Nigerian president asked to resign - Troika member who joined S. Africa's Mbeki on Mugabe's fate

LAGOS, Nigeria - The Nigerian Parliament called for the resignation of President Olusegun Obasanjo for alleged misrule yesterday, deepening the political crisis in Africa's most populous country.

Summoned from their recess, the 360 members of the lower chamber House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed a motion asking the president to step down in two weeks or face impeachment.

March 2002 - Mbeki, Obasanjo to Meet Mugabe on Zimbabwe Crisis*** HARARE (Reuters) - South African President Thabo Mbeki and Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo were due to meet President Robert Mugabe on Monday over Zimbabwe's deep political crisis, but analysts held out little hope of progress. They said the leaders of Africa's two most powerful countries were likely to push Mugabe, who won a controversial presidential election marred by violence and charges of vote rigging, to consider forming a government of national unity. The talks come the day before a crucial meeting in London of the so-called Commonwealth troika on Zimbabwe, which is due to discuss suspending the southern African country from the grouping of Britain and former colonies.

Mbeki and Obasanjo are members of the troika along with Australian Prime Minister John Howard. Commonwealth analysts believe Howard is likely to favor some form of suspension which Mbeki would oppose, leaving the deciding vote to Obasanjo. But senior aides to Obasanjo said in Lagos on Sunday that he looked most unlikely to back the suspension of Zimbabwe.

…. Mugabe's inauguration on Sunday was boycotted by the United States, European Union countries, New Zealand, Canada and the MDC -- among the many critics who denounced the election as unacceptably flawed. South Africa has yet to pronounce formally on the validity of the election.***

Well Mugabe is still in power because Mbeki and Obasanjo didn't want to condem him.

Communists rising in Pretoria? Said to be manipulating ruling ANC from behind scenes*** Since 1994, South Africa has moved away from the West and embraced Libya, Cuba, China, Iraq, the PLO and other anti-Western regimes. ………"To the face of the international community, they fly the flag of so-called 'democracy' to attract foreign investment, tourism, NEPAD dollars and politically-correct sympathy," Snow said. "But when Jesse Jackson and Louis Farrakhan come to South Africa and meet with the Marxists here, do you think they are only having a cup of tea? They are formulating their international strategy."

Last week, SACP general secretary Blade Nzimande said that there is a possibility that the SACP will take over the ANC "from within," and that the "working class must dominate ANC policy." "The African nationalism of the ANC has always been revolutionary, but it doesn't mean you don't find backwards elements," Nzimande said. He also believes that a coming crisis in the capitalist West will provide an opportunity to further the communist cause.

"A new type of global robber baron is emerging - look at what has been happening with all these companies in the United States," Nzimande told the South African media. "For us [the SACP] this is not a deviation - it's inherent in the system," he said. "The relevance of communist parties worldwide is that they represent an alternative society, an alternative to capitalism. When the Soviet Union collapsed there was a neo-liberal triumphalism that said: it's the end of history, there is one route for countries to develop. But poverty is widening. At our congress we are going to reflect on how we link up with this mass creative expression of anti-capitalist sentiment."***

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