Scrambling for Africa's Resources
Africa's rich in oil, gas, gold, silver, diamonds, uranium, iron, copper,
tin, lead, nickel, coal, cobalt, bauxite, wood, coltan, manganese, chromium,
vanadium-bearing titanium, and much more.
By <
http://www.globalresearch.ca/author/stephen-lendman> Stephen Lendman
Global Research, December 27, 2012
africa
It's more than about oil, stupid. It's for vast African riches.
Resource/mineral wars define America's agenda.
On December 15, 2006, the United States Africa Command (AFRICOM) was
authorized. On February 6, 2007, it was announced.
On October 1, 2007, it was established. On October 1, 2008, it became
operational. It's mission is controlling Africa's riches.
They're vast. They're some of the world's largest and richest. Potential new
deposits await to be found. Others known about await development. Modern
exploration methods enable global exploitation. Virtually nothing escapes
discovery.
Africa's rich in oil, gas, gold, silver, diamonds, uranium, iron, copper,
tin, lead, nickel, coal, cobalt, bauxite, wood, coltan, manganese, chromium,
vanadium-bearing titanium, and much more.
Continental agricultural lands are valued. So is offshore fishing.
Congo, Southern Sudan's Darfur region, Gulf of Guinea, Libya, Nigeria, and
Niger, among other areas, hold special interest.
So does Mali. Last October,
<
http://news.yahoo.com/mali-war-plan-ready-within-weeks-au-181025050.html>
Reuters headlined "Mali war plan to be ready within weeks: AU," saying:
Military intervention is planned to reclaim territory seized by "Islamist
militants." On March 22, an army coup toppled President Amadou Toumani
Toure.
At the time, France signaled readiness to intervene. Malian junior officers
revolted. They control northern areas. Obama officials call Mali a "powder
keg." Conditions threaten regional destabilization, they say.
Reasons are invented to intervene. Obama wants congressional funding. He
prioritizes wars. He's eager to begin term two with new ones. Permanent ones
define his agenda.
NATO/EU partners are pressured to go along. Last October, the Security
Council approved an international military mission to Mali. Ban Ki-moon was
enlisted to help develop military intervention plans. Finalizing them was
planned for end of November.
France drafted the UN resolution. It was Washington's lead attack dog on
Libya. It may have the same role on Mali. US special forces and drone
attacks may be planned.
They're already involved. Covert ops and surveillance began months ago.
They're prelude for what's planned. Operations may replicate Somalia, Yemen,
or Libya 2.0 with less sustained air support.
Reuters called Mali "paralyzed by twin crises." Leadership is divided. Last
June, reports said African Union officials asked for Security Council
intervention authority.
On December 20, it came unanimously. Timing was left unaddressed.
Authorization signaled Washington's intention to intervene. Obama already
has. Greater invention is planned.
Security Council members voted days after Malian Prime Minister Cheick
Modibo Diarra's resignation.
Coup members arrested him. They forced him out. He strongly supports
intervention.
Django Cissoko replaced him. He's silent so far on favoring it. Malian
Foreign Minister Tieman Hubert Coulibaly called authorization "historic."
His government supports it.
It asked Ban Ki-moon to "confirm in advance the council's satisfaction with
the planned military offensive operation."
Ban's a reliable imperial ally. He's replicated the worst of Kofi Annan's
failures and betrayal.
Both men abhor peace. They support Washington's wars and occupations. They
ignore Israel's worst crimes. They're indifferent to human suffering. They
call aggressive wars liberating ones.
They endorse America's agenda. Mali's in line to be attacked, destroyed and
controlled. Ban's comfortable with more African bloodshed. The entire Sahel
region and beyond are threatened.
The Security Council resolution authorized an unspecified troop strength
African-led International Support Mission (AFISMA). An initial one-year
period was called for.
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) wants 3,300 troops in
Mali. They'll be US/Western proxies. Nigerian forces appear designated to
lead them.
They'll conduct ground operations. US, French, and other NATO logistical,
air, and intelligence operations will support them.
Timing remains undecided. Tactics are being planned. Clarity may come
post-holidays. Perhaps after Obama's January 21 inauguration.
UN peacekeeping head, Herve Ladsous, suggested that logistical planning may
delay intervention until September or October.
France's UN ambassador, Gerard Araud, called it premature to say when
military operations will begin. African and Malian troops must be trained,
he said. Much depends on political considerations.
Extreme weather may intervene. In late March, monsoon season begins. It
lasts months.
Timbuktu's Mayor Halle Cisse asked for "rapid military action to liberate
our cities."
"There is no school. There is no work and no money," he added. "We are fed
up with this situation." Timbuktu depends on tourism. Conflict keeps people
away.
Media scoundrel fear mongering said Islamists imposed sharia law. Managed
news misreporting made lurid claims. Propaganda substitutes for truth.
Claims about banned public male/female socializing were featured.
Other accounts stressed attacking bars selling alcohol, recruiting child
fighters, stonings, whippings, beheadings, amputations, and other
punishments against non-believers.
Public sentiment is being prepared for intervention. US-style responsibility
to protect (R2P) perhaps plans Libya 2.0 light.
For months, France and Washington held secret intervention talks. Rousting
"Islamist militants" is pretext. So is waging war on terror. Resource
control is policy.
Thursday's resolution welcomed ECOWAS troop pledges. It called for member
states' help. Chad, Mauritania and Niger were asked to contribute. Their
troops have desert warfare experience.
Resolution language stressed two-track planning. Political and military were
called for.
US and French special forces operate in Mali. They're active in other
regional countries. They conduct covert operations. They're training Malian
forces. Stepped up efforts are planned.
AFRICOM head General Carter Ham called Malian and other regional conditions
"vastly different than they were previously. There are now non-Al Qaeda
associated (militant) groups that present significant threats to the United
States."
Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) raises most concern, he said. It's
also called "the Salafist Group for Call and Combat." Other regional groups
include "the Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa."
"It is clear to me they aspire to conduct events more broadly across the
region, and eventually to the United States," claimed Ham.
"That is the ideology. That is the campaign plan. Establish the caliphate
and spread the ideology. Attack Western interests. Attack democrat forms of
government. We are certainly seeing it."
America creates pretexts to intervene. When enemies don't exist they're
invented. Imperial strategy prioritizes it.
Algiers University Professor Ahmed Adhimi believes Afghanistanizing the
Sahel region looms.
Military intervention will attract "adventurers, terrorists, and all those
who want to fight the Crusaders" like flower-containing pollen and nectar
draw bees to produce honey.
Cross-border conflict may follow. Algeria may become Africa's Pakistan.
Washington may drag Algiers into a war it doesn't want. It'll end up
victimized like other US targets. Obama perhaps plans it.
A Final Comment
CIA elements operate covertly virtually everywhere. So do US special forces
in 120 or more countries.
Fifty-four nations comprise Africa. In 2013, the Pentagon plans sending
"small teams" to over 35 of them. Perhaps they're already in most of the
other 19.
Reports about their role limited to training and equipping efforts don't
wash. US forces everywhere are combat trained and ready.
Special forces are assassins. They specialize in search and destroy,
extrajudicial assassinations, and other lawless acts.
Washington wants unchallenged African dominance. AFRICOM was established to
rape the continent's riches.
Proxy and direct wars are prioritized. Expect much more in resource-rich
areas.
Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at
lendmanstephen_at_sbcglobal.net.
His new book is titled "Banker Occupation: Waging Financial War on
Humanity."
Received on Thu Dec 27 2012 - 21:23:43 EST
