No ‘memory loss’ in Africa about colonial past – grandson of ex-Egyptian president to RT

European powers are failing to acknowledge the legacy of colonization in Africa in their modern-day dealings with the continent, Gamal Abdel Nasser, a founding member of the African Legacy Forum, has told RT.

The comments from the grandson of the late president of Egypt, Gamal Abdel Nasser, came after the EU’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, expressed surprise over the level of support African people are showing towards Russia. The outgoing EU official argued that a new bloc-wide approach to the media, focused on information warfare, is needed.

“You need a different kind of army. You need people watching the networks, you need people explaining things the way they are, counter-programming, giving right information to the people, trying to avoid interference on the electoral process,” the EU foreign policy chief stated.

In his interview on Friday, Gamal Abdel Nasser recalled how the USSR helped African countries in their liberation movements.

“We have a good working past with Russia. Of course, it had its ups and downs, but we have a much worse past with the colonizing nations of Europe,” he said.

Nasser noted that European countries have long been engaged in political and military interference in Africa – and that local people do not have “memory loss”, and are aware of what happened in previous centuries. “If they want to work with us – OK, but we need them not to forget this past,” he added.

We work with the countries that are willing to work with us on a fair basis and we do not want to be dictated on how we should govern ourselves, what our fiscal policy should be, or who we should talk to, and who we should support and who we should not support. This is still the mentality of the past. It’s the neo-colonization. If they are thinking it’s either Russia or the West, then they are still thinking with this mentality.

Cooperation between Russia and African states has strengthening in recent years. In 2023, delegations from 48 countries took part in the Russia-Africa summit in St. Petersburg. At the event, the Kremlin declared that almost all African countries had been subjected to “unprecedented” pressure from the West, which tried to prevent their participation in the summit.

“This strategy of the US, France and other states must be condemned; it deserves condemnation,” Kremlin press-secretary Dmitry Peskov said. “In essence, they do not allow the sovereign right of African states to independently choose partners to expand cooperation, interaction in a variety of areas, to discuss current issues.”

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