Abayomi Azikiwe, editor of the Pan-African News Wire, on Press TV's Top Five. Azikiwe is a frequent guest on satellite television news., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.
Sat Mar 1, 2014 4:22PM
Interview with Abayomi Azikiwe
France triggered CAR slaughter
To watch this Press TV world news interview with Abayomi Azikiwe, editor of the Pan-African News Wire, just click on the website below:
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2014/03/01/352809/muslim-population-in-car-under-siege/
Press TV has conducted an interview with Abayomi Azikiwe, editor of Pan-African News Wire, Detroit about anti-French sentiment in the CAR due to the rising violence there.
The following is an approximate transcript of the interview.
Press TV: The French president being there in the CAR. Here we are with France thinking this was going to be a three-month adventurism and it has been anything but that.
Azikiwe: Yes, this is the second visit of President Francois Hollande to the Central African Republic, which is a former French colony.
I completely disagree with his assessment that the French military intervention in the CAR has saved thousands of lives. We believe it is just the opposite.
The destabilization and the precarious security situation inside the country have worsened since the escalation of the military intervention by Paris. I believe that he is attempting to justify an ongoing French as well as European Union military intervention in that mineral-rich African country.
The French parliament has recently approved an extension of the French occupation inside the country, but there is no evidence that suggests that their presence has in fact protected civilians.
The Muslim population in the Central African Republic is under siege. People who have even attempted to leave have been prevented from leaving. And there are essentially mobs that are there that are not being disarmed by the French troops or the EU troops or the African troops that are allied with France and the European Union.
And this of course is going to worsen unless there is a political solution to the crisis inside the country.
Press TV: Exactly, a political solution indeed, but not by what the French president’s posturing is of which you said I think an additional 400 troops were sent in.
So, what is France’s game plan at this point?
Azikiwe: France has always had a strong military as well as economic presence in most of its former colonies, many of which gained their independence in 1960 or thereabouts so therefore this is a continuation of a similar policy of neo-colonialism that was largely crafted by the French during the late 1950s and early 1960s. He is attempting to provide a rationale for the maintenance of this position, but it remains to be seen whether or not the situation is going to stabilize inside the country.
The current Interim President Catherine Samba-Panza says that she will be in office until 2015 when there is going to be elections taking place inside the country. However, it will be very difficult to have any form of generally democratic elections when you have these types of threats that are being launched against the Muslim community.
The economy has been severely damaged because the Muslims have been largely responsible for bringing in consumer goods, being involved in trade. And of course this has created a very, very bad food crisis as well as a crisis of the economy overall inside that state.
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