Chika Onyeani sees an innate Arab hatred of Africans

The distardly and barbaric bombings in London, UK, has once against
demonstrated the innate Arab hatred of Africans.  Of course, I need
to state from the onset that I am not a fan of the gathering in Gleneagles, Scotland, to discuss
how Africa's debt burden should be resolved.  In an earlier piece I had
written, I had pointed out the differences between the modes of relief that are
being offered - the debt recollection/cancellation which I favor
against the debt relief which is what is being touted.  I had also expressed my displeasure at
the Live 8, which though well meaning on the part of its organizers,
nevertheless, reduces Africans to the perpetual status of continual
poverty  -  albeit degradingly truthful nevertheless.

In fact, here is a email I received from Victoria Darrah in California on
this issue: "I have been perusing your website anxiously waiting for your
comments on these Live 8 concerts that happened over the weekend.
Have you been following the hoopla.  Something about it hit me very wrong, it was all so
patronizing, as though they have the answers for Africa.  It is good
to focus on Africa, but to focus so intensely on poverty does not sit well with me.  What
really irritated me was the fact that they thought African artists
did not deserve to be on the same stage as the Western groups, and after the organizers were
criticized they had to set up an all-African concert in S. Africa to placate
us.  How rude!"  She said it all.  Victoria is originally from Uganda.

I have no doubt in my mind that the bastardly act in London was a calculated
attempt to once again shove Africa's issues aside and mopolize the news with
the Arab cause.  These Arab terrorists don't believe that African issues matter
much to them, because they don't value African lives, believing that we are
still the same slaves they used to cart away but still cart away in the Sudan
and Mauritania.  The tragedy in all of this, is that there is a lot of Africans
who myopically support the Arab cause in the Iraq, Palestine and elsewhere,
while the sentiment is not reciprocated by the Islamic countries as represented
in the Organization of Islamic countries (OIC).

Today was supposed to be the beginning of a conference of world leaders under
which African issues - attempted eradication of poverty in Africa - would
have occupied center stage in the discussions.  But what do these
Arab terrorists do?  They chose today to commit their bastardly act, thereby shunting aside
Africa's needs in favor of whatever the Al Qaeda is fighting for the Arab
cause.  Would it be fat-fetched then for these leaders to turn
around, and say to Africa, listen old chap, I am sorry, whatever resources I was going to provide
to Africa, I would now have to need them to combat Al Qaeda terrorists?
Wouldn't it be insensitive on our part to look them in the eye and
say to them, oh, we must hold you to your promise?  Would that be the response of an caring
humane people, not to recognize the others' agonies?

When you think about it, you see this pattern of attempts at relegating
African issues from the center stage into the back burner by these
perpetrators. In the past 15 years, Africans have become canon fodder for these Arab
terrorists.  On August 7, 1998, these Arab terrorists led by Osama
bin Laden ignored the presence of American embassies in many Arab nations, but chose two African and Tanzania - where they killed almost 300 people and
wounded more than another 5000 in bombing two American embassies.  Not only was
this act a way of telling Africans, listen fools, we don't value your
lives, but you can't do any sh-t about our brazen effrontery.  To add insult to injury,
not one of the Islamic countries condemned the bombings.  The families of those
who were killed were never compensated, either by the Arab countries and just
last year, U.S. courts threw out the suit brought the African families to get
some compensation from the American government.  Nobody paid for the
rebuilding of the properties lost by Africans, but the American
government of course compensated the families of the 12 Americans who died in the bombings.

As I would write in the "Rape of a Continent," in the December 13-19, 2001,
of the African Sun Times, "The date was October 6,1973, a day the Jews begin
the observance of Yom Kippur, as well as the continued observance of Ramadan by
Muslims. The time that day was 2:00 p.m., and that was when the mighty armies
of Egypt and Syria launched Operation Badr to retake the land that Israel had
taken from the Arab countries in their 1967 war. Egypt, the mighty country in
north-eastern Africa, never consulted any of the black African countries
before launching its attack, but as the outcome would later indicate,
Black African leaders would become pawns in the Arab war with Israel.

With the zeal of anti-imperialism still in the air, and racist apartheid in
South Africa and Rhodesia waxing strong, Arab leaders would employ the fervent
of Africa's angst on these issues to manipulate the leaders into breaking off
diplomatic relations with Israel. But when the Black African leaders balked at
a meeting in Tripoli, Libya, fearing that their action would invite
retaliation from Western nations which would cut off financial aid to
Africans, one after the other of the Arab countries rose to pledge more than $1 billion. Most
of the African countries went on to break off diplomatic relations with Israel,
and none would receive a cent of the promised $1 billion from the Arab
countries."

Nothing has changed, it is either using Africans as pawns in the larger
Arab-Israeli conflict, wantonly killing innocent Africans because we
are unable to lift a finger in retaliation, of selecting a time when world leaders are
focused on African issues to bomb London so that Africa would not be
the top topic in the news ladder.  If this is not innate hatred of Africans by these Arabs,
I need to be convinced.