Picture of Ba Ki-Moon, UN Secretary General, by Don’t Be Blind This Time
On Thursday 30/04/2015, Russia and China objected to a UN Security Council statement introduced by France to intervene in Burundian affairs and eventually pressure president Charles Nkurunziza not to seek a third presidential term.
The question that comes to mind is this: how many African countries have fallen into chaos following foreign interventions (or a strategic lack of one like in the case of Rwanda in 1994) under the pretense of stopping humanitarian crisis sometimes caused by the same forces which had particular interests in being involved?
Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Sudan, Ivory Coast, Central African Republic, Mali, Somalia, Libya, and many more are places on the African continent which have experienced forced external interventions in their internal affairs and ended up in further instability than they were before.
“It’s not the business of the Security Council and the U.N. Charter to get involved in constitutional matters of sovereign states,” said the Russian U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin after the failure of the resolution on Thursday in New York.
Lets imagine one moment that such stand had prevailed in 2011 in the case of Libya. On top of the chaos that NATO created in the whole northern part of Africa and even beyond by destroying Muammar Kaddafi’s country and killing him, – situation that unfortunately helps NATO today to thrive for its strategic interests by transforming countries into failed states – the world won’t be watching thousands of Africans trying to escape the hell the West initiated in their respective countries.
The strong message of the stand of Russia and China on the Burundi case to Africans should be a waking up call telling them that it is up to them to solve their own problems, if any. Stopping foreign interventions shouldn’t however be limited to Western powers through the guise of the Security Council resolutions or decisions.
As we noticed recently in the Great Lakes region, since the start of increased political protests against the Burundian president Nkurunziza’s third term, – or even before -, Rwanda and Uganda having become specialists of fishing in troubled waters for their political survival are busy fueling the regional instability, by sending militias in DRC and even getting involved on the ground in Burundi.
Since the Council Statement that was rejected by Russia and China’s objection concerns intervention of UN on humanitarian grounds in Burundi to stop the situation from escalating, another statement/resolution stopping Rwanda and Uganda from interfering in neighboring countries’ affairs should be tabled rapidly.
It is a public secret today that Rwanda and Uganda forces have again crossed their borders into DRC for the nth time in many years. It is neither a secret that any resolution condemning these two countries for their destabilising character in the region will always be opposed by US and Britain because Museveni and Kagame are local agents of the anglo-saxon interests.
Though the stand of Russia and China on the Burundian situation draws a new policy in international relations towards Africa, more needs to be done to stop altogether neighboring countries from interfering in other countries’ internal affairs. This would leave concerned nationals to taking more political responsibilities in changing what needs being changed politically.
