Is US Military Training In Africa Helping To Spawn Coups?

CCO Public Domain

Lee J. M. Seymour and Theodore McLauchlin, Phys.org/The Conversation: Does U.S. military training incubate coups in Africa? The jury is still out

Military officers overthrew Mali's government in a coup d'état on August 18, 2020. Among the more worrying aspects of the coup is the fact that a number of the officers involved had received foreign training, most notably from the United States.

In fact, this was the second time in eight years that US-trained officers in Mali had launched a coup. To paraphrase Oscar Wilde, to lose one civilian government to a coup launched by foreign-trained officers may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose two looks like carelessness.

For many commentators with a strong sense of déjà vu, events in Mali reinforce suspicions of a link between US training and coups d'état.

But does US foreign military training provoke coups d'état? The short answer is we don't know. Until we know more, we should be skeptical of the blanket claim that it does.

Initial evidence, much cited by journalists, suggests a link.

Read more ....

WNU Editor: US training of foreign soldiers is a huge part of US foreign policy and it is big .... Between 1999 and 2016, US programs involved 2.4 million trainees in programs that cost over $20 billion. The possibility that there could be some soldiers who received US military training being involved in a coup should surprise no one.

Mandela's Widow Warns Africa To Act Now Or They Will Be Facing A Billion 'Angry, Underfed, Under-Educated And Under-Employed' Young People By 2050

Graça Machel, chair of the African Child Policy Forum, whose 2018 report on child wellbeing warns of the dangers of failure to invest in young people. Photograph: Graeme Williams/for the Guardian

The Guardian: Act now or a billion young Africans will be undone by 2050 – Mandela widow

Graça Machel warns ‘toxic combination’ of poor nutrition and lack of education pose major threat to future peace and prosperity

Nelson Mandela’s widow has warned Africa could become the continent of a billion “angry, underfed, under-educated and under-employed” young people by 2050, unless African governments act to invest in their children.

In advance of the publication of a major report on child rights across Africa, Graça Machel has expressed concern that a “toxic combination” of undernutrition, poor education and the world’s fastest-growing youth populations pose a threat to the continent’s future.

Read more ....

WNU Editor: I agree. The current migration crisis is insignificant to the coming storm of people wanting to flee to a better life.

Is The Somalia - Somaliland Conflict About To Become Another Proxy War Between Middle Eastern States

BBC: How the crisis in the Gulf could spread to East Africa

A crisis in the Gulf has had an unexpected consequence - a rush to build ports all down the Somali coast. But, as Mary Harper writes, some fear it could tear the Horn of Africa apart.

Somaliland's port town of Berbera is sleepy and somewhat scruffy. Paintings of fish, crabs and sailboats adorn the faded buildings. Tangled nets lie in the sandy streets.

It is hard to imagine that this charming seaside town is at the centre of an almighty row between Somalia and this self-declared republic which broke away in 1991 but has not been recognised internationally.

This dispute is part of a far wider problem. A crisis in the Gulf is playing out in dramatic form in Somalia and the wider Horn of Africa. Some argue it could tear the whole region apart.

After nearly 30 years of conflict and instability, Somalia is particularly vulnerable.

Read more ....

WNU Editor: Of the two Somaliland is far more stable than Somalia, and will probably be able to maintain its independence from Mogadishu for the foreseeable future. But Middle Eastern governments are now looking at the Horn of Africa as a place to expand their influence, and they positioning themselves to do just that.

Is An African Spring Now Underway?

Charlie Mitchell, The National: It might be too early to declare an African Spring – but leaders are being toppled in their droves

In recent months, a trend has emerged with leaders across the continent falling victim to their greed or being brought down by their own parties.

Ethiopia swore in a new prime minister this week after an overhaul within the ruling party. To onlookers, the transition of power to Abiy Ahmed might seem insignificant. But seen in the context of a continent in flux, it reflects what some are calling the African Spring.

Young and energetic, Mr Abiy's appointment ends a political crisis that has gripped Africa’s oldest independent nation since the surprise resignation of his predecessor Hailemariam Desalegn in February.

Mr Hailemariam’s departure followed two years of public protests against the country’s beleaguered ruling coalition, which has dominated national politics since 1991. Amid a state of emergency, hundreds of protesters were killed. Thousands more were arrested.

Read more ....

WNU Editor: Too early to say where all of this political change in Africa will lead to. The tribal/sectarian/religious conflicts and animosities that have dominated Africa for much of its history  are still there .... and the population explosion it is experiencing right now will produce a new generation with needs and expectations that I doubt its leaders will be able to provide.

Why Are There Are No Successful Black Nations?

Photo: Protests In Ethiopia

Chogozie Obioma, Foreign Policy: There Are No Successful Black Nations

And the indignity and helplessness of blacks in America won’t end until we have a first-world African nation to lift up our people.

In the wake of fresh deaths at the hands of police officers in the world’s greatest nation, we, the people of the black race, are once again the object of renewed worldwide attention.

Questions of injustice in the United States have been duly raised and protested. And, once again, the black cultural elites in America have seized various platforms to air their grievances and are mostly — and rightly — talking about racism, discrimination, racial profiling, and hate, among other issues. But one issue that has hardly been talked about is the core reason why black people have remained synonymous with the denigrating experience of racism. It is, I dare say, because of the worldwide indignity of the black race.

Read more ....

WNU editor: Africa will catch-up .... they just need time.

Africa’s Petrostates Are Crashing Hard

Luke Patey, Foreign Policy: Africa’s Petrostates Are Imploding

And that’s setting off a dramatic shift in the economic balance of power on the continent.

Africa’s petrostates are crashing hard. A cool $115 in the summer of 2014, a barrel of Brent crude, the international pricing benchmark, now fetches below $40. And having failed to build massive foreign exchange reserves like Saudi Arabia or other Gulf monarchies, African oil exporters are now being forced to grapple with depreciating national currencies, mounting inflation, and deep cuts in government spending.

Some of these states are now dangerously unstable, staring down popular unrest or domestic insurgencies that left unaddressed could set them back years, if not decades, in development terms. The “Africa rising” narrative, built on climbing income levels and an emerging middle class on the continent, is now under strain.

But instead of across-the-board decline, Africa is witnessing a gradual shift in the continental balance of economic power — away from petrostates like Nigeria and Angola and toward less flashy but more diversified economies like Ethiopia and Tanzania. After decades of lavishing attention on the oil-powered economies of West Africa, investors are now flocking to the economies of East Africa, which have demonstrated their resilience to lower commodity prices and challenged outdated perceptions of Africa as resource-dependent and burdened by irredeemably poor governance.

Read more ....

WNU Editor: Nigeria is the big story .... its government receives 70% of its revenues from oil sales .... that money is gone, and so will the money that is used in combating Boko Haram and placating the militias in the oil rich Delta region.

After Iraq And Afghanistan The Next U.S. - NATO Disaster Will Be Africa

Adam Taylor and Laris Karklis/The Washington Post

Coups And Terror Are The Fruit Of Nato's War In Libya -- Seamas Milne, The Guardian

The dire consequences of the west's intervention are being felt today in Tripoli and across Africa, from Mali to Nigeria

Iraq may have been a blood-drenched disaster and Afghanistan a grinding military and political failure. But Libya was supposed to have been different. Nato's war to overthrow Colonel Gaddafi in 2011 was hailed as the liberal intervention that worked.

The western powers might have had to twist the meaning of the UN resolution about protecting civilians, the city of Sirte might have been reduced to rubble, large-scale ethnic cleansing taken place and thousands of civilians killed. But it was all in a noble cause and achieved without Nato casualties.

Read more ....

My Comment: A sobering analysis on the limits of western intervention.

Is Religious Extremism And Terrorism Spreading Throughout Central Africa (Commentaries)

Economist

Conflict Spreads in Central Africa -- New York Times

Muslim militants in Nigeria have become more brazen, killing more than 70 people in a bomb blast in the capital and kidnapping dozens of school girls. They have also been accused of crossing into Cameroon for kidnappings. Meanwhile, the United Nations is sending peacekeepers to the Central African Republic to end vicious fighting between Christians and Muslims.

Do these conflicts indicate that central Africa could be on the brink of a regional religious war?

Read more ....

My Comment: The Pentagon via through Africom is definitely preparing for the spread of war and conflicts .... The Pentagon Is Preparing For Multiple Wars In Africa.

A Look At The Wars That Will Rage In Africa In 2014

Photo from libcom.com

These Are The Wars That Will Rage In Africa In 2014 -- Peter Dörrie, War is Boring

The civil wars, insurgencies and political standoffs that will shape the continent this year.

Africa is no longer the “failed continent.” Like the rest of the world, it has become successively more peaceful over the last several decades. Over the longer term, this trend is likely to continue along with its booming economies and populations.

In many ways, Africa is the future—and increasingly relevant on the world stage.

But conflict persists. Piracy is a growing problem along the continent’s western coast. There’s the aftermath of revolutions in North Africa. Civil wars have erupted in the Central African Republic and the world’s newest nation of South Sudan. And an insurgency is raging in Nigeria that could get a lot worse.

From the Sahara to Somalia and down to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, these are the civil wars, conflicts and threats that will shape this part of Africa’s narrative in 2014.

Read more ....

My Comment: A good summary on Africa's conflicts.

Why So Many Wars In Africa?

Africa's Forever Wars: Why The Continent's Conflicts Never End. -- Jeffrey Gettleman, Foreign Policy

There is a very simple reason why some of Africa's bloodiest, most brutal wars never seem to end: They are not really wars. Not in the traditional sense, at least. The combatants don't have much of an ideology; they don't have clear goals. They couldn't care less about taking over capitals or major cities -- in fact, they prefer the deep bush, where it is far easier to commit crimes. Today's rebels seem especially uninterested in winning converts, content instead to steal other people's children, stick Kalashnikovs or axes in their hands, and make them do the killing. Look closely at some of the continent's most intractable conflicts, from the rebel-laden creeks of the Niger Delta to the inferno in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and this is what you will find.

Read more ....

Update: Why Are There So Many Coups in West Africa? -- John Hudson, The Atlantic

My Comment: I (personally) concur with Jeffrey Gettleman's position on what is happening in Africa today (posted above), but Dan Murphy from the Christian Science Monitor does not believe the situation is that bad.

Africa In Turmoil -- A Commentary

When Wealth Breeds Rage -- John Githongo, New York Times

ACROSS the Middle East and North Africa, superficial political calm has been shattered by convulsions of rage. Idealistic young protesters have toppled some of the most ruthless and well-resourced political strongmen on the planet. In sub-Saharan Africa, many are asking: will the Arab Spring spread south?

Thus far, the authoritarian leaders who dominate the continent have withstood protests, stubbornly maintaining that tribalism will save them. They and their loyal supporters insist that African societies are so fragmented along ethnic, sectarian and regional lines that it would be impossible today to whip up the perfect Tahrir Square storm; instead, they believe, an outcome like Libya’s civil war or the messy departure of Yemen’s president is more likely.

Read more ....

My Comment: A sobering political analysis on the Africa of today.

Why Does Africa Have Many Wars?

Africa's Forever Wars: Why The Continent's Conflicts Never End. -- Foreign Policy

There is a very simple reason why some of Africa's bloodiest, most brutal wars never seem to end: They are not really wars. Not in the traditional sense, at least. The combatants don't have much of an ideology; they don't have clear goals. They couldn't care less about taking over capitals or major cities -- in fact, they prefer the deep bush, where it is far easier to commit crimes. Today's rebels seem especially uninterested in winning converts, content instead to steal other people's children, stick Kalashnikovs or axes in their hands, and make them do the killing. Look closely at some of the continent's most intractable conflicts, from the rebel-laden creeks of the Niger Delta to the inferno in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and this is what you will find.

Read more ....

My Comment: Jeffrey Gettleman has summed up in three pages what plagues Africa today ..... and why it will suffer tomorrow. Read it all .... this is a must read.

Why Foreign Aid Is Hurting Africa

Kibera, the largest slum in Africa, is home to more than one million Kenyans. Getty Images

From Wall Street Journal:

Money from rich countries has trapped many African nations in a cycle of corruption, slower economic growth and poverty. Cutting off the flow would be far more beneficial, says Dambisa Moyo.

A month ago I visited Kibera, the largest slum in Africa. This suburb of Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, is home to more than one million people, who eke out a living in an area of about one square mile -- roughly 75% the size of New York's Central Park. It is a sea of aluminum and cardboard shacks that forgotten families call home. The idea of a slum conjures up an image of children playing amidst piles of garbage, with no running water and the rank, rife stench of sewage. Kibera does not disappoint.

What is incredibly disappointing is the fact that just a few yards from Kibera stands the headquarters of the United Nations' agency for human settlements which, with an annual budget of millions of dollars, is mandated to "promote socially and environmentally sustainable towns and cities with the goal of providing adequate shelter for all." Kibera festers in Kenya, a country that has one of the highest ratios of development workers per capita. This is also the country where in 2004, British envoy Sir Edward Clay apologized for underestimating the scale of government corruption and failing to speak out earlier.

Read more ....

My Comment: Foreign aid is probably one of the factors that has contributed to limiting Africa's growth .... but I believe the biggest reason has been a political and societal culture of corruption and tribal/ethnic conflict. Military coup d'etats, ethnic cleansing and/or genocide, corruption and bribery being the rule not the exception .... how can anyone develop and grow a thriving business in such an environment.

Where is the motivation to achieve success. Where is the incentive to improve oneself. This is all absent in Africa today .... and it is the fault of the Africans and the corrupt institutions that they (and foreign aid agencies) support.

A Letter To The Guardian That Describes The Current State Of Affairs In Africa Perfectly -- A Commentary

State Of Affairs in 2006 (Image from Tdaxp)

Guinea-Bissau Threatens Return To Bad Old Days In Africa -- The Guardian

The killing by rebel troops of President João Bernardo Vieira of Guinea-Bissau, hours after the killing of the army chief General Tagme Na Waie (Report, 3 March) is the latest tragic tale of political violence, confirmation that Africa is steadily going back to the bad old days of military coups. On 26 December 2008, hours after the death of President Conte of Guinea, Capt Moussa Dadis Camara, staged a coup and made himself president. Four month earlier on 6 August, in Mauritania, President Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi was overthrown after he tried to dismiss the military's top commanders.

With the likes of Robert Mugabe refusing to step down after losing the 2008 elections; the unprecedented violence in Kenya following the rigged elections in 2007; and with the recent declaration by General Museveni of Uganda that voting for the opposition leader Dr Kizza Besigye in the 2011 elections would mean civil war; Africa seems doomed to more politically motivated violence.

Read more ....

As An Atheist, I Truly Believe Africa Needs God -- A Commentary

From Times Online:

Missionaries, not aid money, are the solution to Africa's biggest problem - the crushing passivity of the people's mindset

Before Christmas I returned, after 45 years, to the country that as a boy I knew as Nyasaland. Today it's Malawi, and The Times Christmas Appeal includes a small British charity working there. Pump Aid helps rural communities to install a simple pump, letting people keep their village wells sealed and clean. I went to see this work.

It inspired me, renewing my flagging faith in development charities. But travelling in Malawi refreshed another belief, too: one I've been trying to banish all my life, but an observation I've been unable to avoid since my African childhood. It confounds my ideological beliefs, stubbornly refuses to fit my world view, and has embarrassed my growing belief that there is no God.

Read more ....

A Clear Vision to Save Africa -- A Commentary

From The International Herald Tribune:

Nowhere in the world is Barack Obama's entry into the White House more anticipated than in Africa. Throughout the continent, the elevation of a son of Africa to the world's most powerful position is a source of pride and validation, and a promise of a more mature, robust, and sympathetic relationship between Africa and America. To fulfill this promise, however, there must be a clear, pragmatic vision of what this new relationship will look like.

For three decades, U.S. policymakers have looked at Africa through thick lenses. In the 1980s, their vision was shaped by the Cold War, the antiapartheid movement, and deference to former colonial powers.

Read more ....