General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsCentral African Republic descends into chaos after Christian militias go on rampage
Reports of cannibalism and other horrific acts of violence surfaced in the Central African Republic over the weekend as Christian militias went on the rampage following the resignation of the countrys Muslim president.
Western-backed peacekeepers, including French and African Union troops, were attempting to restore order after Christian mobs destroyed mosques and attacked Muslim neighbourhoods in the capital Bangui.
The mobs had sensed the upper hand after regional mediators brought about the resignation on Friday of President Michel Djotodia, who was headed for exile in the West African state of Benin. Sectarian violence has already claimed more than 1,000 lives in the CAR in the past month and witnesses spoke yesterday of how a machete-wielding gang ate parts of the body of a Muslim man after attacking him on Tuesday.
The BBC interviewed a man, who said he ate part of the Muslim man as revenge for the murder of his family.
more
http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/01/13/central-african-republic-descends-in-cannibalism-after-christian-militias-go-on-rampage-after-muslim-president-resigns-flees/
monmouth3
(3,871 posts)bluestate10
(10,942 posts)part of the world. As a result, the region is in perpetual violence and famine. As soon as a person in that region show that he or she isn't leading in the best interest of his or her country, the west and stable African countries should take that leader out and make clear to potential replacements that if they don't lead in the best interests of all of their people, they will be taken out instantly.
Zorra
(27,670 posts)corporatism for many decades. The people and land of the Central African republic and the Democratic Republic of the Congo have been the victims of cruel and vicious practices by European imperialists. The area is wealthy in uranium, oil, gold, diamonds, lumber, and hydropower. But the people are among the poorest in the world. They and their land have been repeatedly raped by foreign capitalists, and these foreign capitalists destabilize the government in order to prevent any kind of nationalist movement that would nationalize the resources and take away the sources of the greedy imperialist's profits.
This began in earnest after the Congo gained independence from Belgium in 1960. The people of the Congo elected their first democratically elected leader of the Republic of the Congo, a beloved champion of the people named Patrice Lumumba. Eisenhower, fearing Lumumba was too close to being a communist, sent the CIA over to stage a coup, depose Lumumba, put in their authoritarian dictator capitalist pig crone Mobutu to maintain foreign corporate control of the country and its resources. Naturally, Lumumba was soon executed.
The only reason the US gives a shit about Africa is because Wall St. and the MIC want all Africa's resources for themselves. Global economic interests are the beneficiaries of the cycle of repeated destabilization and reorganization. If a genuine democratic leader interested in the welfare of the people is voted into power somewhere in Africa, you can be sure s/he will be deposed and probably shot by someone acting in service of some foreign global economic interest. But they've figured out how to never let it get to that point by continual destabilization.
In the meantime, who do you suppose is making all the coin from exploiting the abundant resources of Central Africa? The average worker who brings in an average of a whopping $300 a year as a result of the "glorious beneficence" of the humanitarian global economic imperialists?
The agenda is for the control of the natural resources throughout Africa. If Washington can counter China by influencing governments through military and financial aid, then the possibility of exploiting oil and other commodities will benefit the Military-Industrial Complex and Wall Street.
---snip
With the U.S. involved in coups, wars and political manipulation of governments in the past and present, China seems more favorable to most governments in Africa. Why? China is not overthrowing governments or invading countries, they negotiate with the intention of doing business with the country for the long-term. China seeks business partners for its own economic growth with investment projects in many African nations. As for Americas future in the African continent, it seems the Africa Command (AFRICOM) and its new drone base in Niger
does not seem to win the hearts and minds of most African governments and its people. Then again, the U.S. can intimidate countries within Africa with its military and intelligence apparatus by either implementing a coup, assassinating a political leader (Patrice Lumumba of the Congo) or even a direct military intervention. The question is will Africa stand up to the most powerful empire in history or will it continue to allow Western powers (U.S. France and Britain) to exploit its natural resources?
http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-battle-for-oil-in-central-africa-fighting-joseph-kony-and-the-lords-resistance-army-or-confronting-china/5344311
snip---
The inauguration of U.S. President John F. Kennedy in January 1961 caused fear among Mobutu's faction and within the CIA that the incoming administration would shift its favor to the imprisoned Lumumba.[50] Lumumba was killed three days before Kennedy's inauguration on 20 January, though Kennedy would not learn of the killing until 13 February.[51]
Church Committee
In 1975, the Church Committee went on record with the finding that Allen Dulles had ordered Lumumba's assassination as "an urgent and prime objective".[52] Furthermore, declassified CIA cables quoted or mentioned in the Church report and in Kalb (1972) mention two specific CIA plots to murder Lumumba: the poison plot and a shooting plot. Although some sources claim that CIA plots ended when Lumumba was captured, that is not stated or shown in the CIA records.
snip---
Declassified documents revealed that the CIA had plotted to assassinate Lumumba. These documents indicate that the Congolese leaders who killed Lumumba, including Mobutu and Joseph Kasavubu received money and weapons directly from the CIA.[42][56] This same disclosure showed that at that time the U.S. government believed that Lumumba was a communist.[57]
A recently declassified interview with then-US National Security Council minutekeeper Robert Johnson revealed that U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower had said "something [to CIA chief Allen Dulles] to the effect that Lumumba should be eliminated".[55] The interview from the Senate Intelligence Committee's inquiry on covert action was released in August 2000.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrice_Lumumba
Installed and supported in office primarily by Belgium and the United States,[1] he formed an authoritarian regime, amassed vast personal wealth, and attempted to purge the country of all colonial cultural influence while enjoying considerable support by the United States due to his anti-communist stance.
During the Congo Crisis, Belgian and CIA-backed forces aided Mobutu in a coup against the nationalist government of Patrice Lumumba in 1960 to take control of the government. Lumumba was the first leader in the country to be democratically elected and was killed by a Katangese firing squad; Mobutu soon became the army chief of staff.[2] He took power directly in a second coup in 1965. As part of his program of national authenticity, Mobutu changed the Congo's name to Zaïre in 1971 and his own name to Mobutu Sese Seko in 1972.
Mobutu established a single-party state in which all power was concentrated in his hands. He also became the object of a pervasive cult of personality.[2] During his reign, Mobutu built a highly centralized state and amassed a large personal fortune through economic exploitation and corruption, leading some to call his rule a kleptocracy.[3][4] The nation suffered from uncontrolled inflation, a large debt, and massive currency devaluations. By 1991, economic deterioration and unrest led him to agree to share power with opposition leaders, but he used the army to thwart change until May 1997, when rebel forces led by Laurent Kabila expelled him from the country. Already suffering from prostate cancer, he died three months later in Morocco.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobutu_Sese_Seko
On 1 December 1958 the colony of Ubangi-Shari became an autonomous territory within the French Community and took the name Central African Republic. The founding father and president of the Conseil de Gouvernement, Barthélémy Boganda, died in a mysterious plane accident in 1959, just eight days before the last elections of the colonial era.
On 13 August 1960, the Central African Republic gained its independence and two of Boganda's closest aides, Abel Goumba and David Dacko, became involved in a power struggle. With the backing of the French, Dacko took power and soon had Goumba arrested. By 1962, President Dacko had established a one-party state.
Bokassa and the Central African Empire
On 31 December 1965, Dacko was overthrown in the Saint-Sylvestre coup d'état by Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa, who suspended the constitution and dissolved the National Assembly. President Bokassa declared himself President For Life in 1972, and named himself Emperor Bokassa I of the Central African Empire (as the country was renamed) on 4 December 1976. A year later, Emperor Bokassa crowned himself in a lavish and expensive ceremony that was ridiculed by much of the world.[14] In April 1979, young students protested against Bokassa's decree that all school attendees would need to buy uniforms from a company owned by one of his wives. The government violently suppressed the protests, killing 100 children and teenagers. Bokassa himself may have been personally involved in some of the killings.[15] In 1979, France carried out a coup against Bokassa and "restored" Dacko to power (the name of the country was subsequently restored to Central African Republic). Dacko, in turn, was overthrown in a coup by General André Kolingba on 1 September 1981.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_African_Republic
undeterred
(34,658 posts)Its always about the resources.
Comrade Grumpy
(13,184 posts)undeterred
(34,658 posts)Speaking at a United Nations event marking 20 years since the Rwandan genocide, France's ambassador to the UN, Gerard Araud, said his government had seriously underestimated the level of hatred between Christian and Muslim communities in the Central African Republic. He said on 15th January that African Union and French forces deployed in the CAR were facing a "nearly impossible" situation. The crux of the problem was that they were dealing with "two communities who want to kill each other". He emphasised that "they desperately want to kill each other ... We knew that there was some inter-sectarian violence, but we didn't forecast such deep ingrained hatred."
Forgive me if I seem cynical about this, but the French have been involved in CAR for over 120 years - carving out a territory that bore no relation to ethnic, linguistic or other indigenous factors and did not take into account existing boundaries of communities. Before colonial occupation, the region was no different from any other - experiencing trade, inter-marriage and, at times, raiding and conflict between different communities. It wasn't some peaceful Eden, but nor was it riven by endemic warfare or hatred between its peoples.
France granted independence in 1960 but kept troops in the country until 1997 and backed or even organized coups in 1965, 1979 and 1981 to ensure the CAR remained friendly to France - they even bankrolled Bokassa's coronation as Emperor. During demonstrations by schoolchildren and students in 1979, French army officers and NCOs commanded forces of Zairean and CAR troops that brutally suppressed the protests. France has remained a major political, economic and military player in CAR - intervening for 'humanitarian' reasons several times.
With this long and intense involvement, if there were such wells of hatred and a desperation on the part of Christian and Muslim communities to kill each other, then why didn't they spot it before and why is it only surfacing now? The CAR has diamonds, gold and uranium which over decades have drawn in the French, Libyans and Chadians....So, for Ambassador Araud to say that France misunderstood how much Central Africans "desperately want to kill each other" is mendacious and a cover for the results of their decades of mercenary interference in CAR along with neighbouring states like Libya and Chad.... People do not just harbour primitive hatreds - an excuse also trotted out by the international community for non-interference in Rwanda and Bosnia - but they do become brutalized by years of oppression, of being the victims of the swirling regional conflicts that criss-cross the borders of the central African region.
http://allafrica.com/stories/201401170963.html
El_Johns
(1,805 posts)create. Typically, if you look into it, you find the peoples in question were living in close proximity with little trouble before they stuck their oars in.
And don't get me started on "cannibalism".
undeterred
(34,658 posts)a year ago were Muslims. It was not a true government - they trashed the government buildings and hospitals while their president set himself up in a 5 star hotel in Bangui. There have been human rights abuses going on all year - with many unarmed civilians killed and displaced from their homes.
There has been one strongman after another in this country for the last 50 some years, and it is still the French who pull the strings and the African people who suffer. When there is no coup there is no religious violence.
muriel_volestrangler
(101,352 posts)The gangs told the BBC they would carry on killing Muslims in their area.
French and African Union soldiers are struggling to contain sectarian violence that erupted after largely Muslim rebels took over the country.
MPs are due to select a new interim president on Monday, a week after rebel leader Michel Djotodia quit the post.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-25802780
kestrel91316
(51,666 posts)They want to be able to hunt down and kill liberals and non-christian-fundies with impunity.
stillwaiting
(3,795 posts)It completely boggles my mind how so many people can adhere to fundamentalist religious beliefs when history is replete with examples detailing how those beliefs can so easily create raging psychopaths.
stillwaiting
(3,795 posts)muriel_volestrangler
(101,352 posts)...
Correspondents say an EU force of up to 1,000 troops is likely.
A European diplomat close to the talks said the EU foreign ministers in Brussels had made "a commitment to kick off operational planning".
This week the EU will seek a mandate at the United Nations for such an operation, and EU experts will go to the CAR capital Bangui to assess the cost, the diplomat told the BBC.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-25810730
1000 isn't a lot, but it should save some lives.