Hawzah News Agency- Speaking to tens of thousands of Muslims during the annual Martyrs’ Day ceremony in Zaria, northern Nigeria, Sheikh Zakzaky said developments across the continent reflected what Western policymakers themselves had termed the “Second Scramble for Africa.”
Drawing parallels with history, he referenced the Berlin Conference, when European colonial powers formally partitioned Africa, and argued that a similar process was unfolding in a modernized form.
He noted that global powers had long described the current era as the “African Century,” not in anticipation of African prosperity, but because the continent holds nearly two-thirds of the world’s natural resources. According to Sheikh Zakzaky, this reality had driven a renewed push to reassert control over Africa.
He accused the United States of openly framing terrorism as a strategic tool in Africa, stating that ongoing conflicts across the continent illustrated the implementation of this policy in practice.
Libya was cited as an early example, where the aftermath of the Arab Spring led to state collapse, prolonged instability, and internal conflict, while foreign actors benefited from the country’s resources. He drew comparisons with Nigeria, highlighting its reserves of high-quality “sweet crude” oil, which he said had long been managed through foreign influence and compliant local elites.
Sheikh Zakzaky also pointed to Mali, describing French military involvement as a pretext for exploiting the country’s gold reserves, historically associated with the era of Mansa Musa. He referenced the Central African Republic as well, attributing sectarian violence there to constructed narratives designed to justify foreign intervention and gain access to diamond resources.
Addressing South Sudan and Nigeria, he warned of the deliberate manipulation of tribal and religious divisions. He described Boko Haram as an externally engineered project, asserting that even Western analysts had questioned the group’s origins and that incidents such as the kidnapping of schoolgirls were used to legitimize foreign military presence.
“The real terrorism,” he said at the time, “is the same force that destroyed Afghanistan and Iraq under false pretexts and continues to plunder nations’ wealth.”
He cautioned African leaders against cooperation with foreign powers, warning that rulers who sacrifice their people for personal gain often meet the same fate as figures such as Saddam Hussein and Muammar Gaddafi.
Concluding his remarks, Sheikh Zakzaky emphasized resistance as both a moral and religious duty, stressing that faith, awareness, and perseverance were essential tools in confronting what he described as an expanding campaign against Africa and its people.
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