PANA Tripoli Condemns British, American Aggression Panafrican News Agency (Dakar) February 19, 2001 Posted to the web February 19, 2001 Tripoli Libya has condemned Friday's British-American air raids against Iraq as "a flagrant violation of the United Nations charter" and a "denial of the principlesof international law." A communique by the General Popular Committee for African Unity, reasserted Libya's full support and solidarity with Iraq and urged the international community to try and put an end to such aggression. British and American bombers carried out attacks on five targets in Iraq causing some civilian casualties, after accusing Tripoli of violating the unilateral "no-fly zone" imposed by Washington and London on Iraqi territory. The military operations were undertaken on grounds that the Iraqis opened fire on British and American fighter planes flying over the no-fly zone, which were imposed without UN approval after the 1991 Gulf war. Iraq is under UN sanctions following the Gulf war, the aftermath of Baghdad's invasion of Kuwait in 1990. The communique said "these vicious attacks should encourage the United Nations and the International community to increase their efforts to lift the embargo that has been placed on the Iraqi people for over 10 years, in order to alleviate the suffering of children and the elderly in Iraq." Meanwhile, Ali Triki, Secretary of the Libyan General Popular Committee for African Unity, met Saturday in Tripoli with the Iraqi Ambassador in Libya, Anouar Mouloud Dhoubian, who briefed him on the situation in Iraq. During the meeting, Triki was said to have called for a unified Arab front to support the struggle of the Iraqi people in the face of the "continuous aggression by the British and American coalition." **** Botswana Joins Bandwagon Of African Union Panafrican News Agency (Dakar) February 19, 2001 Posted to the web February 19, 2001 Addis Ababa The 5th extraordinary OAU Summit to discuss the African Union billed for March in Sirte, Libya was at the centre of recent discussions in Gaborone between OAU secretary general Salim Ahmed Salim and President Festus G. Mogae of Botswana. A press release Monday from the Addis Ababa general secretariat of the OAU said Salim seized the occasion to reiterate "the need for African countries to unite and work together to ensure that Africa is fully integrated into the global economy." Salim informed Mogae that so far 41 countries have signed the constitutive act of the African Union since the OAU summit in July 2000 in Lome, Togo. He added that 13 of the signatories had already ratified the instrument. Mogae, on his part, said that his country had decided to sign the act. The constitutive act of the African Union was adopted at the 4th extraordinary OAU summit in Sirte in September 1999, and was endorsed by the Lome summit. It will enter into force upon ratification by two-thirds of OAU member states. Concerning regional issues, Mogae and Salim welcomed the latest development in the peace process in the DR Congo. At the continental level, the release said that both men promised "to continue working hard to address the socio-economic and political problems that bedevil the African continent, especially the HIV/AIDS pandemic." During his four-day stay in Botswana, Salim also met with former Botswana president and facilitator in the inter- Congolese dialogue, Sir Ketumile Masire, and Dr P. Ramsamy, who is the acting Executive Secretary of the Southern Africa Development Community. _________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki Phone +358-40-7177941 Fax +358-9-7591081 http://www.kominf.pp.fi General class struggle news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe mails to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Geopolitical news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] __________________________________________________
