From: Adam Rose <Adam-AT-pmel.com>
Subject: "Executive Outcomes" : was M-I: Che Guevara in Africa (lnp post #1)
Date: Mon, 10 Feb 1997 09:49:29 -0000



Karl is right and Louis wrong in their assessments of
Kabila. To call Kabila a left leaning nationalist is really
a bit much : the coherence of his forces comes from 
his backing from Uganda and the US chanelled via
Rwanda. This explains why he has not challenged
Mobutu, and has limited his operations to Eastern
Zaire - the region is stabilised, the refugees have gone
home, the mining regions in the South East continue to
be run as a company fiefdom without interference from
any central government. As far as the Imperialists are
concerned, the rest of Zaire can go to hell under Mobutu.
Perhaps Kabila would like to overthrow Mobutu - but his
backers won't back him that far, because it's not in their
interests to create such instability.

Of course it is true to say that South Africa does not
invade its neighbours in the way that it used to. But
it remains the biggest industrial and military power in
Africa. Under Mandlea, it has and will continue to use its
influence to secure outcomes favourable to Imperialism.
When Nigeria executed Ken Saro Wiwa, South Africa
advocated a policy of "constructive engagement". And
the mecernary outfit "Executive Outcomes" still operates
out of South Africa, with the tolerance if not backing of
the South African government.

I have been watching a program on TV about a man 
who crossed the Namib dessert from South to North.
The scenery was quite interesting, even if the man
himself is the biggest pillock to mount a camel since
Lawrence of Arabia. Anyway, at the beginning of his
journey, he skirted round the diamond mines. This is
a huge area of desert which the mining company
owns and runs. No one is allowed in without the company's
say so. No one is allowed out without a full search. 
No vehicles are allowed out, once they've gone in, ever.
When they're no good, they're just left to rust near the
border between the company owned chunk of Namibia
and the small coastal strip run by the Namibian state.

In the mining areas of South Eastern Zaire, and of Namibia,
it seems to me  that the setup is quite similar. Both regions
are islands of serious profit making in the middle of weak, low
profit states. Both are run as company fiefdoms, without any
reference to the states they happen to be in. The state, in the
Marxist sense of "armed bodies of men" is not the official state
but private security firms either directly employed by the mining
companies or along the lines of Executive Outcomes. This is a
different sort of Imperialist order, but still an Imperialist order, and
the current South African regime tacitly or openly supports it.

Adam.

Adam Rose
SWP
Manchester
Britain.


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