Several weeks ago, Michael Langley, the head of US Africa Command (or AFRICOM), testified in front of the Senate Armed Services Committee and stated that Ibrahim Traore, the current president of Burkina Faso, “is using the country’s gold reserves for personal protection rather than for the benefit of its people,” an absurd claim, considering that the US Department of Defense, which Langley works for, has stolen $1 trillion from US taxpayers in this year’s budget alone.
It’s clear that with Traoré and the larger Alliance of Sahel State’s nationalization of natural resources for the needs of the people, the US has started their typical regime change playbook of levelling accusations and slander so that it can keep stealing.
As people of conscience who care about ending the extraction of the people and planet, we need to tell Langley to stop lying!
We, the undersigned, are writing to you to address your hypocrisy that is being weaponized to destabilize the sovereignty of Burkina Faso, by leveling accusations against President Ibrahim Traoré that he is usign the country’s gold reserves for his own benefit.
These accusations are neither surprising nor based in fact or the interests of the people. When the US’s allies like France can no longer extract uranium from Niger that supplies so much of its energy, and can no longer take gold with little benefit for the people of Burkina Faso, of course you’re threatened by the region asserting its sovereignty, creating gold reserves, and creating infrastructure for domestic agriculture.
AFRICOM’s history is rooted in coordination with NATO to destabilize and bomb Libya, and terrorism and drone strikes have only increased since its creation. So when states regain their sovereignty, start nationalizing resources, and push out US and Western military presence, it's no surprise that you would start hurling accusations.
This assault on the Burkinabé people’s sovereignty and the legitimacy of a new Pan-African project in the Sahel is also part of an obvious and pointless escalation against other nations. Traoré’s recent meeting with the heads of state of China, Venezuela, and Russia shows that a multilateral world is emerging. And your trillion-dollar department, threatened by the loss of its dominion, insists on pursuing a dangerous cold war against China, to contain China’s influence, and refuses to cooperate on green technology. You plow through any region that you view as a battleground, be it the Asia-Pacific or the Sahel. And always at the expense of life in all forms.
The bases that you litter throughout the African continent, part of the US’s over 800 bases globally, only poison local ecosystems, and act as launching pads for war. So don’t pretend like these accusations are in the best interest of people in the Sahel. For the people of the Sahel, stop lying, let Burkina Faso live, and take you hands off the continent.