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Bekijk Volledige Versie : Pentagon Assists French Imperialists in the Central African Republic



Samir75017
10-12-13, 22:14
Paris seeks to deepen its military presence in former colony.

United States Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel has ordered the Pentagon to assist France in its military build-up in the Central African Republic (CAR). The decision was reportedly made after French Defense Minister Yves Le Drian met with Hagel in Kabul, Afghanistan on December 8.

With the backing of the United Nations Security Council, the government of Francois Hollande has more than doubled the French military presence in the CAR. Approximately 1,600 troops are now establishing their authority at the airport outside Bangui, the capital, while the U.S. has agreed to help transport French troops into the country.

In a statement issued by President Barack Obama’s Assistant Press Secretary Carl Wood it said that “Minister Le Drian requested limited assistance from the United States military to support this international effort. In response to this request, Secretary Hagel has directed the U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) to begin transporting forces from Burundi to the Central African Republic, in coordination with France.”(December 9)

This same statement went on to say “The United States is joining the international community in this effort because of our belief that immediate action is required to avert a humanitarian and human rights catastrophe in the Central African Republic, and because of our interest in peace and security in the region. We continue to work to identify additional resources that might be available to help address further requests for assistance to support the international community’s efforts in CAR.”

The Central African Republic is a former French colony where Paris already had over 600 troops. Earlier this year in March, an alliance of four rebel organizations known as Seleka seized power forcing the former President Francois Bozize to flee the capital of Bangui.

An interim President Michel Djotodia assumed control of the government of the CAR after Seleka rebels took the capital. Djotodia is Muslim as is many of the Seleka fighters and this factor is being utilized by the French and U.S. governments to provide a rationale for intervention even though the rebels have not been accused publically of having any real connections to political Islam. Muslims constitute 15 percent of the population in the CAR.

Le Drian issued a warning to the people of the CAR saying that “First we’ll ask gently and if they don’t react, we’ll do it by force. The operation will take some time. The period of impunity is at an end.” (BBC World Service, December 9)

Djotodia has requested that the Seleka forces remain in their barracks while the French and allied African troops take up their positions around Bangui. He has also been quoted as saying that he has very little control of the operations of the rebels and is in favor of a political settlement to the conflict.

Clashes between the Seleka forces and the French military have already occurred near the airport outside Bangui. France has announced that it is currently seeking to disarm Seleka and establish its firm control over the capital and other areas throughout the country.

A spokesman for the Seleka fighters has claimed that they are the rightful leaders of the CAR during this period. The commander of their forces in Bossangoa, north of the capital of Bangui, where two days of violent clashes have reportedly taken place, Colonel Saleh Zabadi, is saying that Muslims are being burned to death by Christian militias.

“This is targeting of Muslims,” Zabadi said. “They want the current (Muslim) president to step down or else they will keep slaughtering our people.”(CNN, December 9)

France, U.S. Escalates Military Involvement in Africa

Both France and the U.S. have dispatched troops into various African states over the last year. In Mali during January, France staged a major invasion and occupation of another one of its former colonies under the guise of halting an incursion by Islamic-oriented armed groups in the northern and central regions of the vast mineral-rich state.

The U.S. also assisted in the intervention by Paris in January by transporting troops into the field of battle. Prior to the large-scale French intervention in January, the U.S. had established training and assistance programs with the Malian government through AFRICOM.

Capt. Amadou Sanogo, the leader of the March 2012 military coup in Mali, was trained in several military academies in the U.S. The role of the Pentagon in their purported assistance programs with Mali only served to weaken the West African state’s capacity to handle its own internal affairs stemming from the divisions between the Tuareg people of the North of Mali and the southern capital of Bamako that originated during the colonial era.

Both France and the U.S. have also collaborated in the massive bombing and war of regime-change in Libya during 2011 and in attempts to subdue and contain the Al-Shabaab resistance forces opposing the Washington and European Union supported Somalian federal government. In Niger, another former French colony rich in uranium resources, both the U.S. and Paris have troops stationed in the country where drone stations are being built in order to protect the strategic resources of the state.

In the Central African Republic there are significant deposits of gold, diamonds and uranium as also exists in Mali and Niger. Both the U.S. and France have economic interests inside the country.

These interventions in Africa are not for humanitarian purposes but are clearly designed to enhance the economic interests of France and the U.S. in Africa. Until Africa breaks with imperialism and forms its own independent continental military force that can address internal political and security issues, the invasions, occupations and other forms of destabilization will continue throughout the region.

https://libya360.wordpress.com/2013/12/09/pentagon-assists-french-imperialists-in-the-central-african-republic/

Samir75017
10-12-13, 22:21
‘France doesn't want to be left out of new scramble for Africa’

The French planned operation in the Central African Republic is a part of the ongoing inner-imperialist rivalry between France and the United States for control of post-colonial Africa, Abayomi Azikiwe, editor of Pan-African News Wire, told RT.

President Hollande has said that France will take immediate military action as sectarian violence escalates in the Central African Republic.

Earlier the UN Security Council voted to allow French troops to join an African peacekeeping force.

Fresh clashes between local militias in the capital Bangui have killed about 100 people and wounded scores more.

RT: Shouldn't France have taken action earlier as the violence there has been escalating since March when the president was toppled? Why now is this suddenly an issue?

Abayomi Azikiwe: This is something that has been planned now for several months. The French already have troops inside the Central African Republic, the capital of Bangui. They've admitted to at least 650 troops who have been there for considerable amount of time. They claim they are there to protect France’s interests as well as French citizens. This is a former French colony.

We also have to keep in mind that this is not the first time that France intervenes in the affairs of the Central African Republic or other former French colonies on the African continent. So this is something that has been anticipated now for several months. At this point they feel very strongly that they have the backing of the UN Security Council in pursuing this effort.

RT: [I]Do you think that the French-led troops are even capable of taking control over the situation in the country? Is foreign intervention an answer?

AA: No, foreign intervention is not the answer. I don’t believe that France has the capability of normalizing the situation inside the Central African Republic. France is only pursuing its own national interests. It’s also competing with the role of the United States on the African continent. The US has intervened extensively over the last several years in Africa in numerous countries. There is the United States Africa Command (AFRICOM) that has thousands of troops right now involved in operations all over the continent and even off the coast of both East and West Africa.

So France doesn’t want to be left out of this new scramble for Africa. People have to keep in mind that the Central African Republic has very important strategic resources such as gold, diamonds and uranium, which are essential to the overall international economic system. So this is a part of the ongoing inner-imperialist rivalry between France and the United States for control of post-colonial Africa.

RT: You mentioned that France is acting in its own interests. But from the outside it definitely looks like a repetition of what we've seen in Mali, where local authorities called for French assistance in curbing the Islamic insurgency. Why is Paris so interested in helping France's former colonies out?

AA: Well, they are not interested in helping the former colonies out, they are interested in pursuing their own economic, political and strategic interests, and [interests] of the opposition in the Central African Republic, which has requested French intervention. But the Seleka government, which is there in power now, has a very small margin of support inside the country, and Seleka itself is not a uniform coalition. It is composed of four different former rebel organizations.

The leader of the group Michel Djotodia is Islamic and the Muslim population there constitutes less than 20 percent of the overall demographics inside the Central African Republic. They can utilize the fact politically that Seleka is a Muslim-dominated coalition, which is trying to control the government there, but by no means is it Islamic or Orient in terms of this political outlook inside the country. You also have competing forces outside of Seleka. Some of them are still loyal to the former president François Bozizé who himself was overthrown earlier this year.

‘France doesn't want to be left out of new scramble for Africa’ — RT Op-Edge (http://rt.com/op-edge/french-troops-in-car-825/)

Samir75017
10-12-13, 22:28
2 French soldiers die in Central African Republic

2 French soldiers die in Central African Republic (http://news.yahoo.com/2-french-soldiers-die-central-african-republic-082602078.html)

mark61
11-12-13, 00:23
AA: No, foreign intervention is not the answer.

Wat is het alternatief precies?

knuppeltje
11-12-13, 09:49
Wat is het alternatief precies?

Dat we daar onze Sammy naartoe sturen. Dan zal het daar zo weer rozengeur en maneschijn worden. Na, ik vrees van niet.