Events unfolding in Sudan by the day, even by the hour, threaten to hijack Sudan to an ominous fate instead of securing the desired stability. Alas, what goes on does not owe to any outside enemy attacking the country, it is the result of what the people of Sudan are doing to one other. True, the features of outside conspiracy and greed for Sudan’s wealth are quite evident, yet the painful bare truth is that such conspiracies might never have borne fruit had it not been for the Sudanese who acquiesced—led by internal struggles—and turned against the legitimate Sudanese authority. This produced gruesome power struggle and civil war. Add to that the presence of an armed militia that challenges the Sudanese national army, and rebels against it. Sectarian struggle and paramilitary militias are the two magical cards which shattered many countries in the region during the last three decades. I own that I constantly bow my head to God in gratitude for protecting Egypt against falling to this disastrous fate, thanks to the unity of the great Egyptian people who stood as one man backing their army. Today’s map of the region clearly shows Egypt as the only country standing strong amid many others that have fragmented or disintegrated. Egypt alone has not fallen, a fact that has bewildered the western forces that conspired, and are still conspiring, against our region. This is a great national wealth that no Egyptian should ever be dragged into discounting.
To affirm my view that local sectarian conflict and the presence of paramilitary militias are key to destabilising and ultimately ruining a country, as evidenced today by Sudan, and in line with testimonies I have been presenting by figures of the western world exposing policies that jeopardise the peace and stability of our world, I today present a valuable testimony by the German African Mallence Bart-Williams. In a testimony she gave on TEDx Berlin Salon Conference a few years ago, Ms Williams boldly talked about the colonial history and disastrous practices that befell her native western African country of Sierra Leone, and how its wealth of natural resources was greedily usurped by colonial powers without giving a second thought to the people of Sierra Leone or to their fate.
Born in Germany to a Sierra Leonean father and German mother, Ms Williams-Bart is a social entrepreneur; her professional repertoire includes publishing, film, fashion, Ayurveda, writing and philanthropy. Her talk titled “Change the Channel” on TEDx Berlin has surfed the world, and to date still rings true. I will here present the main points in her talk. Ms Williams-Bart said:
“I am Mallence, and I come from the richest country in the world. It is located in the richest continent in the world, in the west of the richest continent. My country is called Sierra Leone. On the surface we are blessed with infinite beauty and abundance of flora and fauna.. We have diverse wildlife and vast marine resources, and waterfalls and rivers that run into the most beautiful beaches. The land is golden; literally, a true paradise, which of course is inhabited by the most beautiful souls.
“We are blessed with the real treasures the kings and queens of this world desire. Besides gold and diamonds, we have about 20 precious minerals that have been discovered as of today. We recently started extracting huge petroleum reserves that have been discovered. We have platinum, ilmenite to make titanium, rutile to coat jets, iron ore—the largest iron ore deposits in Africa and the third largest in the world,—Tantalite, also known as coltan, used in your mobile phones and computers.. Furthermore, we have exquisite timber, like mahogany and teak.. Of course, the West needs Africa’s resources, most desperately, to power airplanes, cell phones, computers and engines. And the gold and diamonds of course: a status symbol, to determine their powers by decor, and to give value to their currencies.
“It’s quite evident that the aid is in fact not coming from the West to Africa, but from Africa to the western world. The western world depends on Africa in every possible way, since alternative resources are scarce out here.. So how does the West ensure that the free aid keeps coming? By systematically destabilising the wealthiest African nations and their systems, and all that is backed by huge PR [public relations] campaigns, leaving the entire world under the impression that Africa is poor and dying, and merely surviving on the mercy of the West.. While one hand gives under the flashing lights of cameras, the other takes, in the shadows.. It’s super sweet of you to come with your coloured paper in exchange for our gold and diamonds. But instead, you should come empty-handed, filled with integrity and honour. We want to share with you our wealth and invite you to share with us.
“Last year, the IMF reports that six out of ten of the world’s fastest growing economies are in Africa, measured by their GDP growth.. Former French president Jacques Chirac stated in an interview recently that we have to be honest and acknowledge that a big part of the money in our banks comes precisely from the exploitation of the African continent. In 2008, he stated that without Africa, France will slide down in the rank of a Third World power.
“This is what happens in the human world, in the world we have created. Have you ever wondered how things work in nature? One would assume that in evolution the fittest survives. However in nature, any species that is overhunting, overexploiting the resources they depend on as nourishment, natural selection would sooner or later take the predator out, because it offsets the balance.”
According to Mallence Williams-Bart, redrawing the relation between the western world which considers itself superior, and countries of the third world particularly in Africa, and which were doomed by the western world to dependency and even slavery, is inevitable. We must learn a lesson from what happened in Sierra Leone and stands true on Africa in general, Ms Williams-Bart pointed out. Throughout thousands of years, nature not only generated the best, fittest and most valuable of natural resources, but also produced humans that possess huge capacities and skills. And instead of employing these capacities for the mutual benefit of both ends of the world, the colonial powers or the superpowers just fuel ethnic and sectarian civil wars in the heart of the colonies they left, for these past colonies to remain helpless and easy prey to the colonial powers.
I am not sure whether this testimony comes too late to save our dear Sudanese brothers and their land, yet I cry to the sense of Egyptian patriotism never to compromise our beloved Egypt.
Watani International
12 May 2023
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