EU CHIEF SAYS EUROPE MUST UP GAME IN AFRICA

Former colonialists and neo-imperialists just can’t leave Africa alone, can they?

In this 2023 video, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen calls for more European involvement in the Sahel and urges for a new strategic partnership with our continent. She predicted more instability in the Sahel as a result of the revolutionary coups, which overthrew Western-aligned rulers. She ignored the fact that the citizens of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger were overwhelmingly in support of the anti-imperialist revolutions in their countries. She would have the world believe that the legacies of French colonialism and US imperialism in Africa are not a factor in the ejection of Western troops and diplomats from the Sahel.

Von der Leyen betrays neo-colonialist European plans for Africa by saying that the European Union will work with ‘legitimate governments and organisations in Africa,’ diplomatic-speak for African leaders in the pocket of imperialists. For context, in 2024, the EU and European member states provided $370 million of the total African Union (AU) budget of $605 million. And in 2023, French president Emmanuel Macron lobbied the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to intervene militarily in Niger, which ousted the West’s puppet president Mohamed Bazoum and kicked out French troops and diplomats.

Could von der Leyen’s call for partnerships, which includes the much-touted €150 billion Global Gateway Investment Package for Africa, be a Trojan horse to entrench neo-colonialism in our continent? Given Europe’s history with colonialism and support for puppet African leaders doing its bidding, there is every reason for Pan Africanists to stay vigilant.

Video credit: France 24