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

Somalis Under Relentless Drone Attack as U.S. Tightens Military Grip on Continent
19 Oct 2011
🖨️ Print Article

 

A Black Agenda Radio commentary by Glen Ford

Africa, under President Obama, is an expanding theater of war for the United States. There are few points on the African map where the U.S. military does not operate, independently, through proxies, or by agreement with local governments and militaries. AFRICOM has penetrated the armed forces of the continent to a degree no single European power could have ever aspired. Indeed, “the U.S. has so thoroughly infiltrated African armies, many, if not most, would be of no use for national defense against the Americans.”

 

Somalis Under Relentless Drone Attack as U.S. Tightens Military Grip on Continent

A Black Agenda Radio commentary by Glen Ford

“The overlapping entanglements have allowed the U.S. military to achieve deep penetration of the armed forces of most African nations.”

Scores of Somali civilians have been killed in U.S. drone attacks in the southern region of the country, as Washington tightens its military grip on much of the continent. The current offensive involves thousands of Kenyan troops that are threatening the major Somali city of Kismayo. The American drones are supporting the Kenyan invasion. The drones’ origins are officially secret, but it is known that the U.S. operates drone bases in Ethiopia and Djibouti, which is home to a huge American base.

For all practical purposes, the U.S. has made proxies of Ethiopia and the five member states of the East African Community: Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi and Rwanda. The Ugandans and Burundians safeguard the airport that is the lifeline for Somalia’s puppet regime in Mogadishu, where the CIA operates a major facility. In September, the militaries of the East African Community held joint exercises with AFRICOM, the U.S. Africa Command.

Such exercises with American forces have become commonplace. The U.S. Defense Department is busily training the militaries of Mali, Chad, Niger, Benin, Botswana, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Ethiopia, Gabon, Zambia, Uganda, Senegal, Mozambique, Ghana, Malawi, and Mauretania. ECOWAS, the Economic Community of West African States, is considering asking the U.S. navy to help it out with its pirate problem. Most of the militaries of the African Union already communicate with American command-and-control equipment, requiring U.S. advisors. The overlapping entanglements have allowed the U.S. military to achieve deep penetration of the armed forces of most African nations.

“Most of the militaries of the African Union already communicate with American command-and-control equipment.”

In such a web of dependency, few standing African armies are capable of defending themselves – if the aggressor is the United States. But in most cases, the U.S. would likely get its way without a fight, since the officer class of so many African militaries have direct ties with their American counterparts. The U.S. has so thoroughly infiltrated African armies, many, if not most, would be of no use for national defense against the Americans.

The Americans are almost everywhere, but the French never left Africa. Although France and the U.S. were longtime rivals in Africa, waging proxy wars against each other through their African flunkies, their joint actions against Haiti and Libya, and in bringing down the government in the Ivory Coast, signal that the French and Americans are full partners in neocolonialism.

Now President Obama has officially sent 100 U.S. Special Forces troops to Uganda and neighboring countries, ostensibly to track down a rebel force. They will also operate in the new nation of South Sudan.

Meanwhile, the NATO attack on Libya threatens to set the whole northern tier of Africa ablaze, a pretext for further U.S. and French operations. American penetration of Africa has reached the point that any nation – such as Eritrea – that does not have a military relationship with the United States is marked for regime change. Instead of the pan-Africanist dream of a United States of Africa, we are seeing an Africa under the military thumb of the United States. 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/20111019_gf_USinAfrica.mp3

More Stories


  • International Solidarity with Venezuela's Fight Against Coercive Measures
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    International Solidarity with Venezuela's Fight Against Coercive Measures
    04 Aug 2023
    Booker Ngesa Omole is the National Vice-Chairperson and National Organizing Secretary of the Communist Party of Kenya, and a member of its National Central Committee.
  • Belief in American Exceptionalism is a Bipartisan Affair
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Belief in American Exceptionalism is a Bipartisan Affair
    04 Aug 2023
    Glen Ford analyzed a 2019 Democratic Party presidential debate and points out that support for U.S. aggression towards Venezuela and other nations is a bipartisan project.
  • Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki's Remarks to Vladimir Putin
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki's Remarks to Vladimir Putin
    04 Aug 2023
    On July 28 Eritrean president Isaias Afwerki spoke to Vladimir Putin at a summit with other African leaders. Afwerki explained why African nations see Russia as an ally, and why they are mistrustful…
  • Migration and Other Lies About Eritrea
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Migration and Other Lies About Eritrea
    04 Aug 2023
    In a 2015 interview on the Real News Network Glen Ford explained why the west is so hostile to Eritrea and tells lies about migration from that country.
  • The Dems and Repubs are Moneypots, Not Real Political Parties
    Glen Ford , BAR executive editor
    The Dems and Repubs are Moneypots, Not Real Political Parties
    02 Aug 2023
    If the Democrats were a real, mass based party, they would never consider Joe Biden as their nominee because he has no support among the people that energize parties: the youth.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us