ZELENSKY FINALLY GETS TO ADDRESS (SOME) AFRICAN LEADERS

In the month of May 2022, Canada's Globe & Mail newspaper bemoaned the fact that African nations are displaying a deep-seated antipathy towards Ukraine. US State Department threats apparently did not go far enough.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/world/article-russia-ukraine-zelensky-african-union/

Fast-forwarding to June 2022, Ukraine and its NATO patrons manage to obtain an audience between African Union and Zelensky, but only after months of intense lobbying. Out of 55 African heads of state invited to the virtual Africa Union-Ukraine meeting, only 2 heads of state agreed to appear at the video conference. The other 53 leaders either boycotted or sent some low public official to represent them.

So why the antipathy? Well, it is a mixture of reasons. Generally, all African countries (from Egypt down to South Africa) understand that NATO provoked Russia, even countries like Kenya that criticized the Kremlin's response. What determines whether a country is "neutral" or "pro-Russian" depends not really on Russian influence in Africa, which is minimal to put it mildly, but on how that country feels about the United States and its Western allies.

If you are from Zimbabwe, South Africa, Namibia, Angola, Algeria and Mozambique, you will remember how the Soviets supplied weaponry to use in fighting either European colonial authorities who refused to grant independence or segregationist white-african minority regimes that refused to extend voting/social/political rights to the black-african majority. You will also remember that successive US administrations starting with that of Eisnehower openly or covertly backed the colonial side opposed by Africans during their struggle. If you are Congolese, you will remember that Eisenhower and the Belgians helped kill your leader (Patrice Lumumba) while the Soviets opened a brand new university in Moscow named after that murdered Congolese leader.

To recall such ancient history in 2022 is to reflexively take the side of Russia (successor to USSR) in a conflict against Western-backed Ukraine, regardless of the merits.

If you are from a Head of State of an African country where colonialism ended peacefully and there was no major conflict with European powers (e.g. Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Senegal), then your interest is to maintain a balanced approach. You realize that NATO provoked Russia. You may or may not deplore the Kremlin's "overreaction". But most importantly, you want to keep the balance by simply remaining officially "neutral". Although this official stance is often betrayed by the fact that you call Putin five times--in the space of one month-- to discuss energy prices and wheat supply and ignore Zelensky for several months until the local Ukrainian Ambassador complains about it. Then for the sake of appearances, you place a one-off phone call to Zelensky in which you blandly express hope that the "two warring sides should meet on the negotiating table and resolve their differences".

If you are from Mali, you will remember the 2011 Libyan War. How weapons belonging to Sarkozy, Cameron and Obama were air-dropped to al-Qaida terrorists in Libya that finished off Ghaddafi and then quickly crossed the Sahara Desert and jumped into the hands of another group of al-Qaida terrorists in Mali.

As a Malian will recall how African Union's attempt to intervene in the Libyan War was brushed aside by the Western world and its propaganda media which kept claiming that the terrorists were "democracy-seeking freedom fighters" trying to remove "despot" Ghaddafi. You will recall that a plane carrying African Union mediators to Tripoli narrowly escaped being blown out of the sky by NATO jet fighters firing "democratic" missiles at Libya.

As a Malian, you will also recall that when al-Qaida terrorists began to massacre Malian citizens with NATO weapons donated by slave-trading Libyan terrorists, France organized some EU troops to "help" defeat the terrorists. After suffering a few casualties, the French-led EU troops stopped fighting the terrorists, spending most of their time in the military barracks, until the Malian government expelled them from the country.

As a Malian, you will recall that it was Russian "Wagner" mercenaries that are actually kicking out the Jihadist terrorists since local Malian troops are next to useless and the French-led EU troops didn't achieve much before they were kicked out.

As a Malian, you will attend big rallies singing the praises of Russia while carrying photos of The Vlad as shown below.