Africa Says No – And Means It

Tim Holmes — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 08:53:59 +0000

The unimaginable has happened, to the displeasure of arrogant Europe. Africa, thought to be so poor that it would agree to anything, has said no in rebellious pride. No to the straitjacket of the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs), no to the complete liberalisation of trade, no to the latest manifestations of the colonial pact.

It happened in December at the second EU-Africa summit in Lisbon, where the main objective was to force the African countries to sign new trade agreements by 31 December 2007 in accordance with the Cotonou Convention of 2000 winding up the 1975 Lomé accords. Under these, goods from former colonies in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific are imported into the European Union more or less duty-free, except for products such as sugar, meat and bananas that are a problem for European producers. The World Trade Organisation has insisted that these preferential arrangements be dismantled or replaced by trade agreements based on reciprocity, claiming that this is the only way African countries can continue to enjoy different treatment. The EU opted for completely free trade in the guise of EPAs. So the 27 were asking African, Caribbean and Pacific countries to allow EU goods and services to enter their markets duty-free (1).

The president of Senegal, Abdoulaye Wade, denounced these strong-arm tactics, refused to sign and stormed out. South Africa’s Thabo Mbeki immediately supported his stand and Namibia also decided not to sign (bravely, since an increase in EU customs duties would make it impossible for Namibia to export or continue to produce beef). Even French president Nicolas Sarkozy, who made unfortunate remarks at Dakar in July 2007 (2), supported the countries that were most strongly opposed to these agreements, saying he was in favour of globalisation but not the despoliation of countries that had nothing left (3).

The EPAs aroused wide public concern. Social movements and trade union organisations south of the Sahara mobilised against them. And the revolt against them bore fruit: the summit ended in failure. The president of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, was forced to back down and accept the African countries’ call for further discussions. He has promised to resume negotiations in February.

This crucial victory is another sign that things are improving for Africa. In the past few years, the bloodiest conflicts have been settled, leaving only Darfur, Somalia and East Congo. Democratic progress has been consolidated and local economies prosper under the guidance of a new generation of leaders, despite social inequalities.

Africa has another asset in the form of massive Chinese investments. China will overtake the EU as one of the continent’s principal suppliers and could beat the United States to become its most important client by 2010. The time when Europe could impose disastrous structural adjustment programmes is long gone. Africa has had enough.

Translated by Barbara Wilson

(1) The Caribbean countries agreed to initial an EPA with the EU on 16 December 2007.

(2) In his speech at the University of Dakar on 26 July 2007 Sarkozy said the tragedy of Africa was that Africans had not really entered history and were not eager to embrace the future. See Anne-Cécile Robert, “Françafrique Sarkozy-style”, Le Monde diplomatique, English edition, September 2007.

(3) Le Monde, Paris, 15 December 2007.

Secrets and Lies

Tim Holmes — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 19:32:53 +0000

What is the most apt epithet for European governments caught in the act of colluding with a foreign agency in abducting suspects who were then transported to secret prisons and tortured? It is hard to imagine a more flagrant violation of human rights, a violation committed by states that are forever prating about their respect for the law.

Two recent events bear witness to the prevailing schizophrenia. On 7 February representatives of most European governments assembled in Paris and solemnly signed a United Nations convention against enforced disappearances that prohibits secret detention (1). On 14 February the European parliament in Strasbourg adopted a report accusing the same governments of colluding with the United States Central Intelligence Agency in secret abduction operations.

According to that report (2) at least 1,245 flights operated by the CIA stopped over at European airports between the end of 2001 and the end of 2005, many of them transporting victims of extraordinary rendition to the illegal detention centre at Guantánamo or to prisons in countries such as Egypt or Morocco where torture is common practice. It is now clear that European governments were well aware of the criminal nature of these secret flights. Some did not just turn a blind eye: Poland and Romania are suspected of having set up mini-Guantánamos on their territory, where people abducted in Pakistan, Afghanistan or elsewhere were held pending transfer to their final destination.

The British government is suspected of participating in the abduction and abuse of suspects, as are the Swedish and Austrian governments. The German authorities are accused of knowing about the abduction of Khaled al-Masri, a German citizen of Lebanese origin who was taken to Afghanistan and tortured. The Italian secret services are accused of helping CIA agents in Milan to kidnap Imam Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr, known as Abu Omar, who was transported to Egypt and incarcerated in Tora prison, south of Cairo, where he was allegedly raped and tortured (3).

This wholesale violation of human rights could not have taken place without the knowledge of the staff of the EU High Representative for the common foreign and security policy, Javier Solana, and his colleague, the EU counter-terrorism coordinator, Gijs de Vries. In an eloquent gesture, De Vries chose to resign, warning that the democratic states must conduct the fight against terrorism with regard for the law, and that the massive abuses at Abu Ghraib and Guantánamo, combined with the CIA abductions, have destroyed the credibility of the US and of Europe (4).

All those who participated in these abductions, those who gave the orders as well as those who carried them out, must fear the the law and reflect on the fate of Maria Estela Martinez Peron (Isabelita), former president of Argentina, where the authorities engaged in political abduction on a massive scale in the name of counter-terrorism. Peron has just been arrested in Madrid and charged with the enforced disappearance of a student, Hector Faguetti, 31 years ago, in February 1976. Justice may be slow but it is inexorable.

Translated by Barbara Wilson

(1) UN Convention for the protection of all persons from enforced disappearance; 60 countries (including Chile, Argentina and Uruguay, but not the US) have signed the convention, which must be ratified by at least 20 states in order to enter into force.

(2) «Report on the alleged use of European countries by the CIA for the transportation and illegal detention of prisoners», 30 January 2007.

(3) Legal proceedings opened on 16 February, before a court in Milan, against 26 CIA agents and six members of the Italian secret services, accused of organising the enforced disappearance of Imam Abu Omar in February 2003.

(4) Reported in El Pais, Madrid, 17 February 2007.

Ignacio Ramonet | ukwatch.net

Africa Says No – And Means It

Secrets and Lies