YAOUNDE, CAMEROON AFRICA, NOVEMBER 2010 (NEWS.CAMEROON-TODAY.COM) - Canada announces its decision to close down the embassy in several countries in Africa including Cameroon.
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In a decision that could make it the victim of some acute criticism in the global front Canada comes forth with an alarming proposal of closing down its embassies in several countries across the African continent the prominent names among them being Cameroon, Zambia and Tunisia.
Canada and Harper were in the news recently for having lost some very pertinent votes in the elections for the United Nations Security Council and this move could further damage its diplomatic reputation in the global scene and result is negatively influencing many of its decisions in the global framework.
The Canadian Government is apparently sending out wrong signals to the world when it announced its decision to shut down numerous African embassies and the decision is causing rampant concern especially amongst foreign policy activists. The country is said to be considering at least four of its embassies for closure and the key targets are most likely to be Cameroon, Zambia and Tunisia.
Canada presently has embassies in 21 countries in Africa and closing down four of them would mean that they are cutting down on almost 25 percent of their representation in the continent. This would be pointing undoubtedly to the charges leveled against the Canadian Government that it is ignoring Africa and the issue becomes more serious considering the fact that The UN Security Council seat for Canada remained just a dream for the simple fact that they could not manage to get the African votes.
However Canada seems to be planning to shift their focus from Africa to other high priority locations like Asia and Latin America. This would invariably mean that the offices that are shut down in Africa will result in equal number of embassies opening up in other countries in Latin America and Asia where the country does not have a presence currently. The Canadian administration wants to focus more on emerging economies which are mostly centered in Latin America and Asia since these middle class economies can prove to be much more robust trade relationships for the country.
Ottawa has to date shut down numerous embassies and consulates in Africa in the past couple of years, the prominent ones in the list being Malawi, Gabon, Guinea and Cape Town, South Africa. If the new set of slashes also happen, that would amount to Canada having embassies in less than 30 percent of Africa’s 53 countries. On the other hand emerging economies like Brazil has made their trade presence felt by opening embassies in at least 28 of the 53 African countries.
“It will be a sad day if these rumors are true,” said Lucien Bradet, president of the Canadian Council on Africa, the primary organization that has vested interests with Canadian businesses and organizations in Africa.
“No doubt that we are witnessing an ‘out of Africa’ strategy,” he said. “We’d be cutting more and more of the bridges between Africa and ourselves. It would cause doubts about Canada’s declarations of friendship to Africa.”
The ties between Canada and Africa were very dicey after the Canadian Government chose to remove eight African countries from their list of prioritized countries which formed part of their Foreign Aid policy. This decision came at a moment when the very eight countries would have benefitted from the financial aid and funding that a rich economy like Canada could have provided.
Following this when the proposal came up in the UN for Canada to join the Security Council Canada failed to make it to the prestigious position only because of the lack of support from various African countries as a result of which they lost in the final ballot.
Following initial closure of eight consulates and embassies the open consulates were facing tremendous pressure and increased work loads . Moreover investors who aim at reaching to a global business scenario have voiced their concerns very often about Canada not having a consulate in a mineral rich territory like Angola.
“Closing embassies in Africa would be a serious mistake for Canada,” said Paul Hitschfeld, head of the Ottawa-based Africa Study Group and a retired member of the Canadian International Development Agency.
“Africa is growing and will only become more influential in the world,” he said. “Closing embassies is counterproductive, in terms of trade, influence and knowledge-gathering. It is the triumph of short-term thinking over our long-term strategic interests.”
Edward Jackson, a expert at foreign aid at Carleton University and a member of the McLeod Group, an organization that specializes in foreign policy making and management, says Canada would have to maintain a competitive edge to survive the race with growing economic powerhouses like China and India who seemed to have found out the vast untapped potential of various African markets and are focusing on improving their ties with African countries and pulling in allies from Africa.
“If you’re going to have any influence in Africa or any credibility in the world, you need eyes and ears and boots on the ground,” he said. “Otherwise, we’ll be totally out maneuvered by these new powers.”
Stephen Lewis, the former Canadian ambassador to the United Nations and former UN envoy on AIDS in Africa, spoke to the press and stated that he was not in the least taken by surprise at the move from Canada government to close down more consulates in the continent. “It will do further damage to Canada’s reputation,” he said. “But having lost the Security Council seat, Canada probably cares even less about what Africa may think.”
In the House of Commons last month, Liberal MP Mauril Bélanger enquired as to whether Canada is proposing to slash down their embassies in Africa. Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon did not make any solid comment to affirm or deny the possibility of such a move.
“Canada constantly evaluates its interests,” Mr. Cannon said. “We consistently look at where we can best serve Canadian interests abroad. … New offices are opened; others are closed. We do this in full knowledge of defending Canada’s best interests.”
As far as Cameroon is concerned the growing sectors like tourism, timber logging and forestry and Oil and Gas as well as mining seems to be sought after by many countries and Canada would be the one to lose out from closure of embassies in the country. With the European Union inking a major deal with the country to prevent illegal logging of timber the country ahs taken a landmark step towards the improvement of one of its major exports timber and the tourism sector also seems to be indicating a lot of hope and promise for the future.
However Canada still seems to be wanting to stick to the opinion that the closing down of more consulates in Africa are intended to work towards the best interests of the country so that they can focus more on territories where they could benefit more in terms of opening new businesses or securing more trade partnerships as well as bilateral ties. But the wrong signals that the country is sending out to its counterparts could prove to be valuable to them as losing out on the UN Security Council has just proven.
Learn more about the Canadian Embassy in Cameroon and Cameroonian Embassy in Canada
