Resolution Passed at the Albany Anti-War Conference Opposing U.S. Military Intervention in Africa

Abayomi Azikiwe (l), editor of the Pan-African News Wire, along with Nellie Hester Bailey of the Harlem Tenants Council and Ana Edwards of the Virginia Defenders for Freedom, Justice and Equality speaking at the National Peace Conference in Albany.
Originally uploaded by Pan-African News Wire File Photos

PANW Editor's Note: The following resolution was presented by Abayomi Azikiwe at the United National Anti-War Conference held in Albany, New York the weekend of July 23-25, 2010. The event was attended by over 600 people from various parts of the U.S. and Canada. This resolution was passed unanimously on the final day of the conference. The resolution was presented on behalf of the Michigan Emergency Committee Against War & Injustice and co-sponsored by the Virginia Defenders for Freedom, Justice and Equality, the International Action Center and the Moratorium NOW! Coalition to Stop Foreclosures, Evictions and Utility Shutoffs.
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Draft Resolution on the Need for the Peace Movement to Oppose U.S.
Military and Economic Intervention in Africa

Whereas, the United States, both its government and ruling class, has
historically intervened in Africa since the 18th century to oppress
and exploit its people and natural resources;

Whereas, the Atlantic slave trade and colonialism since the 15th
century has underdeveloped the African continent and created the
conditions for its current economic and social problems;

Whereas, the United States has never genuinely supported any
legitimate national liberation and social justice movement in Africa
and more often than not has engaged in covert action programs that
have resulted in the destabilization and the overthrow of progressive
states within Africa;

Whereas, today the United States is interfering in the internal
affairs of numerous African states in pursuit of greater profits for
multi-national corporations and financial institutions as well as
dominating the political and social direction of these countries;

Whereas, select African states have been targeted by successive U.S.
administrations for regime change and unwarranted influence. These
countries include, but are not limited to, the states of Egypt, Sudan,
Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Somalia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, among others;

Whereas, the United States has created the U.S. Africa Command as a
military force designed to carry out operations on the Continent.
AFRICOM is still based in Germany and has met tremendous resistance by most states on the Continent;

Whereas, the United States has established a military base in the Horn
of Africa nation of Djibouti, finances the AMISOM forces in Somalia
that are proping up the U.S.-backed TFG, has conducted war games in
West Africa, is actively engaged in undermining the recently
established coalition government in Zimbabwe, has refused to honor the peace efforts taking place in Sudan aimed at stopping the war in
Darfur, and is refusing to pay reparations to African people on the
continent and in the Diaspora for the centuries of enslavement and
colonization;

Therefore, be it resolved that the National Peace Conference held in
Albany, July 23-25, goes on record in opposition to U.S. military
intervention in Africa and any effort designed to deprive or limit
individual states and the Continent as a whole from excersing its
right to self-determination and national sovereignty.