New Colonialism: Pentagon Carves Africa Into Military Zones

Last year the commander of U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM), General William Ward, said the Pentagon had military partnerships with 35 of the continent's 53 nations, "representing U.S. relationships that span the continent." That number has increased in the interim.

As the first overseas regional military command set up by Washington in this century, the first since the end of the Cold War, and the first in 25 years, the activation of AFRICOM, initially under the wing of U.S. European Command on October 1, 2007, then as an independent entity a year later, emphasizes the geostrategic importance of Africa in U.S. international military, political and economic planning.'

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Billionaires and Mega-Corporations Behind Immense Land Grab in Africa

We turned off the main road to Awassa, talked our way past security guards and drove a mile across empty land before we found what will soon be Ethiopia's largest greenhouse. Nestling below an escarpment of the Rift Valley, the development is far from finished, but the plastic and steel structure already stretches over 50 acres* -- the size of 20 soccer fields.

The farm manager shows us millions of tomatoes, peppers and other vegetables being grown in 1,500 foot rows in computer controlled conditions. Spanish engineers are building the steel structure, Dutch technology minimises water use from two bore-holes and 1,000 women pick and pack 50 tons of food a day. Within 24 hours, it has been driven 200 miles to Addis Ababa and flown 1,000 miles to the shops and restaurants of Dubai, Jeddah and elsewhere in the Middle East.

Ethiopia is one of the hungriest countries in the world with more than 13-million people needing food aid, but paradoxically the government is offering at least 7.5 million acres of its most fertile land to rich countries and some of the world's most wealthy individuals to export food for their own populations.'

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US After New Military Ventures in Africa

The United States is taking its military venture in Africa to new levels amid suspicions that Washington could be advancing yet another hidden agenda.

American operatives are expected to fly pilot-less surveillance aircrafts over the Seychellois territory from US ships off its coast, in what Washington claims are meant to spy on the Somali pirates, according to a BBC report on Wednesday.

Washington has also started to equip Mali with USD 4.5 million worth of military vehicles and communications equipment, in what is reported to be an increasing US involvement in Africa.

The latter nation is reportedly cooperating with the US to fend off alleged al-Qaeda operatives in North Africa.

The developments come as the White House seeks grounds to establish a major military presence in Africa.



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Hillary Clinton Seeks to Strengthen US Imperialism’s Position in Africa

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s 11-day tour of Africa took in seven countries across the continent. Following on from President Obama’s trip to Ghana, her visit highlights his administration’s intention to strengthen the US position in Africa against the challenge of its rivals.

“It’s where his blood comes from,” she said, echoing Obama’s words in Ghana when he drew attention to his African ancestry. In what has become a mantra, she ignored the effects of centuries of depredation and looting and blamed Africa’s present impoverished condition on the lack of “good governance.” She made no acknowledgement of the US role in establishing the corrupt regimes that govern Africa today. Nor did she refer to the part that US-based companies play in feeding the Swiss bank accounts of African politicians and generals.

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Fmr. African Ruler Accused of Cannibalism

Liberia's ex-leader, Charles Taylor, who stands trial for genocide at the Special Court for Sierra Leone in The Hague, denies charges of eating human flesh at a secret society.

Taylor, who has been charged for war crimes and enticing violence in his neighboring country, Sierra Leon, during his tenure in the closing years of the 20th century, rejected allegations of cannibalism as 'total nonsense'.

"It is sickening. You must be sick to believe it," the 61-year-old ex-president retorted to questioning prosecutors at the criminal court in The Hague on Monday.

Taylor's remarks came after a witness gave evidence during the special court proceedings that Taylor ate human flesh as a ritual in the course of a secret society congregation.

A number of other witnesses also stated under oath that Taylor's National Patriotic Front of Liberia soldier's engaged in cannibalism in order to instigate horror amongst people.

Taylor has blasted the allegations but admitted to the existence of the practice in his nation

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China's New Slave Empire in Africa

These poor, hopeless, angry people exist by grubbing for scraps of cobalt and copper ore in the filth and dust of abandoned copper mines in Congo, sinking perilous 80ft shafts by hand, washing their finds in cholera-infected streams full of human filth, then pushing enormous two-hundredweight loads uphill on ancient bicycles to the nearby town of Likasi where middlemen buy them to sell on, mainly to Chinese businessmen hungry for these vital metals.

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Britain Has Bloody Hands in Zimbabwe

We should not be surprised, for British indifference to the plight of the Africans in Southern Rhodesia, and later Zimbabwe, goes back more than a century. Cecil Rhodes's company stole land and cattle from them without compensation – actions later sanctioned by the British government. In the 1950s, Britain set up the Central African Federation, including Northern Rhodesia (Zambia) and Nyasaland (Malawi), and allowed it to rule on a racist agenda ("the partnership of the rider and the horse", to quote its prime minister, Sir Roy Welensky).

We did nothing to prevent Ian Smith declaring unilateral independence in 1965, when we had the power to do so – I was there at the time and wrote a report, which I later heard had gone to a cabinet committee chaired by the Foreign Secretary, showing how we could end the rebellion.

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China and the Congo Wars: AFRICOM. America's New Military Command

Just weeks after President George W. Bush signed the Order creating a new US military command dedicated to Africa, AFRICOM, events on the mineral-rich continent have erupted which suggest a major agenda of the incoming Obama Presidency will be for the son of a black Kenyan to focus US resources, military and other, on dealing with the Republic of Congo, the oil-rich Gulf of Guinea, the oil-rich Darfur region of southern Sudan and increasingly the Somali ‘pirate threat’ to sea lanes in the Red Sea and Indian Ocean. The legitimate question is whether it is mere coincidence that Africa appears just at this time to become a new geopolitical ‘hot spot’ or whether it has a direct link to the formal creation of AFRICOM.

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EU "Plans to Dump" Milk, Butter In Africa

Fair trade organisations warn against newly increased European Union (EU) quotas for milk production and continued high export subsidies, which will lead to increased milk and butter dumping on world markets. EU dairy products already dominate the African market.

Especially when it comes to milk, EU policies are ruining local development. "Milk produced by local famers in Burkina Faso and sold on domestic markets is more expensive than imported milk powder from Europe," according to MISEROR. "These dumping prices of imported products ruin local farmers' only source of income. This process increases poverty, hunger and forces more people to migrate to cities in order to earn an income," the organisation adds.

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Resistance to GM “Exacerbates Famine’

Britain’s former chief scientist will warn Monday night that Europe’s resistance to Genetically Modified (GM) crops is contributing to famine in Africa. In a speech at the BA Science Festival at Liverpool University, Sir David King will warn that aid agencies are causing food shortages in Africa by encouraging farmers to continue with traditional "organic" farming. He claims that 700,000 lives were unnecessarily lost every year because of malnutrition and unhygienic food and water, many of which could be prevented if GM were introduced. "The most advanced form of plant breeding, using modern genetic techniques, is now available to us" says the former chief scientist appointed during the Blair years.

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This is the Sir David King that set up the United Kingdom Energy Technology Institute at a 10 yr cost to the taxpayer of £500 million to, quote, “accelerate the development of secure, reliable and cost-effective low-carbon energy technologies towards commercial deployment”.

As well as £500 million of taxpayers money the other companies pumping money into the Institute are EDF Energy, Shell, BP and E On so we all know how effectively our money is being spent in the name of Global warming !!!