Aligned with Castro and Gaddafi - Mugabe Vows to Defend Zimbabwe from Western 'Bullies'

yahoo.com ^ | Jul 23, 2002 - 10:17 AM ET | Cris Chinaka, Reuters

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Venezuelan oil shipments to Cuba resuming in August - Libya studying Cuba's oil refinery [Full Text] CARACAS, Venezuela - Venezuela will resume oil shipments to Cuba on Aug. 1, the president of Venezuela's state-owned oil monopoly confirmed Wednesday. Petroleos de Venezuela SA plans to renew shipments of 53,000 barrels of crude per day to Cuba, said Ali Rodriguez, a former secretary general of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. The pact, under which Cuba buys Venezuelan oil at preferential financing terms, was suspended when Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez was ousted in an April 12-14 coup.

During Chavez's brief ouster, PDVSA officials vowed not to deliver more oil to Cuba, claiming Venezuela was giving it away. Chavez's government insists the deal is similar to others in which Venezuela helps struggling Caribbean nations. According to PDVSA, Cuba owed dlrs 142 million when the cutoff occurred. When Chavez returned, Venezuela urged Cuba to pay, and Rodriguez said Wednesday the issue had been resolved. PDVSA supplies a third of Cuba's oil. Rodriguez added that Cuba and Venezuela had studied the possibility of modernizing Cuba's Cienfuegos refinery but decided the project isn't feasible. He said OPEC member Libya is conducting a similar study and that Venezuela is sharing information on Cienfuegos with Libya.[End]

LINKS to Gaddafi/Castro/Chavez/ Saddam Hussein

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June 15, 2002 - Gaddafi 'aims to hijack' African Union organization***Mr Mbeki fears Colonel Gaddafi's bid to control the AU will derail the New Partnership for African Development (Nepad), which is backed by Tony Blair and other G8 leaders and is due to be an AU project. Under Nepad, countries adhering to democracy and good governance will receive aid from richer countries in addition to other concessions. The Libyan leader has deployed several diplomats to lobby African countries to delay the Durban ceremony because he wants the AU to be launched in Sirte, Libya. That would automatically give him the chairmanship of the AU.

Colonel Gaddafi wants the Durban meeting downgraded to an annual summit of OAU leaders pending the launch of the AU in Libya at a later stage. But diplomats attending an OAU-Civil Society summit here say his ambitions will sabotage any programmes intended to help Africa's recovery. "Mbeki knows that any move to put the AU under Gaddafi will immediately kill both the AU and Nepad because no Western country will pour aid into a programme or institution run by Gaddafi," said one diplomat.***

August 9, 2002 - Group Faults Libya's Nomination to Head U.N. Commission on Human Rights***UNITED NATIONS, Aug 8 (IPS) - A leading human rights organization has appealed to African nations to reverse their decision to nominate Libya as the next chairman of the Geneva-based U.N. Commission on Human Rights. "Countries with dreadful rights records should never be in charge of chairing the Commission on Human Rights," Rory Mungoven, global advocacy director for New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW), said Thursday.

"Libya's long record of human rights abuses clearly does not merit such a reward," he added. But a spokesman for the Libyan Mission to the United Nations refuted the charges made by HRW. "They are entitled to their opinion," he told IPS. "Ours is an open society. We have nothing to hide and we are not in violation of human rights," he added. Moreover, he said, Libya's nomination had been endorsed at the highest levels of government - at a summit meeting of more than 50 African leaders in Durban, South Africa last month.

The original decision to nominate Libya was taken by the U.N.'s African regional group, comprising all 54 African members. It was reaffirmed by heads of state attending the recently concluded inaugural summit of the new African Union (AU), the successor to the now-defunct Organisation of African Unity (OAU). ***