LaRouche on new Africa policy

By Ropo Sekoni <ROPOSEK@aol.com>, 29 February 1996

This may be the right time to reexamine the true ideological position of LaRouche vis-a-vis Africa. Although he appears to be defending the interests of Africa against what he projects as anti-Africa policies in the West, La Rouche or his organization has been more busy trying to promote the interests of regimes in Africa that are bent on destroying their people. Why is LaRouche worried about the Ugandan/Sudan issue and not about the genocide against the people of southern Sudan by the Islamic fundamentalists in the north?

LaRouche’s position on Nigeria as a country on its way to democracy suggests that he has deafened his ears to the cries of Nigerian people for the de-annulment of a free and fair election, instead of wasting borrowed money from the World Bank or IMF to conduct a three-year long election, which is clearly an uncreative mimic of what Babangida did three years ago. If LaRouche is truly worried about genocide in Africa, he needs to pay more attention to the killing of the Ogonis and the maiming and jailing of innocent pro-democracy and pro-environment activists in Africa.

The forgiveness or the annulment of Africa’s debts to international organizations must be approached more creatively than is being suggested by LaRouche. It is important to find out how the borrowed money was spent before it is written off. Money borrowed to be stolen by the leaders or to be used to repress their people should not be written off until there is assurance that a democratic and transparent government that will not use the power to repress or suppress the voice of democratic dissent is in place. If the West needs to pay reparations for its destruction of the interests of Africa, as LaRouche has implied, there may be better ways to do that than blanket forgiveness of debt to regimes that are characterized by kleptomania or kleptocracy.

Ropo Sekoni