Can US-EU imperialism truly be diplomatic?

Obi Egbuna Jnr Simunye

Based on African people’s individual and collective behaviour, we have demonstrated that the process of total decolonisation will only be complete when our movement for cultural and historical reclamation has been won once and for all. The Pan-African and revolutionary giant Amilcar Cabral provided us with invaluable insight when we stated “The colonists usually say that it was he who brought us into history: Today we show that this is not so. They made us leave history, to follow them, right at the back, to follow the progress of their history”.That heartfelt analysis by Comrade Cabral challenges the age old adage by Western Imperialism, “you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink, which suggests that the mental enslavement of Africans is a figment of our imagination, therefore settler colonialism and chattel slavery was our unanimous choice and a fruitful experience that we thoroughly enjoyed every step of the way.

Whenever President Mugabe warns the US-EU embassies about meddling in the internal affairs in Zimbabwe, which is his obligation as a head of state, especially when nations whose historical legacies are stained by their involvement in colonialism and imperialism have been known to overstep diplomatic boundaries in Africa, Asia the Caribbean and Latin America. Let us remember that the two main working definitions of diplomacy are the art of dealing with people in a sensitive and effective way and the profession and skill of managing relations typically by a country’s representatives abroad.

If the nations that make up the US-EU imperialist fraternity remain true to their history culture and pedigree, the ability to remain true to this particular framework could perhaps be arduous and maybe even an insurmountable task, for nations whose very existence depends primarily on their ability to dominate and terrorise the entire world.

The questions Africans everywhere must ask themselves is how do nations whose political and cultural framework is defined by war, rape plunder and greed train and prepare their diplomats in the first place?

This dilemma suggests that countries like Zimbabwe who treasure their sovereignty and insist on having their ideological and methodological choices respected by outsiders, primarily because US-EU Imperialism find it insulting when we reject the path of capitulation and neo-colonialism, will always have a difficult time in fostering relations with US-EU imperialist nations who find it immensely difficult to accept Africans as equals.

This should be a lesson to African nations who have chosen the path of capitulation and fear, we remember the US-Africa summit that excluded Zimbabwe, Eritrea and Sudan, however what was worse was that President Obama refused to meet with any Heads of State one on one.

Those among us who make up the Barack Obama apologist taskforce, whose immediate response to this disrespectful gesture would be how to determine the criteria of what leaders he should have met with, the answer is the leaders who at the time chaired key regional bodies like NEPAD, COMESA, ECOWAS and SADC.

Through the years one main characteristic our former colonial and slave masters have yet to overcome is the inability to deal with minor and major defeats in the political arena, especially in Mother Africa where according to their political compass they would rule for an eternity.

This dynamic presents serious challenges for the revolutionary Pan-Africanist paradigm because so-called African Americans are being coerced and manipulated into believing the key to US-AFRICA relations is training our students and youth to go into a career in foreign service.

If the annals of history provide any indication or blueprint for what the political, social and cultural ramifications are for this process to take its course, we are calling for future generations to follow the path of Ralph Bunche, Franklin Williams, Johnnie Carson Jendayi Frazier Susan and Condoleezza Rice, which means future generations of so-called African Americans will be the face of US diplomacy in Africa whose primary objective is to ensure US-EU imperialism achieves its short and long term goals on our Mother continent.

At Howard University whose mantra is the Mecca of Black Institutions where President Mugabe was welcomed as hero in 1980, which in 2009 MDC representatives and the Voice of America Zimbabwe desk heard one of the former Ministers of Reconciliation and Integration of and MDC stalwart Sekai Holland compare Zimbabwe to Rwanda, has created the Ralph Bunche International Centre which serves as the training ground for this reactionary experiment.

When the now defunct TransAfrica Forum wrote a position paper entitled “Why We Spoke Out On Zimbabwe” penned by its former President Bill Fletcher Jnr, one of the signatories was none other than Ambassador Horace Dawson who is the director of the Bunche Centre. During this same time period the Bunche Centre attempted to sabotage a trip Howard students were making to Cuba that was coordinated by Dr John Trimble, the students were lured to the Bunche Centre without Dr Trimble and given a list of Cubans who had allegedly withdrew their support for the Cuban revolution who they could meet during their trip.

The two scholastic programmes the Bunche centre oversees are the Congressman Charles Rangel International Affairs Graduate Fellowship Programme and Congressman Charles Rangel Undergraduate International Affairs Summer Enrichment Programme the theme for both programs is Promoting a Positive Presence in the world that reflects and respects the strength and diversity of America.

It would be irresponsible that Congressman Rangel is not only a bossom buddy of US Presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton but an endorsee of the Zimbabwe Democracy Economic and Recovery Act of 2001.

We must remember that for US imperialism diplomacy and militarism go together like socks and shoes, which is best personified by the creation of AFRICOM whose headquarters are at Kelley Barracks in Stuttgrat-Mockringen Germany.

The four main leadership positions are as follows, Commander Snr Enlisted Leader, deputy to the Commander of Military Operations, deputy to the Commander of Civil Military Engagement, also the Headquarters Chief-of-Staff. AFRICOM has 2 000 assigned personnel including military, of the US federal civilian employees 1 500 are stationed in Germany.

Other AFRICOM units are the Mac Dill Air Force base in Florida and the RAF Molesworth in the UK. ARFRICOM has liaison officers at the AU,ECOWAS and the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping and Training Centre in Ghana. Other US military installations that are an extension of AFRICOM are US Army Africa in Viceza, Italy,US Naval Forces Africa in Naples, Italy, US Air Forces Africa and US Marine Corps Africa and the Combined Joint Task Force Horn in Africa based in Djibouti. This includes the US Special Operations Command who share the Kelley Barracks with AFRICOM.

When addressing the US Foreign Affairs Sub-Committee on Africa Global Health and Human Rights in 2011 USAID’s deputy assistant administrator Sharon Cromer made the following comment “For its part USAID seeks to develop African legislative and civil societies as to strengthen their roles in monitoring and oversight of armed and public security forces. The State Department ensures Ambassadors coordinate USAFRICOM’s activities which increases our abilities to meet foreign policy initiatives, maintain complementary programmes and activities among all US government actors and maximise overall effectiveness”.

In 2008 right before President Obama emerged victorious in the elections the Africa Ambassador Group met with Jendayi Frazer who in her capacity as the Assistant Secretary of African Affairs told the entire body, they shouldn’t expect a significant change in US-Africa policy, when President Obama takes over.

There was a significant level of discomfort when the former Zimbabwe Ambassador to the Us Dr Machivenyika Mapuranga raised the question of AFRICOM, whose strongest advocate since its inception has been Ambassador Susan Rice.

The lesson this provides Africans and home and abroad is when it comes to the US-EU regime change agenda in Zimbabwe the diplomatic and military arms of US-EU imperialism are equally committed to this goal.

Obi Egbuna Jnr is the US Correspondent to The Herald and External Relations Officer of ZICUFA(Zimbabwe Cuban Friendship Association. His email is [email protected]