Africa: A Strategic Factor in the Strategic Equation of the World.
Abstract
The title of this study should in fact be a question: Is Africa a factor of any worth in the strategic equation of the world? The relevance and the importance of the question have increased since my recent close association with United States' government policy and public attitudes and perceptions regarding Africa. During the 1960's and the early 1970's, the United States virtually blanked out most of Africa in its foreign policy and generally regarded the continent as an area of European influence. Except for uncoordinated and generally unpopular decisions regarding apartheid in South Africa and direct participation in two invasions in the Zaire Republic, Africa was and remains low in United States' policy considerations. At the same time while professing solidarity with the African in his fight for freedom, the USSR is suspected of regarding Africa and Africans as no more than suitable vehicles for the achievement of its goal for supremacy over the West and, in particular, over the United States. Because the United States and the USSR are the two superpowers of the world today, they ultimately determine who and what is important. Their apparent shortsightedness regarding the high potential of Africa's human and material resources and their underestimation of the determination of the African to be free and to take his place in the scheme of things is alarming.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- May 02, 1984
- Accession Number
- ADA148983
Entities
People
- M. T. Kontagora
Organizations
- United States Army War College