Newspaper Page Text
2A
JANUARY 15, 1998 AUGUSTA FOCUS
A [ -
&
PSRRI
"‘)A .“ y :- Ly A ! “
J‘".' Y .".' 1 / %
4 ;Q:‘:‘,’ & 1 ,
TR
ANGOLA
Rebel leader agrees
to meet with
Angolan president
LUANDA, Angola
A rebel leader has signaled he was ready to
revive Angola’s faltering peace process, pro
posing a meeting with the country’s president
in a push to enforce an accord ending the two
decade civil war.
UNITA rebel leader Jonas Savimbi proposed
the meeting with President Eduardo Dos
Santos, a UNITA representative told the Por
tuguese news agency Lusa late Friday night.
The talks are viewed as crucial to UNITA's
compliance with the 1994 U.N.-brokered peace
accord. An exact date for the meeting was not
disclosed, said a UNITA representative to the
peace talks, Isaias Samakuva.
A meeting between the two leaders was ini
tially scheduled for late November. It was
postponed because of Dos Santos’ medical prob
lems.
On Friday, Savimbi contacted the president
and the two agreed to meet as soon as possible
in Angola’s capital, Luanda,
Savimbiruns UNITA from hisbase at Andulo,
180 miles south of Luanda. Despite officially
being the leader of the country’s main opposi
tion political party, he has so far refused to
move to the capital because of fears for his
safety.
The United Nations Security Council im
posed new sanctions against UNITA last month
for its failure to comply with the peace accord.
UNITA, whose name is a Portuguese acro
nym for the National Union for the Total
Independence of Angola, is believed to be drag
ging its heels on the accord because of mistrust
of the Dos Santos government and a desire to
maintain control of rich diamond mines on
territory it controls.
The organization also has yet to demobilize
all its forces, some of which are to be incorpo
rated into the national army and the police.
F g )
=
Lverything about he | ] v
5 :“76,
exceptional. i
ll\'l.vv her upbringn ;
Toas the dasthat o |
thirteen kads o her fimad i
Straight A's. '
w %‘ So when
| :
| A L 8 ISR ER
3 : Fhurgood Marshall Scholarships Fand
; P
| ¢ R Ee T
‘ e : MARSHALL
1]
» //‘l‘,fl‘
Western bloc seeks end
to slaughter in Algeria
MMore than 1,000 civilians
have died since the Muslim
holy month of Ramadan
began Dec. 31. The carnage
has jarred foreign govern
ments.
8y Deborah Seward
ASSOCIATED PRESS Writer
PARIS, France
As Algeria’s Islamic insurgency enters
its seventh year, the number of civilians
killed in grisly massacres is mounting and
Algerian authorities seem unable — or
unwilling — to stop the slaughter.
Enter the European Union, with the
United States and Canada in tow. They
are determined not to appear weak as
pressure for action grows, but finding so
lutions for a North African conflict that is
rooted in hatred and suspicion of the West
will be tough.
Europeans — especially the French,
Algeria’s former colonial rulers — have
several reasons to seek an end to the fight
ing:
®The fear of new terror attacks within
Europe.
®Worries about a flood of refugees cross
ing the Mediterranean.
BThedesire for secure access to Algeria’s
oil and natural gas.
Some 75,000 people, mainly civilians,
have died in the Islamic uprising that
began after Algeria’s army canceled legis
lative elections in 1992. The move blocked
a victory by Muslim fundamentalists who
had campaigned against the country’s secu
lar, Westernized social system.
Although stung by their failure to react
quickly to the violent breakup of Yugosla
via, the leaders of Europe and the United
States said and did little regarding Alge
ria.
But the current intensity of the slaugh
ter — more than 1,000 civilians slaugh
tered since the Muslim holy month of
Ramadan began Dec. 31 — has jarred
foreign governments.
“This is moving into the public con
sciousness,” said Andrew Pierre, a Wash
ington-based expert on Europe. “It’s re
vulsion at what's going on.”
The European initiative reflects a new
willingness by France, which dominated
European policy toward its former coi
for years, to let the European Union w:{
out ways to help Algeria.
“It’s rather delicate for the French to get
out in the lead because of their colonial
past,” said Richard Parker, a former U.S,
ambassador to Algeria. “French-Algerian
;:il:t”ionlhawbunamhorlow-hn.d-
European intellectuals and lawmakers
are waking up, too.
Daniel Cohn-Bendit, a 1960 s student rebel
who is a Green politician in Germany, has
proposed meetings between European and
Algerian lawmakers to discuss the violence.
“It is hard to do something useful, but it
is hard not to say something,” said Stephane
Hessel, president of the France-Algeria As
sociation, which tries to promote under
standing between the two les.
anhmdAlprianintom-mphn
ning a day of rallies across Europe this
spring to demand that European govern
ments actively tEn'auun the Algerian par
ties to resolve their conflict.
Just who is behind the killings in Algeria
remains at least partly a mystery, and iden
tifying the perpetrators will be a key factor
in finding solutions — political or military.
Benin celebrates traditional
OUIDAH, Benin
(AP) Benin, which officially repressed voo
doo traditions for years, celebrated its annual
festival of traditional religions with represen
tatives from voodoo communities around the
world.
The Saturday festival was lead by Daagbo
Hounon, the supreme chief of voodoo priests
of the West African nation, but representa
tives of voodoo temples also came from Haiti,
Brazil and France.
About 65 percent of Benin practices voo
doo, which holds that all life is driven by
spiritual forces of natural phenomena like
fire and wind, as well as by the dead, and that
they should be honored through rituals.
Hounon offered animal sacrifices to hun
dreds of divinities while praying for peace in
the country, health for its people and also for
the country's leaders.
A Tibetan Buddhist also attended the cer
emony in Ouidah, about 25 miles west of
Cotonou, the capital.
The festival reflects the rehabilitation of
voodoo in Benin.
H .
Ll
' ¥
A
o
I 2 GENERATE
R R MR T
g‘w**“?fi?{‘ dfi%% ' :
YT T T TS T
E?—' g "%ti’:u % %f" i'a*?%"» "fi;f: ;-§ ¥ l,fl i% 3
TR R S T
R R R e R N Y
Tl I R R Be o
j"%@@’«%&%fi o U e S St e
ey
—— ] :
: —~— e
\\ R
P g{fi&*#w, R e o OB R
SeT R R
[SEOSOTI ( GET eee B T A W
e T R T T
DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. DEDICATED HIS LIFE TO SERVING OTHERS, PROMOTING ‘
EQUALITY FOR ALL AND EMPOWERING COMMUNITIES EVERYWHERE.
: AS A COMPANY DEDICATED TO BEING A CITIZEN WHEREVER WE SERVE, WE AT GEORGIA §-
POWER SALUTE HIS LIFE, HIS ENERGY AND HIS DREAM.
GEORGIA POWER CELEBRATES THE BIRTHDAY OF DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR
Officer’s trial to draw
attention to racist
profiling of motorists
By Mike Schneider
ASSOCIATED PRESS Writer
ORLANDO, Fla.
As a black man with vehicle tags
from South Florida, Maj. Aaron
Campbell was a prime candidate
to be stopped and searched by
sheriff’s deputies as he drove
through the Orlandoarea, his law
ye{;ylm Orange Count;
an nty
sheriff’s deputy pulled over the
25-year veteran of the Metro-Dade
Police Department as he drove
northbound on the Florida Turn
pike in his green Ford Explorer.
The traffic stop quickly spun
out of control, and ended with a
confrontational Campbell being
doused with pepper spray and
stumbling onto the turnpike be
fore backup deputies, all white,
wrestled him to the ground.
Campbell is set to go to trial
Monday on charges of felony as
sault and resistingarrest with vio
lence.
His attorney said the stop was
illegal, and the only thing Campbell
was guilty of was fitting a profile
that Orange County deputies use
to stop motorists and search them
for contraband.
The encounter was captured on
videotape by acamerainadeputy’s
squad car and later broadcast na
tionwide on ABC’s Nightline.
“I think race is a part of it,” said
James Cheney Mason, Campbell’s
lawyer. “It’s not exclusively. They
stop people with Miami tags head
ing north, but minority status is
obviously a part of the profile.”
Profilingisa technique that uses
race, age, dress, vehicle type and
other factors identifying people
more likely to be involved in
crimes. The U.S. Supreme Court
has ruled that the Constitution
protects motorists against selec
tive law enforcement based on such
factors as race.
But the high court also has ruled
that police generally éan stop mo
torists for traffic violations even
when the officers are really look
l;nc‘tiv'i?y such d:nfg
as use.
The Orange County sheriff’s of
fice wouldn’t comment on the case
before trial but its spokesmen have
said previously that tl;:dmrv
mt doesi’t use race- pro
“lt’snotaraceissue,” said Tracy
Sutherland, a spokeswoman for
the State Attorney’s Office.
However, an Orlando Sentinel
analysis last year showed that the
Orange County drug squad that
patrols the Florida Turnpike car
ries out 6 1/2 times as many
searches on black motorists pulled
over in traffic as on whites.
In Campbell’s case, Cpl. Rich
ard Mankewich stopped the police
major’s vehicle for improper lane
changeand for having an obscured
license tag. Campbell disputes that
he made an improper lane change.
A 1996 Orange County court
decision, State v. St. Jean, holds
that obscured tags are not grounds
for a police stop. An appellate court
upheld that decision last year.
The State Attorney’s office, how
ever, said that the lower court
ruling wasn’t binding until the
appellate court ruling, which oc
curred after Campbell’s stop.
After he was pulled over,
Campbell got out of his car and
handed his license to Mankewich,
who is white. Campbell identified
himself as a police officer and told
the deputy he had agun in a pouch
around his waist.
Campbell also said, according to
the police report, “I know you
Orange County guys, you're not
going to —— with me.”
Mankewich informed Campbell
that he was going to write him up
for a violation. Campbeil blew his
cool.
See BLACK MOTORIST, page 6A
A SOUTHERM COMPANY
AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER