Transaqua

Freeman Speaks on China-Africa Strategy at Respected Beijing Xiangshan Forum-Part 1

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The 11th Beijing Xiangshan Forum kicks off on September 12, 2024 and will last through September 14. More than 500 representatives from official delegations of more than 100 countries and international organizations, in addition to over 200 Chinese and foreign experts and scholars, attended the event. Photo: VCG

The 11th Beijing Xiangshan Forum September 12-14, 2024. Photo: VCG

September 19, 2024

I was invited to participate in the 11th Beijing Xiangshan Forum, held this year between September 12-14. With over a thousand guests and dozens of panels of scholars and experts, the conference provided a unique opportunity for open dialogues on critical strategic issues.

The title of the three day conference was: Promoting Peace for a Shared Future. It was co-sponsored by the China Association of Military Sciences (CAMS), and the China Institute for International strategic Studies (CIISS). I spoke on a panel entitled: Peace Building in Africa and Prospects for China-Africa Security Cooperation

Below is a slightly edited version of my delivered remarks.

Let Economic Development Ensure Peace and Security

Lawrence Freeman, Political-Economic Analyst for Africa, and Global Strategist, USA

September 13, 2024, Beijing, China.

Greetings. It is a pleasure to be with all of you today, at this conference.

I have been involved in Africa for 35 years. For the last three decades I have traveled throughout sub-Saharan Africa dozens of times. I have seen poverty. I have been in conflict areas. My approach is always to propose solutions that can alleviate the cause of instability and insecurity.

Poverty Is A Factor

For example. In my many trips to Nigeria, and in collaboration with the previous government of President Muhammadu Buhari, I advocated for a mega water infrastructure project called Transaqua. It would bring water from the Congo River to refurbish Lake Chad through a canal that would connect in the Central African Republic, to the Chari River, which releases its water into Lake Chad. The project was designed to recharge Lake Chad to its previous 1963 level of 25,000 square kilometers, from its now shrunken level of 1,500 to 2,000 square kilometers.

The conception of the project was not just to refurbish the lake in the Sahel region of Africa, via a gravity canal of 2,400 kilometers connecting the Congo River to the Chari River. It was designed to establish a super economic zone of commercial activity among all the nations of the Lake Chad Basin and the Great Lakes. Transaqua would expand Irrigation, hydro-electric power, manufacturing, and farming, causing an improvement in the economy of a dozen nations. This would drastically reduce the atrocious level of poverty of thirty million or more Africans, who are trying to eke out an existence around Lake Chad. This region is a recruiting ground for Boko Haram. Transaqua, when realized, would significantly impact Northern Nigeria, Niger, Chad, Cameroon, Central African Republic, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, among other nations. This new level of increased economic activity resulting from Transaqua, would lead to a reduction in poverty. ChinaPower was also involved in this project and participated with me at the February 2018 Abuja conference, to “Save Lake Chad.”

Motshekga Matise Angelina, Minister of Defense for South Africa, addressing the Third Plenary Session

Extreme poverty and hunger are a significant factor in causing Insecurity and instability in African nations. A hungry and impoverished people become a desperate people, and a desperate people can be manipulated to act against their government, which they blame for not satisfying their primary material needs.

Pope Paul VI in 1967, wrote in his famous encyclical Populorum Progressio-“The Development of People”-that the new name for peace is development. The deceased Pope and I agree on this fundamental concept, with the addendum that I as a student of physical economy, know how to drive economic growth. I am well known in parts of Africa for insisting that economic development is an essential human right. China has demonstrated through its domestic and foreign policy thatit too, understands this conception.

If we look at the Sahelian nations, we see the effects of their abysmal condition of life. There have recently been coups in Burkina Faso, Niger, and Mali, where the people suffer from horrific living conditions. For these three nations, per capita use of electricity ranges from 87 kilowatt hours (kWh) to 150 kWh, and access to electricity from 19% to 53% of the population. For comparison, per capita electricity consumption in the U.S. is 11,267 kWh, and access to electricity is 100%.

This criminal paucity of electricity, the low productivity of subsistence farming, and the absence of a manufacturing capability have contributed to the coups in these Francophone nations. The conditions of life for almost half the population of the 220 million people living in Nigeria is equally ominous. Approximately one hundred million desperate people in Nigeria live in abject poverty, which can become a source of potential conflict and insurgency against the Nigerian  government. This combustible element of poverty could lead to the destabilization of all of West Africa, as a result of tens of millions of Nigerians migrating across the region.

These examples typify the threats to peace that nations experience throughout Africa. Without a significant transformation of the living standards of the African people, peace and security will always remain elusive.

Peace: A Shared Mission of Development

Many years ago, I presented a proposal at a conference on Africa, held at the United States Institute of Peace (USIP), across the street from the U.S. State Department. My proposal was: that China and the United States, the two economic superpowers, would agree to a joint mission to end hunger and poverty in Africa. For me, it was an elementary and obvious initiative. It would simultaneously perform two strategic tasks. One, to breakout of the mind-set of the West’s “rules-based international order,” with its zero-sum axiom, which is gripping the planet, and wrongly views China as an enemy. Two, to alleviate the misery of almost 450 million Africans living in extreme poverty today. The African continent not only has the largest number of people living below the extreme poverty line of $2.15 per day, but it is the only region on the planet where such poverty is increasing.

It is in the common interest of China, the United States, and the African nations to partner on policies to develop the underdeveloped African economies. This requires nurturing robust manufacturing and agricultural sectors, within an economy spearheaded by massive infrastructure expansion, especially in the generation of electricity and the extension of cross-continental railroads. Africa, with almost 20% of the world’s population, has a mere 2% of global energy production. Look no further for the primary cause of insecurity in African nations.

Lawrence Freeman talking with fellow panelist at the Seminar on China-Africa Security

The African continent is projected to have a population of 2.4 billion people by 2050, a mere quarter of a century from now. It is projected that one out of four people living will be residing on the African continent. Think of the African continent with the purchasing power of billions of consumers and nascent industries. This will make Africa the center of world commerce for all other industrialized nations.

Chinese President, Xi Jinping, was scientifically correct when he stated at the 9 FOCAC summit, that modernizing China and Africa with its combined population of 2.8 billion people will transform the world.

However, there is a deeper more profound underlying principle involved with my proposal, which can be extrapolated to all nations.

Freeman presenting his paper at the Xiangshan Forum seminar on China-Africa Security Cooperation

We Are All Noble Human Beings

All economic wealth is generated from human beings, contrary to the myth of Adam Smith, and the foolish followers of the so-called freedom of the marketplace. To be more precise, wealth is created by the human mind. All human beings, regardless of birthplace, ethnic identity, or religion, are endowed, uniquely, with the capacity for creative reason. It is through this human power of creative mentation, which no other species possesses, that discovery of new physical principles of the universe is possible. From these creative discoveries, humankind has continually transformed the universe to successively higher levels of development. Discovery by human beings of new scientific principles creates new technologies. New modern technologies transform existing modes of economic production, and actually redefine what we conceive of as natural resources. Thomas Malthus’ anti-scientific belief of a fixed limit of our planet’s potential material wealth, has never existed  in our universe, no matter how many times this dogma is regurgitated.

We know with absolute certainty that human beings, with their creative minds, are the true source of wealth. This is contrary to those, who like the British Imperialist, Cecil Rhodes, falsely believe wealth is found beneath the surface. Therefore, the primary responsibility of governments is to initiate and design policies, domestic and foreign, which nurture the creativity of each individual in an expanding population. Thus, the self-interest of every nation is exactly the same: fostering creativity of its own population, and the citizens of all other nations. This is a true shared common mission for civilization to progress into the future.

To enhance stability and security in African nations, requires thoughtful governments to collaborate in raising the material standard of living of those societies. Long-term, low interest loans for infrastructure is vital for energizing economic growth. Elevating the conditions of life is an indispensable prerequisite for establishing a culture dedicated to fulfilling the creative potential of each citizen.

I confidently proffer that this is the pathway to permanent peace.

For supplementary analysis see my website: www.lawrencefreemanafricaandtheworld.com

Click on this link below to watch excerpts of Freeman’s interview at the opening of the Beijing Xiangshan Forum:

Freeman on Global Times

The prejudices from the Western worldview could lead the world into a much more serious global war, said Lawrence Freeman at #BeijingXiangshanForum. He added that development, rather than militarization and hostile or prejudicial notions, will lead to peace.

Read below my earlier posts:

Will FOCAC Summit Strategize For Africa’s Future Economic Growth?

Africans Fight Back Against Green Energy Poverty Policy of the West

Lawrence Freeman is a Political-Economic Analyst for Africa, who has been involved in economic development policies for Africa for 35 years. He is a teacher, writer, public speaker, and consultant on Africa. Mr. Freeman strongly believes that economic development is an essential human right. He is the creator of the blog:  lawrencefreemanafricaandtheworld.com, and also publishing on: lawrencefreeman.substack.com, “Freeman’s Africa and the World.”

Transaqua: Save Lake Chad & Prevent African Coups Like Niger

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Transaqua, the “Mattei Plan” boycotted by France

TRANSAQUA, THE ITALIAN WAY TO SAHEL BOYCOTTED FROM FRANCE AND EUROPEAN UNION

September 19, 2023

This new article, TRANSAQUA, THE ITALIAN WAY TO THE SAHEL BOYCOTTED BY FRANCE AND EUROPEAN UNION, by Italian journalist, Francesca Ronchin, is quite timely, given the explosive developments we are witnessing amongst the nations in the Sahel and West Africa, today.

Ms. Ronchin does a service for Africa by publishing this story on August 30th (originally in Italian), one month after the coup in Niger. The obviously complete failure by France, the United States, and Western institutions, to nurture real economic development and provide security for Sahelian nations has led to a succession of coups. From my vantage point as a physical economist, these drastic changes in leadership are understandable, though by themselves they will not provide a solution. Unfortunately, more coups may be on the way.

Take the case of Niger. With almost half its people living in abject poverty, only 3% of the population having access to electricity, and the youth seeing no future as a Francophone nation, should anyone be surprised of the anger directed at the Western backed government? Niger is home to multiple miliary bases for drone deployments and to house 1,100 U.S. troops and 1,500 French forces.

The relevancy of Transaqua* is that, if this great water-energy-agricultural infrastructure project had been implemented, as I have advocated for 30 years, the conditions life in the nations of the Lake Chad Basin would have undergone an economic transformation. Had there been progress over recent decades in constructing Transaqua, Niger today, would be a completely different nation. If the U.S. had deployed the over $500 million it spent on military training and building drone bases on developmental infrastructure, such as electricity, the coup in Niger could have been averted. Sadly, the concept of development has vanished from the comprehension of the U.S. President, Congress, and State Department.

Although, it would appear to be miraculous, America is still capable of following in the footsteps of our most pro-African president, John F Kennedy, who unlike his immediate predecessors and those who came after him, had a true vison for the development of Africa. **

*Transaqua is discussed in detail in numerous posts on this website-click lawrencefreemanafricaandtheworld.com/lake-chad-basin–   

** Betting on the Africans, John F Kennedy’s Courting of African Nationalist Leaders. Philip E Muehlenbeck, Oxford University Press, 2012

Read my earlier post: To Prevent More Coups Like Niger: Eliminate Poverty in Africa

Lawrence Freeman is a Political-Economic Analyst for Africa, who has been involved in economic development policies for Africa for over 30 years. He is a teacher, writer, public speaker, and consultant on Africa. Mr. Freeman strongly believes that economic development is an essential human right. He is also the creator of the blog:  lawrencefreemanafricaandtheworld.com.

Africa Suffers From A Lack of International Support For Transaqua Water Project

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Nigeria’s Water Minister, Suleiman Hussein Adamau (Courtesy of The Guardian)

As reported in The Guardian, on January 14, My regrets as water minister, Nigeria’s Water Resources Minister, Suleiman Adamu, regretted that all efforts by Nigerian President Buhari to get international support for the Lake Chad Inter-Basin Water Transfer, known as Transaqua, failed despite its importance.

The Transaqua water project is an inter-basin water transfer infrastructure project to refurbish the shrinking Lake Chad. This “Pan African” grand design to transport water, via a gravity canal, from the ultra moist Great Lakes Region to the arid Lake Chad Basin, would have a transformative effect on the African continent. Read: Save Lake Chad With Transaqua: Franklin Roosevelt and Kwame Nkrumah Would Concure.

According to The Guardian article, the project was designed to provide water to Maiduguri and a large part of North East region for irrigation and water supply for the next 50 years. Minister Adamu is quoted: Unfortunately, the Russia-Ukraine war diverted the attention of the international community from matters of socio-economic development.

Minister Adamu, along with Nigerian President, Muhammadu Buhari, is a strong supporter of Transaqua. Read: Nigerian Water Minister Promotes Transaqua–A Water Project to Save Lake Chad & Transform Africa

As the most well-known American advocate and authority on Transaqua, and a collaborator of Minister Adamu for Transaqua, I can say definitively: the failure to proceed with the Transaqua project is a great loss to the entire continent of Africa.  

Lawrence Freeman addressing the International Conference to Save Lake Chad in Abuja, Nigeria, Februrat 26-28, 2018

CGTN Africa, produced a two minute video that accurately describes the essential features Transaqua. Watch: Reviving Lake Chad with Transaqua. See transcription below

“…To revive one of Africa’s most important water bodies, Lake Chad. The Transaqua project was an ambitious initiative geared towards replenishing the waters of Lake Chad. It involved 12 countries working together to build a canal moving 100 billion cubic meters of water from the river Congo to the Lake every year. However, the project has yet to take off, nearly 30 years after it was conceptualized.” Then it switched to their correspondent:

“It has been over 30 years since engineers came up with an ambitious proposal to divert water from the Congo River basin to Lake Chad in central Africa to prevent the lake drying up. Since 1960, Lake Chad has shrunk to about 10 percent of its original size and the project was seen as a possible solution to the problem. The Transaqua project would involve 12 countries working together to build a 2400 km long canal to move about 100 billion cubic meters of water from the lake every year. Nigerian President Mohammed Buhari led the initiative, supported by countries that are members of the Lake Chad Basin Commission, namely Cameroon, Chad, Niger, Nigeria, Algeria, and Central Africa Republic. The canal was also intended to generate hydro-electricity at several points along its length. It was also seen as a solution to its security crisis caused by the Boko Haram insurgency. The project would help reduce conflicts over water and instability in the Lake Chad region. The estimated cost of the project was 50 billion USD, but the project has yet to come to fruition. The Democratic Republic of Congo has opposed the project and a section of French scientists say the large scale project could cause irreversible environmental damage.”

“The Transaqua project remains in this planning and feasibility study stage. Today, the Lake Chad basin supports more than 30 million people; this means that if it is actually accomplished, the Transaqua project will change the face of Africa, for better or for worse.”

Read my earlier posts:

Interview With Lawrence Freeman: The Time is Now For TRANSAQUA-to Save Lake Chad and Transform Africa

Italy and Buhari Keep Transaqua on the Agenda to Save the Shrinking Lake Chad

Lawrence Freeman is a Political-Economic Analyst for Africa, who has been involved in economic development policies for Africa for over 30 years. He is a teacher, writer, public speaker, and consultant on Africa. He is also the creator of the blog: lawrencefreemanafricaandtheworld.com. Mr. Freeman’s stated personal mission is; to eliminate poverty and hunger in Africa by applying the scientific economic principles of Alexander Hamilton

Nigerian Water Minister Promotes Transaqua–A Water Project to Save Lake Chad & Transform Africa

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The drying up of Lake Chad would be catastrophic for Africa. The disappearance of this body of water in the Sahel would not only affect the tens of millions of Africans living on and around the lake and the nations of the Lake Chad Basin, but the entirety of the continent. The lake has shrunk over the last six decades to 90% of its original area of 25,000 square kilometers.

Suleiman Adamu, Nigeria’s Minister of Water Resources, under President Mahammadu Buhari, has called for recharging Lake Chad, as reported in environewsnigeria.com, (excerpted below). Although Minister Adamu does not mention its name, the transformative water infrastructure project to save Lake Chad that he refers to is, Transaqua. It was first proposed by engineer Marcello Vichi in 1980.

Transaqua, was adopted as the preferred solution to restore Lake Chad to its earlier size, at the International Conference to Save Lake Chad, held in Abuja, Nigeria from February 26-28, 2018. I was a prominent speaker at this conference. Read: The Time is Now For TRANSAQUA-to Save Lake Chad and Transform Africa,

Essentially, Dr. Vichi’s proposal called for constructing a 2,400 kilometer canal from the southeast section of the Democratic Republic of the Congo that would flow by gravity northwest to the Central African Republic. There, this navigable canal would connect to the Chari River, the primary contributor of water to Lake Chad. By utilizing a small percentage of water from the Congo River, this canal would conduit an up to one hundred billion cubic meters of water to refurbish Lake Chad. Through human intervention, water is being transferred from the moist Congo River Basin to the arid Lake Chad Basin.

Dr. Vichi recently wrote:

“TRANSAQUA is the only project capable of transforming about 25% of the surface of the African continent by producing agricultural and livestock products sufficient for the domestic market and for export; to stop the advance of the Sahara and save Lake Chad; to produce large production of hydroelectric energy in the heart of Africa with the possibility of industrialization of economic activities; to create a river and road axis of about 2400 km capable of activating a collateral road network for the development of all types of activities; and much more.

“It has been calculated that the TRANSAQUA project could produce in the heart of the African continent, around 30 billion kw/h per year using only 6-8% of the water of the Congo River subtracted from dispersion in the ocean.”

For more information on the transformative impact of Transaqua for Africa, read: Save Lake Chad With Transaqua: Franklin Roosevelt and Kwame Nkrumah Would Concur

U.S. Rebuffs Transaqua

Despite all the ballyhoo and so called concern on the effects of climate change on the African continent, the U.S. has done nothing to address the crippling conditions of poverty and lack of energy. United Nations Envoy, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, typifies the Biden Administration’s deeply flawed outlook when it comes to assisting Africa. Speaking at the UN Security Council  on October 12, Ambassador Greenfield laments the effects of hotter dryer weather in Africa including on Lake Chad, “…we’ve watched Lake Chad as it diminishes in size. And we all wonder when Lake Chad will be no more.”

What rubbish. There is no reason for Lake Chad to disappear. There is a solution. It is called Transaqua. The U.S. has shown zero interest in saving Lake Chad. For decades, I have been the lone American voice advocating vociferously for saving Lake Chad. As Minister Adamu discussed, all that is required to start the project is three million dollars for a feasibility study, which no U.S. government has ever considered. While tens of billions of dollars have been promised to fight climate change in Africa, a tiny fraction of those funds could be spent to initiate Transaqua, a project that can save the lake and transform almost a third of the continent of Africa. Why hasn’t the U.S. allocated this small amount of money for a feasibility study of Transaqua?

The U.S. rejects Transaqua because it rejects development. The U.S. refuses to build infrastructure in Africa, the single most crucial element to address Africa’s massive energy and transportation needs, and create economic growth. Since the death of President John Kennedy, the concept of development has vanished from our thinking-from our culture. For over half a century, American elected officials have failed to demonstrate even a modicum of understanding of how to assist African nations to develop into industrialized economies.

The author advocating for Transaqua at the United Nations, August 2019

Excerpts from remarks by Minister Adamu follow:

Nigeria’s Minister of Water Resources, Suleiman Adamu, has called for more funding and understanding from international partners to save the fast drying Lake Chad from disappearing totally.

Part of the plan to revive the Lake Chad includes inter-basin water transfer from the River Congo to the Chad Basin.

“Although we don’t need $50 billion for Lake Chad but, at least with that kind of fund, the inter-basin water transfer has another angle that you can create a roadway and canals for river navigation.

“You can create many dams and hydropower schemes that will benefit countries like the Central African Republic.

“We can even have a highway from Lagos to Nairobi to Mombasa, from West Coast to the East Coast. It’s all part of the grand plan. But these things, you have to take those systematically.

“So, now we’re waiting to sign the MoU with the AfDB, So, once we’re able to sign that, we hope that we can get some funding, about 2 million to 3 million dollars to do the feasibility study,” Adamu said.

“We had a successful conference in February 2018. In that conference, we achieved two things.

“Number one, we achieved consensus. There is an international consensus, not only an African consensus, an international consensus that the Lake Chad has to be saved.

“Secondly, the consensus we had among us African countries was that the inter-basin water transfer should be given a shot at as the best way for the long term sustainability of the lake,” Adamu said.

“I’m worried that in the next 50 years we may wake up one day and there’s no Lake Chad,” the minister warned.

Read the entire article: Nigerian Minister Calls for International Funding to Revive Lake Chad

Read my earlier posts:

United Nations Conference: The Lake Chad Basin Should not be ‘Managed’; it Should be ‘Transformed.’

Water Transfer With Transaqua Will Bring Peace & Development to Lake Chad Basin

Lawrence Freeman is a Political-Economic Analyst for Africa, who has been involved in economic development policies for Africa for over 30 years. He is a teacher, writer, public speaker, and consultant on Africa. He is also the creator of the blog: lawrencefreemanafricaandtheworld.com. Mr. Freeman’s stated personal mission is; to eliminate poverty and hunger in Africa by applying the scientific economic principles of Alexander Hamilton

Prime Logue/Media Interviews Lawrence Freeman in Addis Ababa: “Without the Elimination of Poverty, There Will Be No Democracy in Africa”

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May 10, 2021

On April 30th. I was interviewed in Addis Ababa by Prime Logue/Media for an hour. The interview is separated into four parts.

For those of you who do not have the time to view the entire interview, I would suggest you watch Part 4-16 minutes long. Here, I outline my development policy for Africa. In this, the 22nd century, the African continent will be the focus of strategic policy for the world. My policy starts from recognizing the uniquely human power of creative reason. The key question for policy makers should be how do we develop human beings. True democracy, cannot flourish unless and until poverty is eliminated. The nation state must be strengthened to provide for successive generations of its people. “The leadership of the U.S. does not understand, or want to understand, that the key to  supporting Africa is development.”   

Topics discussed in Part 1 include: Nigeria, refurbishing Lake Chad, Lalibela, Tigray, humanitarian assistance, Covid19 vaccinations in Africa.

Topics discussed in Part 2 include: poverty, developing Ethiopia, the nation-state, regime change in Libya, TPLF attack in Mekele, genocide, human rights.

Topics discussed in Part 3 include: US-Africa policy, flaws in Ethiopia Constitution, GERD, Egypt, Ethiopian identity, June 5 elections.

Topics discussed in Part 4 include. Slavery, colonialism, neo-colonialism, reason, agape, food, electricity, desperation, jobs, ICC,

Lawrence Freeman is a Political-Economic Analyst for Africa, who has been involved in economic development policies for Africa for over 30 years. He is the creator of the blog: lawrencefreemanafricaandtheworld.com. Mr. Freeman’s stated personal mission is; to eliminate poverty and hunger in Africa by applying the scientific economic principles of Alexander Hamilton

Interview with Lawrence Freeman: Developing Africa Will Elevate the World to a Higher Economic-Political Platform

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Watch the interview

April 10, 2021

Watch the above interview with Lawrence Freeman. It is a far reaching discussion that elaborates the importance of infrastructure led development polices for Africa. It highlights  the Transaqua inter-basin water transfer project that will not only reverse the shrinking Lake Cad, but will transform the entire Lake Chad Basin, improving the living conditions for millions of Africans. The conclusion of the interview discuses the significance of the African continent for global development over the next one to two generations. Essential, Africa is the new frontier on the planet earth.  Freeman proffered that if the United States would collaborate with China in leading an infrastructure driven economic transformation of Africa, hunger and poverty could be eliminated.  This would also shift political relations among nations away from the destructive doctrine of geo-politics to one of a common shared development of humankind.

Lawrence Freeman is a Political-Economic Analyst for Africa, who has been involved in economic development policies for Africa for over 30 years. He is the creator of the blog: lawrencefreemanafricaandtheworld.com. Mr. Freeman’s stated personal mission is; to eliminate poverty and hunger in Africa by applying the scientific economic principles of Alexander Hamilton

A Hamiltonian Development Policy for Africa Is A Necessity

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In 1791, America’s first Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton, put forth his grand plan for industrializing the United States. In his “Report on the Subject of Manufacturers,” Hamilton rejected the then common assumption that America could prosper with an agricultural base, instead arguing that the new Republic should concentrate on developing industry. (courtesy of enterpriseai.news)

January 18, 2021

In memory of Dr. Martin Luther King (1929 to1968), a champion for the poor. 

On Sunday, January 10, 2021, the Rising Tides Foundation (risingtidefoundation.net) hosted a class by me entitled: A Hamiltonian Solution for Africa. The first video below is my two hour presentation. The second video is an hour of questions and answers. For those of you who have the time and the desire to learn, I believe you will find these videos beneficial.

Alexander Hamilton, the first U.S. Treasury Secretary under President George Washington, prepared four economic reports establishing the American System of Political Economy in opposition to the Adam Smith-British free trade system. Hamilton understood that the U.S. would not become a sovereign economically independent nation without a robust manufacturing sector. This is true of African nations today, which have the lowest dollar amount of manufacture added value in the world. African nations are subjected to unfavorable terms of trade and weak currencies, because they are compelled to export their natural resources and import capital goods. Hamilton would not allow this to happen to the young U.S. following its independence from Great Britain.

My personal mission is to eliminate poverty and hunger in Africa by educating my African friends on the scientific economic principles of Alexander Hamilton.

 “The intrinsic wealth of a nation is to be measured, not by the abundance of the precious metals, contained in it, but by the quantity of the production of its labor and industry.” Alexander Hamilton, Report on a National Bank, (December 13, 1790)

 

 

 

 Lawrence Freeman is a Political-Economic Analyst for Africa, who has been involved in economic development policies for Africa for over 30 years. He is the creator of the blog: lawrencefreemanafricaandtheworld.com

China’s Friendship and Economic Partnership With Africa in 2021

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HISTORIC NEWS FOR DR CONGO !

China and DRC sign MoU on Belt and Road cooperation

 

January 9, 2021, two useful articles from AfricanAgenda.net

HISTORIC NEWS FOR DR CONGO !

Chinese Foreign Minister to Visit Africa

US-Africa Strategy Should Focus on Long-Term Development for the Continent’s 2.4 Billion People

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Lawrence Freeman giving a lecture on Africa. He teaches several courses on African history in Maryland.

December 25, 2020

Below is a lengthy year end interview with me by Pan African Visions, published on December 21, 2020, entitled: “Most US Administrations Have Not Had Good Policies On Africa.” In this interview, I discuss a number of issues facing the Africa continent, as well as the past and future of US-Africa policy.

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Pan African Visions: We end with the last word on how you see 2021 playing out for Africa, what are your hopes and fears?

Lawrence Freeman: If you look at the problems we have now if we do not implement certain measures today, we are going to have problems 10 or 20 years from now. If you have an approximate population of two and a half billion and approximately one billion may be young people; if those young people do not have jobs, see their nation as providing for them then you can have very nasty operations and demonstrations, regime changes on the continent. On the other hand, we have all these very bright people, if we implement policies today that will bring about the kind of economic growth that is needed then you will not have an increase in alienation, anarchy and protests.

I would like to see the United States join with China and probably Russia to help Africa. They have to unite and assist Africa and not tell them what  to do, and not seize anything. I estimate that Africa needs at least a thousand gigawatts of power to give people access to electricity. These things are primary. If we can begin in 2021 with a robust commitment to developing, then I think Africa will have a very interesting and beautiful future. If we do not, then we could be facing more serious challenges over the years ahead. I am approaching 70 years and I am going to put everything I have to make those things happen. If more people in the United States, Europe, and Africa will work with me on that then I think we can make some improvements that will benefit billions of people that are not only living today but those who will be born in the future. And that is my goal and commitments.

Read the entirety of my interview: Pan African Visions Interviews Lawrence Freeman on US-Africa Policy

Read the entire issue of Pan African Vision for December 2020: PAV-News-Magazine-Dec.-2020-Edition-27

As I am sending out this post on Christmas Day, I would like to wish everybody an enjoyable Holiday Season. At this time of the year, it is important for me to emphasize that ending poverty and hunger in Africa is not an idealistic dream. It is an accomplishable strategic vision for the African continent. All men and women are endowed by the Creator with the power of creative reason. This unites all peoples of all nations as part of one human culture. If we exercise this uniquely human power of creativity with the good will of governments, there is no limit to the qualitative and quantitative growth of civilization. The same brute-force commitment that utilized our creative scientific capabilities to develop vaccines for the COVID-19 virus in record time, can be applied to feeding the world.

 Lawrence Freeman is a Political-Economic Analyst for Africa, who has been involved in economic development policies for Africa for over 30 years. He is the creator of the blog: lawrencefreemanafricaandtheworld.com

Former Italian Prime Minister Calls for International Support for Transaqua

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December 3, 2020

Below, I have reprinted a slightly abridged article from EIR magazine, which reports on important new impetus for Transaqua. Romano Prodi, former Prime Minister of Italy, former President of the European Commission, and former UN Special Envoy for the Sahel, has called on the EU, UN, and AU, to join with with China in moving forward with Transaqua, a mega water-development project to transform the Sahel. With this high level of backing for Transaqua, it is now incumbent on the Lake Chad Basin Commission to take the initiative to secure a contract for a feasibility study of the design of  Transaqua, outlined below.

Italy’s Prodi Puts Transaqua Back on the International Agenda

by Claudio Celani, EIR magazine

CC/Francesco Pierantoni Romano Prodi, former Prime Minister of Italy, former President of the European Commission, and former UN Special Envoy for the Sahel.

Nov. 23—At this time when the world’s nations have not yet adequately responded to the call for help launched by the World Food Program (WFP) to avoid mass starvation in the developing sector, the issue of Transaqua has again come into focus as the durable solution to famine, terrorism, and emigration in Central Africa. On November 13, Romano Prodi, the former EU Commission President and former UN Special Envoy for the Sahel, launched a strong call for the EU, the UN, the African Union (AU), and China to join hands in financing and building this giant infrastructure platform, that can be the locomotive of agro-industrial development for the entire African continent.

Transaqua—also called the Transaqua Inter Basin Water Transfer Scheme—is a project that dates back to the mid-1970s, when engineers from the Italian company Bonifica witnessed the drying up of Lake Chad and came out with the idea of refilling the lake by transferring water from the Congo Basin, where immense quantities of water were simply wasted into the Atlantic Ocean, unused.

EIRNS/Julien Lemaitre Dr. Marcello Vichi speaks at a Schiller Institute Conference, “Rescuing Civilization from the Brink,” in Rüsselsheim, Germany, July 2, 2011.

By building dams along some of the right-bank tributaries of the River Congo and connecting these reservoirs with canals, the Bonifica engineers, under the direction of Dr. Marcello Vichi, calculated that with only 5% of the water that goes into the River Congo, it was possible to transfer up to 100 billion cubic meters of water per year into Lake Chad. These tributaries are at high altitude, so that water in this dam and canal system can travel across the Central African Republic-Chad watershed by means of gravity alone.

Figure 1-The Transaqua Project, as Proposed by Bonifica

Besides refilling the gradually disappearing lake, the infrastructure would provide a 2400 km waterway that would boost trade from the southern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), close to the Great Lakes region, up to Bangui, capital of the Central African Republic, and down to Lake Chad. The numerous dams would provide plenty of electricity and irrigation capability for 7 million hectares of farmland, providing the platform for developing agro-industrial activities.

After many decades of oblivion and thanks to efforts by EIR and the Schiller Institute, Transaqua received a new impulse in February 2018, when the plan was adopted at the International Conference on Lake Chad in Abuja, and the Italian government pledged to fund part of the feasibility study.

Since then, however, the momentum has slowed down. After Abdullah Sanusi, P.E., left at the end of his mandate as Executive Secretary of the Lake Chad Basin Commission in 2018, no significant impulse has come from that institution, which brings together the five riparian member states around the lake—Cameroon, Niger, Nigeria, Chad, and the Central African Republic.

On the Italian side, with the exception of an amendment drafted by Sen. Tony Iwobi—who managed to include initial funding for the feasibility study in the Italian government budget for 2021—a political shift in the government has led to a change in ministerial personnel, and the tender for the study has been left up in the air. The Covid-19 pandemic has overwhelmed an unprepared and incompetent government.

Prodi Not for Colonial Songs about Africa

Now, a seminar organized by the Turin Center for African Studies on November 9-13, “Water Diplomacy and the Culture of Sustainability: The Lake Chad Basin,” has put Transaqua back on the list of strategic priorities. Speaking at the final roundtable, Prodi said the project cannot wait any longer: “Please, don’t come with environmental objections, the former EU chief said. “Don’t sing the song that human intervention can damage the environment: In this case, we help nature to recover a situation of internal balance, to the advantage of African peoples—an internal balance that has been lost.”

Prodi’s reference to pseudo-environmental objections to Transaqua is important, because one of the main sources for those objections has been that very EU Commission that Prodi has chaired in the past, whose structure and ideology Prodi knows very well…

Back in 2013, the EU Commission rejected Transaqua, ostensibly with environmental motivations. Answering a query by European Parliament member Cristiana Muscardini, EU Development Commissioner Andris Piebalgs stated that “Preliminary feasibility studies… indicate that the project would involve major environmental risks.”

Opposition to Transaqua has also been fed by former European colonial powers which still have political control over some governments in the region. Notably, the government of Canada, on behalf of the British Commonwealth and of French government institutions, has recently funded a paper, “Soft Power, Discourse Coalitions, and the Proposed Inter-basin Water Transfer Between Lake Chad and the Congo River,” which claims that Transaqua is an imperialist scheme pushed by the government of Italy, China, and the Schiller Institute…

Representatives gather for a UN-sponsored international conference on the Lake Chad Region in Berlin, September 3-4, 2018.

‘Something To Do Together with China’

Rejecting such phony objections, Prodi stated:

“What we must do, in my view, is a strong action of healthy lobbying, a call on Europe, the African Union, the United Nations, China, to carry forward this project. Be aware that the Lake Chad Basin covers one eightieth of the entire African continent. This is enough to understand its importance. And it affects the poorest, most disgraced and left-behind area.

“Since such a large project as Transaqua involves political, financial, technological, and security aspects, it needs strong political leadership and economic power. Thus, the EU, UNO, and OAU—should try to involve China, because [some] reports connect Lake Chad with the Silk Road. What is the political problem of the Silk Road? It has been a Chinese thing. We must find something to do together with China.”

The video of Prodi’s presentation, in Italian with English subtitles, can be viewed here.

The day before, on November 12, the seminar had featured engineer Andrea Mangano, a veteran of the Bonifica team that had developed the original Transaqua idea in the 1970s. In an interview format entitled “Lake Chad and Infrastructure: Challenges and Ideas,” he presented the updated version of the project—similar to what Mangano himself and other Bonifica officials have presented at Schiller Institute and EIR events in recent years.

Starvation Warnings from WFP’s Beasley

Recently the UN World Food Program’s Executive Director, David Beasley, warned that the Central Sahel region faces one of the world’s fastest-growing humanitarian crises. This is the region most affected by the deterioration of living conditions due to the drying out of Lake Chad, conditions that have offered grounds for recruiting young people to the terrorist Boko Haram. Terrorism has added to economic devastation and caused huge migration waves in the region.

More than 13 million people now require urgent humanitarian assistance, five million more than estimated at the beginning of 2020, Beasley said, characterizing their plight as “marching toward starvation.”

In October, Beasley travelled in several nations in the region, together with the development ministers of Germany and Denmark, to solicit not only emergency aid, but also long-term investments in infrastructure. On October 9, Beasley was in Niger when he got the news that the World Food Program had been awarded the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize. He said to reporters that day:

The fact that I was in the Sahel when we received the announcement is really a message from above, that “Hey, world. With all the things going on around the world today, please don’t forget about the people in the Sahel! Please don’t forget about the people that are struggling and dying from starvation.”

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EIRNS Left to right: Mohammed Bila (Lake Chad Basin Commission), Andrea Mangano, Marcello Vichi, and Claudio Celani (EIR), discussing plans for Transaqua in the Rome Bonifica office, summer 2015. Lawrence Freeman also participated in this discussion.

Transaqua is exactly the infrastructure that could stabilize the entire region. You don’t need to wait until the first dam is built and water starts to come through the Chari River to Lake Chad from the Congo basin: The many jobs created by the project will immediately start to stabilize the region in terms of providing incomes for thousands of families.

Unfortunately, the October 20 donors’ conference organized by Denmark, Germany, the EU, and the UN in Copenhagen, took the restricted view of humanitarian intervention. Some $1.7 billion dollars were pledged for emergency aid—and this is of course welcome— but it failed to address the root of the problem and adopt long-term solutions.

Mr. Prodi’s words must be followed by deeds, so that the “healthy lobbying effort” in favor of Transaqua is successful in bringing together the international coalition to build Transaqua.

*I do not support everything in EIR’s article, and also note its omission of my central role in advancing the Transaqua project.

 Lawrence Freeman is a Political-Economic Analyst for Africa, who has been involved in the economic development policy of Africa for over 30 years. He is the creator of the blog: lawrencefreemanafricaandtheworld.com