PRESS RELEASE

Proclamation on US-NATO criminal aggression against Libya

UN & NATO Secretary Generals

We as African Patriots under the banner of Movement In Defence of Africa (MIDA) and Africa Renaissance Coalition (ARCO) wish to draw the attention of the generality of people, popular organisations and governments across the world that the ongoing criminal war of aggression by the US-NATO allies of Britain and France against the sovereignty of the Libya people is not new. What is however new is: where are the voices of dissents against injustice and crime against humanity in Africa on the Libya issue? Where is the African Union (AU) on this issue? And by extension where is Nigeria – the lame-duck giant of Africa?

What should be clear to all is that the US-NATO latest aggression has nothing to do with democratising the Libyan society, nor are they concerned about enforcing any human rights with the infamous “No fly Zone” UN’s imposed resolution on Libya. Where were the human rights in the stalemated wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that the same US and its NATO allies have been involved for the past 10 years? What is the UN doing about the US unilateral declaration of murderous wars that has resulted in the killing of women, babies and other lives being wasted on a daily basis in Iraq and Afghanistan since September 11, 2001 in the guise of targeting just 2 persons – Saddam Hussein and Osama Bin Laden?

While we agree that there is the need for a political transition in Libya, but such political transition should never be on the terms dictated by the US-NATO’s Britain and France’s business interests; and whose models of democracy accommodate the monarchies in Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, etc simply because they have unfettered control of their puppet governments that pave way for looting cheap oil resources.

We recall the murderous and terrorist attacks in 1986 launched by a former US President Ronald Reagan that destroyed Libyan naval units’ missiles and coastal radar systems; Gaddafi’s residence that left his daughter – Hanna - and scores of Libyans dead; and several other attacks that were coordinated from the UK air bases. The coordination of the war of aggression against Libya today is not new. It is the same old forces and with the same business interests, i.e. to have unquestionable control over the exploitation of Libya’s oil and energy resources. And in order to ensure such re-colonisation of Libya, the imperialist US-NATO allies are desperate to install a puppet regime of the Libyan rebels in the mould of the despotic King Idris that was deposed by the Gaddafi’s revolution in 1969.
 
WE ADOPT COMRADE FIDEL CASTRO’S INSIGHT INTO THE CURRENT PREVALENCE IN LIBYA

We as African Patriots under the banner of MIDA and ARCO find the “Reflections by Fidel on March 2nd 2011 titled NATO’S INEVITABLE WAR (Part I)” very apt for a clear understanding of the current situation in Libya. Comrade Fidel states thus:

“In contrast with what is happening in Egypt and Tunisia, Libya occupies the first spot on the Human Development Index for Africa and it has the highest life expectancy on the continent.  Education and health receive special attention from the State. The cultural level of its population is without a doubt the highest. Its problems are of a different sort. The population isn’t lacking food and essential social services. The country needed an abundant foreign labour force to carry out ambitious plans for production and social development.

For that reason, it provided jobs for hundreds of thousands of workers from Egypt, Tunisia, China and other countries. It had enormous incomes and reserves in convertible currencies deposited in the banks of the wealthy countries from which they acquired consumer goods and even sophisticated weapons that were supplied exactly by the same countries that today want to invade it in the name of human rights.

The colossal campaign of lies, unleashed by the mass media, resulted in great confusion in world public opinion.  Some time will go by before we can reconstruct what has really happened in Libya, and we can separate the true facts from the false ones that have been spread”.

We must add that the Gaddafi’s revolution in Libya despite its recognisable errors and limitations, which is not the subject of discussion here, no doubt has been an inspiration to African people for its rejection of exploitation, political and economic domination by imperialism.
OUR PROCLAMATIONS ON LIBYA

Therefore, we as AFRICAN PATRIOTS in the name of the majority population of the African people, conscious of the history of several millennium of the destruction of black civilisation and the past 600 years of continuous enslavement, colonisation, domination and devastation of the African continent by US-Europe imperialism, hereby issue the following proclamations in solidarity with the Libyan people whose sovereignty and defenceless people are currently under severe military attack by the US-NATO allies’ war of aggression unleashed on 19th March 2011.

1.   We strongly condemn and reject the so-called resolution of “No-fly zone” imposed by the UN on Libya which has been used as the bait for foreign aggression, infringement on the sovereignty of the Libyan people and interference in the internal affairs of the Libyan nation-state.
2.    The war of aggression and genocide launched since Saturday, March 19th has resulted in heavy civilian casualties, a fact that exposed the “human rights promotion” fallacies and the unholy agenda of US-NATO in arming the “Libyan rebels” to overthrow Gaddafi in order to reverse the gains of the 41 years of Libyan revolution that has radically transformed the life of the average Libyan.
3.    We condemn the Arab League and governments in Africa, in particular Nigeria, that have acquiesced to the imposition of the UN’s “No-fly zone” on Libya and all those that have remained indifferent in the face of this criminal violation of Libyan sovereignty.
4.    We detest the leadership of the African Union for betraying the legacies of African founding leaders such as Kwame Nkrumah, Amilcar Cabral, Julius Nyerere, Sekou Toure, Ahmed Ben Bella, etc, and denying the Libyan people the much needed solidarity and support on which the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) was founded.
5.    While we recognise the legitimate rights of the Libyan rebels to dissent and their desire for a political transition, we reject their resort to an unholy alliance with the US-NATO allies’ and complicity in the destruction of Libyan sovereignty in the guise of democratic reforms and protection of human rights.

6.    We demand that all true African patriots and popular organisations in Africa, Latin America, South America, Europe, North America, Asia and the Middle East should condemn the latest imperialist aggression against Libya, and thereby should extend genuine solidarity in the defence of the ideals of the Libyan revolution, which has since 1970 radically transformed Libya from a subservient and imperialist dominated economy to a truly independent society.
7.    We solicit for the solidarity of every African patriots and popular organisations across the world that are opposed to imperialism and global neo-liberalism and in preference of peaceful co-existence of nations and respect for sovereignty to consider the attack against Libya as a CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY that must be condemned, exposed and resisted.
8.    We enjoin every African anywhere in the world to view the criminal intervention by US-NATO in Libya as an attack on all that must be resisted by any means necessary.
9.    We reject the US-NATO concepts of democracy which are based on favourable ground for businesses and exploitation at the expense of human lives, which explain their support for monarchies in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, etc.
10.    We urge Gaddafi to open the Libyan society to a genuine political transition that should move the Libyan revolution to a higher phase and would ensure the control and democratic management of the politics and economy of Libya in the hands of its working people and popular organisations.

ALUTA CONTINUA, VICTORIA A CERTA!
VIVA THE LIBYAN REVOLUTION!!
VIVA MAYIBUYE AFRIKA!!!

Comrade ABIODUN AREMU            SINA ODUGBEMI
Continental Convener MIDA            Coordinator ARCO