Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - March 11, 2001, Winnipeg, Manitoba B4 Winnipeg March 2001 arc Polom of Trade Liber til of religion Hon Allitif of aril rights editorial War Clouds Over Africa last the United nations Security Council voted unanimously to ban Diamond exports from Liberia does not have much in the Way of but its Neighbour Sierra Leone and those diamonds Are funnelled through neighbouring countries to finance a civil War the War in Sierra once one of Africa most peaceful and stable has been brutal almost beyond the rebels there have routinely and calculate Day used torture and physical mutilation to enforce their Power in the areas that they which include the Dia mond another civil War is being waged in resource Rich a War involving not Only the congolese themselves but half a dozen other african nations there Are even More motives than there Are combatants promoting the agony of what should be one of Africa exem Plary the United nations intervened in Sierra Leone to no Good effect but with disastrous it is now preparing to intervene in the a Force that will include a Small Cana Dian contingent but in the absence of serious or sincere agreement among the warring parties to Welcome a in the result seems Likely to be As wasteful and As disastrous As other in peacekeeping or peacemaking forces in Africa have proven to As the in readied its Congo Force and banned the Export of diamonds from it also placed a travel ban on liberian president Charles Taylor both sanctions will take effect in if they can be cobbled together amid the chaos of Africa and the confusion of International policy toward african at the same another african Robert Mugabe of was being feted in the capital cities of Belgium and who has ruled his country since Independence in barely Clung to Power in last years a Campaign marked by government orchestrated violence against White zimbabweans and Black political opponents of the increasingly erratic and authoritarian Zimbabwe in 1980 was one of the Bright lights of Black a proposed democracy where majority Rule would take a prosperous nation into a Richer under Mugabe democracy has withered to the Point that it is almost the country is not yet a on party like so Many other african but Mugabe proposed a constitutional amendment last year that would have effectively turned it into it was Only narrowly after much intimidation at the Zimbabwe is nearly but has nonetheless embarked on a foreign adventure in the where it currently has troops deployed ostensibly to support the Kabilka further Africa greatest Hope is turning out to be Africa greatest South which ended years of White domination when Nelson Mandela led it to majority and which under his administration offered the world a lesson in racial reconciliation and the advancement of has deteriorated drastically under his Thabo who has attempted to reduce even Africa aids epidemic to a racist con barely a decade things looked More promising for the Conti nent was opening to Aid from International organizations was pouring in and the free Market system most governments shunned under the calamitous Experiment of so called african socialism was being the picture is the future less from Kenya to Sierra from Ethiopia to there is famine and increasing what to do african leaders tend to blame their nations problems on their colonial but after More than two generations of that excuse is wearing thin Western guilt can be Given a rest for the Africa can take responsibility for As it has shown signs of the West african military intervention in Sierra for was far More effective than the in Effort that followed if Mugabe can be partied in Paris by a French government More concerned about commercial opportunities than human rights while he tramples the political opposition at then the West has Little to teach so what should be done is perhaps As Little As is those african govern ments and there Are some that show a serious commitment to political and economic Reform should be the tar gets of Western the others will sink or swim in their own authoritarianism and Africa today is responsible for the West should be there to help but not to impose a new colonialism through bolstering dicta tors and rewarding War crimes courts create Legal tangle for former bosnian serb Gen eral Ratko Mladic lived openly in Bel Grade at 119 Lagoja Parovich he treated with utter contempt his indict ment by the International criminal Tri Bunal for former Yugoslavia for directing the Slaughter of Muslim men and boys at Srebrenick in 1995 but last Mladic suddenly went under that was Fol Lowed on Satur Day by the serbian govern ments arrest of Rade former head of the serbian secret on suspicion of multiple if he the Trail of evidence will quickly Lead not Only to Mladic but to the men in charge of the whole bosnian former bosnian serb Leader Radovan Karadzic and former yugoslav president Lobo Dan and its not just in the Balkans that Progress is being in the cambodian parliament unanimously passed a Anspon sorted Bill set Ting up a mixed tribunal to try former Khmer Rouge leaders for murdering million people during most of the judges and prosecutors will be chosen by but a minority with a veto both on indictments and decisions not to indict Are to be appointed by the United and heres another Straw in the amid the Shower of murky pardons and Petty thefts that marred Bill Clinton departure from the White he did one useful on new years he signed the treaty establishing the inter National criminal court which is designed to try people accused of Geno War crimes and crimes against humanity when their own National government fails to these Are All ambiguous Steps for of its encouraging that Mladic is worried enough to go into hid but it will be harder to arrest its Good that Khmer Rouge leaders will at last face but the mixed tribunal created to try them is a step away from the principles embodied in the International criminal and though Clin ton signed the inc there is no Chance that the Senate will ratify it its a classic empty you can despair that five years after the bosnian none of the three major co conspirators has faced the Hague or you can take heart that it is still actively seeking them after All this and that Milo Sevic was overthrown last year and is now under 24hour there Are Only two flies in the Point one is the fact that the Hague Tri like the similar tribunal that is pursuing the leaders of the genocide in is Only an and hoc response to a specific set of the bigger Fly is that the new cambodian like the one now being negotiated Between the in and the government of Sierra will be a mixed tribunal applying nation Al Law with some International super i something similar is also envisaged for East this proliferation of International courts with limited which now include mixed tribunals applying Dif Ferent National May be subverting the goal of a unified International jus Tice add in More one off events like the Lockerbie where scottish judges tried accused libyan terrorists on dutch soil with in bless and the whole enter prise could be Over whelmed by a Wel Ter of conflict ing rulings and Prece the International criminal court was meant to be the solution to All but its founding treaty is Only Halfway to the 60 ratifications by nation Al Legislatures that will bring it into even after the inc will be crippled if the United states refuses to ratify it and so Long As senator Jesse Helms remains in charge of the Senate foreign relations that wont since the will is there to do something about All the horrors waiting for the inc to take shape would be a grave mis take witnesses memories the will falters and the guilty far better a multitude of courts and some contradictory in due course the International criminal court will take and sooner or later the will almost certainly in the mean real Progress is being made one step at a what was said the following editorial appeared in the los Angeles times thursday Ariel Sharon has been installed As israels prime together with an oversize multiparty Cabinet that Many expect to behave More like a dysfunctional family than a smooth running its members Range from dovish foreign minister Shimon Peres on the left to tourism minister Rehavam Zeevi who advocates expelling All palestini ans from the West Bank on the Lunatic Sharon Calls it a National Unity others describe it As a government of National partly destined to collapse before Long under the weight of its internal con elected with the largest mandate in israels nonetheless takes office with the sup port of 73 of the Knesset 120 Mem How durable that base proves to be will depend largely on How Sharon goes about meeting his pledge to restore internal Security after five months of palestinian violence and frequent israeli the militant islamic group that opposes any palestinian concessions for promises More terrorist a threat that could be facilitated by palestinian Leader Yasser Arafat evident inability to control the protests he initially and the police led Urban warfare they gave Rise the Intifada that began after Sharon provocative visit to Jerusalem tem ple mount late september has brought havoc to a never vigorous palestinian Economy and further Dis credited a regime already regarded with contempt because of its brutal inefficiency and massive corrupt ambassador to Israel Martin Indyk warns of Semi anarchy and gang Rule engulfing the West Bank and Gaza strip As Arafat authority wanes and misery the United states wants Israel to ease the plight of the 3 million palestinians by releasing the tax Revenue it has collected on their behalf but with held since the fighting Israel has insisting that the Vio Lence must be curbed before it soft ens its the Bush administration has for now wisely decided not to take the Initia Tive in trying to bring israelis and palestinians Back to the bargaining but it should stand ready to serve As a conduit Between the two sides if it is at some the futility of the killing and destruction will be mutually whether that will happen under a Sharon government is a question on Many minds Lay in supplies for the big one Christopher Dafoe my Clever cats William and Kate usually know about an hour in Advance that an earthquake is coming and they dance around nervously with their tails in the but when the big quake hit Down the coast at Seattle the other Day my wife and i were away from Home having cof fee at my Daugh Ter sarahs Vancouver apart ment one Street Sarah has three but they were All sleeping soundly when Atlas shrugged and the Earth for the event failed to we were All talking so much that we didst notice a then there was a loud Knock on the front it was the woman from the next apartment looking As if she had seen a did you feel that she the whole building Shook the floor jumped was it an earthquake i assured her that All was the big one had not our floor had not she must have imagined she looked Dubi but went returning a minute later with the news that other Neighbours were heading for the i looked out the a lot of peo ple seemed to have decided to go thinking that perhaps the 13th floor was not the Best place to be sitting during an earthquake or the we joined a group of residents gathered around the janitor Down in the parking every body but us had Felt the Jolt and had a Story to Tell about rattling swaying pictures and shifting Only 1304 seemed to have been a kind of we hurried Home to see if our Vintage three Storey Timber and stucco apart ment building on the next Street had sur Vived the the we were pleased to stood exactly where we had left in our second floor Flat the cats seemed one decorative plate on the sideboard appeared to have moved about half an Inch closer to its but other than that every thing was As it had we turned on the the Pic Tures from Seattle and Olympia showed heaps of rubble and flattened we saw footage showing poor Bill Gates run Ning for his life and various videos show ing How Ordinary people had attempted to hide under tables and these films were to be shown repeatedly Over the next few hours and they reminded us All that there is not much you can do but feel helpless when the Earth starts it is a curious fact that in times of Nat ural calamity people tend to head for the grocery i recall a blizzard in the 1960s in Winnipeg when i went to the store for milk and found that the shelves had been stripped by people who imag ined that eternal Winter had Vancouver ites flocked to the store to Lay in earthquake although the earthquake was already Over and had taken place some Miles Down the a Neighbour asked if i was ready for the big the quake that will arrive some time during the next 200 years and sink the whole West coast into the Pacific i had to admit that i was not following the advice of the authorities i had put a special flask of water at the Back of the fridge to drink in the aftermath of the great running Short of ice water one i had used it the tin of Sar dines stored away for the emergency had been consumed at the cans of Tomato soup had likewise been there was plenty of pasta in the but in the event of a quake there would be no water in which to boil have you Ever tried eating dry pasta at the Back of the Larder i did find a tin of smoked oysters Laid Down Over a year ago in anticipation of the y2k Dis and some Small envelopes of Ketchup and vinegar that somebody who was minding the apartment must have brought in with takeout if the big one was really upon us the pickings would be i was mildly comforted by the thought that if the big one really does few of us will be left to tuck into the emergency such As they i refuse to worry very much about when the big one will we All have an appointment with destiny in any in these timing is did the Earth move for you baby whoops ;