Tuesday, March 04, 2014

Abayomi Azikiwe, PANW Editor, Featured on Press TV World News: 'Western Powers After CAR's Natural Resources'

Western powers after CAR’s natural resources: Analyst

Interview with Abayomi Azikiwe, editor of the Pan-African News Wire

Mon Mar 3, 2014 10:35AM GMT

To watch this Press TV world news interview just click on the website below:
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2014/03/03/353042/west-after-natural-resources-in-car/

Press TV has interviewed Abayomi Azikiwe, an editor of the Pan-African News Wire, to discuss with him the crisis in the Central African Republic (CAR) and the international community’s role.

What follows is a rush transcript of the interview.

Press TV: Now this recent warning by the United Nations just goes to show how multi-thronged the problems that the CAR is facing are. Now what do you make of this situation as a whole?

Azikiwe: You’re correct. It is a multi-faceted crisis. There are two clear points related to the shortage of foods.

First of all, the Muslim population was heavily involved in trade inside the Central African Republic. They were of course owners of businesses. They were involved in distribution and wholesale as it relates to the distribution of agricultural products inside the country. This of course is also related to the issue of transport. Many of the people in the Muslim population were also involved in the transport of food to the critical areas of the country. Then of course we have to deal with the fact that despite the United Nations’ approving this large scale military occupation of the Central African Republic, a very small portion of the actual appeals for direct food assistance to the country have been honored.

So we’re dealing with the problem of destabilization, which of course is largely responsible for the breakdown in distribution of food, and also we’re dealing with the question of transportation as well as the failure of the international community to honor those pledges made in order to send in supplemental food in order for people to be fed inside the country.

Press TV: Well I’d like to pick up on the point you just made. The international community, as you have called it, has responded by just deploying more boots on the ground in the CAR and that is clearly not the answer. Why do you think that they continue to present the military option as the only option?

Azikiwe: Because they have an agenda which is not necessarily related to the stabilization of the political and social situation inside the Central African Republic. The country has strategic mineral resources that are valuable to the world economic system. This is the underlying factor, as it relates to the intervention of these large-scale military units that are coming from various parts of the so-called international community.

We already have approximately 8,000 foreign troops that are occupying the CAR. The current interim President Catherine Samba Panza has requested an additional 10,000 troops from the United Nations member states. So we’re talking about the possibility of 18,000 troops being involved in occupying the Central African Republic without a political solution, without stabilizing the social and economic situation on the ground. This is a recipe for even greater disaster and not a solution to a crisis.

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