Date: Tue, 30 Sep 2014 17:20:12 +0200
Demilitarizing epidemic diseases in Africa
Narcisse Jean Alcide Nana
2014-09-30, Issue <http://www.pambazuka.org/en/issue/695> 695
<http://www.hausa.rfi.fr/lafiya/20140325-hukumomin-guinea-da-unicef-sun-yi-b
an-hannun-makafi-kan-ebola>
http://www.pambazuka.org/images/articles/695/eb.jpg
President Obama has responded to the Ebola crisis in Africa by sending 3,000
military personnel to the affected region. The real beneficiary of this
militarised messianism is, in fact, the military-industrial complex back in
the US
The international system has long become inured to the relentless hiccup of
African insecurity malaise. Major clichés and few strong allegories conjure
up the spasms of this ongoing malaise to the point of oversimplifying the
field of African security. A cascade of crises encapsulated by patterns of
sociopolitical ‘fragility’, ‘failure’, and ‘vulnerabilities’ has been plying
the continent’s security environment with regards to the HIV/AIDS pandemic,
the Ebola outbreak in West and Central Africa, as well as the hydra of
terrorism and bout of violent conflicts. To be sure, the continent as a
surrogate ideological battleground between Western democracies and a
soviet-centric security dilemma has been put to rest. Noticeably today, a
post 9-11 terror-centric security messianism has been perking up on
Washington’s foreign policy chariot wheels in Africa. This security
messianism is characterized by an insulated minimalist engagement riding on
a missionary rhetorical commitment to African security.
Not surprisingly, the continent is broadly painted under a missionary
diplomatic utopia that promises to terminate the ills of Africa. Putting
aside some headier geopolitical matters, President Bush in July 2005, with
an evangelical tone, made the confession that the U.S. ‘seek[s] progress in
Africa because conscience demands it.’ Binding tightly moral imperatives
with security concerns, Bush exited the White House cementing his signature
legacy as the AIDS president. He left behind a strong savoury trademark of
his long-standing gig to defeating the tides of malaria and AIDS on the
continent. By the time he left the world stage, President Bush had increased
aid to the continent by more than 640 percent. In humanitarian aid, the
continent was the beneficiary of more than $5 billion a year. The $46
billion President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) was instrumental
for at least 2 million people who received antiretroviral drugs.
To be sure, the fine apostles of HIV/AIDS policy wonk have been battling out
support for access to drugs and treatment for AIDS patients. As a result of
this global battle, expensive treatment and drugs for AIDS had garnered
public resources and attention as well. Ironically, expensive drugs and
treatment have been raining down on environments without proper hospitals,
qualified medical doctors, and poorly equipped clinics. While antiretroviral
drugs are available to patients, the resources to training health workers
and building schools of medicine have been drying up. Tellingly, American
Ebola victims from the West and Central have to be flown home to Grady
Memorial Hospital in Atlanta for treatment. Though the much-hyped PEPFAR
project christened President Bush as the healer- in- chief on African
shores, the everlasting romance between militarized health foreign policy
and security is hard to disconnect. As a shining jewel on President Bush’s
chest, PEPFAR stands out as a corporate bonanza for US pharmaceutical
corporations to harvest safe vouchers from financial manna. Oil corporations
such as Mobil Oil and Chevron own a share of some HIV-medicine patents and
medication. Not only had US foreign policy aid to HIV made vast profit for
US firms, but it softly tied up HIV/AIDS’ industrial headquarters to oil
corporations and the creation of the unified command for Africa to oversee
security and conduct military operations as necessary.
Of course, the hotly touted Obama’s West African foreign policy pledged a
major US military-led surge to stop the Ebola virus as a global health and
national security threat. Far from throwing a monkey wrench on military
expansion, such a foreign policy vision has not divorced from a militarized
version of epidemic diseases. On September 16, 2014, President Obama made
public his decision to establish a joint military command headquarters in
Liberia by quickly dispatching 3,000 US troops to Monrovia and Senegal. The
Ebola outbreak crafted its own response to the military footprint on the
continent. The Obama administration pledged $ 1.26 billion to fighting
against Ebola that has already claimed more than 2,800 lives in West Africa.
The crisis has spurred the opportunity to hew a close look at some nichified
source of security fixes in order to reinforce the post-9-11 security
quandaries.
President Obama’s quick policy stand is not unprecedented. The root of the
militarization of Washington foreign policy goes back to 1947 with the Cold
War. The National Security Act of 1947 amends the US armed forces as
intrinsically embedded with national security policy in peacetime. To be
sure, demilitarizing epidemic diseases in West Africa will divert resources
to building roads that lead to good hospitals and schools of medicine to
train public health personnel for the continent.
* Narcisse Jean Alcide Nana holds a BA in Philosophy, MA in Political
Theology from Boston College and is currently specializing in International
Security at the University of Leicester, UK.
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