AfricaPundit's Regional Briefing: 2004-03-31

Winds of Change.NET Regional Briefings run on Tuesdays & Wednesdays, and sometimes Fridays too. This Regional Briefing focuses on Africa, courtesy of AfricaPundit.

TOP TOPICS

• The new African parliament (for what it's worth) was inaugurated this month. Details over at Head Heeb and Mostly Africa.

• Yvette reports on more terrorist attacks against foreign aid workers in Somaliland. In a hopeful sign, Somalilanders responded to the attacks with a weekend full of anti-terrorism protests.

• German president Johannes Rau's visit to Africa was followed by bombings in Tanzania and diverted by an assasination plot in Djibouti. Islamist terrorists are suspected of plotting both attacks. If only Germany hadn't supported the war in Iraq....

Other Topics Today Include: Beaucoup de coups; trouble in Sudan; Blair and Qaddafi make up; War on terror news; Health and environment roundup; Mugabe's condom problem.

Rundown of this month's attempted coups...

• Equatorial Guinea: It began with the detention of an airplane in Zimbabwe and led to a coup plot spanning three continents...including an opposition figure claiming that Equatorial Guinea's head of state is a cannibal. (mostly AFRICA has plenty more.)

• Congo: A coup attempt in Congo (Kinshasa) was aimed at overthrowing the power-sharing government led by Joseph Kabila. The coup was reportedly led by troops loyal to former dictator Mobutu and was quickly put down by government forces.

• Sudan: Most recently, opposition politicians and members of the army were arrested for their involvement in a coup plot against the government of Omar al-Bashir. This guy seems to have an awful lot of enemies.

More Sudan

• While the "peace process" in southern Sudan limps along, war continues in the west and Head Heeb notes a looming conflict in the east.

• Meanwhile, Abiola wonders why the atrocities of the Sudanese government continue to escape censure in the West. (Hint: It's hard to blame Sudanese human rights violations on Bush or Sharon.)

Libya

• Britain's PM Tony Blair made a visit to Libya this month to meet with Qaddafi. Judging by body language (both Blair's and Qaddafi's), the meeting must have been a bit awkward, to say the least.

• Earlier in the month, the chief prosecutor at the Sierra Leone war crimes court reminded us that Qaddafi bears responsibility for more than a few of the wars that have raged in West Africa over the past decade or so.

War on Terror

• AfricaBlog notes that the Algerian-based Salafist Group is forging new ties with al Qaeda.

• The US military is now involved in the Ugandan government's battle against Joseph Kony's LRA...but apparently only in a "nonlethal" capacity.

• Is Nigeria seeking WMD? mostly AFRICA has the lowdown

• Abiola has plenty about the rise of Islamic militancy in West Africa.

• And here's a story about some African uranium gone missing. Where's Joe Wilson when you need him?

Health and environment

• Abiola discusses the economic impact of the tse-tse fly in Africa.

• DDT is one of the most effective weapons against the spread of malaria (which kills nearly 1 million Africans annually), but spraying with DDT is not supported by most Western aid organizations due to environmental concerns. Africans who support DDT are now joining the debate.

• A state in northern Nigeria is boycotting a UN-led vaccination program aimed at eradicating polio. The reason? Politicians and spiritual leaders claim the vaccine is part of a western plot to make Muslim women infertile. Read more here.

• Citing the EU's ban on GM foods, Angola has decided to reject US food aid, putting 2 million Angolans at risk of starvation. In its decision, Angola follows the proud tradition established by Zambia.

Finally...

• Zimbabwe's dictator Robert Mugabe has a long history of responding to political opposition with rants about western-backed neocolonialist conspiracies, but this is the first time that revolutionary condoms have been involved.