Boots on the ground [By Jiao Haiyang/China.org.cn]

Why are the French legionnaires fighting in Mali? The ready-made answer is: They are there to fight terrorists -- Islamist extremists. That's only part of the story. Sure, there are Islamist groups: Ansar ed-Dine (Defenders of the Faith), the Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO), and al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). But the main insurgent group, the Tuareg Movement, the National Movement for the Liberation of the Azawad (NMLA) is secular. It is not fighting for an Islamic state, but rather for the independence of Northern Mali.

The Tuareg insurgents are reputedly well-armed battle-hardened fighters. Their hardcore fighters were former members of Gaddafi's army. Those who came back to Mali after Gaddafi's execution-style death carried plenty of weapons with them, thanks to NATO intervention. Their ranks also include defectors from the Malian army and rebels who took part in the 2007-2008 uprising.

The return of former colonialists to Africa will provoke a backlash, analysts fear. The New York Times reports that some US officials believe a Western assault on Mali "could rally jihadists around the world and prompt terrorist attacks as far away as Europe." Sure enough, a MUJAO commando team led by the "uncatchable" Mokhtar Belmokhtar, hit a gas complex in the Sahara run by the British BP, Norway's Statoil and Algeria's state energy giant. They took hundreds of Algerian and foreign hostages, including Britons, Americans, Norwegians, Belgians and Japanese.

The Algerian army indiscriminately attacked the captors as well as the captives, killing at least 37 foreign hostages.

But that was only a part of the overall picture. According to Professor Jeremy Keenan of the School of Oriental and African Studies at London University, "…the catastrophe now being played out in Mali is the inevitable outcome of the way in which the 'Global War on Terror' has been inserted into the Sahara-Sahel by the U.S., in concert with Algerian intelligence operatives, since 2002."

Keenan points out that both Washington and Algiers needed "a little more terrorism" in the region. Algiers wanted it as the means to get more high-tech weapons. And Washington wanted it to launch the Saharan front of the War on Terror, which includes militarization of Africa as the strategy to control more energy resources, thus beating its Chinese competition in Africa. This is the underlying logic that led to the creation of the U.S. military's Africa Command (AFRICOM) in 2007. As Admiral Robert T. Moeller stated clearly, AFRICOM's mission was to protect "the free flow of natural resources from Africa to the global market." At the same time, he criticized China for "challenging U.S. interests". To put it simply, The U.S. and its allies want to push China out of Africa.

Retiring Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was in Dar Es Salaam in June 2011, when she warned of a "creeping new colonialism" in Africa from foreign investors and governments interested only in extracting natural resources to enrich themselves. Without naming names, what was she trying to insinuate?

Instead of listening to political rhetoric, let's look at the facts.

"By the end of 2009, China had provided assistance for the construction of over 500 infrastructure projects in Africa," including houses, roads, railroads, dams, airports, seaports, power grids, telecommunication facilities, hospitals and schools, according to the Chinese White Paper.

China-Africa trade grew 10-fold from US$10 billion in 2000 to US$107 billion in 2008. Mali and other former French colonies which surround it have had extensive dealing with China. Mali has received substantial Chinese investment for its own development. Additionally, in 2011 China provided a package of hundreds of millions of dollars, partially as gifts, to improve the living standards of Malian people, according to a report on Antiwar.com.

While China offers large sums of financial assistance to Africa with no strings attached; in contrast, the Pentagon plans on deploying soldiers to 35 African countries in 2013, according to AFRICOM. NPR reports that upwards of 4,000 U.S. soldiers will "take part in military exercises and train African troops." In fact, the Malian officers responsible for the country's March coup were U.S.-trained.

The African people can tell from their own experience who their true friends are, and who the real colonialists continue to be.

The author is a columnist with China.org.cn. For more information please visit: http://www.china.org.cn/opinion/zhaojinglun.htm

Opinion articles reflect the views of their authors, not necessarily those of China.org.cn.

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