Djembe - Concordia College

and other research institutes, “The US imperial conquest of Iraq is built on the destruction of a
modern secular republic.” 2
As for Ivory Coast, Alassane Ouattara, who is considered as the West’s puppet, took
control of the country with the assistance of the French military forces. It should be recalled that
before winning their independence in 1960, Ivory Coast was a French colony and was governed as
such for 73 years.
Concerning Libya in the colonial context, the territory was formerly an Italian colony.
British and French troops occupied Libya in 1942. It became independent in 1951. In 2011,
England and France stood for Libyan war. France took the lead of the NATO coalition and sided
with Libyan rebels to take up the fight against Muammar Gaddafi’s troops. The operation was
successful. Gaddafi was killed. Today, the National Transitional Council’s officials in charge in
Libya are regarded by many as the West’s puppets.
At this point, one may ask whether or not Africa is not on the brink of another disaster
similar to the Scramble for Africa and the crumbling of the continent in 1884. Events in Ivory
Coast and Libya, not to mention Tunisia or Egypt where the West military intervention was not
direct, may be viewed as a part of what is considered as the Arab spring, but the parallel with
historical events is uncanny: the 1884-1885 Berlin Conference divided the African continent into
spheres of influence between the major European powers. Ivory Coast was taken by France, and
Libya by Italy. Today, the U.S. and all the major former European colonial NATO member states,
among which are France, Britain, Belgium, Germany, Italy and the rest, are again “planning to
establish dominance over what has become the world’s second most populous continent.” 3
Oddly enough, let us note how striking the evidence is that the replication of history is
happening before our eyes. So was colonization, with the same European powers craving for the
same continent. But today, Europe and the US are cunningly duping and numbing their peoples
and the international opinion with a treacherous rhetoric. This is the way the president of France,
Nicolas Sarkozy, tried to rationalize the military action in Libya: “We do this to protect civilians
from the murderous mandate of a regime that, by murdering its own people, has lost all legitimacy.
In addition to its Arab, European and North American partners, France is committed to playing
its role, its role before history.” 4 The president was comfortable with his speech, since France’s
intervention was backed up by the United Nations’ mandate. The Secretary General of the World
Organization, Ban Ki-moon, could
declare after overthrowing Laurent
Gbagbo in Ivory Coast: “This is an
end of a chapter that should never
have been. We have to help them
to restore stability, rule of law, and
address all humanitarian and security
issues.” 5
photo credit for Vultures and Libya:
by Carlos Latuf
It’s a pity how credulous
a large part of the opinion is in
the US, in France and other major
powers. Many succumb easily to the
perfidious justification. The truth, as
Peter Dryer notes, is that: 19