WHAT IS HAPPENING IN THE LAKE CHAD REGION?

What follows instead is my English translation of an article originally published in Spanish on Geostrategia.es and also in Italian on ComeDonChisciotte.org on 23rd June 2024. The latter includes the Italian translation of a 2nd article, originally in English, titled “On the coup attempt in Congo, elections in Chad and developments in the Sahel” and that was published on United World on 14th June 2024 - I am not providing the text of this 2nd article, as it can be found on the link above. (All formatting original).

Operations of the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF), comprising Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon and Benin, continue in the region. At the same time, civilian protests and attacks by separatist formations continue in these states.

In Nigeria, government forces achieved success in the north of the country, destroying the bases of the 'Boko Haram' stronghold in the Sambisa forests and freeing 350 hostages. However, in the area of ISIS activity, poorly equipped units without air support suffered losses: in particular, in four settlements, militants attacked several army convoys.

In the south of the country, attacks by formations of the self-proclaimed Republic of Biafra continue. In the city of Abia, Igbo separatists attacked government troop positions, resulting in the deaths of 11 civilians and military personnel. In response, the army conducted an operation in Umuahia.

In Nigeria, amid record inflation and the ongoing housing crisis, the protest movement of trade unions intensified. Strikes by the 'Nigeria Labour Congress' have caused power cuts throughout the country, closing airports and offices in the capital Abuja and the economic centre of Lagos.

The reason is the cancellation of fuel subsidies that reduced the cost of petrol in the country. The initiative had already been proposed by President Tinubu during his inauguration a year ago, but had been postponed for fear of large-scale protests.

In Cameroon, Anglophone separatists from the unrecognised Republic of Ambazonia attacked an army convoy in Muyuka: one soldier was killed and several others wounded.

At the same time, neither side is interested in a cease-fire in the rebel region or in clearing it: while the separatists benefit from foreign donations, the pro-French government of Paul Biya uses the conflict as a pretext to receive further financial aid from France.

On the political front, cooperation between Cameroon and Russia is expanding: an original MSJ [unidentified acronym] was created on 1st June.

The law firm Amsterdam & Partners LLP, which represents the interests of the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), intends to file a lawsuit against Apple in France and the United States.

According to the lawyers, the US company is actively buying smuggled tantalum and coltan from Rwanda, which is mined by local militants in the east of the country. The authorities in Kinshasa believe that the technology giant is indirectly supporting anti-government groups in this way.

Apple hastened to declare that it had found no evidence of militant sponsorship in its supply chains and stated that it would certainly terminate contracts immediately upon discovering the possible extraction of 'bloody resources'. This last statement sounds particularly comical when compared to past investigations in which Apple and others have encouraged DRC mining companies to use child labour.

At the same time, according to the Congolese leadership, the capture of North Kivu mines for the US by Rwandan proxy forces, in the form of the M23 group, has long been 'an open secret'. In this way, the US authorities maintain an acceptable price for the resource, without allowing the country to become a regional leader.

And since politicians in Kinshasa cannot directly confront political circles in Washington, they have been instructed to at least reduce the money flows of the main beneficiaries. Apple's evasive response confirms that, to a certain extent, this is possible with some effort.

The British tabloid Daily Mail has published an article that perfectly illustrates the approach of Western, globalist NGOs when operating in Africa.

This time it is about the activities of the African Parks organisation, whose board of directors includes Britain's Prince Harry.

According to journalists, some time ago Malawi's Liwonde National Park, under the management of African Parks, relocated 263 elephants to another national park on the Malawi-Zambia border. The process was carried out with the assistance of the United States' International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW).

It seemed that nothing could go wrong after such a generous gift? But suddenly it was discovered that the animals were totally unprepared for the new conditions and began not only destroying crops, but also attacking farmers. Within two years, nine people were killed and another 4,000 injured, depriving many of the opportunity to work in the fields.

In short, under the slogan of saving wildlife, African Parks did it a 'disservice', completely ignoring the possible consequences of their beneficence. Which, moreover, is not surprising: the people of the Dark Continent are often not considered as people by the management of such NGOs.

Incidentally, in recent months, this is not the first scandal in which Prince Harry's name has been mentioned: in March, his name was mentioned in a case of sexual assault and human trafficking. The appearance in the British media of an article about African parks is therefore not accidental, especially in the context of rumours about the disgrace of a member of the royal family.

Europe leaves Africa: why has it been so ineffective?

This week the EU decided not to extend its military mission in Niger. This decision was widely expected after the departure of the US and French military, because the European presence in the country is no longer sufficient.

The people of Niger have decided that this model of cooperation with the European powers is neither effective nor beneficial and have therefore decided to say enough is enough.

But why, after years and years of Western military presence in the Sahel countries, has the situation not improved? The reason is brutally simple: Western powers are simply not interested in the stability of the continent, because this would prevent the West from obtaining cheap mineral resources.

When the government is strong, when it controls its institutions, when it has strong legislators, strong agencies that control the actions of foreign investors, they try to take control of the activities of European companies.

This means that the cost of resources from Africa increases and the final cost of products that are manufactured to be imported into Europe also increases, which undermines the economic efficiency of the European model.

European leaders are unlikely to abandon their colonialist mentality. This is precisely why they are ceding their presence in Asia, Africa and Latin America to the Russians and Chinese, who view their counterparts in other countries as equals, with respect and working for mutual benefit.

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