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Wednesday, August 25, 2004 |
Guardian: "South African police have arrested Sir Mark Thatcher over allegations that he was involved in a planned coup in Equatorial Guinea, according to media reports in South Africa.
The son of Baroness Thatcher, the former British prime minister, was arrested at his Cape Town home, the South African Press Association said. He was expected to appear in court later today.
Sir Mark lives in the upmarket district of Constantia, where he is a neighbour of Simon Mann, 51, a former SAS officer who is one of 70 men currently on trial in Zimbabwe in connection with the alleged coup plot.
The men are being tried at the maximum-security Chikurubi prison near Harare, charged with immigration and aviation offences and possession of dangerous weapons.
They were captured at Harare airport in March after their chartered Boeing 727-100 landed to collect assault rifles and mortars.
More than a dozen alleged accomplices were detained at the same time in the oil-rich west African dictatorship of Equatorial Guinea, which thanked Zimbabwe for helping to thwart an attempt to overthrow the president, Teodoro Obiang Nguema."
And what do you think this is all about? Oil!
11:44:09 AM 
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Boston Globe: "Japan yesterday ordered Bobby Fischer deported, but the former chess champion immediately appealed the case in court, meaning he won't be sent out of the country right away. The government also ruled Fischer did not qualify as a political refugee.
Fischer has been in custody since he was detained by Japanese airport authorities on July 13 with an invalid US passport. The former chess great is wanted in the United States for violating international sanctions against Yugoslavia in 1992. He contends the charges against him are politically motivated."
Independent: "Bobby Fischer, the former world chess champion wanted by Washington for defying sanctions on Yugoslavia, plans to renounce his US citizenship, his lawyer said yesterday."
You can cheat, lie, torture and murder, but you can't play a game of chess. Now that is a crime!
11:18:47 AM
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WSWS: "In an attempt to end a 21-year long civil war, in which the US more or less openly supported the SPLA against the Sudan government throughout the 1990s, criticism of the Sudan regime's human rights abuses were largely dropped. The major consideration was to bring some stability to a region that is already pumping out 345,000 barrels of oil per day and has reserves, just in the oilfields currently being exploited, at between 660,000 and 1.2 billion barrels according to the US Energy Information Administration.
When the Sudan government supported militias against the local population, driving out whole villages from the oil-producing regions to prevent attacks being made on the oil pipelines, the US continued with the peace negotiations.
Moreover, as it became clear in 2003 that the SPLA were gaining some concessions with western backing, militia groups in the Darfur region - the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) - stepped up operations against the government.
A UN mission to Darfur found no evidence that the Sudanese government were forcing people to return to villages under their control as human rights groups are alleging. However, it is also evident that the threat to humanitarian aid deliveries and the security of the population is not just from pro-government militia. Al Jazeera report that SLA and JEM militias have been carrying out daily attacks on villages in South Darfur where the Rizeiqat people are regarded to be of Arab origin. The local state governor claimed they were riding camels and horses, camouflaged as Janjaweed. Also WFP reports give details of two occasions when SLA militia stopped their trucks and looted food."
So, actually, it's about oil again, isn't it? What does the west care about human rights?
10:49:01 AM
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© Copyright 2004 Hetty Litjens.
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