Colonists still in Africa to grab resources – former Mozambican leader’s daughter

Josina Machel says the continent’s people don’t need to take up arms to get rid of neocolonialism, but rather must unite

Josina Ziyaya Machel, the daughter of the first president of independent Mozambique, Samora Moises Machel, is part of the delegation from her country in St. Petersburg for the Russia-Africa Summit. She spoke to RT about the need for Africa’s youth to carry on her late father’s legacy of fighting for the continent’s liberation.

In response to a question about why foreign military forces are stationed in independent African states, claiming to be fighting terrorism, Machel stated that it is a modern form of colonialism.

“It’s the lithium; it’s the oil; it’s the gas,” she said, adding that colonists are on the continent to continue grabbing the continent’s resources.

“These wars are somehow being fought in a different shape. It is not different from the reasons they were there in 1920. It’s almost the same reasons they were there with the process of colonization,” she told RT’s Moussa Ibrahim.

She believes the way forward to being liberated from neocolonialism is a united Africa, not by picking up arms to fight.

“The young people who are educated, who have a very big sense of being African wanting to do the best for the continent need to unite,” the human rights activist said, urging the continent’s governments to invest in their citizens.

Watch Machel’s full interview to learn how African youth can continue the legacy of the continent’s forefathers, including her father, by fostering a sense of interdependence among states.