By Kazembe Batts
IG: @kazbatts
“No boots on the ground or bombs in the air, U.S. out of everywhere!” shouted the twenty-something, female African demonstrator as I walked past Union Square Park in Manhattan. A catchy slogan that is fast becoming a reality as the world’s hegemon makes global demands from allies and alleged adversaries. With adversaries the military confiscates large oil tankers off the coast of Venezuela or alleged Al-Shabab militants in Somalia, the U.S. military is flexing its trillion-dollar arsenal.
The United States military has 750 bases in every region of the world. With allies Trump has declared his desire for Canada to be a 51st state, demands access to Greenland from Denmark for strategic reasons, threatened to seize the Panama Cana and to bomb Columbia and Mexico to take out drug gangs, now called terrorists.
The Trump administration is also using non-military soft power, like tariffs, trade deals and outright blackmail to influence elections, especially in the Western Hemisphere. Unlike any previous president he has overtly lodged himself into recent elections in the Americas by loudly supporting conservative Nasry Asfura who barely won in Honduras and conservative Jose Antonio who also won in Chile.
The arrogant interference is also on display when Trump pledges $40 billion to Argentina but only if Javier Milei is elected. Trump has also supported former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who was recently sentenced to 27 years in prison for having led a coup to stay in office after his 2022 loss to Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Trump is troubled that his friend has been punished for doing something very similar to what happened on a January 6th day in Washington DC. Trump wants Bolsonaro pardoned.
Similar to its earlier cutback of USAID, on Monday12/29 the Trump administration announced a $2 billion pledge for UN humanitarian aid as the administration continues to slash US foreign assistance The $2 billion (€1.7bn) is only a sliver of traditional US humanitarian funding for UN-backed programs, which has run as high as $17 billion (€14.4bn) annually in recent years, according to UN data. The money is a small fraction of what the US has contributed in the past but reflects what the administration believes is a generous amount that will maintain the United States’ status as the world’s largest humanitarian donor.
Cutting needed humanitarian aid while threatening military force remains the American norm. The Empire has some of its military bases located in Africa. Arguably Nigeria, South Africa and Kenya are three of Africa’s most powerful nations. Let’s review how the Trump administration is engaging these three powerful African nations.
South Africa – Trump in a deliberate move to embarrass South African President Cyril Ramaphosa played a misleading video at a press conference in the White House and accused the SA government of perpetrating white genocide. Under Trump the USA practically boycotted the recent G-20 Summit in Johannesburg and has said that South Africa is barred from the next summit in Miami in 2026.
Relations are currently strained and marked by deep disagreements over South Africa’s non-alignment with the West, its relations with China/Russia, its ICJ case against Israel, SA membership in BRICS and current Trump administration policy, impacting areas like trade AGOA, and diplomatic trust.
Nigeria – U.S. is Nigeria’s largest foreign investor. On Christmas Day Trump delivered a present. Security cooperation against extremism, has occurred in the past but recently has become strained due to Trump administration claims of Christian persecution leading to Nigeria being designated a “Country of Particular Concern”. Did the bombing compromise sovereignty? Nigerian officials have said they approved of the bombings. A U.S. military official tells “PBS News Hour” a ship off Nigeria’s coast fired more than a dozen Tomahawks at two ISIS training camps.
Local security analysts say the missiles hit in at least four locations, all in Nigeria’s northwest Sokoto state. Lakurawa, which asserts connections to ISIS Sahel, capitalizes on inadequate local governance within the region. The Nigerian government declared them a terrorist organization, but locals say they’re connected to bandits and criminals.
The attacks targeted the northwest Nigeria, hundreds of miles from Maiduguri in the northeast, a known stronghold for Islamic banditry. Interestingly, the location is far closer to the borders of the three Alliance of Sahel States of which AFRICOM head General Michael Langley discussed negatively while testifying before congress.
Kenya –The USA has a deepening strategic partnership focused on economic growth, counterterrorism, and democracy, highlighted by Kenya becoming a Major Non-NATO Ally in 2024 and hosting a U.S. State Visit. The two governments recently signed a five-year, $2.5 billion Health Cooperation Framework that says the United States plans to provide up to $1.6 billion over the next five years to support priority health programs in Kenya including HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis (TB), malaria, maternal and child health, polio eradication, disease surveillance, and infectious disease outbreak response and preparedness.
Kenyan troops at the urging of the USA have landed in nearby Haiti to help “pacify” the gangs who control Port-Au-Prince. More recently Kenyan nationals, without working papers, were deported from South Africa for illegally attempting to facilitate white South Africans emigration to the United States. Unlike South Africa and Nigeria, Kenya seems to be in sync with the foreign policy goals of the US.
Entering 2026 the Trump administration is killing people without trial in international waters. Indiscriminately bombing places without it even making major news, like in Somalia. Making false claims about stopping wars like between Congo and Rwanda. Threatening to go “guns a blazing” in Africa’s most populous country. Ignoring real genocide in Sudan. African people living in America are still in the best position to jumpstart an African renaissance globally.
True Pan-African unity is needed now. In honor of the centennial birth of Patrice Lumumba, Franz Fanon and Malcolm X let us strive to make sure that the United States government empowers while the military does not destroy people all over the world. No boots on the ground or bombs in the air, U.S. out of everywhere.