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.
To watch this interview with Abayomi Azikiwe, editor of the Pan-African News Wire, over Press TV World News, just click on the website below:
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/06/29/311398/antius-demos-mark-obama-visit-to-sa/
Sat Jun 29, 2013 3:37PM GMT
Press TV has conducted an interview with Abayomi Azikiwe, Editor of Pan-African News Wire from Detroit, about street protests and US flag burning in South Africa over US war and torture policies as President Obama pays a visit to the country. The following is an approximate transcript of the interview.
Press TV: It seems Obama despite his African origin is not welcome in Africa. On top of that he is going to be honored with a doctoral degree for what is called his contributions to the international community. What are those contributions, if you can recall any?
Azikiwe: Well it’s important to note that when Obama first came into office in 2009 there was tremendous hope throughout the African continent that there would be a fundamental shift in US foreign policy toward Africa.
Also in regard to Africans inside the United States who have been subjected to centuries of slavery and national discrimination, there was a real optimism that something would be done, yet fundamentally nothing has changed.
The organizations inside South Africa, the Congress of South African Trade Unions, which is the largest trade union federation in South Africa, they have 2 million members, and the Young Communist League have led the demonstrations, that have taken place in Pretoria as well as in Cape Town - these are the two political centers of the Republic of South Africa.
And there are also going to be demonstrations when he goes to the
University in Johannesburg tomorrow.
So he is not escaping the fact that the US’s foreign policy towards Africa has been highly materialistic and militaristic.
And of course they (U.S.) are only concerned about the mineral resources that come out of Africa as well as the strategic significance of the African continent vis-à-vis China and other countries throughout the world who are developing relations with Africa on a more equitable and a more humane basis.
Press TV: How do you see relations between the US and Africa develop onwards in the next term of Obama?
Azikiwe: It’s going to be very difficult for the Obama administration to sell its policies to the African continent because it’s quite clear that they have in fact destabilized several stable regions in the Africa continent.
The war on Libya two years ago not only destroyed the most prosperous country on the Africa continent, the most oil-rich continent on the Africa continent, but it also spread this destabilization into Mali, into Niger; it has also crept into Algeria.
Also we have to look at the situation that’s going on just next to South Africa in Zimbabwe where the president has continued sanctions against the Zimbabwe government simply because they engaged in a land reform program that disenfranchised or in fact disempowered whites.
So, these are some of the issues he’s going to have to deal with in Africa.
And he’s from Kenya, but he’s not visiting the country in which his father was born. It’s a very confusing situation and it’s going to cause a lot of hostility.
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