Last week we spoke of Israel’s machinations in Africa. These aimed to threaten Egypt from the south. Africa was not, however, willing to be used — not least because of the help Egypt had given during its own struggle to achieve independence. Egypt’s support to Africa greatly hindered Israel’s plan to threaten Egypt, either in the Great Lakes region or in Ethiopia where the Nile’s tributaries originate. Israel has worked to foster conflict between the African countries and Egypt and also between them and Arab countries. Israel took an important role in aiding the separatist southern Sudanese revolutionaries and led the American administration into viewing Sudan a terrorist country.
Following America’s invasion of Afghanistan as part of the war on terrorism and Washington’s announcement that Iraq was up next, Israel rushed to interfere in one way or another, especially when Washington had failed to gather an international alliance to strike Iraq.
In July 2002, a CIA delegation visited a number of French- speaking Central African countries where a number of ideas and projects were proposed with the aim of helping the countries. Then the countries were invited to participate in a war against Iraq — after assuring the political leadership of Washington’s determination to strike Iraq in any case. African participation would of course be rewarded for assisting Washington.
The reality is that though America seeks directly to involve African forces in the third Gulf War, it is assuredly Israel who is the brains behind this plan. Further by its presence in those countries, it was able to pressure the political leadership to accept the scenario. Israel reverted to this suggestion after the America’s failure to create an international alliance; the problem was further complicated when Arab countries refused to participate with land forces.
It is clear that Israel’s aims are in two areas: first in destroying any semblance of African-Arab closeness and in destroying Arab-African relations. Both would harm Egypt both strategically and economically and would close the economically important African market to Egypt.
This would be in addition to tightening its hold on the area around the source of Nile and thus threatening Egypt’s water resources which could lead in the future to military confrontations with unforeseen results.
The second aim is the sole enjoyment of Africa’s natural wealth and markets, together with the United States.
The danger now lies in the three military cooperation agreements, signed with unprecedented speed between two countries not linked by any relationship, diplomatic or otherwise. These agreements give legal justification for receiving African military forces that would undertake a ground invasion on behalf of the Americans whose army fears a direct ground battle and always seeks someone else to do its dirty work — just as the British did in World War II when they put in the forefront of battle forces from Commonwealth countries while their own forces remained in the rear.
The scenario that Israel concocted was aimed at serving the needs of the United States, as well as for its own personal gain. It did not, however, stop there; instead, it has persisted in its attempts to encircle Egypt by interfering in the internal affairs of Sudan — all of this is predicated on the idea that Egypt and its people are Israel’s principal enemy.
Arab News Opinion 28 January 2003
