"Angola clearly must be treated as a country in which the United States has direct national security interests."
From dayda on SW - wwwa.canada-stockwatch.com
... an article on the sea change happening in US attitude toward Angola.
[i also heard Albright interviewed on CBC radio the other day, talking about how the US was both welcome and needed in Africa in general] ... anyway, the article -
UN IRIN reported on October 22 that a US
embassy official in Luanda has said, "There is a
dimension of searching for a relationship with
Angola." IRIN said that a report published by
the US Institute for Peace (USIP), a supposedly
non-partisan body created by the American
Congress, says oil is the driver. An embassy
official was quoted saying, "This is the hottest
market anywhere. Angola clearly must be
treated as a country in which the United States
has direct national security interests." The
American strategy in Angola is clear --- get
Savimbi and UNITA off the radar screen, and
enhance the quality of the dos Santos
government. IRIN said the Americans insist they
will promote issues of transparency and good
government in Angola, and advocate human
rights and economic reforms. The Americans
reportedly understand the degree of difficulty of
this task. IRIN reported the USIP report said,
"The United States is rightly hesitant about
becoming too close - to fast - to an Angolan
government that fails to stop massive corruption,
perpetrates human rights abuses, and uses its
military to destabilize neighboring governments."
While the American strategy is clear, the issue
now is whether it will work. IRIN reported that
USIP has opined that the foundations must be
laid now for resolving the Angolan conflict. It is
arguable whether the Clinton administration is
doing that. If one argues that the Americans are
facilitating a military victory over UN ITA as the
means by which to resolve the conflict, then one
might argue that some progress is being made
with the UNITA withdrawals from its central
highlands strongholds. But that withdrawal has
levied a very high price on the Angolan people,
with well over one million having been displaced
since the dos Santos government commenced its
offensive to destroy UNITA in December. If
one argues that only a negotiated settlement will
resolve the conflict, then things are not going
well at all for the Clinton administration which,
by its own admission, has abandoned its role as
an honest broker between the two sides and
titled its favor toward the oil producing regime in
Luanda. IRIN reported that the American
embassy official acknowledged that Washington
has "facilitated" Angola's purchase of
sophisticated dual-use radar systems to help
interdict sanctions-busting flights to UNITA
bases. However, responding to allegations the
US has provided Luanda with satellite
reconnaissance images, the official added:
"There is nothing like intelligence sharing."
In an editorial of October 8, NCN suggested
that a group of influential, capable and
distinguished Americans had formed a core of
advocates favoring a strong American
relationship with the dos Santos government in
Angola. NCN, in this editorial, opined that the
State Department had crossed the line in Angola
and was working, perhaps unwittingly, to
break-down the adversarial relationships that
must exist between the conduct of foreign policy
and commerce. In an effort to support that
argument, NCN identified several of these
Americans in this core group, including, Mr.
Witney Schneidman, a businessman turned
diplomat, who had strong commercial ties to the
dos Santos government, and who is now
designing American foreign and commercial
policy toward Angola from the chair of deputy
assistant secretary of state for Africa; Mr. Paul
Hare, a former special envoy to the Angolan
peace process who now the executive director
of the U.S.-Angola Chamber of Commerce, an
important lobbying group in Washington that is
very influential in advising the State Department
on Angolan policy, and is tied in to all the major
corporations with financial interests in the
country; Mr. Herman Cohen, a former assistant
secretary of state for Africa who presided over
American foreign policy toward the region
during the crucial 1992 election period and who
is now also in the commercial world with
business relationships with the dos Santos
government and the American oil business
community; Mr. Maurice Templesman, who has
been a major figure in the diamond and minerals
community with a long tradition of commercial
activity in Angola and is now the chairman of the
board of the Corporate Council on Africa, an
organization which has strong oil and minerals
interests in Angola. In its writing, NCN said that
these Americans form a formidable, highly
experienced, and very capable Angolan policy
influence team, all well known to those who
observe policy toward Africa from Washington.
NCN also said that it had no reason to believe
these men are anything but solid and
distinguished citizens, men with firm convictions
founded on wisdom gained through the years,
people who in all probability have the very best
of intentions. NCN also noted that it was not
our purpose to criticize them or their motives,
but simply point out that they form a core team
of policy influence, and each has strong ties to
the commercial and government worlds and
each of them is aggressively favoring a strong
American relationship with the dos Santos
government. It is with this as background that
NCN has now learned that Brian Atwood, yet
another distinguished American, the recent and
former chief of the U.S. Agency for International
Development (USAID), is now a senior
executive with Chevron Corp. Chevron, of
course, has major financial interests in Angolan
oil. |
