The Colonial Ambition Is Back

The European Union is dispatching peacemakers to Africa

A trivial event has made many experts and observers believe that the colonial ambition is back. The German government has recently decided to dispatch 350 peacemakers to the democratic republic of Congo. German servicemen are supposed to cease ethnic clashes in the Congolese town of Bunia. Yet, it goes about the things of global scale: in Africa, the EU is trying to set up a base to counteract American supremacists. Everything is simple: Europeans have been ousted from the Middle East, so they are trying to find a place on the African continent, under the disguise of humanitarian actions.

In general, the deployment of the EU troops in Africa can be interpreted in a broader way too. First of all, the EU is testing its fast deployment forces. Secondly, the Western world is returning to the idea of neocolonialism as far as Third World countries are concerned, particularly African states. African political institutions have allegedly proved to be totally nonviable: corruption, poverty, never-ending ethnic conflicts that periodically horrify the international community. It is about time one should think of the "external control." However, there are a lot of other smaller nuances about the issue.

One has to admit that a military force is not obligatory to strengthen the influence on the African continent. The conflict between the USA and the largest diamond monopoly, the company De Beers, is a very good example to prove it. When the South African company went too far with its monopolism, the American government decided to ban the sales of so-called "blood diamonds" in the States. The companies in the States and in other countries were not allowed to buy diamonds, if there was a suspicion that the sales income would be used to purchase weapons for various bandit groups in African countries. Since the three-fourth of African diamonds are used exactly for that purpose, De Beers suffered a very considerable damage. As a result, the diamond monopoly has been ousted from a lot of its traditional markets. American companies have obtained an opportunity to address directly to sellers to buy those "blood diamonds," totally ignoring their origin. The whole "operation" has been conducted in a fast and efficient way. America has protected its interests without any military force.

Speaking of the peacemaking operation in Congo, one has to mention that the European Union has dispatched its servicemen there in compliance with the UN's request. In addition to France and Germany, the peacemaking operation involves Great Britain, Ireland and Sweden. It is very hard to say that these countries are USA's antagonists that plan to undermine the American supremacism with the help of the expansion on the African continent. If the Bundestag allows to dispatch peacemakers to Africa, German troops will be based not in Congo, but in Uganda, in order to provide the rear security. To all appearance, French military men will have to take the most difficult part of the operation, because they have an extensive experience of serving in African countries.

Nevertheless, peacemaking operations in Africa with the participation of European countries have not been very successful over the recent years. Events in Liberia and Sierra Leone have made newspaper headlines worldwide – the story was over with a Ukrainian group of peacemakers that was deployed in Sierra Leone. Does it mean that Ukraine has a neocolonial ambition too? If European countries are trying to get something for themselves, one may say that the influence will be strengthened with the use of economic methods. The military force can be used sometimes too, but only on rare occasions and very carefully. Germans, for instance, will not be happy to know that their country-fellows are dying somewhere in Africa.