“At some point in time the president’s got to clearly define what the national strategic interests are, and while Africa may be important, it doesn’t fit into the national strategic interests, as far as I can see them.”

-George W. Bush, February 2000

“In 2001, 8 billion barrels of crude oil reserves were discovered worldwide, seven of them were in fields off the coast of West and Central Africa.”

-J. Anyu Ndumbe 2004

“Today, I am pleased to announce my decision to create a Department of Defense Unified Combatant Command for Africa. I have directed the Secretary of Defense to stand up U.S. Africa Command by the end of fiscal year 2008.”

-George W. Bush, February 2007

Once again, the Scramble for Africa is on. 

The new US commitment to African oil (Volman, 2003) under Bush has its predatory designs on six African countries: Angola, Gabon, Congo-Brazzaville, Chad, and Equatorial Guinea and the expansion of production in Nigeria (Cheney, 2001). China, meanwhile, is experiencing unprecedented demand for energy and other resources to feed its booming economy. Beijing has its eyes on Africa and access to raw materials and is now ready to compete on what the US audaciously considers its turf (Zweig & Jianhai, 2005).