Rwanda History: [AfricaRealities] Fw: [rwanda_revolution] US-AFRICA SUMMIT IS AN INSULT TO AFRICA

Thursday, 7 August 2014

[AfricaRealities] Fw: [rwanda_revolution] US-AFRICA SUMMIT IS AN INSULT TO AFRICA

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From: "'Herrn Edward Mulindwa' mulindwa@look.ca

US- summit: Africa short-changed self
August 8, 2014 Musah Gwaunza Opinion & Analysis
Correspondent
AFRICAN leaders, most of them, this week were summoned to the United States by President Barack Obama apparently to talk trade.
For America this could be a triumph of public diplomacy, but for Africa this is an embarrassment.
Never before in international diplomacy has a whole continent's leadership been summoned by a president of one country.
This is a terrible and condescending move, especially when one considers that Obama never bothered to visit most of these leaders during the better part of his presidency.
Africa for two days had only 4 or 5 leaders at home, and 55 heads of state of the continent were at the US White House.
The continent has a body, the African Union, which can represent its interests anywhere in the world.
It is inconceivable to think that all European, Asian or Latin American leaders would have gone to any one country to discuss any issue with one president.
Africa has short-changed itself and offered President Obama diplomatic victory before he leaves office.
This is a triumph of Obama's public diplomacy and marks a low point in African diplomacy.
The pictures of 55 or so heads of African states standing with Mr Obama is an uneasy one.
He towers above all of them save for President Kagame of Rwanda and his daughter.
In spite of these photo opportunities by African heads of state to pose with a US President, the meaning of such a summit is troubling.
It is less about trade and more about US affirmation of its political and military power and influence.
African countries are not the same, and no summit between the US and that many countries can achieve anything trade-wise.
If Obama wanted to meet with all African presidents, he should have visited all 47 capitals, or attend an African Union meeting.
In any case, the US has third rate influence in Africa, where China does twice as much business as the US.
The trade with Europe far exceeds that of the US, Brazil, India and Turkey are also major players in Africa.
So there is a sub-text to this summit.
The $900 million in deals that the US Commerce Department had claimed would be announced at the August 4-6 Washington conference for African development was never announced or articulated.
In contrast China will extend $1 trillion in loans by 2015. This should seal the deal in favour of Beijing.
The Americans cannot offer permanent infrastructure such as ports and roads, as they cannot match the Chinese, who also provide the most favourable terms of investment and no political strings attached.
So what is the real reason behind Obama's public diplomacy since they have nothing to offer to match the Chinese?
It is about US imperialism and military and ideological superiority. It is about entrenching AFRICOM, the US military command that now dominates the continent.
The US does not sustain itself by competitive trade, but by force of arms and international politics.
This summit was meant to ensure that mutually beneficial African trade with China and Brazil results in no shift in African nations' political or ideological orientation, and is perpetually subject to curtailment by the US.
Washington has done a political calculation to establish a military presence in Africa that will allow Washington and its allies to stymie, at will, the integration of Africa into a multi-polar world in which China is the centre of gravity.
This is the crux of the matter.
The Obama administration has placed all its bets on US imperialism's sole surviving advantage: overwhelming military superiority, without which its preferred method of censuring countries like Zimbabwe — economic sanctions — is unenforceable.
The US has just started flexing its AFRICOM muscles against China by this summit, and all African leaders in attendance have effectively had the US diplomatic and military spell cast on them. They can no longer cough when Obama speaks.
US imperial overlord is now deeply embedded in all but a few African nations.
The US believes it has the power to pull the plug on the China connection — which is the subtext of this weekend's summit.
Political leadership is therefore needed from politically strong African nations like Zimbabwe through multilateral platforms like Sadc and the African Union, if Africa is to salvage its reputation.
Africa is better off deepening trade relations with economic partners not military ones. This is what the continent needs at the moment, not Washington photo opportunities. — Zimbabwe Guardian.

Thé Mulindwas Communication Group
"With Yoweri Museveni, Ssabassajja and Dr. Kiiza Besigye, Uganda is in anarchy"
Kuungana Mulindwa Mawasiliano Kikundi
"Pamoja na Yoweri Museveni, Ssabassajja na Dk. Kiiza Besigye, Uganda ni katika machafuko"

Posted by: "Herrn Edward Mulindwa" <mulindwa@look.ca>

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Posted by: Samuel Desire <sam4des@yahoo.com>

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