CIA in Africa: The West, particularly the US, has had a long-standing obsession with Africa and its internal affairs. Sometimes, in the name of restoring democracy or human rights violations, and other times to limit the growth of communism, it has targeted African countries and carried out various covert and overt operations worldwide, including in Africa. The CIA has played a significant role in such operations in Africa. In this article, we will examine some of the significant operations that the US has conducted in Africa both in the past and in recent times.
Many of the instances of the CIA’s involvement in African affairs occurred during the Cold War when the US and the Soviet Union battled for influence across the continent.
Operations of CIA in Africa
Patrice Lumumba’s assassination in Congo – 1961
Patrice Lumumba, who was the first prime minister of the newly-independent Congo in 1960, was overthrown and assassinated in January 1961, just a few months after taking office. While there is no doubt that the CIA wanted him dead, direct US involvement in his killing remains unclear. In 2002, Belgium, the former colonial power, admitted responsibility for its part in the killing.
US President Dwight D Eisenhower, concerned about communism, feared Congo would follow Cuba’s path. A source quoted in the book “Death in the Congo,” about the assassination, claimed that President Eisenhower gave “an order for the assassination of Lumumba.” Another book, “The Congo Cables: From Eisenhower to Kennedy,” documented how a top CIA scientist came to Congo equipped with a kit containing an exotic poison meant for Patrice Lumumba, the pro-Soviet Prime Minister of Congo, who had a good chance of returning to power. The scientist indicated that the order had come from the “highest authority”- President Dwight D. Eisenhower. The poison was to be somehow slipped into Lumumba’s food or perhaps into his toothpaste.
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The overthrow of Kwame Nkrumah in Ghana in 1965
Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana’s first president, was overthrown in a military coup in 1966, which was suspected to be instigated by the CIA of the US.
According to John Stockwell, a former CIA intelligence officer, in his book “In Search of Enemies,” there is no official sanction for the coup in CIA documents. However, he writes that the Accra station was encouraged by CIA headquarters to maintain contact with dissidents and was given a generous budget. The station maintained intimate contact with the plotters as a coup was hatched.
Supporting Hissene Habre in Chad 1982
Although Hissene Habre successfully overthrew President Oueddei in 1982, he had failed in his previous attempt to take power by force in 1980. As a result of this failed attempt, President Oueddei sought help from Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, whose soldiers successfully beat back Habre’s challenge and forced him into exile.
However, as Gaddafi was seen as a supporter of anti-US activities, an alliance between Libya and Chad was never in the best interests of the US. According to Michael Bronner’s article in Foreign Policy magazine, the CIA director and the secretary of state “coalesced around the idea of launching a covert war in partnership with Habre”. It is alleged that the US-backed Habre’s overthrow of the president in 1982 and then supported him throughout his brutal rule.
It is worth mentioning that even Gaddafi’s regime was overthrown by NATO, and many scholars argue that NATO NATO overstepped the UN authorization in Libya by attempting to overthrow the Gaddafi regime, making it an illegal use of force.
Recent US meddling in African affairs
After ravaging Ethiopia for two years, the Tigray crisis recently came to an end when the warring sides agreed to sign a peace treaty. The Tigray crisis was instigated by the US, and the TPLF was overtly and covertly supported by the US, as evidenced by several incidents. For instance, during the peace negotiations that began on October 25, 2022, in South Africa, the TPLF delegation arrived on a US military plane, accompanied by Mike Hammer, the US special envoy to the Horn of Africa. Moreover, Eritrea’s President Isaias Afwerki recently accused the US of supporting Tigrayan rebels during the recent civil war in northern Ethiopia. He also claimed that the USA rushed the peace deal between Ethiopia and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) to prevent the rebels from losing on the battlefield.
Read More: It’s official, USA sponsored TPLF
There are also speculations that Boko Haram could also be a covert operation of the CIA, to control biggest economy of Africa Nigeria.
In May 2014, African Renaissance News published an in-depth report on Boko Haram, to find out whether Boko Haram can be another CIA operation to control Nigeria. In the report it stated; the greatest prize for AFRICOM and its goal to plant a PAX AMERICANA in Africa would be when it succeeds in the most strategic African country, NIGERIA. Moreover, an investigation into Boko Haram by the Greenwhite Coalition revealed that the “Boko Haram campaign is a covert operation organized by the American Central Intelligence Agency, CIA and coordinated by the American Embassy in Nigeria.”
The US has resorted to various tactics from time to time to maintain its presence in Africa. Whenever American interests have been challenged in Africa, it has conducted operations to install a favorable puppet regime. These are a few examples of how the US has meddled in African affairs. However, sometimes it becomes difficult to prove direct US backing in carrying out such operations. In the present scenario, with Russia’s rise in the African continent, the US is facing challenges in maintaining its hegemony. It will be interesting to see if Africa will be able to secure greater peace for itself as the US meddling in the continent gradually decreases.
Read More: Boko Haram is an offshoot of the CIA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJQnc1TqbTE&t=32s