The question is why do they need *THREE YEARS* for transition? It is call
establishing themselves into power instead of transition. No genuine
governing transition should last more than six months to a year. It is
replacing the devil with another devil who thinks "he laid down his life
for the people" smells like July 22nd Revolution.
I think France is acting hypocritical as well. If they are genuine they
must demand transition to civilian rule now. Anything less is a betrayal of
the wishes and aspirations of the CAR people.
One always wonders why we Africans lack sense of responsibility in deciding
our own destiny? Why we need the West to come in and validate our genuine
efforts to free our people. Events in Africa just make me want to tear my
skin apart due to our in ability to stand up for ourselves.
Really sad!
Thanks for sharing.
On Tue, Apr 2, 2013 at 12:29 PM, Baba Jallow <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> An interesting story indeed. And yes, there is no doubt that both China
> and the West are in Africa for their own selfish interests and not for the
> interest of Africans. Which, among many other things, raises a small but
> significant issue of this story's headline itself. It is perhaps not hard
> to see that Mr. Gaist's or the editor of this publication's headline is
> very misleading. There is no indication in the story that the coup leaders
> have scrapped Chinese oil deals. What the story says is "Djotodia has
> already announced that he will review the CAR’s mining and oil contracts
> with China, signed by the Bozizé government, 'to see whether things were
> badly done, to try and sort them out.'” Nowhere does it say the contracts
> with China have been scrapped. Why then should this publication proceed to
> unequivocally announce that they have been? Is this just bad journalism or
> one that smacks of a subtle sub-text of neo-imperialistic motives?
>
> Thanks for sharing Fye.
>
> Baba
> .
>
>
> On Mon, Apr 1, 2013 at 8:36 AM, Fye Samateh <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>> Pro-French Central African Republic coup leaders scrap Chinese oil deals By
>> Thomas Gaist
>> 1 April 2013
>>
>> Over 500 French troops are deployed in Bangui, Central African Republic,
>> supporting the new regime headed by Michel Djotodia, heading the Seleka
>> rebel coalition that recently ousted CAR President François Bozizé
>>
>> Djotodia has announced that he is dissolving parliament and suspending
>> the 2004 constitution. “To this effect, we have decided to guide the
>> destiny of the people of the Central African Republic during this
>> transitional period of three years... During this transition period which
>> will lead us to free, credible and transparent elections, I will legislate
>> by decree,” he said.
>>
>> Djotodia has already announced that he will review the CAR’s mining and
>> oil contracts with China, signed by the Bozizé government, “to see whether
>> things were badly done, to try and sort them out.” Further, Djotodia
>> declared that he would invite the former colonial power in CAR, France,
>> along with the United States, to retrain the official military, which was
>> defeated by Seleka last weekend.
>>
>> “We will rely on the European Union to help us develop this country,” Mr.
>> Djotodia said, adding that about 80 per cent of the country’s foreign aid
>> has come from the bloc. “When we have been sick, the European Union was at
>> our bedside. It will not abandon us now.”
>>
>> Effectively, Djotodia is preparing to hand over the key resources of the
>> CAR’s economy to European imperialism.
>>
>> The situation facing the CAR population remains disastrous. Most of
>> Bangui lacks running water and electricity, and the single functioning
>> hospital is still taking in 30 wounded per day. The United Nations reports
>> that food shortages affecting tens of thousands are gripping the country,
>> and prices of staple goods such as cassava and rice have tripled.
>>
>> Already, life expectancy in CAR is barely over 40 years, with only 40
>> percent literacy and skyrocketing HIV rates.
>>
>> The takeover of Bangui by the Seleka rebels with French and US support
>> represents the most recent stage in the unfolding recolonization of Africa
>> by the imperialist powers that came to the fore with the 2011 NATO war in
>> Libya. It testifies to the reactionary character of the ethnic-based
>> politics of various bourgeois and petty-bourgeois factions in Africa, which
>> are constantly manipulated by the imperialist powers amid the growing
>> impoverishment of the workers and rural masses.
>>
>> Seleka (meaning “union”) is a coalition of dissident factions that formed
>> initially in September of 2012. Their decision to seize Bangui came in
>> violation of the Libreville Comprehensive Peace Agreement, which they had
>> signed with the government in 2008.
>>
>> The coup by Seleka forces has placed the CAR at the center of a struggle
>> for influence between the United States, France, South Africa and China.
>>
>> As they advanced on Bangui, then held by forces loyal to Bozizé, Seleka
>> fighters encountered a South African National Defense Force (SANDF)
>> detachment and attacked the outnumbered South Africans, killing 13 and
>> wounding 28.
>>
>> The future course of South African military policy in CAR remains
>> unclear. An anonymous senior Ugandan officer said, “The intention of the
>> South Africans is to reorganize themselves and then redeploy massively in
>> CAR and topple these rebels. They were humiliated and they want to avenge.”
>>
>> South African media are reporting that SANDF troops are staging in Uganda
>> for a “new mission” in CAR. A South African representative, Col. Selby
>> Moto, cautioned against such a view, however, claiming that South African
>> troops are merely waiting in Uganda “until the decision to reinforce or
>> withdraw” is made by the South African government in Pretoria.
>>
>> “This is complete disaster for South Africa,” Thierry Vircoulon, Central
>> African specialist at the International Crisis Group, told Reuters. “They
>> did not at all understand they were backing the wrong horse.”
>>
>> The defeat of the South African forces and the theft of Chinese oil
>> purchases were particularly provocative and humiliating, coming in the
>> midst of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) conference
>> in Durban. Chinese president Xi Jinping said China would “intensify, not
>> weaken” its commitment to Africa, including the extension of $20 billion in
>> credit over the next two years.
>>
>> The imperialist backing for Seleka is merely one component of a grand
>> strategy aiming to contain China’s growing influence throughout the African
>> continent. By 2011, the volume of Sino-African trade reached $166 billion,
>> with African exports to China topping $90 billion. At the time of the
>> Seleka takeover, Xi was touring the African continent, where he signed
>> agreements with many resource-rich African countries.
>>
>> The United States has reacted by issuing mild criticisms of the Seleka
>> takeover. On Saturday, Washington released a statement asserting that the
>> national unity government led by Prime Minister Nicolas Tiangaye is the
>> “only legitimate government” of CAR. It did not, however, call for Bozizé’s
>> reinstatement or criticize the theft of oil resources purchased by Chinese
>> firms.
>>
>> Tiangaye is a lawyer and a member of the Human Rights League (HRL), a
>> global network of human rights operatives headquartered in Paris and run
>> with financial support from European governments and Washington. Political
>> operatives from the HRL have played a crucial role in helping organize and
>> promote the imperialist agenda in Libya, Syria and elsewhere.
>>
>> Tiangaye is apparently a trusted instrument of French imperialism, having
>> participated in sensitive trials of African officials who enjoyed French
>> backing but whom Paris subsequently discarded. Selected by CAR dictator
>> Emperor Jean-Bedél Bokassa to defend him at Bokassa’s trial in 1986, he
>> also defended Rwandan officials accused of perpetrating the 1994 Rwanda
>> genocide
>>
>>
>> <http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2011/01/mehr-j10.html>
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