Date: Thu, 15 May 1997 00:41:49 +0100 From: Joćo Paulo Monteiro <jpmonteiro-AT-mail.telepac.pt> Subject: Re: M-I: The battle for Kinshasa slr-AT-marx.org (L. Proyect) wrote: > Today's NY Times has an interesting item on the composition of Kabila's army: > > "Kabila claims to have an army of 70,000 soldiers. Western military > analysts cannot confirm that number but say he has recruited heavily in > recent weeks after the fall of several major cities. Kabila's army has also > been augmented by the arrival of thousands of second-generation Zairian > exiles from Angola, who fought on the government side in Angola's long > civil war." > > This is the first news I have heard about Zairian exiles fighting with the > MPLA. The piece must be refering to the then katanguese secessionists (followers of Moses Tchombé) in exile for decades on the Lunda provinces to the northeast of Angola. The katanguese militias traditionally side with the MPLA in its wars with UNITA in these crucial, diamond rich provinces. Now they are returning home. They have done so on a relatively early stage of the present war, having taken part on the offensive to liberate Lubumbashi, the capital of Shaba (formerly Katanga). There are, however, perhaps tens of thousands of other zairian immigrants, mostly living in and around Luanda. Some of them may have made their way to the angolan army and be back home now, on a more or less voluntary basis, accompanied by some angolan officers. These have entered the fray recently, coming from Cabinda, opening a new front to the west of Kinshasa, near the Atlantic. > It would seem that "tribalistic" Africa has much more > internationalism than first meets the eye. Cubans, Zairians, South Africans > fought on behalf of Angola's freedom. Now Angola, Rwanda and Uganda are > returning the favor. An interesting research project would be to find out > exactly the level of cross-fertilization between various revolutionary > forces on the continent. Sub-Saharian Africa is, ultimately, one big nation. And since the actual existing nation-states, for various reasons, are fragile and politically restless, instability travels easily across borders. Ordinary africans simply don't understand the notion of national borders. If you're a head of state in a country, you'd better make damn sure your neighbours are not hostile, for they can make your life a misery. So, it's not so much romantic ideals of internationalist solidarity that are at play here. It's more a subtle system of communications that creates this effect of domino pieces falling one over the other. Anyway, I'm glad that things are now finally smiling to the more progressive nationalist forces on this region. Jo=E3o Paulo Monteiro Porto --- from list marxism-international-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu ---
Display software: ArchTracker © Malgosia Askanas, 2000-2005