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JUNE 12,1997 AUGUSTA FOCUS
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AFRICA &
THE CONGO
U.S., Congo could
cooperate military
_ KINSHASA, Congo
(AP) Congo’s new government may receive
military cooperation from the United Statesasan
incentive to adhere to human rights standards,
U.S. envoy Bill Richardson said Sunday.
President Laurent Kabila, anxious toretain the
Western goodwill he garnered during his seven
'month war to oust Zairian dictator Mobutu Sese
Seko, agreed this weekend to allow U.N. officials
to freely investigate the alleged massacre of refu
gees.
Kabila's forces previously had blocked access to
areas humanitarian groups believe became kill
ing fields during the civil war.
Congo’s new leader made the commitment dur
ingameeting Saturday with Richardson, at which
time he also raised the prospect of military aid.
“He (Kabila) was very interested in military
cooperation, because he said he was the minister
of defense,” Richardson told The Associated Press
on Sunday.
~ Kabila rules by decree, and has co-opted all the
principal powers in the new Congo for himself.
Richardson said the United States was open to
Kabila’s proposal. “I think we want cooperation
between our inilitaries,” he said, adding that for
now it would be restricted to technical advice on
military organization and possibly some training.
Richardson’s military advisor, Col. Rich Roan,
said communication and joint exercises would be
considered down the line.
“All of this of course is completely contingent.on
the establishment of a military that respects
civilian rule,” Roan said Saturday.
A senior U.S. administration official traveling
with Richardson, speaking on condition of ano
nymity, said the United states was seeking “some
thing more institutionalized” than what Congo
has now in terms of a military.
The army is currently made up of the eastern
rebels that fought the war and defectors from
Mobutu’s army.
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Evacuees from Sierra Leone cross the deck of the USS Kearsarge after arriving
by U.S. Marine transport helicopters a week ago, off the coast of Western
Africa. U.S. Marines safely evacuated foreigners after the civilians were forced
from one shelter to another by fierce battles between mutinous soldiers and
Nigerian troops. (AP Photo/U.S. Navy,Photographer's Mate Airman Apprentice Jason Jacobowitz)
Sierra Leone renegades open
borders, stage ‘peace’ rally
By Clarence Roy-Macoulay
ASSOCIATED PRESS Writer
FREETOWN, Sierra Leone
The soldiers who seized control of Sierra
Leone in a violent coup two weeks ago re
opened the country’s borders Sunday and
staged a rally to appeal for a peaceful solution
to the crisis.
The coup leaders also appealed to the inter
national community not to use military force
to return the civilian regime to power.
“Let us agree that the diplomatic option
will be the answer to the problem,” coup
leader Maj. Johnny Paul Koroma told The
Associated Press. “We are not prepared for
military intervention.”
Reinforcements continued to arrive Sun
day for a west African force led by Nigeria.
The force, which seeks the reinstatement of
democratically-elected President Ahmed
Tejan Kabbah, launched an offensive last
week that led to fighting which left more than
50 dead in this impoverished nation.
Koroma has admitted that his force would
need to succeed in life.
Even more of our employees
volunteer with Junior
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America, the YMCA and the
United Way.
Georgia Power believes
the energy of our children is
our greatest natural resource.
And we do everything we can
to keep it turned on. After all,
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GEORGIA A
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A SOUTHERN COMPANY
not be able to face down the Nigerians.
Koroma hopes a U.N. Security Council
meeting on Monday will do what no other
international body has done — count out the
use of military means to restore Kabbah.
The Organization of African Unity, U.N.
Secretary-General Kofi Annan and anumber
of other countries have said force might be the
onlyoption toremovethe soldiers from power.
Since seizing power May 25, Koroma and
his Armed Forces Revolutionary Council have
yet to bring stability to the capital.
In addition to being preoccupied with a
possible attack by the Nigerians, they have
been unable to stop marauding troops who
loot and harass civilians.
Meanwhile, the chief of defense staff, Brig.
Samuel Koroma, ordered theborders opened,
in part because their closure had prevented
international mediators from arriving until
now.
Early in the coup, Johnny Koroma’s'resis
tance to international attempts at negotia
tions sparked Nigeria’s bombardment.
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Turnpike dru_g squad most
likely to stop black drivers
ORLANDO, Fla.
(AP) An Orange County drug
squad that patrols Florida’s Turn
pike was 6 1/2 times more likely to
search black motorists than whites
though blacks were a small per
centage of those stopped, a news
paper reported.
Non-whites accounted for more
than 50 percent of the searches by
Orange County Sheriff Kevin
Beary’s Criminal Patrol Unit and
more than 70 percent of the
searches involving dogs, The Or
lando Sentinel reported Sunday.
But Beary denies race plays any
role in who is stopped.
“We are not out there targeting
any specific race,” he said. “It’s a
case-by-case basis.”
The issue rankles many blacks
nationwide who claim police often
stop minority motorists for no
greater offense than “Driving
While Black.”
“I think those numbers should
send up a red flag to any clear
thinking people who are honest
with themselves,” said Thomas N.
Alston, president of the Orange
County branch of the National As
sociation for the Advancement of
Colored People.
The Sentinel reviewed records
from January 1996 through April
1997 on more than 3,800 stops and
nearly 500 searches by the squad,
which has prided itself on avoid
ing the racial controversy that has
dogged another Central Florida
sheriff’s agency.
The Interstate 95 drug squad of
Volusia County Sheriff Bob Vogel
wasshutdown in 1992 after records
showed nearly 70 percent of mo
torists stopped in Volusia were
minorities.
Only 16.3 percent of those
stopped by the Orange County
squad were black.
But records show that 39.6 per
cent of black motorists stopped
were searched, compared with 6.2
percent of white motorists. Motor
ists listed as Asian, Hispanic or
other ethnicities were searched
17.9 percent of the time.
As with other highway drug
units around the country, most
searches — more than 80 percent
— didn’t find any drugs.
In 513 searches last year, the
six-member squad found drugs 83
times, seized more than 90 pounds
of cocaine and confiscated nearly
$89,000 in suspicious money.
Neither Beary nor any squad
member could explain why black
motorists are 6 1/2 times more
likely to be searched than whites.
Members insist race plays no
part in their searches, which are
conducted either with the consent
of the driver or when one of the
squad’s dogs smells narcotics.
“We wanted to be squeaky
clean,” said Sgt. Dennis Leonard,
who led the unit for two years
until a recent routine transfer.
“We knew the scrutiny Volusia
had.”
But one sheriff’s official said he
had an explanation for the statis
tics.
Ifsquad deputies are more likely
tosearch blacks, it’s because blacks
tend to control the cocaine mar
kets in South Florida, Georgia,
Alabama and North Florida, said
Capt. Ernie Scott, who commands
Beary’s narcotics units, including
the turnpike squad. Dealers from
there use the turnpike to trans
port drugs and money, he said.
“We don’t control drug routes
and demographics,” Scott said. “I
think black mules (hired drug car
riers) and black smugglersarerep
resented higher (on the turnpike)
than they would be on other high
ways in the nation.”
But Ronald Hampton, executive
director of the National Black Po
lice Association in Washington,
D.C., said there’s no evidence
blacks are more likely than whites
to traffic cocaine.
Some police officers have that
impression simply because many
agencies target their searches at
black motorists, he said.
Federal officials last week
cleared Volusia’s squad of civil
rights allegations.