continuation training exercise called Revelation II, held at the Touws
River Training Area in February 2010.")
***
For the life of me, I never understood the rationale French so-called
"normal" President François Hollande had, in response to frantic calls
for help from beleaguered Central African Republic (CAR) President
François Bozizé, in blurting out to French journos on December 26,
2012:
"If we are present [in CAR], it's not for protecting a regime, it's
for protecting our citizens and our interests and under no
circumstances for intervening in the internal affairs of a country,
namely Central Africa."
"That time [of France meddling into African affairs]," insisted
Hollande, "has ended!"
Who the hell is this French fairy?
As well-armed, better clad, and mostly Muslim Sudan-backet rebels were
advancing on Bangui to the distress of hundreds of thousands of
civilians, the reckless statement by Hollande sounded like a clarion
call to all the murderous, pillaging, and raping bands in the region
to gang together and destroy lives and civil society in the region.
To be sure, the Lord's Resistance Army, already pushed to exhaustion
but still active in CAR, no doubt might have interpreted Hollande's
call as much needed breathing room.
The advancing hordes of rebels, potential brethren in arms of the LRA,
through the enduring chaos they'd have triggered in the CAR, would
have allowed Kony's mass murderers to once more loose themselves upon
northern DRC and beyond.
And a brutal regime change in the CAR would have justified outfits of
the likes of M23 to continue wreaking havoc upon the entire subregion.
Hollande's explanation for the presence of the 250-strong French force
(since reinforced) in Bangui smacked of paternalism and arbitrariness
of Empire whose perception the French president was attempting to
allay.
What are those "interests" that France is protecting, ex nihilo as it
were, on sovereign foreign land? Were those troops stationed there
without the express authority of the CAR government? Or is it simply
that Hollande, desperate for the bleak growth of France in the
foreseeable future, resents that Bozizé has given the Chinese free
rein on the prospection and future exploitation of CAR sizeable oil
potentials?
Yeah! There I said it! I think Hollande's undiplomatic outburst has
everything to do with the untapped oil reserves of CAR. And uranium.
And diamonds! For I don't see France deploying troops in any other
banana republic where 1,200 French citizens happen to be residing.
Hollande might therefore be arguably in cahoots with those armed bandits!...
But beyond the insult to Bozizé and the lack of concern for Central
African residents whose lives are disrupted by these armed plunderous
hordes, Hollande's callous statement evinced a total contempt for
Africa and Africans.
Fortunately for CAR citizens and Africans at large, enter South Africa
and Jacob Zuma, whose intervention will be hailed in the years to come
as the watershed in new African responsibility and leadership.
The South African National Defence Force (SANDF) has entered the fray
in CAR and Zuma wants them to stay there till 2018!
France could still attempt to hang around, but the wrath expressed by
Central Africans these past weeks against it has clearly shown it that
it is no longer welcome in that neighborhood.
South Africa and Zuma are now leading the way and showing the world
that Africa could protect its own interests and its citizens without
begging the likes of France and Hollande!
***
PHOTO CREDITS: 25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_makwcxTCW91qdzr9to1_1280.jpg
3 comments:
I found you Yuma. You owe me a beer from the Plough.
Brian Frank
" Sarkozy came with contempt. Hollande is comming to clean up. But for me it is not about Sarkozy, nor about Hollande. It is about us, Africans. It's like the horse and the rider. Whether it's Mitterand or Chirac, or Sarkozy or Hollande, what remains constant is the system.......Nothing will change until Africans stop behaving like the horse and letting France be their rider."
Yero Dia
The French / South Africa game seems to have started in earnest.Spotted the above whilst looking into the situation. It certainly struck a chord.
This is such a weird rant, Alex.
A few thoughts.....
a) This appears to be more feigned outrage from you that stems, primarily, with Hollande’s take down of Kabila at the Francophonie. I found that post also to be a little extreme given the whole purpose of the community is to celebrate essential values of the French culture- namely, things like “liberty”, “equality”, and “freedom”. Hollande, the preeminent elected official of this culture, sees nothing of this in Kabila’s regime and simply made that clear at the event. Do you not support freedom of expression and speech?
b) What would you prefer France do? Redefine its “interests” into protecting human rights abuses ALONE? Well, if that’s what you feel than should Tanzania invade the DRC because it consistently violates them? Yet, if they did, would you then decry its violation of the DRC’s sovereignty? You seem to be operating from a belief that France should be held to some higher standard that does not exist anywhere on the African continent and it would be interesting to hear why.
c) You are woefully misrepresenting the- now settled- crisis in CAR. The crisis is a fairly typical African one: banana republic A seizes power through the barrel of the gun by cutting deals with other rebel forces. banana republic holds fraudulent elections and reneges on these deals. banana republic closes all means of legitimately resolving political disputes resulting from said deals by either underfunding or handicapping democratic institutions. banana republic then reneges on the deals and a new rebellion is touched off. banana republic is forced to make peace and sign more deals and share power. repeat. Given this recurring passion play in so much of Africa why on earth should France- or any other country- continue to purchase season tickets?
d) Do you seriously believe South Africans engage in "peace enforcing" from altruistic notions? Don't SA's ALSO have mining and timber companies that need access to resources to feed hungry China and India? Sorry but if one were take a gander at where SA have boots and treasure deployed outside its borders and then examine what it has publicly expressed are "strategic resources" in its economic plans you may notice an interesting correlation between the two.
Again, weird rant but, ofcourse, you are free to them.
Dutch
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