Africa-Press – Rwanda. Africa was long a colony for Europe until the last colonial country on the continent, Djibouti, obtained independence in 1977. Since, many speak about neo-colonialism or the so-called “economic colonialism”, a policy of interference in former colonies’ internal affairs, pursued by their metropoles in order to maintain control.
African countries must get rid of the West’s interference in their internal political and economic affairs in order to thrive, Michael Bibi, bishop of the diocese of Buea located in south-west Cameroon, said in an interview with Sputnik.
Bibi noted that Africa needs to “abandon those agreements made with these powers on the eve of independence giving them unlimited access to all our resources underground.”
Bibi recalled the case of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which is “a perfect example of the destabilizing effects of this ‘economic colonisation’ of Africa.” In the bishop’s opinion, aiming to obtain these mineral resources, interested foreign states’ enterprises are ready to pay “the appropriate prize”.
Currently, the Democratic Republic of Congo is seeing clashes between government forces and the M23 rebel group which launched an uprising in 2021 and managed to occupy large territories. In 2022, the peace process was launched under the auspices of the East African Community, which supervises the peace talks between the DR Congo government and numerous rebel groups. The M23 movement is not considered a part of the general talks, thus a separate process was launched between the DRC and Rwanda, which Kinshasa accuses of supporting the rebels – an accusation Rwanda denies.
Speaking about the consequences of the colonial age for Africa, among which is also western involvement in African internal affairs through military bases and enterprises, the clergyman compares the French and British policies in relation to their colonies in the age of colonialism, describing the former as “direct rule” and the latter as “more indirect”.
At the same time, he explained, “the British post-colonial policy has retained its indirect characteristic, mainly through their companies coming to do business in African countries,” which has given their former African colonies more independence in terms of their affairs entailing their better economic advance.
Despite the fact that the US did not have colonies, Bibi believes the Americans, too, have adopted a strategy similar to the British one, “through their multinational companies.”
Bibi also touched upon the role of international organizations, saying that some of them “like the United Nations have not succeeded to stop neo-colonization and for obvious reasons.”
According to him, “this unfortunate world order” is promoted by the leading countries in this organization.
Earlier, in an interview with Crux, the bishop also stigmatized the Francophonie and the Commonwealth of Nations as instruments in the hands of western powers used to interfere in African affairs. However, Bibi believes African countries need to do many things to stop former colonies’ interference.
He asserted that Africa has to make its own economic decisions and stop relying on foreigners for this. There is a need for the continent to negotiate with the “former colonial masters (especially France)” to get rid of direct interference.
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