By By NWAKANMA CHIKA
How does the bombing of a church in northern Nigeria by some
illiterate Boko Haram suicide bomber relate to the intrigues over
the control of crude oil in Port Harcourt? Or how does the
interplay of western and Chinese economic interests filter through
political violent eruptions in Nigeria, the two Sudan(s); or the
likelihood that Mali’s current misadventure could impact seriously
and negatively against much stable Ghana? How does it all connect
into disaster capitalism?
Picture Boko Haram and the rising violence in Nigeria; Islamists
and the increasing stratification in Somalia and Mali; Ethnic
cleansing and full scale wars between the two Sudan (s); Wars and
terrorist attacks in Kenya, Uganda and the Congo. Picture Africa
as no more than a chess game in the economic battle for supremacy
between the west and newly emerging powers in the east, China
particularly. Just how should or would Africa navigate out of the
emerging scenario is the concern of many true lovers of the
continent. But with the insidious tendency of practitioners of
disaster capitalism, Africa has little chance of escape, excerpt
of course; it allows people-centred leaders to emerge at the
centre of power. That looks unlikely for now, in many countries.
Disaster capitalism is a vicious economic system: A predatory
economic mode that preys on smaller economies and businesses. One
may argue that this is a basic feature of capitalism: bigger
economies/businesses absorbing smaller ones. However, disaster
capitalism is the socio-economic mode of conflicts, wars and
strifes, or as Canadian author Naomi Klien describes it, “it is
about making money from misery”. In her book, The shock doctrine:
The rise of disaster capitalism, Naomi illustrated how man-made
crises (such as wars, diseases) are created with the sole intent
of making profit, pushing reforms or getting economic and
political gains.
Most of Africa’s wars are proxy wars which are fuelled by disaster
capitalism. The continent is the coliseum that entertains and
hosts the grievances of world powers battling for supremacy. Proxy
wars are wars between countries who do not engage themselves
directly, but assert their aggression through surrogate states.
The sponsor supplies the surrogate state with weapons,
mercenaries, and logistics to engage another state or opponent in
military aggression to achieve its own objectives.
The Sudan crisis, Ethiopian-Eritrean war, Kenya and Ethiopian
invasion of Somalia, Rwandan genocide, Libyan war, Boko Haram
menace in Nigeria and Liberian war are cases of proxy wars on
African soil. The loot of such warfare is not for national or
racial pride, neither is it for the emancipation of the oppressed.
The resources of the state are the crux of the warfare.
The current economic crises have increased the desperation of the
west and its allies to maintain influence in the global sphere,
particularly in Africa where it gets substantial part of its
resources. This desperation has been heightened with the
increasing presence of China. Unlike the cold war, access to
strategic resources rather than ideology is at the heart of the
US-Sino competition. China is the threat to western hegemony; as
such proxy wars are bound to be the likely occurrence. The
Sudanese scenario is a clear illustration of such.
In Sudan, the Chinese are major trading partners in Sudanese oil.
China owns 40 percent of the Greater Nile Oil production company,
a major Sudanese oil company, and has stationed 4,000 military
personnel in Sudan to protect its interests in energy and mineral
investments. The United States also has its eyes on Sudanese oil.
It began its subtle moves by promoting the legitimate separation
of the North and South on humanitarian grounds, and pushed forward
the referendum that separated the two countries.
Sudan’s oil lies at the border between the north and south
protected by Chinese companies. This is the area where much of the
fighting is taking place. By instigating a series of ethnic blood
baths, the United States has provided the perfect cover for the
destruction of Abeye Oil fields and the very vulnerable Abeye-port
Sudan pipeline. This would put pressure on not only the Chinese to
leave, but also on President Al-Bashir, because it would be
difficult to maintain the standard of living with depleted oil
revenues. Just recently, the country is witnessing an uprising
against President Al-Bashir because of austerity measures taken by
the country.
In his article ‘The US plans to destabilize Sudan’, Thomas C.
Mortar hinted that the US pays the salaries of the Sudan People’s
Liberation Army -SPLA- the national army of South Sudan. According
to him, over $100 million was spent in 2011 alone. This puts a
question on the sovereignty of South Sudan, especially if its
proximity to Sudan and the Chinese controlled oil fields is taken
into consideration.
The Boko Haram in Nigeria is another exemplification of how proxy
wars are used to pave the way for western interference in African
states. The recent spate of bomb blasts in the country, and
government’s sheer insensitivity and somewhat lack of will to curb
this anomie is being capitalized on by the United States. The
group which claims it is against western education is targeting
Christians and security (police) forces and installations, to
further split the country along religious and tribal lines. The US
has already named the core leaders of the group as international
terrorists paving the way for the organisation to be fully tagged
an international terror group. The implications are far reaching.
Such condition allows America to invade the country under the
guise of a ‘global war on terror’.
Already, activities in the country show that the US is gearing up
for this. Earlier this year, the Nigerian government received a US
warship under the African Partnership Station Programme, an
international maritime security initiative facilitated by the US.
Similar operations are going on in Cameroun, Togo, Morocco,
Senegal, Tanzania, Angola, Djibouti, Namibia and Ghana among
others. The programme aims at ‘training’ African Naval personnel
on counter-terrorism and maintaining security. It also aims to
protect American interests in Africa’s creeks.
In Libya, the Chinese were the major partners in Libyan oil under
ousted leader Colonel Mummar Gadaffi. Presently, France owns 40
percent of Libyan oil for the support it gave the rebels during
the uprising. American and British companies are snapping up
reconstruction contracts. Libya is an African example of Iraq. If
the war in Libya was perpetuated under humanitarian grounds, how
come the key players in its oil industry changed overnight?
The horn of Africa is the region most susceptible to disaster
capitalism vis-a-vis proxy wars. Kenya, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Uganda,
Congo, Rwanda and Somalia have been caught in the web of proxy
wars. In an article ‘Obama’s African rifles-
partners/surrogates/proxies’ featured on crossedcrocodiles.com,
states such as South Sudan, Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya, Congo and
Central African Republic were branded ‘client-states’ for the US,
focused on destabilizing northern Sudan and China’s operations
there.
In the 2006 invasion of Somalia, the Ethiopians were closely
working with the US special forces, right down to company level.
In 1991, the US backed and trained the Ugandan invasion of Rwanda,
which put Paul Kagame in power in 1994. The civil war in Rwanda
was a brutal struggle for political power between the Hutu-led
Habyarimana government supported by France, and Tutsi Rwandan
Patriotic Front backed financially and militarily by Washington.
Wayne Madsen, author of ‘Genocide and covert operations in Africa:
1993-1999’, asserts that Kagame and the RPA orchestrated the April
6, 1994 assassination of the Rwandan and Burundian presidents,
shooting down their jet as it approached Kigali airport. This
degenerated into the Rwandan civil war and set the stage for the
participation for the Ugandan and Rwandan RPA in the Congolese
civil war.
Kenya under the guise of hunting down Al-Shabab militants is
paving the way for its western masters to have access to Somali
oil. Earlier this year, Kenyan airplanes crossed the border and
launched airstrikes against the terrorists in Mogadishu.
Proxy wars are catalyzed by disaster capitalism, a term used to
describe profiteering from wars, conflicts and misery. Though as
old as warfare itself in human relations, it has assumed
scientific dimensions. Studies are undertaken to espouse how best
to instigate a war and benefit from it. The west has been pioneers
of this predatory economic mode, instigating wars, ethnic blood
baths and conflicts for commercial and geo-political objectives.
By making use of surrogate nations, the sponsors make such nations
(surrogate) indebted to them. Sometimes, these sponsors offer
assistance to quash an uprising or rebellion in exchange for
monetary or political gains.
Such conflicts also create jobs as companies from the sponsor
nations would be involved in the rebuilding process of the
nations. This scenario is been played out in Libya and Iraq, where
American and British companies together with their NATO allies
jostled for construction and oil contracts. In Africa, the build-
up of the Ugandan external debt under President Yoweri Museveni
coincided chronologically with the Rwandan and Congolese civil
wars. With the ascension of Museveni to the presidency in 1986,
Ugandan external debt stood at $1.3bn. With the gush of fresh
money, the external debt spiraled overnight increasing triple-fold
to $3.7bn by 1997.
Arms supplied by western powers and Russia to various groups in
the continent are of inestimable value. It is on record that the
Nigeria-Biafra war had the largest number of small arms in
circulation than those used in the 2nd World War. Perhaps the
gravity of the situation would be given due cognizance if we
consider the recommendations of Mark Yesley seriously. In the
presentation of his paper “Bipolarity, proxy wars and the rise of
China”, at the Strategic Studies Quarterly, Yesley enunciates that
“if the United States is to secure its resource needs from Africa
in the future, it must be prepared to employ all elements of hard
and soft power to meet the demands of future proxy conflicts on
the continent”.
Proxy wars are most successful in states with weak democratic
structures. Such states have huge resources but weak regimes which
make them susceptible to manipulation. All states which have
engaged in proxy wars have no semblance of democracy. Uganda,
Ethiopia, Sudan, Eritrea and Somalia are either run by rebels,
military regimes or crippling democratic structures. Those with
fledgling democracies or a semblance of such are much more
difficult to recruit as client-states, or at least as puppet
armies. The passage below provides a classic example of why
Nigeria has not falling in line with the US expectation of having
a surrogate in the west African region. It is an excerpt from the
article ‘Obama’s African rifles-partners/surrogates/proxies’.
The surge in US security assistance to Nigeria from 2000 to 2003
was closely tied to the United States government’s expectation of
Nigeria as a lead contributor to sub-regional and regional peace
support operations. However, in what the United States describes
as ‘shrinking’, Nigeria declined from sending troops to intervene
in Liberia in 2003, and Somalia in 2006. By ‘shrinking’, Nigeria
did not do what it was contracted to do. Nigeria’s lack of
enthusiasm for the mission stemmed in part from the inculcation of
democratic practices. Democracy is likely to discourage military
surrogacy, where the people have a say and must demand a reason to
participate in such endeavor. This is unlike the case in Uganda
and Rwanda being only nominal democracies.
As is the case with most of Africa’s problems, the absence of
strong social institutions, credible leadership and political will
has fostered disaster capitalism and proxy wars. African states
are now puppet armies of the west, carrying out the objectives of
their masters at the expense of the wellbeing of her citizens.
Africa’s conflicts are not steeped in ideological purpose, or for
the quest of liberation, but are driven by greed. For how long
shall Africa be directed by the strings of the west?
Nigeria’s lack of enthusiasm for the mission stemmed in part from
the inculcation of democratic practices. Democracy is likely to
discourage military surrogacy This is unlike the case in Uganda
and Rwanda being only nominal democracies.
In Libya, the Chinese were the major partners in Libyan oil under
ousted leader Colonel Mummar Gadaffi. Presently, France owns 40
percent of Libyan oil for the support it gave the rebels during
the uprising.
The US has already named the core leaders of the group as
international terrorists paving the way for the organisation to be
fully tagged an international terror group. Such condition allows
America to invade the country under the guise of a ‘global war on
terror’.
Sudan’s oil lies at the border between the north and south
protected by Chinese companies. This is the area where much of the
fighting is taking place.
By instigating a series of ethnic blood baths, the United States
has provided the perfect cover for the destruction of Abeye Oil
fields and the very vulnerable Abeye-port Sudan pipeline. This
would put pressure on not only the Chinese to leave, but also on
President Al-Bashir.
