“Africa must be an end in itself. It must not be towed like a vessel by any political, military power or bloc. It must enjoy relations with all the other states on an equal footing”, -Dr Cheikh Anta Diop, a great Pan-Africanist. A few years ago, Kwasi Pratt Jnr, the chief editor for the Insight Newspaper (Ghana) was one of many Ghanaians who came strongly against a plan to establish a US military base in Ghana. In a strong language, Mr Pratt decried: “…The United States is planning to establish military bases across West Africa including Ghana. And I am very worried that at a time when we are celebrating our national independence we are going to tolerate the establishment of foreign military bases, especially American military bases on our soil. The great Osageyfo Dr. Nkrumah, Malcolm X, Kwame Ture, and all of them emphasized that Africa ought to be free from foreign military bases and weapons of mass destruction. We cannot allow that dream to die. That is why, it is important for us to resist all attempts to establish foreign military bases on African soil especially forces of the United States, must be prevented from establishing on African soil. Clearly because they are not in Africa to protect our interests, they are on African soil to facilitate the exploitation of our resources for the benefit of the tiny minority that controls the wealth of the American people and who are sitting on top of this world exploiting the Chicanos, exploiting the African Americans and exploiting all of the other independent and healthy forces in the United States of America. We have to resist all attempts to build U.S. military bases in Ghana and elsewhere in Africa”. This is a very good reason why Africa should not align itself with NATO, AFRICOM, SCO (Shanghai Corporation Organization), the West nor the East. Africa must continue to remain neutral in all aspects of international relations. If any conflict were to arise between the East and the West, Africa should be the neutral player that will help resolve such a conflict. Unfortunately some of our current batch of African leaders are not listening to the advice of our founding fathers for the sake of their own selfish gains. In the light of this, Nana Akyea Mensah, a proud son of Ghana made a similar comment: “This is something that no one among us has the power to do with our sovereignty. It amounts to the attempted robbery of the nation by the force of arms. In a fundamental matter such as this, that has serious implications on our status as an independent nation, that could even mean life or death to Ghanaians, as we have seen in the bombs that continue to fall on marriage ceremonies in Afghanistan, the minimum expectation ought to be an open democratic national debate and not secretive and conspiratorial manoeuvres”. Today, African leaders are quick to embrace anything called “AID”, with no consideration whatsoever for their long term consequences. After all, by the time the negative implications of such ‘AID’ arise, many of these leaders would be long dead and gone, living future generations to suffer the consequences. For decades, the ordinary people in the Congo, Sudan, Somalia and now Libya among others are still paying the price for the decisions taken by some selfish politicians who took their country on military adventures leaving the entire region into chaos up to today. Botswana is currently embarking on a similar dangerous adventure while its neighbours remain unconcerned. If this move is not checked, soon, American bombs could be falling on wedding ceremonies across the Southern African region as usual. According to The Guardian newspaper in Botswana, former President Festos Mogae had approved of the US to establish a military base in the country before leaving office. In plain language, he said: “the U S was welcome at any time to establish a military base”. Botswana's Vice President General Mompati Merafhe was however angry about the news and was quoted to have said that the people of Botswana ware not approached nor informed about the whole idea of having a US military base in the country. Under the usual so-called humanitarian missions like we recently saw in Libya which led to the murder of tens of thousands of civilians and the summarily execution of hundreds of Blacks in Libya, America’s quest for military adventure in Africa, currently seems to be shifting into full gear. It is now confirmed that Botswana has officially allowed a US military base on her soil. A ceremony was recently held to that effect. It was reported that the US military will be holding military exercises in the near future. This means one could soon see the deployment of all forms of WMDs, surface-to-air missiles and possibly nuclear weapons in the southern African region all in preparation for more deadly wars to come. Gradually, Africa is becoming the “New Middle East”. There are many in Nigeria who also seeks the establishment of US military bases in the country under the guise of containing Boko Haram, despite the fact that many analysts (myself included) and informed sources have already exposed the current Boko Haram as a covert operation by Western Intelligence. According to information on AFRICOM’s official website: “The Botswana Defence Force and the U.S. Embassy announced that Botswana will host a joint military exercise known as Southern Accord 12, August 1-17, 2012. Joint exercise activities conducted during Southern Accord 12 will enhance the capabilities of military personnel for both countries in a variety of areas, including ‘humanitarian assistance’ and ‘disaster relief’, anti-poaching, ‘peacekeeping’, and convoy operations, as well as aero-medical evacuation”, the report claimed. This was recently followed by another report posted on AFRICOM’s website. The report reads: “More than 1,200 military personnel from the Republic of Botswana and the United States attended the opening ceremony for Southern Accord 2012 on August 1. Southern Accord is a joint exercise intended to enhance both countries' capabilities in the areas of humanitarian assistance/disaster relief operations, peace keeping operations and aeromedical evacuation”. Of course the same thing was said before they went to the Middle East. Unfortunately, that has not been the case. The reality on the ground today is different from what the world was told before they went there. Terrorism has spread across the entire Middle East despite the presence of heavy NATO forces. Shockingly, NATO is now working with the rebels to overthrow President Assad, just as they did in Libya. NATO’s leaders are shamelessly supplying weapons to Al-Qaeda rebels to cause more chaos in Syria. This should be an indication of what they will be doing in Africa in the near future. For many years, American military officials have been trying to explain on a number of occasions their worst blunders during the nine-month “humanitarian mission” in Afghanistan after several fighter jets “mistakenly” targeted some houses full of wedding guests, killing at least 30 in each case. With this in mind, Sam Ditshego, a South African analyst writes: The US therefore cannot be allowed to establish a military base anywhere on the African continent let alone in Southern Africa to undermine the sovereignty of the African continent. We want to permanently ban war on earth. Therefore the African people will not allow President Festus Mogae of Botswana to render Africa as a playground for the America’s wares of war. Step-by-step, the re-colonization of Africa is gradually unfolding upon our very eyes. Sadly, there are many African leaders who still do not understand that the West seek to re-colonize Africa under the guise of ‘Aid’ and humanitarian mission. Therefore only time will tell whether the African intellectuals and all those with foresight, will sit down unconcerned and allow a few selfish, corrupt, puppet politicians sell off Africa’s sovereignty to their colonial masters. The African people must rise up and say no to the militarization of the continent. We must endorse programs that seek to build Africa; rather than those that come with bombs and weapons (WMDs) that will destroy the little we have struggled to build over the past years, and to ruin the future of our unborn children. I am appealing to the governments of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to impose sanctions on Botswana if it goes ahead with the measure and ignores the position of the SADC community. This way, all the regional countries: Angola, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Namibia should impose an air blockade on Botswana and see which country's air space it will use to carry out their defiant mission. These countries all have a collective responsibility to act in order to defend the future of their children and Africans as a whole. It is time for African leaders to collectively use sanctions as effective tool to target the traitors in their midst, to defend our collective interest. If not, any WMDs that will be used in the region will have a devastating consequence on the entire community just as we currently see in Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan and other places where more babies are being born with disabilities on a mass scale. This cannot be the destiny of Africa’s future generation. Today, the whole world bears witness to the legacy of NATO in Afghanistan Iraq and Pakistan where American bombs are falling on wedding ceremonies, mosques and community markets, despite promising otherwise. Will the African leaders act or they will as usual remain quiet for this nightmare to become a reality in the near future? African leaders must for once act in a manner that will reflect our political independence from colonial rule. Africa is not a colony. Our leaders must show some responsibility and put our security into our own hands; not into the hands of those who seek military adventurism as a means to exert political pressure on Africans in order to loot our natural resources on a much larger scale. Unity is what we need; not military adventures. I rest my case. The writer is a political analyst on African affairs, and a well-known social commentator in Africa. As a strong Pan-Africanist, he is currently seeking to establish the "Project Pan-Africa" (PPA) to create a mental revolution across Africa for the freedom of Africa. He is the editor of “The Doctor’s Report”, your most reliable source of critical analysis on African issues. Please visit his blog at: http://www.honourablesaka.blogspot.co.uk and Email him at: honourablesaka@yahoo.co.uk. Also visit PPA at: www.projectpanafrica.org

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