Newsreels are buzzing with events but what dominates the airwaves is what pleases the merchants of death and their ‘reputable’ media. Usually Africa is relegated to the section on violence, disasters and mayhem as if this is geographically determined. By proportionate share, an alert mind will only wonder why Africa has not been swept into oblivion. In a related case a BBC report alerted on an impending visit to Africa by the US President, Mr Barack Obama. Surely not as an ‘African’ American! It is important to take a deeper look into this ‘constructive’ decision, the timing, the pit stops and general configuration in global geopolitics.
This will be his 3rd visit to the mother continent. It is also important to stress that he’ll not be visiting as an interlocutor because to all intents and purposes Africans have proved beyond reasonable doubt that no such thing exists for them in United States. Nevertheless the decision of the trip at a time when attempted regime change in Damascus is as good as dead is instructive. With Damascus increasing offensive against rebels and their backers with new gains across Syria by holding recaptured spaces in the theatre including a recent statement of force by Moscow on East Mediterrenean Sea, bad news can only be deflected not displacement. Sluggish economy on the domestic front is not refreshing either with African-Americans bearing the brunt of economic meltdown in the ‘land of the brave’ while bank bonuses continue to ride high devoid of White House real admonition. Too late now! When the going gets tough, Africa becomes a promise land. This is in the aftermath of ill-fated attempt to trigger onslaught against Pyongyang few weeks ago.
In any case there must be anticipation that the next quarter may provide a breather for the White House in the face of fair accompli of Damascus consolidation. This will be accompanied by renewal in Tehran with election of new president and representatives at the Masjid and strengthening of Hezbollah in Lebanon hence maintaining the Shia compact and integrity at least until the next round of offensives begin. With a complicating Asian Pivot it seem June may provide an opportunity for recalibration on various fronts.
The geography of the trip is significant. It skirted the so-called revolution spaces of North Africa probably confirming that what took place where adventures in dreamland. The viability of the so-called liberated lands and revolutions can only be described at best as ghost countries with demolished present and uncertain future. Name them; Libya, Tunisia and Egypt, they are all on life support. Success is always milked by their heroes however in these cases action is stayed.
Probing further one is given the impression that extremes are key to unlocking secrets. Senegal on the west coast is the most viable political entity though a suppliant of Paris. While Mr Obama may or may not visit slave port relics, Dakar will be ‘constructively’ nudged towards openness to US AFRICOM agenda, engagement on Malian offensive and the war on drugs. The enthusiasm following ‘liberation’ of Northern Mali has died down with former champion walking away one after the other. Chadians made the first move. The recent past arrest of Guinea Bissau former naval chief by favoured agents is not lost on observers.
The next stop is South Africa. While post-apartheid leadership continue to posture in betrayal it is not lost on anyone that United States was not the key to their liberation. It is Havana under the leadership of Commandante Fidel Castro. The successful 1988 Battle of Cuito Carnavale in Angola led by gallant Cuban forces that smashed and eliminated once and for all the invincibility of US backed South African Defence Force (SADF) only stopped western aggression against Angola and finally paved way for Namibian independence and death-knell of apartheid hence majority rule in South Africa. Former ANC Intelligence chief and current president, Mr Jacob Zuma knows it because he nearly lost his life more than once from US inspire offensive. There is no doubt that South Africa is a contested space between old world and an emerging new world with the recent past BRICS summit a poignant point. US want to maintain a geopolitical and diplomatic footprint in Africa against so-called Chinese wave. Let’s not forget that Beijing decided to invest while Washington Consensus kept waiting for the right conditions for years.
Tanzania as the last stop carried interesting geopolitical nuances as a favourite nesting ground for US intelligence for more than a generation. The elimination of the ‘red threat’ i.e. Mohammed Abdulrahman Babu by the forced creation of Tangayinka and Zanzibar into Tanzania in the 1960 is instructive while Mwalimu Julius Nyerere serving as a ‘bulwark’ had time and space to sustain ill-fated Ujamma. One must acknowledge the role of Dar es Salaam University as the crucible of African research and intelligentsia sustaining the likes of Late Dr Walter Rodney, author of How Europe Underdevelopment Africa to name an individual.
Reviewing the trip based on the present carries little weight without matching it with the past. With a future projecting Africa in ascendancy with room for assertiveness in a multipolar world, United States is finally searching for her rightful place in that new world by way of rebranding her image in Africa. Using a president that appears African is a strong card but the jury is still out. It must not be lost on anyone especially Africans that for the first time in United States history, its president led an unprovoked attack against his origin without recourse to history. Smashing Libya to Stone Age is nothing short of war crime. Following it up with airlifting French forces to secure mineral resources of Mali 2 years later can no longer be dismissed as part time war making. In that period US armed forces under Mr Obama’s regime has multiplied drone bases across Africa in its proverbial ‘war against terrorism’ especially Niamey Drone Base in Niger a few kilometres from (an ally) Nigeria frontier and less than 500km from Abuja.
There is no evidence that United States under Mr Obama will change the tide of renewed Africa awareness and flexibility, more so the increasing relationship with Beijing. As for this impending visit, Beijing will be watching closely. No amount of constructive intimidation will wash so far as US AFRICOM continues to run riot toward the strategic goal of militarised recolonisation of Africa based on 'securing' her rich bowels and loaded geology disguised as ‘ war against terrorism’. For those who entertain phobia for Beijing, start by considering that they buy from Africa on open market and pay top money in strong currencies (Euro, Renminbi) and not quantitatively eased paperbacks.
In the history of US-Africa relationship the finally chapters will not be written by the most powerful all the time, for the sole reason that this narrative is an open living fact which the weak possess authority to account starting with oral tradition. Africans cannot suffer from amnesia even if one of their kind seats on the most powerful office for a while.
