TransAfrica News

Contents: A LITTLE SLEIGHT OF HAND • INTERVIEW WITH TESFAYE DEMEKE, ETHIOPIAN CHARGE d'AFFAIRES • HAITI: STRONG ARM POLITICS AND PERPETUAL POVERTY • AFRICAN AND CARIBBEAN NEWS BRIEFS • MORE PROBLEMS IN SUDAN • FOREIGN INTERVENTION IN CHAD • BROEDERBOND CHAIRMAN RESIGNS • NEW BAHAMIAN BASE AGREEMENT • BRUTUS CASE UPDATE • LINES DRAWN AT CARICOM SUMMIT • MANLEY DERIDES CONSUMER CARNIVAL • LEGISLATION AND POLICY UPDATE • DIVESTMENT • SIMPSON-MAZZOLI IMMIGRATION REFORM BILL • NATIONAL LOBBY DAY • CARIBBEAN BASIN INITIATIVE • SIXTH TRANSAFRICA ANNUAL WEEKEND • In July, disgruntled Southern Sudanese soldiers operating under the name of the Liberation Front for the Southern Sudan took five foreign relief workers hostage and demanded $95,000 in cash plus shoes, pants and shirts to outfit 150 people. National attention has been drawn once again to the plight of Dennis Brutus, the exiled poet and professor of African and English literature at Northwestern University, who is seeking political asylum in the U.S. because of the proven inclination of the South African secret police (BOSS) to go after its opponents wherever they reside in the region. The assassinations of Ruth First in Mozambique and Joe Gqabi in Zimbabwe provide evidence of Brutus' contention; nevertheless, the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service is demanding that Brutus be deported to his native Zimbabwe. September should be a busy time for municipal legislation on South African divestment. The D.C. Divest bill (5-18) is scheduled for a vote on September 7. TransAfrica Chicago is also supporting Illinois divestment legislation; state bill 569 would prohibit investment of pension funds in South Africa and extension of bank loans or bank business with the apartheid state. The Southern Africa Working Group, of which TransAfrica is co-chair, initiated National South Africa Lobby Day on July 19. Activities began with a press conference in which Randall Robinson participated along with Congressmen Howard Wolpe, Stephen Solarz, Howard Berman, and Jean Sindab of the Washington Office on Africa. On June 3 and 4, TransAfrica Forum held its second annual policy conference and sixth annual dinner as well as meetings of the general membership, support committees from throughout the country, and the boards of directors of TransAfrica and TransAfrica Forum. The policy conference, on "Establishing a Black Foreign Policy Agenda," met at Howard University's Blackburn Center. At least 170 people attended along with the 30 contributing participants. Several local enterprises staged book exhibits; TransAfrica itself displayed its Namibia Report and offered its insignia lapel pins. Also, the D.C. TransAfrica Support Committee introduced the TransAfrica T-shirt. The newsletter mentions Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Lawrence Eagleburger, the Reagan administration, UN Security Council Resolution 435, the Western Contact Group, economic sanctions, labor migration, the hanging of three African National Congress (ANC) members, Steve Biko, Neil Aggett, Assistant Secretary of State Chester Crocker, drought, famine, AID (Agency for International Development), Gondar, Tigre, Eritrea, Senator Paul Tsongas, President Numeiry, Hissene Habre, Carel Boshoff, the Afrikaner Broederbond, Prime Minister P.W. Botha, Federal District Court in Chicago, BOSS (Bureau of State Security), the Immigration Reform and Control Act S 529, HR 1510, the Financial Institutions bill (HR 2957), (HR 1693), the Export Administration Act (HR 3231), HR 1392, HR 1877, Georgia State Senator Julian Bond, the OAU (Organization of African Unity), UNCTAD (United Nations Conference on Trade and Development), and the Portuguese empire.