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Al-Ahram Weekly 26 Aug. - 1 Sep. 1999 Issue No. 444 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 26 Aug. - 1 Sep. 1999 Issue No. 444
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Focus Culture Features Profile Travel Living Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Cry the beloved continent
By Gamal NkrumahThe announcement of Nigerian defence minister, General Theophilus Danjuma, this week of plans to retire 30,000 of Nigeria's 80,000-strong armed forces came as a welcome surprise. However, it is not yet clear whether Nigeria will continue acting as a regional policeman to quell uprisings in smaller West African states such as Sierra Leone and Liberia. The deployment of Nigerian-led West African peace-keeping forces (ECOMOG) was instrumental in ending civil wars -- although the presence of Nigerian troops failed to diffuse political tensions in the region and contributed, in certain instances, to widespread anti-Nigerian sentiments. Hours after the announcement, the Nigerian minister was flown to London for medical treatment. The general was hospitalised, but reports did not disclose from what illness he is suffering.
After tortuous and lengthy negotiations with representatives of the Ijaw people of the Niger Delta, Royal Dutch/Shell, one of the largest multinational oil corporations doing business in Nigeria, announced this week that it plans to reopen seven oil flow stations shut since last year's ethnic conflict and political violence in the region. Ethnic Ijaw and Istekiri have been battling each other for political control of the area. Growing political instability in the Niger's Delta region which produces most of Nigeria's oil is scaring investors away. The Ijaw people, the region's largest ethnic group, claim to have been marginalised by both the oil companies and the Nigerian government.
In South Africa widespread strikes have meanwhile paralysed the country's gold mining industry, as ferocious labour disputes reminiscent of the apartheid era erupted all over the country. South Africa, the world's largest gold producer, has been severely affected by Britain's recent decision to sell over half of its gold reserves. As bullion prices plunged to an unprecedented low, most South African gold companies were forced to cut costs, retrench miners and halt expensive mining operations. The lingering effects of the Asian financial crisis have exacerbated the situation and led to instability in the world's gold market.
South Africa's powerful National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) announced that it was to meet with the management of the Harties gold mine this week to resolve the dispute over the firing of 10,000 miners.
Meanwhile, thousands of telecommunications workers returned to work after a week-long strike which brought the country to a standstill. Post office workers and telephone sector employees affiliated with the Communications Workers' Union said that although they will return to their jobs, they will not work overtime. They also refuse to make up for the backlog of work that piled up during the strike. South Africa's one million-strong government workers -- including teachers, nurses and police officers -- also held a one-day strike on Tuesday.
Adding fuel to the fire, South Africa's largest trade union the Confederation of South African Trade Unions, COSATU, held a nationwide strike beginning on Tuesday after failure to meet workers' demands. The decision to strike was taken at COSATU's national congress held this weekend at the Gallagher Estates, Midrand, half way between South Africa's capital Pretoria and the country's largest city Johannesburg. Patrick Lekota, South Africa's minister of defence and chairman of the African National Congress, represented the government, while Geraldine Fraser-Moloketsi, the country's minister for public works also attended. Both Lekota and Fraser-Moloketsi were among the most militant anti-apartheid activists in the 1970s and 1980s. Still, their presence failed to placate the workers.
In a separate development, South Africa's minister for foreign affairs, Nkosazana Zuma, flew to the troubled Great Lakes region to resolve the problem of who should sign the truce on behalf of the Congolese armed opposition forces.
The president of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Laurent Kabila, suddenly abandoned the annual summit of the 14-nation Southern African Development Community (SADC) because not all SADC leaders agreed to come to his rescue and abandon the cause of the armed opposition. Mozambique's President Joachim Chisano hosted the meeting. Divisions within SADC are compounded by the fact that the leaders of the Congolese opposition forces cannot come to an agreement among themselves and have split into two factions -- one supported by Uganda and the other backed by Rwanda. The rival groups have been fighting pitched battles in Congo's third largest city Kisangani. The meeting between Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni and Rwandan Vice-President Paul Kagame took place Monday night at Museveni's holiday home at Queen Elizabeth National Park in southwestern Uganda. Troops from the two countries battled for several days over control of Kisangani and peace still evades the war-torn city.
Unfortunately, the leaders of the Congolese armed opposition seem to be driven by personal ambition and frustration. Warring factions of the opposition Congolese Rally for Democracy (RCD) fighting the government of President Kabila have turned against one another with a vengeance. The infighting within the RCD delayed the signing of a peace accord concluded on 10 July and already approved by the rival opposition Congo Liberation Movement (MLC) and six neighbouring countries drawn into the Congolese civil war.
The escalating civil war in Angola is another cause for concern. A humanitarian disaster is in the making and aid workers speak of catastrophic conditions with widespread hunger and disease. Angola has been savaged by war for the past 30 years, with opposition UNITA forces led by Jonas Savimbi warring against government forces of Angolan President José Eduardo dos Santos.
