UN, EU subsidize French crimes in CAR : Analyst

The United Nations and the European Union are subsidizing the French government’s crimes in the poverty-stricken Central African Republic (CAR), an analyst says.

“Paris is not only getting praise for it, it is being subsidized by the international community for its endeavors,” Finian Cunningham wrote in a column for Press TV website on Sunday.

Cunningham’s remarks come several days after the UN Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution giving the African Union and France the go-ahead to send troops to the CAR. According to the resolution, up to 3,600 African and 1,200 French troops are authorized to contain the violence in the former French colony.

Meanwhile, EU Commission chief, José Manuel Barroso, says Brussels will provide €50 million to assist the French-led mission.

“The end-result of that choreography is that French troops are now patrolling the streets of the CAR capital and are being praised by [UN chief] Ban Ki-moon and the Western media as ‘saviors’,” wrote Cunningham.

He added that France’s “imperialism is back in force in Africa to plunder uranium and other precious minerals,” noting that France is looting the African country’s resources.

“France is fuelling violence to justify its return to the scene of its African crimes in order to renew and intensify its historical exploitation of that continent,” Cunningham wrote.

The mission in the CAR is France’s second military intervention in Africa in 2013. In January, Paris dispatched more than 4,000 troops to Mali, launching a fierce war against the militants in the country.

France currently has over 5,000 troops stationed at bases across the continent, costing Paris around 400 million euros (USD 540 million) per year.

“And, sadly, instead of being condemned, the French are being praised and getting the rest of the world to pay for their crimes,” wrote Cunningham.