19 - 25 July 2001
Issue No.543
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 19 - 25 July 2001 Issue No.543 |
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Africa's uphill struggle
Africa needs a new framework with which to carve out a niche for itself in the era of globalisation, writes Wagih Salama
*The winds of change have at last blown across Africa. The continent's leaders have declared the African Union (AU) which aims at the creation of mechanisms to cement integration and solidarity among the continent's countries. A united front is much needed to put an end to decades of exploitation and the depletion of the continent's resources by both old and new forms of colonialism and imperialism. Another dimension of the colonial legacy is the continent's division by artificial borders. These have fuelled disputes which swept through the continent like wildfire, leaving in their wake thousands of dead and millions of refugees and displaced persons.
Military coups, which invariably took place with a great deal of bloodshed, were once the only way to reach the seats of power in the continent. Western imperialism was usually the instigator of such upheavals to replace one military dictator with another who owes his allegiance to the imperialist power and is no more than a puppet manipulated from the metropolitan capital. Thus unabated repression of freedoms and corruption are only the consequences of imperialism.
Injustice, disease, ignorance and extreme poverty have become commonplace in the lives of the majority of African peoples. With a daily income which ranges from a minimum of under one dollar to a maximum of $5.4 a day, African peoples have little means to combat the ominous spread of AIDS which accounts for some 70 per cent of total cases in the world today. Economic growth is at a standstill, infrastructure is sorely lacking and productive sectors are underdeveloped. Democracy, freedom and human rights are floundering under African rulers -- the majority of whom are only concerned with robbing their countries and diverting national wealth to their own bank accounts abroad until they are ousted or replaced by yet another dictator.
Globalisation is a real threat to African aspirations. The free and rapid movement of capital, the high standards of technology required to compete within this framework and the disintegration of boundaries between countries allows little room for regional pacts or the objectives they seek to implement.
Facing such challenges is particularly daunting as the continent is burdened with a staggering debt, which will no doubt hamper the AU. At the African- European Summit held in Cairo last year, Egypt called for the cancellation of Africa's debts, arguing that world powers have exploited the continent's resources and left it impoverished. It argued that nothing short of writing off the entirety of Africa's foreign debt would be effective in scoring any results on the ground in terms of the establishment of African blocs and efforts towards achieving goals that go beyond mere slogans.
Clockwise from top left: Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat engages the attention of Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni; Libya's Gaddafi; Louis Farrakhan, leader of the Nation of Islam who was denied a platform in Lusaka in spite of Gaddafi's prodding; UN Secretary General Kofi Annan
The peoples of Africa are not responsible for the settlement of debts which represent funds that never reached them in the first place, but were pocketed by corrupt rulers imposed by the West to realise its interests. The rescheduling of the continent's debts or the cancellation of a part of them would not only be insufficient, but would actually serve to tighten Western countries' hold on Africa. For a fuller implementation of the objectives of globalisation and the ideals of the global village, economic assistance to Africa should be unconditional. No one part of the world should be allowed to exercise hegemony over the rest.
It seems simplistic for African leaders to adopt national objectives which are to a great extent unachievable. An extremely low GNP is a major problem for most of the continent's countries -- a predicament which is exacerbated by the presence of trade barriers to the entry of their commodities into Western markets. Monies from exports would go a long way towards improving the economic position of African countries. In the meantime, the $7 billion in aid given annually to the continent to supplement national incomes falls far short of the economic needs of Africa's peoples.
The Organisation of African Unity (OAU), established in 1963, succeeded in playing a decisive role in the liberation of Africa, the assertion of African identity and the establishment of a framework for collective African action. The OAU has taken firm positions vis-à-vis the unfair fiats by Western powers against Libya, Sudan and Iraq.
African leaders have succeeded where Arab leaders failed to breach the air embargo imposed on Libya and to visit the Jamahiriya in defiance of Washington's dictates.
Africa must establish effective and adequate mechanisms for the operation of the AU which do not imitate Western mechanisms but which take into account cultural and social specificities of African nations. African leaders should initiate dialogue with industrially advanced countries to obtain funding and investments. They should also attempt to gain support from industrial powers for mammoth projects reminiscent of the Marshall Plan of 1947, which was drafted for the rehabilitation of Europe after World War II.
Barriers to African commodities entering Western markets must be eliminated and democracy promoted. The AU must facilitate the movement of labour between African countries.
And as this new organisation begins its work, African leaders must remain true to the principles of the OAU, particularly in terms of shunning continental conflicts and pursuing peace, security and stability on the continent. All attempts should be made to settle border disputes amicably as African leaders must bear in mind that the peaceful settlement of their conflicts would save their continent from intervention by foreign powers.
Last, but not least, Arab-African cooperation must be strengthened for the mutual prosperity of Africans and Arabs and to counter Israeli economic and military penetration into Africa.
* The writer is the Director of the Arab Centre for Strategic Studies.
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