The mall bombing/attack in Kenya is not just frightening and alarming because of its apparent senselessness. It’s also alarming because it will give an opening to U.S. and European anti-Muslim — and to some extent anti-African — propaganda, which will in turn cause folks to turn a blind eye to U.S. and European meddling in African affairs.
Don’t, if tempted to, write off the attack on the Nairobi, Kenya mall by Al Shabaab as just another fanatical instance of terrorism. While it is an insane and almost hapless effort to get revenge or make a political point, the attack on the mall was motivated by past events.
Kenya did in fact invade Somalia in 2011 and kicked Al Shabaab out of southern Somalia with the help of the U.S. and France. The southern half of Somalia is viewed as a buffer zone by Kenya, and the Kenyan government also has its eye on developing the oil reserves in the Jubaland area of southern Somalia.
This may be an act of revenge by Al Shabaab, which has been denigrated by the West. But many Somalis at one time embraced Al Shabaab and the Islamic Courts movement that brought temporary peace and stability to the war-torn nation. Many differed with the attempt to enforce Sharia law at the time and the group lost favor again with many Somali’s when they refused to allow Western aide — in the part of southern Somalia it controlled at the time — when starvation hit the region several years ago.
Al Shabaab accused the aide workers of being spies, which no doubt was a distinct possibility, but their decision caused thousands of deaths by starvation. However, the peace was short lived because the Ethiopians — again with U.S. help — invaded in 2007 and of course chaos still reigns in Somalia.
But the chaos in Africa as witnessed in Libya and presently in Syria created by Al Queada-associated groups simply provides the U.S. with an opportunity to acquire more pieces of the world monopoly board. Look at the U.S. government’s efforts to intervene in Syria, almost begging for the ability to bomb Syria while ironically many of the citizens caught in the middle have been pleading with anyone who will listen, “Don’t let the U.S. enter the conflict. If that happens we will die for sure.”
Of course U.S. citizens are continually led to believe that this government’s intentions are pure as the driven snow. However, the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan to a lesser extent should have disavowed folks of that idea.
The U.S. doesn’t care that some colored folks were killed in Kenya or Syria for that matter. Check their record of late. It seems they are always bombing people of color and invading colored folks, and/or Muslim countries. Just look at its record domestically!
Even with a Black president the lot of colored folk in North America has not improved. Even more are imprisoned, poor and jobless than ever before. Yet we are to believe that this government cares about colored folks abroad. Really!
The latest show of concern is just propaganda! If they were so interested in the well being of Africans why didn’t the so called first Black president — remember him, Slick Willie Clinton and his Black counterpart at the time — not lift a finger to stop the Rwandan genocide? Why didn’t they intervene in Sierra Leone or Liberia? Or more importantly why haven’t they tried to intervene in the Democratic Republic of Congo, an ongoing genocide which has claimed the lives of millions. And no one should forget that the Belgians the French and the U.S. all conspired to make sure that the Congolese would never enjoy the riches of their nation by continually feeding tribal and cultural divisions. Beginning with the murder of Patrice Lumumba with the help of the CIA and Belgium, and the propping up of Mobutu, the Congo has been set up to fail by the U.S. and European imperialists, who simply wanted to use the area as a place to exploit its raw materials.
No they aren’t really interested in humanitarianism. For them humanitarianism is a cynical opportunity to carry out their grand plan, world hegemony.
Meanwhile our poor Somali brothers and sisters have to make public statements condemning something they had nothing to do with and don’t condone, because the U.S. government has put them on the defensive. I want to make it clear that our fellow Somali citizens have nothing to apologize for. The truth be told, if the U.S. and it’s African puppets (Kenya, Ethiopia) had stopped interfering in Somalia their native country could have found a way to peace and stability.
While the U.S. government sheds crocodile tears for the Kenyans and the Syrians who have been victimized by the Assad government, there are conflicts raging in Africa that they seem to have no interest in. But they are interested in diverting your attention so they can suck Africa and everywhere else dry of its resources.
Mel Reeves welcomes reader responses to mellaneous19@yahoo.com.
