[Update to “A spoonful of spin”. For the full essay, with background, click here.]
[Update 24 May 2014]
ABUJA, Nigeria — Intelligence
agents from all over the globe have poured into this city, Nigeria’s capital,
to help find the nearly 300 Nigerian schoolgirls abducted by the Islamist
extremist group Boko Haram more than a month ago — but there has been little or
no progress in bringing the young women home.
The problem, many involved in the
rescue effort say, is the failings of the Nigerian military.
[Update 25 Dec 2013]
Reports concerning the behavior of the African Union troops in
Centrafrique, saviors of the situation according to Samantha Powers and NPR,
and trickling in, and are … concerning.
The Chadian forces, which blatantly favor the Muslim side,
have already antagonized the Christian majority in Bangui, further inflaming
tensions rather than calming them;
but more, they have engaged in gun battles with their brother Burundians
in MISCA. So they are
basically being sh*t-canned -- er, redeployed,
far away into the jungle where it is hoped they can do no harm. However, as the specialist interviewed
by Medi1 points out, they will then have a free hand in the still-unpacified Séléka
northern stronghold, so this actually doesn’t bode well either.
Un ressentiment croissant des Banguissois envers les soldats tchadiens
Cette annonce intervient deux jours
après des tirs fratricides au sein même de la force africaine entre militaires
tchadiens et burundais. Mardi, le chef du contingent burundais a révélé que ses
hommes avaient été la veille la cible d'une attaque de soldats tchadiens, avec
tirs d'armes automatiques et jet de grenade. L'attaque avait été repoussée et
trois soldats tchadiens blessés, selon cet officier.
Le matin même, une patrouille
tchadienne avait brièvement ouvert le feu - sous l'oeil des journalistes - sur
des manifestants anti-Seleka devant l'aéroport, faisant un mort.
Ces incidents à répétition ont
suscité un ressentiment croissant chez de nombreux Banguissois, et entamé la
crédibilité des militaires de N'Djamena, pourtant aguerris et combatifs, et
surtout partenaires incontournables des Français pour espérer rétablir un
semblant de stabilité dans le pays.
http://tempsreel.nouvelobs.com/centrafrique/20131225.OBS0677/centrafrique-tirs-et-panique-pres-de-l-aeroport-de-bangui.html
Bienvenus dans le
bourbier, les gars …
[Update, 28 Dec 2013] Meanwhile, other French activity in Africa:
[Update, 25 Dec 2013] These, then, are the African Union forces which NPR
approvingly reported were about to be showered with $100 million from the
US. Note that we are not picking a
nit here -- the Chadian contingent is the main one in MISCA, both in terms of
manpower and field experience. And
it is not training or equipment that they lack:
Des pick-up de l'armée tchadienne,
qui forme la plus grosse part de la force africaine, filent sur le goudron. … Bien
formée et bien équipée, l'armée tchadienne était l'un des éléments clés sur
lequel Paris comptait pour soutenir sa mission en Centrafrique.
What they lack is something essential, and which no amount
of money can wish into existence.
«Si les Français ne font rien, ils
sont accusés d'impuissance, voire pire. S'ils interviennent, ils sont montrés
du doigt et accusés de partialité par l'un des camps.»
 |
| According to the NPR translation department, the signs read: “Heartfelt thanks to the great French nation for coming here out of the goodness of their hearts, risking their troops and spending their treasure, for no possible gain to themselves, simply to save us from our own murderous impulses.” (Some might dispute a few nuances of this translation.) |
[Update, 28 Dec 2013] Meanwhile, other French activity in Africa:
Une nappe phréatique géante
découverte dans l'aride Kenya
Grâce à un outil de son invention,
un ingénieur français a découvert une réserve d'eau souterraine qui pourra
alimenter cette région déshéritée.
To which we may expect the eventual response, “Colons go home!”
~
[Update 29 December 2013]
In an important interview published this morning in the Journal
du dimanche, a French general and academic, Vincent Desportes, who despite everything
supports armed French
intervention in RCA, begins by stating the obvious -- that Hollande was, as
usual, lying when he said that the intervention need only be brief -- and then
goes on to pop the bubble of the goodthink peddled by Samantha Power and NPR,
to the effect that the noble warriors of the African Union will save the day,
allowing France gracefully to
retire: “L’effondrement de la
Misca nous place dans une nouvelle situation.”
But the reality goes well beyond that: basically, “effondrement” is about the
best thing the MISCA forces could do at this point:
La force africaine fait-elle partie des problèmes ou de la solution?
Il faut être franc. La force africaine crée par elle-même des problèmes et concourt à l’aggravation des tensions au sein de la population entre chrétiens et musulmans. Les Etats qui ont fourni des troupes ont des intérêts propres à défendre dans cette crise, à commencer par le Tchad qui fournit 850 des 4.000 hommes. La première mission de l’armée française était de sécuriser et de prévenir les massacres, la deuxième de restructurer la Misca pour en faire une force opérationnelle sur laquelle s’appuyer. On voit que cela n’est pas possible pour l’instant. Après trois semaines, on aurait dû avoir une force de 4.000 Africains et 1.600 Français aptes à remplir la mission. Ça n’est pas du tout le cas.
Il faut être franc. La force africaine crée par elle-même des problèmes et concourt à l’aggravation des tensions au sein de la population entre chrétiens et musulmans. Les Etats qui ont fourni des troupes ont des intérêts propres à défendre dans cette crise, à commencer par le Tchad qui fournit 850 des 4.000 hommes. La première mission de l’armée française était de sécuriser et de prévenir les massacres, la deuxième de restructurer la Misca pour en faire une force opérationnelle sur laquelle s’appuyer. On voit que cela n’est pas possible pour l’instant. Après trois semaines, on aurait dû avoir une force de 4.000 Africains et 1.600 Français aptes à remplir la mission. Ça n’est pas du tout le cas.
~
We have focussed on France in Africa, because that is
currently at the top of the news, and because much of what is going on there
goes unreported in the American press. But there are lessons for America as well.
In this morning’s report of an extensive study, the New
York Times refutes the Republican fantasy-narrative about Benghazi (which
was never more than an attempt to cloud voters’ minds for a while: Mission
accomplished, boys!); but in the
course of it, highlights a factor that has been insufficiently appreciated:
Months of investigation by The New
York Times, centered on extensive interviews with Libyans in Benghazi who had
direct knowledge of the attack there and its context, turned up no evidence
that Al Qaeda or other international terrorist groups had any role in the
assault. The attack was led,
instead, by fighters who had benefited
directly from NATO’s extensive air power and logistics support during the
uprising against Colonel Qaddafi. And contrary to claims by some members of
Congress, it was fueled in large part by anger at an American-made video
denigrating Islam.
A fuller accounting of the attacks
suggests lessons for the United States
that go well beyond Libya. It shows the risks of expecting American aid in a
time of desperation to buy durable loyalty, and the difficulty of discerning
friends from allies of convenience in a culture shaped by decades of
anti-Western sentiment. Both are challenges now hanging over the American
involvement in Syria’s civil conflict.
In short, for America as well as France: Expect no lasting gratitude in Africa.
-- Nor Asia, b.t.w.:
KABUL, Afghanistan — Just months
after American officials ceded control over all detention operations in
Afghanistan, President Hamid Karzai’s government has quietly planned dozens of
prisoner releases that American and Afghan officials said on Tuesday would
include committed insurgents who had attacked Americans.
[Update 30 December 2013] In Bangui, the French soldier on:
Le dispositif militaire français
mis en place pour tenter de rétablir le calme dans la capitale centrafricaine a
atteint ses limites.
Le véhicule blindé fonce et part se
planter au beau milieu de l'avenue. Tout autour, de petites jeeps manœuvrent
pour prendre possession des bas-côtés. Sous les auvents branlants, les échoppes
alentour, la foule vocifère, brandit le poing vers les soldats français et plus
encore vers «l'ennemi», les musulmans qui, au bout de la route, hurlent tout
autant. Des tirs de semonce claquent pour tuer dans l'œuf les velléités
évidentes de caillassage. Lentement, dans le matin de dimanche, les soldats
français s'interposent entre les deux camps, prenant le contrôle du carrefour de Réconciliation [!], qui
marque la frontière entre les zones chrétiennes et musulmanes du secteur.
Expect your reward in the next life, lads; for it sure won’t come in this one.
[Update 31 December 2013] It never
stops. Here is the latest example
of African gratitude for French (and here, specifically Christian) self-sacrifice:
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
PARIS — A French priest kidnapped by Islamic radicals in northern Cameroon last November after ignoring danger warnings has been set free, President Francois Hollande's office said Tuesday.
Georges Vandenbeusch was kidnapped by heavily armed men on Nov. 13 in the far north of Cameroon, about 18 miles (30 kilometers) from the border with Nigeria. There was never a claim of responsibility, but suspicion fell on the radical Islamic sect Boko Haram which operates in the area, the Koza region, or on Ansaru, a Boko Haram splinter group responsible for most kidnappings of foreigners there.
The zone has been flagged as a risk for terrorism and kidnapping, but the priest — who cared for Nigerian refugees — chose to stay on to "exercise his mission".
 |
| French neocolonialist oppressor Father Georges, surrounded by some of his victims |
As usual, France hotly denies having paid any ransom. Apparently his Islamist captors were simply seized by Christmas
spirit and returned the hostage as a gift.
If you believe that, here is a song you might enjoy:
The other day I heard a broadcast in which a French academic
conceded that, yes of course, the French government pays ransoms under the
table, but maintained that it is right to deny this publically, since otherwise
it would endanger other Frenchmen.
But the only people fooled by this maneuvre are the more
clueless voters; the terrorists,
who communicate continually among one another, know perfectly well which
countries pay up, and which don’t.
[Update 1 January 2014]
The United States likewise used to soil itself with ransom
and collaboration, most disgracefully during the Reagan administration. But our present administration simply
does not do that; and the
terrorists have got the message.
From this morning’s paper:
It would be months before Warren
Weinstein’s relatives realized the Rockville man had been taken hostage by
al-Qaeda, making him the only U.S.
citizen known to be held by the terrorist group.
The Montgomery County family has
since grieved and prayed in silence, worried that raising Weinstein’s profile
could put him in greater jeopardy. But after a video and handwritten note from
the 72-year-old Weinstein emerged last week, his wife and daughters decided to
plead publicly for his release for the first time and discuss the ordeal his
relatives have endured for more than two years.
The message released on Christmas
Day was the third Weinstein video distributed by al-Qaeda. Looking forlorn,
sporting a scraggly gray beard and noticeably missing a tooth, Weinstein is
recorded pleading with President Obama and Secretary of State John F. Kerry to
make “hard choices” to secure his release.
[NDLR: Il se
peut que la phrase en caractères gras exagère un
tant soit peu ; mais
passons.]
That, of course, is glurge: the “hard choice”, obviously, is to hang tough.
The Weinstein family can console themselves with one
thought: Every day their loved-one
spends in AQ captivity, is another message to criminals and terrorists that
kidnapping Americans does not pay.
The instant the Administration were to lose its nerve and cough up
millions of new funding for al-Qaeda (already bloated with contributions from
European governments, direct or indirect), at that instant a price-tag appears
on every American’s head.
A further consolation:
One of these days, his captors might find some unexpected
guests “dropping in on them” (literally).
[Update 2 January 2014] More honest than the French government, Father Georges
refuses to play along with the charade to the effect that “Libéré
officiellement par «compassion» après 45 jours de détention dans la brousse et
sans qu'aucune rançon n'ait été payée, le père Georges Vandenbeusch, 42 ans,
s'est dit chanceux”, stating flatly: «Ils
n'ont de compassion pour personne»
Une source sécuritaire camerounaise
a indiqué à l'AFP qu'un prisonnier de Boko Haram détenu au Cameroun avait été
relâché en contrepartie de la libération du prêtre. Ce qu'a reconnu à demi-mot
Laurent Fabius, le chef de la diplomatie, en évoquant «des discussions» sur
«des aspects judiciaires» dans lesquelles «le président Biya a été extrêmement
utile et efficace». Reste à savoir ce qu'a arraché de Paris l'inamovible chef
de l'État camerounais.
Mercredi, une source liée à Boko Haram
a assuré que «la direction (du groupe) avait décidé de libérer le prêtre par
compassion», selon des propos rapportés par l'AFP. «Le prêtre a offert ses
services médicaux à des membres (du groupe) malades pendant sa période de
captivité, a fait valoir Boko Haram. La direction a ressenti qu'il n'y avait
plus besoin de le garder.» Ce qu'a démenti l'ex-otage mercredi soir, au journal
de 20 heures de France 2. «Je ne suis ni infirmier ni médecin. S'ils m'avaient
amené quelqu'un à soigner avec une hémorragie j'aurais fait ce que je pouvais,
mais ils ne l'ont pas fait. Ils n'ont de compassion pour personne», a confié le
père Vandenbeusch, capturé selon lui en tant qu'«Occidental».
[Update 3 January 2014] The tragi-comedy in Centrafrique yet yields some well-penned
chronicles:
Centrafrique : l'armée française peine à sécuriser Bangui
En visite dans la capitale de
Centrafrique, Jean-Yves Le Drian a nié un éventuel enlisement de notre armée.
«Sangaris» devait être rapide et discrète. L'armée avait choisi de lui
donner le nom d'un papillon. Il eût mieux valu celui d'une bête plus
dissuasive.
La veille, à la tombée du jour, une
fusillade et une bagarre à coups de pierres et de machettes, partie comme
souvent à Bangui on ne sait trop pourquoi, avaient fait un mort et une
quinzaine de blessés. Le même matin, des coups de feu avaient, là encore, tué
un homme et semé la panique dans le gigantesque camp de réfugiés de l'aéroport.
L'arrivée des troupes françaises a mis un peu de sérénité, tout en suscitant la
colère des riverains. «Désormais nous faisons toutes les missions: de l'interposition,
du convoyage, de la sécurisation», résume un officier.
Cet engagement à haut risque a été
lancé le 26 décembre, après deux jours de violences qui avaient conduit la
capitale au bord de l'anarchie. Après être entrées dans les Ve et VIe arrondissements
de la ville, hauts lieux des affrontements ces derniers temps, les troupes
françaises pénétraient vendredi dans le IIIe, étendant, non sans mal, leur
emprise.
Officiellement, «Sangaris» est en
route et n'a pas changé d'objectifs. «Nous allons encaserner et désarmer les
combattants de manière impartiale.» Dans les faits, l'opération de dissuasion a
rendu caduc, pour l'instant, ce désarmement et ce casernement. Les Séléka,
comme la rébellion des Anti-Balaka, circulent dans leurs zones entrelacées les
unes dans les autres, faisant de la carte de Bangui une véritable peau de
panthère.
[Update 12 January 2014] It gets worse.
Forcing out the recent président centrafricain was supposed to ameliorate
things, but no:
Reports of cannibalism and other
horrific acts of violence surfaced in the Central African Republic on Saturday
night as Christian militias went on the rampage following the resignation of
the country’s Muslim president.
Western-backed peacekeepers,
including French and African Union troops, were attempting to restore order
after Christian mobs destroyed mosques and attacked Muslim neighbourhoods in
the capital, Bangui.
The mobs sensed the upper hand
after regional mediators brought about the resignation on Friday of President
Michel Djotodia, who last night was bound for exile in the West African state
of Benin. “It’s impossible to live with the Muslims,” one looter said. “We
don’t want Arabs in Central Africa.”
Sectarian violence has already
claimed more than 1,000 lives in the CAR in past month, and yesterday,
eyewitnesses spoke of how a machete-wielding gang ate parts of the body of a
Muslim man after attacking him on Tuesday.
(At this point, the soldats
must be wondering : Remind me
again-- what is our mission here exactly?)
But then follows an intriguing detail about diplomatic
history and the cuisine du terroir:
The reports have echoes of the
grisly stories about the country’s late dictator, Jean Bedel Bokassa, who was
alleged to have practised cannibalism during his rule between 1966 and 1979.
Charges of cannabalism against him
were later dropped, despite widespread rumours that he had kept human limbs in
fridges and even served parts of them to visiting French dignitaries.
This comes as a shock to most of us. Such fare was never reviewed or
reported in the guides Michelin !
Media note:
This morning’s New York Times article on the post-Djotodia
scene in Bangui, while admitting certain disorders, makes no reference to any
allegations of cannibalism; pas devant les enfants. But it is all over the francophone
press -- and not simply buried in
the thirty-seventh paragraph, but right in the headlines:
"L'un des individus ayant pris
possession d'un bras est allé acheter du pain et s'est mis à mordre dans la
chair, l'accompagnant de son pain. La scène a fait vomir plusieurs personnes.”
| Hier soir à Bangui |
It turns out, actually, that such gourmandise is not unknown
even in present-day France:
In both these stories, the objective correlative -- the
Dickensian detail that brings it home -- is the side-dish: plain bread in CAR; haricots
verts in France.
This is well off the subject, but the man’s profile is
baffling:
Cet ancien marsouin du régiment
d’infanterie de chars de marine (RICM) de Poitiers … il a laissé le souvenir
d’un soldat sans problème mais qui avait refusé une prolongation de contrat et
une offre de reconversion. Après
sa décision de ne pas rempiler, il avait erré plusieurs jours, sans manger.
Oh... okay ... so you're saying ... He was just hungry?
Anyhow.
For obvious reasons, the U.S. press would rather not go there, and
skirts the word when obliged to report from Bangui. The AP story that the Washington Post just put up, speaks
only of “isolated incidents of ‘score-settling’” (!), which makes it sound like
no more than a bad Saturday night in Chicago; no mention of the “C”-word:
In the anglophone media, the uncensored account is available
in Canada, England, Australia, and Japan. So far, the German-language press has shied away. Indeed, today’s Neue Zürcher Zeitung
headlines a heart-warming
Verbrüderungsszenen in Bangui
In der Hauptstadt der Republik Zentralafrika, Bangui, ist es am
Sonntag zu Verbrüderungsszenen zwischen Kämpfern der muslimischen Seleka-Miliz
und ihren Feinden von den antimuslimischen Kampfgruppen Anti-Balaka gekommen.
Der Versöhnungsakt ist das erste Vorkommnis der Art, seitdem sich die
bürgerkriegsähnlichen Ausschreitungen in mehreren Präfekturen Anfang Dezember
auf Bangui ausgedehnt haben. Laut der Agentur AFP hatten Vermittler der
französischen Interventionstruppen das Treffen vereinbart. In einem Quartier
der Hauptstadt hätten sich die ehemaligen Feinde unter dem Applaus von
Anwohnern umarmt und anschliessend gemeinsam Strassensperren abgeräumt, hiess
es.
http://www.nzz.ch/aktuell/international/auslandnachrichten/verbruederungsszenen-in-bangui-1.18219641
 |
| Les musulmans et les chrétiens annoncent leur amitié indéfectible |
So, not a particularly important story, in itself -- it
could always be dismissed as “isolated incidents of anthropophagy”. But it is interesting to see in
which countries the press is most skittish, when it comes to such things.
[Update, 18 May 2014] The latest in the annals of African military valor:
http://www.thestar.com/news/world/2014/05/18/nigerian_soldiers_sent_to_fight_boko_haram_revolt_against_commanders.html
~
Curiosity nonetheless piqued, I poked a bit further into the
anthropophagous allegations that the Telegraph reprinted and then dismissed as
rumor.
First, “the charges were dropped” and (from the initial
section of the Wikipedia article) “In 1987, he was cleared of charges of
cannibalism” is not quite the same
thing as “it was established that he hadn’t done it”. Secondly, the “visiting dignitaries” rumors did not involve
merely assistant junior ministers of agriculture or what have you, in whom such
a repast might be excused as youthful high spirits; but Giscard himself:
Former president Dacko was called
to the witness stand to testify that he had seen photographs of butchered bodies
hanging in the dark cold-storage rooms of Bokassa's palace immediately after
the 1979 coup. When the defence put up a reasonable doubt during the
cross-examination of Dacko that he could not be positively sure if the
photographs he had seen were of dead bodies to be used for consumption,
Bokassa's former security chief of the palace was called to testify that he had
cooked human flesh stored in the walk-in freezers and served it to Bokassa on
an occasional basis. The prosecution did not examine the rumours that Bokassa
had served the flesh of his victims to French President Giscard d'Estaing and
other visiting dignitaries.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-B%C3%A9del_Bokassa
Also, being “cleared of charges” is not quite the same as “was
never convicted”: here the German
Wiki is somewhat more frank:
Am 26. Dezember 1980 wurde Bokassa
in Abwesenheit wegen Mordes, Folter, Korruption und Kannibalismus zum Tode
verurteilt.http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-B%C3%A9del_Bokassa
The account in French Wikipedia is fascinatingly different:
S'il n'est pas impossible que
Bokassa ait pu pratiquer la manducation sous cette forme traditionnelle, il est
difficile d'accepter sans preuves, à ce stade inexistantes, l'accusation de
cannibalisme à son encontre, d'autant plus qu'il semblerait que cette histoire
ait été inventée par les services secrets français pour ajouter du crédit à
l'image de monstre qu'on voulait donner de Bokassa à l'époque pour justifier
son renversement
The exquisite cultural sensitivity of that exculpatory “manducation
sous cette forme traditionnelle”,
is priceless.
[Update] Your
aid dollars at work:
January 31, 2014
MALAKAL, South Sudan — The looters
came by the thousands. They were organized, systematic and took their time.
At two World Food Program
warehouses in this dusty South Sudanese town, they opened thousands of USAID
cans of vegetable oil and poured the contents into stolen jerry cans. They
ripped open packets of high-nutrition food and took the contents. They stole
computers, light fittings, fans and roof tiles, and even cut away the canvas
from storage tents.
The food they took — 1,700 tons in
all — would have fed more than 100,000 families for a month.
[Update, 7 April 2014]
Once again the freedom-loving people of Thirdworldistan strike back against Western
imperialism:
 |
|
Le père van der Lugt,
ce traître prètre qui ourdit des complots
contre le peuple
syrien paisible et innocent
|
APRIL 7, 2014
Father Frans van der Lugt, a Dutch
Jesuit priest who became a symbol of suffering and compassion in the
war-ravaged Old City district of Homs, was shot to death.
After Syrian government forces
isolated and laid siege to the rebel-held Old City for more than a year, a
truce in January allowed the evacuation of 1,500 people, both civilians and
fighters. But Father Frans, as he was known, insisted on remaining in the monastery
where he had lived for decades, offering refuge to Muslim and Christian
families alike and sharing their deprivation and trauma.
Jesuits have continued to aid
people in Syria regardless of their politics, an act that the Jesuit workers
describe as humanitarian neutrality, but that some government supporters view
with suspicion. Another foreign-born Jesuit who made his home in Syria, Father
Paolo Dall’Oglio, fell out with the government early in the conflict; he was
kidnapped almost a year ago, it is believed, by extremist fighters.
http://www.thestar.com/news/world/2014/05/18/nigerian_soldiers_sent_to_fight_boko_haram_revolt_against_commanders.html
[Update 28 September 2014] The latest cautionary tale, re
relying on African military forces to sort things out:
Congolese army soldiers sent to
protect them would commit mass rapes nearby.
[Update 21 Nov 2015]
[Update 28 Feb 2016] “Peacekeeper babies”
Maryland woman killed in Mali
worked to improve global health
[Update 28 Feb 2016] “Peacekeeper babies”
.
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