The United Nations has traditionally defended the interests of its American benefactors by promoting African policies that align with US foreign policy aims. Throughout the last few decades, the organisation has stated that it is committed to promoting peace in developing countries. Numerous studies, however, show that the United Nations has failed to reduce ethnic conflict in many African countries. Driven by Washington, the organization regularly forces governments in Africa, Asia, and Latin America to make systemic changes that frequently overlap with Western culture. The United Nations is playing a very wicked game in Africa and we at TFI would show no ounce of timidity in exposing that.
According to recent reports, South Sudan, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon and are in arrears on paying dues to the United Nations’ operating budget and are among six nations that have lost their voting rights in the 193-member General Assembly.
The U.N. Charter states that members whose arrears equal or exceed the amount of their contributions for the preceding two full years lose their voting rights. But it also gives the General Assembly the authority to decide “that the failure to pay is due to conditions beyond the control of the member,” and in that case a country can continue to vote.
The General Assembly decided that three African countries on the list of nations in arrears — Comoros, Sao Tome and Principe and Somalia — would be able to keep their voting rights. It granted the three countries the same exemption last year.
Why weren’t South Sudan, Equatorial Guinea, and Gabon awarded the same exemption status as Somalia and the others? After all, the three countries’ socioeconomic conditions are analogous to Somalia’s. So, if economic insecurity was stated as a rationale for Somalia’s exemption, any principled approach would have granted the same exception to the three African countries as well.
The point is, these voting privileges were never associated with a failure to pay dues. It’s a nefarious game played by America using its minions in the United Nations.
A case study of the recent geopolitical moves by countries like South Sudan and Equatorial Guinea could well prove our point. Let’s talk about South Sudan first.
We have previous covered in detail how America is trying a carrot and stick approach to court South Sudan, in the backdrop of the losing American influence in the Sahel region.
The South Sudanese government received a $112.7 million in emergency funding from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to help address food insecurity, support social spending and boost its diminishing foreign reserves.
The timing of the grant was noteworthy. It cannot be a random occurrence that the American- controlled organization’s interest in South Sudan has recently rekindled at a time when the West is trying to win the country’s trust.
Furthermore, Amnesty International, a few days ago, urged the African Union to take “long awaited” steps toward creating a promised war crimes tribunal to try atrocities committed during South Sudan’s bloody five-year conflict. It is undeniable that the West, especially the US, has waged a long-running propaganda conflict with rival countries via NGOs like Amnesty International.
The recent UN action against South Sudan should therefore be seen as an extension of the American bargaining counter.
The case with Equatorial Guinea is no different. The African country is implementing a number of measures to address its external and fiscal imbalances and thereby attempting to dis-entangle from the Western web of aid and dependency. Besides, the recent effort by Equatorial Guinea to sue the French authorities in the International Court of Justice for usurping Teodoro Nguema’s, the son of Equatorial Guinea’s long-serving president Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo residence, is a significant indication of African countries not being hesitant to confront Western countries’ might.
The West exploits UN to serve its caprices and interests. The United Nations must undergo reforms. African countries should band together with the rest of the Global South to resist the organization’s rising imperialism.
