Josina Ziyaya Machel, the daughter of the first president of independent Mozambique, Samora Moises Machel, has told RT that forces claiming to fight terrorism represent a new form of colonialism. Machel, who is part of the delegation from her country to the Russia-Africa Summit in St. Petersburg, was speaking about the need for Africa’s youth to carry on her late father’s legacy of fighting for the continent’s liberation.
“It’s the lithium; it’s the oil; it’s the gas,” she insisted, adding that colonists are on the continent to continue their countries' historical resource grabbing.
“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.