>Subject: News- Nigeria Iraq >From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >subject: NEWS -Nigeria Iraq Timor etc etc > Guardian Weekly�March 2 - 8, 2000 >-- International News -- > "Riots threaten to fracture Nigeria." > BY Chris McGreal in Abuja. > >Religious violence has exacerbated divisions between president and >parliament. The deaths of more than 300 People last week in religious >violence prompted by plans to introduce Islamic sharia law in the northern >Nigerian state of Kaduna have brought fresh warnings that Africa�s most >populous country is fracturing. Nigeria�s principal Islamic leader, the >Sultan of Sokoto, warned that the bloody clashes between Muslim and >Christian elements in the city of Kaduna posed a "dangerous and very >serious threat to the peace and unity of this great nation". > > In a televised address to the nation President Olusegun Obasanjo said >that ethnic and religious violence, which has claimed more than 1,000 lives >since democracy was restored last May, threatens Nigeria's revival after >years of military rule which plundered the nations wealth. "To be engaged >in activities that so unsettle public peace is not only criminal but highly >unpatriotic, Particularly now that the international community is beginning >to regain its confidence in our nation," he said. > > But President Obasanjo�s critics, who include some of the parliamentary >leaders of his own People's Democratic Party, say he is also to blame for >the crisis. They accuse him of running an "imperial presidency", and say he >remains aloof from ethnic and religious tensions while concentrating on >solving Nigeria�s enormous economic problems and staving off the threat of >another army coup. In particular, they say his failure to take a stand on >critical issues such as the introduction of sharia in some Muslim-dominated >states has exacerbated the crisis by giving the impression that the >government is uninterested in ordinary people's concerns. > > In an interview before the latest bloodshed President Obasanjo >acknowledged that ethnic and religious tensions were increasing, been >praised for sending the right but insisted they would die down as message, >even if it has a long way to the government turned the economy go before >significantly curbing graft around. "A lot of this violence happens But the >president is virtually at because when you push people to that war with the >parliament, which has crescendo over an issue you have trouble pulling them >back. But what leads what leads to division and conflict is inequality. "We >have to tackle that first," he said. Even President Obasanjo's critics >acknowledge that in the past nine months he has achieved some notable >successes. He took advantage of the near total disgrace of the army, and >his own position as a former general and military ruler, to dismiss almost >an entire layer of corrupt senior officers with barely a murmur of protest. >His anti-corruption programme has also been praise for sending the right >message, even if it has a long way to go before significantly curbing >graft. > > But the president is virtually at war with the parliament, which has >passed just one bill in nine months, and accuses its members of wanting to >be bribed to do their work, particularly after they were granted huge >"furniture allowances". The president's advisers say he is so sick of the >national assembly that he will use his powers to bypass it if it fails to >cooperate. Some parliamentarians, who say he has already carried out his >threat, have threatened to impeach him for allegedly "riding roughshod" >over every other arm of government and the courts after his administration >ignored an order to release from prison a former senior army officer >arrested for corruption. There is also considerable bitterness among >representatives from the Niger Delta about the heavy-handed use of the army >to deal with unrest in the oil-rich region, particularly in the village of >Odi, where soldiers massacred several hundred people and destroyed every >house last November. At least 50 people were killed in riots in southeast >Nigeria on Monday in a reaction to the deaths of hundred of people in the >north, witnesses said. Residents of the city of Aba said that the violence >pitted local Christian Ibos against Hausa-spealdng Muslim immigrants from >the north > > Guardian Weekly�March 2 - 8, 2000 "Indonesia faces chainsaw massacre." > > BY John Aglionby in Kerinci-Seblat National Park. > > One of the world's most diverse environments is being systematically >stripped by loggers and poachers. Susilawaty has not had a good night's >sleep in ages. A field worker with the WorldWide Fund for Nature in >Kerinci-Seblat National Park, she is being kept awake by the incessant >high-pitched whine of chainsaws devouring tree after tree in the protected >area. "It's as if they have an insatiable appetite that cannot be >satisfied," she says. The problem is not isolated to this one corner of >Sumatra. Indonesia's wild animals and forestry - as demand for timber >outstrips official supply quotas by almost three to one - are being rapidly >depleted in unprotected areas, and leading environmentalists and forestry >analysts believe that every single one of the country's national parks is >being systematically stripped of its flora and fauna. Poachers, illegal >loggers and encroaching farmers are active everywhere across the sprawling >archipelago. > > The orangutan population is in rapid decline in Kalimantan, the Indonesian >half of Borneo, turtles are sighted much less often off the coasts of Bali, >the sparkling array of colourful marine life beneath the waters of north >Sulawesi is dulling, and the Sumatran tiger and rhino are fighting for >survival. Rudi Syaf, the programme coordinator for the Conservation >Information Forum, a non-governmental organisation based in central >Sumatra, shares the widely held view that Indonesia�s enormously varied >natural beauty is a victim of the continued political and economic >instability that has blighted the country since the former dictator Suharto >was toppled in May 1998. "People were previously very scared of those in >power," he says. "Now, with the collapse of law and order and little >political will to tackle the issue, they are much braver. They are not >afraid to attack people who try to stop them. Many people have also >suffered massive economic hardship in the monetary crisis. Trees are seen >as the easiest way to make money quickly." > > Exacerbating the situation is the current government's push to devolve >power to the provinces, which many people fear will only increase the >opportunities for corrupt people to eat into the country's natural >resources. The key players in the destruction are the security forces and >local government officials. In areas where soldiers and police officers are >not actually organising the illegal trade they are usually paid to turn a >blind eye, while most politicians and civil servants view the national >parks as a hindrance to their region's development and care little about >their ruin. > > "I can't yet say it's an institutional problem," says Wandoyo Siswanto, >the head of Kerinci-Seblat and one of the few government officials actively >on the side of conservation, "but there are so many individuals involved it >makes little difference." In many respects Kerinci-Seblat is typical of a >nationwide problem of deforestation. Named after the two highest mountains >it contains, the park is larger than Belgium and has a 2,700km - long >boundary. Once home to thriving populations of the rare Sumatran tiger >and even rarer rhino - a woolly two-horned variety that has evolved little >over the last few millennia - the park is being attacked by illegal >loggers, poachers and farmers who want to extend their holdings. Police >commanders claim the area is too large and their resources to meagre to >tackle the crisis effectively. Few of the 108 park rangers are willing to >patrol for more than a few hours, and so none of the big players have been >arrested. > > The political will to address the issue is extremely weak. It is only >because police and prosecutors are being paid extra to do their jobs that >two dozen illegal loggers who were caught recently are still in detention >and likely to face trial. However Kerinci-Seblat has one huge advantage >over other parks. The World Bank has selected it as a key conservation area >and is pumping millions of dollars of aid and expertise into fighting the >destruction. Consultants are advising on both short-term crisis >management - enforcement of law and order - and long-term solutions, in >particular, raising awareness of the importance of the park to the area's >survival. > > There have been some successes. At the end of last year the park became >the first in Indonesia to be gazetted, which means its boundaries were >officially recognised. LW week one provincial governor was blocked in his >attempt to build a new road through the park. Local people are also >beginning to learn about the effects of not conserving the forest, >according to Susilawaty, who is paid partly from World Bank funding. "They >know that the water level are dropping in their rice fields and are aware >that it's because of the forest disappearing," she says. "But they, and the >government, only think in the short term. There is no long-term vision." >And the international offensive has failed to reach government officials >and the security forces, who are still apparently impervious to change. >"The result is that we are not winning the fight yet," says Mr. Siswanto, >"we are just not losing as badly as before or as badly as other parks." > > Tanjung Putting in Kalimantan and Gunung Leuser in north Sumatra are two >of the few places in the world where orangutans continue to live, and both >are shrinking rapidly. More than half of the 1,800-hectare Kutai park, in >Kalimantan, has been destroyed in the past few years. Foreign donors are >beginning to hold Indonesia to hold Indonesia to account for the rape of >its forests and parks. Aid for the forestry sector has all but been halted >until illegal logging is brought under control, and funds for other sectors >also might be stopped if no progress is made. But the problem is so acute >and the corruption so endemic that no one is expecting miracles, says >Raleigh Blouch, the leader of the World Bank team in Kerinci-Seblat. "There >are just too many problems," he says. "There's, politics, there's greed, >there's corruption, there's poverty. It's what they're used to. We can make >some progress, but all we can do is hold back the forest destruction. We >can't stop it." > > Guardian Weekly�March 2 - 8, 2000 Inside the mind of the great >survivor. "Saddam Hussein: The Politics of Revenge by Said K. Aburish" >Reviewed by William Cran. In the summer of 1996 the British security >service M16 and the CIA were planning a joint operation in Iraq. They >believed that senior Iraqi army officers were ready and willing to mount a >coup against Saddam Hussein. > > The CIA provided logistical support, including special mobile phones with >direct access to the agency's station chief in the Jordanian capital, >Amman. But Saddam Hussein likes to boast that he knows who will betray >him before they know it themselves. He has even set up a special >intelligence unit, which has studied every coup of the 20th century. So >Saddam moved first. Hundreds of officers were arrested, tortured and >executed. In one raid an Iraqi intelligence agent found one of the CIA�s >special phones and used it to make a call. When an American answered, he >told him: "Your men are dead. Pack up and go home." > > Said Aburish, a distinguished journalist and author of a revealing life >of Saddan-4 has unusual qualifications as a biographer. In the mid-1970s he >was a go-between for Western businesses and arms manufacturers, whom Saddam >wanted to work in Iraq. So he played a part in Saddam�s long-term plan to >build an arsenal of chemical and nuclear weapons. His career as a >middleman gave him unusually close access to Saddam, and an insight into >the way he thinks. > > His portrait shows a man who may be cruel and ruthless but whom is also a >clear-headed, strategic thinker. Significantly, Saddam was still only >vice-president when he embarked on his programme to acquire the weapons of >mass destruction that could make Iraq the key player in the Middle East. >Why a cultivated Palestinian such as Aburish would be willing to work for >one of the most blood-stained tyrants of our age says much about Arab >psychology. Like many others, Aburish longed to back a winner and to see >one Arab leader grow militarily and economically strong enough to stand up >for himself. Saddam�s Iraq didn't look like a bad bet its large population >is comparatively well educated. Its 's women are relatively liberated. To >support Saddam in the 1970s was to support the possibility of a progressive >Arab State. > > At first Saddam did not, seem to put a foot wrong. He skillfully played >the Soviet Union and the United States off against each other. He used >Iraq�s oil revenues to build up the economy and the military. However, it >is no coincidence that he also created one of the regions most ruthlessly >efficient secret police forces. As Aburish shows, Saddam's role model is >Stalin. His library is lined with books about the great dictator. Like >Stalin, Saddam was willing to do anything, kill anyone to modernise his >country. > > Not that, Saddam was ever a communist - but then, as he sees it, nor was >Stalin. This helps to explain the long and close relationship that >Aburish documents between Saddam and the CIA. The agency first spotted him >when he was an exile in Cairo who had just tried to assassinate Iraq�s head >of state. Saddam became a regular visitor at the US embassy. When Saddam�s >faction of the Ba�ath party seized power in 1968 the CIA provided his - -a >hit list of known and suspected communist sympathisers. Saddam showed >himself to be an enthusiastic, hands-on killer and torturer. When he >finally grabbed supreme power for himself I he continued to enjoy wary >support from but at least he was not a communist or a religious >fundamentalist. > > The hypocrisy and amorality of Western policy make uncomfortable reading. >Saddam's war on Iran was his bid to be the dominant power in the region. It >turned out to be his first great miscalculation. At least Saddam could >count on support from the Americans, whose CIA agents delivered regular >packages of satellite photographs and military intelligence to Iraq�s top >brass. This beautiful friendship came to an end when the Iran-Contra >affair showed Saddam how deeply he had been betrayed by the White House. > > He seems to have blundered into the Gulf war. But faced with the onslaught >of half a million-allied troops, he is supposed to have said: "If I >survive, I win!" In the, past decade Saddam has survived everything the >world has thrown at him: defeat in the Gulf war, popular uprising >sanctions, assassination attempts, United Nations arms inspectors bent on >destroying his weapons, and an air war in which US and British pilots have >flown more sorties over Iraq than NATO flew during the war in Kosovo. But >he survives, an exemplar of do's and don�ts for future dictators. > >In writing about the life and times of Saddam Hussein, Aburish has set >himself a difficult task. Saddam grants almost no interviews, Iraq�s >official archives remain closed, and one second sources are in short >supply. Despite this, Aburish�s unmatched contacts in the Middle East >enable him to provide a rare glimpse into the secret world of Saddam. The >definitive academic history may not be written until long after Saddam's >demise. When it does appear, it is unlikely significantly to alter or >improve on the insights and perspectives found in this chilling biography. >JC > > __________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki - Finland +358-40-7177941, fax +358-9-7591081 e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.kominf.pp.fi ___________________________________ [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe/unsubscribe messages mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] ___________________________________
