{"id":100710,"date":"2017-10-23T12:00:46","date_gmt":"2017-10-23T11:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=100710"},"modified":"2017-10-30T10:14:16","modified_gmt":"2017-10-30T10:14:16","slug":"americas-scramble-for-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2017\/10\/americas-scramble-for-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"America’s Scramble for Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"
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CC0 \/ Pixabay<\/p><\/div>\n

The ugly row over whether President Trump disrespected the young widow of a fallen American soldier has overshadowed a bigger issue. That is, the increasing number of US military operations across the African continent.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

19 Oct 2017<\/em> –\u00a0Two weeks ago, Sgt La David Johnson (25) was killed along with three other US special forces troops when Islamist militants ambushed their patrol in the West African country of Niger. Trump got into hot water this week about reported offhand comments he made to the widow of Green Beret Johnson. The president denies he said anything disrespectful. Although the dead soldier’s family says otherwise.<\/p>\n

In all the media controversy over\u00a0what Trump said or didn’t say, questions about\u00a0what US troops are doing in\u00a0Niger are unfortunately overlooked. Not just Niger, but\u00a0in dozens of\u00a0other African nations.<\/p>\n

It is reckoned<\/a> from\u00a0US army data that there are thousands of\u00a0special forces and other military personnel carrying out\u00a0up to\u00a0100 missions at\u00a0any given time in\u00a0some 24 African states. That’s nearly half of\u00a0all the countries comprising the African continent.<\/p>\n

US special forces and surveillance drone operations are deployed in\u00a0Niger, Chad, Mali and Sudan which all run along\u00a0the southern Sahara desert. Further south in\u00a0sub-Saharan Africa, US military are operating in\u00a0Nigeria, Central African Republic, Uganda, Ethiopia and, of\u00a0course, Somalia, where they are involved in\u00a0a state of\u00a0war against\u00a0Islamist al Shabab militants.<\/p>\n

The deployment of\u00a0US troops in\u00a0Africa was first stepped up\u00a0under President GW Bush when his administration formed AFRICOM in\u00a02007, a whole US command dedicated to\u00a0the continent. Subsequently, under\u00a0President Barack Obama, the American deployments increased further. Now under\u00a0President Trump, the US force presence is reckoned to\u00a0be at\u00a0its highest level yet.<\/p>\n

The official explanation is that American soldiers, Navy and air power, as\u00a0well as\u00a0CIA clandestine operations, are there to\u00a0counter terror groups, who could plan and mount strikes on\u00a0Europe and North America.<\/p>\n

True, there are several dangerous terror networks active in\u00a0various African states, from\u00a0al Shabaab in\u00a0Somalia, to\u00a0Boko Haram in\u00a0Nigeria and al-Qaeda in\u00a0the Maghreb. The latter has affiliates in\u00a0Algeria, Mali, Chad and Niger where the US troops were killed recently along\u00a0with a number of\u00a0 local forces they were supporting.<\/p>\n

But there is more than\u00a0a suspicion that the US is using the cover of\u00a0combating terrorism to\u00a0conceal and project its real objective, which is to\u00a0exert its influence over\u00a0African nations. One observation for\u00a0raising doubts is that the problem of\u00a0these terror groups has actually grown more rapidly after\u00a0the US troops started to\u00a0be deployed in\u00a0larger numbers under\u00a0President Bush. Echoes of\u00a0Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria here.<\/p>\n

When Trump hosted several African leaders last month in\u00a0New York during\u00a0the UN annual congress he told them that his American investor friends were hotfooting it to\u00a0the continent “to make a lot of\u00a0money”. Typical of\u00a0Trump, everything is reduced to\u00a0filthy lucre. Now he may have been trying to\u00a0charm his guests with\u00a0a little light-hearted banter, but\u00a0there’s much more to\u00a0the joke. Africa is indeed seen as\u00a0the continent of\u00a0the future owing to\u00a0its prodigious and still largely untapped resources.<\/p>\n

The trouble for\u00a0America and other Western powers is that China has stolen a march on\u00a0them in\u00a0terms of\u00a0cultivating investments and harnessing resources across\u00a0Africa. Under President Xi Jinping, China has investment projects worth an estimated<\/a> $60 billion in\u00a0dozens of\u00a0African countries. This is way ahead of\u00a0what the Americans or Europeans have invested.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, China opened its first ever overseas military base, in\u00a0the East African country of\u00a0Djibouti. That’s still small news compared with\u00a0the reported 46 military bases that the US has across\u00a0the continent.<\/p>\n

Beijing said its new military facilities in\u00a0Djibouti are to\u00a0secure vital shipping routes against\u00a0piracy in\u00a0the Gulf of\u00a0Aden. That may be partly true. But there is also the factor of\u00a0China wanting a security foothold in\u00a0a continent where it has staked so much of\u00a0its future economic growth plans.<\/p>\n

The big difference between\u00a0the US and China is that while Beijing has devoted most of\u00a0its resources to\u00a0developing trade and industry with\u00a0African states, Washington’s emphasis is on\u00a0military relations.<\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

China has gained much respect from\u00a0African nations for\u00a0its genuine commitment to\u00a0partnership. It is bringing capital and technology to\u00a0Africa and gaining access to\u00a0natural resources of\u00a0oil and gas, metals and other minerals. Unlike the old European colonialism, China’s involvement in\u00a0Africa is based on\u00a0partnership and mutual development. For access to\u00a0raw materials, China has built schools, universities, telecommunications and transport networks, which are all helping the continent reach its huge potential.<\/p>\n

The Americans like\u00a0the Europeans are stuck in\u00a0an “extractive mentality” when it comes to\u00a0Africa. But today, American capitalism is broke. It can’t even invest in\u00a0its own nation never mind Africa.<\/p>\n

Trump speaks for\u00a0American capitalism. Knowing the rich resources possessed in\u00a0Africa’s earth and its people, Trump salivates over\u00a0the prospect of\u00a0making big bucks. But the Americans aren’t prepared to\u00a0spend the investment money needed to\u00a0harness the rewards.<\/p>\n

That’s where the US military muscle comes in. In place of\u00a0proper economic investment, diplomacy and political partnership, Washington is using its military edge to\u00a0encroach on\u00a0Africa\u00a0\u2014 under\u00a0the guise of “fighting terrorism”.<\/p>\n

That’s not to\u00a0say that American troops aren’t confronting terror groups. They are, as\u00a0the deadly firefight in\u00a0Niger shows.<\/p>\n

But the real purpose for\u00a0increasing US military strength in\u00a0Africa is about\u00a0securing American strategic economic interests “on the cheap” by\u00a0using military power as\u00a0opposed to\u00a0deploying financial commitment in\u00a0the way that China has.<\/p>\n

The Americans want to\u00a0have military firepower in\u00a0place across\u00a0Africa in\u00a0the event of\u00a0a sharp confrontation with\u00a0China. China is seen as\u00a0the global rival to\u00a0failing US economic power. If relations turn really nasty\u00a0\u2014 as\u00a0they could over\u00a0any number of\u00a0issues, from\u00a0North Korea to\u00a0territorial disputes in\u00a0the South China Sea\u00a0\u2014 the US wants to\u00a0have military ways to\u00a0cut China off\u00a0in Africa.<\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Like the Europeans in\u00a0a previous century, the Americans are in\u00a0a “scramble for\u00a0Africa”. This time the scramble is all about\u00a0cornering countries and resources from\u00a0China’s legitimate expanding bilateral interests with\u00a0African nations.<\/p>\n

However, America’s militarism in\u00a0Africa will bring no benefit to\u00a0the countries. As in\u00a0other parts of\u00a0the globe, the Middle East, North Africa, Central Asia, the pattern clearly shows that terrorism burgeons where US military operations occur.<\/p>\n

Besides, American capitalism is not motivated by\u00a0developing Africa for\u00a0its people. It’s about\u00a0making profits for\u00a0Wall Street and rich investors like\u00a0Trump.<\/p>\n

The real danger is that this militarism will lead to\u00a0another point of\u00a0confrontation with\u00a0China if the latter’s economic interests are threatened, as\u00a0they were when US and NATO forces bombed Libya in\u00a02011 for\u00a0regime change.<\/p>\n

It’s such a crying shame that American widows are having their hearts broken for\u00a0a mission that is totally fraudulent\u00a0\u2014 and getting no thanks for\u00a0it from\u00a0a callous Commander-in-Chief.<\/p>\n

______________________________________<\/p>\n

Finian Cunningham<\/em>, originally from Belfast, Ireland is a prominent expert in international affairs. The author and media commentator was expelled from Bahrain in June 2011 for his critical journalism in which he highlighted human rights violations by the Western-backed regime. For many years, he worked as an editor and writer in the mainstream news media, including <\/em>The Mirror, Irish Times and<\/em> Independent. He is now based in East Africa where he is writing a book on Bahrain and the Arab Spring.<\/em><\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 sputniknews.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

19 Oct 2017 – The ugly row over whether President Trump disrespected the young widow of a fallen American soldier has overshadowed a bigger issue. That is, the increasing number of US military operations across the African continent.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57,127,65],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-100710","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-militarism","category-africa","category-anglo-america"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100710","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=100710"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100710\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100710"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=100710"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=100710"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}