was the Chinese who went further to
begin infrastructure projects like the
Tazara Railway.
So the first casualty was the East African
Community (EAC), which was not only
a brilliant creation for common services
in the region but a strong base to put in
place an economic blueprint for the region
development and growth.
China had effectively scuttled the EAC
and by building a standard gauge railway
ensured that the other members of the
EAC were cut off, hence the British
influence and they strategically realigned
the Tanzanian economy to Zambia where
they had mineral interests.
The dominant Tutsi minority lord it over
the majority Hutu and this has given rise
to horrible massacres for a long time the
last genocide being the 1004 one.
The Chinese have always supported the
Tutsi rebels most of whom were refugees
in Uganda, Tanzania and the Congo. An
unstable Great Lakes region is a perfect
setting to contain Western influence in
the area and control the Congo resources.
In the process of cleaning up the region
and putting pro-Chinese governments in
control the Chinese backed the Tanzanian
government in their liberation war to free
Uganda from the clutches of the tyrant
Idi Amin and his cronies.
In the meantime the Chinese turned to
the south of Tanzania and decided to
spearhead the liberation of Mozambique
and to tie the Tanzanian resolve to the
liberation of that country they set up and
funded the Frelimo liberation army from
Tanzania. The whole of Greater East Africa and
the Great lakes region had become a
sphere of Chinese influence and this had
been achieved by clever diplomacy and
strategic support of dissenting groups that
eventually took control of their respective
governments.
The Chinese target in Africa had always
been the Congo and to find a way to ship
the abundant resources from the mineral
rich country. The Chinese were already
funding several rebel groups inside Congo
with the sole aim of keeping the area
unstable. Fast forward to the present period and
there is general alarm and concern from
many circles that are concerned about
the heavy Chinese presence and influence
in Africa and the waning European and
American clout in most of Africa.
The Chinese were almost near their
target and what they needed was a clear
logistical path to the coast for the natural
resources and two countries were in their
path and this is where we start to see
the Chinese guile and the single minded
pursuit of their interests.
Rwanda and Burundi are countries that
really should have been one country and
they have been the scene of human rights
atrocities based on an ethnic problem that
is unlikely to go away anytime soon unless
there is a major change in governance.
At the core of the problem is democracy
that dictates that the majority rules, that
has always been the contention of the
African in their quest for liberation from
the domination of a minority white group
that were keeping them in servitude.
This same scenario is replicated in Rwanda
and Burundi but this time around the
oppressor and the oppressed are African.
96 MAL24/18 ISSUE
China did not suddenly become a power
in Africa but has surreptitiously crept into
a position of influence by being a ‘Friend
of Africa’ and following a carefully crafted
political and economic plan that has seen
the Chinese emerge on top of the game.
What is more remarkable is that China
has been transforming itself and the
hardcore and brutal Marxist practices that
advocated for the forceful overthrow of
capitalist regimes have imperceptibly been
transformed into a well-oiled economic
machine.
By the time The Soviet Union was
collapsing China was in the wings and
ready to take on the mantle of the leader of
the Eastern Bloc. But this time it was not
supplying revolutionaries but economic
assistance to selected parties.
From political and militant aggressors of
the past, the Chinese have re-emerged
as an economic powerhouse which has
used its past activities to re-brand as an
alternative to the western powers that
were bent on creating neo-colonialism.
African countries had always prided
themselves during the cold war as the
non-aligned group in their attempt in
avoiding being beholden to either of the
competing blocs in terms of politics and
economics. That way they were able to
play one group against the other.
The saying goes that whoever has the
purse calls the tune and it is the very
same question for Africa: whether the
Chinese have sneaked into our economic
lives and are now the true purse-holders
and therefore they are the new political
masters.
Ochieng wonders, have we been swallowed
by the East while we were busy fighting
the West.
In the unfolding story we may find that
our economies are owned by the Chinese
and may find that we have begun an
oriental dance of political death.
The communist ideology that set China
on the path to a state run economic
powerhouse is no longer in vogue and
China is at present ideologically bankrupt
and African worry is that these Neo-
Capitalist, which is what they have
become, may begin to behave like the
Capitalists they fought against before.
Ochieng has reason to be concerned about
a world where America has abdicated its
role as the defender of the free world and
the phenomenal rise of China, no longer
red but we do not know what color it
wants to assume but we are wary that they
are patient and long term strategists.
If there was a time that Africa needed to
unite as a bloc, it is now and it is urgent as
we might find ourselves swallowed by an
oriental express train that has no brakes.
We need to up our economic voice because
all that China wants is our resources.
Africa beware as apart we perish! The last
word is that we have always had power
but it is scattered and that undermines
our negotiating clout. There is power in
numbers in both politics and economics
and a fragmented house is always a weak
house – Time has come to make that
choice – Africa Be Strategic!