darkest europe reviews & quotations

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Darkest Europe and Africa's Nightmare: A Critical Observation of the Neighboring Continents

Reviewed by Ogova OndegoPublished January 20, 2008

Though Darkest Europe and Africa's Nightmare: ACritical Observation of the Neighboring Continentswas published shortly before the much discreditedDecember 27, 2007 presidential election charade thatwas marred with fraud and has ended up sendingsome Kenyans to an early grave, robbed hundreds of thousands of their livelihood, spewed some across theborder into Uganda as refugees and created a widerift of suspicion and mistrust among those stillstanding, this book appears to be describing theKenyan situation. It even casts doubts as to who is incontrol in this eastern African nation that had been fora long time described as an island of peace in atroubled ocean. OGOVA ONDEGO reviews the book.

Upon being elected president in 2002 on 'zero-Tolerance' on corruption, Mwai Kibaki appointed JohnGithongo as his advisor on corruption. When "he unearthed security contracts bygovernment officials to non-existent companies worth as much as $1 billion", Kibakidemoted him, "publicly, on television, on June 30, 2004, announcing that Githongo 'hadbeen transferred from the Office of the President to the Ministry of Justice andConstitutional Affairs."

It later transpired that, the writer quotes Githongo's 91-page report, "someone hadsurreptitiously inserted my name into the wrong place in the President's speech andtherefore my transfer was not meant to have happened at all". This makes the writer towonder: "How on God's earth can the president of a nation announce the transfer of oneof his closest and most senior staff members, who reports to him each day or even manytimes a day, without realizing what he is doing? Couldn't the name John Githongo alone,and the details of 'Office of the President to the Ministry of Justice and ConstitutionalAffairs', make something click in the president's brain?" And this poses the question as towho is in control in Kenya. It certainly is not Kibaki.

Like a loving African grandmother who reprimands her grand child in an effort to nudgehim in the right direction, the Kenya-born author who holds diplomas from the LondonSchool of Economics and the London School of Journalism states that Africans are the onlypeople on the planet who seem to be convinced that they do not deserve any happinesswhatsoever.

Accordingly, the most audacious and unimaginable things—like presidential oaths beingempty rituals that one goes through if only to identify with the Prime Minister of Britain orpresident of the United States—happen only in Africa. No sooner is an African presidentsworn in than he starts ruling by decree, unleashing police and military terror on thepublic.

Saying many parts of Africa are ruled by absolute despots with the ordinary citizen bereftof any legal defense against oppression by the government and officialdom in general, thewriter correctly opines that the police are viewed not as friends but 'terrorists' in manysub-Saharan African nations. "When African soldiers, militia and police are set loose on innocent demonstrators, theyseem to lose their humanity.

Akinyi Princess of K'Orinda-Yimbo's book



Whether unleashed on university students or ethnic groups that have been deliberatelyincited to butcher each other by politicians motivated by dubious ambitions, these armedforces kill their own fellow human beings with feral abandon...it is also their anger andfrustration in having employment that regularly stock them with weapons and uniformsbut does not pay them regularly and well enough to feed their families. They kill fellowhuman beings as if they were butchering wild animals because their superiors expectthem to, or else they may lose their jobs to a "stronger" rival. They seem to lack thehuman moral conscience that would make them command empathy."

Having said this, Akinyi Princess of K'Orinda-Yimbo then moves on to describe howslavery, colonialism and post-independence dictatorship have traumatised Africans.

"Africans", she writes, "are the psychologically lost branch of humankind" due to aphysical and psychological brutalisation that she says lasted five centuries. However, thisBavaria-based writer argues that slavery and colonialism be not used as excuses byAfricans for "retreating towards archaic forms of living" while the rest of the world gallopsahead. She contends that Africans are the only human beings whose average lifespan isdeclining while other human beings are living longer and healthier than ever before andthat unless urgent measures are taken, one in three Africans will not see one's fortiethbirthday over the next decade!

The author accuses most African leaders of suffering from 'acquired narcissism'. "They aredrowned in infatuation and obsession with themselves...they display a chronic pursuit of personal gratification and attention, infantile verbal abuse and insulting of each other inthe media and during parliamentary debates...feel omnipotent...feel themselves to bealmighty."

Despite this perceived 'invincibility', the author writes, "they cannot develop a sense of security" as their 'narcissism' "is garnished with the largest dose of paranoia".Consequently, they do not tolerate any opposition.

The writer then looks at contemporary political, humanitarian and economic trends. Sheconsiders the World Bank, WTO, G8 and the IMF to be the long arms of the worldoligarchies.

The West, Darkest Europe and Africa's Nightmare points out, deliberately keeps Africapoor and warring through 'aid' disbursed through the United Nations, World Bank,International Monetary Fund, and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs).

Princess Akinyi writes that "While the per capita GDP in sub-Saharan African countries

continues to drop, the NGOs are proliferating". In other words, the 'aid' industries do notwant to solve the problems plaguing Africa if the solutions would jeopardise their vestedinterests. The writer further says the aid-dependence the West creates in Africa rendersAfrican countries unable to negotiate effectively in world trade. This dependenceencourages governments to relax instead of working out viable economic strategies fortheir citizens. The aid industry further undermines the struggle of Africans to beindependent economically, socially and politically.

But it is startling that about 75% of the money aid agencies collect is spent on theadministration of their own organisation. The World Food Programme, for instance, spendsmore than a million dollars per day (75%-80% of which is spent in the administration of WFP alone) for southern Sudan.

As Africa loses because some of the cures prescribed by the NGOs are worse than thedisease, Akinyi Princess of K'Orinda-Yimbo argues, "The whole world makes a fortune inAfrica except the ordinary Africans themselves."



The author thus views NGOs as a menace to Africa while serving as a job-creation to therich Western nations. She suggests the aid industry dissuades Africans from defendingtheir turf while foreign corporations scoop up all the resources. At the same time, theauthor equally reprimands not only the predator politicians and elite of the Africancontinent but all Africans for their passive resignation to a fate they can change throughaffirmative action.

She says that "under the cruelest and most dehumanizing conditions", Africa, since the16th century, has assisted and made it possible for the West to accumulate its incrediblewealth.

She wonders why these same Africans are now—in the 21st Century—willingly allowingthemselves to be dehumanised by forces of neo-colonialism, globalisation and China.

"All members of humankind are born with innate pride, dignity, self-worth, self-esteem,

protection for the self and those of one's family when there is a common enemy. And thewill to fight to the death to maintain these virtues, however poor one is. So why thisabject submission by the majority of Africans?"

Though China comes to Africa posing as “equals, with no colonial hangover, no complexrelationship of resentment, no outward show of hegemonic clout”, Darkest Europe andAfrica's Nightmare argues that this 'Middle Kingdom' nevertheless has an agenda whichAfrican nations should beware of and “should make sure that this agenda tallies with theAfrican one.”

In an unflattering exposition, the German-based Akinyi Princess of K’Orinda-Yimbo arguesthat China is “making a fortune on Africa’s natural resources without addressing the

African people’s poverty” and that she demands “no good governance, adherence tohuman rights, an end to corruption, environmental rules…and democracy.”

Instead of African governments allowing theChinese to “dig, shovel, saw, clear and carryaway the rubble themselves," the author arguesthat the Chinese be made to mentor Africans as"Africa does not need a Chinese bricklayer orironing person". Everybody in Chinesebusinesses in Africa is Chinese, right from theengineers to the office messengers, she writes,adding that no African gets employed in any

position whatsoever in any Chinese projects.

Globalisation, on the other hand, is demarcatingand fragmenting the world and its peoplebesides pushing the world back even furtherthan the pre-historic barbarism. Princess Akinyisays Africans are opposed to globalisationbecause it devalues cultural mores andconceptions of the world and humankind.

"Africans are not as 'ready to be freed' from their traditions as Westerners are," shewrites. "The West is on a rapid course of socio-cultural and spiritual degeneration."

While arguing that Africans have suffered serious psychological damage from slavery andcolonialism, the author, who considers globalisation the fourth stage in the penetration of Africa by world powers, nevertheless contends that this "can no longer be a legitimate

Author Akinyi Princess of K'Orinda-Yimbo



explanation of all of Africa's underdevelopment in the 21st century."

For an author who studied in England right from pre-school to college, she has goodcommand of the English language which she puts to good use in her writing. I may notagree with her on every point she raises—humans evolving from apes, for instance—but Ifind her writing style quite appealing.

This book is available in trade paper, hard cover and e-book formats from amazon.comand other stores and online outlets.

China Blames the West for Post-Election Violence in Kenya

Article by Bobastles Owino NondiPublished January 18, 2008

China broke her studious silence on post-electionviolence in Kenya on January 14, 2008 by blaming

western-styled democracy. Through The People'sDaily, the official mouth-piece of the rulingChinese Communist Party, China contends thatdemocracy is a recipe for disaster in Africa, citingKenya as an example of this. BOBASTLES OWINONONDI, like Africa Have Your Say—an interactiveprogramme of BBC World Service that on January16, 2008 discussed this contention by China—examines this claim further and concludes that indeed, Africa and China share ashameful history.

As Kenya went to the polls on December 27, 2007, representatives of western and

African nations monitored the process to ensure the outcome was free and fair. ButChina, a permanent member of the UN Security Council and a leading business partnerof Kenya and Africa, kept away.

China did not say anything even after Mwai Kibaki’s government banned live mediacoverage and demonstrations that turned Kenya into a police state soon after beingsecretly declared winner and hurriedly sworn in as president at night as independentobservers, human rights bodies, the civil society and the presumed winner, RailaOdinga, declared the presidential poll a sham and a massive fraud.

Even as the United States, Britain, the European Union and African Union tried theirdiplomacy in Kenya, China remained conspicuously absent as if it was business as usual

in Kenya. So far, 14 western nations—United Kingdom, United States, Canada, theEuropean Commission Delegation to Kenya, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Japan,Netherlands, Norway, Spain and Denmark—under the Development Co-operation Groupumbrella are considering aid withdrawal from the government unless the political crisisbedeviling Kenya were addressed and the government committed itself to goodgovernance, democracy, the rule of law and human rights. The European Parliament iseven considering economic sanctions against Kenya. Yet China remains unconcerned.

But going by China’s history in Africa, expecting to hear her speak against 'violation of human rights' (what is that?) would be expecting too much. How can she when theghosts of the pro-democracy demonstrators her troops massacred at Tiananmen Squarein 1989 still haunt her?

Akinyi Princess of K’Orinda-Yimbo, in her 2008-published book, Darkest Europe andAfrica’s Nightmare: A Critical Observation of Neighboring Continents, argues that though

Chinese president, Hu Jintao, with his Mozambiqan

counterpart, Armando Guebuza



China comes to Africa posing as “equals, withno colonial hangover, no complex relationshipof resentment, no outward show of hegemonicclout”, she nevertheless has an agenda whichAfrican nations should beware of and “shouldmake sure that this agenda tallies with theAfrican one.” In an unflattering exposition, the German-based Kenya-born Akinyi Princess of K’Orinda-Yimbo argues that China is “making a fortuneon Africa’s natural resources withoutaddressing the African people’s poverty” andthat she demands “no good governance,adherence to human rights, an end tocorruption, environmental rules…anddemocracy.”

“Ever since the Communist Party of China (CPC) became China’s ruling party in 1949,” says Zhong Weiyun of the CPC Central Committee in ChinaAfrica magazine, “it hasengaged in active and frequent exchanges with ruling parties in African nations.”

Nigeria’s ruling party, People’s Democratic Party, established in 1998, is one of theAfrican political parties that have conducted several inter-party exchanges with CPC.Nine years later, PDP is entrenching itself in power amidst claims of election rigging,cronyism and corruption.

Praising the ‘ruling parties’ in Africa for withstanding the onslaught of the western-styledmulti-party democracy of the 1990s and for “maintaining their ruling party positions andgaining strength during the process, despite heavy pressure from externalintervention”, China attributes this ‘success’ to the close ties of these parties with CPC.

But these ‘ruling parties’ are not in power by any other means but popular mandate.

Kenyan is a good example where an incumbent president refuses to relinquish power bymanipulating the Electoral Commission to tilt the poll in his favour, is purportedly swornin back to office at sun-set privately and immediately unleashes police and militaryterror on the ‘opposition’ and the Kenyan public.

Curiously, China is one of the few countries that Mwai Kibaki visited during his first termin State House in 2005, and where he signed ‘business deals’ worth hundreds of millions

of US dollars, with the eastern economic power snatching most government contracts fordefence, telecommunications, medical and construction sectors from western countries.Could it be that during this visit Kibaki met CPC stalwarts who took him through aninduction of ‘How to Remain in Power at All Cost’ as has evidently been the case withAfrican ‘ruling parties’?

Ethiopia’s People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front, which came to power through armedstruggle, is cited by CPC as having been “enlightening” for having stayed in power for 16years, and “maintaining close ties with the masses”.

Andrew Manley writes in BBC Focus on Africa magazine, “The last months of 2007 haveseen continuing [Chinese] concentration on Nigeria, Angola and other resource-rich

countries, but also a worrying lack of positive policy initiatives on Darfur crisis in publicat least—which appears to be allowing the el-Bashir government to continue whathuman rights organisations denounce as ethnic cleansing in the region.” Indeed,Darkest Europe and Africa’s Nightmare reports that the weapons used in Darfur are

Akinyi Princess of K’Orinda-Yimbo



manufactured either in China or in Chinese companies in Khartoum. The book also saysthat the machetes used in the Rwandan genocide of 1994 were manufactured in China.

Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe reiterates that “China is Zimbabwe’s top cooperationpartner”. In 2006, bilateral trade volume between Zimbabwe and China reached $270million, and the figure is expected to hit $500 million in 2008, Zimbabwe’s 15,000% plusannual inflation, and 80% unemployment, notwithstanding.

While western countries, the World Bank and IMF would demand that the governmentsthey work with and fund in the developing world be accountable, rule justly, invest in itspeople and possess economic freedom, China believes that such demands would beunfair.

Writing in ChinaAfrica, Li Anshan, deputy director of the Centre for African Studies of Peking University, says, “it has been China’s persistent policy since the 1950s to supplyunconditional foreign aid to developing countries and not to interfere in their internal

affairs. Given that there is the African Union, why should China, or any other worldpower, interfere in African affairs?”

Perhaps for the same reason, China would rather Africans slaughter themselves to thelast man, so long as they acquire business contracts on post-war reconstruction, or sellcrude and sophisticated weapons to the warring factions, or let political leaders swindleevery penny from the continent so long as it ends in China.

For instance, China only became active in Congo-Kinshasa in the post-conflictreconstruction, building roads such as the National Road No.1 which links Kinshasa andport of Matadi. The same has happened in Sierra Leone, Uganda, Liberia and Sudan’sDarfur region.

And, even in areas where Sino-Africa activities are concentrated, there is a risingdiscontent among the local populace for what is considered China’s “preference for itsown expatriate labour on capital projects and the alleged dumping of low quality Chineseproducts.”

Akinyi Princess of K'Orinda-Yimbo contends in Darkest Europe and Africa’s Nightmarethat the Chinese “dig, shovel, saw, clear and carry away the rubble themselves…noAfrican gets employed in any position whatsoever in any Chinese projects. Everybody isChinese from the engineers to the office messengers.”

Such disquiet among locals—and matched by studious silence among the ruling elite—

has been witnessed in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria, China-Zambia economic andtrade cooperation zone in Lusaka, Zambia, Juba in Southern Sudan, and Algeria andLiberia among other countries. All these are resource-rich countries with Zambia-ChinaEconomic and Trade Cooperation Zone located in Zambia Copper Belt Province.

As Africa’s natural resources are exploited, its people are steadily marginalised, writesMwesiga Baregu of the University of Dar es Salaam in BBC World Focus on Africamagazine.



A poor human rights record and clampdown on pressfreedom are some of the evils that the Chineseauthorities are struggling to hide under the carpetdespite frequent criticism, and that are nowthreatening to rear their ugly head at the August2008 Beijing Olympics.

The ‘Free Tibet’ campaigners and China’sdomestically dispossessed are hoping to use 2008Beijing Olympics as platform for voicing theirgrievances.

While Tibet remains largely off-limits, domesticmedia are tightly controlled in China. And, in dealingwith a possible protest, Chinese government isreported to be detaining dissidents it fears couldembarrass the country.

As is widely touted by African and Chinesediplomats, ‘the continent Africa and China have ashared history’. A close interrogation into this might just reveal that this is shamefullytrue.

Additional reporting by Ogova Ondego

The just-published book that examines the travails of Africa

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