12.10.2009

was France involved in assassination attempt on Camera?

1. Guinea, France, ECOWAS: tug of war over a coup plot

The Guinean junta has accused France and its secret services of being the brains behind the assassination attempt on Guinea’s president, Captain Moussa Dadis Camara, in an alleged effort to destabilise the country. The junta, the National Council for Democracy and Development (CNDD) has also suspended its participation in the Ouagadougou negotiations under the auspices of Burkinabe president, Blaise Compaoré.

...The Guinean Minister of Communications and junta spokesman, Idrissa Cheriff, told the press on Tuesday that France could be hiding President Camara’s alleged assassin, Lieutenant Aboubacar “Toumba” Diakité, in their embassy. “I say that the French are guilty. The French secret service is involved in this affair,” he declared. He also accused French foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner, and the Guinean opposition of plotting to destabilise the country.

...
In Paris, the spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Bernard Valero, “energetically” rejected the “absurd rumours." French authorities have not hidden the fact that they met in Paris with members of the Guinean opposition, Alpha Condé and Cellou Dallein Diallo. But they have formally denied having anything to do with an alleged coup d’état. On Monday, French authorities expressed their strong opposition after the Guinean military stopped and searched their ambassador’s car near the Conakry airport.

read more @ afrik.com


2. aangirfan: Deripaska, Kouchner and plots in Guinea


Who will get control of the mineral wealth in Guinea?

The Jewish oligarch Oleg Deripaska, and the Chinese, are among those with interests in Guinea.

France's Foreign Minister, Bernard Kouchner, who has a Jewish father, takes an interest in Guinea.

The CIA takes an interest in Guinea.

read more @ aangirfan


3. China's monopoly on 'green' minerals

BEIJING, Dec. 9 (UPI) -- China's monopoly on "rare earth" minerals, essential for green technologies, may not keep up with increasing demand. While China has 53 percent of the world's rare earth deposits, it provides about 95 percent of the world's supply. In the last 10 years, a 40,000-ton per year global market for rare earth has grown to 125,000 tons per year, according to the U.K. Times Online. By 2014 demand is predicted to reach 200,000 tons per year.

...Most of the world's rare earth comes from a single mine in Baotou in China's Inner Mongolia. Much of the rest comes from small, often unlicensed mines in southern China. Outside of China, only two projects are expected to be producing rare earth in the next five years: Molycorp Minerals' Mountain Pass in California and Lynas Corporation's Mount Weld in Australia.

...But readying a rare earth mine to Western environmental standards is expensive. Mostly because of lax standards, China can extract the minerals for about a third of what it would cost in the West. Those living near China's rare earth mines and processing plants are paying a price.

read more @ upi asia

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