The United States' Strongmen in Africa - Part I

African leaders in the service of imperialist power. The U.S. government employs barbaric tactics to destabilize Africa for economic and political gains.

Things to remember if you are a strongman:

Be aware that when you serve as a U.S. supported dictator there are strings attached. Don't reject the program your backers have planned. The threats may at first be couched in the language of human rights. The massacres you committed while in the employ of your backers and fighting against forces with an agenda other than those of your neocolonial masters are suddenly a problem. You may even be accused of being mentally unstable, or of committing crimes and atrocities you had no involvement in. Human rights observers (or those not so observant of human rights -- a more sinister breed known as "Jackals") may be dispatched to investigate the many animal pelts, tusks and assorted other skeletons in your closet. The massacres of hundreds of thousands, that never made the news, suddenly become newsworthy, and the word genocide is floated.

"In the end however, all the killing was blamed on the ADFL [Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo-Zaire] — dismissing the roles of Rwanda, Uganda, and the US and Israeli military officials advising them and Pentagon agencies providing logistics."

Source: 1- Congo’s President Joseph Kabila: Dynasty Or Travesty?

2- Howard French, Africa: A Continent for the Taking, 2001.

In October last year, the U.S. announced that it was deploying 100 troops to Uganda on a "humanitarian mission" to stop those who employ child soldiers. No permission was sought from the American Congress, as the U.S. military would only be acting as "advisors." No such altruism was on display when the U.S. backed African strongmen Yoweri Museveni, Paul Kagame, and Laurent Kabila, all were guilty of enlisting children as combatants. What other motives drove the U.S. to send troops to Uganda?

It is well documented that Western powers forced most African countries during the 1990s into structural adjustment programs that have ensnared the continent in a cycle of debt and dependency. In recent years, the economic noose around Africa's neck may be seen as loosening by the West, primarily because China is gaining increasing economic influence, posing what is seen as a threat. The U.S. has decided on a military and covert response. The U.S. is escalating it's use of proxy wars. The U.S. oil wars in Africa are well underway. "West Africa alone sits atop 15% of the world's oil, and by 2015 is projected to supply up to a quarter of US domestic consumption," wrote Bruce Dixon of Black Agenda Report in 2007.

The irony is the sheer hypocrisy of conservative American think tanks and right-wing politicians who pontificate about the virtues of free-market Capitalism, but rather than compete in a so-called fictional "free-market economy," their government's best move is to employ their military and propaganda machine to destroy people's lives. The real story is that there is no such thing as free-market Capitalism. The driving force behind the global economy is "crony Capitalism" or as often reiterated during the Romney campaign - "vulture Capitalism."

The neocolonial rape of Africa also illustrates that American strong-arm tactics and war machinery are reflexive instruments which have almost complete bi-partisan political support.

The only way America has chosen to conduct itself in the world is via old-timey "gun-boat diplomacy." An American Navy aircraft carrier is widely known as, "100,000 tons of American diplomacy" because it carries American aggression to the oceans.

The United States Rewards and Supports the "Strong Governance" of these African Leaders:

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Yoweri Museveni | Uganda

A U.S. State Department cable reveals Museveni's government has signed an agreement that specifically states "that Ugandan forces may not utilize U.S. intelligence to engage enemies without first consulting U.S. officials."
Source: 1- Cable shows U.S. permission required for key Ugandan combat ops

2- Cable Reference ID #09KAMPALA1397 | Uganda: Intelligence Sharing Agreement | Wed, 16 Dec 2009 13:42

The buildup of the Ugandan external debt under President Musaveni [sic] coincided chronologically with the Rwandan and Congolese civil wars. With the accession of Musaveni to the presidency in 1986, the Ugandan external debt stood at 1.3 billion dollars. With the gush of fresh money, the external debt spiraled overnight, increasing almost threefold to 3.7 billion by 1997. In fact, Uganda had no outstanding debt to the World Bank at the outset of its "economic recovery program". By 1997, it owed almost 2 billion dollars solely to the World Bank.

Source: 1- The US was behind the Rwandan Genocide: Installing a US Protectorate in Central Africa
2- Jim Mugunga, Uganda foreign debt hits Shs 4 trillion, The Monitor, Kampala, 19 Feb 1997.

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Paul Kagame | Rwanda

In 1991, the U.S. backed and trained the Ugandan invasion of Rwanda, which put Paul Kagame into power in Kigali in 1994. "The civil war in Rwanda was a brutal struggle for political power between the Hutu-led Habyarimana government supported by France and the Tutsi Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) backed financially and militarily by Washington. Ethnic rivalries were used deliberately in the pursuit of geopolitical objectives. Both the CIA and French intelligence were involved."

Source: The US was behind the Rwandan Genocide: Installing a US Protectorate in Central Africa
Amply documented, US special operations troops -- mainly Green Berets from the 3rd Special Forces Group based at Fort Bragg, N.C.-- had been actively training the RPA. This program was a continuation of the covert support and military aid provided to the RPA prior to 1994. In turn, the tragic outcome of the Rwandan civil war including the refugee crisis had set the stage for the participation of Ugandan and Rwandan RPA in the civil war in the Congo.
Source: 1- The US was behind the Rwandan Genocide: Installing a US Protectorate in Central Africa
2- Lynne Duke Africans Use US Military Training in Unexpected Ways, Washington Post. July 14, 1998; p.A01.
Critics such as Wayne Madsen, author of Genocide and Covert Operations in Africa 1993-1999, assert that Kagame and the RPA orchestrated the April 6, 1994 assassination of the presidents of Rwanda and Burundi-shooting down their plane on its approach to Kigali airport with SAM-7 surface-to-air missiles taken from Iraq by France in 1991, then delivered by the U.S. military to Uganda, the base for RPA guerrilla operations against Rwanda prior to 1994.

Evidence was provided at a special hearing held by then Congressperson Cynthia McKinney at the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington, DC on April 6, 2001, the seventh anniversary of the assassinations.
Source: Rwanda's Secret War: U. S. -backed destabilization of Central Africa

Paul Kagame's son Ivan Cyomoro is a cadet at the United States Military Academy of West Point. Ivan is a member of the West Point Class of 2013.
Source: Rwanda President Kagame Visits His Son At The US Military Academy

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Alassane Ouattara | Côte d'Ivoire

Alassane Ouattara was a Deputy Director General at the IMF in Washington, DC: "Ouattara, an economist and former senior official of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had been handpicked by [former Ivory Coast president] Houphouet-Boigny to implement unpopular economic reforms during his latter years in power."

Source: COTE D'IVOIRE: Former political foes strike pact to oust Gbagbo

Two prominent French business figures with interests in Africa – Martin Bouygues, head of the Bouygues industrial group, and Jean-Christophe Mitterrand, son of former French president François Mitterrand – were present as friends of Ouattara [at Ouatarra's wedding to a French woman of Algerian descent].

Source: Dominique Folloroux-Ouattara

Ouattara is a close personal friend of French President Nicolas Sarkozy: "We speak to each other on my visits to France. Nicolas Sarkozy is a friend," confided Ouattara, at the very beginning of his presidential campaign.
Source: La revanche des Ouattara

Laurent Gbagbo, the former Ivorian president was arrested by French special forces and given over to the soldiers of Alassane Ouattara. Gbagbo was arrested after tank assault led by the French army. "These leaders of the rebellion have been conveyed there by the French forces who entered the residence with tanks", he added. "The president was in his office" The information was confirmed by the ambassador of France in Ivory Coast.

Source: Laurent Gbagbo aurait été arrêté par les forces Françaises

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In recent years, billions of barrels of crude oil were discovered along Uganda’s border with the Congo. The oil discovery is said to rival Saudi Arabia's oil reserves. In April last year, Tullow, one of four oil prospectors on the ground in Uganda, embarked on a major drilling campaign in the Butiaba area around Lake Albert targeting an overall reserve potential in excess of a billion barrels. On October 14, 2011, ABC News reported that Obama was sending troops to Uganda on a humanitarian mission -- to help combat the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA). The only problem with that: The LRA are no longer in Uganda -- had not been there since 2006. On March 5, 2012, the video Kony 2012, produced by the admitted U.S. intelligence asset, Invisible Children is so hyped by the U.S. media that it goes viral. Coincidentally, the video demands U.S. intervention in Africa to capture LRA leader Joseph Kony.

A group of Ugandans were in Washington recently. The group was comprised of Ministry of Energy officials, a member of Parliament, members of civil society and one journalist. Sally Kornfeld, a senior analyst in the office of fossil energy at the US Department of Energy said the following about Uganda’s oil reservoirs:

"You are blessed with amazing reservoirs. Your reservoirs are incredible. I am amazed by what I have seen, you might rival Saudi Arabia,”

"As Kornfeld marveled at Uganda’s oil finds, she was quick to add that for the country to benefit from the oil and gas resources but also avoid the pitfalls of oil producing countries like Nigeria, it is extremely important to set up strong governance structures."

Source: Uganda’s oil reserves rival Saudi Arabia’s, says US expert

Read more: I was a child soldier for Uganda’s President

U.S. Foreign Policy Is Not Evolving - Alienates. No Hope. No Change.

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"I want to change the mindset that got us into Iraq."

"Africa doesn't need strong men, it needs strong institutions. As for america and the west, our commitment must be measured in the dollars we spend. I pledge substantial increases in our foreign assistance, which is in Africa's interests and America's interests. But the true sign of interest is not whether a source of perpetual aid that helps people scrape by, it's whether we are partners in building the capacity for transformational change."

-- Barack Obama - 2008 presidential campaign

Bill Clinton with the U.S.' kind of guy, Rwandan strong man Paul Kagame.

"Traditionally, the way the United States has engaged in Africa has perpetuated tyranny and dependency."

The leadership of Africa is shameful (not unrelated to U.S. interventions to install these despots), but what about U.S. foreign policy in Africa? They support and nurture the corruption! Why is it that the U.S. government supports strong men in Africa, instead of supporting the people? We hear a lot of rhetoric about supporting democracies from the United States, but in reality the U.S. does not support "one man, one vote." The U.S. establishment is loath to see the "unwashed masses" of "underdeveloped" countries have real democratic rights -- that's mob rule! It would mean having to deal with sovereign countries that prioritized protecting their national interests, rather than being beholden to unaccountable foreign institutions and multinational corporations bent on plundering their resources.

In twenty years, will the legacy of recent American presidents like Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Bush and Obama be deemed worth the so-called "blow-back" or negative repercussions engendered by their "Economic Hitman" foreign policy? The policy of plundering "developing" countries. The policy of Disaster Capitalism. All of this is continuing under the Obama administration. The bombings and drone strikes, particularly in Libya and the Ivory Coast were all aimed at influencing and controlling the sovereign affairs of those countries and to benefit U.S. corporatocracy. And despite claims of UN sanctioned "humanitarian" bombings -- these sieges illegal as hell. So is the illegal and unjustified occupation of Haiti under Chapter VII, which continues under Obama, by the way. There is no hope, no change. In fact, U.S. foreign policy is much worst than status quo under Obama:

"The UN Charter does not permit the use of military force for humanitarian interventions. The military invasions of Libya and Ivory Coast have been justified by reference to the Responsibility to Protect doctrine.

The Responsibility to Protect is contained in the General Assembly's Outcome Document of the 2005 World Summit. It is not enshrined in an international treaty nor has it ripened into a norm of customary international law. Paragraph 138 of that document says each individual State has the responsibility to protect its populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing, and crimes against humanity. Paragraph 139 adds that the international community, through the United Nations, also has "the responsibility to use appropriate diplomatic, humanitarian and other peaceful means, in accordance with Chapters VI and VIII of the Charter, to help protect populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity."

When is the U.S. going to change course and practice a just foreign policy? It's been a dismal diplomatic and humanitarian failure. You have to wonder at the inhumanity that allows it to continue. It's incredible that the U.S. continues its inhumane, neoliberal, disaster capitalism, preemptive war doctrine when such policies are alienating the rest of the world.

The United States' success in Africa against the "China threat" is being based on the successful installation of a U.S. military presence -- the United States African Command (AFRICOM). The name alone hints at what this military presence is about. African countries have thus far rejected the installation of U.S. military bases on their soil. However, it's clear that AFRICOM is entering African countries through its backdoor access to "strong men," like Yoweri Museven of Uganda, who answers to American interests, rather than the Ugandan people.

The need to install a U.S. "Command" presence in Africa explains the push by agents (more about that below) of the U.S. government to have the U.S. military intervene in the sovereign affairs of countries like Uganda. Wikileaks revealed the "murky relationship" the U.S. has with the Ugandan government. A U.S. State Department cable reveals they've signed an agreement that specifically states "that Ugandan forces may not utilize U.S. intelligence to engage enemies without first consulting U.S. officials."

Besides their connection to "strong men," other successful measures employed by the U.S.to further its "interests" are close ties with NGOs (often through USAID), which ultimately compromise the ability of a country's government to control their own economies, leading to political instability.

It's well documented that NGOs like the Peace Corps are sometimes recruited by U.S. Embassies and intelligence agencies to spy on behalf of American interests. So some question the phenomenal success of the Joseph Kony "promotional" video produced by Invisible Children (IC). Is it just coincidental that the KONY2012 campaign promotes U.S. military involvement in Uganda? The Wikileaks cable mentioned above applies to U.S. State Department "intelligence asset" -- Invisible Children. IC has confirmed that they acted as "spies" for the Ugandan government.

Bruce A. Dixon of Black Agenda Report writes that IC is funded by right-wing donors, "including The Discovery Institute, which Bruce Wilson fingered in a March 11 Talk 2 Action piece as the leading funder of efforts to promote the replacement of biological sciences in schools with “intelligent design,”along with the Caster Foundation and the National Christian Foundation, all prominent backers of anti-gay referenda, politicians and initiatives in the United States and around the world." Dixon continues: "Credible African journalists like Keith Harmon Snow have also alleged that Invisible Children’s white and male leaders have direct personal connections to US intelligence agencies."

IC's campaign to increase the involvement of the U.S. military in Uganda has been exposed, revealing its phony "charitable" and "humanitarian" front. Between the plethora of Ugandans and Africans voicing their negative opinions about the KONY2012 campaign for its; paternalistic white savior mentality; the less than generous contributions on the ground (just 30%) and the emotional instability displayed by the group's co-founder, it's hard to believe that "intelligence" was involved in the IC debacle.

Why doesn't the United State engage Africa (and other non-European countries) more positively and honorably? Why does the U.S. behave like a thief in the night? Or a more apt comparison: a rapist? The thief just takes your belongings, perhaps injuring one's dignity, but the rapist violates and angers the victim. No wonder Americans have been arming themselves at such unprecedented rates. It can't all be about Obama's presidency or the unholy fear of Black people by racists. Americans must have a sense -- though they aren't informed by the propaganda that passes for news in the privately held media -- of the rage that U.S. foreign policy spawns.

What about reciprocal, fair trade? Isn't it just good "Christian" values? Why not treat others as you would want to be treated? Would it be so hard to show Africans the same respect shown to by China for instance? China does not have a substantive military presence in Africa. Reportedly, the only Chinese military presence in Africa is that deployed in the past on UN "peacekeeping" missions and as military attaches, usually having duties at Embassies. China has chosen to emphasize its economic, not military ties with Africa.

(Partial Video Transcript)

People are dying… The situation is getting worst and worst… the money is there… everybody wants a piece of the Congo. Why are people living hand to mouth in one of the most mineral rich countries in the world? The Congo produces more than a billion dollars of gold alone each year. And the cobalt, and the tin, and the tungsten, and the copper.. all of that we are benefiting from. And yet we are silent.

When people invade your country, they rape your women, they rape the kids. They morally control your mind. There's a pattern to genocide. You can see it coming. It's like a hurricane. Are we going to have to wait for twenty more years, before somebody does something to stop this holocaust?

There is a global consensus that exists, that says it's ok for nearly 6 million Black people to die in the heart of Africa and for us to be silent. So I kept asking our intelligence people, is there any truth to this. What's happening out there? I don't think policymakers could claim that they didn't know.

There's something wrong. There's something wrong with us in terms of how we think about Africa.

The story of the Congo is often overlooked for its complexity. It's a story where boundaries are porous. And national identities mean little. Militant groups with ever changing acronyms are not who they claim to be. And neighbors loot and murder, while they are praised by the international community. But the death toll is now surpassing that of the holocaust. In part because of the way the United States is involved in Central Africa. Now facing a critical juncture in their history, the Congolese people need us to change the way we are involved, so that they can have the space to start rebuilding their country.

(end of partial video transcript)

What is the ultimate solution to the problems in the Congo? Activist in the video suggest that we hold governments accountable and give the Congo the space needed solve their own problems. The video also references a 2006 law (Public Law 109-456*) co-sponsored by President Obama ("for years he has been an advocate for the Congo") when he was a Congressman. One Activists thinks: "It is a law that supports the Congo." It would hold accountable Rwanda and Uganda, proposing sanctions to stop them from intervening in the affairs of the Congo. The law was passed, but key elements of that law are not being implemented by the U.S.

Makes you wonder; who really runs America? Evidently, it is not the current President of the United States, since Obama cannot even implement a laws he co-sponsored, nor can Obama deliver on most of the rhetoric and promises he made when he was Candidate Obama.

* The Democratic Republic of the Congo Relief, Security and Democracy Promotion Act of 2006

Support the implementation of this law, sign the petition at Change.org: Fully Implement Public Law 109-456

Requiem for an empire built on warheads, neutron bombs and Dot Dot Dit Dit Dot Dot Dash. Damned if I know?

A tribute to Gil Scot Heron, an American who told it like it is. He was especially clear about American hegemony. He chronicled the American society's inner workings, understood its tyrannical hierarchy and talked about the ways its political agents spread tentacles out to implement American foreign policy.

His birthday was April 1, 1949. He died last year at the age of 62. He died relatively young, like a lot of Black men who end up in jail (disproportionally) for substance abuse and suffer at the hands of the American two-tiered "justus" system, he suffered from ill health that no doubt was aggravated by his time spent in adverse conditions of the U.S. prison industrial complex.

The Ghetto Code. Dot Dot Dit Dit Dot Dot Dash.

by Gil Scott Heron

[..] The letter that I would like to go into very briefly is the letter C.

It is one of my favorites. It is very underrated. In terms of letters, you know.

Very few people sit around and comment on the virtues of the letter C.

But it is the first letter in cash money. It is the first letter in Constitution.

And it is the last letter in musiC.

It is the first letter in CIA...

The CIA and FBI, they're noses pressed up against our window pane.

Ears glued to our telephone. Why won't they leave us alone?

Dot Dot Dit Dit Dot Dot Dash. Damned if I know?

The CIA and FBI, noses pressed up against our window pane.

Ears glued to our telephone. Why won't they leave us alone?

Tryin' to pick up on the Ghetto Code. Old fashioned Ghetto Code.

[...] I know whoever they was paying to listen in

on my phone must have been sayin'

Dot Dot Dit Dit Dot Dot Dash. Damned if I know?

Then Gil relates the story of how Howard Hughes was paid $400 million by the CIA to raise a sunken Russian submarine.

Project Azorian cost $800 million according to Wiki. There's a reference on Wiki to James Cameron's The Abyss -- interesting parallels there between Cameron's latest race to the bottom and Hughes big payday -- must be nice to have seemingly limitless funds... Dot Dot Dit Dit Dot Dot Dash. Damned if I know?

Gil questions the CIA's motives for this "overextended" venture. Gil goes into the CIA in Latin America... Cuba, Castro, Allende, Chile, Communists, the Panama Canal, Columbia, and Che Guevara.

[..] The C might remind you of the Congo.

Say what? The Congo. The Congo?

The C that reminds you of the Congo

could remind you of how geography changes.

Looking at the map of Africa today.

Where you see the word Zaire, you would at one time see

the word Congo or Belgium Congo.

Remembrances of this would remind you of

a man that stood for African unity.

A man name Patrice Lumumba.

But somehow, somehow

Patrice Lumumba was assassinated

during a mysterious C. A Coup D'etat.

Other things that haven't been solved or

haven't been quite explained to anybody's satisfaction:

Was it Lee Harvey Oswald over there?

Or was it Lee Harvey Oswald over there?

Was he 5 '8 165 pounds or was he 6 '2 205?

Was he photographed for his appearance in Dallas or was that Moscow?

Arthur Brenner was he from Maryland, Maine or Massachusetts?

Was he kept in the Midwest or the Middle East?

And if they always have a chance to photograph these people

before they commit their crimes -- why can't they stop them?

Dot Dot Dit Dit Dot Dot Dash. Damned if I know?

But other problems we would still like to see solved?

Like JFK - you believe all that?

RFK - you believe that?

MLK - you believe all that?

Malcolm X - you believe that?
All this was some great big old C coincidence?

Or was it a little bitty c, conspiracy?

There are two questions that concern us very much about the letter C:

The first one is the CIA. Who the hell runs that organization?

The second one is: Who runs this country?

Dot Dot Dit Dit Dot Dot Dash. Damned if I know.