life beyond life
28th June 2004, 06:40
this is only a short excerpt from the article, however i strongly urge those interested in opening the link provided below. you won't be sorry that you "armed" yourself with this information...
_______________________________________________
International Viewpoint: Insight into Africa
During the cold war, the United States (US) viewed Africa as a major arena of conflict with the Soviet Union and poured billions of dollars in economic and military aid into the continent in order to gain control over various regimes. For example, the central African nation of Congo suffered for thirty-two years under the dictator Mobutu Sese Soko and during this time the US supplied more than $300 million in military aid to this nation alone. This was not an isolated case as various other brutal regimes in Africa were supported through the provision of aid, such as Liberia and Kenya. However, after the collapse of communism, US interests in Africa began to wane. For example, Liberia, which had been a key ally and strategic post during the cold war, lost significance after 1990 and ever since has been embroiled in civil war without US intervention. Indeed, in 1995, a Pentagon report concluded that the US had 'very little traditional strategic interests in Africa' and Bush during his presidential campaign of 2000, said that Africa 'doesn't fit into the national strategic interests as far as I can see'.
Political circumstances, however, are always changing and over the last few years Africa has crept back onto Washington's foreign policy agenda. This newfound interest in Africa is due to it becoming a growing source of US oil imports; this applies especially to the West African nations such as Angola, Nigeria, Congo Republic, Gabon, Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea. The US already purchases approximately 15 per cent of its oil from West Africa; nearly as much as the US imports from Saudi Arabia. This figure is expected to grow to 20 per cent within the next 5 years, according to the US National Intelligence council and to as high as 25 per cent by 2015. Therefore the presence of oil in West Africa and US dependency on oil imports, has created this new US interest and what is now being called 'the new scramble for Africa'.
The objective of this article is to indicate clearly how America's new love affair with Africa is motivated by colonial interests. It will demonstrate how in the past the US intervened in Africa to secure national interests and national interests are the prism through which US policymakers are viewing Africa once again, with West Africa and in particular Equatorial Guinea being the focus of US foreign policy in the region...
http://www.khilafah.com/home/category.php?...ID=9188&TagID=2 (http://www.khilafah.com/home/category.php?DocumentID=9188&TagID=2)
_______________________________________________
International Viewpoint: Insight into Africa
During the cold war, the United States (US) viewed Africa as a major arena of conflict with the Soviet Union and poured billions of dollars in economic and military aid into the continent in order to gain control over various regimes. For example, the central African nation of Congo suffered for thirty-two years under the dictator Mobutu Sese Soko and during this time the US supplied more than $300 million in military aid to this nation alone. This was not an isolated case as various other brutal regimes in Africa were supported through the provision of aid, such as Liberia and Kenya. However, after the collapse of communism, US interests in Africa began to wane. For example, Liberia, which had been a key ally and strategic post during the cold war, lost significance after 1990 and ever since has been embroiled in civil war without US intervention. Indeed, in 1995, a Pentagon report concluded that the US had 'very little traditional strategic interests in Africa' and Bush during his presidential campaign of 2000, said that Africa 'doesn't fit into the national strategic interests as far as I can see'.
Political circumstances, however, are always changing and over the last few years Africa has crept back onto Washington's foreign policy agenda. This newfound interest in Africa is due to it becoming a growing source of US oil imports; this applies especially to the West African nations such as Angola, Nigeria, Congo Republic, Gabon, Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea. The US already purchases approximately 15 per cent of its oil from West Africa; nearly as much as the US imports from Saudi Arabia. This figure is expected to grow to 20 per cent within the next 5 years, according to the US National Intelligence council and to as high as 25 per cent by 2015. Therefore the presence of oil in West Africa and US dependency on oil imports, has created this new US interest and what is now being called 'the new scramble for Africa'.
The objective of this article is to indicate clearly how America's new love affair with Africa is motivated by colonial interests. It will demonstrate how in the past the US intervened in Africa to secure national interests and national interests are the prism through which US policymakers are viewing Africa once again, with West Africa and in particular Equatorial Guinea being the focus of US foreign policy in the region...
http://www.khilafah.com/home/category.php?...ID=9188&TagID=2 (http://www.khilafah.com/home/category.php?DocumentID=9188&TagID=2)