Unita rebel movement founder dies
The death of Jonas Savimbi has raised hopes for a better future in Angola, according to most major news sources. Led by Savimbi for the last thirty years, the revel group Unita has spent the last 26 years fighting the government. During this time oil and diamonds, the two main revenues for the country, have been hijacked by the warring parties at the expense of the 13 million people within the country.
Much of the countryside is mined or threatened by armed bands, and millions are displaced internally and outside of the borders, according to the BBC.
Unita was founded in 1966 in oppostition to Portuguese colonialism. At the end of the colonial period Unita failed to retain a share in the transitional government and a full-blown civil war broke out. Fighting against an Angolan government that deployed Cuban troops and was supported by the Soviet Union, Unita became the center of a huge struggle against communism.
With the end of the Cold War, Unita and the government reached a peace agreement. Savimbi, however, failed to win the following presidential election and refused to accept the results. The conflict that followed resulted in thousands of civilian deaths. Subsequent peace processes were snubbed by Savimbi and war carried on. Over the past decade Unita became increasingly isolated, accused of perpetrating a bloody civil war for its own interests and exposed to international sanctions as a consequence.
Facing criticism, Pentagon’s Strategic Influence office closes
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld disbanded the Pentagon’s Office of Strategic Influence on Feb. 27. This closure ends a plan reported last week to provide news items, some of them false, to foreign media organizations in an effort to sway public sentiment in both friendly and unfriendly countries.
Rumsfeld denied that false information would have been spread and said commentaries and cartoons about the proposed plan made it impossible for it to do its job.
The office was created shortly after Sept. 11 in response to concerns that the administration was losing international support for its war on terrorism.
The New York Times reported that the office’s director circulated classified proposals that called for the military to drop leaflets and broadcast messages into hostile countries and allied nations. Proposals included using foreign media and covert operations.
While the office did not yet have a charter, briefings circulating through the Pentagon said the office should find ways to “coerce” foreign journalists and opinion makers and “punish” those who convey the wrong message.
Military officials were happy to see the office closed, but were afraid that the damage had already been done. “It makes us all look bad. Everyday now reporters ask me if I’ve lied to them,” one public affairs official said to The New York Times.
Minnesota House overrides Ventura’s budget veto
On Feb. 27 the Minnesota House of Representatives voted to override Gov. Ventura’s veto of the 2002-2203 state budget. The $2 billion plan passed 99-33 and the Senate vote was scheduled to occur Feb. 28, before The Mac Weekly went to press.
The budget is phase one of the Legislature’s plan to deal with an estimated $440 million deficit through 2003. The bill consists of $374 million in program cuts and uses reserve state funds.
Several House Democrats decided to override the veto after getting promises that education will not take any more cuts.
Ventura vetoed the bill because he believes it puts too much of a burden on state government and he would prefer to raise gas and cigarette taxes, cut state payments to local governments, and cut state spending.
After Wednesday’s vote Ventura pledged consequences for the override. He will not support the same size bonding bill he proposed earlier for $845 million in projects.
Phase two of House Republicans’ plan to deal with the upcoming deficit is to tap an anti-smoking endowment created by the state’s settlement of a 1998 lawsuit against the tobacco industry. Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm said estimates show that if the program succeeds at lowering teen smoking rates, it would save 34,000 Minnesota lives over 70 years.
