By Suleiman Umaru
Capt. Ibrahim Traore, President of Burkina Faso and arrowhead of the Alliance for Sahel States, AES, which includes Republic of Niger and Mali, which had kicked out French Companies mining gold, uranium and other mineral resources and closed the country’s military Bases from the Sahel region had described as laughable President Emmanuel Macron’s claims that the African Continent is poor.
The French President, Emmanuel Macron, who had claimed that Africa is poor had said that it is not yet time for the 22 colonized African countries by France which former colonized countries government official had confirmed pays 80% colonial Tax and still keeps over 50% of its Foreign exchange reserves in the Frech Treasury just as it uses the euro-backed CFA franc currency printed in France “to manage on their own’’.
The 48-year-old French President who was said to have repeatedly said that ‘’African remains the least developed Continent in the world which gives France the audacity to still play a supportive role in its former colonized countries was emphatic, that their presence in the former colonized countries was to support their growth and development.
Although, the three Sahel States including Tchad and Senegal, had successfully kicked out French mining companies from their respective countries and replaced them with other reputable foreign and local mining Companies, President Macron, who had refused to tell the world the whole truth that its economy is on the verge of total collapse as its local and debt owed the World Bank, IMF and other Multi-lateral Financial Institutions had grown in lips and bounds but could still beat his chest that ‘’a complete withdrawal from the African Continent would slow down its progress’’.
Capt. Traore would not take it. The Burkinabe Leader was said to have told those cares to listen that the African Continent which President Macron and other European Union, EU Leaders including President Donald Trump of the the North American country of the US, had said is poor and debt ridden is a wrong narrative of the Continent.
He was emphatic that African Continent had been sustaining the Western economies over the years as it has opened its door for the Western nations mining companies, particular, those from France and US, to come in and freely mine gold, uranium, dentaliums, cobalt and Crude oil and other mineral resources and export same with little or no much benefits for the people of Africa.
Take for instance for instance the French and other Foreign Companies which were mining uranium from the Sahel country were buying the product at 89cents and selling the it at 300 euros to at the international market. Gen. Abdulrahmane Tchiani, President of Niger had said that before the Revolutionary Government of Niger kicked out the French companies from the companies and closed the French military bases from the country, the revenue which the country gets from its uranium was a North American country of the United States , US, $1 billion but had risen phenomenally to $300 billion yearly since the Nigerien government denounced the colonial deals and took over control and mining of its mineral resources.
The ongoing massive development of basic infrastructural facilities like roads Schools and health care facilities in the Sahel Staes including Guinea since after the expulsion of the French Companies from their countries and closure of their military bases clearly shows that France was actually exploiting the economies of these countries for own good while labeling the region as poor.
Captain Traore may have summed up the large scale exploitation of the African mineral resources when he revealed recently based on available information that US$134 billion enter into the African Continent as aid and investment from France , US and other Western nations including the Asian country of China but US$192 billion leaves African soil on a yearly basis to these Western nations and China, which the western Media had kept as a closely guided secret but always write about the Aid to Africa.
The Burkinababe revolutionary Leader may have shocked the international Community and people of the African Continent when he volunteered information that the Multinational Companies operating in the 54 African countries, particular, the big economies like Nigeria, South Africa, Senegal, Kenya and Senegal including Gabon and the oil rich Guinea Bissau, transfers from the Continent US$48 billion Profit Tax, PAT, to Europe, US, and other foreign countries on a yearly basis.
He may have alluded to the overfishing of the French, Chinese companies and other Foreigners illegal fishing activities in Gabon, Nigeria and African countries waters which was said to have resulted in the loss of the US $17 billion on a yearly basis.
With the volume of mineral resources going out from the African Continent to Europe, US and other parts of the world and the resultant revenue that enters into these Western nations’ coffers, may have emboldened Capt. Traore to declare that African is not poor but ‘’a Continent that can feed itself with pride’’ like the developed economies. He is right.
For the over 65 years that France had controlled the economy of the Sahel region countries, Agriculture had been thrown to the backdrop as the people were said to have been involved in small scale mining activities, to service the multinational Companies at giveaway prices.
But with the revolutionary Leader of Capt. Traore, who was said to have embarked on ambitious water canals projects and empowerment of the local farmers, the BurkinaFaso, which had been ravaged over the years by Terrorists, thus making it impossible for the people to return to their farms appears to have made the difference in the recent time.
For a nation, which cannot feed itself but depend on food Aid from France and other Western nations and had never appeared on the list of the African list Africa’s highest 10 onion producers to have emerged the 7th, highest onion producers, in the Continent and the 3rd in the Western subregion bears eloquent testimony to the bold policy initiatives of the young African Leader described as a symbol in Africa. The Burkinabe Leder having rewritten the country’s Agricultural story is evident going by the country’s 420,000 tons of onion yearly production level, described as a major leap by Agricultural experts in the African Continent.
Given that the country, which could give food aid to other poor African countries like South Sudan and Eritrea, may have informed why the Burkinabe could tell the West to keep their food aid for their food aid to themselves and forget about Africa that can feed itself.
In a related development, Hakainde Hichilema, President of Zambia, who appears to be in the class of Capt. Traore of Burkina Faso and Hon. Malema of South African Parliament because of their detest for the imperialist powers would want the EU, countries and the United Kingdom, UK, TO refund the VISA, Application Fees collected African citizens without giving the Applicants the VISA, describing it as a VISA fraud scandal.
An aggrieved President Hichilema, who could no longer tolerate the excesses of the EU, gate keepers, who issues the Sheghan VISA, would want the EU, to refund the US $70 million that had had been collected from the African countries VISA Applicants.
The Zambian President was to have also taken VISA Application fee refund war to Keir Starmer, Prime Mister of Britain, urging him to give a matching to British Embassies across the African Continent to refund the over US $44 million a collected as VIS Application fee from Africans jostling to enter the country for greener pastures and even further studies but denied VISAs. Much of the VISA Applicants were said to have come from Nigeria, Ghana and Senegal.
Many believes that the bold steps that had been taken by the junta Leaders of Alliance for Sahel region States of Burkina Faso, Niger and Mali against France and the Zambian President against the EU, member countries over VISA Application fee, fraud scandal may have sent a message to the Western Leaders that African is no longer ready to play the second fiddle in international politics. As they have taken to the advice of President Trump of the United Staes to develop their respective countries that would their citizen jobs instead of traveling abroad to look for non- existent jobs and do menial jobs as a way of survival.
