More Neocolonial Bullying – US To Ghana

Oil Companies Impose Foreign Policy On Ghana

“Some of the oil companies operating in the Jubilee Field have taken an unprecedented step to control Ghana’s foreign policy and reduce the country to nothing more than an instrument of US hostility against other countries.

In a proposal to the Government of Ghana, the Companies are insisting that Ghana should automatically apply US sanctions against Iran, Cuba and Sudan.

Map of Ghana offshore oil fields including Jubilee and Dzata

The exact proposal is contained in the “Jubilee Field Unit Crude Oil Lifting Agreement” which is scheduled to be discussed in London next week.

It states that “All export tankers owned, technically managed or commercially operated by a company headquartered in, or flying flags of US sanctioned countries shall be automatically rejected.

“At present these countries are, Cuba, Iran and Sudan.

“TGL reserves the right to specify certain further flag states to be subject to this section 1.7 if they have been found not to comply with TGL vetting procedure.”

The proposal is calculated to undermine relations between Ghana and Cuba, Iran and Sudan and does not take account of the strategic interest of the people of Ghana.

Ghana has excellent relations with Iran which spans the fields of Health, Agriculture, Education and Culture.

Last month Iran gave Ghana a grant of US$1.5 million and tractors for the agricultural sector.

Iran has also established a University and a Clinic in Accra.

Every year, Cuba gives Ghana at least 200 health workers who keep the country’s health delivery system alive.

Cuban experts are also currently working on a malaria eradication project in Ghana and other West African States.

Over the last 30 years, Cuba has provided scholarships to thousands of Ghanaians to study in different fields.

If the Government of Ghana accepts these demands it will turn Ghana into a poodle of the US and undermine her credibility in the African Union and the Non-Aligned
Movement.”

Kwesi Pratt, The Insight Newspaper comments at GhanaWeb

Deja vu all over again

Differences over Ghana’s foreign policy caused the US to engineer and support the coup that overthrew Nkrumah.

What new kind of interference may we be looking at?

With whom is the US Africa Command partnering?

US Embassies are actively engaged in spying on African countries and citizens, collecting:

-- Biographic and biometric data, including health, opinions 
toward the US, training history, ethnicity (tribal and/or 
clan), and language skills of key and emerging political, 
military, intelligence, opposition, ethnic, religious, and 
business leaders.  Data should include email addresses, 
telephone and fax numbers, fingerprints, facial images, DNA, 
and iris scans.
09STATE37561

It seems like US foreign policy can be summed up with a line I heard in a cartoon this week: A friend is just an enemy who has not attacked yet.

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b real Says:

December 9, 2010 at 12:36 pm

wrt nigeria

guardian: WikiLeaks cables: Shell’s grip on Nigerian state revealed

The oil giant Shell claimed it had inserted staff into all the main ministries of the Nigerian government, giving it access to politicians’ every move in the oil-rich Niger Delta, according to a leaked US diplomatic cable.

The company’s top executive in Nigeria told US diplomats that Shell had seconded employees to every relevant department and so knew “everything that was being done in those ministries”. She boasted that the Nigerian government had “forgotten” about the extent of Shell’s infiltration and was unaware of how much the company knew about its deliberations.

The cache of secret dispatches from Washington’s embassies in Africa also revealed that the Anglo-Dutch oil firm swapped intelligence with the US…

…

Cables from Nigeria show how Ann Pickard, then Shell’s vice-president for sub-Saharan Africa, sought to share intelligence with the US government on militant activity and business competition in the contested Niger Delta – and how, with some prescience, she seemed reluctant to open up because of a suspicion the US government was “leaky”.

But that did not prevent Pickard disclosing the company’s reach into the Nigerian government when she met US ambassador Robin Renee Sanders, as recorded in a confidential memo from the US embassy in Abuja on 20 October 2009.

At the meeting, Pickard related how the company had obtained a letter showing that the Nigerian government had invited bids for oil concessions from China. She said the minister of state for petroleum resources, Odein Ajumogobia, had denied the letter had been sent but Shell knew similar correspondence had taken place with China and Russia.

The ambassador reported: “She said the GON [government of Nigeria] had forgotten that Shell had seconded people to all the relevant ministries and that Shell consequently had access to everything that was being done in those ministries.”

…

The cable concludes with the observation that the oil executive had tended to be guarded in discussion with US officials. “Pickard has repeatedly told us she does not like to talk to USG [US government] officials because the USG is ‘leaky’.” She may be concerned that … bad news about Shell’s Nigerian operations will leak out.”

(xcroc – moa is currently back online)

xcroc Says:

December 9, 2010 at 7:59 pm

Thanks for the tip. I poked around a bit and Nigerian Curiosity has the text of a number of the cables relevant to Nigeria up with NaijaLeaks in the titles.

Although it is not entirely surprising to learn these things. It is very interesting to have them confirmed. Shell’s collusion in the death of Ken Saro-Wiwa was infuriating at the time and is no less so now. It is also interesting that talks with the US Ambassador appear to have influenced Goodluck Jonathan’s choice of VP. One of the messages I get from the bits of the cables I’ve read so far and from other things I’ve been reading lately, including africa comments, is how much of a hand the US is having in selecting governments for African countries.

Roger Pociask had a post with a timely selection from one cable regarding the Great Lakes area that makes pretty clear just how militarized US foreign policy has become.

I gather there is one not yet released called the West Africa Littoral directive that has more information relevant to Ghana. So I’m waiting for it.

You probably know you can get to WikiLeaks here: http://88.80.13.160/ (at least for now)

delighted about moa :)

Crossed Crocodiles