Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - mali, france, and resources

Liberté, égalité, fraternité

Vive La France!

Should it be too difficult to ask for some consistency from "Osagyefo
Bangura"?

He seems to have lost sight of the reasons for his cheering Sarkozy's
military presence in the Ivory Coast ostensibly to quell what was
obviously an insurrection against someone who was democratically
elected and, just in case the flip-flopper doesn't fully remember,
this reasoning accounted for the deluge - the bulk of his 392
postings between January and March 2011:

January:
https://groups.google.com/groups/search?hl=sv&scoring=d&filter=0&enc_author=gE_P2BMAAAAJ62S_T80i5RA4VXyc47pQh-kUg4S0n7nbF1Te82ZIng&as_drrb=b&as_mind=1&as_minm=1&as_miny=2011&as_maxd=31&as_maxm=1&as_maxy=2011

February:
https://groups.google.com/groups/search?hl=sv&scoring=d&filter=0&enc_author=gE_P2BMAAAAJ62S_T80i5RA4VXyc47pQh-kUg4S0n7nbF1Te82ZIng&as_drrb=b&as_mind=1&as_minm=2&as_miny=2011&as_maxd=28&as_maxm=2&as_maxy=2011

March:
https://groups.google.com/groups/search?hl=sv&scoring=d&filter=0&enc_author=gE_P2BMAAAAJ62S_T80i5RA4VXyc47pQh-kUg4S0n7nbF1Te82ZIng&as_drrb=b&as_mind=1&as_minm=3&as_miny=2011&as_maxd=31&as_maxm=3&as_maxy=2011

When it came to France's intervention in Libya - first and foremost
to prevent the mass slaughter of Benghazi's inhabitants – as
threatened by his son, crown prince and chief spokesperson Saif -
Mwalimu Bangura was almost in tears when his golden goose was ousted/
cooked.

True, but not in the Bible: Osagyefo Kwame Nkrumah did say, "Seek ye
first the political kingdom and all else shall be added unto you" and
apparently attempted to attain to that goal before being abruptly
deposed by the Ghanaian military on 23 February 1966 ( Is the National
Liberation Circle still there in Accra?)

It will have to be a giant leap to be able to jump from uniting a
disunited African country to uniting the entire landmass of Africa
into a United States of Africa.

Until then, the question remains why, almost half a century later the
Organisation of African Unity having become " the African Union" at
least on paper, is still lacking in the political will and still quite
unable to take care of business in the Ivory Coast, in Libya, in the
Congo, in Darfur which is in Sudan, not to mention the idea of sending
troops to Mali to defend that country's wholeness/territorial
integrity. France has to do it for Africa, since Africa big as he is
cannot do it for himself. Vive La France!

We are to believe in that kind of continental dream, that " The United
States of Africa" which some believe will be constitutionally birthed
sometime in 2017 , will be able to take care of all of Africa's
regional conflicts.

What does North Africa have in common with Africa South of the Sahara
- apart from some member states in the OIC sharing the same landmass?
Certainly not Nasser's dream of Pan-Arabism/ Pan-Islam?

Since I'm not a dreamer, I have my own serious doubts about when
this continental landmass will be amalgamated into one powerful and
united United States of Africa, united with China or with Africom or
with the Arabian peninsular.

" God don't make promises that He don't keep
You got some big dreams baby, but in order to dream you gotta still be
asleep." ( When you gonna wake up? - Dylan)

A United States of South America?
A United States of Europe?
A United States of the Asian landmass?

These are serious questions. It's a giant step between the idealism
of ideology and implementing that ideology in this dangerous, divided
world.

http://www.thelocal.se/blogs/corneliushamelberg/



On Feb 1, 3:20 pm, "Abdul Bangura" <th...@earthlink.net> wrote:
> Thank you, thank you, thank you, again, Mwalimu Kenneth Harrow.
>
> Colonialisme a bas!
> Neocolonialisme a bas!
> Imperialisme a bas!
> Neoimperialisme a bas!
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: kenneth harrow
> To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com
> Sent: 2/1/2013 9:08:35 AM
> Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - mali, france, and resources
>
> further reports along the same lines, this from cnn. this supports lemonde's analysis of french interests in intervening in mali linked to niger's uranium
> ken
>
> January 29th, 2013
> 01:50 PM ET
> U.S. to establish military presence next to Mali
> By Jamie Crawford and Chris Lawrence
> The United States has signed a deal with the central African nation of Niger to host American troops and surveillance drones to keep tabs on Islamic militants in the region, officials from those countries said Tuesday.
> Niger is next door to Mali, where France joined the fight against Islamic rebels earlier this month
> Pentagon spokesman George Little said the role of U.S. troops in Niger "has not yet been defined" - but Niger's ambassador to the United States, Maman Sidikou, told CNN that his government has agreed to let U.S. drones operate from its territory.
> Sidikou says his understanding of the agreement is the drones will be unarmed and used for surveillance to monitor extremist movements. He refused to discuss where in the country the drones would be based or when they will be operational.
> France: "We are winning in Mali"
> Niger lies to the east of Mali, where French troops and warplanes are fighting alongside government troops to push back Islamist fighters who seized much of the former French colony in 2012.
> The rebels took advantage of the chaos that followed a revolt by Touareg separatists and a military coup, and banned music, smoking, drinking and watching televised sports in the territories under their control.
> Washington is backing its NATO ally by sharing intelligence, flying French troops to neighboring countries and refueling French jets.
> Mali is the home of al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, the North African offshoot of the terrorist movement. The group has been connected to the recent assault on the natural gas facility in Algiers and the attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, that killed U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans.
> Little said the group does not pose a direct threat to the U.S. homeland, but that could change.
> "I'm unaware of any specific or credible information at this time that points to an AQIM threat against the homeland, but, again, I'm not ruling it out," he said. "We take al Qaeda, wherever they are, very seriously. We are not going to rest on our laurels until we find that that kind of specific and credible information."
>
> The New York Times and Wall Street Journal first reported that the U.S. military planned to establish a drone base in Niger to help keep track on extremists in northern Africa. Asked about the reports at a press conference on Tuesday, Little said he refused to speculate on what the U.S. military will do.
> A U.S. official said that intelligence-gathering in that part of Africa is a challenge. The United States has a drone base in Djibouti, at the southern tip of the Red Sea - on the opposite side of the continent from Mali.
> "Djibouti is a long way from Bamako, and there's certainly a growing need for intelligence-gathering," the official said.
> While not confirming the reports about establishing a drone base, the official noted that if one was created, the operation would need infrastructure, security and support.
> Six reasons Mali matters
>
> Post by: By CNN's Adam Levine
> Filed under: Africa � Benghazi � Libya � Mali � Niger
>
> On 2/1/13 6:39 AM, shina73_1...@yahoo.com wrote:
>
> "This presents the anti-war movement with new challenges: How do we build public consciousness about U.S. military agendas in Africa and the existence of operations across the African continent? How do we fight U.S. military expansion when bases appear and disappear overnight? How do we build resistance to the neoliberal and militarist policies that are at the root of the violence and humanitarian crisis going on now in Mali, funded by billions of U.S. tax-payer dollars?"
>
> Superb and logical analysis. I consider that the above questions are directed at the American public. However, I am concerned about their implication for Africa. This is because the questions highlight the powerlessness of African leaders to initiate any significant foreign policy that would effectively contain neocolonial interventions.
>
> Whether or not France is pursuing neocolonial agenda is not the concern here. This is because either way, Africa does not have an answer. We are already overwhelmed by the albatross of assistance of all forms.
>
> What choice does Mali have? Debilitated by debts, undermined by poor, underperforming leadership, harassed by ethnic frustrations. The initiatives are already extroverted! And that is beyond raising awareness.
>
> I'm even wondering now what Nkrumah's reaction would have been, beyond all rhetoric of emancipation.
>
> Adeshina Afolayan
> Sent from my BlackBerry wireless device from MTN
>
> From: "Emeagwali, Gloria (History)" <emeagw...@mail.ccsu.edu>
> Sender: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com
> Date: Thu, 31 Jan 2013 20:56:59 -0500
> To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com<usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>
> ReplyTo: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com
> Subject: RE: USA Africa Dialogue Series - mali, france, and resources
>
> Washington's Wars and Occupations:
> Month in Review #93/January 31, 2013
>
> PERPETUAL WAR
>
> Sasha Wright lays bare the underlying dynamics of the U.S.-supported French intervention in Mali, spotlighting the role of AFRICOM and Western-imposed "structural adjustment" policies. She follows up by assessing the results of Israel's "let's debate-everything-except-settlements-and-occupation" elections.
>
> This month in his inauguration speech President Obama declared that �a decade of war is now ending,� and �enduring security and lasting peace do not require perpetual war.� But the only wars Obama is ending (and even those not 100%) are the big ones, involving large-scale deployment of ground troops, substantial U.S. casualties and direct naked occupations.
>
> As important as it is that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are winding down - to the fury of the Neocons - U.S. militarism continues to spread in new forms. Out of the public eye this administration has killed thousands of civilians in CIA and covert operations drone strikes in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia, has expanded the U.S. network of small bases around the world, and provided training and military aid to support proxy wars. These new perpetual wars are the elite's "Plan B" for securing oil and maintaining U.S. economic and military hegemony in a climate of increased global inequality and the instability created by climate change.
>
> This style of U.S. military involvement and intervention is growing in Africa. Washington's role burst into the headlines this month with the French deployment of troops to Mali backed by U.S. logistical support. The intervention and the Malian crisis overall casts a spotlight on the legacy of colonialism and the current maneuvers of the U.S. via AFRICOM.
>
> WAR IN MALI
>
> Longstanding tensions and conflict in Mali took a dramatic turn this month when French troops invaded to stop the potential advance of rebel group Ansar Dine on Bamako, Mali's capital. The French moved up a potential intervention by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) which was not going to be logistically possible until September 2013. The French, with logistical support from the U.S. and other European countries, bombed rebels in central and northern Mali in advance of Malian and French ground troops. Ansar Dine abandoned most cities, leading to the quick re-establishment of French and Malian control.
>
> The Malian conflict escalated a year ago when the Tuareg National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) rose up in northern cities and declared the north the state of Azawad, using arms that flooded into the region from the war in Libya. Tuareg communities live and travel across the Sahara and the French-imposed borders of Mali, Mauritania, Algeria, Niger and Chad. The Tuareg faced repression for their nomadic lifestyle under French colonialism and later under the Malian government, and have risen up for increased autonomy and economic development in the north three previous times since independence in 1960.
>
> Last March a group of junior officers angered by the government's management of the fighting led a coup against President Amadou Toumani Toure. In the disarray that followed MNLA forces drove the Malian military out of the northern cities of Timbuktu, Gao and Kidal. ECOWAS imposed an embargo and immediately began talks on forming a West African force to reestablish Mali's territorial integrity.
>
> Just a month later the MNLA was pushed aside by former allies in the uprising - the Islamist organizations of Ansar Dine, the Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO) and Al Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). Both AQIM and MUJAO had previously operated in Algeria and Mauritania and included fighters from neighboring countries. Ansar Dine is a newer organization led by Iyad Ag Ghaly, a former high-profile Tuareg nationalist and fighter for the Qaddafi regime who converted to fundamentalist Islam. All these organizations had gained funds and arms through hostage trades and cocaine smuggling and were better equipped than the MNLA. Ansar Dine's goal was not to establish a separate Tuareg state but to impose a form of Sharia law, which they did, using extra-judicial punishments like whippings and amputations as well as destroying Sufi tombs and historic sites. Many locals protested these brutal policies but
>
> ...
>
> read more »
>
>  unknown.jpg
> 45KViewDownload

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