THE DESTRUCTION OF SIRTE.......

HUNTING FOR GHEDDAFI:

THE DESTRUCTION IF SIRTE (Libya) AND ITS INHABITANTS VERY LEGITMATE?

Malcolm X

Anonimo proprio no!

Malcolm X nelle opere letterarie

Settimo di 11 figli, Malcolm nasce il 19 maggio 1925 a Omaha, nel Nebraska. Suo padre, Earl Little, era un pastore battista mentre la madre, Louise Norton, era un'immigrata di Grenada, a quel tempo isola antillana che apparteneva all'impero britannico. Entrambi avevano aderito alla Universal Negro Improvement Association, il movimento pan-africanista di liberazione dei neri, fondato nel 1914 dal politico giamaicano Marcus Garvey.

A quel tempo tra i gruppi razzistici più attivi vi era il Ku Klux Klan, fondato nel 1867 nel Tennessee da ex-appartenenti all'esercito sudista, messo fuorilegge nel 1869 e rinato in Georgia nel 1915. Proprio a questa organizzazione si attribuì, nel 1931, la morte del padre di Malcolm, colpevole di aver predicato in quartieri segregati dei neri.

Nel 1937 la cronica mancanza di reddito e la grave malattia che aveva colpito la madre cominciarono a disgregare la famiglia di Malcolm, che venne affidato ad alcuni amici. L'anno seguente fu espulso dalla scuola per "cattiva condotta e comportamento anti-sociale" e venne spedito nella casa di correzione di Lansing. Nel gennaio 1939 gli assistenti sociali e il giudice decisero, dopo l'aggravamento della malattia, di rinchiudere la madre Louise in manicomio. Intanto Malcolm, nel correzionale dello Stato del Michigan, si segnalava come brillante studente, anche se sente molto forte la discriminazione che pesa sulla sua carriera dell'avvocato.

Poco dopo, insieme alla famiglia, si stabilisce nel ghetto nero di Boston dove lavora come lustrascarpe e come inserviente in ristoranti e treni. Entrato a far parte di alcuni gruppi anarchici, lascia il lavoro per trasformarsi in un organizzatore di scommesse clandestine. Arriva anche a spacciare droga. Ricercato dalla polizia, nel 1945, ritorna a Boston e si mette a capo di una banda di rapinatori, ma l'esperienza ha vita breve.
Nel febbraio 1946, viene arrestato per una banale rapina e condannato a dieci anni di carcere.

Dal febbraio 1946 al luglio 1952 Malcolm soggiornò in tre carceri del Massachussetts. Nella colonia penale di Norfolk, in cui trascorse il periodo 1948-1951, avviene la sua trasformazione. Attraverso il fratello Reginald, Malcolm entra in contatto con la Nazione dell'Islam e col suo capo Elijah Poole, che intanto aveva assunto il nome di Elijah Muhammad. La Nazione dell'Islam predicava il separatismo autosufficiente dei neri dai bianchi (necessario prima del ritorno in Africa), denunciava il razzismo della religione cristiana e lottava contro la droga, il tabacco, l'alcol, i cibi impuri e ogni forma di vizio.

Malcolm inizia a studiare e a leggere facendo nello stesso tempo proselitismo tra le mura del carcere. Diventa pericoloso al punto che per evitare problemi le autorità carcerarie decidono di liberarlo.
Trovato lavoro come commesso, si stabilisce a Inkster, ghetto nero di Detroit, e prende la decisione di cambiare il cognome in "X", a perenne ricordo della privazione del suo vero nome africano a cui i bianchi avevano assoggettato i suoi antenati in schiavitù nel Nuovo Mondo.

Decide di lavorare anche alla catena di montaggio di un'industria automobilistica per poi passare ad essere "rettificatore" alla Gar Wood, una fabbrica di camion, e fare ritorno, in seguito, sulla costa orientale, diventando il più infaticabile predicatore della Nazione dell'Islam. Apre e organizza nuove moschee e trasforma la Nazione dell'Islam in un dinamico gruppo politico-religioso di "musulmani di colore, separatisti e rigidamente organizzati". Nel 1958 si sposa con una compagna del suo movimento, Betty Shabazz e si stabilisce a New York

Negli anni 1963-64 egli matura la decisione di fondare con un gruppo di seguaci, "l'Organizzazione dell'Unità Afroamericana". I viaggi in Europa, Medio Oriente e Africa, gli offrono il destro per diffondere le sue idee, che comprendono due punti fondamentali:
una più stretta intesa con gruppi antisegregazionisti operanti nel Sud e nel resto del paese e il tentativo di internazionalizzare il problema dei neri, cercando intese con paesi arabi, soprattutto africani, ed ex-colonie, per creare un fronte e un'azione comuni.

Intanto Malcolm continua a prendere posizioni forti contro il governo degli Stati Uniti, in politica interna ed estera, trovando il tempo per finire di scrivere, con l'aiuto del giornalista Alex Haley, la sua "Autobiografia".


Non condividendo il pacifismo di Martin Luther King, rompe con lui dopo la marcia su Washington, consentita dal potere centrale. La tempesta però si avvicina. Durante la visita al Cairo è vittima di un tentativo di avvelenamento. Al suo rientro, a New York, il 14 febbraio 1965, un attentato dinamitardo gli incendia la casa da cui a stento si salva con moglie e figlie. Il 21 febbraio doveva tenere una conferenza a New York. Aveva chiesto di tener lontani tutti i giornalisti e di non perquisire nessuno. Non fece neppure in tempo a iniziare il discorso che tre uomini seduti in prima fila iniziarono a sparargli contro con fucili e pistole. Fu colpito da 16 proiettili di cui tre mortali.

Chi è stato ad uccidere Malcom X? A tutt'oggi sono al vaglio diverse ipotesi. C'è chi sospetta della sua cerchia di collaboratori, chi dell'FBI e chi ancora della malavita organizzata e del traffico di droga che, grazie a Malcom X, avevano subito un netto calo degli affari.

Di recente, una delle figlie di Malcolm, Qubilah Shabazz, ha accusato l'attuale capo della Nazione dell'Islam, Louis Farrakhan, di essere stato il mandante dell'assassinio. La vedova di Malcolm, Betty, è stata uccisa nel 1997 da un nipote dodicenne, anche lui di nome Malcolm.

http://biografieonline.it/biografia.htm?BioID=156&biografia=Malcolm+X

"...LIKE A DEATH SENTANCE ON GHADEFFI..."

Drones can be used by Nato forces in Libya, says Obama

Senior Nato military commanders have been pressing for the unmanned US planes to strike Gaddafi forces in besieged Misrata

• Thursday 21 April 2011 22.52 BST

Precision targeting provided by unmanned drones has become a favoured strike weapon in Afghanistan, and could help Nato pinpoint Gaddafi forces in Libya. Photograph: Sipa Press/Rex Features
The White House has approved the use of missile-armed Predator drones to help Nato target Colonel Gaddafi's forces in Libya. Coalition commanders have been privately urging the Americans to provide the specialist unmanned aircraft, which have become a favoured – if controversial – weapon in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Their ability to hone in on targets using powerful night-vision cameras is considered to be one way of helping rebels in the besieged city of Misrata, where a humanitarian crisis has unfolded in the last week. The US defence secretary, Robert Gates, said Barack Obama had approved the use of the Predators which are armed with Hellfire missiles, signalling a marked growth in the US contribution to the Nato effort. Gates told a Pentagon news conference that the Predator was an example of the unique US military capabilities that the president is willing to contribute while other countries enforce a no-fly zone. General James Cartwright said that the first Predator mission in Libya had been scheduled for Thursday night but was abandoned because of poor weather. The US military plans to maintain two patrols of armed Predators above Libya at any given time, permitting better surveillance – and targeting – of Gaddafi's forces as they dig into positions next to civilian areas, Cartwright told the same briefing. The drones are based in the region but typically flown via remote control by pilots in the US. The drones for Libya had not been withdrawn from Afghanistan, Gates and Cartwright said. Khaled Kayim, Libya's deputy foreign minister, said the deployment of the drones would result in the deaths of more civilians. He described the move as "undemocratic and illegitimate and I hope they will reverse their decision". Liam Fox, the British defence secretary, and Sir David Richards, the chief of the defence staff, are due in Washington next week to discuss the situation in Libya. The use of Predators is one of the topics to be discussed at the Pentagon talks next Tuesday, as well as other specialist equipment that might be provided by the US. David Cameron has again insisted that Nato had no intention of deploying ground troops, but that did not mollify Russia. It condemned the sending of military advisers to Libya by the UK and France, saying it exceeded the mandate of UN security council resolution 1973. "We are not happy about the latest events in Libya, which are pulling the international community into a conflict on the ground," said the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov."This may have unpredictable consequences," he added. But senior Whitehall officials believe the use of drones, also known as UAVs, would not be beyond the remit, or the spirit, of the UN resolution which gave the coalition a mandate to protect civilians. "A UAV with sufficiently high-resolution sensors, were it armed, could fire that weapon in line of sight and still meet the tight rules of engagement," a Whitehall source said. "We have been asking if we can get the US to provide that capability for us. It exists – the question is can we get it to be deployed? UAVs would give you speed of response where you see the regime transgressing the UN resolution," the source said. The US is understood to have the UAVs in the region already. Gates said Obama continues to be opposed to sending US ground forces into Libya and there were no plans to send US trainers to augment Nato forces already working with rebel forces. "There's no wiggle room in that," Gates said. The UN secretary general, Ban Ki-Moon, urged Gaddafi to "stop killing people", and estimated that 500,000 Libyans had fled the country. The MoD also sought to counter criticism Nato is not doing enough for Misrata, saying the RAF had hit 58 targets around the city in the past three weeks, including 37 main battle tanks. But officials concede the difficulties of targeting within the city are considerable. Earlier this week Nato's commander, Lt Gen Charles Bouchard, described the situation within Misrata as being akin to "a knife fight in a phone booth". He said Gaddafi forces were hiding on the rooftops of mosques, hospitals and schools, and that they were shielding themselves behind women and children. The military difficulties were underlined when further details emerged of the death of British photographer Tim Hetherington, who was killed on Wednesday in a mortar attack along with a colleague, Chris Hondras. An Oscar-nominated filmmaker, Hetherington, 41, wrote in his last Twitter post on Tuesday: "In besieged Libyan city of Misrata. Indiscriminate shelling by Gaddafi forces. No sign of Nato." Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter said Hetherington was "about as perfect a model of a war photographer as you're going to find these days". http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/apr/21/nato-wants-drones-target-misrata
 

African Union president calls for Libya cease-fire

Italian News

African Union president calls for Libya cease-fire

Read also the other articles on Italian News

The head of the African Union has called for a cease-fire in Libya, saying the conflict in this North African is an internal problem.

Teodoro Obiang Nguema says the conflict in Libya doesn't merit foreign interference. The 69-year-old president of Equatorial Guinea described western military efforts to enforce a no-fly zone over Libya as a "so-called humanitarian intervention."

Obiang told a conference on Africa in Geneva on Tuesday that foreign military intervention in Ivory Coast is also unwarranted. He says the African Union recognizes the outcome of Ivory Coast's presidential election that the U.N. says was won by Alassane Ouattara over Laurent Gbagbo.
http://www.nowitaly.com/giornale//121235/african-union-president-calls-libya-cease-fire.htm
NEWS

'A TALE OF TWO CITIES' 2

IN BENGHAZI..... SAVE THE CIVILIANS FROM BOMBS

IN TRIPOLI..... BOMB THE CIVILLIANS AS YOU CAN

African Union chief ask West for dialogue on Libya

Fri Mar 25, 2011 12:57pm GMT

By Aaron Maasho
ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - The African Union (AU) is planning to facilitate talks to help end the conflict in Libya between the government and rebel forces, it said on Friday.

"The AU action is ... aiming at facilitating dialogue between the Libyan parties on reforms to be launched to eliminate the root causes of the conflict," the union's commission chairman Jean Ping told a meeting in Addis Ababa, adding that the process should end with democratic elections.
It was the first statement by the AU, which had rejected any form of foreign intervention in the Libya crisis, since the U.N. Security Council imposed a no-fly zone last week and began air strikes on Libyan military targets.
"It is important that we agree on such an approach in order to ensure lasting peace, security and democracy in Libya," Ping told the meeting, attended by representatives from Libyan President Muammar Gaddafi's government, the opposition, the United States, France and the United Nations among others.
"We have to be forward-looking in our meeting and not split hairs with controversies relating to differences that have ruined our relationship in the past. We have to be pragmatic as to identifying the actions we can undertake together," he said.
U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon told the Security Council on Thursday there was no evidence Tripoli was complying with U.N. resolutions.
He said his special envoy to Libya had warned Gaddafi's government of possible "additional measures" if Libya failed to comply with its ceasefire demand.

© Thomson Reuters 2011 All rights reserved
http://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFJOE72O0EV20110325?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews

AU troops killed in Somalia clashes

AU troops killed in Somalia clashes
Fighting between peacekeepers and al-Shabab leaves 53 soldiers dead and scores wounded, the vast majority from Burundi.
Somalia has had no central government for two decades and is struggling to rein in al-Shabab [Reuters] At least 50 African Union (AU) peacekeepers have died in fighting in Somalia in a major offensive against al-Shabab fighters, officials have told news agencies. The fighting started two weeks ago in the Horn of African nation which has had no central government for two decades and is struggling to rein in the group, the former military wing of the deposed Islamic Court Union. Two Nairobi-based diplomats, speaking on condition of anonymity, said at least 43 Burundian and 10 Ugandan troops have been killed since February 18, citing information from people involved in the operation. The AU force, known as AMISOM, has publicly confirmed only a handful of deaths since the fighting broke out. The Associated Press news agency said on Saturday that the AU appeared to be trying to conceal losses due to political considerations in Burundi, one of two nations providing the bulk of the forces that are fighting alongside Somali troops. An AU spokesman in neighbouring Kenya's capital, Nairobi, did not answer calls on Friday and Burundi's government spokesman was unavailable for comment. Military officers in Burundi's capital, Bujumbura, confirmed the death of the 43 Burundi soldiers, adding that 110 others were wounded. "In reality, 43 soldiers of the Burundi contingent ... have been killed, another four are missing and 110 were wounded during the last joint offensive ... in Mogadishu," a senior officer who declined to be named due to the sensivity of the issue said. "The majority of these soldiers were killed on the first day of the offensive. They came upon many insurgents at a major target located near the former defence ministry which we conquered." The officer added: "The troops' morale is good despite these losses which are the worst since we have been deployed in Somalia, because we achieved our goals." Base captured Meanwhile, an AU commander said on Saturday that his forces had captured a key position from al-Shabab in the capital Mogadishu. Major-General Nathan Mugisha said the soldiers had captured the former ministry of defence building in the north of the city, gaining control of a major al-Shabab base. "By taking these positions we have effectively reduced their freedom of manoeuvre in that sector," Mugisha told a news conference in Nairobi.     "This peace in Mogadishu comes at a price, and this burden has fallen heavily on AMISOM and government forces." Earlier, al-Shabab fighters were forced to abandon their positions in Belet Hawo, a town which borders Kenya, said Sharif Abdiwahid Sharif Aden, a spokesman for pro-government armed forces. The latest offensive aims to break al-Shabab's hold on large swathes of the country's south and central regions. The group - which has instituted a Taliban-style system of rule, with strict edicts enforced by its own courts and public executions - has boxed in the government to just a few city blocks of Mogadishu. The transitional government has been promising a full-scale war against al-Shabab for years, but co-ordination among its poorly trained, seldom-paid government forces has delayed that push. A report last month by the think-tank International Crisis Group described the government as being on "life support". news

17 peacekeepers killed in Suicide attack in Somalia

17 peacekeepers killed in Suicide attack in Somalia
Mark Leon Goldberg - September 18, 2009 - 10:23am

This is a truly terrible development. Suicide bombers used white cars with UN markings to gain entry to an AMISOM base in Mogadishu. Dozens of people, including 17 African Union peacekeepers and the deputy force commander were killed in the attack. AMISOM is a force of about 5,000 troops from mostly Burundi and Uganda, which is the only international force trying to bring a semblance of stability to Somalia.

Here is Ban Ki Moon's statement:

I am shocked and outraged by the reported suicide attack against AMISOM Force Headquarters in Mogadishu today. The attack has reportedly killed or wounded a number of AMISOM troops including at the command level.

AMISOM is in Mogadishu to help end the conflict that has ravaged the country for the last 20 years, and for a better future in which all Somalis can live in peace and security.

We – the United Nations – remain committed to continuing to work with the Transitional Federal Government and the Somali people to facilitate reconciliation and the political process, build Somali security and rule of law institutions and provide humanitarian assistance. The United Nations stands by the African Union and AMISOM and will continue to support AMISOM's deployment and operations. UN resources from neighboring peace operations are on standby to assist the African Union to respond to the incident today as required.

I condemn in strongest possible terms this entirely unacceptable attack on those who are there to help foster peace and I call upon all Somalis to renounce violence and to work with the Transitional Federal Government towards national reconciliation.

I express my sincere condolences to the families, the contingents and Governments of those who lost their lives and my sympathy for those who have been wounded.
http://www.undispatch.com/node/8889