Representatives from the United States, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Russia gathered in the capital of the West African country of Mali — Bamako — on Oct. 13-14 to discuss the coordination of intelligence and military operations in North and West Africa.
These Group of 8 countries said the conference was held to address the growing influence of armed opposition groups in the Maghreb and the Sahel, groups which they claim are affiliates of al-Qaida.
The real interests that lie behind the U.S. and G8 involvement in the Maghreb and Sahel, however, are the desire to maintain control over the strategic minerals and resources of the area and to block greater involvement by the People’s Republic of China.
People within North America and Western Europe must keep in mind that the corporate media and government emphasis on “battling terrorism” in the region is designed to build public opinion in support of increasing intelligence and military intervention on the African continent.
Speaking diplomatically, a leading officer within the Malian military, Col. Yamoussa Camara, told the Associated Press on Oct. 18 that there is significant opposition to direct imperialist intervention in the region even under the guise of “fighting terrorism.” Camara noted, “Given our past, we are not very receptive to foreign forces getting directly involved in military operations here, whatever their motives might be.”
Perhaps the Malian colonel was thinking of the similarity between the Bamako meeting and the 1884 Berlin meeting, where 14 European imperialist countries — the U.S., a weaker power then, was invited but didn’t participate — got together in German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck’s offices and carved up Africa, seizing the various parts as their colonies to plunder. Most of the larger European countries were present at both the Berlin and Bamako meetings, this time with the U.S. playing the leading role and Japan and Canada invited.
U.S. interests in the Maghreb-Sahel
There are increasing economic and military interests on the part of U.S. imperialism in the regions of North and West Africa. A greater reliance on oil and gas from Africa as well as the increased competition with the People’s Republic of China have intensified Washington’s drive for greater influence in regions where France has been the dominant colonial power.
Professor of International Relations Yahia H. Zoubir, writing for the establishment British journal International Affairs (Vol. 85, 2009, 977-995), noted two major interests guiding U.S. policy in the region: “The first are linked to America’s energy needs, and focus on oil and gas in Algeria, Chad and Libya, and perhaps in Mali and Mauritania; they also favor the development of a stronger regional entity, which would provide a potentially important market for U.S. businesses, especially since competition has heightened with China’s recent gains in Africa.”
Zoubir illustrates that the U.S. “has slowly but surely succeeded in creating a security network that brings together the Maghreb and Sahel states.” Zoubir first writes that “Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb carries out lethal attacks in Algeria and resorts to kidnappings of foreign nationals,” but then points out that “it has nonetheless been exaggerated; according to some, it has actually been fabricated.”
Zoubir says plainly that “the real menace in the region stems from poverty, bad governance, lack of democracy, corruption and economic mismanagement.” He points out that the countries within the region “are among the poorest in the world; and it is these very countries that are being assembled in the new U.S.-led security arrangements.”
Some African states boycott meeting
There were numerous African states within the region that were represented at the Bamako meeting, including Burkina Faso, Niger, Nigeria, Morocco, Senegal and of course the host country, Mali. Algeria boycotted the meeting, disagreeing over the strategy being discussed by the group.
This meeting was convened under the leadership of the Canadian government, which has substantial mining interests in the region and is also the current G8 chair. Canadian ambassador to Mali, Virginie Saint-Louis, pointed out that the Western states must be sensitive about their involvement in the region. (Associated Press, Oct. 18)
Disregarding such sensitivity, in September French military forces dispatched dozens of troops and aircraft in an operation purportedly designed to search for contractors who were seized while working in northern Niger in a uranium mining outpost. The contractors were working for the French nuclear firm Areva, which has enormous interests in Niger.
Prior to the Niger intervention, in June French military units staged a raid with Mauritanian troops on al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) inside of Mali. Although the French said that the raid was carried out to free one of their nationals who was being held hostage, the person whom they were out to rescue was killed in the operation.
Col. Camara of Mali said that the Western states should focus most of their attention on providing military hardware and counterterrorism training to African states in the region. This sentiment was also reflected in comments made by Col. Iro Oumarou of Niger, who said, “What we’d like from Western countries in general is training, specialized equipment and especially support in intelligence gathering.” (Associated Press, Oct. 18)
The meeting in Mali came in the aftermath of a similar gathering on Sept. 26 in Tamanrasset, Algeria, a former French military outpost during the colonial period. The meeting agreed to establish a joint intelligence gathering and coordination center that would include representatives from Algeria, Mali, Mauritania and Niger.
As a result of the meeting in Tamanrasset, a coordinating body was set up in Algiers that includes the top intelligence officers of the four states: Major-General Attafi of Algeria, Colonel Mamy Coulibaly of Mali, Mohamed Ould Meguett of Mauritania and Commissioner Mamane Chekaraou of Niger. They named the coordinating structure the Sahel-Saharan Intelligence Center.
There are plans now to make the Center operational in order to coordinate its activities with the African Center for the Study and Research on Terrorism (ACSRT), which is a part of the African Union Peace and Security Council located in El-Harach, a suburb outside the Algerian capital of Algiers.
Despite these efforts to coordinate activity between the Maghreb states and the G8 countries, there is still tremendous distrust and division among the various states in the region.
There is deep distrust between Algeria and Morocco over the still unresolved question of independence for the Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony now under the control of Rabat.
Sem comentários:
Enviar um comentário