HICHILEMA HAS UNDERMINED OUR SOVEREIGNTY, SELF-DETERMINATION
One of the most treacherous, unpatriotic and betraying things Mr Hakainde Hichilema has done is to allow the United States military to set up an AFRICOM office in Zambia.
By this single act, Mr Hichilema ¬– knowingly or unknowingly, wittingly or unwittingly – has seriously undermined the sovereignty and self-determination of our country and our people. He has undermined our national security, militarised our lives and eroded the achievements of our national liberation. He has also undermined the security of our region and our continent.
What are the security interests of the United States and its NATO allies in Africa?
Today, Africa has 29 known United States military outposts across the Northern, Western, Eastern, and Horn regions, far greater than France (5), Germany (3), Turkey (1), Belgium (1), Israel (1), Japan (1), and the United Kingdom (1) combined. Foreign military bases, particularly those of the US and France, serve as a protection racket for neocolonial interests.
The enduring presence of foreign military outposts, offices, and bases not only symbolises the lack of unity and sovereignty; it also equally enforces the fragmentation and subordination of the continent’s peoples and governments. While Africa continues to power the world via the West’s exploitation of its resources, the West’s main export to Africa is its endless wars.
The complete removal of foreign military bases is the only approach to this problem that will achieve sovereignty and self-determination in Africa. Their presence is an insult to our blood-soaked independence and ability to provide for and protect our people, forced to accept so-called defence (control) from former enslavers/colonisers, who are causally linked to the many problems we today face.
The military bases severely and disproportionately also aggravate climate damage and therefore pose a threat to the existence of Earth as a whole. Their function of maintaining capitalism and neocolonialism demonstrates that only socialism is the way forward for a united and sovereign Africa, protecting the African peoples, and saving the planet.
As of July 2023, the United States has the most military bases in Africa of any country outside the continent, at 29 known military facilities in 15 countries, followed by France, which has bases in ten countries. Of course, these statistics do not account for unclassified and unknown military bases or intelligence operations, which may be present on the African continent. It is also worth noting that AFRICOM is not currently headquartered on the continent but in Stuttgart, Germany. AFRICOM also stages training exercises on the continent.
The United States and France have 11 drone stations in Africa, which are in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Mauritania, Niger, Seychelles, Somalia, Tunisia, and Sahel and which are at the heart of the surveillance operations – unarmed turboprop aircraft disguised as private planes that are equipped with hidden sensors that can record full-motion video, track infrared heat patterns, and vacuum up radio and cellphone signals.
Drones kill would-be attackers against the United States, but they also increase the likelihood of future attacks by encouraging retribution among the public. Drones may kill more people with a single strike than infantry because they are less expensive to maintain, easier to operate, and lack emotions. These factors contribute to the growth of insurgencies and conflicts. Additionally, it excuses soldiers from responsibility if they kill civilians because they were not personally engaged in the decision to explode or cancel the mission.
Foreign military outposts connect to other sites in Africa and other continents via the telecommunications infrastructure of the host country, which threatens national security and allows the foreign power to have access to the population’s GPS, interests, “likes”, and other surveillance of individuals.
The United States military fulfills two key roles on the African continent. Resource exploitation and foreign policy: The United States military, together with the armies of other NATO nations, including France, serve not only to benefit the United States and its ruling elites but also to fulfill gendarme functions. These functions entail safeguarding Western corporate interests and upholding the principles of capitalism.
With the growing presence of Chinese private and public commercial interests in Africa, and their consistent success in outbidding Western companies, there has been an escalation in United States efforts to limit China’s influence on the continent. The United States government’s New Africa Strategy, formulated in 2019, framed the situation as a competition, highlighting China and Russia as great power competitors rapidly expanding their financial and political influence in Africa.
The dependence on external engagement in African security affairs carries significant drawbacks. Firstly, this establishes an imbalance where external states take charge of the African security agenda, depriving African nations of the ability to shape their future. Secondly, external actors often prioritise swift military solutions in areas aligned with their national interests, instead of investing in long-term support to address local issues and underlying causes that could be effectively addressed through non-military means.
There has been a growing trend of non-security-related challenges in Africa being approached with a military mindset. Instances include the utilisation of military forces to tackle epidemics, local political unrest, and development concerns. Furthermore, political discussions and rhetoric are increasingly adopting a militarised tone throughout the continent. For instance, politicians are increasingly linking security issues to the fight against terrorism and the security of regimes, rather than focusing on community resilience and human security. External powers employ a rhetoric of warfare and military peril to mobilise backing for development initiatives, peace promotion, and efforts against diseases or climate change. Previously distinct domains, like development and security, are now blending into a shared political agenda, where military interventions are presented as the universal solution to all challenges in these areas.
Africa possesses a vast range of valuable natural resources in its subsoil. It holds a staggering proportion of global reserves, including 98 percent of chromium, 90 percent of cobalt, 90 percent of platinum, 70 percent of coltan, 70 percent of tantalite, 64 percent of manganese, 50 percent of gold, and 33 percent of uranium. Additionally, the continent boasts significant reserves of other minerals such as bauxite, diamonds, tantalum, tungsten, and tin. With 30 percent of the world’s mineral reserves, 12 percent of known oil reserves, 8 percent of known natural gas, and 65 percent of the planet’s arable land, Africa’s subsoil wealth is substantial. The UN Environmental Programme estimates that Africa’s natural capital represents 30 percent to 50 percent of the total wealth of African countries. In 2012, the UN reported that natural resources accounted for 77 percent of total exports and 42 percent of total government revenue.
African nations heavily depend on the export of various raw materials due to the dominance of multinational corporations and insufficient industrialisation in many African countries. This reliance has led to a state of dependency on foreign capital. This condition of dependency was established through colonial policies that focused on extracting and growing raw materials, which were then sold through colonial concessions to the rulers’ countries. Subsequent generations of post-colonial elites inherited this dependency and derived benefits from it without making substantial changes to the structure.
Coups have become consequences or “backfires” rooting from United States “efforts” to mentor foreign troops. Security training by the USA gives the United States access to the African states, which results in influence on their militaries. For example, Col Assimi Goïta worked with United States Special Operations forces for years, participating in both Flintlock exercises and a Joint Special Operations University seminar at MacDill Air Force Base – and also headed the junta that overthrew Mali’s government in 2020. After staging the coup, Goïta stepped down and took the job of Vice-President in a transitional government charged with returning Mali to civilian rule. But less than a year later, he carried out his second coup. Why do these officers, who were trained by the United States to defend their governments, topple them instead?
In the United States government’s 2006 Quadrennial Defense Review, the authors wrote that, “Of the major and emerging powers, China has the greatest potential of any nation to militarily compete with the US and field disruptive military technologies that could over time offset traditional US advantages”.
Over time, China has entered into several Memorandums of Understanding with the African Union, including one in 2015 as part of Agenda 2063, intending to support infrastructure development. China has made substantial investments in critical infrastructure projects in Africa, such as the Mali-Guinea rail project and the Sudan-Senegal railway line. Additionally, it has contributed to energy infrastructure initiatives like the 2600MW Mambilla hydropower project in Nigeria and the 400MW Bui Dam in Ghana. China has played a pivotal role in the telecommunications sector by providing telecoms equipment to countries like Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, and Sudan. Chinese aid, as opposed to IMF, Western commercial investments, and overseas development assistance, do not impose debilitating conditions. This can be observed through the various agreements signed by China, but more importantly, it is rooted in China’s concept of patient capital, which has traditionally been applied within its own borders but has gradually extended beyond as Chinese state banks have emerged as significant investors internationally. China currently ranks as the second-largest investing country globally, with the China Export-Import Bank and China Development Bank playing key roles as investors. The loans provided by these state agencies are long-term investments and do not impose short repayment schedules.
China’s GDP growth rate has never fallen below 6 percent in the years between 1992 and 2018. China’s economy grew by double digits for most years. In the same period, the US economy has never been able to achieve a 5 percent growth rate. Moreover, while America’s recovery from the 2007 financial crisis took a long time, China quickly overcame such crises. China’s GDP was only US$1.2 trillion in 2000, while the US GDP was US$10.2 trillion in the same year. By the year 2000, while the GDP of the US doubled in 20 years to 23 trillion, China’s GDP increased by about 15 times and reached US$17.7 trillion in the same period.
To enable a capacity to respond to this relative decline in US hegemony, a strategy focusing on military readiness has been introduced. Steps contemplated within this framework involve bolstering alliance networks in the Asia-Pacific region to counter China, and in Europe to counter Russia. Additionally, there are plans to encourage allies to increase their defence budgets to 5 percent of their GDP and establish permanent military bases near countries considered to be adversaries. The strategy’s essence is to economically, politically, and militarily besiege opponents.
United States military bases are destroying the planet and entrenching patriarchy. If the United States military were a nation-state, it would be the 47th largest emitter of carbon emissions in the world, and US military pollution has accounted for 1.2 billion metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions, which amounts to 257 million passenger cars, annually. Additionally, the military bases pollute the surrounding communities due to the astonishing amount of toxic chemicals, such as perchlorate and other components of jet fuel, that are found to contaminate drinking water, aquifers, and the soil surrounding the bases.
Furthermore, the United States military bases exacerbate patriarchy and gender-based violence. The impunity often handed to US military personnel by their host countries puts women and other marginalised groups in danger, especially considering that it has already been reported that the Pentagon undercounts and ignores military sexual assault in Africa even within its own ranks.
One could be tempted to believe that military outposts in impoverished areas provide jobs, security, and counterterrorism efforts, but former United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower reminded us otherwise: “Every gun created, every battleship sent into action, every rocket fired, in the end, represents a robbery from those who are hungry and unfed, cold and unclothed.”
This militarised world is not only spending money. It is squandering the toil of its workers, the brilliance of its scientists, and the aspirations of its young people. In all actuality, this is not a way of life. Humanity is hung on an iron cross beneath the ominous cloak of war.
Fred M’membe
President of the Socialist Party