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Thread: The role of non-African powers in Africa: a discussion

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    Default French Foreign Policy in Africa

    Chatham House, Feb 07: French Foreign Policy in Africa: Between Pre Carre and Multilateralism
    France’s monopoly of Africa is under threat. The last 50 years have seen the French battling to hold on to the ‘privileged relationship’ with their former colonial empire, and a number of factors have forced the once imperial power into redefining its affiliation with ex-colonies, such as new laws on aid distribution, the integration of the EU and modern economic reforms.

    In the post-Cold War era, ‘multilateralism’ has become the latest political buzzword, and in its wake a notable shift in French policy in Africa has emerged. This shift, combined with a new generation of French politicians claiming to herald a fresh approach, might suggest that changes are on the way.

    As this paper will discuss, however, France has been reluctant to adapt. Certain members of the French elite have benefited from neo-colonial models and are in no hurry to normalise dealings; it’s instructive, therefore, to examine what adjustments have come out of multilateralism and if a new class of politicians really can bring about change....

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    Council Member Stan's Avatar
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    Default Wee wee, Kernel," in Texan French

    Thanks Jed !
    To quote one of Tom's most famous lines (I nearly fell off my chair when Tom explained what was happening.)

    I know when I first met with the French, one colonel who was the equivalent of the French civil affairs and PSYOPs officer dismissed me in French as "an ignorant American who cannot possibly understand the real situation." He said it in French, assuming I did not understand. I looked at him, smiled, and kept saying, "Wee wee, Kernel," in Texan French, all the while hoping he might amplify his dismissal.
    We already concluded, they had no clue what the real situation was.

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    Council Member nichols's Avatar
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    I think the dam started to break when they devalued the CFA in 94, it took DOS a while to catch up so we were living high on the hog for a while.

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    Council Member Stan's Avatar
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    Default No Clue

    Evening Nichols !
    Very well put ! More from Tom's book.

    When the refugee flood started in July, 1994, Kinshasa became the sideshow. The ultimate fate of Zaire would be decided in the east, not in the capital city. As a result, Kate Crawford, Stan Reber, and I remained the core of embassy operations in eastern Zaire. We could have used help.
    No, unfortunately, they did not send help

    The currency mamas were our best friends and log base
    Last edited by Stan; 02-12-2007 at 10:17 PM.

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    Council Member Tom Odom's Avatar
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    Default The Rwanda-France War Continues

    I remain suspicious that anything is changing except the name. France and Rwanda remain at cultural and political logger heads--and the real issue is the "loss" of another francophone country to those English-speaking RPF leaders who failed to see things the way Paris wished.

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    Tom

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    Default Political Warfare in Sub-Saharan Africa

    Political Warfare in Sub-Saharan Africa: U.S. Capabilities and Chinese Operations in Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa by Dr. Donovan C. Chau. New publication at the US Army's Strategic Studies Insitute.

    Domestic and international terrorism aside, the United States and the People’s Republic of China (PRC), are vying for influence over African governments and people. Not unlike the Cold War, the primary means of exerting influence in Africa is through the use of nonviolent instruments of grand strategy. The author considers one nonviolent instrument of grand strategy in particular, political warfare. He suggests that the PRC has used political warfare as its leading grand strategic instrument in Africa and offers a concise, detailed overview of U.S. capabilities to conduct political warfare in Africa in four of its nation-states.

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    Default India's Engagement with the African Indian Ocean Rim States

    Chatham House, 7 Apr 08: India's Engagement with the African Indian Ocean Rim States
    In recent years India has strengthened its involvement in the African Indian Ocean Rim considerably. This shift in policy comes in part because of India's desire to compete with China's growing influence in the region. The Indian Ocean has immense significance to India's development. India's strategy is deepening not only commercially but due to concerns over its security and hegemony in the region, which are underpinned by India's 2004 maritime doctrine.

    During the mid-1990s Indian foreign policy was largely introspective and concerned with consolidating its position as the regional power. Despite being a member of the Indian Ocean Rim Association for Regional Cooperation, there was little enthusiasm for the association and it produced few tangible results. The emergence of trilateral developmental initiative between India, Brazil and South Africa clearly reflected India's priority of positioning itself as a major developmental power.

    The growing importance of the African Indian Ocean Rim to India is evidenced by increasing bilateral and trilateral efforts and improved relations, notably with Mauritius, the Seychelles, Madagascar and coastal states such as Mozambique, Kenya and Tanzania. India's most formidable economic and commercial partnership in the African Indian Ocean is with Mauritius.....

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    Council Member Tom Odom's Avatar
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    Colonial history has tied a number of African Indian Ocean Rim countries to the India sub-continent since the 16th Century. Mozambique was a staging post for the Portuguese in Goa and often used over stamped Indian rupees. The British East Africa Protectorate (now Kenya and parts of Uganda) was originally administered out of Bombay and Indian rupees were its currency from 1897-1920.ii Today rupees remain the currency of the Seychelles and Mauritius and a significant Indian diaspora lives along the coast of East and Southern Africa, particularly in Mauritius, Kenya and South Africa.iii India has its most comprehensive diplomatic presence in this part of Africa, with embassies or high commissions in Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, South Africa, Seychelles, Madagascar and Mauritius.iv
    This is an interesting paper. This development really is a question of form finally following substance. As indicated by the introduction, Indian ties to Africa date at least to the 16th century. The significance of this, however, goes well beyond the diplomatic presence highlighted in the opening paragraph. The Indian (and south Asian as a whole) population across the continent is huge and plays a tremendous role in nearly all aspects of life in the individual countries. In competition with China, it gives India a home team advantage the Chinese cannot match.

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    Tom

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    Council Member Stan's Avatar
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    Default Old Friends, New World

    The Statesman tends to steer away from economic cooperation and partnerships concentrating on long-term goal-oriented results. The article however spends too much time avoiding comparisons to the greedy west and energy hungry China. Interesting enough, but not very well balanced reporting.

    The first ever India-Africa Forum Summit in New Delhi on April 8-9 brings together top functionaries and heads of governments of 14 African countries with their Indian counterparts to raise an old friendship to a new level. The summit is being held at a plastic juncture in world politics when the old order of unipolarity is giving way to a new distribution of power spread out more evenly across Asia, Europe and North America.

    New Delhi has a longstanding programme called Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) through which thousands of nominees from African countries have been imparted training in defence preparedness, agriculture, small scale industries, entrepreneurship, engineering, telecommunications and engineering. ITEC has provided valuable support to the Afro-Asian Rural Reconstruction Organisation and inaugurated cooperation with regional African groups like the Southern African Development Community. The summit meeting on April 8-9 should strengthen this pillar of India-Africa partnership to neutralise fears that New Delhi is wooing Africa solely for greed of mineral treasures.

    By upgrading initiatives like ITEC to the entire member base of the African Union, India can send the message that its intentions in Africa are not exploitative in the typical Western fashion. Indian diplomats are sensitive to the charge that they are courting Africa in order to compete geopolitically with China in an energy hunt. New Delhi has rejected appeals to team up with European and North American companies in Africa.
    If you want to blend in, take the bus

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    Council Member AdamG's Avatar
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    Somewhere, years ago, I remember reading a theory that Delhi would releave some of their own overpopulation problems and 'fill the vacuum' after HIV leaves swaths of Africa empty.

    Meanwhile, just last night:

    New Delhi - The first India-Africa Summit began in New Delhi on Tuesday with the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announcing a duty-free trade preference scheme for 34 African countries, among the least-developed nations in the world.
    http://news.monstersandcritics.com/s...ions__Roundup_

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    In competition with China, it gives India a home team advantage the Chinese cannot match.
    It does, but is the Indian govt upto it?

    The Indian govt has always been ambivalent and of the pussy footing type.

    Nehru's desire to be larger than life and larger than the India polity cost India Kashmir, Aksai China and Tibet.

    Mrs Gandhi alone showed that Indians are made of sterner stuff.

    Thereafter,the deluge continues. India continues to kowtow to China instead of standing firm on her commitments and historical realities

    With the Communists as the current govt's soul support, she is losing out everywhere, domestically as also externally.

    Therefore, even if Africa is given on a platter, India will be all thumbs!
    Last edited by Ray; 04-09-2008 at 06:44 PM.

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    Interesting - when did India ever have a realistic chance of gaining control over Tibet?

    Also, why exactly would the Tibetans welcome control from New Delhi any more than from Beijing?

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    Default Meddling For Money--Diplomatic Mercenary?

    I guess some types will never change and this is a case in point. Third-party meddling is always a distractor and often a deliberate ploy to derail or deflect ongoing efforts. The idea that Qatar has any interests in southern Sudan beyond supporting Khartoum is laughable.

    This is something of a new twist: a sort of diplomatic mercenary, an "Envoy per Warren Zevon" for hire. Too bad, Zevon is gone. He could pen a "Bud, the Wheeler, Dealer."

    Tom

    A Cold War Man, a Hot War and a Legal Gray Area
    By Dan Eggen
    Washington Post Staff Writer
    Wednesday, September 30, 2009

    McFarlane's Mission
    The approach by Sudanese officials led to a $1.3 million contract for former national security adviser Robert "Bud" McFarlane, who went on to meet with two of the Obama administration's top policymakers on Sudan and its strife-torn Darfur region, according to documents and interviews

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    Hi Tom,

    Just up dated South Sudan threat with that info: http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article32703

    When saying no means yes...

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    Default Yes We Have No Bananas

    Quote Originally Posted by M-A Lagrange View Post
    Hi Tom,

    Just up dated South Sudan threat with that info: http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article32703

    When saying no means yes...
    But Sudanese presidential adviser Mustafa Ismail denied any such endeavors by his government.

    “We should not believe anything mentioned in the Washington Post or any newspaper” Ismail was quoted by Sudan official news agency (SUNA) as saying.
    And of course SUNA--always known for its accuracy from my days in Sudan...

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    Default The role of non-African powers in Africa: a discussion

    Moderators Note - see Post No.11 for why this thread has been started. Thanks.


    Quote Originally Posted by M-A Lagrange View Post
    Renewed Conflict in Sudan

    http://africacenter.org/2010/04/rene...lict-in-sudan/

    An interesting communication from council of Foreign Relations

    Otherwise, an interesting development of the election boycott:
    http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article34652

    And the US to wonder if some delay could be a solution. With Bashir insulting everyone at the end:
    http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article34662

    Despite the crazy talk from Bashir and the US and SPLM playing at should I go or should I stay… NEC is doing what looks to me as what JMM describes as lawfare. Well, at least to a fuzzy move to actually force SPLM to stay in the course and make those election credible.
    I just do not see the benefit. Let's dream and imagine that SPLM candidate in North is elected while boycotting the elections. I do not see Bashir and SAF nicely and fairly saying: we lost, please take the keys of the office.
    But by saying SPLM cannot redraw now, Bashir is buying credibility, at least legally. Rule of law, rule of law...

    And here is what Moscow thinks about the situation: (Sorry the link is in french)
    http://fr.rian.ru/world/20100405/186393760.html

    Basically Moscow is saying let’s go for elections. For them, the elections have to happen because of Darfur peace process.
    It’s a dam fair and bright comment. The only out come of those elections, part from an increase of tensions between North and South ARE the Doha agreement.
    Don't worry about what Russia is saying, don't worry about what the US is saying... worry only about what China wants for the region.
    Last edited by davidbfpo; 04-18-2010 at 10:50 AM. Reason: Add Moderator's Note

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    Council Member M-A Lagrange's Avatar
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    Default Not sure China is the problem, in fact

    I am not sure that China is the main problem. China playes almost openly its carts. It is rather USA with basically no real African policy which is the problem here.

    Partition of Sudan may (or may not in fact) put China in a corner as they have invest in oil infrastructures in North. But US policy to stabilize South Sudan is, at the best, foggy for the momment.
    Sitting on a gold mountain is useless when there is no mines to exploit it.

    By the way, several post have been sent with info on China policy.

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    Quote Originally Posted by M-A Lagrange View Post
    I am not sure that China is the main problem. China playes almost openly its carts. It is rather USA with basically no real African policy which is the problem here.

    Partition of Sudan may (or may not in fact) put China in a corner as they have invest in oil infrastructures in North. But US policy to stabilize South Sudan is, at the best, foggy for the momment.
    Sitting on a gold mountain is useless when there is no mines to exploit it.

    By the way, several post have been sent with info on China policy.
    Why should the US have an African policy? They can concentrate of the offshore oilfields and leave the rest to China. The mere expectation that the US has or should have an Africa policy is the first mistake.

    Africa remembers the US (Clinton) failure to act on Rwanda, and the US humiliation in Mogadishu, The CIA cock-up in Angola, the failure to act on Zimbabwe and really no serious African is expecting anything from the US. So the best advice is to do the same. Don't expect any coherent policy or action from the US on Africa.

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    Council Member M-A Lagrange's Avatar
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    Why should the US have an African policy? They can concentrate of the offshore oilfields and leave the rest to China. The mere expectation that the US has or should have an Africa policy is the first mistake.

    Africa remembers the US (Clinton) failure to act on Rwanda, and the US humiliation in Mogadishu, The CIA cock-up in Angola, the failure to act on Zimbabwe and really no serious African is expecting anything from the US. So the best advice is to do the same. Don't expect any coherent policy or action from the US on Africa.
    Well, USA does have an African policy. And oil is not the only natural resource of Africa, far from it.
    Sorry Sir, but africa does count in a multi polar world. And serious african do expect things from USA. Not because the actual president is a black man but because USA cannot afford Somalia to exist, cannot afford Islamist to have a safe heaven on that continent. Because North Sudan is becoming the wheat plant for Arab countries and are building a power pole through religious cultural proximity. Because soon USA will have to buy Chinese iron to produce steel... (the list is not exhaustive)
    There are many reasons for USA to have an African policy. But as everything, politic does not like vaccum. Therefore, there will be someone else who will take its place...

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    Quote Originally Posted by M-A Lagrange View Post
    Well, USA does have an African policy. And oil is not the only natural resource of Africa, far from it.
    Sorry Sir, but africa does count in a multi polar world. And serious african do expect things from USA. Not because the actual president is a black man but because USA cannot afford Somalia to exist, cannot afford Islamist to have a safe heaven on that continent. Because North Sudan is becoming the wheat plant for Arab countries and are building a power pole through religious cultural proximity. Because soon USA will have to buy Chinese iron to produce steel... (the list is not exhaustive)
    There are many reasons for USA to have an African policy. But as everything, politic does not like vaccum. Therefore, there will be someone else who will take its place...
    It would be face saving to believe that the US has no Africa policy and does not need one. If the US needs one or actually has one then it is a sad illustration of foreign policy incompetence at a level the world has never yet seen. After Mogadishu it is unlikely US forces will be committed anywhere in Africa again. Zimbabwe for example could have been and could still be sorted out with two non-ballistic cruise missiles. One for Mugabe and one for his Joint Operations Command (JOC) when in session. It would have been as easy as that. But there is no way China would give the nod for such action.

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