SHADOWS OVER AFRICA
What are the factors
that are influencing the political events shaking the African continent?
By Sidney Hey
The political
instability that has been witnessed in the African states that have emerged
from French colonialism goes far beyond simple power struggles between
nationalists and pro-French rulers. Nor is it the suspected (by the Anglo-Saxon
media) Russian hand that has fomented coups in states such as Niger and Gabon.
There is a reality of
social inequalities, poverty and political corruption that has been working for
the EU and in particular for France, which for decades has benefited from the
precious natural resources and raw materials obtained at ridiculous prices by
the metropolis. The new generations of Africans grew up watching this and are
now aware of this swindle and seem determined to put an end to it.
Obviously, will is not
enough. To change governments requires resources and external support to give
political and especially economic predictability to such an abrupt change. As
for the latter, the arrival of PMC Wagner members in Niger after the coup
d'état does not imply the involvement of the Russian government. As a private
company, Wagner is contracted to attend to the most diverse security matters
that private clients and governments may request.
In what has been
happening in West Africa and which seems to be spreading in a curious way,
revealing that there are much more complex implications that clearly go against
French interests and clearly, in the government meetings between Macron and his
ministers, especially with the defence minister Sébastien Lecornu and his Chief
of Staff, they already know with certainty who the real instigators behind each
of these coups are. In the light of these revelations, it remains to be seen
what measures the government will take to confront these interests and try to
curb their agenda.
It is the US that seems
determined not to make the mistake of past administrations in forgetting the
global south. That is why for Biden and Co. today “Africa matters too”... but
not for altruistic purposes, let alone for the benefit of Africans.
It is Washington that
has a strong geostrategic interest in reformatting the black continent,
especially the entire north-central part of the continent, and to this end the
establishment of an operations command under Pentagon control called AFRICOM,
the US will seek to replicate the operations that CENTCOM carried out on the
other side of the Red Sea in the Arabian Peninsula to create that geopolitical
Frankenstein that was called the "Enlarged Middle East".
AFRICOM, despite being
headquartered in Stuttgart, Germany, plans to soon extend its presence by
installing bases for strategic purposes on African soil. In that plan, the
Pentagon is preparing to set up a drone base at its 201st base in Niger, and is
this by chance? The rationale for this command is to provide security and
combat the jihadists of “Boko Haram”, an African extension of the Islamic State
jihadist hoax run by Mukhabarat associates of some Gulf petromonarchy.
So it came as no
surprise to Paris that several of the military personnel involved in the coups
were trained by the US, with whom they still maintain close relations. Nor are
the links of senior ECOWAS politicians and especially Nigerian President Bola
Tinubu with the CIA. It is likely that the DGSE has more sensitive information
on the extent of these plans and obviously because of the complex geopolitical
implications this represents, Macron will have to manoeuvre carefully and feign
control in the face of public opinion.
What is happening to
France and what Macron must tolerate today, biting his tongue, is what the US
has always done with its partners who, when their useful life is over, are
treated as “expendable elements”. This is what the Biden administration seems
to have decided after 22 years of French intervention, promoted by Washington
under the guise of the fight against terrorism and especially after
collaborating in the overthrow and assassination of Libyan leader Mohammed
Gaddafi in 2010, who threatened to create the gold dinar as an alternative to
the dollar.
It is definitely clear
that the Americans no longer need their French employees. They were useful to
play the “fight against terrorism” game of pseudo-Islamist organisations like “Al
Qaeda” and “ISIS” created by the CIA as tactical pawns on Washington's
geopolitical chessboard.
As can be seen, NATO is
only useful when US interests are at risk. Now it is with bitterness that
Macron, like all Europeans, is coming to realise this situation. As for the
French, their services are dispensable not only because they have the military
contacts within the new de facto governments but also because more units and
troops directed from AFRICOM will soon be landing on the continent to establish
effective command and control on the ground.
With these manoeuvres,
Washington and its Anglo-Saxon partners are making explicit their terror of the
BRICS' advance, which is replicating the consequences of the G-77 (plus China),
especially with regard to Chinese investments in the continent, and from a more
macro point of view, this is evidence of their loss of influence in the global
south.
