BY ADDISALEM MULAT
Sitting at the world’s most strategic location, the Horn Africa has become a bone of contestation creating both opportunities and threats to member states of the region. With increased militarization, the region is drawing powerful nations with China and Gulf countries increasing more and more in military spending and economy. In fact, the recent developments are upsetting the apple cart. Besides, the long-term superpowers, new emerging powers are entering the race to control the strategic place.
The race for the control of the region on the edge of the Gulf of Aden through the presence of military bases is increasingly evident. And, to increase their political influence, countries are appointing officials who serve as special envoys to oversee socioeconomic and political developments in the region.
Since lately, the region is attracting Chinese attention as Beijing appointed a special envoy to the region. These developments bring both opportunities and challenges to countries of the region. With Washington’s foreign policy seeing a failure, the coming of China and other powerful nations provides the Horn African countries to have a choice and forge relations with other countries. Over the years, the US has been engaged in unconstructive roles including in Ethiopia.
In his recent article, American political-economic analyst for Africa, Lawrence Freeman said there are several components of U.S. policy towards Africa that undermine Ethiopia’s noteworthy effort to become a self-governing economically independent nation.
First, the U.S. does not have a long-term development policy for Africa. It is willing to spend billions of dollars on short-term aid, but nothing for large scale infrastructure that would actually improve living conditions. Despite all the attacks, and rantings against China and its Belt and Road, if China were to pull out of Africa it would negatively impact the continent. That is because the U.S. would not step in to fill the vacuum. Sadly, the last U.S. President that understood the importance of physical-economic development in Africa, and acted on it, was John F. Kennedy.
Second, one cannot underestimate the general level of ignorance about Africa in U.S. society, especially our elected officials. Yes, there are a few members of Congress who have some knowledge about a few African nations. However, I can report to you with authority, after observing Washington for decades, that the overwhelming majority of Congress, have little knowledge of the actual dynamics when implementing legislation affecting African nations, Overall, there is no in-depth historical understanding of the African continent or the nations that comprise it, the analyst added.
Third, the continent of Africa is close to last on the list of priorities for American Presidents. Often, U.S. policy for African nations is rarely articulated until the second year of a president’s term, except for the standard four-page “talking points” paper on Africa.
According to Freeman, following the liberation of African nations from the yoke of colonialism three score years ago, African leaders, who fight to improve conditions of life on the continent, always face opposition from within and without. There exists financial-political elite, perhaps identified as an oligarchy, who see Africa for its material resources and financial gain. They attempt to exploit nations through international finance, manipulated terms of trade, and raw material prices controlled by the City of London-based commodity cartels.
The key concerns of the neo-colonialist financial institutions have always been, if they cannot control the leadership of a country, a “divide and conquer” tactic is employed to weaken that nation. War and chaos are the preferred fallback alternatives to losing command of the targeted nation.
They have always opposed genuine development programs that would lift a nation out of poverty, and abhor strong governments and leaders that aspire to national sovereignty. Their ideology is dominated by “geopolitics” that sees the world as a zero-sum game of winners and losers. Those with the most political and financial power are the winners. They have little desire to eliminate poverty.
Except for the last one to two decades of China’s intervention, the West has dominated the African continent, with no demonstrable proof that their policies have improved the standard of living for the majority of Africans. Any progress in Africa is the result of national leaders, not Western policy.
The foreign policy failure of the West in the region is forcing the horn African countries to look for a new partner probably fed up with long-term political intervention of the former. This is what China has been echoing and said would replace with more neutral role and genuine foreign policy.
“Some countries in this area [the Horn of Africa] are fed up with the foreign intervention, the preaching from Western countries. They say China respects us, treats us as equals and so they want to see China playing a more active and constructive role,” said China Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa Ambassador Xue Bing.
“We thus have to answer the call from our friends here,” he said at a press briefing at the Embassy of China in Nairobi, according to The Star.
Xue has been paying visits to Eritrea, Ethiopia, Djibouti, and Somalia and He Uganda and South Sudan.
“What I get during my discussion with leaders from this region, he said, is they want to resolve their own differences without interference. Some western countries come here and tell you what and how to do it. From our discussions, I have a feeling country are fed up with that,” the special envoy added.
The envoy also informed that since his appointment, some Western countries have contacted their foreign ministry through their embassies in Beijing seeking a meeting with him.
“I have said I’d first have to travel to the region and we could have a meeting later,” he told the media.
Ambassador Xue said the peace conference, which Kenya and Ethiopia have offered to host, will offer a platform for the countries in the region to peacefully settle their differences.
“However, the ongoing instability in the Horn of Africa and the region’s interlinked political, security, and humanitarian challenges demand sustained focus by the United States,” he said.
Xue said being the first time China is appointing a special envoy to the region, it is a demonstration of the seriousness with which the country’s Foreign Affairs ministry takes the region.
“The Horn of Africa region is home to countries that have traditional relations with China. We are strategic partners. This area is strategically located and abundant in resources. The potential of development is huge”.
“ At the same time, there are issues of peace and security like differences over boundaries, ethnic and religious conflicts. So, peace and security are important and that is why China put forward the proposal for peace and development in the Horn of Africa,” he said.
From the initial response, he said, the regional countries are all “very positive” and have welcomed the Chinese proposal.
Asked what his appointment means to China’s non-intervention principle Ambassador Xue said distinctive feature of the proposal is non-interference in internal affairs of regional countries and the “African Solutions to African Problems” mantra.
“So, although this is a Chinese proposal to the regional countries and the leading players, the Chinese role is by holding the first peace conference, to provide a platform for regional countries to come together and to resolve their differences independently without any external intervention. That’s the purpose of the Chinese proposal,” he said.
The Ethiopian Herald March 22/2022
