Zimbabwe’s President, Emmerson Mnangagwa has accused the United States of trying to use legislation to intrude into Africa’s affairs including monitoring Africa’s natural resources and extractive industries.
The United States has been losing its grip on Africa to China and Russia and has passed a law called Countering Malign Russian Activities in Africa Act which Mnangagwa said seeks to empower America to employ intrusive and coercive diplomacy and policing in Africa.
The Zimbabwe President said worst of all, the act seeks to allow the US to “monitor natural resources and extractive industries” in Africa.
Writing in his weekly column in the Sunday Mail Mnangagwa said: “This is unprecedented.”
“Further, the Act gives the US government power ‘to hold accountable the Russian Federation and African governments and their officials who are complicit in aiding what, in the view of the United States government, passes for ‘malign influence and activities’ of Russia in Africa.
“Such ‘malign activities’ include anything that the US government interprets as attempts to:
(i) “manipulate African governments and their policies, as well as the public opinions and voting preferences of African populations and diaspora groups, including those in the US; and
(ii) invest in, engage, or otherwise control strategic sectors in Africa, such as mining and other forms of natural resource extraction and exploitation, military basing and other security cooperation agreements, and information and communications technology.
“Both provisions are exceedingly patronising and vitiate against the notion of equality of sovereign nations, regardless of size or hemispheric placement,” he said.
