Fragilecologies Archives
2 September 2004
Coups, corruption, colonialism, conflict, Cold War and climate have, at one time or another, plagued countries in sub-Saharan Africa. African leaders with the support of their citizens and the concerted effort of the international community need to cope more swiftly and effectively with the influences of these six “Cs” on the ability of their countries to develop sustainably.
In the early 1500s English playwright William Shakespeare wrote in his play “Hamlet” “To be on not to be: that is the question. Whether t’is nobler in the mind to suffer slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, or to take arms against a sea of troubles, and by opposing, end them.”
So, 500 years ago Shakespeare pointed out to his audience that the common people either accept what their governments dish out to them, or find ways to oppose the negative influences of government on society and on their lives. Let’s look more closely at the 6 Cs noted above.
Coups
– Several governments over the past few decades have fallen because of military coups. These abrupt takeovers of political power by a group of soldiers, however non-violent, still cause insecurity as well as instability within the country as well as the likelihood of spilling over into neighboring countries. In cases where rulers have legitimately been chosen to govern, many of them have chosen to stay in power beyond their legitimate authority, with resulting adverse effects on their decision-making. In fact, very few political leaders in Africa, since the late 1950s have stepped down from power voluntarily. There are some notable exceptions: Leopold Senghor of Senegal; Julius Nyerere of Tanzania: Nelson Mandela of South Africa. Coups continue. The Cote d’Ivoire is among the latest examples of the devastating aftermath of a coup. Equally as devastating to African people are the coup attempts that fail. They too have negative impacts on their well-being.
Corruption
– For decades, donors as well as local people have been well aware of corruption in Africa in one form or another. Corruption can be at a relatively low level in the form of baksheesh, or bribery; some extra money changes hands to get a visa in time or to get access to services run by the government (telephone, electricity, etc). Seemingly small amounts of money for bribes to get things done can be difficult for someone in Africa to deal with, because of the low level of earnings of the general population. Much more serious problems of corruption relate to the large-scale robbing of a nation’s treasury by a sitting president and his friends. One of the worst examples of this is President SeseSeku (Mobutu) of the Congo, who is said to have stolen between $5 – $8 billion US from his countrymen, leaving his citizens impoverished. His lavish spending on frivolous things like the renting of an aircraft to deliver his daughter’s wedding cake (also costing tens of thousands of dollars) to the Congo in time for the reception is but one example. Nigeria’s President Sani Abacha is said to have embezzled on the order of $2-5 billion US from his country’s coffers. Corruption is also fostered from outside a country as, for example, some governments or companies of the North have been caught in the act seeking, for example, to bribe local officials to accept toxic waste on their soil.
Two Women: a Chadian peasant and a Sudanese refugee (UNHCR),
archive.wn.com/2004/03/131400/aidnes 13 March 2004, Bamena, Chad
Conflict
– there have been several conflicts in sub-Saharan Africa in the past few decades. Most recently, there have been armed conflicts within countries (Sierra Leone, Liberia, Rwanda, Ivory Coast, Congo) as well as between them (e.g., Eritrea and Ethiopia). Aside from death, destruction and despair, and the lost economic and political development opportunities such conflicts cause widespread population movement (refugees) across international borders. Today, there is a movement to develop an all-African peacekeeping force to cope with political armed conflicts on the continent.
Southwest AFrica Camel Patrol: Toy soldiers www.jamesfinnminiatures.theshoppe.com
Colonialism
– the colonial period of African history has left a clear mark on Africa’s borders, cultures, bureaucracies, policies and politics, and ethnic conflicts. The industrialized countries continue to leave their marks on the hopes, desires and development prospects of African citizens. Africans deserve a life in which they do not have to struggle day by day for the well-being of their families, friends, villages and countries. They want security so they can raise and provide for their families in peace. It is also clear that not all former colonial powers feel any sense of responsibility for the current situation in sub-Saharan Africa. Most recently, the German government, for example, has only recently refused a request for compensation to the Herero people of Southwest Africa (Namibia) for having tried, almost successfully, to exterminate them in the early 1900s as part of its colonial policy. How has Belgium, for example, assisted its former African colonies in their struggle for economic development? German Southwest Africa Camel Patrol; Toy soldiers www.jamesfinnminiatures.theshoppe.com
Forty years or more have passed since the decolonization era and in time the responsibilities of African leaders will begin to be taken into account for the problems that future Africa leaders will have to face. Colonialism will be blamed for its negative impacts and African political leaders will likely be blamed for theirs.
Cold War
– America and her NATO allies as well as the Soviet Union and her former Soviet bloc countries, China, Cuba as well as the former apartheid regime in South Africa have been in large part responsible for the difficult conditions that sub-Saharan Africans find themselves in today. For example, to see photographs of marauding bands of kids with kalishnikovs is a horrible sight. One could easily argue that the ideological rivalries during the Cold War fostered the heavy arming of the African continent. It was good politics (as well as good business) in the Cold War days (until the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991) for each side to support those who claimed to believe in their particular ideology. It was also good for the supporters who received guns and funds to carry out in Africa the proxy wars of the Cold War superpowers.
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| Patrice Lumumba, Assassinated Congolese revolutionary leader | ||
The superpowers and other forces of foreign intervention polarized Africa in the name of their ideologies, and when they no longer continued their cold war using proxies to fight for their causes, they walked away from many of Africa’s economic and political problems, leaving armed factions and expressing little guilt about the mess they had left behind. This was not unlike a few decades earlier when colonial rulers abandoned the continent. History might eventually show that the activities of the superpowers on the African continent were as devastating to a viable and peaceful future for African governments and economies as the impacts and legacies of the colonial period.
Climate
– At any given time, Africa has a varied climate. It ranges from wet and tropical rainforests to hyper arid and desert environments. A large part of sub-Saharan Africa is at a high risk to drought from one year to the next and one decade to the next. You can pick any region on the continent — east, west, south, northeast and southwest – and see that the impacts of drought conditions in the past few decades are sure to have influenced food production and food shortage. Everyone who is familiar with Africa is aware that the drought in the West African Sahel ran off and on for almost twenty years starting in the late 1960s. The Horn of Africa suffered from several one-to-two year droughts and severe food shortages in the twenty-year period starting in 1972. Well over a million people perished in the droughts and famines that occurred in this period, partly as a result of climate conditions but partly as a result of lack of a quick and effective response from the political leaders with in and outside the affected countries.
Sadly overlooked, in Africa’s climate situation, a fact is that about the time in the 1960s those African colonies were gaining their independence from their European rulers, the regional climate seem to have changed for the worse. In the Sahel, the 1950s and 1960s had been relatively wet, whereas from 1968 till the 1990s the Sahel was relatively dry. New leaders of recently independent countries had to cope with droughts, severe food shortages and famines. At the same time they were trying to get their new governments organized and up and running. Even the colonial governments would have had difficulty in coping with the impacts of these often severe and prolonged droughts.
Yetanother “C”: Condoms
I have added the word condoms to the list of Cs as a safety reminder. The need for the liberal distribution of condoms everywhere, not just in Africa, can help civilizations curb the HIV/AIDS crisis. This is as true for Africa as it is for all parts of the globe. The US government, however, influenced by conservative religious groups (i.e., the right wing end of the political spectrum) is opposed to providing condoms to developing countries. Religion aside, condom distribution is one approach toward reducing the spread of AIDS. This disease has already been responsible for millions of deaths as well as millions of orphans in Africa.
“Climbing out”
There is an expression that is quite instructive: “When you find yourself in a hole, stop digging.””Climbing out” refers to developing a real strategy or Action Plan with a timetable, as opposed to more nice words about the future that await the continent’s inhabitants. There is an urgent need for African leaders, the international community, former colonial powers and former Cold War superpowers, as well as present-day ones, to give Africa a sustainable future for people and their environments. Piecemeal programs and suggestions are like band-aids being applied to much more serious health problems. No more humanitarian aid rivalries, no more blatant corruption, no more “wait and see” policies toward genocide situations. [Today there is debate about the characteristics of genocide, but that is only because if a situation is deemed to be genocide then governments around the globe have a responsibility to act to stop it].
Where it is applicable, there is a need for all concerned about Africa’s future to put self-serving pride, negative histories, greed, personal agendas and ethnic and ideological rivalries aside at least for a while in order to embark on building a better future for all of Africa’s publics. They should no longer be deprived of the basic necessities required to live a wholesome life on their planet. The world’s leaders, former colonial rulers, former superpowers and especially African leaders owe this to them.