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US-Africa New Order

AU Commission Chairman Moussa Faki and U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson at African Union headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia 3/8/2018...


AU Commission Chairman Moussa Faki and U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson at African Union headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia 3/8/2018./Jonathan Ernst. 
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson arrived in Ethiopia, Africa’s second most populous nation, on Wednesday and visited the African Union headquarters on Thursday. This is a week-long trip that comes amid of blasphemy statement by President Trump’s administration referring African nations as “shithole countries” in January.  Many African leaders were incensed by reports that Trump used a derogatory term to refer to African countries in a private White House meeting. He may also just came to smooth relations between the continent and US. Tillerson visit Ethiopia and then later Djibouti, Kenya, Chad and Nigeria.  

Contesting For African Resources

The African Union Headquarter was funded and built by Chinese and in the eyes of the Americans is seen as a symbol of Beijing’s thrust for influence and access to the continent’s natural resources. Ethiopia is already a home to some of Beijing’s biggest investments and physical infrastructures. Earlier this week, Tillerson criticized heavily “China’s approach” to Africa which he said encouraged dependency through “opaque contracts” and “predatory loan practices”.  Tillerson told a news conference in the Ethiopian capital, that “We are not in any way attempting to keep Chinese dollars from Africa,”  “It is important that African countries carefully consider the terms of those agreements and not forfeit their sovereignty.” The United States is the leading aid donor to Africa but China surpassed it as a trade partner in 2009. Beijing has pumped billions into infrastructure projects, though critics say the use of Chinese firms and labor undermines their value.

Tillerson said Chinese investments “do not bring significant job creation locally” and criticized how Beijing structures loans to African government. If a government accepts a Chinese loan and “gets into trouble”, he said, it can “lose control of its own infrastructure or its own resources through default.” He did not give examples. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, visiting Zimbabwe on Thursday, told reporters it was inappropriate for Tillerson to criticize China’s relationship with African countries. “It was not appropriate to criticize the relations of his hosts — when he was a guest there — with another country,” he said. 

Many African governments enjoy close ties with both Washington and Beijing. Kenya, for example, inaugurated a $3.2 billion railway funded by China last year. For the last three years, Kenya has received more than $100 million annually in U.S. security assistance. Asked about Tillerson’s criticism of China’s approach on the continent, Kenya’s foreign affairs minister Monica Juma said: “This country is engaging with partners from across the world driven by our own interests and for our own value.”

Tillerson reiterated previous calls for African states to cut ties with North Korea. North Korea has more than a dozen embassies on the continent. The Trump administration has said that Pyongyang earns hard currency from arms deals with African government and the trafficking of wildlife parts from Africa. Tillerson is due to fly to Djibouti, host to military bases owned by the U.S., China, Japan, France, and Italy. He will then visit Kenya, a key U.S. ally in the fight against al Shabaab Islamist militants in Somalia, before traveling to Chad and Nigeria, which are also battling to contain Islamist insurgents. 

Analysts say Trump has focused mainly on security concerns in Africa at a time when China, Turkey and other nations are ramping up diplomatic and business links. “When you look at the set of countries that are being visited I think it kind of reinforces the perception that security, indeed, is the overwhelming focus,” said Brahima Coulibaly, the director of the Africa Growth Initiative at Brookings Institution. 

Understand that the Americans they want to control the entire continent, they came up with many strategies but failed. The master plan about African Command (FRICOM) that was introduced by President George W. Bush in early 2007 to militarized the whole continent so that Africans may used as mercenaries to fight the proxy wars. Thanks to people who like peace and gave early warning to African leaders about the deception of US-AFRICOM. Almost 99% African states rejected such order to host US military bases in their territories.  Now United States has crafted another order known as the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA), a kind of economical measure that will compel all developing countries in the world especially African nations to abide to the new monopolies of US that command them what should they have, consume,produce or buy. Tate a note that the new hidden agenda under the Department of Treasury was signed officially on 02 August 2017 and the main objective is to thwart the competitive markets from fiery adversaries like North Korea,Iran, Russia, Cuba,China and others. Under this new international law your country will be threatened from using Russian made products especially military equipment like AK-47s and other military gears example Chengdu F-7 military aircraft that owned by most African Airforce made from China. Under CAATSA your country is required to allied to NATO's materials or otherwise suffer from supporting United States' adversaries.   

Reported by Kumerra Gemechu in Addis Ababa and Omar Mohammed in Nairobi;and narrated by Nambili Samuel