Nigerian Kidnappings

Nearly 300 Nigerian schoolgirls have been kidnapped by Islamist group Boko Haram and the Western media are up in arms. America has sent military personnel to Nigeria and the UK has sent support to help in the investigation, yet behind all the lofty speeches by politicians, celebrities and charities about the rights of Nigerian girls to an education; the real education behind this situation is conveniently hidden from public knowledge; such as Boko Haram’s links to UK and Saudi Arabia funding.

I published an article on this website on April 15, 2010, titled The empire strikes back: America plan Africa re-colonisation, where I stated that America was looking for less volatile regions in the world to secure their energy needs, and Africa was a target for this new policy named AFRICOM.

I said:

‘AFRICOM began full operations in October 2008, at a public ceremony by the Pentagon and its aims is summed up by Republican Ed Royce, one of the US politicians that champions this new military strategy who said, “Africa’s emerging potential as a major oil producer and supplier to the United States, has been of interest to the Sub-Committee on Africa that I’ve chaired for some time. The sub-committee held a hearing to look at this topic in 2000. It’s clearly in our national interest to diversify our energy supply, especially given the turbulent political climate in key parts of the world today. The expansion of energy production in Africa matches to that interest…”’ (Global Research: March 2010)

In other words America’s increasing presence in Africa has more to do with securing energy supplies than it has to do with missing Nigerian schoolgirls. Nigeria is the world’s 13th largest oil producer and is abundant in natural resources such as gas, coal, iron ore, lead, zinc and farmland.

On April 11, 2012, Nile Bowie published an article titled, CIA Covert Ops in Nigeria: Fertile Ground for US Sponsored Balkanization, in which he stated that, “Boko Haram has ties to two Al-Qaeda affiliated organizations namely Al QWaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG), both of which were supported covertly by Western intelligence and NATO (during the war on Libya).”

The new scramble for African resources

Africa has been the victim of European imperialism in the past,  and present, and currently the continent is on the radar of America and the EU as the global powers fight for control of resources. China has emerged as a growing presence in Africa which has provoked America to increase its military presence in that region.  According to Nimmo, Timothy Alexander Guzman said, “The US and French governments want to assure themselves that the new Chinese leadership will not continue its beneficial relationships with resource-rich African nations that have been a success in the past. Therefore, the ‘War on Terror’ will create instability and will disrupt China’s economic growth. AFRICOM mission is to create war in the name of fighting terrorism and that is what ‘US national security interests’ in Africa is really about.”

The kidnap of the Nigerian schoolgirls by Boko Haran has conveniently played into American foreign policy for Africa. Too much of a coincidence perhaps? What is more sickening is the fact that well-known celebrities and musicians have jumped on the bandwagon regarding this story without admitting the obvious link between American interventions overseas and big business. Are they just incredibly naive, or wilful participants of the American empire?

They may call it humanitarian intervention, but many of us know this by a familiar term, colonialism. When Europeans came to Africa, Asia and other non-European regions of the world they claimed to be bringing Christianity to the ‘savages’, the reality was that this period led to the greatest land grab, and resources-theft in the history of humans. Now, they come in disguise, led by a black president and under a different pretext; to bring democracy to the ‘savages’. The script changes but the intentions remain the same.

Further Reading

AFRICOM Prepares for More Conflicts in Mali, Nigeria and Somalia

Correction: The original version of this post quotes that “In 2012, The Nigerian Tribune reported Boko Haram’s funding was traced to the United Kingdom and Saudi Arabia, specifically from the Al-Muntada Trust Fund” Minority Perspective has corrected this report to make clear that the Al-Muntada Trust Fund have always denied these charges, and in new developments the Nigerian High Court has found that the Al-Muntada Trust Fund does not have any connection to Boko Haram. As a result any reference to Al-Muntada Trust has been removed from this post and the article title has been amended to remove any specific reference to the UK.

 

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