Abayomi Azikiwe, editor of the Pan-African News Wire, is a news analyst who often addresses worldwide audiences through new agencies and satellite television. He is a frequent lecturer as well on African and global affairs., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.
Interview with Abayomi Azikiwe
Sun Dec 15, 2013 9:42AM GMT
presstv.ir
To watch this interview with Abayomi Azikiwe, editor of the Pan-African News Wire, on Press TV World News, just click on the website below:
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/12/15/340103/france-pursuing-colonialism-legacy/
Press TV has conducted an interview with Abayomi Azikiwe, the editor of Pan African News Wire from Detroit, about the violence in the Central African Republic.
The following is a rough transcription of the interview.
Press TV: Mr. Azikiwe, first of all, we know that French President Francois Hollande went to the Central African Republic claiming that his intention was to prevent bloodshed and not self-interest. How genuine is such an approach?
Azikiwe: Well obviously the people in France do not believe that it is genuine. And many people in Africa as well do not believe that they are there based upon a humanitarian mission, that they have national interests in the Central African Republic.
This is not the first time that France has intervened through successive governments in various African nation states. They have a permanent military presence in many of these countries including the Central African Republic. They have nearly doubled their presence there but still they are not saying how they are going to resolve the internal political conflict inside that country which stems from a lot of the legacy of French colonialism in Africa.
Press TV: Of course another thing that comes into question is the economic cost for France.
Azikiwe: Most definitely because France still today has an extremely high unemployment rate. The country is still in economic recession. There are labor problems that are developing right now in France as we have seen recently in the railway industry.
So therefore the French people are looking at their own economic interests and also the human impact of these interventions. Two French soldiers have been admittedly killed in Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic, earlier this week prior to the visit of President Francois Hollande.
So not only is this a material disincentive for involvement on the part of the working people in France but there is also the human costs that are involved. They also lost troops in Mali as well where they have been occupying for nearly a year.
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