Black Agenda Report
Black Agenda Report
News, commentary and analysis from the black left.

  • Home
  • Africa
  • African America
  • Education
  • Environment
  • International
  • Media and Culture
  • Political Economy
  • Radio
  • US Politics
  • War and Empire

Far from a Humanitarian Savior, the U.S. Causes Vast Misery In Africa
25 Jul 2012
🖨️ Print Article

 

A Black Agenda Radio commentary by Glen Ford

Americans want to believe their president when he poses as a humanitarian world leader. But Africa knows different. Literally millions have died and been displaced as a direct result of U.S. imperial strategies. “American policy in Africa is to create chaos, and then to present itself as the cure.”

 

Far from a Humanitarian Savior, the U.S. Causes Vast Misery In Africa

A Black Agenda Radio commentary by Glen Ford

“The United States is the main vector of mass carnage and misery, from Somalia to Libya to Congo and so many points in between.”

The United States has finally made a token effort towards reining in its central African client state, Rwanda, whose destabilization of neighboring Congo has contributed to the deaths of six million people over the past 16 years. A United Nations panel charged that Rwanda has been supporting a Tutsi tribal rebel group in Congo. Rwanda and another U.S. puppet regime, Uganda, have profited enormously from stealing the mineral resources of eastern Congo, in collaboration with U.S. and European mining companies. At the end of last year, 1.7 million Congolese remained homeless, largely because of Rwanda’s continued interference in Congolese affairs.

Bowing ever so slightly to world opinion, Washington announced that it would cut military assistance to Rwanda. As it turns out, the only money the U.S. is withholding is for an academy for Rwandan non-commissioned officers – a measly $200,000 out of a total Rwandan aid package of $528 million. The gesture is an insult to the millions of Congolese who have been killed or displaced by the U.S. and its Rwandan and Ugandan mercenaries.

The United Nations Refugee Agency reports that the number of Somalis forced to leave their country has reached the one million mark. At root, this is also an American crime against humanity. Somalia ranks behind only Afghanistan, Iraq and Colombia in its number of displaced persons. And, like the other three countries, Somalia’s humanitarian crisis is the result of Washington’s imperial military strategies.

“The number of Somalis forced to leave their country has reached the one million mark.”

The U.S. dragged Somalia into hell in December of 2006, when it funded and armed an Ethiopia invasion of the country. Tens of thousands were killed outright, and Somalia was robbed of a chance to build peace under a moderately Islamist government. In the capital city, Mogadishu, alone, nearly two million people were forced from their homes, and soon the United Nations declared Somalia “the worst humanitarian crisis in Africa.”

In the ensuing five years, the United States methodically attempted to starve out the Somali Shabaab resistance forces, so that when the worst drought in 60 years struck the region, last year, mass deaths were inevitable. By now, the U.S. had ensnared most of Somalia’s neighbors in its war – Kenya, Ethiopia, and Djibouti, a whole region in flames – in order to facilitate an expansion of U.S. military influence in the region.

Far from playing a humanitarian role in Africa, the United States is the main vector of mass carnage and misery, from Somalia to Libya to Congo and so many points in between. American policy in Africa is to create chaos, and then to present itself as the cure. Economically, the U.S. offers nothing to Africa, except rigged deals and endless debt. Years ago, China eclipsed the U.S. as a trading partner, and now offers Africa more and better quality foreign aid than the Americans. Unable to compete on a level laying field, Washington exports death to Africa, in the form of weapons systems and Green Berets. There is nothing good that the United States can do for Africa, but leave.

For Black Agenda Radio, I’m Glen Ford. On the web, go to BlackAgendaReport.com.

BAR executive editor Glen Ford can be contacted at Glen.Ford@BlackAgendaReport.com.



Your browser does not support the audio element.

listen
http://traffic.libsyn.com/blackagendareport/20120725_gf_CongoSomalia.mp3

More Stories


  • Abolishing Police and Abolishing Militaries
    David Swanson
    Abolishing Police and Abolishing Militaries
    16 Jun 2021
    Prison and war abolition are up against the exact same profiteers, politicians, and pundits, as well as many of the same people “serving” as soldiers, police, and guards.
  • America’s Gun Obsession is Rooted in Slavery
    Carol Anderson
    America’s Gun Obsession is Rooted in Slavery
    16 Jun 2021
    The sheer brutality of human bondage created an overwhelming fear among whites of the enslaved’s capacity and desire for retribution.
  • The Kids Are Reimagining International Solidarity
    Roberto Lovato
    The Kids Are Reimagining International Solidarity
    16 Jun 2021
    Millennial and Gen Z activists are aligning their struggles at home with the fights against US empire in the streets of Palestine, Haiti, Colombia, and other countries.
  • Black Agenda Radio for Week of June 14, 2021
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
    Black Agenda Radio for Week of June 14, 2021
    14 Jun 2021
    Myth of “Black Wall Street” is Deployed to Bolster Black Capitalism
  • US Wages Cold War Against China Because America Can’t Compete
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
    US Wages Cold War Against China Because America Can’t Compete
    14 Jun 2021
    The US confrontation with China is rooted in America being economically eclipsed by the Asian juggernaut, said Julie Varughese, Solidarity Network Coordinator of Black Al
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us