Africa-Press – Namibia. Uchendu Eugene Chigbu
WHEN SWEDISH political scientist Rudolf Kjellén coined the word ‘geopolitics’ more than a century ago, he did not have Africa in mind.
Geopolitics – the geographic influences on power dynamics in international relations analysis – only applies to Africa in an intimidating way.
Despite the West’s enormous dependence on its resources, Africa is not (geopolitically) a continent expected to influence others.
It implies that Africa is not expected to be a player in geopolitics.It’s clear who the geopolitical actors are. They are currently on a battleground in Ukraine.
Russia is physically fighting there while others (the USA and European allies) are doing it by proxy.
Ukraine, unfortunately, like my dear Africa, is the object of geopolitics.
Many other actors have already joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato) or are jostling to join it to protect themselves from a rampaging Russia. It is their shield for collective security.
What about us? They do not care about what happens to Africa.
Unlike countries in Africa and parts of Asia, Russia and the West have military and economic power.
With geopolitical forces in their favour, they have been bullies for a long time in their geopolitical match of who should rule in a world we are all supposed to co-habit.
In this global match for power, those who take sides are branded enemies, and those who stay neutral are called disloyal friends.
CONSEQUENCES
My concern is that these geopolitical warriors (especially the West and Russia) use their self-established rules and policies to desecrate property rights.
I earnestly believe Russia should stop bullying Ukraine. I also believe Russia and the West should stop bullying the rest of the world with their seeming insatiable urge to dominate militarily.
The consequences have led to rising prices in physical security, food and gas (most living adults know the grain story).
How does it make sense to embrace arms supply as a deterrent to war? How does supplying sophisticated weapons to the weak (Ukraine) help deter the strong (Russia)? How does using those weapons, on condition that Ukraine must not attack Russian land, help solve Ukraine’s problems? A “yes” to all these questions is, perhaps, natural in the West.
Russia and the West have engaged in a violent reality show in Ukraine. It is like coburning down a place before the peace talks.
They are devastating physical property in Ukraine. Furthermore, the West (in principle) is engaged in desecrating property rights.
And Ukraine? It is the newest of several burning countries worldwide. Others include Ethiopia, Iraq, Myanmar, Iran, Libya, and Yemen, to mention a few.
By targeting and bombarding physical property, the Russians are as guilty as sin under international law (codified in The Hague Regulations), which recognises that “extensive destruction and appropriation of property, not justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly” is in breach of the Geneva Conventions.
INTERNATIONAL LAW
In fact, under statutes of the International Criminal Court, “destroying or seizing the enemy’s property unless such destruction or seizure be imperatively demanded by the necessities of war” constitutes a war crime.
Russia justifies obliterating physical property in the Ukraine by saying they are at war. The West does the same by seizing the property of individuals who lived peacefully with them.
When have any of these geopolitical actors been tried for doing this? Article 17 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights or UDHR (signed by Russia, countries in the West and the rest of us), states that “no one shall be arbitrarily deprived of her/his property”.
With utter disrespect for the UDHR, some Western countries supporting Ukraine have confiscated property owned by Russians who had no hand in declaring the war.
They are seizing Russian billionaires’ homes. These people legitimately entered their countries, bought properties, and lived there peacefully for decades.
Suddenly it’s OK to have their properties taken away? Don’t get me wrong. I neither solicit for Russia nor billionaires.
I am on the side of Africa.
I am concerned that these countries are comfortable protecting the looted wealth of Africans by bad African leaders.
They set up complicated procedures to ensure that good African leaders do not repatriate Africa’s stolen wealth from their countries.
They are also nations that have refused to return what they stole from Africa and are comfortable displaying them in their museums.
As a land rights champion, I am against property seizures based on an imbalance in human thinking.
If the West is so righteous about upholding property rights, why have they not done for some African countries what they’re doing for Ukraine? It is crucial to protect property rights irrespective of who suffers or loses out in each situation.
We should promote property rights for all who legitimately acquired them.
* Uchendu Eugene Chigbu is an associate professor (land administration) in the department of land and property sciences at the Namibia University of Science and Technology. The views expressed in this article are entirely his own.
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