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Hillary tours the African
frontlines of America's war on
terror
She says she's
here to strengthen democratic institutions and
improve business ties, but her itinerary tells a
different story. Hillary Clinton's 10-day,
seven-country blitz through Africa takes her to
all main hubs of America's proxy war on terrorism
in Africa, where her job will be to make nice with
presidents and cheer on the soldiers doing all the
fighting. Those war drums don't bang themselves,
you know. By SIMON ALLISON.
US
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton descended on
Africa on
Wednesday, kicking off her continental
expedition with a visit to Senegal, described by
one US official as America's closest friend in the
francophone world. It's as good a place as any to
start, having turned over a new leaf this year
with the unexpected and unexpectedly peaceful
election of President Macky Sall.
Over the
course of 10 days, Senegal will be followed in
quick succession by South Sudan, Uganda, Kenya,
Malawi, South Africa and Ghana, a last-minute
addition to the schedule to allow Clinton to
attend the state funeral of recently-deceased
president John Atta Mills. It's a hectic schedule
(good thing she's travelling on her own plane;
good luck getting through all that with SAA,
Kenyan or Ethiopian Airways on time and with all
your baggage intact).
US State Department
said the trip is all about re-affirming America's
commitment to Africa. "During this trip, the
Secretary will emphasise US policy commitments
outlined in the Presidential Policy Directive - to
strengthen democratic institutions, spur economic
growth, advance peace and security as well as
promote opportunity and development for all
citizens," said spokesperson Victoria Nuland.
While she's here, Clinton won't miss the
chance to give African leaders some friendly,
not-at-all-biased advice. US politics website
Politico spoke to some State Department staffers
about what Clinton plans to say. Her speeches will
centre on Africa's need to choose responsible
partners for development, a veiled but
unmistakeable warning against Africa's close and
getting closer relationship with China. "Clinton
will urge African leaders to carefully consider
projects proposed by foreign countries that do not
demand complete accountability and may encourage
corruption to the detriment of the people of some
of the world's most impoverished nations," wrote
Politico.
It seems unlikely, however, that
Clinton has come all this way to deliver gentle
rebukes steeped in hypocrisy. It was, after all,
the American government that funded Hosni
Mubarak's military to the tune of $1.3-billion per
year, and has continued to do so even as the
military took control of the country and continued
many of Mubarak's policies, adding a few new
twists of their own such as virginity testing.
As her itinerary reveals, Clinton and the
USA have a few more pressing concerns in Africa:
namely, their war on African terrorism, currently
being fought by proxy by a number of African
countries.
Although the Daily Maverick has
been reporting on this development for a year (see
here and here), it has only recently garnered
attention in America with the publication of two
major articles.
The first, from The
Washington Post in June, detailed the rapid
expansion of America's secret intelligence
operations in Africa. It described a network of
small, unmarked prop planes monitoring militant
organisations in Mali, Nigeria, Somalia and
Uganda.
The second, in the Los Angeles
Times 29 July, was even more revealing, focussing
on America's role in the Somali conflict. It is
worth quoting at length:
"Nearly 20 years
after US Army Rangers suffered a bloody defeat in
Somalia, losing 18 soldiers and two Black Hawk
helicopters, Washington is once again heavily
engaged in the chaotic country. Only this time,
African troops are doing the fighting and dying.
"The United States is doing almost
everything else.
"The US has been quietly
equipping and training thousands of African
soldiers to wage a widening proxy war against the
Shabaab, the Al Qaeda ally that has imposed a
harsh form of Islamic rule on southern Somalia and
sparked alarm in Washington as foreign militants
join its ranks.
"Officially, the troops
are under the auspices of the African Union. But
in truth, according to interviews by US and
African officials and senior military officers and
budget documents, the 15,000-strong force pulled
from five African countries is largely a creation
of the State Department and Pentagon, trained and
supplied by the US government and guided by dozens
of retired foreign military personnel hired
through private contractors."
So much for
the African Union's intervention in Somalia being
an African solution to an African problem;
instead, the military push has American
fingerprints all over it. It's no surprise,
therefore, that Clinton is visiting both Kampala
and Nairobi on her African trip. Uganda and Kenya
have provided the bulk of the troops operating in
Somalia, and - within an African context - much of
the political impetus. It was Kenya's sudden
invasion last October which changed the dynamics
of the Somali conflict and put Al Shabaab on the
back foot. Just how much this invasion was
motivated by American influence and incentives we
don't know for sure. (One can suspect it was the
main motivation.)
Uganda is also
spearheading the hunt for Joseph Kony, the Ugandan
warlord immortalized in the Kony 2012 campaign.
About 100 American troops are on the ground in
Chad, the DRC, South Sudan and Uganda to assist in
the as-yet unsuccessful search. This support could
well be a quid pro quo for Uganda's bullish
approach to Somalia; it's certainly not an
altruistic gesture, given that Kony has been
around for decades and the US has previously shown
little to no interest.
In the light of all
this, Clinton's visits to Juba, Kampala and
Nairobi make perfect sense. Someone needs to make
sure everything's on track with America's proxy
war on Al Shabaab in Somalia; that would be her.
The Senegal leg is also not as innocent as
she would like us to think. Dakar just happens to
be the base of the Trans-Sahara Counterterrorism
Partnership, a US-led programme designed to
strengthen regional counterterrorism capabilities,
discredit terrorist ideology and reinforce
bilateral military relations with the US. Its
geographical scope extends across seven countries,
including Mali, Mauritania, Niger and Nigeria.
Nigeria has been helpless to deal with Islamist
militant group Boko Haram, while the other three,
Mali in particular, have all been used as bases
for Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. As stability
in Mali has decreased, American fears about Al
Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb have increased
exponentially. The Trans-Sahara Counterterrorism
Partnership is the most important weapon they've
got to deal with the problem, hence the secretary
of state's Senegal visit.
It's only on the
last few legs of her trip that Clinton will be
allowed to relax a little, and forget about
Islamist militants and the war on terror for a few
minutes. Al Qaeda hasn't managed to penetrate
Malawi yet, and the South Africa and Ghana
segments are both for specific appointments: a
personal meeting with Nelson Mandela in Qunu, and
John Atta Mills' funeral respectively.
Make no mistake, these are little extras
that help disguise the real purpose of Clinton's
trip. She's touring the frontlines of America's
war on African terror. It would be wise for
Africans to remember this as she lectures us on
choosing responsible partners for development. DM
This
article is run courtesy of Daily Maverick. To
visit their site, please click here.
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