Africans Need to be Vigilant Against Foreign Intervention, Says Kenyan Pan-Africanist

Addis Ababa December 15/2021/ENA/ Africans need to be vigilant against foreign intervention and reject America or any other Western countries from intervening in their affairs as this is part of neocolonialism, a Kenyan Pan-Africanist lawyer said.

In an exclusive interview with the Ethiopian News Agency, the Pan-Africansit Lawyer Lavani Mila said " we empathize with the situation in Ethiopia, and it was unfortunate that TPLF decided to go on rampage, basically intending to take power through unconstitutional means. What followed is a reaction from the international community which really left the majority of us surprised by how the West sided with the TPLF militia.’’

The Kenyan, who has joined the NoMore # Movement added, "we were surprised and shocked by such kind of stand because we believe Ethiopia has a legitimately elected government through a constitutional mean. And if there would be any engagement, the West were supposed to support the legitimately elected government of Ethiopia.’’

But the US decided to go against this principled stand thereby marshalling and seemingly supporting the TPLF to take over a government in Ethiopia, Mila noted.

According to him, this was a misguided stand and should be condemned by all means necessary because Ethiopia is an independent state and it has its own legitimately elected government, which should be respected and the leadership of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed should be given time to do their work and also to complete the mandate that he was given by the people.

"This was a misguided stand and should be condemned by all means necessary because Ethiopia is an independent state and it has its own legitimately elected government, which should be respected and the leaderships of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed should be given time to do their work and also to complete the mandate that he was given by the people," the Pan-Africanist lawyer underscored.

For him, what is happening in Ethiopia is a replica of script from the past in some places of Africa, including Burkina Faso.

"Thomas Sankara, who was an African patriot, had decided to cut ties with the West and initiated a pro-Burkina Faso project with the view to benefitting his people more than outsiders from Bukuna Faso’s resources,’’ he explained.

Thomas Sankara is an icon in African politics because the simple thing that happened is that he put his people fist before the needs of any other nation, the pan-Africanist noted.

However,  the West, especially France, was not happy with this arrangement since they were  benefiting from the situation that was on the ground.  

"Therefore, they initiated a coup which overthrew, and at the end of the day, killed Thomas Sankara so that they can advance their own interests. This mattered for the majority of us."

He also mentioned Libya’s case where Muhammad Gaddafi had policies that stood for the interest of Libyans. Due to this, the West was not happy with Gaddafi. So, when they got an opportunity to overthrow the Government of Libya, they did it without hesitation, and we allowed it to happen. Now, we are seeing the results such situations have.

Mila insists that "we need to learn from the past. We need to view the American policy from the past apart from the African continent."

The pan-Africanist further mentioned Afghanistan, Syria, and Yemen, and Iraq where American forces basically went into the countries using the pretext of maintaining law and order as well as  fighting terrorism.

"Right now when you look at the countries which America is engaged in that should worry us...  We should be careful. We should not allow Americans or any other Western force to intervene in African affairs," he underscored.

Neo colonialism arose from early times of independence, while our heroes like Kwame Nkrumah actually spoke against it, whereby a state seems to be seen from the look of it to be led by people elected by the residents of those countries, Mila stated.

For example in Africa, he said, leaders have been elected by Africans. But in real sense, these leaders do not stand for the interest of the African people, rather they serve the interests of their Western masters. They use resources of the continent to serve those outside.