Opinions of Sunday, 1 April 2018

Columnist: Ivan-Kyei Innocent

The scramble for resources in Africa

Gold bars Gold bars

There’s ongoing power struggle in Africa by the world super powers, herein China, Russia, Iran, US, France, Uk, Germany etc...

Any of these countries have their specific interest for coming here ...(Africa) but out of sheer naivety of leaders in Africa, the evil interest and intentions of these countries packaged in a form of assistance and trade partnership and cooperation cannot be unraveled.

China for instance has invaded countries blessed with cobalt to strengthen their military enterprise.

A Chinese company Molybdenum announced it was buying one of Africa’s largest copper mines and one thing was soon clear: the acquisition was about far more than the red metal.

The $2.65bn deal, the biggest private investment in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s history, is instead designed to secure China’s supplies of cobalt, a once niche raw material that is crucial to developing nuclear weapons to boast the Chinese military capabilities in it quest to usurp the United States of AmericaAttachment.png as the world’s military power house.

The purchase of the Tenke mine, which contains one of the world’s largest known deposits of copper and cobalt, shows how Chinese companies are now moving to take a dominant position in nuclear warhead supremacy as the country prepares to bypass the US and Russia in the unending war of military supremacy in the world.

Cobalt is a dangerous radioactive materials used in making

cobalt bomb, a type of "salted bomb": a nuclear weapon designed to produce enhanced amounts of radioactive fallout, intended to contaminate a large area with radioactive material.

Cobalt hits a sweet spot—it fires off just enough radioactivity upfront to kill you (or at least cause serious cancers), but holds onto enough reserves to make wherever the cobalt rain settles inhospitable for future generations, too. Calculations made in 1950 hinted that sprinkling one-tenth of an ounce of cobalt-60 on every square mile of earth (admittedly, a lot of cobalt overall) would wipe out the human race, a nuclear version of the cloud that killed the dinosaur.

Again China entered into a deal dubbed China-Africa Development Fund to develop uranium resources in Africa-China National Nuclear Corp, the nation's largest nuclear power plant builder, it was announced that its subsidiary China Uranium Corp has signed an agreement with China-Africa Development Fund external link to jointly develop uranium resources in Africa.

In a statement posted by CNNC said that both parties will set up a joint venture in Beijing to invest in and develop uranium.

On the part of Russia, apart from trying so hard to resuscitate its relations with former Cold war allies and has taken a giant step in investing heavily in countries blessed with Plutonium, Uranium and others.

Mali, Burkina Faso, South Africa, Namibia, Angola, Niger etc..research has proven that these are countries blessed with these scare raw material used in making nuclear arsenals therefore the friendly invasion of these countries by the Western world including Russian should not come as a surprise as the scramble for these all important resources hit a new wave of global interest.

Russian has a good relationship with African countries such South Africa, Angola, Russia. Recently Russia signed an agreement to develop Namibia’s vast uranium deposits, which reportedly included an investment commitment by Russia of up to $1 billion. Russia has succeeded in negotiations to sell military helicopters to Mozambique, although it has made as-yet-unsuccessful overtures to help the country develop the infrastructure necessary to exploit its substantial oil and natural gas.

Russia and Algeria had signed an intergovernmental agreement to cooperate in nuclear energy, paving the way for possible construction of a nuclear power plant in the North African country, Russia's state-run nuclear corporation Rosatom said. It envisages cooperation in the construction of nuclear power plants and research reactors, the use of nuclear reactors for heat generation and desalination of seawater, joint prospecting and mining of uranium deposits, nuclear fuel handling and processing of nuclear waste. (RIA Novosti Sep. 3, 2014)

France and Algeria have had a nuclear power accord, including uranium exploration and production

According to Reuters, on June 21, 2008, France and former colony Algeria signed defence and civil nuclear power accords. An accord on the peaceful use of nuclear energy provides for cooperation in research, training, technology transfer and the exploration and production of uranium, sectors of interest to French nuclear plant builder Areva. (Reuters June 21, 2008)

The proliferation of these countries including Iran, Turkey, Israel in Africa has its peculiar repercussions on the prospects of Africa on both economic and military terms.

Mirroring Ghana into the discussion, the recent deal with the United States granting the US military personnel’s and other civilian contractors unfettered access to enter Ghana and exit anytime with just ID cards they so wish as if Ghana is a toilet or a Setelite state of the US fits the argument of Western exploitation.

The United States Department Of Defence regards the invasion of China, Iran, and Russian specifically, as a threat to its long term security measures and has therefore taken a swift response to counteract such invasions, their presence in Ghana is a precursor to the yet-to -begin power confrontation with these countries.

Russian and South Africa recently laughed a Setelite called Russia-South Africa surveillance project aimed at surveilling the entire continent.

These advances by Russian and other countries such as China and Iran whom the US regards as a threat to global security and stability has prompted the US to draw its military to Africa, knowing very well proximity will be of great luxury for the US to track and monitor all activities of these enemy countries aside the United States’ own economic interest in Ghana.

Don’t forget that Ghana is well endowed with a lot of natural resources which includes gold, diamond, oil and gas and surprisingly Uranium, a material used in making dirty bombs.

In Ghana's case , the new agreement which was recently ratified by parliament grants the US military unfettered access

to our territorial waters which is pregnant with inestimable oil deposits. The operation of the US marine and their civilian contractors per the ratified agreement cannot be verified or monitored by Ghana, so in playing the devils advocate here, should the US decide to siphon our oil through their usual clandestine operations in these territories permitted them to station their multi-purpose ships, Ghana cannot do a thing, thanks to the greedy men and women ruling Ghana.

Again, the United States is known for protecting its interests globally, it doesn’t matter being private owned enterprise or joint, the Department Of Defense (DOF) will do everything possible to protect its interest.

In the erstwhile Kuffour administration, on discovery and the subsequent exploration of Ghana’s oil in commercial quantities, sold the right to a United States based company Cosmos Energy in a rather shady deal which gave Ghana less than 15% of proceeds of our own oil.

Fast forward to 2017, the Akuffo Addo’s administration has brought in the mother of all oil companies in the US, the Exxon Mobil to engage in deal water drilling of oil.

Aside the usual corruption being perpetrated and commandeering by the two musketeers at the corridors of power, have ended up doing the same sloppy agreement reminiscent of Kuffour’s one, and has granted 80% of proceeds to Exxon Mobil and 15% to Ghana, the remaining 5% is unknown which l believe will end up in the pockets of Akuffo Addo and his gang of thieves, the US also sees Ghana as a land blessed with Uranium and plutonium, two most deadly raw material for nuclear arsenals.

According a publication on modern Ghana on 23rd April 2018, sourced from Daily Graphic had it that, the acting Director of Ghana Atomic Energy Commission (GAEC), Dr B.J.B. Nyarko, in a statement disclosed that Ghana stands the chance of striking uranium deposits in commercial quantities since there is an association between gold and uranium.

He explained that a study of gold tailings at the Nuclear Research Reactor at Kwabenya revealed traces of uranium in pits in gold-mining areas in the country.

Dr Nyarko said the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), in collaboration with the GAEC, was therefore organising a series of training programmes for member countries in Africa on Advanced Detection Equipment and Safe Management of Radioactive Waste.

This should give you a clue as to why the United States is relentless in it quest canvassing for the full corporation of Ghana government to deepen its military presence in Ghana.

Unfortunately for Ghana, our leaders are short sighted, non-visionary and intelligence deficient incapable of long term strategies and gullible as well, we have leaders who glorify immediate gratification, afterall most of them are over 72 years and how do you expect them to draw policies that will benefit the unborn, these are greedy and selfish elements at their destructive best.

These are dark days for Africa, the whites have re-strategised and repacked slavery and it’s being introduced in a different fashion, it takes visionary leadership to be able to envisage the threat coming unto Africa, a complete modern day slavery being spearheaded by our own leaders.

It’s time for reasonable youth of Africa to rise and call the end to the dictates of the old cabal and chart a new path that will restore the sold integrity of the African continent.

Let’s rise and revolt the insensitivities of power wielders who have been reduced to greedy puppets and hired foreign policy guns for the white elites. Our leaders are mercenaries with unflinching allegiance to the highest bidder at the behest of their selfish crave for wealth.

Let’s end this madness going in Africa else Africa will forever be regarded as a hub of poverty, diseases, corruption,intellectual-illiteracy by the whites and exploitation of our land will live forever.

God Save Africa from the hands of evil old men.