Even though,it is a beautiful one.Keep them coming

Fro Freedom
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>===== Original Message From The Gambia and related-issues mailing list
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>I hope this is not stale news.
>
>Momodou Camara
>****************
>
>VICTORY FOR ANGOLA: U.S.-PUPPET SAVIMBI BITES THE DUST
>By G. Dunkel
>
>When the news spread on Feb. 22 that Jonas Savimbi had been  shot dead
>in an ambush by the army in southeastern Angola,  the general reaction
>in Angola and the rest of Africa was  one of jubilation. Savimbi was
>the most hated and despised  man in Angola.
>
>His death was seen as a major victory in the 41 years of  armed
>struggle that the Angolan people have waged against  imperialism. It
>was hoped that peace--at least the end of  armed conflict--could be
>near.
>
>The big corporate media--New York Times, BBC, CNN, Financial  Times,
>the Washington Post--have called Savimbi  "charismatic," "a leader in
>the struggle against Portuguese  colonialism," "one of the contenders
>in a three-way tribally  based struggle" for control of Angola, and so
>on. They claim  he had ties to China, admired Che Guevara and had
>adopted  "people's war."
>
>It is all spin. In reality, Savimbi was a puppet of U.S.  imperialism
>in a war against the Angolan revolutionary  government that left at
>least 500,000 dead, tens of  thousands crippled for life by U.S.-made
>land mines,  billions upon billions of dollars of material destruction,
> vast misery and a debt that Angola will spend decades  paying.
>
>Capitalist accounts of Savimbi's life are full of  distortions. For
>example, he was not an opponent of  Portuguese colonialism, which was
>financed, armed and  supported by the United States, a NATO ally.
>
>By the early 1970s, Savimbi's organization, UNITA, had a  formal
>agreement with the Portuguese army for military  cooperation in the
>struggle against the MPLA, which was  leading the struggle against the
>Portuguese and currently  leads the Angolan government. (See William
>Minter's book  "Operation Timber: Pages from the Savimbi Dossier" for
> detailed documentation.)
>
>This is not just an interesting but minor historical  footnote--it
>foreshadowed Savimbi's military and political  agreements with the
>apartheid South African regime, the CIA  and the most reactionary
>Reaganite wing of the U.S. ruling  class.
>
>The MPLA, with significant aid from revolutionary Cuba,  defeated an
>invasion by the apartheid South African army in  1975 that had been
>intended to put UNITA in power in Luanda.  After that defeat, the CIA
>took over the care and  construction of UNITA, while apartheid South
>Africa supplied  the military muscle.
>
>The role of the CIA in Angola until 1978 is detailed in John
> Stockwell's book "In Search of Enemies." Stockwell was the  CIA
>station chief in Angola but turned against the agency.  While the
>connection of Savimbi to the CIA is well  documented, neither the New
>York Times nor the Washington  Post mentioned it in their recent
>articles on Savimbi's  death.
>
>The struggle continued with ups and downs until the  Angolans,
>Namibians and Cubans decisively defeated the South  Africans at the
>battle of Cuito Cuanavale in 1988. This  defeat led to an agreement
>that involved the withdrawal of  Cubans from Angola in return for the
>independence of Namibia  and the end of South African invasions.
>
>After Cuito Cuanavale, the U.S., acting under the auspices  of the
>United Nations, managed to put together two  peace/election agreements.
>But every time UNITA lost the  election, even when international
>monitors asserted they  were basically free and fair, Savimbi cried
>fraud and went  back to fighting. The only solution he was willing to
>accept  was one that left UNITA in complete control of Angola.
>
>WHERE IS ANGOLA HEADED?
>
>Angola is a desperately poor, war-wracked, deeply indebted  country
>with one of the poorest living standards in the  world. Some 4 million
>people--one-third of its population-- are internal refugees. Yet it
>still supplies 8 percent of  all the oil the United States consumes.
>This is a bit  surprising but indicates one reason for the sustained
>and  intense U.S. interest in Angola.
>
>Ever since 1992, when Savimbi pulled out of the  election/peace process
>and restarted the civil war, the U.S.  has followed a two-pronged
>strategy. It gave Savimbi enough  money, or enough access to the world
>diamond market, to keep  on fighting. At the same time it offered the
>MPLA government  diplomatic recognition, development aid, access to
>U.S.  markets for goods other than oil, and loans if it would make  a
>deal with UNITA that Savimbi would accept.
>
>Of course, everyone knew that the only deal Savimbi would  really
>accept was the MPLA's capitulation, but while this  process was going
>on, UNITA had time and opportunity to  regroup and rearm itself.
>
>Since the U.S. and the CIA were so closely and openly linked  with
>Savimbi, a good deal of the political maneuvering that  took place in
>Angola was carried out through the auspices of  the UN.
>
>With the U.S. taking a two-pronged approach, two groups  developed
>within the Angolan movement. One felt that an  agreement with Savimbi
>was possible. The other--especially  strong in the Angolan army (FAA)--
>felt that the only  possible solution was to crush UNITA. After the
>last  agreement with Savimbi broke up in 1996, the government  adopted
>a "two-track approach" of offering dialog while  maintaining military
>pressure on UNITA.
>
>Late in 2001, the FAA began a powerful offensive that swept  UNITA out
>of traditional strongholds it had occupied for  years and forced its
>armed units to begin retreating toward  the Zambian border in
>southeastern Angola. As the success of  the offensive became clear, a
>propaganda campaign was begun  to blunt it in the name of peace.
>
>On Feb. 6, the UN press service IRIN ran an interview with  Abel
>Chivukuvuku, a former political adviser to Savimbi.  This interview
>gave Chivukuvuku the forum to propose a two- month peace process for
>the Angolan government and the UN to  follow, premised on the
>recognition that a solution to the  country's problems could not be
>military.
>
>The U.S., remember, is right now preparing to wage high- intensity war
>all over the globe, ostensibly because 3,000  people were killed here
>on Sept. 11. But Angola, which has  lost half a million people in a war
>created and financed by  the U.S., must allow its foes into the
>government in the  name of peace. By this logic, George W. Bush should
>be  inviting Osama bin Laden into his cabinet.
>
>IRIN reported Feb. 13 that the Irish development agency GOAL  condemned
>what it called the "FAA's scorched earth policy."  It didn't discuss
>how the MPLA government could protect its  people against UNITA
>atrocities.
>
>The same day that the news of Savimbi's death broke, IRIN  reported on
>a national conference of Angola's traditional  leaders that called for
>an immediate cease-fire and the  creation of a sovereign national
>conference to discuss the  country's political future. This conference
>was sponsored by  the Open Society Foundation, which is a creation of
>George  Soros, the international financier, Wall Street tycoon and
> currency speculator.
>
>Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos is due in  Washington Feb. 26
>to talk to President George W. Bush,  along with the presidents of
>Mozambique and Malawi, about  regional security. Obviously, the
>direction of Angola after  the death of Savimbi is going to be a major
>topic of  discussion.
>
>Even if Angola can wrap up a 27-year-old civil war without  any more
>major fighting, it is going to face major problems-- a completely
>devastated economy that needs IMF approval to  borrow the funds it
>needs to start rebuilding. But the  political price the IMF is
>currently demanding is a price  that no poor country should have to
>pay.
>
>The armed struggle might possibly be over, but the general  struggle
>will still continue. As the heroes of the African  revolution against
>Portuguese colonialism put it, a luta  continua.
>
>- END -
>
>(Copyright Workers World Service: Everyone is permitted to  copy and
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>
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