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The US has no free gifts

29 Mar 2021 at 22:34hrs | Views
As a proud pan-African, on hearing that Mozambique invited the US Marines to train its military on how to fight against the Ansar Al-Sunnar terrorists who have invaded, terrorised, and displaced the people in the Province of Cabo Delgado, is greatly distressing.  More than 2000 people have been killed and 430 000 plus have been and are still being displaced from their province, by these terrorists.  My question to the regional and continental bodies is "where are you to assist your fellow comrade that she had to resort to seek assistance from the US?"  

It is common knowledge that the US government is a terrorist in its own dealing, maybe Mozambique is looking to fight fire with fire, as to say seek a terrorist to fight a terrorist, if so then word of advice, the US has no free gifts just like the devil.  It has a give and take policy. Giving by day and taking by night.  What has the Mozambican government sacrificed to receive this training service?  For a while now the spotlight has been on the Southern African country for its vast and untapped offshore gas fields worth an estimated USD50 billion.  The US probably knows more about the undiscovered minerals in the land and shores of Mozambique.

There is permanent solution and power in the protection of the regional and continental bodies.  Zimbabwe, South Africa, Namibia, Tanzania and other SADC countries would never want to syphon Mozambique's natural resources.  They respect territorial integrity and the wealth of member states.  The US on the other hand is an angel when being invited, but its not that easy to ask them to leave.  They will create an environment so conducive to their mission by ensuring that the conflict drags on for years.  One might ask how that is possible, an example in time is the Libyan situation.  The people of Libya called on the US government and its allies to intervene and help dethrone Muammar Gadhafi and to this day 10 years on they are still in Tripoli.
They have no permanent friends, only permanent interests and they maintain the same modus operandi which is to support both the government and the rebels and to sustain the conflict for as long as it takes them to syphon the raw materials.  In the pretext of training Mozambican forces, they would also do covert operations of contacting the terrorists and making a deal.  Things are about to get worse for Mozambique in the Cabo Delgado province and soon the US Navy will be anchored on the shores of Mozambique.  
The best way to deal with terrorists is through regional cooperation, they should not find it easy to escape and hide in other countries.  If the SADC region fights the terrorists under one umbrella name and under one uniform, the terrorists will not be able to retaliate against a single country.  Recently however they attacked Tanzania which had tried to assist Mozambique outside of SADC according to Mozambique's request.  Mozambique is currently getting requested assistance from at least two external private military contractors, South Africa's Dyck Advisory Group and Russia's Wagner Resources Group.   

Questions might arise as to why SADC is not actively involved in fighting the terrorist conflict in Mozambique, the SADC pact enshrines State Party sovereignty, collective decision making and co-operation. Article 7(1) for example specifically refers to State Parties' obligations to respect each other's territorial integrity, sovereignty and non-interference in internal affairs. More so, Article 7(2) explicitly prohibits assistance under the Pact unless the State Party in question requests or provides consent for such assistance. The only exception provided for is where the SADC Summit takes action in accordance with the Protocol on Politics, Defence and Security Co-operation.  SADC assistance is badly needed as regional peace is already under threat and it has seized to be a Mozambican crisis alone, but also a regional crisis.

Back to the opportunist country, the US, as previously alluded to; Mozambique should check the record of this country in "assisting" other countries.  Since 2007, it has been in Somalia, supposedly "helping" to fight the El-Shabaab militants; up to this day. This is needless to say Somaliland is very rich in minerals, such as diamond and sapphire and other precious minerals and many of these minerals are found close to the ground. 10 years the war has been raging on and the US troops with all its technology has been there and unable to stop the militants.  How is that possible?  The only logical reason is they would not waste their resources where they gain nothing they are looting by night with the help of the same El Shabaab militants.

Since 2014, the US has been meddling in Syria, the only significant crude oil producing country in the Eastern Mediterranean region, which includes Jordan, Lebanon, Israel and the Palestinian territories.   In 2010, Syria produced around 385,000 barrels (61,200 m3) per day of crude oil.  And to feed the insatiable thirst for oil needed by their big ford cars and other industrial requirements, they have been in Syria since 2014.  Libya suffers the same fate for its vast oils.  Muammar Ghaddafi died in 2011; to this day they are still in Libya stealing and looting the natural gas to build their country.  Mozambique should evaluate its haste decision to involve the US in its domestic affairs, which could easily have been handled by its regional partners.  It will take the destruction of the entire Mozambique and the depletion of resources in that country to get rid of the US.

Source - Tarisai Mudahondo

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