Al Jazeera English
September HIGHLIGHTS 2009
WITNESS:
Rageh Omaar embarks on a fascinating journey of discovery across Africa to uncover the new US strategy for the continent.
Episode One
Rageh begins his journey in Washington DC, investigating the birth of the United States’ Africa Command (AFRICOM), which emerged at the start of this century out of the collision of a triumphant ‘Neo-Conservative’ worldview with general panic over energy security.
Rageh investigates what the new Obama administration means for AFRICOM. He talks to critics who warn America is destined to repeat tragic mistakes of the past, such as the alleged propping-up of dictators, depositions of popular governments and even support for the Apartheid regime in South Africa. But he also talks to supporters of AFRICOM – including President Obama’s top African diplomat, Ambassador Johnnie Carson, who argues that the Command represents a new departure for US relations with Africa that will serve the continent as never before.
With extensive access to AFRICOM, he travels to Rwanda with the organisation’s commander, General Kip Ward, and then on to Djibouti, site of the US military’s largest permanent African base. In Uganda he investigates AFRICOM’s first key involvement in an African war and then examines its tragic aftermath – asking if it’s possible for the new Command to truly break from the legacy of the Bush Administration.
TX: 20 September 14:00 GMT, 21 September 06:00 & 19:00 GMT, 22 September 03:00 GMT
AMERICA'S NEW FRONTLINE
Episode Two
Rageh Rageh returns to the country of his birth, Somalia and examines the local legacy of the Bush administration. He looks at the dramatic change in US attitudes to Sharif Ahmed – two and a half years ago the US was supporting a military offensive against him and the Islamic Courts Union yet today it backs him as president of Somalia and is offering to arm his military forces. In Sudan, Rageh uncovers how the need for intelligence about militants in Somalia and Iraq has driven the American administration into a phase of close intelligence collaboration with the Khartoum government of President al-Bashir.
Rageh also assesses the legacy of the Bush Administration’s “War on Terror” in Africa – particularly in the Horn of Africa and in the North – and asks whether the drive against a vaguely defined ‘network’ of Al Qaeda supporters has in fact begun to turn into a self-fulfilling prophecy.
On the west coast of Africa, through Rageh’s extensive access to AFRICOM, we see the Africa Partnership Station – a US co-ordinated programme centred on military-to-military training with various government forces in the Gulf of Guinea. In Cameroon Rageh examines the political dangers of training military forces that may be used to repress legitimate political activity by opponents of the government.
And crucially Rageh focuses on oil. The USA sources 15% of its oil imports from Nigeria, due to rise to 24% within the next few years and he examines AFRICOM’s work in the area – and challenges key US government and AFRICOM figures on how they balance their commitment to genuine democracy and accountable government in the area with the US’s strategic interests and resource needs.
TX: 27 September 14:00 GMT, 28 September 06:00 & 19:00 GMT, 29 September 03:00 GMT
SPECIAL PROGRAMME:
VETERANS:
THE FRENCH IN ALGERIA
A powerful reassessment of Franco-Algerian relations and the volatile legacy of empire and independence.
Four decades on, France’s war in Algeria remains highly controversial. Only in 1999 did France admit a “war” had actually taken place. Algeria’s struggle for independence from France (1954-62) was among the 20th century’s most prolonged and savage wars of decolonization. Well over a million Algerians lost their lives, as well as 25,000 French soldiers and civilians.
The conflict, which featured guerilla warfare, widespread terrorism, and systematic torture, shook France to its core, resulting in the fall of the 4th Republic and ending the careers of six French Prime Ministers. Many veterans remain traumatized by atrocities they witnessed, or took part in.
But the untold story of another group of veterans, that of the harkis (the hundreds of thousands of Algerian Muslims who fought on behalf of France), is also highly poignant.
Attacked by their fellow Algerians following independence, many fled to France. But rather than being greeted as war heroes, they have joined the ranks of the Muslim minority, many of whom populate the ghettoes of Paris and Marseilles. We take an exclusive look at a side of France that is rarely seen or talked about in the outside world.
TX: Episode one, 13 September 05:30 & 11:30 GMT, 14 September 01:30, 14:00 & 23:30 GMT
FROST OVER THE WORLD:
New Season
Sir David Frost returns to the world stage to interview the world’s biggest newsmakers. Politicians, Artists, Celebrities, Explorers, Business People, Sportsmen and women, characters from all walks of international life join Sir David to reveal professional and personal thoughts and opinions.
Veteran television host, author and producer, Sir David Frost is the only person to have interviewed the last seven presidents of the United States and the last six prime ministers of the United Kingdom.
Sir David has been awarded all the major television awards - the Emmy Award (for The David Frost Show - twice); the Royal Television Society Silver Medal and the Richard Dimbleby Award in the UK and, internationally, the Golden Rose of Montreux.
In 2005, he was awarded BAFTA’s highest honour, the BAFTA Fellowship. He was honoured by the Museum of the Moving Image in New York in 1998 and by the Museum of Broadcasting in New York in 1999.
TX: 04 September 19:00 GMT
