Democratic Palestine : 2 (ص 30)
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- Democratic Palestine : 2 (ص 30)
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Liberia
Military concerns also rank high in the renewed Liberian-
Israeli ties. Before arriving in occupied Palestine in August
1983, to embrace the Zionist leadership, Liberian President
Samuel Doe had sent a team to Tel Aviv to see what kind of
information the Israeli intelligence service would devulge on
alleged Libyan intentions in his country and elsewhere in
Africa. Doe has also been drawn in on the imperialist side in
Chad since then. In addition to making agreements for Israeli
aid in the fields of agriculture, transportation and finance,
Doe’s regime purchased four Arava transport planes. This
meted $10 million for the Israeli Aircraft Industries.
ER a NT ETS
shasa as Mobutu’s most trusted adviser” (Journal of Palestine
Studies, No. 47, Spring 1983, p. 48).
Zaire, with its great expanse and centrally strategic location,
can provide a springboard for the Washington-Pretoria-Tel
Aviv axis to broaden its interference in Africa. Mobutu has
previously joined in this axis’ endeavors, for example, by sup-
porting Holden Roberto’s FNLA against the legitimate MPLA
government at the time of Angola’s independence, while Pre-
toria supported UNITA to the same end. Presently, Zaire is the
only African nation contributing troops to the US-French in-
tervention in Chad. Now Mobutu’s role will be expanded to
complement Pretoria’s aggression against its neighbors, which
has increased in step with the Reagan Administration’s policy
of “constructive engagement” vis-a-vis the apartheid regime.
Moreover, Zaire’s restoration of diplomatic relations pro-
vided the basis for others to do the same. While this process has
been somewhat retarded as a result of the Zionist state’s fol-
lowing invasion and occupation in Lebanon, the Zionists can
easily make contact with willing African states in Kinshasa, as
in January 1983, when Sharon met representatives of Kenya,
Uganda, Central African Republic, Tanzania and Chad.
Zaire’s Zionization
To secure the linchpin of the reactionary axis, the Zionist
state has undertaken a total revamping of Zaire’s armed for-
ces. This is in accordance with a five-year plan agreed upon
when Sharon, accompanied by an entourage of 90, including
military aides and two generals, visited Zaire in January 1983.
In advance, Avrahim Tamir, head of strategic planning in the
Israeli Defense Ministry, had visited Zaire several times and
drawn up a master plan for reorganizing, retraining and ree-
quipping Zaire’s 20,000 armed and security forces. As Sharon
described the project: “It’s on the level of Zaire’s national
security” (Jerusalem Post, January 23, 1983).
The other plan agreed upon at that time, for ‘Israel’ to
establish a Presidential guard for Mobutu, is already accomp-
lished. Initially, ‘Israel’ supplied Zaire with $8 million worth of
arms to this purpose. Under the new pact, ‘Israel’ is supplying
Zaire with helicopters, tanks, armored personnel carriers, ar-
tillery, light arms, radar systems, warships, electronic security
fences and spy planes, and donating arms captured in Leban-
on in 1982. In the spring of 1983, Afrique-Asie reported that the
Israeli government was negotiating the establishment of Israe-
li air bases in Zaire. In the same period, TASS reported that
4.000 Israeli servicemen are to build a US cruise missile base
in Zaire.
The focal point in reorganizing Zaire’s “national security” is
Shaba (formerly Katanga) province: This area is vital not only
to Mobutu but to imperialism as well, because of its mineral
wealth. (Zaire is the world’s biggest producer of industrial
diamonds and cobalt and has substantial copper deposits).
Shaba has also been the scene of popular uprisings in 1977 and
1978, which Mobutu could only quell with the help of Moroc-
can, French and Belgium troops. While in Zaire, Sharon flew
over the border areas with Angola and inspected the 12,000-
30
men Camaniola brigade (over half Zaire’s military manpow-
er) which guards the Kolwezi mines. In addition to undertak-
ing the establishment of a new 5,000-men division to safeguard
the mines, two battalions of commandos are to be deployed
along the frontier with Angola.
‘Israel’ may also be involved in a whole infrastructural pro-
ject: “The governor of Shaba province said he would like to
see established a line of settlements, similar to the IDF Nahal
units of farmer-pioneer-soldiers, having the responsibility for
area defence such as is assigned to Israel border settlements”
(Jerusalem Post, January 20, 1983).
Israeli military involvement in Zaire fits neatly into its coop-
eration with Pretoria, bolstering the apartheid regime’s cam-
paign to encircle Angola, harass Mozambique, and stave off
the liberation of Namibia and of the South African masses.
Israeli aid is also vital if Mobutu is to be kept in power in the
long run, for opposition to his dictatorship is growing and
there are recurrent guerrilla activities. The Front for the Resto-
ration of Congolese Democracy issued a statement from Bel-
gium that “a secret plan involving Zaire, Israel and South
Africa lies behind the Sharon visit.” At the same time, the
Angola News Agency charged that Israeli military experts had
been sent to Namibia to train UNITA counterrevolutionaries
operating against the MPLA government. This marks an esca-
lation of long-standing Israeli military and logistics aid to the
South African occupation troops fighting SWAPO. It was also
noteworthy that the spy plane shot down by Mozambique in
May 1983, in conjunction with South A frica’s air raid on Mato-
la, near Maputo, was of Israeli design. - هو جزء من
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