Niger: People Starving For The Military Budget …

July 2005 – and the United nations are criticizing world Governments for not responding to calls for financial aid needed to feed the 2.5 million people now suffering from severe malnutrition in the country of Niger.

U.S. Military Assistance Prior to Sept. 11, 2001

Niger has participated sporadically in the United Nations Register of Conventional Arms since its inception in 1992, and did not import any arms from the United States between 1990 and 2001.  Niger received Foreign Military Financing (FMF) through 1993 and International Military Education and Training (IMET) through 1996, when political instability led to the suspension of aid.

Niger spends 1.1 percent of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP), or approximately $33.3 million annually on the upkeep of its armed forces.

What is the Government of Niger doing to get food to these people? The Government of Niger is doing nothing, and denies that there is a problem. In fact they do not want “free food” distribution. In which case surely the United Nations must first deal with the root of the problem, rather than criticize the rest of the world. As you see above, Niger spent 33.3 million annually on its military. In reading the BBC report on the United Nations call for financial aid, one can only wonder as to why no one tackles the real cause of the problem!

World Ignores Niger Food crisis

Niger Military expenditures - dollar figure $3.33 million (2004)

The UN are asking the rest of the world for $30 million. Well, actually the military spending of the Niger Government could be diverted to feed the people and $3 million would still be left for the military. Not convinced? Well lets take it a step further!

US military involvement is not limited to the Middle East. The sending in of special forces in military policing operations, under the disguise of peace-keeping and training, is contemplated in all major regions of the World. A large part of these activities, however, will most probably be carried out by private mercenary companies on contract to the Pentagon, NATO or the United Nations. The military manpower requirements as well as the equipment are specialized. The policing will not be conducted by regular army units as in a theater war:

"the new plan envisions more active U.S. involvement, resembling recent military aid missions to places like Niger and Chad, where the U.S. is dispatching teams of ground troops to train local militaries in basic counterinsurgency tactics. Future training missions, however, would likely be conducted on a much broader scale, one defense official said.

Of the military's services, the Marines Corps right now is moving fastest to fill this gap and is looking at shifting some resources away from traditional amphibious-assault missions to new units designed specifically to work with foreign forces. To support these troops, military officials are looking at everything from acquiring cheap aerial surveillance systems to flying gunships that can be used in messy urban fights to come to the aid of ground troops. One "dream capability" might be an unmanned AC-130 gunship that could circle an area at relatively low altitude until it is needed, then swoop in to lay down a withering line of fire, said a defense official." (Ibid)

the new plan envisions more active U.S. involvement, resembling recent military aid missions to places like Niger and Chad, where the U.S. is dispatching teams of ground troops to train local militaries in basic counterinsurgency tactics. Future training missions, however, would likely be conducted on a much broader scale, one defense official said.

America's Agenda for Global Military Domination

Did someone say China?

It is no coincidence that Chinese President Hu Jintao’s February ‘goodwill’ mission to African states took place only in those that could offer oil or natural gas supplies: China has since signed agreements with Algeria, Gabon and Nigeria, and is presently conducting similar moves with Angola, the Central African Republic, Chad, Niger, and Congo. The terms of these agreements seem, on the outset, positive for African development: Chinese technical expertise, finances and sheer manpower will help to build civil infrastructure, create ‘energy grids’, and encourage other forms of investment in the region from a myriad of small Chinese businesses.

Yet this Chinese involvement may not be so positive in terms of democratic state-building, and the (allied) advancement of African human rights: It may undermine the African Union and the New Partnership for Africa’s Development commitments, which have linked economic assistance to democratic reforms and improved governance. This idea has been most notably promoted in African development economics by Amartya Sen, who won a Nobel Prize for his efforts in forging this link. We may now point to Chinese involvement in areas such as Sudan, and Zimbabwe, as worrying examples that counter this recipe for African reform.

 China’s involvement in Sudan, and the current human catastrophe in Darfur, provides a first case in point: Since 2001, despite international sanctions against the regime of Sudan, China has obtained a license from Khartoum that has enabled it to build an oil pipeline towards the Red Sea, extract oil in increasing quantities. While mass murder (termed a genocide by the United States’ State Department) has been perpetrated by government supported Arab militias against the inhabitants of Darfur, and while Christian and Animist communities in Southern Sudan continue to be persecuted, enslaved, forcibly converted, raped and murdered, China’s oil related assistance has only bolstered these government actions.

The presence of China on the United Nations Security Council has thus enabled these oil interests to adversely impact the United Nation’s ability to condemn and restrict the actions of the government of Sudan, and make it accountable for the rapes and massacres that are now a daily occurrence in Darfur, and continue in the south of the country as well. China has blocked or severely weakened many US-sponsored resolutions condemning Sudan, and has publicly stated that it will veto further sanctions.

China in Africa: Economic Gains, Democratic Problems

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© 2006 by St.Clair