By Abdul karim kaliisa
July 21, 2003
| A lot of arguments have been advanced for or against the recently concluded tour of Africa by US President George W. Bush.
Bush visited only five countries including Uganda where he spent less than four hours but White House chooses to call the visit an African tour. It is because of this and not any other reason that analysts should begin examining whether the visit left Africa as it was before or it added anything. The main argument against Bush’s July 7- 12 visit stems from his unilateral decision to invade another sovereign country, Iraq, against a backdrop of worldwide condemnation. Even in the US there was disapproval of the invasion. Those who welcomed and hosted Bush hoped that his $15 billion would help Africans fight the AIDS scourge. I was, however, dismayed that very few people raised the issue of Bush’s negative attitude towards Africa. You recall that during the US elections that brought Bush to the helm of power, the man paid no attention to the African continent. It was, therefore, necessary for us Africans to sit back and think deeply about what has happened since then to make Bush change his attitude. Bush showed no respect for African leaders when he invaded Iraq against their will. I mean the will of the African Union. The central organ of the African Union on February 3, at the heads of state, level opposed the invasion of Iraq without a fresh United Nations mandate but Bush did not pay heed. The African Union spokesman, Desmond Orjiako, emphasised this point in March when he said that, “If the [weapons] inspectors had continued with their work, Africa believes that some other peaceful means could have been found in disarming Iraq instead of going to war.” Orjiako said war kills innocent people and destroys infrastructure. So, the AU opposed the option of war because this would bring about catastrophic consequences. The African continent pleaded with the US to instead channel the billions of dollars and pounds being expended for the war towards solving Africa’s many problems including HIV/Aids, civil strife and natural disasters. Bush spent billions of dollars destroying human beings in Iraq but came to Africa with mere promises of $15 billion. This exposes what the man really thinks about Africa’s problems. I think what Africa needs is not endless aid but respect of its and an end to US and European sponsored conflicts that have ruined our various economies. That is why when President Yoweri Museveni was reported to have accused Americans of having sparked off conflicts in the DR Congo by killing that country’s former prime minister, Patrice Lumumba some of us concurred with him. Since the death of Lumumba a lot of Congo’s wealth has been looted sometimes by the rich Western countries or their agents in Africa. Today, Congo alone would have been holding billions of dollars in reserve that would have been used in fighting Aids. The conflicts in Angola, Liberia and Sierra Leone have all been sponsored and nurtured by these so called democrats. The oil struggles in Sudan and in the Horn of Africa are all foreign sponsored. We want all these ended conflicts. We do not need American dollars to fight Aids. Besides the $ 15 billion, which has already been slashed by the US Congress, would be consumed by the so-called “experts” yet our children would have to pay back. Let us stop this nonsense of clapping when a superpower is laying us a trap. People ought to understand that US promises are rarely actualised. The reconstruction of Iraq may consume the country’s oil but in the end ordinary Iraqis would be made to pay for the damage inflicted on their country by a superpower that allegedly came to liberate them. So, the promised dollars may actually be costs of travel, accommodation and other expenses incurred by Americans who will flock Africa to carry out “research”. That is why I welcome the proposal by Libyan President, Col. Muammar Gadhafi that African countries should use their resources to construct a modern laboratory where we would also do our own research and treat our people. Qathaffi made the proposal during the African Leaders summit in Maputo, Mozambique on July 8 - 11 Let us stop the dependency syndrome. Finally, I was perturbed when the Uganda government blocked the planned peaceful demonstrations against Bush. Refusing people to use civil means to express their grievances breeds radicalism which is destructive. It was wrong for the police to storm the Uganda Peoples Congress (UPC) headquarters and the eventual clobbering of youths who attempted to demonstrate outside the US embassy in Kampala. Former South African president, Nelson Mandela, refused to meet Bush and that was his civil right. Of course, Mandela’s attitude towards Bush is understandable and this is what many African leaders ought to emulate. Let us have pride and respect for our continent. Let us use our own resources to settle conflicts, fight disease and build strong institutions in Africa. What shall we tell our children if we keeping inviting colonialists who their great grandfathers fought in the 1950s and ‘60s. We fought the mighty England, France and Germany because we wanted to be free. Let us deal with US as a state and not as a master? The writer is a former Makerere University vice guild president (1995/96) |
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