfur is another epicenter of the modern-day international geopolitical scramble for Africa’s resources. Conflict in Darfur escalated in 2003 in parallel with negotiations “ending” the south Sudan war. The U.S.-backed insurgency by the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA), the guerilla force that fought the northern Khartoum government for 20 years, shifted to Darfur, even as the G.W. Bush government allied with Khartoum in the U.S. led “War on Terrorism.” The Sudan Liberation Army (SLA)—one of some twenty-seven rebel factions mushrooming in Darfur—is allied with the SPLA and supported from Uganda. Andrew Natsios, former USAID chief and now U.S. envoy to Sudan, said on October 6, 2007 that the atmosphere between the governments of north and south Sudan “had become poisonous.” This is no surprise given the magnitude of the resource war in Sudan and the involvement of international interests, but the investigation should center on the involvement and activities of USAID officials Andrew Natsios, Roger Winter and Jendayi Frazer.

Roger Winter, USAID chief in Khartoum today, is directly linked to the Rwandan Patriotic Front/Army and U.S. military campaign that destabilized Rwanda and decapitated the leadership of Rwanda and Burundi. USAID’s affiliations with the Department of Defense are now openly advertised with the propaganda peddling AFRICOM—the Pentagon’s new Africa Command. AFRICOM combines U.S. CENTCOM, PACIFICOM and EUCOM operations in Africa; it is nothing new, merely the consolidation and expansion of widespread and ongoing involvement.62

Darfur is reported to have the fourth largest copper and third largest uranium deposits in the world.63 Darfur produces two-thirds of the world’s best quality gum Arabic—a major ingredient in Coke and Pepsi. Contiguous petroleum reserves are driving warfare from the Red Sea, through Darfur, to the Great Lakes of Central Africa. Private military companies operate alongside petroleum contractors and “humanitarian” agencies. Sudan is China’s fourth biggest supplier of imported oil, and U.S. companies controlling the pipelines in Chad and Uganda seek to displace China through the U.S. military alliance with “frontline” states hostile to Sudan: Uganda, Chad and Ethiopia.

There are claims in the Arab community that Israel provides military training to Darfur rebels from bases in Eritrea, but insiders in Eritrea dispute this. Israel has a deep history of intelligence and military relations with both Eritrea and Ethiopia, and Israel reportedly has a naval and air base on Eritrea’s Dahlak and Fatma islands, from which German-made Dolphin-class submarines patrol the Red Sea with long-range nuclear cruise missiles.64 Eritrea reportedly serves as Israel’s outpost for spying on enemies Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and Sudan.65 Africa Research Bulletin in 1998 reported an Israeli base in Eritrea’s Mahal Agar Mountains.66 Israel has clearly strengthened ties with the regime in Chad, from which more weapons and troops penetrate Darfur. The refugee camps have become increasingly militarized. There are reports that Israeli and U.S. military and intelligence operate from within refugee camps in Darfur. Israel is all over the Sahara, from Burkina Faso to Ethiopia and Uganda. Israel’s clandestine actions are partly funded by Israeli-American diamond magnates involved in Angola, Sierra Leone, C.A.R. and Congo, especially Dan Gertler (G.W. Bush’s unofficial Ambassador to Congo), Beny Steinmetz, Nir Livnat, Lev Leviev and Maurice Tempelsman.67

 

[shichimenshyo]

Ahh so plundering isnt plundering when you do it. Gotcha

 

[countezero]

Sam, you're a joke.

 

[iceaura]

As for "destroying the local farming economies", assuming that those local economies were indeed destroyed by the actions of western technocrats and not by the violence, were inefficient in the first place, which is the reason for the famine there.

Famine in the Congo, like most famine elsewhere, is more due to politics and economics than farming inefficiency. Inefficient but sustainable farming can result in poverty, but very seldom famine.

The destruction of the farming economy, and the introduction of military gear from industrial powers, has much more to do with famine and disease than farming inefficiency does.

A large-scale trading economy is the way to bring poor primitive countries out of their predicament, not the other way around, as you seem to suggest.

Multinational traders have been major contributors to the Congo's predicament, financing paramilitaries and undermining governments and destroying stable community politics. More of that would hardly help.

GM foods, which at best (in their current incarnations) create dependency on foreign supplies of seed, fertilizer, chemicals, credit, machinery, and markets, (and at their worst create dependence on foreign supplies of simple food) are no panacea. They come with major corporate strings, and the results of that kind of action are all too familiar to many Africans.

So a lower class is an inherent phenomenon in capitalist societies. Sad but true... but the alternative is to have no competition and only have 1 class, which is dirt poor.

The problem with joining a capitalist system in the manner offered to the Congo is that the lower class is not only poorer than the one class of the former economy, but incorporates all but a few of the citizens. The wealth creation is for others, in other places. The capitalist economy in those places exports its lower class creation to the places that cannot regulate and tax to prevent their degradation. No one wants to be one of those places.

 

[S.A.M.]

Ahh so plundering isnt plundering when you do it. Gotcha

There are Indian and Chinsese black OPs in Africa?

 

[shichimenshyo]

There are Indian and Chinsese black OPs in Africa?

I dont know, are there?

 

[S.A.M.]

I dont know, are there?

Well we don't have black soldiers:

Around 10 November 2007 an armored 4x4 Humvee (HUMMWV)—heavily rigged with sophisticated communications equipment inside and out—was encountered carrying two black U.S. special forces in the Murchison Falls region: the soldiers were wearing UPDF uniforms. Two busloads of black U.S. Special Forces were encountered at a UPDF checkpoint on the Karuma-Pakwach road; wearing civilian clothes, with duffel bags, the muscled and crew cut “civilians” showed U.S. passports and claimed they were “doctors” heading to the tiny Gulu hospital. From November 21-23 Boeing C-130 military aircraft passed over the region every 30 minutes, 24 hours a day, heading both north and south. The C-130’s apparently landed at Gulu airstrip—closed by the Museveni government for a two-week period—and offloaded military equipment then moved by roads—closed by the UPDF—to the border. Some C-130’s were charted on a course believed to take them to Goma, Zaire.

 

[shichimenshyo]

When faced with your own hypocricy your only cousre of action is to cry louder. How funny.

 

[S.A.M.]

When faced with your own hypocricy your only cousre of action is to cry louder. How funny.

Do you think the Indo-Chinese contracts are the same as the US military ventures?

India is considering lifting certain trade duties with African countries. The move is aimed at countering China's increasing business ventures in the resource-rich continent. VOA's Steve Herman reports from New Delhi.

Government and industry sources here say India is planning to announce a major trade and investment plan when it hosts an unprecedented summit with African countries in early April.

Under consideration: duty free imports of some items from Africa. The plan is being prepared at a time when China has been edging out India for some lucrative African contracts. Beijing and New Delhi are in competition for resources abroad to meet the energy needs of their rapidly growing economies.

http://www.voanews.com/english/archive/2008-02/2008-02-14-voa13.cfm?CFID=293270842&CFTOKEN=20390649

 

[shichimenshyo]

Do you think the Indo-Chinese contracts are the same as the US military ventures?

With no clear evidence to support either way, how can I say they are different?

exploitation is exploitation, no matter how you go about doing it.

 

[otheadp]

SAM is in another spincycle. How about some gratitude for the west for trying to make things better?

 

[S.A.M.]

With no clear evidence to support either way, how can I say they are different?

exploitation is exploitation, no matter how you go about doing it.

I think sending in paramilitary forces and interfering with local governments is very different from, for example, obtaining contracts to set up a pan African fiber optics network. But hey, whatever.

 

[shichimenshyo]

I think sending in paramilitary forces and interfering with local governments is very different from, for example, obtaining contracts to set up a pan African fiber optics network. But hey, whatever.

But exploiting a struggling nations resources for your countries own benifit is exploitation is it not? :shrug:

 

[S.A.M.]

But exploiting a struggling nations resources for your countries own benifit is exploitation is it not? :shrug:

Not when there is mutual benefit.

In the words of Gandhi:
"The commerce between India and Africa will be of ideas and services, not of manufactured goods against raw materials after the fashion of western exploiters."

India's Tata Group, for example, is a multinational conglomerate whose Tata Motors (NYSE:TTM) makes low-cost vehicles perfect for developing countries, while other Tata companies are building power plants, hotels and delivering international consulting services.

Tata Group has already started construction on a 120 megawatt power plant to deliver energy to the Zambian mining industry, and meeting with African leaders who represent the 54-nation African Union this week will surely generate plenty more interest in Indian know-how.

Not only Indian industrial giants like Tata but also smaller companies such as water pump manufacturer Kirloskars are filling gaping potholes on Africa's road to progress... The BBC reports that Kirloskars has sold $75 million in water pumps to various African nations in just the past few years, with projections of $300 million in African business in 2008 alone.

Link

THE Exim Bank of India has signed a memorandum with the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) to extend a $30m line of credit to finance Indian exports to Africa.

The agreement was signed during an India-Africa Project Partnership conference at New Taj Palace in New Delhi on March 20.
Uganda is among the African countries that have benefited from similar lines of credit and will continue to do so.

Dr. Subbarao said developing countries especially in Africa must develop their manufacturing and infrastructure sectors in order to compete globally.

"Where as free trade more than aid will assist Africa grow, it is only external trade that will bring greater returns to their economies, accompanied by vibrant manufacturing and strong infrastructure," he said.

Link

Chinese and Indian firms are increasingly doing business in Sub-Saharan Africa, and their interest in the continent extends well beyond a hunt for natural resources, a new World Bank study says.

Africa's Silk Road offers original firm-level data on the African continent of Chinese and Indian firms operating there, says the study's author, Bank Economic Adviser Harry Broadman. Broadman surveyed 450 Chinese and Indian companies operating in four African countries-South Africa, Tanzania, Ghana, and Senegal—and developed first-time business case studies in the field of 16 other Chinese and Indian firms in Africa.

The new data suggest Asian firms are beginning to diversify beyond oil and natural resources into a broad array of industries—a trend that could lead to more sophisticated products being produced in Africa and help Africa more fully participate in world commerce, Broadman says.

Link

In the East we think about the long term, not just for outselves but build a base that our grandchildren could benefit from.

And theirs.

Many countries could greatly benefit from as yet untapped South-South trade opportunities, such as tourism aimed at China, Eastern Europe, Latin America, and the former Soviet Union, says Broadman.

"The tourism industry in Africa is underdeveloped. It's just a huge market waiting to happen," he says.

But what is needed is something Africa lacks: infrastructure—roads, airports, transit systems, and telecommunications, he adds.

It's a deficiency keenly felt by Africa's trading partners. China, for one, is looking for opportunities to contribute to the Bank's work in Africa, including infrastructure projects, says Page.

And the Bank may partner with China and India, particularly on agricultural projects, to tap into their specialized knowledge, Page says.

In fact, knowledge may end up being India's and China's greatest gift to Africa, he says.

Link