US Meddling In The Affairs Of The River Nile Basin: The AU Must Act!!!

The Nile river takes its source from the highlands of Ethiopia; waves its way through Sudan and enters the sea in Egypt. Even before America came into existence, there has been cordiality amongst these three African countries, as to the sharing of this enormous water resource.

About a forthright ago, Sudan has been pressured by America to dish out a whooping $363m in compensations to victims of 1998 twin terror bombings in Kenya and Tanzania. Over 95% of this cash will be paid to Americans who consist of just about 2% of the victims, while 98% Tanzanian and Kenyan victims take the paltry 5%.

Sudan is being pressured into paying such huge sum as compensation to Americans, for the prize of being delisted from the list of "State-sponsor of Terrorism" tag and restoration of relations with the State of Israel.

The Trump administration, in recent times, has been forcing down the throats of some Arab States, this so-called peace initiative without involvement of the State of Palestine with the broader objective to achieving comprehensive peace in the middle East.

And Sudan, a nation of grinding poverty and unbelievable socioeconomic hopelessness, is prepared to dish out one-quarter of a billion dollars to America, in return for a peace accord whose real value will be on paper stacked away in a drawer in Washington.

Sudan is actually not being held accountable for a 'sin' committed by either the State or it's actors, but because America claims the former Alqaeda leader Osama Bin-Laden once transited through; at the time the State of Sudan was in total turmoil as a result of many years of liberation war with elements of the succession South.

By this logic therefore, America can equally be held to account for the 9/11 tragic attack and compensation demanded of it for the victims, because the perpetrators were legally residents of America.

How in God's name must an independent State be held to account for the crimes of actors with absolutely no covert or overt State or it's actors?

In a similar vein, Libya was made to cough out over $10b to the victims of Pa Nam flight 103 which was brought down over Scottish town of Lockerbie on 12th December, 1988 and 259 people were killed.

The cash was distributed to American and British victims, with the promise of lifting sanctions on Libya, and remove it from the list of "State-sponsor of Terrorism". In the end, these same Americans and British, with their other European collaborators, conspired and slaughtered Gaddafi, and that once great nation is now in tatters.

And sadly, I see Sudan being led to the same slaughter house by the Trump-led administration.

What indeed is exceedingly worrying in this US meddling in this Nile river geopolitics is the fact that Ethiopia is building what is called the Great Renaissance Dam on the River Nile, and that, this will deprive Sudan and Egypt of adequate supply, so these two countries should consider "bombing the dam". Who in his right sense would dream of such a move?!!

Admittedly, Trump lacks knowledge in conventional Diplomacy. His understanding of foreign policy is purely TRANSACTIONAL where there must be a zero-sum game.

And this is where Africa must wake up and pursue the concept of real integration moddled along the European Union, where an attack on one, is an attack on all.

There is a policy document titled "AGENDA 2063; THE AFRICA WE WANT" which spells out where the continent must be and how it is suppose to get there.

Putting ideas on paper and engaging in plenty talk has been the babe of Africa's problems but I hope objectives set out in this document will be actualised by present and successive African leaders, so we can liberate ourselves from the puppet-strings of these blood-thirsty foreign Invaders.

Indeed, if Africa were united, there would have been no grounds for America to poke it's nose into the affairs of issues of the Nile river basin, to the point of making a totally crazy suggestion to Sudan to drop bombs on a multibillion dollar dam project being undertaken by Ethiopia which, altimately, will benefit the entire region.

Refreshingly, latest information has it that the suffering masses of Sudan have laced their boots to kick against the payment of this whooping $363m American extortion, and in response, their Prime Minister has assured them that the deal is not yet done.

And it is my prayer that the leadership of Sudan weighed the options critically before making any move, else, the country risks a total civil conflagration which will end up engulfing the entire East African region, with further ramifications for the continent.

Sudan is already a highly volatile case and I urge both the regional Bloc, East African Community (EAC) and the continental umbrella body the African Union (AU), to take interest in this development in order to prevent the US from replicating the disaterous Libyan scenario in the East Africa region.

Newton-Offei Justice Abeeku

International Relations Expert

email: [email protected]