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

Amen, Mwalimu Osagyefo Mensah! You hit the proverbial nail right on the head, albeit it is no excuse for the West to re-colonize Afrika. Imagine if the Chinese decide to colonize us in America because we owe them so much money!  The Chinese will not even dare to entertain such a thought. In essence, Afrika's condition can be explained mostly by its powerlessness due to its failure to create a Union of Afrikan States.

 

When some of us were advocating that Afrikans cut off the "foreign aid" apron strings because they do more harm than good to the Motherland, we were accused of being too idealistic and looking at the proverbial gift horse in the mouth.

 

 

 

----- Original Message -----

From: Edward Mensah

To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com

Sent: 1/31/2013 8:23:35 PM

Subject: RE: USA Africa Dialogue Series - mali, france, and resources

 

Osagyefo Bangura,

 

I just read from a posting from this forum that African Diaspora remitted $530 billion to the mother land in 2012, more than 10 times the value of foreign direct aid, implying that well managed remittances can easily substitute for foreign aid. In essence, Africa does not need aid. But we keep borrowing and living on grants.  Once you take their money they ( the west) will keep having 'interest' in your domestic affairs.  For all you may care to know that uranium in the ground may only reside on Malian soil. The government in Bamako probably owes France and the west more than the value of the uranium. And that goes for most of the African resources.  On that basis, the only reason I can find for France coming to Mali to defend uranium mines is probably to make sure that there are resources to pay the loans. I  would do same if I were France.  AFRICANS SHOULD STOP TAKING DUBIOUS LOANS FOR PRESENT CONSUMPTION AT THE EXPENSE OF FUTURE GENERATIONS!!   The Diaspora should come out with novel ideas to securitize the remittance, create remittance-supported bonds tradable on capital markets to create wealth for the continent. We need good ideas not teary-eyed nostalgia for Kwame Nkrumah's ideas.  Let the Great Man rest in peace!  Ammi

 

Edward Mensah

 

Chicago

 

 

From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com [mailto:usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Abdul Bangura
Sent: Thursday, January 31, 2013 2:25 PM
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com; usaafricadialogue
Subject: RE: USA Africa Dialogue Series - mali, france, and resources

 

Thank you, thank you, thank you, Mwalimu Kenneth Harrow, for your graceful concession. In fact, some high-level folks in Mali informed us this morning that France's plan is to divide the country and make a separate deal with the Tuareg, as they have demanded, so that France can loot the uranium. France is also eyeing the oil while stealing the gold through a French company that operates from Canada.

 

If anyone tells me that this is not the continuous steps to recolonize Africa, with Obama's drones bases to support the machinations, then I have TEN bridges in Washington to sell.

 

If our people on the Motherland and those of us in the Diaspora do not push vigorously and quickly for a Union of Afrikan States, for which Osagyefo Kwame Nkrumah and other Afrikan stalwarts lost their lives, to fight these Satanic imperialists, all of us are doomed!

 

 

 

----- Original Message -----

From: kenneth harrow

To: usaafricadialogue

Sent: 1/31/2013 12:01:47 PM

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

 

here is an argument in Le Monde to the effect that france's interest in  sending troops to mali were to assure regional security, especially in relation to the uranium mines in niger. this bolsters abdul's argument. at the same time hollande states france has no interest in the resources in mali. sorry if you don't read french, but that's the gist of the piece below
ken

Mines d'uranium : "la France n'a pas intérêt à ce que le conflit malien s'étende au Niger"

Le Monde.fr | 30.01.2013 à 20h37 • Mis à jour le 31.01.2013 à 13h41 Propos recueillis par Angela Bolis

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La France a-t-elle, derrière son intervention au Mali, des intérêts économiques à protéger dans la région ? C'est ce qu'affirme Stéphane Lhomme, directeur de l'Observatoire du nucléaire, selon qui l'entrée en guerre de Paris vise directement à "sécuriser l'approvisionnement des centrales françaises en uranium : ce dernier est extrait dans les mines du nord du Niger, zone désertique seulement séparée du Mali... par une ligne sur les cartes géographiques".

C'est aussi ce qui est avancé dans certains titres de presse, comme le quotidien algérien El Watan, qui explique que "la proximité du Mali par rapport au Niger (4^e producteur mondial d'uranium), son appartenance à la région du Sahel considérée par les experts comme 'espace charnière pour le transport du pétrole et du gaz', et plus globalement au continent africain, théâtre de luttes d'influence entre les puissances économiques mondiales, sont autant de facteurs pouvant expliquer l'intervention française au Mali". Sur le site Atlantico enfin, le journaliste Florent Detroy, spécialiste des matières premières, est du même avis, estimant que "l'arrêt des mines du Niger serait catastrophique pour le groupe [Areva] et pour les Français", et que "le risque d'un 'choc uranium' du fait d'une internationalisation du conflit actuel au Mali n'est pas impossible". 

Dans un entretien au Monde.fr, Emmanuel Grégoire, directeur de recherche à l'Institut de recherche pour le développement (IRD), avance que, s'il n'y a pas de lien direct entre l'intervention de la France au Mali et ses mines d'uranium au Niger, il est clair que la France n'a pas intérêt à ce que le conflit s'étende à ce pays, qui assure un tiers des approvisionnements en uranium de son parc nucléaire.

• La France n'a-t-elle aucun intérêt, en termes de ressources naturelles, à protéger au Mali ?

François Hollande a assuré que la France n'avait pas de véritables intérêts actuellement au Mali. C'est vrai. Elle ne participe pas à l'extraction d'or, principale ressource d'exportation du pays. Mais à l'avenir, elle pourrait en avoir : dans le bassin de Taoudeni, du nom d'une oasis à cheval entre le nord du Mali et la Mauritanie, des permis de prospection ont été accordés à des compagnies algérienne, canadienne, angolaise et française (Total) pour trouver du pétrole.

Total a fait un premier forage (côté mauritanien), en 2010, qui a été estimé décevant. Elle avait prévu d'en faire un second, qui a été gelé en raison du conflit. Cette région malienne est, certes, très enclavée, mais elle pourrait s'avérer rentable avec la hausse du cours du pétrole, surtout si les gisements sont abondants et de qualité.

• Quels sont les intérêts de la France dans le pays voisin du Niger ?

Au Niger, la France n'exploite pas de pétrole : c'est la Chine qui est sur le marché, dans la région d'Agadem, et compte, à long terme, en exporter. Toutefois, c'est dans l'uranium que la France possède d'importants intérêts. Le Niger pèse en effet pour 30 % de l'approvisionnement des centrales nucléaires françaises.

Areva y possède deux mines, celle d'Arlit et celle d'Akokan. Et une troisième est en construction, à Imouraren. A l'horizon 2020, elle devrait produire 5 000 tonnes de minerai, et devenir la première mine d'uranium d'Afrique. Le Niger, propulsé au second rang des pays producteurs d'uranium, pèserait alors pour la moitié des approvisionnements de la France.

Après la prise d'otage meurtrière à In Amenas en Algérie, la France a décidé de sécuriser ses mines au Niger. Il y a eu des prises d'otage par le passé, or, avec la nouvelle mine d'Imouraren, le nombre d'employés dans les sites français devrait atteindre plus de 300 expatriés. Le président nigérien, Mahamadou Issoufou, a accepté la présence de forces françaises sur son territoire, alors que son prédécesseur s'y opposait. L'arrivée au pouvoir de François Hollande et de M. Issoufou, qui est membre de l'Internationale socialiste, a changé les relations entre les deux pays. Il a aussi prôné une intervention militaire au Mali, et a envoyé des troupes sur place, à Gao notamment.

 

-- 

kenneth w. harrow 

faculty excellence advocate

distinguished professor of english

michigan state university

department of english

619 red cedar road

room C-614 wells hall

east lansing, mi 48824

ph. 517 803 8839

harrow@msu.edu

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USA Africa Dialogue Series - nytimes and propaganda

the following, today's lead story in the ny times, is an amazing! example of propaganda.
if you look at what follows, here is what you get.
a headline about the terrible threat to the manuscripts in timbuktu. they are muslim mss, but if we are to vilify muslims, let's just pretend they are intellectual heritage for the world.
secondly, the picture shows books scattered on the floor
next the lead paragraph indicates that we don't know what happened to the texts since scholars are reported as frantically searching for them
the next paragraph tells us scholars (those are the good guys) fear the worst (not "feared" the worst)
by that point, the light reader is shaking his head, is murmuring imprecations against the modern vandals who wrought such destruction, and has turned to the sports or editorial page.
only those who get to paragraph 3 get the corrective that most of the texts apparently escaped damage.
i have no love for ansar dine, but who could not be moved to anger by this kind of manipulative journalism?
ken

new york times  January 30, 2013, 8:39 am11 Comments

Mali’s Culture War: The Fate of the Timbuktu Manuscripts

By HARVEY MORRIS

Eric Feferberg/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images The ashes of ancient manuscripts were discovered at a Timbuktu library on Tuesday.

LONDON — Scholars are urgently trying to determine the fate of a treasure store of ancient manuscripts in the city of Timbuktu.

As French-led forces consolidated their hold on northern Mali, international scholars feared the worst: that retreating Islamic militants had torched the Ahmed Baba Institute, home to 30,000 priceless items of scholarship dating back to the 13th century.

But many volumes may have escaped destruction by being hidden from fundamentalist forces that seized the north last year. The militants launched a campaign to eradicate historic vestiges of a medieval Muslim civilization that they deemed un-Islamic.

South African researchers involved in a project to preserve the Timbuktu manuscripts have had word that most of the treasures survived in private libraries and secure locations.

--   kenneth w. harrow   faculty excellence advocate  distinguished professor of english  michigan state university  department of english  619 red cedar road  room C-614 wells hall  east lansing, mi 48824  ph. 517 803 8839  harrow@msu.edu

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

dear edward
as far as i have read, the uranian mines are in niger. there was even a movie made about one
the french fear that a hostile islamist regime in n mali would destabilize the region, and threaten the flow of uranium to france which depends on niger's uranium for 30% of their usage of uranium.
i don't think mali has uranium. further, niger has a very pro-french govt now, which has accepted french troops on the ground to protect those uranium mines. it is all there in the article i copied, but unfortunately is in french.
another small point: algeria is the major player in that region. how it plays out its interests would be very interesting to know. obviously they are very hostile to al-qaeda of the maghreb, the former fis whom they fought for 10 years, with hundreds of thousands of deaths.
ken

On 1/31/13 7:59 PM, Edward Mensah wrote:

 

Osagyefo Bangura,

 

I just read from a posting from this forum that African Diaspora remitted $530 billion to the mother land in 2012, more than 10 times the value of foreign direct aid, implying that well managed remittances can easily substitute for foreign aid. In essence, Africa does not need aid. But we keep borrowing and living on grants.  Once you take their money they ( the west) will keep having 'interest' in your domestic affairs.  For all you may care to know that uranium in the ground may only reside on Malian soil. The government in Bamako probably owes France and the west more than the value of the uranium. And that goes for most of the African resources.  On that basis, the only reason I can find for France coming to Mali to defend uranium mines is probably to make sure that there are resources to pay the loans. I  would do same if I were France.  AFRICANS SHOULD STOP TAKING DUBIOUS LOANS FOR PRESENT CONSUMPTION AT THE EXPENSE OF FUTURE GENERATIONS!!   The Diaspora should come out with novel ideas to securitize the remittance, create remittance-supported bonds tradable on capital markets to create wealth for the continent. We need good ideas not teary-eyed nostalgia for Kwame Nkrumah's ideas.  Let the Great Man rest in peace!  Ammi

 

Edward Mensah

 

Chicago

 

 

From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com [mailto:usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Abdul Bangura
Sent: Thursday, January 31, 2013 2:25 PM
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com; usaafricadialogue
Subject: RE: USA Africa Dialogue Series - mali, france, and resources

 

Thank you, thank you, thank you, Mwalimu Kenneth Harrow, for your graceful concession. In fact, some high-level folks in Mali informed us this morning that France's plan is to divide the country and make a separate deal with the Tuareg, as they have demanded, so that France can loot the uranium. France is also eyeing the oil while stealing the gold through a French company that operates from Canada.

 

If anyone tells me that this is not the continuous steps to recolonize Africa, with Obama's drones bases to support the machinations, then I have TEN bridges in Washington to sell.

 

If our people on the Motherland and those of us in the Diaspora do not push vigorously and quickly for a Union of Afrikan States, for which Osagyefo Kwame Nkrumah and other Afrikan stalwarts lost their lives, to fight these Satanic imperialists, all of us are doomed!

 

 

 

----- Original Message -----

From: kenneth harrow

To: usaafricadialogue

Sent: 1/31/2013 12:01:47 PM

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

 

here is an argument in Le Monde to the effect that france's interest in  sending troops to mali were to assure regional security, especially in relation to the uranium mines in niger. this bolsters abdul's argument. at the same time hollande states france has no interest in the resources in mali. sorry if you don't read french, but that's the gist of the piece below
ken

Mines d'uranium : "la France n'a pas intérêt à ce que le conflit malien s'étende au Niger"

Le Monde.fr | 30.01.2013 à 20h37 • Mis à jour le 31.01.2013 à 13h41 Propos recueillis par Angela Bolis

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à partir de 1 €RéagirClasserImprimerEnvoyer

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La France a-t-elle, derrière son intervention au Mali, des intérêts économiques à protéger dans la région ? C'est ce qu'affirme Stéphane Lhomme, directeur de l'Observatoire du nucléaire, selon qui l'entrée en guerre de Paris vise directement à "sécuriser l'approvisionnement des centrales françaises en uranium : ce dernier est extrait dans les mines du nord du Niger, zone désertique seulement séparée du Mali... par une ligne sur les cartes géographiques".

C'est aussi ce qui est avancé dans certains titres de presse, comme le quotidien algérien El Watan, qui explique que "la proximité du Mali par rapport au Niger (4^e producteur mondial d'uranium), son appartenance à la région du Sahel considérée par les experts comme 'espace charnière pour le transport du pétrole et du gaz', et plus globalement au continent africain, théâtre de luttes d'influence entre les puissances économiques mondiales, sont autant de facteurs pouvant expliquer l'intervention française au Mali". Sur le site Atlantico enfin, le journaliste Florent Detroy, spécialiste des matières premières, est du même avis, estimant que "l'arrêt des mines du Niger serait catastrophique pour le groupe [Areva] et pour les Français", et que "le risque d'un 'choc uranium' du fait d'une internationalisation du conflit actuel au Mali n'est pas impossible". 

Dans un entretien au Monde.fr, Emmanuel Grégoire, directeur de recherche à l'Institut de recherche pour le développement (IRD), avance que, s'il n'y a pas de lien direct entre l'intervention de la France au Mali et ses mines d'uranium au Niger, il est clair que la France n'a pas intérêt à ce que le conflit s'étende à ce pays, qui assure un tiers des approvisionnements en uranium de son parc nucléaire.

• La France n'a-t-elle aucun intérêt, en termes de ressources naturelles, à protéger au Mali ?

François Hollande a assuré que la France n'avait pas de véritables intérêts actuellement au Mali. C'est vrai. Elle ne participe pas à l'extraction d'or, principale ressource d'exportation du pays. Mais à l'avenir, elle pourrait en avoir : dans le bassin de Taoudeni, du nom d'une oasis à cheval entre le nord du Mali et la Mauritanie, des permis de prospection ont été accordés à des compagnies algérienne, canadienne, angolaise et française (Total) pour trouver du pétrole.

Total a fait un premier forage (côté mauritanien), en 2010, qui a été estimé décevant. Elle avait prévu d'en faire un second, qui a été gelé en raison du conflit. Cette région malienne est, certes, très enclavée, mais elle pourrait s'avérer rentable avec la hausse du cours du pétrole, surtout si les gisements sont abondants et de qualité.

• Quels sont les intérêts de la France dans le pays voisin du Niger ?

Au Niger, la France n'exploite pas de pétrole : c'est la Chine qui est sur le marché, dans la région d'Agadem, et compte, à long terme, en exporter. Toutefois, c'est dans l'uranium que la France possède d'importants intérêts. Le Niger pèse en effet pour 30 % de l'approvisionnement des centrales nucléaires françaises.

Areva y possède deux mines, celle d'Arlit et celle d'Akokan. Et une troisième est en construction, à Imouraren. A l'horizon 2020, elle devrait produire 5 000 tonnes de minerai, et devenir la première mine d'uranium d'Afrique. Le Niger, propulsé au second rang des pays producteurs d'uranium, pèserait alors pour la moitié des approvisionnements de la France.

Après la prise d'otage meurtrière à In Amenas en Algérie, la France a décidé de sécuriser ses mines au Niger. Il y a eu des prises d'otage par le passé, or, avec la nouvelle mine d'Imouraren, le nombre d'employés dans les sites français devrait atteindre plus de 300 expatriés. Le président nigérien, Mahamadou Issoufou, a accepté la présence de forces françaises sur son territoire, alors que son prédécesseur s'y opposait. L'arrivée au pouvoir de François Hollande et de M. Issoufou, qui est membre de l'Internationale socialiste, a changé les relations entre les deux pays. Il a aussi prôné une intervention militaire au Mali, et a envoyé des troupes sur place, à Gao notamment.

 

-- 

kenneth w. harrow 

faculty excellence advocate

distinguished professor of english

michigan state university

department of english

619 red cedar road

room C-614 wells hall

east lansing, mi 48824

ph. 517 803 8839

harrow@msu.edu

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--   kenneth w. harrow   faculty excellence advocate  distinguished professor of english  michigan state university  department of english  619 red cedar road  room C-614 wells hall  east lansing, mi 48824  ph. 517 803 8839  harrow@msu.edu

Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series -equiano the african?

dear olayinka
i am also convinced, through very close readings of the hebrew bible, that the dominant text/discourse is that of a patriarchy overwriting a matriarchal text. i see it in the ancient name of god as el-shaddai, but more important in the narratives that reiterate male female relations that ultimate demonstrate the prevailing of a patriarchal order, but reveal beneath it the matriarchy, as in the story of jacob and his brother esau, where jacob's mother, rebecca engineers the younger brother jacob's rise over his older brother esau. the egyptians had had a matriarchal order, but maybe it was more characteristic of some other place in the mediterranean region that account for its presence in ancient hebrew civilization. an expert might be able to answer that; but i have read, as in leila ahmed, that ancient egypt was matriarchal, and subsequently patriarchy prevailed. she argues that patriarchy marked urban cultures which rose at the time of muhammed.
ken

On 1/31/13 3:17 PM, Olayinka Agbetuyi wrote:

Yes Prof Fenyo.  It was heretical to the Egyptian way of life then and  as Ken rightly asserted, after the death of Pharaoh Akhenaten, order was restored.  i.e the balance of power shared by the priesthood and the 'executive' kingship, which Akhenaten sought to desecrate and monopolise.  This sense of balance is perhaps the greatest similarity between Yoruba traditional governance and ancient Egyptian governance.  Indeed, as ken tangentially stated, a resuscitation of the abandoned practice has been traced to the rise of monotheism in Israel through the Mosaic connection ie 40 days and night in the Sinai wilderness.  The old testament, critically read, is a testimony of how resuscitated monotheism was imposed on the polytheism of the promised land.  Also, the Sinai journey,as archaeologists have shown is a record of the link between hieroglyphics and lettered writing as we know it today.

---

Subject: RE: USA Africa Dialogue Series -equiano the african?
Date: Tue, 29 Jan 2013 15:17:52 -0500
From: MFenyo@bowiestate.edu
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com

Dear Professor:

 

you might add, if you agree, that there was a time when the god of the sundisc (aten)  was the only god.   That notion may seem heretical to some but not to Jews, Muslims  or most Christians

 

Dr. Mario D. Fenyo

University Professor of American History

Department of History and Government

Bowie State University

Bowie, MD 20715

USA

---

From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com on behalf of Olayinka Agbetuyi
Sent: Tue 1/29/2013 6:40 AM
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com
Subject: RE: USA Africa Dialogue Series -equiano the african?

Ken:

As unbelievable as it may sound, the Egyptians during a period of royal heresy worshipped a God in the sun disc itself.

---

Date: Mon, 28 Jan 2013 23:57:27 -0500
From: harrow@msu.edu
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series -equiano the african?

thanks kwabena
i don't have any trouble believing the statement about chukwu residing in the heavens, where the sun and stars etc are located. but in the sun itself?
i wonder about that part of it
ken

On 1/28/13 2:42 PM, Akurang-Parry, Kwabena wrote:

Ken:
 
The religious cosmology or mythological cosmology of the Akans of Ghana teaches that Onyankopong (God, the Creator) inhabits "soro" or space and sky where the sun, moon, stars, etc. reside. I have not studied Igbo religious and mythological cosmologies, ontology, and worldview, but from a comparative standpoint, Equiano's statement that the Igbos have a "god who dwells in the sun" is true and speaks to the religious beliefs of many precolonial African states and societies. See the classic African Religions and Philosophy by John S. Mbiti.
 
Kwabena

 

---

From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com [usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com] on behalf of kenneth harrow [harrow@msu.edu]
Sent: Monday, January 28, 2013 1:04 PM
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series -equiano the african?

i should add that in reading equiano's account, intuitively speaking, and not as a specialist in 18th c igbo, i found his account not credible when describing africa. i know there is a big polemic about this; but i wonder if anyone on this list could also chime in on their intuitive reaction to his account.
ken

On 1/28/13 4:24 AM, ChidiAnthonyOparaPoetry/Quotes wrote:

(Poem By: Chidi Anthony Opara)

 

I come before you

This hour before dawn

Chukwu.

You, who dwell above,

Below

Is your foot stool.

You, whom the gods

Genuflect in his presence,

Before you I come

Clean,

Devoid of dirt.

 

Your covenant with my forebears

Bound me to come before you

On this market day,

At this hour

To purge my soul of impurities

Of the period past.

I have washed my body

And rinsed my mouth

With the waters of onu ngara.

 

No human is worthy

To present sacrifices

And libations in your presence.

My sacrifices

I have presented to the good gods,

My libations

To my ancestors.

 

I stand before you in awe,

Yet

I must make my confessions

Before the din of dawn.

 

 

 

Reproductions in part or in whole, in whatever forms, of ChidiAnthonyOparaPoetry/Quotes except for non-profit information and education purposes, without a written permission from PublicInformationProjects is not allowed.

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--   kenneth w. harrow   faculty excellence advocate  distinguished professor of english  michigan state university  department of english  619 red cedar road  room C-614 wells hall  east lansing, mi 48824  ph. 517 803 8839  harrow@msu.edu