AFRICANS WERE AGAINST THE WAR IN IRAQ
By Lokongo Bafalikike
After 12 years of embargo imposed on the people of Iraq since the last Gulf war that has caused the death of more than one million people and nearly a month of intense bombardment by the Anglo-american military coalition, supposedly to "liberate" Iraqis, this time, from Saddam Hussein's dictatorship, African people all over the continent have had no illusion whatsoever that this is not a war of liberation but a war of conquest for oil by the Bush and Blair administrations, a disguised new form of imperialism. And to make their voices heard, anti-war protests have rocked capital cities throughout the Africa continent.
Angola, Cameroon and Guinea, three African countries which, currently, are non-permanent members of the UN Security Council were put under intense pressure to declare their support for the Bush administration in this war, notwithstanding the common position adopted by the African Union (AU) that that Iraq be disarmed of weapons of mass destruction "through peaceful means" and not through war, and not without a new UN Security Council mandate, that UN inspectors be given more time.
South African President Thabo Mbeki, who now chairs the AU had said: "We trust that sense will prevail so that no country or combination of countries take it upon themselves to embark on unilateral action against Iraq, which should itself co-operate fully with the Security Council to resolve all outstanding matters."
Veteran leaders such as Nelson Mandela and Kenneth Kaunda added their weight to the African anti-war stance. Mandela slammed the US stance on Iraq, saying that "one power with a president who has no foresight, who cannot think properly, is now wanting to plunge the world into a holocaust".
Dr. Kenneth Kaunda charged that "the Bush and Blair team is hell bent on destroying Iraq".
However, the African Union appeared to be divided over this issue as Rwanda, Uganda, Senegal, Eritrea and Ethiopia had officially declared their support for the Bush administration and Djibouti had availed all its ports and airports to the anglo-american military coalition.
President Kagame of Rwanda met with President Bush on March 4 in the White House. After meeting with Mr. Bush and national security adviser Condoleezza Rice, President Kagame recalled UN Security Council delays as the Rwandan Genocide unfolded in 1994.
Kagame said: "I thought there was a full understanding by the members of the Security Council that it is an issue, disarmament of Iraq, to be dealt with. We understand that sometimes hard choices have to be made, including a choice to wage war once the party waging a war feels that it is justified. I believe there are situations where hard choices can be made, including this particular situation. So the United States government might be justified to take the position it is in."
President Wade of Senegal's pro-US stance could not be mistaken when he told the Non-Aligned Movement meeting in Kuala Lumpur: "The international community is only putting pressure on the US to get back in line and stay with the UN Security Council; but given the trauma of September 11 and everything that happened here and the reality of international politics, why only put pressure on one side and not put it on the other [Iraqi] side?"
But later on, Wade, Mbeki and Obasanjo, the three pionneers of the New Partnership and Development (Nepad), in a joint letter addressed to President George W. Bush calling on the US not to risk destabilising the world by launching an attack on Iraq.
Whereas Guinea and Cameroon were still vacillating, Angola officially condemned what it called "a unilateral attitude" that the Bush administration has adopted in executing this military campaign without a new UN mandate.
President Eduardo dos Santos had been bombarded with telephone calls from almost all the superpowers of this world and their allies, including American President George W. Bush himself, his vice president Dick Cheney, President Vladimir Poutine of Russia, President Jacques Chirac, Prime Ministers Tony Blair of Britain, Jose-Maria Aznar of Spain and Durao Barroso of Portugal, a visit by French foreign minister Dominique de Villepin and American Assistant Secretary Bureau of African Affairs Walter Kansteiner.
Each and all tried to convinced him of the pertinence of their positions. London also despatched Baroness Amos, a Black Briton to Luanda, Yaoundé and Conakry for the same purpose.
As the US and France scrambled for votes on an uncertain second United Nations (UN) Security Council resolution on Iraq, Africa's members on the council, Angola, Cameroon and Guinea were caught in the middle. Promises of aid and "inducements" have been showered on them. Suddenly, Africa became "relevant" in world geo-politics. But a lot was at stake for the three countries. They are among the world's poorest and need aid from both sides of the divide.
Speculation had it that failure to toe Washington's line could jeopardise Cameroon's and Guinea's eligibility for the US's famous Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) benefits. The US is Angola's largest aid donor and, as its largest trading partner, the source of most investment in the oil sector, which dominates the economy. The temptation to cave in to Washington and London was intense, but by protesting openly, African people reminded their leaders that they were a power to reckon with.
In South Africa Winnie Madikizela-Mandela led by example as she put herself forward that she go to Iraq to act as a human shield. Senior figures in the African National Congress, including water affairs minister Ronnie Kasrils, toed her line on 28 march 2003, by staging a lunch-time anti-war demonstration in Cape Town
The protest was held at the top end of Adderley Street, alongside a statue of Jan Smuts that had been converted into an anti-war icon. A huge crowd braved unusually hot weather to demonstrate their opposition to the war outside the US Consulate in Cape Town.
An anti-war protest rocked Accra, the capital city of Ghana on 3 April. Thousands of protesters marked the 14th day of the war in Iraq amidst a heavy armed police presence by demanding an end to it. They bore placards with inscriptions that read: "Death to Bush", "No war for American Oil Oligopoly ( a small number of suppliers that control a commodity in the market place)", "Liberate Palestine First". The British High Commission and the American Embassy had to be cordoned off as protesters hurled into them.
Ghana's outgoing minister of foreign affairs Hackman Owusu-Agyema confirmed that more than 5,000 letters of protest had been received regarding the invasion, demanding complete closure of the military and intelligence relations that Ghana currently has with the United States.
Ben Weiss, an American living in Ghana and confronted everyday with questions regarding the war, said: "I ma proud to be an American. But I do not support the action my government and I am not proud of the current American government."
In the DRCongo, ravaged by a four-year war of aggression sponsored by Britain and America, the "Collectif Congolais des ONG de Défense des Droits Civils et Politiques (Cod-Cip, un umbrella organisation that regroups NGOs that defends human, civil and political rights of people, on 10 April, organised a big march in Kinshasa to protest against the "massacres of women and children in Iraq". Similar marches were even organised in occupied territories, particularly in Beni and Butembo in the east against the anglo-american-rwandan-ugandan-burundian military coalition against Congo.
The Gambian and Nigerian governements' laborious concern to remain in America's good books and proffer a lukewarm rejection of the coalition's argument for war in Iraq has not struck an agreeable chord with Muslims and Islamic leaders in those two countries, especially in Nigeria's city of Kaduna, repeatedly been the scene of violent clashes between Christians and Muslims - even over the Miss World Pageant - is still gripped by some nervousness about Washington's decision to wage a military campaign against Iarq.
Austin Mbozi, a philosophy professor at the University of Zambia on 2 April staged a lone protest against the Anglo-american invasion, pasting his car pasted with anti-war posters urging Britons and Americans never to vote George Bush and Tony Blair in next elections.
Some posters read: "America has lost sanity", "Remember Vietnam, Mogadishu and the Balkans".
As you can see, millions of people in Africa are aware of the "dangerous slope Bush and Blair are pushing the world down" and are saying "not in our name, definitely".
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