Illinois Senator (and Democratic presidential candidate) Barack Obama with Idris Deby, the President
of Chad.
Photo by Lynn Sweet/ Chicago Sun-Times)
Editor's Note: While he was in Africa on his way to visit his father's home village in Kenya last year, Senator Obama visited Chad, officially to
talk about Darfur. However, he was also there as an unofficial lobbyist for ExxonMobil and particularly Chevron, who had their oil contracts in Chad revoked because of a
significant backlog of unpaid taxes. He pressured President Deby to reinstate the contracts unaltered. The World Bank financed Chad-Cameroon pipeline is in disrepair, but has
the potential to be a vital asset in Africa for the West. They might eventually consider an extention into Darfur if those oil fields are ever developed, but more likely the
forthcoming Ugandan-Tanzanian-Kenyan-Rwandan pipeline will extend into a fully autonomous South Sudan and perhaps southern Darfur in the future to avoid taxation from the
Khartoum Government controlled ports in the north. The U.S., French, Chadian, Eritrean, Israeli, Ethiopian, and Ugandan covert destabilization of the Khartoum Government will
help ensure that South Sudan gets a fast track to independence. While this is certainly only one example, it serves as a warning to those who would think Senator Obama is the
fix-all for U.S. foreign policy in Africa. In reality, his advisory team suggests the opposite.
Reuters
by Stephanie Hancock
Je ne suis pas d'accord !