"Bush orders policy to 'contain' Chávez"

Militarization of U.S. Africa Policy: 2000 to 2005
Guns, Oil and Terror
In the wake of September 11th, and in keeping with its interest in securing access to oil and other key natural resources, the Bush administration has been rapidly expanding U.S. military involvement in Africa.
While most recent increases in U.S. arms sales, aid, and military training in Africa have been justified as part of what the administration refers to as the "Global War on Terrorism" (GWOT), oil has been a major factor in the administration's strategic calculations from the outset. In his first few months in office, President Bush's first Secretary of State, Colin Powell, stressed the need to improve relations with oil producing nations like Nigeria and Angola. Similarly, the report of Vice-President Cheney's Energy Task Force stressed the importance of gaining and maintaining access to African oil resources, which U.S. intelligence assessments expect to increase to as much as 25% of U.S. oil imports by the year 2020 (see Salih Booker and Ann-Louise Cogan, "Africa Policy Outlook 2004," at www.africaaction.org/resources/outlook/2004policyoutlook.php).

Elephants in Africa: Return of the culling fields?
A surge in the number of elephants may delight animal-lovers but it endangers other species. Now a controlled slaughter is proposed in southern Africa. Basildon Peta and Julian Coman report

Uganda Gives Up On UN Council Seat
Uganda has abandoned its ambition of getting a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council due to its low international credentials.

Africa adopts position on UN reform
The African Union (AU) Executive Council has adopted a common African position on the reform of the United Nations (UN), which among others, including demand for not less than two permanent seats at the UN Security Council with right of veto and five non permanent seats.

Africa Union Debates How to Disarm Hutu Rebels in the DRC
A two-day meeting of the African Union in Addis Ababa is focusing on how to disarm Rwandan rebels in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo. There are up to 14 thousand ethnically Hutu rebels in the region, who stage attacks against Rwanda’s government and destabilize local communities in the DRC. The rebels, called Interahamwe, are blamed for the 1994 genocide in Rwanda against minority Tutsi and moderate Hutu. The presidents of the DRC and Rwanda have agreed to allow the African Union to coordinate a solution using AU troops.

The United States of Africa:
a Possibility We Should Fight for
Predictions of human history and an evaluation of major civilizations leads us to the hope that Africa, like other leading civilizations coming down from Egypt, Greece and the Great Roman Empire, has almost entered a paradigm of its rise despite the many short comings, including poverty which has rated it the poorest continent of the globe.

AU backs China's anti-secession law
The African Union (AU) on Monday reiterated its One China policy and expressed support for China's anti-secession law to prevent Taiwan's secession from China. "The anti-secession law adopted today by China's National People's Congress is of vital importance," said AU Commission Chairperson Alpha Oumar Konare when meeting with Chinese Ambassador to Ethiopia Lin Lin.

Abstain? Not a Choice in Africa
There was no sense of victory, of having achieved new commitments by states to women's human rights. There was fatigue, a sense that women's lives have not changed significantly enough. As for gaining new commitments by states, it says a lot about the current negotiating climate at the UN.

Elections: Kenya an Anchor for Africa
East Africa has experienced a decade of intermittent and uneven progress in regard to economic development, control of corruption, respect for human rights and resolution of regional conflicts, according to specialists in the US.

US defends video press releases
The US has defended its practice of sending out video press releases to news agencies, even though there is a lack of disclosure regarding the source of the information.

Bush orders policy to 'contain' Chávez
Senior US administration officials are working on a policy to "contain" Hugo Chávez, the Venezuelan president, and what they allege is his drive to "subvert" Latin America's least stable states. A strategy aimed at fencing in the government of the world's fifth-largest oil exporter is being prepared at the request of President George W. Bush and Condoleezza Rice, secretary of state, senior US officials say. The move signals a renewed interest by the administration in a region that has been relatively neglected in recent years.

Venezuela restocks its arsenal
The US military's senior officer responsible for security co-operation in Latin America has warned of the destabilising potential posed to the region by the Venezuelan government's controversial, and opaque, arms procurement programme. Hugo Chávez, the president of the world's fifth-largest oil exporter, has begun signing contracts to buy an array of weapons to revamp his defences to thwart what he claims could be outside "aggression".

The galactic winds singing eternally: ¡Uh, Ah! Chávez no se va!
On Thursday, 10th March, 2005, in Miami, Florida, on TV-Cable Channel 22, in the program "Maria Elvira Confronta", the Cuban-American reporter, Maria Elvira Salazar ... accompanied by the ex-CIA agent, Felix Rodriguez, who participated in murdering Che Guevara in Bolivia, and also by a known Venezuelan "Contra", Luis Piña ... again publicly called for North American violent intervention in Venezuela, and openly for the assassination of President Chávez.

US-British Stance on Iraqi Death Toll "Irresponsible"

Russia Razes Site of Maskhadov's Killing
Russian authorities said Monday they blew up the house where Chechen rebel leader Aslan Maskhadov was killed last week because they feared booby traps, but critics questioned the motive.

Gridlock in Bolivia after talks crumble between Mesa and Morales
The much touted meeting between Bolivian President Carlos Mesa and the leader of the Movement to Socialism (MAS), Deputy Evo Morales ended with no progress being made. The main sticking point is the royalty and taxes to be levied on the export of Bolivian natural gas by the Spanish energy multinational, Repsol-YPF.