Amid Africa’s oil boom, U.S. binds ties

Gerald Lemelle, executive director of the Washington-based think tank, Africa Action, and contributing author to Mandate for Change discusses AFRICOM, and the presence of U.S. military in Africa.

“While Obama administration officials insist that U.S. policy toward Africa is not being militarized, the evidence seems to suggest otherwise,” says Gerald LeMelle, executive director of Africa Action, a non-governmental organization.

LeMelle and other Africom critics argue that the new command — which is headquartered in Stuttgart, Germany, because no African government will give it a home — will only serve to keep dictators like the widely shunned President Teodoro Obiang Nguema of Equatorial Guinea, who overthrew his uncle in a 1979 military coup, in power.

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UN Role in Somalia Comes Under Fire

Gerald Lemelle, executive director of the Washington-based think tank, Africa Action, and contributing author to Mandate for Change tells The Final Call that what we are witnessing at the UN is the “historic” Western concept on how to have a relationship with Africa after colonialism.

“Nations such as Norway had to figure out a way to maintain control over African resources, so they use Security Council resolutions, and African proxies such as Kenya (reportedly Norway paid $200m to Kenya for the MOA),” he said. “At the heart of Western intervention in Somalia, which has been a geo-political football, is the battle for its oil,” Mr. Lemelle said.

He said that in today’s climate of transparency, Western powers are using the UN-created Transitional Federal Government, “a government with no legitimacy” in Somalia to do the bidding of the oil corporations.

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Ulterior Motives for Obama’s Ghana trip

Gerald LeMelle, executive director of Africa Action, and contributing author to Mandate for Change discusses Obama’s recent trip to Ghana.

“The official word is that we’re celebrating democracy, but there are probably some ulterior motives,” said Gerald LeMelle, executive director of Africa Action, a human rights organization in Washington.

“It has not gone unnoticed that oil was discovered, and Ghana has 600 million barrels under it and offshore. And many Ghanaian leaders think the U.S. might like Ghana to serve as a kind of capital for Africom,” the U.S. military command responsible for African operations, he said.

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Revealing the Real U.S.-Africa Policy

Gerald LeMelle, executive director of Africa Action, and contributor to Mandate for Change, discusses the militarization of US policy in Africa.

A policy is militarized when military might is deemed the only effective way to accomplish its agenda. In a June statement on U.S. policy in Africa, U.S. Assistant Secretary for African Affairs Johnny Carson said the agenda of the Obama administration is as follows: promoting and strengthening democracy and the rule of law, preventing and mitigating conflicts, encouraging sustained economic development and long-term growth, and working with African countries to face both old and new global challenges. The agenda makes no reference to the recent FY2010 budget that doubles the size of AFRICOM’s funds. Nor does it mention the doubling of financial support for counterterrorism projects throughout the continent — including increasing funds for weapons, military training, and education at a time when U.S. foreign aid money is stagnating.

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Time for change in US policy towards Zimbabwe

Gerald LeMelle, Executive Directore of African Action, and contributing author to Mandate for Change, was quoted by the African Press Organization in anticipation of Zimbabwe Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s first official visit to Washington, DC.

“The U.S. must adopt a new approach in Zimbabwe that advances the transition towards democratic governance, economic security, truth, justice and reconciliation,” said LeMelle. “The U.S. policy towards Zimbabwe today is limited to sanctions while assisting with humanitarian assistance.”

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