[The following statement was issued May 19 by the International Marxist Group, British section of the Fourth International; Ligue Communiste Révolutionnaire (Revolutionary Communist League), French section of the Fourth International; Ligue Révolutionnaire des Travailleurs/Revolutionaire Arbeiders Liga (Revolutionary Workers League), Belgian section of the Fourth International; and Socialist Workers Party, United States.]
On Thursday, May 18, Belgian and
French troops, supported by the United
States and Great Britain, launched a new imperialist war against the peoples of Africa. The so-called "protection of the evacuation of Europeans" is nothing but a pretext-utilized by the direct military aggression and in acquiring greater flexibility in conducting his administration's foreign policy. While the Zaire intervention was under way, he began to complain about congressional "restraints" on the White House's ability to intervene in Africa. One congressional representative was quoted as saying that Carter feels "a lot of frustration at having his hands tied" in supplying military assistance to local allies.
The "restraints" that Carter was referring to do not reflect any real congressional opposition to a more openly aggressive foreign policy, but rather the massive antiwar sentiment in the country that had forced Congress to enact these few symbolic measures. Carter's complaints about them are thus directed primarily at the population as a whole and are part of his efforts to test the ground for further American advances abroad.
Among the legal provisions Carter would like to see scrapped is one that prohibits outright grants of military aid without a specific act of Congress.
More ominously, the White House has spoken out against the Arms Export Control Act of 1976, which prohibits aid of any kind that would promote military or parain Angola, military operations and another law that requires the president to vouch for and report to Congress any covert military operations abroad.
Reporter Murrey Marder described some of the thinking behind these recent moves in the May 19 Washington Post. "White House strategists for at least two months," he reported, "have attempted to develop a plan to permit the United States to funnel sophisticated arms and funds clandestinely to African guerrilla forces imperialists many times in the past-to cover up for a colonialist intervention. The aim of the international bourgeoisie is to prop up the Mobutu regime, in a country that occupies a strategic place in Africa and contains fabulous natural riches.
The undersigned organizations appeal to the working class, the youth, and all anti-imperialists to actively oppose this intervention by mobilizing immediately in the factories, in the schools, and in the streets to demand the immediate withdrawal of all imperialist troops from Zaïre and a halt to the sending of all war materiel and to military support operations. They will try to initiate appropriate united protest actions in the coming days in their respective countries.
Not one soldier, not one weapon, not one penny for Mobutu!
fighting Soviet-backed Cuban troops in Angola and Ethiopia."
Citing "authoritative sources," Marder stated that National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski wanted greater leeway in providing funds for clandestine operations in Africa "to pin down the Cubans" and limit their ability to move into other countries-notably Zimbabwe.
On May 23, Carter himself stated that he would like to send assistance to the UNITA guerrillas in Angola, presumably to counter the "unwarranted intrusion" of Cuban forces that he referred to three days earlier.
According to some reports, UNITA has already begun to receive more covert assistance from abroad, particularly from France.
The danger of these recent White House moves is obvious. Together with the coordinated aggression in Zaire and the French operations in Chad and Western Sahara, they represent a clear threat to escalate imperialist intervention in Africa even further. Given the extreme instability throughout the continent, and the high stakes involved, the next intervention could be virtually anywhere, in Ethiopia, in Angola, in Zimbabwe, or in some country that today seems relatively "tranquil."
Carter and his allies clearly hope that the antiwar and anti-imperialist forces in their countries will be sufficiently disoriented by the phony justifications and pretexts to allow them to get away with their aggression. That must not be allowed to happen. It is urgent that all opponents of imperialist intervention in Africa mobilize to stay their hand and to force the withdrawal of all imperialist troops and advisers now on the continent.