Anti-War Campaign to embark on peace march

The Anti-War Campaign (AWC), would launch a series of peace marches on 2 April in Accra to protest against the US-led invasion of Iraq.

The marches would begin from the Kwame Nkrumah Circle to the US Embassy, the United Nations Development Project, the British High Commission, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and finally to Parliament House.

Akoto Ampaw, a member of the coalition, who announced these at press conference in Accra on Thursday, said in launching war against Iraq, President George Bush of America and Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain sought to find a solution to growing chaos in their national economies.

He noted that in the last decade, growing over-production in every sector of their economies had resulted in spectacular blue-chip business failures, massive corporate fraud, job losses and instability in all the major markets.

Ampaw said war had always been the last resort of the more powerful countries when their major business interests were confronted with competition and problems. "We believe the invasion is intended to achieve domination of West Asian oil reserves as the first strategic step in the process of re-organizing the world in accordance with their corporate interests and outlook," he said.

Ampaw observed that because of the stark lack of evidence against Iraq, the UN did not sanction the use of force against Iraq. "Once the aggressors realized that they had lost the argument and could not bully or blackmail the Security Council, they simply declared the UN irrelevant."

Ampaw said while the driving force behind the war was competition between the big economic blocks, the battle ground for such competition was often the Third World where the resources sought after by the big powers were mostly found.

"How long would it be before the US or one of its rivals seeks to increase its control over West African oil production or other strategic resources by overthrowing governments under the pretext of defending democracy? Is this not indeed happening?"

Ampaw said the Anti-War Campaign was opposed to the suppression of democratic forces in Iraq as well as the abuse of human rights by President Saddam Hussein. However, it believed that only the democratic forces within Iraq were best suited to correct that situation and not an invasion by another country that would rather set back its democratic progress.