Global Research

Over the past year there has been tremendous political ferment in Africa as more states, popular organizations and political parties are publicly calling for the withdrawal of French and United States military forces from their territories.

With the threats against Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso by several imperialist-backed states during mid-2023, the three states signed the Liptako-Gourma Charter which set the stage for the formation of another progressive regional organization which is independent of the influence of Paris, Washington and other imperialist centers.

Since the rise of the national liberation movements in the former French colonies in Africa, the post-colonial process in many cases did not result in a complete break with the metropolitan centers as it relates to military and economic affairs. During the late 1950s and early 1960s, Guinea-Conakry, Algeria and Mali embarked upon a path of anti-imperialist development.

Algeria, which fought France from 1954-1962, set the stage for the emergence of the post-World War II armed struggles for independence. The Democratic Party of Guinea (PDG) rejected the proposal by Charles de Gaulle to become a part of a neo-colonial construct in lieu of official political independence. Mali, through its mass party, the Sudanese Union-African Democratic Rally (US-RDA), declared its independence from France in 1960 under President Modibo Keita while initiating a process of socialist-oriented planning until 1968 when the government was overthrown by the military.

In recent years the fallout from the Pentagon-NATO-CIA destruction of Libya during 2011 has spread greater instability throughout West and North Africa. Mali was one of the first countries impacted as sectional fighting erupted in early 2012 with the resurgence of the conflict between the Tuareg and the central government in Bamako.

Over the proceeding thirteen years, other rebel groups have surfaced in Mali, Burkina, Faso, Niger and Chad as a pattern of insecurity and dislocation has spread. Both France and the U.S. escalated their military presence in West Africa during this period. The French created the Sahel G5 grouping which included Chad, Mauritania, Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso ostensibly to fight the rising terrorist threat. However, no tangible military progress was made within the context of this operational approach. The reality is that deaths, injuries and destruction accelerated in the Sahel region of West Africa.

Ironically, many of the same officers within the military ranks of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger who had worked closely with France and the U.S. decided to overthrow the civilian leadership of these states. What has resulted in this entire process since 2020 is the departure of French and later U.S. troops.

The U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM), founded in 2008, has along with France and the G5 Sahel Group claimed that their presence on the continent is based upon mutual concerns and interests related to international security. Nonetheless, the history of French and U.S. involvement in Africa has been guided by the aims and objectives of international finance capital.

This remains true well into the third decade of the 21st century. Consequently, as more African states demand the withdrawal of imperialist military forces from their countries, it will undoubtedly enhance tensions between the continental states seeking genuine independence and the former colonial and current neo-colonial countries.

Since the formation of the Liptako-Gourma Charter and the subsequent moves made by Niger in ending U.S. military presence in their country along with a severing of the contracts which gave French capitalists the hegemonic role in the uranium industry, two other states, Chad and Senegal, have indicated that they want the imperialist military forces to leave. These developments are occurring while the U.S. and its North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) allies have escalated their sanctions against the Russian Federation.

Western media outlets have been quick to assert that since the departure of France and a reduction in troop deployments by the U.S. in some states is the reason why rebel violence has increased. However, in Mali there was documented evidence that Ukraine has been training and arming rebel groupings in an effort to undermine the burgeoning cooperation with the Russian Federation in the AES nations and beyond.

Therefore, the renewed 21st Century Cold War, where the imperialist states are seeking to contain, weaken and even eliminate the political and economic influence of the Russian Federation and the People’s Republic of China, will continue to be the principal focus of the foreign policy imperatives of Washington, London, Paris and Brussels. It will be up to the peoples of Africa and the entire Global South to develop strategies and tactics to thwart the maneuvers of western industrial governments to claim their rightful place in contemporary world affairs.

Africa and Palestine: The Struggle Against Genocide in West Asia

Since the beginning of the Al-Aqsa Flood on October 7, 2023, the State of Israel has engaged in a horrendous genocidal onslaught in Gaza which has extended to the West Bank, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and the Islamic Republic of Iran. There are historical parallels between the peoples of Africa and West Asia which are too numerous to enunciate within the context of this review.

Nevertheless, both regions have long been coveted by imperialism. The Atlantic Slave Trade and the colonial occupation of Africa provided the necessary economic strength for the Western capitalist states to eventually dominate the world. Since the post-World War II period, Africa and West Asia have been waging a protracted war to reclaim their wealth and historical legacy.

France, Britain and now the U.S. have sought to control the natural resources and waterways of Africa and West Asia. During the rise of anti-colonial movements, the African liberation organizations were closely aligned with the Palestinians and other progressive forces throughout the region.

During the 1950s and 1960s, revolutionary Pan-Africanist leaders such as Dr. Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana worked closely with Gamal Abdel Nassar of Egypt. They both advocated for the formation of a United States of Africa and the building of a Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) which represented the majority of humanity.

During the late 1950s and early 1960s, African American leaders such as Malcolm X spent considerable time in Egypt where he built an alliance with the Nassar government. Malcolm X was a staunch critic of Zionism and met with the early leaders of what later became known as the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).

In subsequent years, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) came out solidly in support of Egypt, Syria and the Palestinians during the June 1967 war. James Forman in his political autobiography published in 1972, recounted how as the International Affairs Director for SNCC he was summoned to a meeting with the then United Nations Ambassador from Guinea, Maroof Askar, where they were briefed on their position saying that Conakry at the time was in full support of the Arab position in the war.

In December 2023, the African National Congress (ANC) led government in the Republic of South Africa filed criminal charges against Tel Aviv for violations of the UN Genocide Convention at the International Court of Justice (ICJ). The following month in January 2024, the ICJ ruled that the claims of genocide in Gaza by the settler-colonial Zionist regime were plausible.

This ruling was handed down despite the racist statements made by the White House operatives saying the South African case had no merit. The U.S. has been the primary enemy of the Palestinian and West Asian people.

Although this ruling was announced by the ICJ, Tel Aviv with the backing of the U.S., Britain, France, Germany and others, have failed to halt the genocide and end the illegal occupation of Palestine and other areas in the West Asia region. The U.S. administration of President Joe Biden lost its bid for a second term through Vice-President Kamala Harris in part due to its ongoing financial, military and diplomatic support of settler-colonialism in Palestine and West Asia.

Consequently, the African people must view the U.S., the leaders of modern-day imperialism, as the major impediment to their own social and economic liberation. The struggle against genocide and settler-colonialism in Palestine and West Asia are crucial in securing an environment for the realization of Pan-Africanism and socialism on the continent.

The Desperation of the West

Therefore, African leaders, political parties, trade unions, youth organizations and mass movements must prepare for an inevitable clash with the imperialist system. The resolution of internal contradictions within the post-colonial states, the realization of regional unity and continental reconstruction can only occur through the mobilization and organization of the workers, farmers and youth of the continent.

2024 has encompassed many lessons for the people of Africa and the world. The genocide in Palestine and West Asia; the attempts to reverse the revolutionary anti-imperialist process in the Sahel are two profound illustrations of the capacity of the imperialists to commit monumental crimes against humanity.

There can be no illusions: the U.S. and its allies are well prepared to sacrifice willingly billions around the world in their failed attempt to continue this reign of terror and genocide. Africans and their allies will only be victorious when they unite under an anti-imperialist program aimed at abolishing oppression and exploitation in its totality.

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Abayomi Azikiwe is the editor of the Pan-African News Wire. He is a regular contributor to Global Research.