US – AFRICA SUMMIT FOR DEMOCRACY: ANSWERS ARE NEEDED
By Grace Hamwemba
In the next few days, US Vice President Kamala Harris is coming to preach peace to Africa and probably give a lecture to African political leaders and civil society elites.
The leaders attending this Summit have strategically been selected to give a monotonous endorsement of American ideals and not ask hard questions.
But American leaders have never known people. Peace is when people are able to resolve their conflicts without violence.
Maybe this Summit should be dedicated to remembering Colonel Muammar Gaddafi and many who have died from senseless wars.
America has spent trillions of dollars funding wars in the world. US Vice President Kamala Harris, even as she gets to sign some investment deals in Africa, she won’t tell these leaders that what America is spending on the entire Africa is a fraction of what they spend in wars on other regions.
In 2011, the Washington Post reported that U.S. involvement in the war in Libya cost American taxpayers an estimated $896 million through July 31, according to the Pentagon.
The 20-year Afghanistan war was done at a cost the US, an estimated US$8 trillion dollars with over 1,000,000 people dying, including U.S. military members, allied fighters, opposition fighters, civilians, journalists and humanitarian aid workers who were killed as a direct result of war, whether by bombs, bullets or fire.
In Syria, World Vision reports that the economic cost of conflict in Syria after 10 years is estimated to be over $US 1.2 trillion and reduced Syrian children’s overall life expectancy by 13 years. About half a million of people died in Syria.
In Iraq, the total cost to the United States of the Iraq war at $3 trillion and we know that between 315,190 have died from direct war related violence caused by the U.S., its allies, from the time of the invasion.
The US is the largest contributor to Ukraine in terms of money spent. Congress appropriated more than $112 billion dollars in 2022 alone.
So as the elites will be enjoying a lecture from Vice President Kamala Harris, there must be room for Africa to ask one hard question: Why does America spend so much money in wars than it does to alleviate suffering around the world?
America is a war monger and uses war as a business. It certainly has blood on its hands, including the blood of son of the soil, Muammar Gaddafi.