By Andreas Reiss 7 February 2004
The list of those accompanying German chancellor Gerhard Schröder on his recent visit to Africa reads like a Who's Who of German big business: Jürgen Schrempp from DaimlerChrysler, Wolfgang Mayrhuber from Lufthansa, Rolf Kunisch from Beiersdorf and Commerzbank chief executive Martin Kohlhaussen. A total of 23 business chiefs travelled with Schröder on his trip through Ethiopia, Kenya, Ghana and South Africa.
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According to a report in Der Spiegel, French president Chirac and British prime minister Blair have been agitating for months "that the EU must engage more strongly in the crisis regions of the divided continent-when necessary with European troops." In Africa, "the performance of a joint security and defence policy should be put to the test. In particular, the French link this with the bold demand that Europe emerge alongside the US as a global player. To this end, Africa is the ideal world region, because unlike the Middle East, most conflicts can be checked with limited forces."
According to the magazine, the former rivals have already drawn up a plan in Brussels for a future intervention in Africa by EU forces. Possible targets for intervention include Burundi, the Ivory Coast, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Sudan and Zimbabwe. Germany intends playing an intensive role and will contribute 18,000 troops to the planned 60,000-strong EU intervention force.
Apparently, there is agreement in the German chancellery and foreign ministry on this point. In light of the anticipated domestic opposition, the military engagement, however, is to take place one step at a time-as in the case of the Balkans. In the first place, "humanitarian assistance" is to be sent in the form of a medical corps; then the dispatch of "observers," staff officers and specialists; and later, for their protection, small contingents of troops, which will then eventually be reinforced by larger fighting units.
As usual, it is Green Party leader Joschka Fischer who has been given the job of finding an historical justification for the newly awakened military ambitions. Whereas the legacy of the Holocaust supposedly obliged Germany to prevent the alleged genocide of the Kosovans and bomb Belgrade, now the 1884-85 Berlin Conference is cited as a precedent. In Berlin at that time, under the mediation of German chancellor Otto von Bismarck, France and England divided a large portion of the African continent between them. Now when it comes down to the issue of the bloody heritage of colonialism, it is necessary that the Europeans stick together. "This cannot be left to the two colonial powers," Fischer blustered in the German cabinet.
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http://www.wsws.org/articles/2004/feb2004/afri-f07_prn.shtml