>from: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Subject: Colombia, US, Vietnam genocide, Africa excuses. >Date: Thu, 8 Jun 2000 > Sydney Morning Herald ... May, 2000 (JC- The best and fairest >broadsheet news in Australia!) > >-- COLOMBIA -- >"Police raid jail, find resort" -By Reuters > >Bogota: They made their own grog, hired prostitutes and kept >Rottweilers as pets... until the Police retook control of Colombia's >largest prison from the inmates. > In a raid on the Modelo prison at the weekend, Police discovered a >Private sauna and gym, distilleries, drugs and dogs, they said. And >there were weapons everywhere. > >Police were also surprised to find 511 women in the all-male >prison, allegedly prostitutes hired to stay for several days to offer >their services to inmates. > The national police chief, General Rosso Jose Serrano, described >the prison as a hotbed of corruption and a centre of extortion, >kidnapping, drug trafficking and prostitution. > >Inmates hid radios, cellular phones and computers in their cells, >which Police said they used to manage criminal bands outside the >prison. "In each wall there was a false tile or brick and behind that >tile [there was] a radio, a weapon, marijuana, ammunition," General >Serrano said. > >One inmate, a leader of the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of >Colombia, had a sauna and a private gym in his cell police said. He >has been transferred to another prison. > >The sweep of the prison came after 25 inmates were killed in bloody >clashes between rival gangs in the prison in a 12-hour battle on >Thursday. The search of the overcrowded prison also yielded 35 >firearms, nearly four kilograms of explosives, knives and grenades. > > ******** > >Sydney Morning Herald ... May, 2000 > > -- United States -- > >"Report reveals Bin Laden's terror network" By Los Angeles Times ---- > ____ > Washington: Osama Bin Laden, the fugitive Saudi extremist who >allegedly masterminded the 1998 bombing of two US embassies in east >Africa, has sent terrorist trainers to at least six countries, the US >State Department said. > >Bin Laden's growing role was underscored in the department's annual >review of terrorism. He was the only individual singled out for a >page-long profile in the 107-page report. > >Bin Laden's organisation, the department said, had sent terrorist >trainers throughout Afghanistan, where he had been given sanctuary by >the ruling Taliban as well as to Tajikistan, Bosnia, Somalia, Sudan >and Yemen. Trainers had also been sent to the breakaway Russian >republic of Chechnya, the report said. > >Bin Laden's group had also trained fighters from other countries, >including the Philippines, Egypt, Libya, Pakistan and Eritrea, it >said. As a result, "Bin Laden believes he can call upon individuals >and groups virtually world-wide to conduct terrorist attacks". > >In unusually harsh language, the report criticised Pakistan, a >staunch Cold War ally, saying it "continues to send mixed messages on >terrorism". > >"Despite significant and material co-operation in some areas, >particularly arrests and extradition's, the Pakistani Government also >has tolerated terrorists living and moving freely within its >territory." > >It added that Pakistan continued to support militant groups in the >long insurgency against Indian control of Kashmir. > >Bin Laden, the 17th son of a Saudi construction tycoon, first drew >notice in the early 1980's when he helped finance, recruit, and >transport and train Arab volunteers in the war against Soviet forces >in Afghanistan. He founded al-Qaida, or The Base, as his operational >organisation for "like-minded extremists" during the war, according >to the report. > >Bin Laden's primary goals were to drive US forces from the Arabian >peninsula to remove the Saudi ruling family from power, and to >"liberate Palestine ", the report said. His secondary goals were to >remove Western military forces and to overthrow what he called >corrupt Western-oriented governments in predominantly Muslim >countries. > >Al-Qaida has become a far-flung network with supporters around the >world. > >The US has claimed some success in its counter-terrorism operations. >Five US citizens died in two terrorism-related incidents last year in >Uganda and Colombia. The death toll was the lowest in seven years. >The Secretary of State, Dr Madeleine Albright, called the report >"largely heartening, one of terrorists caught, plots thwarted and >lives saved". > >Casualties could have been far higher if an Algerian had succeeded >in bringing explosives and detonators into the US from Canada, she >said. >Ahmed Ressam was captured as he tried to cross the border near >Seattle in mid-December. > >Some Algerians arrested in connection with the case were linked to >Bin Laden, although his direct involvement has not been proved. > >Despite the broader trends, the department did not change its list >of nations that it considers state sponsors of terrorism. The list >includes Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Libya, North Korea, Sudan and Syria. Being >on the list results in stiff economic and diplomatic sanctions. > > ****** > > from Sydney Morning Herald ... May, 2000 > > VIETNAM -- "Charming architect of uprising." By Associated Press --- >--------------------------------------------------- > > Hanoi: Pham Van Dong, one of the architects of Vietnam's >communist revolution, died a day before the 25th anniversary of the >communists' biggest victory, officials said. He was 94. > >Dong, who combined personal charm with political toughness in serving >as prime minister through three decades of war and painful >reunification, had been in hospital on life support for months before >his death on Saturday, the officials said. > >A state funeral is planned for Friday. > >Dong was among a handful of revolutionaries who wrested Vietnam from >the French, then defeated United States-backed South Vietnam (JC -and >the US?) to bring the entire country under Hanoi's rule on April 30, >1975. Official ceremonies to mark the anniversary were held in Ho >Chi Minh City, the former Saigon, on Sunday. > >While Ho Chi Minh was the visionary and father figure, and General Vo >Nguyen Giap was the battlefield hero, Dong was the diplomat and >government organiser. > >He became prime minister of North Vietnam soon after independence in >1954 and headed reunified Vietnam from 1976 to 1987. >In retirement he was given the title of government adviser, and >used occasional speeches and essays to warn of the dangers of free- >market reforms. > >Increasingly frail and virtually blind in his final years, he made >few public appearances. > >Dong was often dubbed the Vietnamese Zhou Enlai. Like the Chinese >premier, Dong was articulate and sophisticated, an administrative >workhorse who tried to avoid personal feuds and mend party disputes. > >He imbibed nationalism in his youth at the prestigious Lycee Quoc Hoc >in Hue, attended at different times by Ho and Giap. > >In 1925, he joined a student strike in Hanoi and fled to China when >it failed. > >There he joined Ho's Vietnamese Revolutionary Youth Association, >which trained young nationalists in Marxism. > >He returned to Vietnam in 1929 and began organising communist cells, >but was quickly arrested by the French and spent about seven years in >the infamous island jail at Con Dao. On release he resumed >underground activities in Hanoi. > >After a failed 1939 communist uprising, Dong fled again to China and >linked up with Ho, who had established a temporary base there. > >In 1941, Dong was a founding member of the Viet Minh, a nationalist >movement led by the communists but designed to draw broader support >in the struggle against the French. > >When the Viet Minh formed a provisional government in 1945 in an >attempt at independence, Dong was made finance minister. In a >reflection of his growing prominence in the party, he accompanied Ho >to France in 1946 for independence talks that failed. > >The Viet Minh continued guerilla war-fare for eight more years, >finally defeating the French decisively at Dien Bien Phu. >Dong headed the Viet Minh delegation to the 1954 Geneva conference, >at which the big powers agreed to divide Vietnam temporarily. The >communists ruled in the north while the US emerged as chief supporter >of the south. > >During the long war with the south, Dong was the north's main >spokesman to the world. > >He met the handful of foreign journalists and American anti-war >activists who came to Hanoi, and stressed his government's >determination to keep fighting despite punishing US air strikes. > >But he was far from a heavy-handed propagandist. Adept at >charming visitors, he spiced his talk with quotes from French >classics and loud, disarming laughter. (JC..One version?) > > ************ > >Sydney Morning Herald ... May, 2000 > > -- GOOD INTENTIONS --"US extends a hesitant hand towards Africa" ? > By Jane Perlez in Washington >------------------------------ > > For most of a year now, the United States has been proclaiming its >intention to get more involved in the fate of Africa - in calming its >wars, in building its economies. > >The 11,000 men of the United Nations peacekeeping force sent into >Sierra Leone, and the helicopter gunships reinforcing them, were the >first sign that this intention would amount to more than words. The >soldiers were from Third World countries but their mission was being >paid for in part with $US70 million ($120 million) from the United >States. > >And another peacekeeping force has been waiting in the wings to try >to pacify the even more embattled Congo. The US has been hoping that >these two forces together would forever refute the notion that the >international community has been eager to right wrongs in Europe and >Asia, but has another set of rules for Africa. > >But now the Sierra Leone mission is in deep trouble. That debacle >and the hesitant response to it in Washington - several days of >teleconferences among the CIA, the Pentagon and the National Security >Council but no action, no decisions - demonstrate yet again that >doing good in Africa takes more than good intentions. > >Now the likelihood of deployment of even the modest force for Congo - >500 monitors protected by 5,000 soldiers - looks more distant, >despite a formal agreement last week from the Congo leader, Mr. >Laurent Kabila. > >The second track of US policy in Africa - economic partnership - was >also delivering less than had been promised. > >Even as the US House of Representatives approved a trade bill >granting some new trading privileges to Africa, there were doubts >whether many countries on, the continent have the economic capacity >to take advantage of it. And on the much subject of AIDS, the bill >sent a singular snub: in the final version, bowing to US >pharmaceutical companies, Congress dropped a provision intended to >make AIDS drugs more affordable by lowering the licensing fee for >Africa manufacturers. > >The Clinton Administration has experienced two defining moments in >Africa. The first was the slaughter of 17 US soldiers in Mogadishu, >Somalia, in October 1993 and the dragging of one of the bodies >through the streets. Then, a few months later, the Administration >remained largely silent as genocide unfolded in Rwanda after the >United States agreed to the removal of a UN military force there. > >After Mogadishu, President Bill Clinton chose to shy away from >risking such casualties or humiliation again; after Rwanda, he said >genocide could not be tolerated again. > >But those are incompatible goals, and in its twilight months, the >Clinton Administration is strangled by its own constraints as it >contemplates the options in places, like Sierra Leone, Congo, Angola, >Ethiopia, Eritrea and Zimbabwe. > >A collapse of the peacekeeping mission in Sierra Leone could portend >far more than just the loss of a military effort in a small, >desperate West African country. > >At stake, some officials argue, is the prestige of the United States >within the United Nations. The US representative there, Mr Richard >Holbrooke, has worked hard to fix the frayed UN-US relationship. >Last week he was in Congo with UN colleagues trying to assess whether >it is peaceful enough to send in the peacekeepers. > >At the UN, Mr. Holbrooke needs the 54 votes of African nations, many >of which might be willing to suspend their disillusionment with >Washington if the Sierra Leone and Congo peacekeeping missions can be >made to work. > >But many also still resent the evident Western view that Africa >deserves to be marginalised because its problems run so deep. > >They argue some hope should be gleaned from democratic elections here >and there, from economic turnarounds. They point to Mozambique, >strengthened by investment from South Africa; to Kenya, where >President Daniel arap Moi has taken steps that could reduce >corruption; to Nigeria, whose President Olusegun Obasanjo has assumed >the mantle of a regional leader (although his troops, whom Western >countries would not finance, pulled out of Sierra Leone after being >roughed up by rebel thugs). > >Most important for peacekeeping hopes, some African countries now >have armies willing to take part in international forces on the >continent. But it is also clear that African states are not capable >of dealing with big crises like Congo or Sierra Leone. For these, >they look to the United Nations, and thus the United States. > >The difficulty in Sierra Leone is that the big powers on the >Security Council will not use their own forces, and this has left the >United Nations relying on frightened soldiers from less capable >armies. > >Uganda's Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Mr. Amama Mbabazi, >put it this way earlier this year: "When it is Kosovo, you are there >in one minute and spend billions. When it's East Timor you are there. >When it is Africa, there are all sorts of excuses." > >So the basic problem of what to do about Africa remains, despite >American determination to get more involved. "There are huge stakes" >if the Sierra Leone operation failed, one official said. "We have to >play pretty tough. Otherwise we are going to walk away yet again." JC > > > > __________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. 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