The Ravaging of Africa, Part One: Militarizing Africa

22 Dec 2007

Part 1 of 4: Militarizing Africa

"Nearly 80% of the strategic minerals the US requires are found in Africa, including 90% of th4e world's cobalt, 90% of the platinum,
40% of the gold, 98% of the chrominum, 64% of the manganese, and one third of the uranium. These minerals are needed to make jet engines, cars, missiles, electronic components, to manuafcture iron and steel. No industrial society can exist without these substances. Africa also accounts for 18% of oil imports, a number which is expected to rise.

"Africa is the most war-torn region in the world, with armed conflicts going on in nine countries: Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan, Ethiopia with Somalia, civil war within Ethiopia, Uganda, Chad, Nigeria, Morrocco with Western Sahara, and Algeria. The U.S. has provided arms and military training to participants in all nine of these wars. Washington has done the same in another six wars which ended between 2002 and 2006. These are the long civil wars in Angola, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Burundi, as well as that in Congo-Brazzaville."

"According to William Hartung, author of the report Deadly Legacy, U.S. Arms and the Congo War the U.S. sent $1.5 billion in arms and training to Africa during the Cold War years, 1950 to 1989. This 'set the stage for the current round of conflicts in the region'..."

"The Clinton Administration undertook a new wave of military assistance and training programs. In the 1990s the US gave military assistance to 50 countries in Africa out of a total of 53. The US has 4 different military training programs for Africa. Since 2001 the Bush administration has doubled US military aid to Africa, and quadrupled US arms transfers..."

"The most destructive case of US military intervention in Africa is the war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the heart of the continent. This war has killed more than four million people since 1998 and destroyed the second largest country in Africa. The Congo is the richest country in the continent, holding the world's biggest copper, cobalt and cadmium deposits.

The US's proxies for this genocide are Rwanda and Uganda, which started the war in 1998 by invading the Congo with Washington's encouragement and support, and have since been looting hte country's resources and sending them to the West."

Thus begins "Militarizing Africa" by Asad Ismi and Christian Schwartz. To listen to the entire 30 minutes of "Militarizing Africa" click the flash player below.

{mp3}ravaging_of_africa/militarizing_africa{/mp3}

Credits
Written by	Asad Ismi
Produced by	Kristin Schwartz
Translation by	Maziar Mohajir at Toronto Conversation Corner & Farid Omar
Voice-over by	Benedicta Madawo
This production was funded by	Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 3903 CUPE National Canadian Union of Postal Workers National CUPW North Bay Local Canadian Labour Congress Public Service Alliance of Canada Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation Ontario English Catholic Teachers Association Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives MiningWatch Canada Ontario Public Interest Research Group (Univ. of Toronto) CHRY 105.5 fm Toronto Continuing Education Students Association of Ryerson 50 Years is Enough (Washington, DC) Fair Trade Clothing Co-op (www.fairtradeclothing.ca) Charles Roach

Broadcast-quality copies of all four episodes of The Ravaging of Africa can be downloaded from www.radio4all.net, where a large and constantly updated library of free, broadcast quality audio is maintained. Click here to download this and the episodes of this documentary.

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