Irish Politician about the Dangers of Military Bases in Djibouti: 'God Save Africa From Europeans!'

👉 Irish MEP Clare Daly –

💭 "I don’t think you’d have to be a genius to know that the last thing the Horn of Africa needs is more foreign military bases, more weapons, and more European meddling. What we call our ‘strategic relationship’ isn’t about human flourishing; it’s about the EU’s ambitions as a superpower. There’s now a new great game in the Horn of Africa. Greater and lesser powers are pockmarking the place with military bases: France, the US, China, Germany, Japan, Italy, Saudi Arabia all have a presence in the tiny area of Djibouti alone. Mercenaries are swarming in from all quarters. The entire region is being militarised. War is in the air.

And what about the people facing climate and food insecurity? None of this benefits them. We talk about instability, but we only make it worse. We flood the place with weapons, hand over the profits to European arms companies, and charge the bill to our citizens. And then with the carnage, we go back in and we do it all again. It’s a racket! ‘Strategic relationship’? It’s one thing after another, isn’t it? Really, it’s the same as it ever was. And all I can say is, God save Africa from Europeans offering help."

"The truth is, it’s a million miles from the reality of EU—Africa trade policy as it exists now, because our economic relations with Africa are simply a continuation of European colonialism perpetuating exploitation by other means. Africa trades more with Europe than it does with itself. It’s portrayed as a poor continent, but actually it’s the richest. It’s just that the people there are denied the fruits of their land and their labour by unequal economic relations, by unfair trade rules, by illicit capital flights into Western banks, and by multinational corporations allowed off the leash by Washington, London and Brussels."