EP 6 Africa's Manufactured Wars I African News Review 🌍

In this conversation, Adesoji Iginla and Milton Allimadi delve into the complexities of Africa's manufactured wars, particularly focusing on the ongoing conflict in Sudan fueled by the gold trade. They discuss the historical context of slavery, the role of foreign powers, and the hypocrisy of international responses to African conflicts. 

The conversation also touches on the nature of leadership in Africa, the exploitation of resources, and the need for African solutions to these crises. Additionally, they highlight the negative perceptions of Africa in global media and conclude with a discussion on Malawi's tax claims against foreign companies, emphasising the narrative of exploitation rather than poverty. In this conversation, Adesoji Iginla and Milton Allimadi delve into the complexities surrounding Malawi's claims for reparations, the historical context of resource exploitation in Africa, and the challenges of free movement across the continent. 

They discuss the legal strategies employed by Malawi, the impact of colonial borders on African unity, and the need for self-love among Africans to combat the legacy of exploitation. 

The dialogue emphasises the importance of understanding history to navigate current challenges and advocate for a united Africa that can assert its agency in the global arena.

Takeaways

*Africa's wars are often financed by mineral resources.
*The gold trade in Sudan is booming despite the conflict.
*Foreign powers play a significant role in African conflicts.
*Leadership in Africa often resembles banditry.
*The international community's response to African crises is hypocritical.
*Economic exploitation is a major issue in Africa.
*Media representation of Africa often perpetuates negative stereotypes.
*Historical context is crucial to understanding current conflicts.
*There is a need for African-led solutions to crises.
*Malawi's tax claims highlight the exploitation of African resources. 
*The term 'astonishing' is used to undermine Malawi's claims.
*Malawi's legal strategy relies on evidence from US declarations.
*Historical exploitation patterns reveal a recurring theme in Africa.
*Colonial borders continue to hinder free movement in Africa.
*Only a few African countries guarantee visa-free travel for all citizens.
*The African Continental Free Trade Area has seen minimal ratification.
*Self-love among Africans is crucial for overcoming historical burdens.
*Knowledge of history empowers Africans to understand their current situation.
*The need for a united Africa is emphasized by historical leaders.
*Exploitation of resources often leads to conflict in Africa.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Africa's Manufactured Wars
02:56 The Sudan Conflict: Gold and Atrocities
06:07 Historical Context: Slavery and Modern Atrocities
08:45 The Role of Foreign Powers in Sudan's Conflict
12:05 Economic Implications of War: Gold Trade in Sudan
15:10 Hypocrisy of International Responses
18:01 The Nature of Leadership in Africa
20:54 Comparisons to Historical Colonialism
24:01 The Need for African Solutions
26:56 Perceptions of Africa in Global Media
30:05 Malawi's Tax Claims: A Case of Exploitation
32:30 Undermining Malawi's Claims
34:53 Malawi's Legal Strategy and Evidence
37:02 Historical Context of Resource Exploitation
38:53 The Impact of Colonial Borders on Movement
48:55 Challenges of Free Movement in Africa
57:02 The Need for African Unity and Self-Love

Transcript

Adesoji Iginla (00:02.411)
Yes, greetings, greetings and again, welcome to African News Review, the show where we dissect stories on Africa in the Western media. I'm your host, Adesuji Iginla. And with me as usual is Comrade In Arms, a journalist, publisher and broadcaster, Blackstar News on New York's WBAI 99.5 FM, an author of Manufacturing Hate, How

Africa is demonized in the Western media. That's my copy there. I speak of no other than comrade Milton Alimati. Brother, welcome.

Milton Allimadi (00:40.341)
Santus Amin. Thank you.

Adesoji Iginla (00:42.667)
Yes, again, we dive deep into a very powerful theme this week, which is Africa's manufactured wars. And reason why we're focusing on the fact of the manufactured nature of the conflicts in Africa is to show how majority of the wars are actually financed by the proceeds from the mineral resources and sometimes human resources.

around Africa. So for our first story we go to Sudan. We go to the New York Times and

The story reads

Adesoji Iginla (01:30.017)
The gold rush at the heart of a civil war, farming and ethnic cleansing stalks Sudan. Yet the gold trade is booming, enriching generals and propelling the fight. The story is filed by Declan Walsh. So reporting from Juba, South Sudan, Port Sudan, Sudan, Cairo, Andrea and Chad. He writes, the luxury jet touched down in Juba, the capital of South Sudan, on a mission to collect hundreds

of pounds of illicit gold. Onboard was a representative of a ruthless paramilitary group accused of ethnic cleansing in Sudan's sprawling civil war. The flight manifest showed the gold itself has been smuggled from Darfur, a region of famine and fear in Sudan that is largely under his group's brutal control. Potters grunted as they heaved cases filled with gold about 25 million watts.

onto the plane, and three people involved with or briefed on the deal, shows airport officials discreetly maintained a perimeter around the jet, which stood out in the main airport of one of the world's poorest countries, Holder told. After 90 minutes, the jet took off again, landing before dawn on March 6th,

At a private airport in the United Arab Emirates, flight data showed its gleaming cargo soon vanished into the global gold market. Your initial thoughts.

Milton Allimadi (03:10.53)
Okay well.

It's,

Obviously, one would have to have been following the story to know what's going on in the Sudan, right? And it's been relatively covered because of the atrocities that have been committed in this war.

Adesoji Iginla (03:23.041)
Yes, correct, that's the case.

Adesoji Iginla (03:29.613)
Mm.

Mm.

Milton Allimadi (03:34.939)
But on a broader perspective, the most troubling thing is this.

Yes, you have the foreign role. The foreign parties involved in this genocidal conflict, really.

Adesoji Iginla (03:51.457)
Okay.

Milton Allimadi (03:53.701)
Yeah, it's not getting as much coverage, of course, as Gaza and the other conflict zones. But it has, compared to coverage of other conflicts on the African continent, it has gotten relatively substantial coverage. And the saddest thing is you can't avoid, from a historical perspective, to look at

the slave trade in Africa.

Adesoji Iginla (04:27.357)
Mm. Mm.

Milton Allimadi (04:28.898)
when Africans were being enslaved, Africans were being killed, captured, and the wars that were launched as a consequence of the slave trade.

You had the foreign agents, right? Coming from outside, the kidnappers.

Adesoji Iginla (04:53.645)
Mm-hmm.

Milton Allimadi (04:54.918)
to come and plunder the merchandise. And to them, the merchandise was human capital, the African capital, correct?

Adesoji Iginla (05:01.053)
human beings. Yep. Correct.

Milton Allimadi (05:06.329)
And then they had the African collaborators.

Adesoji Iginla (05:10.827)
Hmm.

Milton Allimadi (05:11.449)
who are making ordinary Africans do terrible things to fellow Africans.

to keep satisfying the demand for that market. So the kind of atrocities we are seeing today in the Sudan, we were not even witnessing as recent as three years ago, right?

Adesoji Iginla (05:30.519)
Mm-hmm.

Adesoji Iginla (05:35.885)
Correct.

Milton Allimadi (05:37.175)
But now with that growing market for the goal, the growing demand for the goal, the participants on the ground, Sudanese have increased. The level of atrocities have increased. The killings have increased. So that you have Sudanese doing the most

brutal types of crimes to fellow Sudanese.

In other words, when it comes to satisfying the demand of a market created by capital and capitalism, Africans can do the most inhumane, brutal things to fellow Africans. And that is what we are seeing today. And that's why I'm saying it's comparable to what must have operated during slavery. Think about it.

Adesoji Iginla (06:19.337)
Extend all to them.

Milton Allimadi (06:41.761)
Yes, the foreign aspect is fueling it and playing a large role. But at the same time, there's no denying that the people on the ground are Africans.

Adesoji Iginla (06:43.937)
Numb and green, yeah.

Milton Allimadi (07:04.052)
That's a tragedy.

Adesoji Iginla (07:05.855)
I the people that loaded the plane are Africans.

Milton Allimadi (07:08.276)
That's the tragedy.

That is a tragedy. And it tells you the kind of mindset that we have in terms of leadership. These are outright bandits in positions of power. Why? Because they control the gun. So these are gunmen, outright gunmen. These are not people who read books and they were inspired by some ideals.

Adesoji Iginla (07:18.444)
Hmm.

Milton Allimadi (07:40.778)
to want to take leadership in their countries. It wasn't a crewman coming back after his training and education in the US and in Britain and saying, yes, I have a vision for Ghana, right? These are outright armed bandits who have seized military control in Sudan.

the leader of the rapid support forces, General Hamdan, is a bandit. But so is the so-called president of the country, who is also a military general. And this is the consequence, now we are seeing, of these two people who hijacked the political process in the Sudan, which was under the control of civil society.

Adesoji Iginla (08:27.725)
You

Milton Allimadi (08:41.617)
civilians after they drove out.

Adesoji Iginla (08:45.773)
God bless you.

Milton Allimadi (08:45.779)
the military regime of General Bashir in 2018 and had opened a new process to lead Sudan to a different type of dispensation. Because Sudan, and this is the tragedy of all of this, had one of the most educated intelligentsia on the African continent and some of the best organized trade unions.

the African country and it's one of the few countries that have organized civil society to successfully drive out military regimes a number of times. Right. But to be honest with you, it's going to be very difficult to drive out these bandits that are running Sudan today without an African regional intervention. I'll be honest with you.

Adesoji Iginla (09:22.484)
military.

Not once, twice.

Adesoji Iginla (09:42.049)
Mmm. Mmm.

Milton Allimadi (09:42.771)
Because this to me is comparable to Liberia and Sierra Leone and the war that was fueled by blood diamonds. So now we have blood gold in the Sudan. And as you recall, it took regional intervention by the ECOWAS states.

Adesoji Iginla (10:00.395)
Hmm.

Adesoji Iginla (10:03.936)
intervention.

Adesoji Iginla (10:07.991)
correct.

Milton Allimadi (10:09.063)
to stabilize Sierra Leone, to stabilize Liberia. And the way things have been going in the Sudan, I don't see anything else otherwise. Maybe somebody can suggest a better approach.

Adesoji Iginla (10:13.931)
library.

Adesoji Iginla (10:21.133)
Hmm.

Adesoji Iginla (10:26.219)
I'll continue.

Milton Allimadi (10:27.771)
Yes, sir.

Adesoji Iginla (10:29.427)
Our war has shattered Sudan's economy, collapsed its health system and turned much of its once proud capital, Khartoum, into a pile of rod bull. Fighting has also set off one of the worst famines in decades, with 26 million people facing acute hunger or starvation. But the gold trade is humming. The production and trade of gold which lies in rich deposits across the vast nation has

actually surpassed pre-war levels. So what are they suggesting here? That even in spite of the war, they've gone into an overdrive of production.

Milton Allimadi (11:09.854)
no, I the war.

Milton Allimadi (11:14.117)
Who would want this war to end? Certainly not the participants in this trade. Why would they want it to end? Think about it. It is only the victims. It is only the ones that are starving. When the article talks about starvation, the armed gunmen are not starving and their leaders are not starving. In fact, we are told at some point in this story,

Adesoji Iginla (11:23.725)
Choo choo choo choo.

Adesoji Iginla (11:32.525)
Mm.

Milton Allimadi (11:44.11)
That general hamdum.

before it became this prominent, had definitely had seized a gold mine in the Darfur region of Sudan and then sold it to the government for $200 million. Think about that.

Adesoji Iginla (12:05.581)
Hmm

Milton Allimadi (12:05.657)
$200 million means he can arm multiple armies and to fight perpetually. Think about that.

$200 million.

Milton Allimadi (12:22.7)
that's owned by a bandit, right?

Adesoji Iginla (12:27.628)
Yeah.

Milton Allimadi (12:28.984)
And of course, at the same time, it shows you the complicity of this outside world. Because you cannot hide $200 million under a mattress. You cannot bury $200 million in the deserts in Darfur, right?

Adesoji Iginla (12:37.138)
I he just over.

Adesoji Iginla (12:47.223)
Correct.

Milton Allimadi (12:48.427)
So there's a lack of will for bringing this conflict to an end as well, because the victims at the end of the day are Africans. Let's be honest about it.

Adesoji Iginla (12:59.457)
Hmm.

Milton Allimadi (13:00.469)
The victims are not like any of the Europeans dying in the Russia-Ukraine war.

correct? They talk about sanctioning the companies that belong to General Hamdahm. So why is the conflict still continuing then? Because it's a superficial sanction. If you really want this thing to end, how is it that planes are still being able to fly and smuggle the gold?

Adesoji Iginla (13:10.753)
Yeah, correct, correct.

Adesoji Iginla (13:32.501)
In and

Milton Allimadi (13:37.13)
Did you not impose a no-fly zone on Libya?

for your illegitimate war?

to rescue Libya because, quote unquote, Qadhafi was killing his own people. Was Qadhafi killing the way the government is killing people in Sudan and the rapid support force is killing people in Sudan today? You see, your hypocrisy and lies are always exposed.

Adesoji Iginla (13:52.256)
Evil.

Milton Allimadi (14:09.747)
They intervened in Libya because they wanted to steal the oil. Gaddafi and Libya controlled Libya's oil. And that's why he was able to invest all that money back into Libya. Libya had one of the highest standards of living of all African economies under Gaddafi. They didn't like that. So they used that excuse of the Arab Spring to instigate

that so-called revolution, the revolution that was finance armed and participated by NATO, right? But here you have outright genocide in real time that we see on a daily basis and you have the satellite pictures of the victims, you have the pictures of the planes, of the gold mines. So where's the embargo then? Where's the North line zone?

Milton Allimadi (15:10.482)
No, really. As if they think we just go to sleep and we never wake up again. We don't remember the recent history. It was just yesterday that you're running around the world saying you want to save Libyan lives. You had all these meetings around the world. You had embargoes. No arms could come into Libya. No planes could come into Libya. When the Afghan Union wanted to negotiate,

Adesoji Iginla (15:24.684)
Yep.

Adesoji Iginla (15:32.183)
Libya.

Milton Allimadi (15:38.627)
a ceasefire and the end of the war in Libya. The president of South Africa at that time, Jacob Zuma, had to get permission from NATO to fly to Libya because there was a no-fly zone. met with Gaddafi. Gaddafi agreed to a ceasefire. He said, you go ahead, supervise it. Conduct the election, supervise it. I will have no role in planning the election.

Adesoji Iginla (15:48.365)
to fly in, to fly into another African country.

Milton Allimadi (16:08.645)
I only want one condition. I'm allowed to be a candidate. They said no, because they knew he probably would win. Right? But here you have outright genocide. And you're saying, this is complex. We don't know the solution. Nonsense.

Adesoji Iginla (16:12.877)
You

Yeah, yeah, if put to the people.

Milton Allimadi (16:30.32)
And that's where we need to push. We need to push. The victims deserve those of us who see the hypocrisy, to denounce the hypocrisy and call for the right kind of serious measures to end this war in Sudan. But too many people are benefiting from this war. know, prominent, powerful people are benefiting from the war.

Adesoji Iginla (16:47.309)
Mm.

Adesoji Iginla (16:51.469)
True.

Mm. Mm.

Milton Allimadi (16:57.507)
If powerful, prominent people had been benefiting in Libya as well, Gaddafi would still be alive today, just like General Hamdan is alive today.

Adesoji Iginla (17:10.454)
able to make calls.

Milton Allimadi (17:11.866)
Absolutely.

Adesoji Iginla (17:14.093)
I would just like to remind our audience that with regards to what you said about the banditry nature of the conflict, was it not Thomas Ankara who said a gun, a soldier with a gun without a political ideology is nothing more than a bandit?

Milton Allimadi (17:28.165)
Thank you.

Milton Allimadi (17:32.738)
Absolutely. Yeah, I like that. I really love how you are making that connection because that's exactly what it meant. Without ideological training, you have a uniform, you have a gun, you are a bandit. And we are seeing all those bandits today, including these so-called generals, you know. It's amazing how not only in Sudan, all over Africa, we have these great generals. In Uganda, we have General Museveni and his son General Mujozi.

Adesoji Iginla (17:41.523)
Mm hmm. You just.

Mm.

Milton Allimadi (18:01.998)
These are generals only when they're decimating and exterminating civilian population. Unarmed people. When the African generals were needed to be on the front line to liberate South Africa from racist apartheid, we had to go all the way to Cuba to get General Fidel Castro. He didn't even call himself general, right? He didn't even have a military rank.

Adesoji Iginla (18:08.845)
Mm.

Mm.

Milton Allimadi (18:32.388)
But he sent his soldiers to Angola. They destroyed the South African army. Namibia became free. Mandela was released. He became president. Those are true generals. You are committing genocide against civilians and you call yourself a general. Working around in uniforms, you know. What kind of general is that?

Adesoji Iginla (18:32.875)
Hmm.

Adesoji Iginla (18:45.1)
Hmm.

Adesoji Iginla (18:49.707)
on armed civilians.

Hmm. On am civilians as well. I'll just read one. I'll read one last part from from the article. Gold helps pay for the drones, guns and missiles that have killed tens of thousands of civilians and forced 11 million from their homes. It is the price for rampaging fighters and mercenaries who have robbed so many banks and homes that capital now resembles the capital, which is Khartoum.

now resembles a giant crime scene, with fighters gleefully vaunting piles of stolen jewellery and gold bars on social media. They're now even more brazen.

Milton Allimadi (19:38.947)
Yeah, you know.

Adesoji Iginla (19:39.201)
which good with gun

Milton Allimadi (19:41.935)
No, that part actually is the most upsetting that you just read.

Adesoji Iginla (19:45.165)
Hmm.

Milton Allimadi (19:48.687)
because now you have people who are starving, right?

You have so much money, you can buy missiles, you can buy drones, but you're not even saying, this war is a short measure. It's a tragic thing that is ongoing in my country, you so-called young. So, so long as this conflict is going on, it's disrupting food production.

Adesoji Iginla (20:11.787)
Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah.

Adesoji Iginla (20:22.145)
Mm-hmm.

Milton Allimadi (20:23.311)
the ability for my citizens to grow their food, feed their families.

Let me supply food relief because I can afford it.

Milton Allimadi (20:38.157)
Let me use some of this money to make sure that my people are fed.

Adesoji Iginla (20:45.538)
Hmm.

Milton Allimadi (20:46.464)
Instead, you're even blocking foreign relief agencies from bringing food. man. You know, I'm sorry, I hate to say it, but you know how sometimes they say some people just deserve to be lined up against the world? I hate to even be talking on that, but these Sudanese generals are really proving that, you know, they really deserve the ultimate penalty, you know.

Adesoji Iginla (20:54.093)
and

Adesoji Iginla (21:11.917)
There's no redemption.

Milton Allimadi (21:16.169)
It's horrific. They're treating the African people just like colonialists did, just like King Leopold. King Leopold did not care about the Congolese people, exterminated millions, so long as he could get his rubber and ivory. Now, these two Sudanese generals are showing us

that there are no difference between them and Leopold except for the pigmentation. One was a European barbarian. Really, these are two African barbarians.

Adesoji Iginla (21:49.525)
And the...

Adesoji Iginla (22:03.277)
Yes, tragic. It's indicative of the fact that you have these mineral resources. I mean, we clearly know it's not ideological. It's because it's almost war for profit at this point. Not almost, it is war for profit. So the question then lies there.

Milton Allimadi (22:05.687)
Shadik.

Adesoji Iginla (22:32.789)
We know what can be done because we've seen it done before. If sanctions were placed on this on these generals, like you said, 200 million dollars is not to be sniffed at. It's not something you can hide in your sofa or give to someone to bury down a well. You need that money to be turning over somewhere. So the question is, if we know where that money is, why is it that we are not stopping it at that point?

Milton Allimadi (22:53.644)
Absolutely.

Adesoji Iginla (23:02.591)
What is a convenience for the so-called international community to look away knowing fully well, you know what the source of the problem is. You know what fuels the problem. What is stopping you from using known tactics that you've used before on this same.

Milton Allimadi (23:23.776)
They can't because they're tied in with it as in it as well. So the UAE, the Emirates, where the gold is going, then from there being sold all over the world, UAE has what the US wants, which is fuel. So the US cannot squeeze UAE too much. Just like the US cannot squeeze Saudi Arabia that much.

Adesoji Iginla (23:24.79)
the same conflict.

Adesoji Iginla (23:35.277)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Adesoji Iginla (23:45.005)
Mmm.

Adesoji Iginla (23:53.097)
Hmm, no tone of this app.

Milton Allimadi (23:54.282)
Remember all the pronouncements, you know, they killed the journalist, you know, Khashoggi, you know, when Biden was a candidate, you know, if he's elected, he's going to make sure that the Saudis account for that, you know. So he was elected, then the Saudis slowed down the availability of oil. Did you ever hear Biden mention Khashoggi again?

Adesoji Iginla (24:01.79)
That should be it.

Adesoji Iginla (24:13.163)
Not worse.

Milton Allimadi (24:24.521)
So that is the answer, you see?

Adesoji Iginla (24:30.401)
Hmm

Milton Allimadi (24:31.047)
We cannot be tough on UAE because they have the oil and we want the oil and we need the oil. And this is why it's going to take an African solution, but also the neighboring countries, you $200 million is a lot of money, right? And that is what Hamdan got for selling the gold mine under his control. And even though he made the money and now he has come back and seized

Adesoji Iginla (24:55.885)
to the government as well.

Milton Allimadi (24:59.876)
the gold mine back because he's fighting with the people he sold it to. So now he has a new revenue stream from the gold mine which he took, retook control over and he has the 200 million packed, you know, somewhere probably in the UAE, right, where he's doing his business, you see, and he has enough to corrupt the so-called presidents of the neighboring countries. You were told in the article

Adesoji Iginla (25:02.071)
you

Hmm

Hmm.

Milton Allimadi (25:28.911)
I think we didn't read that part about the plane that went to pick up the gold. It landed in Uganda at one point. You think you can land in Uganda without the military dictator saying, okay, you can land, but there's got to be something in it for me too, right?

Adesoji Iginla (25:34.442)
was it

Adesoji Iginla (25:39.949)
You

Adesoji Iginla (25:47.245)
You know, you know the regular payment.

Milton Allimadi (25:47.985)
So that's what we are. Yeah, that's the problem. But we need to be creative and come to the assistance of our sisters and brothers, the children, the elderly, the mothers, the women in Sudan. Not really. We can't wait, say, Europeans are going to do this for us, or who is going to do this for us.

Adesoji Iginla (25:57.549)
Mm.

Adesoji Iginla (26:07.787)
Hmm. Hmm.

Milton Allimadi (26:17.307)
the international community, blah, blah, blah, it has to be driven by Africans.

Adesoji Iginla (26:23.669)
Sudan has been through a lot. We're talking Darfur, we're talking now this so-called manufactured war based

Milton Allimadi (26:34.628)
Absolutely, and I'm glad you framed it that way because that's exactly what it is. And, but if you look at it from outside, you don't know the factors behind it, the external elements behind it. Then you just say, there they go again. Africans on a rampage.

Adesoji Iginla (26:51.245)
Mmm

Milton Allimadi (26:56.26)
to the ordinary person in Europe or the United States or Asia or Caribbean, South America, when they see the news images, what is it? Of course, it's African from the round page.

And that affects the perception toward Africans and toward African descendants all over the world. So that many African descendants around the world don't want to be associated with Africa as well. You see? Because you don't want to keep explaining it every day. Everywhere you go, by the way, come here, I want to explain. You see that the bloodshed in Sudan and all that? Actually,

Adesoji Iginla (27:38.263)
You

Milton Allimadi (27:42.051)
The factors behind it, let me explain to you the external blood, no, nobody has time for that. They see the blood, they see Africans killing other Africans, there they go again.

Adesoji Iginla (27:48.326)
Mm. Mm.

Adesoji Iginla (27:53.409)
That's enough.

Milton Allimadi (27:57.857)
So it works on many levels for imperialism.

Adesoji Iginla (28:01.741)
Hmm.

Milton Allimadi (28:02.709)
right? You're always blaming us for colonialism, neo colonialism. We're not there anymore. Look at what they're doing to each other.

And the general person who doesn't have the turn to listen to explanation, going to agree. yeah.

Adesoji Iginla (28:18.913)
Yeah, yeah, it makes sense. That's how they behave. mean, the media account, you know, the media is a constant.

Milton Allimadi (28:23.17)
And now I understand why they're always being arrested in Harlem or in the Bronx or in East New York or in Brixton, you know? You see? Look at how their people behave in Africa.

Adesoji Iginla (28:31.693)
Mm.

Adesoji Iginla (28:41.613)
If

Hmph. Hmph.

Milton Allimadi (28:47.135)
The damage is not only in Sudan when we see those wars. The damage is not only in Congo. It's not only in Cameroon when we see those wars.

Adesoji Iginla (29:00.237)
Not in Libya, not in the Sahara.

Milton Allimadi (29:00.915)
It's an attack against any African or African descendants wherever they reside in the world.

Adesoji Iginla (29:10.157)
Yes. Thank you for that. it goes to show that minerals inspires internal and external forces in order for them to come together to create the perfect storm, which in this case is Sudan, which

Milton Allimadi (29:31.432)
Absolutely.

Adesoji Iginla (29:36.339)
It takes us to our next story, really. Again, we're talking about the perfect storm. The next story comes from the BBC and is titled Malawi 6 Billions from US firms over Ruby sales. Malawi is in East Central Africa, technically. East Africa, actually. So the story is filed in by Charles Guitonga and Andre Lombard.

Malawi's government is demanding the astonishing sum of £204.5 billion in unpaid taxes and royalties from a US-based gemstone company for rubies exported from the South African state over the last 10 years, its attorney general has told the BBC.

Colombian Gem House, a family-owned business which says it upholds fair trade practices, dismissed the claim as baseless and defamatory. The government retorted it is also demanding 4 billion from French gas total energies in unpaid revenue from an oil storage deal and 9.5 million from Turkish tobacco firm Star AgriTech, says Attorney General Tambo Chachakka.

in your render. Total's energy declined to comment while Star AgriTech denied owing any money. The amount being claimed from the three multinationals is nearly 300 times Malawi's national debt of around 1.2 billion and 22 times its gross domestic product GDP of 14 billion. Malawi was forced to take a 1.174 million bailout.

from the International Monetary Fund, IMF, last year after running into financial trouble. Could you speak to the idea that Africa is poor, but rather reading from this article, you can only deduce Africa being impoverished.

Milton Allimadi (31:52.459)
Alright, so to me...

The most interesting part so much is how the article is being framed.

And this is where we go to the main motivation for our show, right? To unspin the spin. So there's a reference to the astonishing sum.

Adesoji Iginla (32:12.447)
Yes, reframing the narrative.

Milton Allimadi (32:23.752)
Now astonishing here obviously has a negative connotation, right? Astonishing to whom?

Adesoji Iginla (32:30.454)
Yeah.

Milton Allimadi (32:36.498)
It's not astonishing to the Malawiians if it is true that that is the Psalm that is owed.

So the astonishing is meant to undermine the position of the Malawians or the Malawi government.

Adesoji Iginla (32:49.601)
claim.

Adesoji Iginla (32:56.321)
Mm-hmm.

Milton Allimadi (32:58.108)
Astonishing means it is not reasonable.

Adesoji Iginla (33:01.517)
It's outlandish.

Milton Allimadi (33:02.846)
Otherwise, it will not be astonishing. If you are and then they say it's 22 times is GDP.

Milton Allimadi (33:18.397)
But they're not saying it's 22 times its GDP to show how large this owed amount is.

Adesoji Iginla (33:21.323)
over a period of time.

Milton Allimadi (33:33.519)
It is 22 times the GDT to show how preposterous the claim must be. You see? And this is the purpose of this story. This is what this article is supposed to do, to undermine Malawi's claim.

Milton Allimadi (33:53.275)
So that's what I can assess so far. If you read additional parts, I can also give you my comments and analyze it. And the fact that they're bunching all these stories like that, this is what they're asking from the US company Columbia Jam. This is what they're asking from Total Energies. This is what they're asking from the Turkish company. And then they have them saying, you know,

Adesoji Iginla (34:00.735)
Okay, would.

Adesoji Iginla (34:10.381)
You

Adesoji Iginla (34:18.859)
Agri-tech, yeah.

Milton Allimadi (34:23.679)
and defamatory blah blah blah. In other words, the guys who are rejecting it, they're given much more legitimacy in terms of the tone of the presentation of the story as compared to the Malawians whose claims we've already been told are astonishing. You see?

Adesoji Iginla (34:26.733)
Mm-hmm.

Adesoji Iginla (34:37.557)
Mmm. Mmm.

Adesoji Iginla (34:45.286)
astonishing.

Okay, I continue. So still the attorney general is speaking now. He added that some of the evidence will be using comes from Columbia GEMS house itself, such as declaration they have made in the US and what they have reported on their website, which they have now deleted.

Milton Allimadi (35:09.924)
Mm-hmm.

Boom.

Milton Allimadi (35:19.992)
Excellent.

Adesoji Iginla (35:20.097)
The amount is not just for one year. It goes over 10 years back. And it also includes the interest in ureda seed. Yeah.

Milton Allimadi (35:33.37)
Okay, so these you obviously.

regardless of it this article is in the BBC okay so regardless of the BBC's dismissive tone it's quite obvious that we are dealing with some very clever people in Malawi

Adesoji Iginla (35:40.555)
Yeah, it is in the BBC.

Adesoji Iginla (35:45.334)
Hmm.

Adesoji Iginla (35:49.741)
Yep.

Milton Allimadi (35:52.255)
You would not delete something from your own website unless it was incriminating.

Adesoji Iginla (35:59.245)
Hmm.

Milton Allimadi (36:01.015)
to your own position, you see? It would not be deleted. Why would you delete it? That's almost like, that's almost acknowledging, you know, guilt and liability. So I'm the Malawians have the screenshot already captured. And then I also like the fact that they're using their own documentation. The Malawi has already won, I'm telling you. They may not get 309 billion.

Adesoji Iginla (36:03.465)
Mmm. Mmm.

Adesoji Iginla (36:13.133)
Mmm.

Adesoji Iginla (36:17.856)
You

Milton Allimadi (36:30.773)
but they're going to get a substantial sum because

You can't go ahead and say, I lied on the US declaration forms because you're going to be penalized massively in the United States. So Malawi already has money due them based on the declaration that these guys, because obviously, and obviously it's not stated there in the, in the BBC spin, but the Malawians would not bring that up.

Adesoji Iginla (36:41.721)
You

Adesoji Iginla (36:46.239)
Yep. Yep. The US Treasury will come after you.

Mmm.

Adesoji Iginla (37:02.007)
Yeah.

Milton Allimadi (37:05.831)
unless they intend to compare the declaration they made in Malawi with the declaration they made in the US. And obviously there's going to be a substantial difference between those declarations. And that's where the money owed to Malawi is going to come from. You see? And then they'll negotiate and they'll settle on some amount. And most likely, Columbia Jam will say,

Adesoji Iginla (37:14.189)
Yes.

Adesoji Iginla (37:30.332)
Mmm. Mmm.

Milton Allimadi (37:34.568)
This one will give you and in return will continue doing business in Malawi, blah, blah. They'll come to some sort of resolution. But Malawi...

Adesoji Iginla (37:39.073)
give it

Milton Allimadi (37:45.15)
pretty much just judging by that reference alone to the US customs declaration already has money in the bank. This is comparable to, and of course in the case of Guatemala, it did not end up well for President Arbenz in Guatemala. When he came there and he wanted to redistribute land to the landless peasants,

Adesoji Iginla (37:52.682)
You

Adesoji Iginla (37:58.573)
Hmm.

Adesoji Iginla (38:02.955)
Hmm. Yeah. Yeah.

Milton Allimadi (38:14.276)
in Guatemala. He was a very progressive leader, even though he came from the military background. He won decisively. He was an authentic Democrat, actually, like a Sankara, who came from the military. He took the land and he said, okay, United Fruit Company, by the way, the shareholders were the US Secretary of State and the CIA Director. were shareholders in United Fruit Company.

Adesoji Iginla (38:14.669)
which was held by the...

Adesoji Iginla (38:26.007)
Yep.

Adesoji Iginla (38:39.831)
Wait, not like that.

Milton Allimadi (38:43.442)
the Dulles brothers, you So he said, I'm going to pay you for the amount of land that I seized that I'm to redistribute. And he went to the value that they declared in the tax forms in Guatemala. And United States, no, no, no, no, no, the land is worth, I don't even remember, maybe a 10 or 20 times more than the value. So wait a minute.

Adesoji Iginla (38:45.505)
Mmm.

Adesoji Iginla (38:53.261)
Mm.

Milton Allimadi (39:13.808)
So you are under declaring the value, which means you owe us a lot of money now. So what did they do? They went to Eisenhower and they overthrew Arbenz. It's a bit more difficult nowadays to just go back and overthrow somebody in Malawi. So this time I think Malawi will get its money. Arbenz, of course, got kicked out of the presidency instead. But that's why the similarity is remarkable.

Adesoji Iginla (39:18.462)
money. Yep.

Adesoji Iginla (39:24.512)
Mmm. Mmm. Mmm.

Adesoji Iginla (39:32.002)
Hmm.

Hmm.

Adesoji Iginla (39:39.723)
Yeah, in this, yeah. Okay, I continue. And he said, Columbia Gem House said it does not operate in Malawi but buys its gemstones from Iyalan Mines, a Malawian-owned company in which the government has a 10 % stake. However, Yerinda told the BBC that as a minority shareholder,

Milton Allimadi (39:43.462)
Yes.

Adesoji Iginla (40:07.937)
The government was not involved in the day-to-day management of the company and the name of Iyalah Mines has been changed to disguise its ownership. I wonder by whom.

Milton Allimadi (40:20.173)
Yeah, this is just this is just propaganda. That's like when Glencore was making billions of dollars from Zambia's copper, the local company was called Mopani. That was the Zambian mine itself. But it was just these guys, you know, to benefit Glencore. And that's the same thing that's probably going on in Malawi, you know.

Adesoji Iginla (40:25.485)
Mm.

Adesoji Iginla (40:38.232)
subsidiary.

Adesoji Iginla (40:49.062)
Mm. And, go on.

Milton Allimadi (40:51.853)
At one point in Zambia, there's over a period of time, I think it was one year, they produced, I think it was like maybe three billion worth of copper. And at the end of the year, instead of revenue for Zambia, Zambia owed Glencoe, I think, about $100 million.

Hahaha!

Adesoji Iginla (41:21.975)
For what?

Milton Allimadi (41:25.934)
I'm telling you, you know, these people are just preposterous. This is what the BBC should refer to as astonishing. That you can produce three billion of copper and that you owe the company that's profiting. Why? Because they imposed for the electricity, right? The electricity was very costly to run the mine operations and the rate

Adesoji Iginla (41:42.507)
Mmm. Mmm.

Adesoji Iginla (41:50.54)
Yeah.

Adesoji Iginla (41:54.72)
Okay.

Milton Allimadi (41:55.649)
that they got Zambia to commit to. That's how Zambia ended up. in Glencombe, honey.

Adesoji Iginla (42:03.691)
I mean, there is a recurring pattern now, which regards to these companies that are operating in the African environment. The stories of Shell in Nigeria is legendary. The story in Ghana, which regards to the aluminum smelting company. We've heard now of the one in Burkina Faso.

Milton Allimadi (42:20.013)
You're right.

Milton Allimadi (42:29.282)
Yep.

Adesoji Iginla (42:33.941)
We we lent last year of the one in Niger and now and now this and the one in Congo. mean.

Milton Allimadi (42:38.027)
Yep, absolutely.

Milton Allimadi (42:44.887)
glad we are doing this focus today. And I think the obvious suggestion that we should do a lot more and we encourage all our African system brothers who are doing podcasts and commentaries on a regular basis, start focusing on this because this is where they're really stealing our resources. You know, they're stealing our money. You know, don't be focusing all the time on, know,

Adesoji Iginla (42:48.365)
Hmm.

Adesoji Iginla (42:58.445)
Hmm.

Adesoji Iginla (43:06.551)
sauces. Yep. Yep.

Adesoji Iginla (43:14.312)
leaders yeah

Milton Allimadi (43:15.357)
Yeah, the US is snubbing an African country, whereas Russia and China seem to be better options. Just because they're in opposition to the US, yes, that's interesting, but that's superficial. How is that going to benefit us as Africans? What will benefit us is if we stop our leaders.

Adesoji Iginla (43:25.377)
Hmm

Adesoji Iginla (43:36.397)
very superficial.

Milton Allimadi (43:42.492)
from helping the outside world steal our resources. That's why we like the kind of things that we're seeing in Malawi now. They're demanding for their money. You know, we like the fact that Mali is doing the same thing, Niger doing the same thing, Kina Faso doing the same thing.

Adesoji Iginla (43:49.953)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Adesoji Iginla (43:56.386)
Mm-hmm.

Adesoji Iginla (43:59.789)
Also to chime with that, you remember this book, Neo-colonialism and the Last Stage of Imperialism. And Krumah is actually very clear in there where he says how all these companies come in, usually they're offshored, come in, have a local guy who will be their front, your resources, and this sort of scenario will happen.

Milton Allimadi (44:09.596)
Yep.

Milton Allimadi (44:22.095)
Exactly.

Milton Allimadi (44:28.006)
Yep, the black face, the African face.

Adesoji Iginla (44:30.087)
Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's I mean, it's.

Milton Allimadi (44:33.628)
Look at what they did to Congo. Congo, they made Moise Tshombe, the blackface. A true buffoon who undermined Mobutu, I Lumumba, allowed them to impose Mobutu in power, allowed Belgium to reinvade Congo through the Katanga region.

Adesoji Iginla (44:40.333)
Mm.

Hmm. Could you explain that for those people who don't s-

Mm. Mm.

Adesoji Iginla (45:01.395)
Yep. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Hmm.

And as they say now, the rest is history. The history is play.

Milton Allimadi (45:09.083)
The rest is history, but that's why it's important for our young people to know our history. Then you'll find yourself in a better position to understand what you see happening today, a better position to make the connections, and then a better position to propose the solutions to the problems facing us.

Adesoji Iginla (45:27.533)
I'll take one final part from that story and it is... where is it? Yes. As for the dispute with Star Agritech International, the government accuses of buying 3 million tons of tobacco worth 15 million from Malawi through three subsidiaries. Remember the stuff Unkrumah was talking about? Registered in Mauritius, Hong Kong and South Africa in 2013 but failing to pay for it.

Milton Allimadi (45:51.388)
Yep.

Adesoji Iginla (45:56.865)
Malawi Leaf Company, the state-owned enterprise that sold the tobacco, took legal action in Hong Kong and won the case. Iyeng Reda said over 9.5 million was proven in a Hong Kong court, he said, adding that Malawi wanted Star Agritech International to pay the amount. I mean, again.

Milton Allimadi (46:21.539)
you

Adesoji Iginla (46:22.849)
This book was written in 1963, where in 2024, they're still using the same old tactics. And because we've not been able to connect history to what we're experiencing, know, kudos to this attorney general. clearly, yeah, he clearly knows what, go on.

Milton Allimadi (46:44.557)
Yes, absolutely.

In fact, we should try to make a connection with him and invite him in a future discussion on our show. Definitely.

Adesoji Iginla (46:52.877)
Hmm.

Adesoji Iginla (46:58.421)
I'll try that. Yeah, yeah. I mean, it's mind boggling that all of this stuff, again, this thing is so painful that...

All of this history has been documented to the point where Unkrumah was removed from power because of this book.

Milton Allimadi (47:20.832)
Not only that, remember the US wrote, the State Department wrote an official complaint to the government of Ghana because of a book authored by the president of a whole country. You write an official protest when everything in the book was factual. He was just saying stop exploiting Africa and Africans, here's how we stop it. We come together from the United States of Africa. They wrote an official protest.

Adesoji Iginla (47:34.421)
Yeah!

Adesoji Iginla (47:40.429)
Factual.

Milton Allimadi (47:50.104)
They cut off so-called foreign aid, which they had already committed, which at the time in 1965 was $25 million, which is today more than $300 million. And then, of course, the next year, 1966, as you said, the CIA participated in the coup d'etat that overthrew Nkrumah.

Adesoji Iginla (47:55.339)
Mm-hmm.

Adesoji Iginla (47:59.498)
million dollars here.

Adesoji Iginla (48:12.749)
Wow, it's funny how one makes all the connections with what has gone before. And we get a lot of hits by fantastic headlines, astonishing amounts. It's only astonishing because you consider the people asking less than if

Milton Allimadi (48:29.464)
Yeah.

Milton Allimadi (48:36.073)
Absolutely. That too, that is another reference to why it's astonishing. Thank you for bringing that up. Absolutely, I agree with you.

Adesoji Iginla (48:39.051)
Hmm. Hmm. So if, it's had been an European company making that claim on an European country, you

Milton Allimadi (48:48.163)
right, and saying it's over a period of 10 years, you would not call it astonishing. You would not say it's X times the size of its GDP and all that stuff. Yeah, I agree with you.

Adesoji Iginla (48:51.743)
You exactly you.

Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. But you know, going on to the next story, the last two stories now have been talking about capital. The plane lands from the UAE in Potsdam, takes out minerals and goes. Another company comes in, takes your mineral undeclared. But what about human beings? Is it possible for human beings to have unfettered access to the entire continent and just move around?

And for that story, we're going to the Financial Times. The Financial Times writes, and I share, on free movement. It says, on free movement, why can't Africans travel around Africa? Citizens with local passports have more difficulty moving across the continents than Europeans and American visitors. This story is filed in by Anu Adeoye. And it's tied to, and it goes in. It leads with,

The Nigerian industrialist Aliko Dangote, and I don't have much in common with him. While he oversees his sprawling empire worth billions of dollars, I spend my days here writing about business and wondering which countries will next fall prey to the whims of disgruntled poachers. But we are both African citizens who share a common bugbear, the maddening and often infuriating process of traveling across the continent with a domestic passport. As an investor, this is Dangote speaking.

As someone who wants to make Africa's great, have to apply for 35 different visas," Dangote said at a business forum in Rwanda earlier this year. I really don't have time to go and drop my passport to embassies to get a visa. The Nigerian embassy in Central African Republic rarely refreshes its data, and good luck trying to find information on how to get a Burundian visa via the country's official website.

Adesoji Iginla (50:53.163)
What do you think one can put this down to?

Milton Allimadi (50:57.972)
Well, obviously.

Milton Allimadi (51:03.85)
You know, because of the propaganda.

Adesoji Iginla (51:08.269)
Hmm.

Milton Allimadi (51:09.658)
Africans don't have the right attitude toward fellow Africans, you So the European is presumed to be bringing something of value. So he can come unfettered, have free access to come into any African country. He's bringing value and addition to the stock of whatever you already have.

Adesoji Iginla (51:15.007)
Milton Allimadi (51:37.928)
Whereas another African, this is for general African, not the ones that are well known like this billionaire Nigerian who could easily actually get a special waiver for every African country. So we know that. So using him, I know the why they're doing it for the newspaper article.

to dramatize it, right? But in reality, you know, who is going to stop Dandodara from going to any other Africa, any African country? But it is generally a big problem because the African mind in many, you know, circumstances don't see other Africans as bringing value to the table. So you see an African coming to a country as being a burden.

some sort, you see? And this is preposterous because these borders were drawn by the people who colonized you and victimized you, and yet you fail to rectify some of the most concrete manifestations of the colonial era, which are these borders that continues to divide

Adesoji Iginla (53:01.037)
colonialism.

Milton Allimadi (53:07.104)
African countries, you know And it speaks to the level of unseriousness When it comes to our leaderships and you know, i'm glad that in 1997 when julius nyerere spoke at gana's 40th independence celebration anniversary, he was Honest enough to admit

Adesoji Iginla (53:29.217)
anniversary anniversary

Milton Allimadi (53:35.863)
that his generation did not do a good job in terms of forming a United States or Africa. And he says, as a result, Africa remains the weakest, most marginalized, most exploited, and most ignored continent. And he said he hopes that the contemporary generation and the next generation hopes that they are able to do a better job in your

Adesoji Iginla (54:04.193)
Hmm.

Milton Allimadi (54:04.845)
bringing a United States of Africa. And he said Nkrumah was right, meaning he was acknowledging that he was incorrect because he was one of the presidents who made the most sharpest attacks against Nkrumah. At the first OAU meeting, Organization of African Union meeting, now of course is the African Union. At that time was Organization of African Union. He made the sharpest attacks at the 1963 conference in Addis Ababa.

which was the first conference. And he also made another sharp attack in 1964 when the conference was in Cairo, in Egypt. So it goes back to what Nyerere was willing to admit, which is the situation today. We need to do a better job in working toward the United States of Africa so that we don't need those borders that are preventing the free movement of

Adesoji Iginla (54:52.365)
Hmm.

Milton Allimadi (55:03.746)
fellow Africans from one part of the continent to another.

Adesoji Iginla (55:04.257)
African.

I just read some final parts. There's a part here. Ethiopia, which is an irony, does not guarantee visa free travel to all citizens of the continent despite housing the headquarters of the African Union. To make matters worse, like you said earlier, Europeans and US citizens can often travel across the continent more freely than African nationals.

There's a booming trade in wealthy Africans seeking second citizenship, partly to solve this problem. Citizenship and residency firm Henley and Partners have opened up shop on the continent to take advantage of this situation. Simplifying travel is important if the continent is serious about building deeper internal trade and cultural ties. It is not just people who find it hard to move between countries. Inter-African trade

made up only 15 % of the continent's trade in 2023, according to the African Export-Import Bank at $192 billion. The African Continental Free Trade Zone Free Trade Area was born out of a desire to foster more deals. A key tenet of the agreement modelled on the European Single Market is the free movement of people. Yet, a decade after the agreement

Only 32 of Africa's 54 countries have signed up to it and a measly four, Mali, Niger, Rwanda, and South Tome and Prisipi have ratified it. These four shorts of 15 nation minimum require to bring it into force. At present, Benin, Gambia, Rwanda, Seychelles are the only countries that guarantee vis-a-vis travel for all Africans. Your thoughts?

Milton Allimadi (57:02.646)
I mean, I can't add anything to what you just said. You know, that just reinforces what I had just said. You know, it's just tragic. What I can say is that I was not aware that only four countries have ratified it so far. That's very shameful. I was not aware of that.

Adesoji Iginla (57:05.447)
Hahaha!

Adesoji Iginla (57:10.05)
Mmm.

Adesoji Iginla (57:22.047)
or about Ethiopia's position as the capital.

Milton Allimadi (57:25.268)
Yeah, that's good. You know, it's the hypocrisy. But, you know, I would like to add this.

Africans must learn to love themselves, number one. Don't be ashamed that you are an African. Don't look at the artificial poverty that burdens your country and your condition. That is not your true value. You know, you should concentrate on understanding the forces that keep you impoverished. Impoverished does not mean you are poor.

Adesoji Iginla (57:39.629)
Mm.

Milton Allimadi (58:05.791)
Improvisation means you are being denied the capability of using your resources to build wealth and prosperity for yourself. So don't look at your condition and think it's a permanent condition and then say that is your value and undervalue yourself and undervalue fellow Africans as well. Because you see that condition as well and then you associate them with

Adesoji Iginla (58:11.565)
Mm.

Adesoji Iginla (58:15.405)
Mm.

Adesoji Iginla (58:23.682)
Hmm

Milton Allimadi (58:35.178)
poverty instead of trying to realize and finding out. have given you examples of a few countries today. The ones who are enduring conflict like Sudan, the one that is trying to recover its stolen wealth like Malawi. So that should tell you that the elements, external elements, combined of course with domestic elements such as bad leadership in many African countries.

which is imposing those artificial conditions on you. The main point I'm trying to suggest is that

How can you accord more value to non-Africans than to Africans?

Milton Allimadi (59:24.416)
That's not correct. And there many examples of this and I'll give you just very basic examples. Many years ago, I was in a hotel restaurant and many of us know of this because it's happened to somebody you know or it's happened to you. I'm sitting at the restaurant. I'm waiting there to be served with a friend. know, I'm sure the waiter has seen me. We are still waiting. We're still waking.

And then a European party comes into the restaurant and they sit and the waiters rush to serve them. When we had been there for quite some time waiting to be served. You see? Let me give you another example. I have a Jamaican friend who had not gone back to Jamaica for a long time. She's a teacher, she taught in New York, she became a principal, very accomplished, you know.

young lady, successful in her profession. So she had not been to Jamaica maybe for 15 or even more years. So she's happy that she has landed back home. So she comes to the hotel and she's in line waiting to check in. And now it's her turn. And the person at the check-in desk is looking beyond her, stretching to look behind her because there's a European behind her.

and saying, may I help you?

to the European couple standing behind her.

Milton Allimadi (01:01:06.119)
Think about that. A fellow African, Jamaicans are Africans, know, whether they, there some who recognize that and there's some that don't. But a fellow African looking beyond a fellow Jamaican African and European standing behind them to check them in. Of course, to their credit, the Europeans refused. They said, no, this lady is in front of us. What are you doing?

On her way back to come back to New York, and needless to say, she has never gone back. On her way to come back, the planes, you you board on the field, so you walk toward the plane and you board. And the line of people coming, coming. It comes her turn, she's asked to step aside. So what do you mean? They need to do additional search.

Adesoji Iginla (01:01:35.533)
Hmm.

Adesoji Iginla (01:01:40.989)
Milton Allimadi (01:02:01.817)
And once again, even the European passengers were so embarrassed, they refused to board the plane. Said, wait, what are you doing? Why aren't you calling anybody else except this lady?

Milton Allimadi (01:02:18.671)
She went to have a joyous visit back to her country. She came back in tears and vowing not to go back. So I hope there's a bigger lesson here. Africans, love yourself and love other Africans.

Adesoji Iginla (01:02:22.187)
Now you traumatize them.

Adesoji Iginla (01:02:37.239)
Yes, I just want to add some intellectual work to what we've done in terms of the fact that all of these stories have a backstory, which we cannot possibly do justice to in the time we allotted this show. So in looking at France's footsteps or footprints on the African continent,

Please read Africa's Last Colonial Currency. This book here. It gives you an idea, a broad idea of what France has done with regards to its pre-colonial, post-colonial adventures on the African continent. Of course, there is the classic, How Europe Underdeveloped Africa, which again we speak to. I mean, the stuff we're talking about in

Malawi is a classic example. You're taken from people and you're not alluding to what it is you're doing. We didn't get around to Congo, but Congo is a constant feature. It's Congo, the plunder and resistance. The people of Congo have been plundered now since the 1860s and they're still being plundered till today. Kwame Nkrumah in Neo-Colonelism, The Last Stage of Imperialism tells you about

Milton Allimadi (01:03:57.464)
Yes.

Adesoji Iginla (01:04:03.935)
what transpires, how they do it, who amongst us are, what do they call them, the African accomplices? Yes, the African accomplices. And one final one is that when wars do happen in Africa, they don't happen in a vacuum. They usually happen because there is something of value wherever it is. It's either the two

Milton Allimadi (01:04:13.433)
complicit. Right.

Adesoji Iginla (01:04:33.601)
people on the ground are fighting to control it so that they can export it or they've been, what's the word? The atmosphere has been manufactured for them to ensure that they do it. you go to no other than, this book was released in, was compiled in 1959, but was released in 1963 and is titled The Review, A Review of the Natural Resources of the African Continent. was review...

It was compiled by UNESCO. There's a huge map at the back. And that map contains the field survey of all the valuable resources on the African continent. You know, the where the water agroforests are, the flora and fauna, I mean, the most fertile land. So when you see European settlers, look at these books and you can spot where they are. So.

Milton Allimadi (01:05:05.068)
Excellent.

Milton Allimadi (01:05:25.068)
Right.

Adesoji Iginla (01:05:33.011)
Again, thank you all for coming through. We have to thank Brother Milton who was taking time off his busy schedule. He's a student once again, and he's been complaining, he's been sporting gray hairs. Not that we can see on the screen, but you know. So Brother Milton, last words.

Milton Allimadi (01:05:55.662)
no, I'm glad you showed many of these remarkable books. Of course, as we always say, knowledge is really power. Knowledge of history is even much more powerful. lets you understand where we are today as people. It lets you know where we came from as people. And then best of all, it lets you know what are the possibilities going forward. But...

Adesoji Iginla (01:06:04.907)
Mm.

Adesoji Iginla (01:06:14.605)
Mm.

Milton Allimadi (01:06:24.154)
What do we also need to do to get to where we want to reach? What is the vision that we have for Africa? It has to have a transformative vision. We can't say, we want to be treated better by the outside world. We want to be treated better by the United States, to be treated better by Europe, to be treated better by China. That's too passive.

We want to be able to guide our destiny and then let people deal with us on our own terms, just like we deal with people outside Africa on their own terms. That should be our vision as Africans.

Adesoji Iginla (01:07:04.049)
Mm. Mm. Mm. Mm.

So yeah, I would leave you with this. Please, if this is your first time here, do like, share, subscribe, and do all the necessary stuff. You know, each one bring one, as we say. It's not an African family without bringing your family to the cookout or the gathering, as it were. But it's important that we are aware of Africa's agency.

which is the reason why we're doing what we're doing here. And we hope to continue with your support. And yes, it will be see you next week. But a Milton.

Milton Allimadi (01:07:52.955)
for hearing and I'll to continue.

Adesoji Iginla (01:07:54.625)
Aluta continue, victoria setta. And thank you all for coming through. Thank you and good night.