Daily Press Cuttings

Friday 3rd November 2000 (Summary by Justin Alexander and John Garrett)

Business Week: Globalisation report: While still trumpeting the benefits of open markets, this thoughtful report suggests that globalisation's honeymoon period is over, and now its time to get realistic. "The plain truth is that market liberalisation... in some cases, has caused severe damage to poor nations. What's more, there's no point denying that multinationals have contributed to labour, environmental, and human-rights abuses as they pursue profit around the globe." The article describes the Washington Consensus as naive and self-serving, leading to white elephant projects and "foreign currency debt bombs"; the only hope for Sub-Saharan Africa is "for foreign creditors to forgive most of it's debt, which consumes some 40% of export revenues." The report includes articles on labour conditions in Guatemala, the controversial ExxonMobil oil pipeline in Chad and the effect of speculation crises on emerging markets.

IHT: Angola: The UNITA rebel group in Angola claimed on Thursday that its troops shot down a charter plane that crashed shortly after takeoff in a key diamond-mining region, killing all 48 people aboard. The plane crashed shortly after taking off from the town of Saurimo, 800 kilometers east of Luanda. UNITA issued a statement saying that the plane was “loaded with diamonds stolen from our land.” Venezuela: Washington Post leader says that the next president of the US is going to need a strategy toward Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, whose role model appears to be Fidel Castro. Chavez is not just another Latin American strongman. He is a strongman who controls the biggest oil reserves outside the Middle East, who supplies the US with a good chunk of its energy imports and who seems intent on spreading his brand of leftist anti-Americanism throughout the region.

FT: Russia: Western aid to Russia has been hampered by a lack of an overall strategy in Russia and has achieved only mixed results, according to a new report to the US congress. The general Accounting Office, the independent investigative service of the US Congress, said that international donors “did not hav a comprehensive strategy regarding the level aand priorities of assistance and how assistance would be co-ordinated.” It concluded that the challenge of the Russian transition was underestimated by the west. Philippines: Manuel Roxas, Philippine trade secretary, and two congressional stalwarts resigned from President Joseph Estrada's ruling government yesterday.

Daily Telegraph: Fiji: Fiji's fragile peace disintegrated yesterday when renegade soldiers mutinied at the military headquarters in Suva, taking officers hostage and sparking a bitter gun battle in which eight soldiers were killed.

Thursday 2^nd November 2000

The Independent: Uganda/Ebola: The outbreak has spread to the south of the country, with a confirmed death in Mbarara, 265 miles south of Gulu where the 250 cases have been reported. Angola: 54 people died when a plane exploded after takeoff. There was speculation that the plane was shot down by either government troops or the Unita rebels. Sierra Leone: Brigadier Alastair Duncan was named as chief of staff of the UN mission, the first high-level British appointment. This signals that Britain intends to work more closely with the UN force. The US also announced that it will train and supply Nigerian peace-keepers for the force.

FT: Zimbabwe: Fuel prices were increased by 14.6% yesterday, the 5^th raise this year, driven by the depreciation of the currency and rising oil prices. Inflation is expected to rise to 70%. The opposition MDC is planning mass protests against Rubert Mugabe, and even members of his own party Zanu-PF are expected to call for his resignation at its congress next month. Brazil/imports: Brazil has become the world's largest importer of wheat (7.5m tonnes worth $870m) after drought and frost devastated agriculture in southern Brazil during March and April. Africa/democracy: Article suggesting that across southern Africa leaders are intending to alter their constitutions to entrench themselves indefinitely. These include President Chluba of Zambia and President Muluzi of Malawi, following a precedent set by Preident Nujoma of Nambia, who used his parliamentary majority in 1998 to change the constitution to permit a third term. ECGD/Ilisu dam: The UK government remains committed to providing £220m of export credit to Balfour Beatty to build the controversial Illisu Dam, providing Turkey meets environmental and human rights standards. The dam will flood an important Kurdish city, dislocate thousands of people and cause friction with Syria & Iraq over water flows.

The Times: Sierra Leone/UK: Britain's military commitment to Sierra Leone took a further significant leap forward yesterday when it was agreed a senior British Army officer, Brigadier Alastair Duncan, would take over as chief of staff at the UN Mission in Sierra Leone. The UN has requested a senior British officer for peacekeeping because of fears that the disarray in Unamsil (with Indian and Jordanian troops threatening to withdraw) and the end of the rainy season might bring a new assault by the rebel RUF. An editorial argues that British involvement in Sierra Leone is getting out of hand.

Wednesday 1st November 2000 (Summary by John Garrett and Nigel Harris)

The Guardian: Malawi/UK: The government of Malawi yesterday returned 37 Mercedes limousines after strong protests from the Department for International Development that the cars had been bought with some of Britain's £50m aid for the country.

FT: Brazil: The deterioration in Brazil's trade balance has revived fears that an external shock could hit the country's economic recovery---just as pessimism about the economic outlook is growing in neighbouring Argentina. In October the deficit was $612 million, the highest for nearly two years, which cuts the accumulated surplus so far this year to just $105 million. The Real fell at one point to its lowest level in 11 months, at Real 1.91 to the US$. Oil: Letter from Warwick University Professor Andrew Oswald, saying that despite the FT's claims to the contrary western society is more dependent on oil than at any other time in history. North America consumes 22m barrels of petroleum a day, up from 16m in1970. Western Europe consumes 16m, up from 12m. To obtain oil, the western nations rely more on imports than in the 1970s.

International Herald Tribune: Cuba/Venezuela: Capping a five-day state visit by President Fidel Castro, the governments of Cuba and Venezuela sealed a de facto economic and political alliance, signing an agreement for Venezuela to supply one-third of Cuba's oil at cut-rate prices. The agreement reached on Monday is virtually identical to one that Venezuela signed earlier in October with a dozen counties in the Caribbean and Central America. The countries have been given 15 years to repay, with a 2 per cent interest rate and prices as low as $20 a barrel, compared with the current market price of just over $30 a barrel. Venezuela is the third largest exporter of oil in the world. Tanzania: President Mkapa of Tanzania appeared certain to win a second term as results came in from weekend elections, but a political crisis on the semi-autonomous Zanzibar islands deepened further. Zanzibar's opposition Civic United Front said it would boycott a repeat vote ordered in some areas because it said voting was chaotic across the islands and the whole process should be started again from scratch. While the voting went smoothly on the mainland, there were widespread irregularities in the islands of Zanzibar.

Sudan: Analysis of the situation in Sudan by Rabbi Greenberg and Jerome Shestack, chairman of the US Holocaust Memorial council and the Committee of Conscience respectively: 2 million dead; 4 to 5 million driven from their homes; starvation used as a weapon of war. Primary responsibility for this devastation belongs to the Sudanese government, a military regime based in the north. Late last year the Sudanese government began to earn hundreds of millions of dollars from new oil production, made possible in part by Western oil companies such as Talisman Energy Inc of Canada. The problem is that the government “possesses” the oil only if it removes ethnic groups such as the Dinka and the Nuer from the land under which it sits. The government's desire to secure oil fields has fuelled a vicious scorched earth campaign, laying waste to a broad swathe of territory. The government, though, does not yet control the richest oil deposits.

The Guardian (cont.): USA elections: Article looks at the George Bush record in the state of Texas. Texas is a harsh state of extreme inequality, which has become more unequal under Mr. Bush's leadership. Texas ranks 1^st in the US for number of executions, uninsured children, ozone emissions and has the most polluted city (Houston). It ranks 47^th on public health spending and 50^th on state government spending. In a region of Texas where the per capita income is $7,700, less than half the Texas average, the Bush administration in 1997 actually attempted to lower the minimum wage of $3.25 an hour. Mr. Bush's governorship has overseen a steady deregulation of business, at the expense – his critics argue – of the individual.