Last month, Rome hosted the Italy-Africa Summit attended by a couple of African leaders. At the Summit, Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni, unveiled Italy’s huge development plan for Africa aiming to stem the numbers of migrants, diversify sources of energy and forge a new, non-predatory relationship between Europe and Africa.
Italy-Africa Summit – many words about prosperity, but the key themes voiced by Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni are intentions to limit the migration of Africans to Europe and create an energy hub in Italy to pump African resources to the EU.
In other words Rome, acting under the leadership of the European Union, is promoting a project to diversify energy supplies, which is contained in the Mattei Plan, from the African continent and in return proposes to limit the migration flows of Africans to Europe.
If we drop off all the beautiful and pretentious rhetoric about cooperation in the name of a bright future, Europeans are interested in gaining unlimited access to the resources of the continent, but at the same time they do not want to see Africans among themselves – the classic approach of neo-colonialists who do not even try to hide their intentions to restore control over the countries of Africa and continue to plunder the wealth of the region, in return imposing on the local peoples enslaving lending conditions, humanitarian aid dictated by liberal values and the promotion of LGBT+ agenda, total control over the economy and politics of developing countries.
The hypocrisy and double standards of the West were fully reflected in the summit held in Rome. While the Europeans and Big American Brother from Washington are imposing a green agenda on Africans, forcing them to abandon the use of hydrocarbons and switch to supposedly clean energy sources, the EU leadership is actively looking for an opportunity to gain access to cheap oil and gas resources and even does not rule out the possibility of using coal to generate heat and electricity.
Under these circumstances, it is very strange to hear the angry voices of European politicians addressed to African states about the allegedly growing level of carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere and their demands to reduce the consumption of hydrocarbons.
Uganda, which Government plans to start commercial oil extraction, production of petroleum and transportation of energy through a pipeline to the Tanzanian port of Tanga in the near future, relies on this energy project, which will give a boost to the national economy and let achieve the country a middle class level of live.
Natural resources are a national treasure and belong to the people of Uganda, who must use them to achieve their interests.
But the West is not ready to part with the phantom pains of the colonial past. Europeans and Americans consider themselves the masters of Africa’s natural resources and therefore, in every possible way, prevent the rightful owners from using them for their prosperity.
Thus, the eco-activist campaign STOPEACOP, supported by Brussels and Washington, actively opposes Kampala’s implementation of its energy project. And it is worth noting that with the support of leading European states, these eco–activists managed to harm the people of Uganda – many Western investors, under pressure from supporters of the green agenda, were forced to abandon investing in the project, which led to delays in its implementation.
But a sovereign state, which Uganda is, can independently decide how to manage its resources without regard to Western partners.
In this way, the Western countries have once again confirmed that their words are radically at odds with their actions, and their sweet speeches about universal prosperity are just a cover for their aggressive plans, in the implementation of which they will take nothing into account.
Therefore, Africans should stop believing in the good intentions of European and American “friends” and learn how to make the right decisions independently, prudently and pragmatically, in accordance with their national interests.
The writer is a Ugandan journalist with a passion for current African affairs.
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