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Mayhemin Nairobi and Dar es Salaam is a declaration of war  

by  Chido  Nwangwu
Founder & Publisher
USAfricaonline.com
USAfrica The Newspaper, Houston 
http://www.usafricaonline.com
The Black Business Journal
http://www.bbjonline.com
 

The August 7, 1998 mayhem in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam must be condemned 
for  what it is: a crude, unacceptable  way of  expressing dissent,
pursuing any civilized  agenda and conveying disagreement(s) by anyone,
organization, sect  or group. The challenge is  for  the civilized world
to  hunt down the wretched, immoral architects of  devilry and mayhem;
killers of  defenseless women, children and innocent men. 

I agree, entirely, with  U.S president Bill Clinton when he  said on
Friday August 7, 1998 that: "We will use all the means at our disposal to
bring those responsible to justice no matter what or how long it takes." 

It is important to  underline that presidential promise to bring the 
criminals to justice "no matter what or how long it takes."  

Why? 

In the past extremists, zealots and terrorists, local and transnational
wreckers of  havoc, hid under the usually short memory and ideological and
religious partitions of the world to kill law abiding citizens, inflict
their horrific wickedness and impose raw brigandage and mayhem against all
others.  They became the law and answerable to no  one but their 
mercenary and  maximalist interests. They were made into celluloid and
legendary animations. Those extremists and harbingers of death and 
destruction were even  elevated  to  Robin-Hoodesque images in filmic
media as joyfully wicked fellows with political agenda needing  urgent
attention. Some of  them paraded with  such fanciful names as "The
jackal."

The international community  should  not  close or  rule out  any
suspects. The  world should not  simply assume and succumb to pointing
false fingers to the usual  suspects "Islamic Fundamentalists," unless 
there  exists  sufficient  evidence to make  such  conclusions.  The 
errors of premature and prejudicial finger pointing and rush to  judgement
against Arabs are all  well  known. Although, it has been reported that
the Islamic Jihad, a successor to the group that assassinated Egyptian
President Anwar Sadat, vowed early this  August to strike American
interests as a protest for  the  arrest of its members  in Albania. The 
arrested ones were, reportedly, handed over to Egyptian security 
officials. Also, Kenyan police arrested a man, dressed in a traditional
Arab garment, shortly after the Nairobi blast.

It must  be stated that should  there exist any connection with any
religious, political, sectarian, ethnic or  any armies which kill  "in the
name of  God", the international community should deal entirely with 
their bombing of the two embassies for  what the specific implication and
meaning of  their evil deed: a declaration of war.  In my  view,
therefore, under  such  circumstances, most, if  not all  methods  to
check  their zealotry  and brigandage will be considered fair!
Consequently, the mayhem inflicted by the goons should  be considered as
totally unacceptable and needing punitive, lethal and blinding reprisal. 
I still  believe  that  certain actions, such as  the bombings in Nairobi
and Dar es Salaam, make the ancient Biblical maxim of an eye for an eye a
useful, necessary recourse. At the time of  this post, over 2200 injured
had been identified and 194 dead, with the Nairobi target with the highest
counts in terms of fatalities.

Without  a doubt, among other  reasons, the wickedly-driven pair of
powerful explosions were caused by car bombs aimed  at the diplomatic and
symbolic images of United States power and  prestige in the two 
countries. With deliberate or coincidental power-play, the  bombs rocked
the capitals of Kenya and Tanzania within 10 minutes of each other early
Friday, August 7. Tanzania, the largest East African nation with nearly
364,000 square miles (943,000 sq. km) has  a population of 28 million
citizens with an uneasy balance of Christians and  Muslims. 

Minimally, the impact and goal of the terrorists would have been to
frighten pro-democracy forces, mock and even seek to shatter the
diplomatic leverage, security muscle power and prestige of the U.S. 

The U.S  should  also  not  rule out other  regional (meaning, African
power-players and leaders) in the region who wish to distract attention
from their own agenda and misdeeds. The reasoning  behind this  conclusion
may not  too  far-fetched for seasoned security and critical policy
watchers of the region.

Fact is  these  events  will drive down the interest of international 
tourists and investors in the  region. 

While he  was  in the  area (but  not any one of the two  countries),
President Clinton helped  build a positive image  for  the entire African
continent,  especially the Eastern and  Southern Africa regions. 

It is  heartening to note that there is a shared commitment, even if 
separate, by Africans  and South  Africans to find some  solution to  the 
immediate agonies of  our people. South Africa  despatched  the  same 
Friday,  a jet from Waterkloof air base near Pretoria to Nairobi to
collect casualties. The Mandela-led democratic  country   has also opened
the base to United States jets to ferry wounded  persons into South
Africa's  better  equipped  hospitals.  For  those  who  supported and
championed  apartheid, such a gesture and effort, would  have been
difficult, if  not  impossible  to do by the  archdeacons of  racial 
bigotry. On its  part, the US Air Force has landed  a C-9 "Nightingale"
aircraft designed for medical evacuation at Dar es Salaam and a C-141
military cargo plane carrying a surgical team, blood and medical supplies
and a small security team  in Nairobi.

Another  significant problem which  will  follow  this  bombing is the
accidental increase in AIDS through blood  exchange  and transfusion to 
revive some dying folks. Kenya, especially  has  one of the  highest 
cases  of AIDS in the world -- with  over one quarter of its 30 million
citizens being infected by the virus.  It achieved  political independence
from Great Britain in 1963.  Kenya has  been ruled, despotically for over
20  years by  78-old year old President Daniel arap Moi, 78.  

Meanwhile, the US State Department's  crisis response task force has
started investigating the wreckage and  evidence at the sites of 
explosion and  overall  regional risks  analyses. 

The terrorists would  have succeeded only IF the people of  freedom-loving
but  traumatized people of Kenya, the politically-savvy Tanzanians, the
globalist and supportive members of  the American nation and other
soldiers for peace, prosperity and freedom run with  their  tail tucked
between their  legs; only IF the civilized  world and active moralists
fold under the be sheer bravado and devilry of the dukes of disaster and
mayhem. No! 

The world  must stand together to pound them into the dustbin of history
with the chains of  punitive sanction around  their necks. Remarkably, the
U.S political  partisans who have been saying  different  things  and
divided by the  Monica Lewinsky-Bill Clinton shenanigan, have united  to
express in one, firm, clear  voice that the U.S  is united in this  hour
of pain and horror  for  Africans  and Americans. Again, we demand that
President Clinton  bring into  reality his promise that "We will do
everything we can to see that you serve in safety.... We are determined to
get answers and justice."   

Finally,  it  is  my position that there is absolutely no rational reason,
acceptable political agenda or religious piety/creed which will justify
this dastardly act. In targeting  the diplomatic mission of  the United 
States, the thugs have drawn attention to  their satanic devilry; in
bombing innocent civilians and creating shocking images from the 
buildings  and persons they mangled. They have defaced the landscape of
the historic cities of Nairobi and  Dar es Salaam (Abode of Peace) but
they cannot, and did not, destroy the collective  will of the world to
live by higher standards of moral and ethical conduct.  Even while our two
continents and the world  mourn the killings, I believe that  in the final
analysis, the forces of decent and responsible conduct will prevail over
the  confederacy of  loonies and zealots who kill women and children
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*Chido Nwangwu, recipient of the  Journalism Excellence  Award, HABJ,
1997, travelled with U.S president Bill Clinton to parts of the African
continent March 23-April 2, 1998. He has provided  television and print
commentary on the  East  Africa bombings, and has recently been elected to
the Board of the NAACP, Houston chapter. August 7, 1998/copyright
reserved.
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