The Genocidal Fruits of U.S. Africa Policy

[Carl Webb]

The Genocidal Fruits of U.S. Africa Policy

A Black Agenda Radio commentary by Glen Ford
http://blackagendareport.com/content/genocidal-fruits-us-africa-policy

“Why does the United States place its strategic interests in the hands
of the elite of a warlike minority in the heart of Central Africa?”

The United Nations has finally released a report detailing Rwanda’s
latest destabilization of the neighboring Democratic Republic of
Congo. As usual, the delay was caused by the United States, which
routinely blocks criticism of its military and political client-state,
Rwanda, which has since 1996 been deeply complicit in the death of 6
million Congolese. The United States is, therefore, also liable for
the genocide in Congo – the largest mass killings since World War Two.

Apologists for U.S. policy in Central Africa are fond of using the
word “strategic.” The United States, they say, arms and protects
Rwanda because America has “strategic” business and defense interests
in the Congo’s vast mineral deposits. The infinitely corrupt Congolese
strongman Mobutu Sese Seko used to be Washington’s attack dog in
Africa. But, in the mid-90s, the Americans opted to back an invasion
of eastern Congo by the Tutsi-minority regimes in Rwanda and Burundi,
and the other U.S. client-state in the region, Uganda. Washington
chose to put its strategic interests in the hands of a small but
highly militarized people, the Tutsi, rather than help the Congolese
government maintain control over its own territory.
“A formula for endless war.”

Why would the United States choose such allies to protect its
so-called “strategic interests.” On the face of it, this would seem
like a formula for endless war in the region. Even before the mass
killings of Tutsis in 1994, they never comprised more than 15 percent
of the population in Rwanda or in Burundi, where Hutu people make up
the vast majority. Having lorded it over the Hutus during and prior to
the arrival of European colonialism, and having massacred many Hutu in
both nations after independence, the Tutsi are not loved by their
fellow countrymen. They have since become a primary source of
destabilization and genocide in Congo. So the question is: Why does
the United States place its strategic interests in the hands of the
elite of a warlike minority in the heart of Central Africa? Why would
Washington invest millions in minority-ruled governments of tiny
countries like Rwanda and Burundi, which can only be sources of
permanent instability in the region? Don’t the Americans understand
that support for tiny, aggressive elites guarantees continued chaos?

The answer is: Yes, they do understand. Since independence, U.S.
policy in Africa has almost always been to choose chaos in those
places where it cannot rule directly. And chaos brings genocide. The
U.S. reasons that, at any given moment, chaos contains many options,
an infinity of possibilities for superpower action – whereas stable
regimes with broad popular support provide less room for the foreigner
to maneuver, less possibilities for a quick change of policy or
regime.

Which is one reason that China looks good to Africa and to much of the
rest of the formerly colonized world. The Chinese do not foment coups,
or encourage whole regions to become saturated in arms. They just want
to do business in a stable environment. That’s why China has surpassed
the U.S. as Africa’s trading partner, and why U.S. imperialism will
ultimately be defeated. Because nobody wants someone around who
spreads chaos and mass death everywhere he goes.

For Black Agenda Radio, I’m Glen Ford. On the web, go to BlackAgendaReport.com

BAR executive editor Glen Ford can be contacted at
Glen...@BlackAgendaReport.com