Smart weapons, dirty conquest

on Libyan cities and towns.
Then I saw warplanes flying over Libya, and the destruction of the infrastructure.
I was gripped with great fear.
What came immediately into my mind was the Biblical story of Sodom and Gomorrah that I was taught during my primary school days.
Then, I looked at the map. Libya is at the tip of Africa sharing the Mediterranean coast with Europe. It shares borders with Egypt, Algeria, Niger, Chad, and Sudan.
The neighboring nations also share borders with others, forming a network, till the tip of South Africa at the bottom of the African map, touching the waters of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans.
I also recalled the history report I read a few years ago, which said that Libya’s weather and fertile soils attracted a number of empires before 500 BC up to as recently as 1947.
The interested parties included, among others: Phoenicians; Carthaginians; Greeks; Romans; Persians; Vandals; Byzantines; Arabs; Spanish; Turks; Italians; French and the British.
Furthermore, Tripoli (the Libyan capital) was derived from a Roman name Tripolis (three cities), and was preceded by the earlier name of Oea.
Libya was the name given by the Greeks to all of Northern Africa except Egypt. Later on, the Italians who occupied the current territory of Libya adopted the name Libya as it is today rather than the region of North Africa.
It is also important to note that today Libya is ranked fourth in Africa in oil production and 12th in the world, which is an added tremendous asset for any conquest.
From the news, it is interesting to note that the countries attacking Libya in the 21st century to re-enforce the so-called UN resolution include the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Canada, and the United Arab Emirates.
According to CNN, the objective of the exercise of attacking Libya with “smart weapons” – Tomahawk missiles – is to prevent the death of civilians arising from the civil war that has currently engulfed Libya.
On further research, I discovered that this smart weapon which has incredible accuracy; computerised with GPS guiding map system; equipped with a turbo engine; difficult to detect by radar or infrared technology has a long range of about 1 600km, with a speed of about 880km per hour, and costs about US$1,4 million.
With more than 112 such smart weapons already dropped on Libyan infrastructure and human beings, and seeing huge explosions, sophisticated jet-fighters zooming and performing acrobatic flights over Libya and looking at the list of the superpowers with military might combined and all zooming on a single developing country, my deep fear greatly intensified.
Many questions started creeping in my mind. I wish to share some of these with my readers.
Is the UN experiment on Libya of protecting civilian lives going to be extended to other countries which have experienced the wave of unrests with a potential for civil war?
Some of the countries that have been affected by unrest to a small or large extent include Algeria, Djibouti, Iran, Bahrain, Jordan, Oman, Yemen, Kuwait, Lebanon, Mauritania, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, and Western Sahara.
I recalled the relatively recent crisis in Iraq. The war started on March 20 2003, and the unrest is not yet over despite the removal of Saddam Hussein, including his death and the toppling of his regime.
Using Internet figures, the death toll arising from the conflict is estimated at 160 000 on top of the destruction of the economic infrastructure by the non-ending war.
Iraq was invaded because it was alleged to have “weapons of mass destruction”. However, investigations carried out indicated that there was no evidence of existence of weapons of mass destruction.
So, what was the objective of the deadly war imposed by the allied forces? Was it for the protection of civilians or to bring about an enabling environment for democratic principles?
When I briefly watched CNN the following day, a picture showing the destruction of what was described as Gaddafi’s compound was shown.
It is very likely that as the war progresses, besides the Tomahawk missiles, the drones may be used as well, as was or is still the case in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Bosnia, Serbia, and Yemen.
A drone is an unmanned military aircraft (remote-controlled) that can fly at very high altitudes and high speeds and was introduced in 1995 by the US. Just like the Tomahawk, its precision is very high.
For whatever reason, the introduction of smart weapons on African soil is very bad news for the continent.
It is very bad news especially when the continent’s level of science and technology and more so the military technology is the lowest in the world.
The implications are that the continent is very vulnerable to being recolonised. The events are happening so fast that it is very difficult to fully understand what is going on.
What is the role of the African Union in this frightening phenomenon? Parallel news had floated that an AU delegation to mediate in the Libyan conflict had been selected. Is this now of no consequence?
A group of Western powers are taking part in the Libyan campaign so as to bring peace in Libya. I am sure some of my readers are also a bit confused like me and wondering as to whether this is going to be the trend in sorting out conflicts in Africa and elsewhere in future.
As some of my readers may recall, about 130 years ago, the Berlin conference of 1884-1885 by European powers divided the African continent into economic spheres of influence.
The African nations are still grappling with some of the negative impacts and legacy of that history.
What is the implication of a no fly-zone being enforced over Libya by the allied forces? Can this principle be applied to several African countries or the entire African continent?
It is interesting to note that the military might of more than 40 countries including Western superpowers have participated in wars against Third World countries, Iraq and Afghanistan included.
One would assume that a no-fly zone entails preventing flying military objects from taking to the sky. We have lately been seeing tankers and buildings that include police check-points being bombarded. Do they fly?
Axis of evil
In 2003, some countries were identified as the “axis of evil”. These were Iran, Iraq and North Korea.
Later on, added to the list were those countries described as “beyond the axis of evil”. These were Cuba, Libya and Syria.
Later on, the list was expanded to include the countries referred to as “outposts of tyranny”.
These were Belarus, Zimbabwe and Myanmar.
As already alluded, the global political scene appears to be changing dramatically since the end of the Cold War, and more dramatically since the beginning of the last decade.
The situation is quite complex. As can be seen from the list, to a layman, Iraq has been “sorted out” and so has Afghanistan, although it was not on the list.
Libya is being sorted out. Iran and North Korea are always in the media and so was Zimbabwe about a year ago. Is Libya going to follow the same path as Iraq? After Libya, then what?
Global financial crisis
While conflicts such as those in Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine and now Libya are boiling, the global village is already in a financial crisis that started in 2007.
As we are aware, this crisis has affected many countries from both developed and developing worlds.
During the Cold War period, some developing nations aligned themselves to the Soviet Union (USSR) with its socialist inclination, and others with the West – capitalist inclination.
But with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1990, the socialist role model was no longer influential.
Is the capitalist model of economic development the answer for economic progress, peace and prosperity? If so, how do we explain the massive financial crisis that has gripped the world and described as the worst since the depression of the1930s?
Natural disasters and diseases
The last decade and this decade have witnessed some of the worst disasters in human history.
In 2004, there was the Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami that destroyed billions of dollars worth of property and killed about 230 000 people.
In recent days, we have witnessed the Japanese tsunami that has shaken one of the top three ranked major world economies and killed approximately 10 000 people.
Furthermore, it is reported that Japan has shifted from its original position by about 2,4 metres. It is theorised that massive earthquakes below the ocean were responsible for the deadly tsunamis. Hurricane Katrina in 2005 also destroyed properties and killed about 2 000 people.
Just as mankind has to worry about and face the challenges of the global financial crisis, we have to deal with global warming and climate change as well.
One can safely conclude that the developments in Japan whose infrastructure has been destroyed by an earthquake will have serious economic consequences beyond Japan.
We can expect demand for uranium to fall drastically, with dire consequences for uranium-producing countries.
Finally, within the last 30 years new diseases have emerged, in particular, the HIV and Aids, and the ebola virus.
Way forward
l Guidelines and polices governing the global village should be set in such a way as to provide long time solutions to conflicts.
l Military interventions to resolve internal conflicts should carefully be scrutinised. In some cases, where military intervention is supposed to bring about quick results, it may end up being a lengthy process with concomitant and immense suffering, especially in the country where the military drama is taking place.
l Economic theories need to be revised since it appears that either the socialist or capitalist mode of production have inherent weaknesses.
l Heavy investment in the scientific study of natural disasters especially earthquakes, Tsunamis, and climate change must be intensified.
l Research into deadly diseases such as HIV and Aids, and cancer be intensified as well. Destabilisation of the oil producing belt (North Africa and Middle East) may negatively impact on world economies, including causing deep global recession.
The immediate impact will be the rapid increase in petrol prices with concomittant rise in the prices of other economic parameters.
These phenomena will be compounded by the recent natural disasters. It is likely that the global economy may enter into a depression sooner than later.
l Professor Enos Kiremire is the Dean of the Faculty of Science at the University of Namibia. [email protected]