Transcript Making Sense of Post-Colonial Africa, 1960

Making Sense of Post-Colonial
Africa, 1960-2007:
John Metzler, PhD
African Studies Center
Michigan State University
Helping Students Understand
Independent Africa, 1960-2005
Overview:
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Introduction: Popular Representations of Contemporary Africa
What We Need to Take into Account When Teaching About
Contemporary Africa in the Community College Classroom
Political, Economic, & Social “Realities” of
Contemporary/Independent Africa
Understanding Independent Africa: The Colonial Legacy:
Economic legacy
Social Legacy
Political Legacy
The Cold War in Africa: Angola, Congo, Horn of Africa, Southern
Africa
Militarization— Small Arms Race– in Africa
Globalization & Africa: Promise or Peril?
The African Renaissance: The Case for Optimism
1. Popular Representations of
Africa
• What media informs our students’
images of Africa?
• Afro-Pessimism
• Afro-Optimism
• News Media: “Hopeless Continent”
• Disney/National Geographic: “Garden
of Eden”/Celebration of the Exotic
• Movie industry: Despair & Exotica
Popular Representations of Africa:
“The Hopeless Continent”
Popular Representations of Africa:
The “Hopeless Continent”
Popular Representations of Africa:
The “Hopeless Continent”
Summary of Representation in
News Media
Africa assessed Four “Ds” and One “C”:
Death
• Disease
• Disaster
• Despair
• Corruption
Charlayne Hunter-Gault, 2006
Popular Representations of Africa:
“Garden of Eden”
Popular Representations of Africa:
“Garden of Eden”
Popular Representations of Africa:
Celebration of the Exotic
Popular Representations of Africa:
Messages from the Movies
Teaching About Contemporary
Africa
CRITERIA FOR ADDRESSING AFRICAN CRISES IN THE CLASSROOM
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Given the bias and lack of rigor and analysis in the reporting of
African crises, how should educators deal with these crises in their
classrooms? First, give attention to the following criteria:
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Set high standards of objectivity for yourself and for your students.
Do not be satisfied with news stories that continue to use the
standard explanatory constructs in analyzing a story. Use the
same standards of objectivity and demand the same rigor that you
expect from an analysis of a current issue in the U.S.
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Seek trust-worthy information and documentation on the issue
under consideration prior to engaging your students in a serious
discussion of the issue. Just as you would do for the study of a
current events issue in the U.S., try to find (or have your students
seek out) alternative perspectives of the story/crisis. The World
Wide Web provides a rich variety of web sources on Africa.
Teaching About Contemporary
Africa
Criteria (continued)
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When teaching a unit on Africa do not deal with
crises or severe problems unless you also deal
with problems/crises when you teach about other
regions of the world—particularly when you teach
U.S. history, civics, or economics. Analysis of
current events should be normal part of your of the
social studies classroom, not just when teaching
about Africa or “troubled regions” such as the
Middle East.
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When addressing a crisis in Africa do not do so in
isolation from the larger geographic, political,
economic, and historical context in which the
crisis is taking place. Crises are not “natural” or
“systemic” to African societies (or to any other
society in the world), and should not be treated as
such.
2. Contemporary “Realities” of
Africa
• Dual “Realities”
** Political Arena: Chaos, Chronic Conflict
versus Democratization: Africa’s Second
Liberation
** Economic Arena: Endemic poverty/underdevelopment versus African Renaissance
** Social Arena: Irreparable decay of social
structure (e.g. impact of HIV-AIDS) versus
Re-birth of Civil Society
Political “Realities” of
Contemporary Africa
Political “Realities” of
Contemporary Africa
Contemporary Conflicts:
• Africa’s First World War: Congo/Great Lakes (4 million casualties in
last 9 years)-cease-fire and peace accord; elections July and Oct. 2006
• Burundi
• Sudan- Darfur
• Horn of Africa: Somalia; Ethiopia/Eritrea
• Cote D’Ivoire
• Western Sahara
• (7-8 million refugees/displaced people in Africa)
• Refugee Crisis 4.2 million refugees (2000) second only to Asia. Many
more Internally displaced persons
Political “Realities” of
Contemporary Africa
Resolution of long-standing conflicts:
• Angola
• Mozambique
• Sierra Leone
• Liberia
• Sudan: North-South Conflict
• Rwanda
• Congo?
Political Realities of the Congo &
Nigeria
Congo:
• Civil War 1997-?: Groups:
Interhamwe (Hutu militia), Mai
Mai, Congolese Rally for
Democracy (2 factions
supported by Rwanda),
Movement for the Liberation of
the Congo (supported by
Uganda), government of
Joseph Kabila (elections, Sept.
2006/ run-off end of Oct. 2006)
Jean-Pierre Bemba
• Approximately 4 million have
died as result of this conflict
• Preceded by 30 years of
autocratic rule—Mobutu Sese
Seko
Nigeria:
• Seven military governments:
1966-1999 (some very brutal)
• Biafran civil war 1967-1970 ( cf
one million died)
• Ethnic conflict in Niger Deltaoil region: Ijaw, Itsekiri, Ogoni
(Ken Saro-Wiwa)
• Muslim-Christian conflict
(recent phenomenon)
• Stable “democracy” since 1999
• What happens after Pres.
Olusegun Obasanjo (2007)?
Political “Realities” of Contemporary Africa:
Regime Types 1989
ONE PARTY (28)
Military (12)
Multi-Party (6)
Settler/Racist (2)
Angola
Benin
Cape Verde
Central Africa Republic
Chad
Comoros
Congo (Brazzaville)
Cote D’Ivoire
Djibouti
Equatorial Guinea
Kenya
Libya
Madagascar
Mali
Malawi
Morocco
Mozambique
Niger
Rwanda
Sao Tome
Seychelles
Sierra Leone
Somalia
Swaziland
Tanzania
Togo
Zaire
Zambia
Algeria
Burkina Faso
Burundi
Chad
Ghana
Guinea
Lesotho
Liberia
Mauritania
Nigeria
Sudan
Uganda
Botswana
Egypt *
Gambia
Mauritius
Tunisia
Zimbabwe *
Namibia
South Africa
Political “Realities” of Contemporary Africa:
Regime Types Today: Africa’s Second
Revolution/Independence
Democratic (17)
Partially Democratic (15)
Undemocratic (16)
Benin
Botswana
Cape Verde
Gambia
Ghana
Kenya
Malawi
Mauritius
Mozambique
Namibia
Nigeria
Sao Tome
Senegal
Seychelles
South Africa
Tunisia
Zambia
Chad
Camoros
Congo (Brazzaville)
Gabon
Egypt
Eritrea
Ethiopia
Lesotho
Madagascar
Morocco
Rwanda
Sierra Leone
Swaziland
Tanzania
Uganda
Algeria
Angola
Burundi
Cameroon
Congo (Democratic Republic) ?
Cote D’Ivoire
Djibouti
Equatorial Guinea
Guinea
Libya
Mauritania
Niger
Somalia
Sudan
Togo
Zimbabwe
Political Realities of Contemporary
Africa
• Commitment of the
African Union (2002) to
human rights, good
governance,
transparency, democracy,
and development.
• NEPAD: New Partnership
for Africa’s Development:
By 2006 26 countries (half of the AU’s
membership had agreed to undergo
the Africa Peer Review Mechanism to
assess progress towards good
governance goals.
Economic Realities of Contemporary Africa
• The Combined Gross Domestic Product for all of Sub-Saharan
Africa in 2000 was US$322.73 Billion—less than the GDP for the
Netherlands (and considerably smaller than the GDP for the
state of California)
• Between 1990 and 2000 GNP per capita declined .7 per cent in
Sub-Saharan Africa
• However, since 2000 a number of African countries have
experienced a annual growth rate of around 5%
• Nearly 40% of Africa’s GNP is from agriculture, less than 15%
from manufacturing: lowest of any region in the world.
• Africa counts for less than 2% of global trade
• In 1960 average service debt of an African country was 2% of
exports; in 2000 239% of exports
Economic Realities of Contemporary Africa
Economic Realities of Contemporary Africa
World Region
Population Size (#)
T.
GNI Size ($)
Den.
T.
% GDP Growth
P.C.
T.
P.C
Sub-Saharan Africa
674
29
311
460
2.9
0.7
L. America
524
26
1,876
3,580
0.4
-1.1
1,378
288
618
450
4.9
3.1
301
27
669
2,220
3.0
1.0
S. Asia
M East & N Afr
NOTE: -- T. = ‘Total’;
-- Den. = Population Density, in single
units;
-- P.C. = Per Capita Income, in single
units
-- GDP = Gross Domestic Production
-- Total Population, in Millions;
-- T. GNI (Gross National Income) in
billions
Economic Realities of Contemporary Africa: Poverty
(Numbers and Percent of People living on $1 or less a day)
World
Region
1990
1999
#*
%
2015
#
%
#
%
S-S Afr
241
47
315
49
404
46
L. Amer
48
11
57
11
47
7.5
S. Asia
506
45
488
37
264
16
5
2
6
2
8
2
M East & N
Afr
Economic Realities of Contemporary Africa: Poverty
(Numbers and Percent of People living on $2 or less a day)
World
Region
1990
1999
#*
%
2015
#
%
#
%
S-S Afr
386
76
480
75
618
70
L. Amer
121
28
132
26
117
19
S. Asia
1010
90
1128
85
1139
68
50
21
68
23
62
16
M East &
N Afr
Economic Realities: Congo
Congo:
• Mineral Rich: Copper, Cobalt, Coltan, Diamonds,
Tin
• Agriculture: wide variety of food and cash crops
including coffee, tea, rubber and commercial
lumber.
• Industry: very little manufacturing, mineral
processing
• Yet: GDP per Capita is $88 compared to an
average of $541 in SSAf; Per Capita Income
$110 per capita compared to $600 for SSAf
But . . .
AFRICA’S GROWTH RATES
ARE CATCHING UP TO OTHER
DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
African per capita income is now increasing
in tandem with other developing countries …
Annual Change in Real per capita GDP %
Forecast
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
-1 1990
-2
-3
-4
Source: World Bank
Developing Countries
Developing excluding China and India
Sub-Saharan Africa
High-Income Countries
1995
2000
2005
2008
… growth has improved since the
1980’s
7
6
5
4
East Asia
Europe
3
LAC
2
MENA
1
South Asia
Africa
0
-1
-2
-3
80s
90s
2001-05
Africa’s growth experience increasingly
diverse
7
% GDP growth, 1996-2005%
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
Little or no
growth
countries: 20%
of Africa's
population
Slow
growth
countries:
16% of
Africa's
population
Sustained growth
countries: 36% of
Africa's population
Oil exporters: 29% of
Africa's population
Social Realities of Contemporary
Africa
Severe Social Dislocation:
• Male (productive age) labor migration: short term
and long term
• Urbanization: unplanned, minimal social services
(health, education, housing, sanitation)
• Gender/family relations: change in social relations of
production and reproduction (male migration, “male
cash crops,”) absence of fathers/husbands; rural
poverty (women & children most severely impacted);
survival strategies (prostitution, beer-making).
Social Realities of Contemporary
Africa
Education:
Colonial Heritage:
• Education for a very few (at independence, no colony had more than 60% of the
elementary school age population in school, most less than 30%; even lower
for high school and tertiary education
• Portuguese had most restrictive educational program. In rural Mozambique
less than 20% of school age cohort had full seven years of elementary
education at independence in 1975
• At independence in 1960 the D.R. Congo had an extensive primary school
system (70% enrollment) but less than 10% went to secondary school and only
50 university graduates!
• French followed policy of “assimilation”—targeted 10-20% of population with
relatively good education system, but vast majority little or no schooling.
• British generally most “progressive” but great differences between
“protectorates” (Nigeria, Ghana) where in-direct rule was practiced, and settler
colonies (Rhodesias, Kenya) where educational expenditure was very limited.
• Curriculum heavily biased to humanities—limited opportunities in science,
math, technology
Social Realities of Contemporary
Africa
Education and the Imperatives of the PostColonial Nation-State:
• Nation building and state legitimacy
• Economic development and productivity
• Social development: health, welfare,
education
• Cultural development: (re)production of
“Traditional culture”
Social Realities of Contemporary
Africa
Education: Post-Independence Example of Zimbabwe:
• 1980: 60% of primary school age cohort in school,
less than 40% finished primary education
• 1995 100% of primary school age cohort in school,
over 90% finished seven years of primary school
• 1980: only 64,000 students in secondary school;
1995 over 800,000 in secondary school
• Negative Impact of ESAP conditionalities on
education
Social Realities of Contemporary
Africa: Health
Diseases of Poverty:
• Malaria kills over 1 million people in Africa each year with
an estimated cost to African economies of over $2 billion
• Sleeping sickness (trypanosomasis) threat to 60 million,
infects 300,000 each year
• River Blindness (onchocerciasis) 17.5 million in Africa
(99%) of world total
• Biharziasis impacts estimated 80 million in Africa
Malaria has not received adequate
attention and is a major cause of
death of children
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Angola
Benin
Burkina
Faso
Eritrea
Gambia,
The
Ghana
GuineaBissau
Kenya
Nigeria
Tanzania
Uganda
Percentage of children under five sleeping under insecticide-treated bednets 2000-2004
Percentage of children under five with fever accessing effective antimalarial drugs 1997-2004
Zambia
Social Realities of Contemporary
Africa: Health
The Scourge of HIV-AIDS
• HIV-AIDS: Out of approximately 40 million HIV-AIDS victims in the
world 29.4 victims reside in Sub-Saharan African countries.
• Nearly three million children under the age of 15 are HIV positive
• Four countries in southern Africa have HIV infection rates of 25% or
higher of adult population
• In the last decade 12 million people died of AIDS in Africa
• Life expectancy in southern Africa increased throughout the region to
nearly 60 years of age in 1990 (from 44 years in 1950); life expectancy
expected to drop to 40-45 years of age by 2005.
• Rays of hope: decline in infection rate in a number of countries,
stabilization in South Africa; reduction in the price of antiretrovirals.
Social Realities of Contemporary
Africa: Health/HIV-AIDS
LIFE Expectancy And Mortality
550
55
500
50
450
45
400
40
350
35
300
30
1960
1970
1980
Mortality rate, adult, male (per 1,000 male adults)
1990
1997
2002
Life expectancy at birth, total (years)
How do we bring understanding to these
political, economic and social realities of
contemporary Africa?
• Contextualize
Legacy of Geography, Environment,
Climate, Geology
• Environmental Determinism:
• Jared Diamond—Guns,
Germs, and Steel
• Jeffrey Sachs- The End of
Poverty
• Africa only continent in the
World solely in the tropics;
geologically oldest: endemic
& debilitating disease; poor
soils; unreliable climate,
hostile environment—
impedes economic
development and creates
conditions for political
instability.
Legacy of Slavery
• Destruction of political,
economic, and social
infrastructure
• Loss of population—
death and slave trade
• Immeasurable Human
suffering.
• Other slave trades:
Trans-Sahara, East &
Central Africa.
Understanding Contemporary Africa: The Colonial Legacy
Understanding Contemporary Africa: The Colonial Legacy
A. Political Legacy
B. Economic Legacy
C. Social Legacy
Understanding Contemporary Africa: The Political Legacy
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Human rights legacy
Authoritarian/anti-democratic legacy
Cultural-pluralism/ethnicity
State Capacity
Understanding Contemporary Africa: The
Political Legacy
Types of Colonial Political Regimes in Africa:
• Direct Rule: Belgium, France, Germany (until 1918)
Portugal (Guinea-Bissau)
• Indirect Rule: British (except for settler states)
• League of Nations High Commission Mandate Trust
Territories (former German colonies—Tanganyika,
Togo, South West Africa, Cameroon)
• Settler Colonies (Angola, Kenya, Mozambique,
Rhodesia: South & North; South Africa)
Understanding Contemporary Africa: The Political
Legacy
• Authoritarian/anti-democratic
• Hegemony (establishment and maintenance of) was core
political agenda of all colonial states/regimes: Development of
police and local armed forces staffed by indigenous African
personnel
• Legitimacy (an imperative of most modern statecraft) was not
important to the colonial regime
• Representation (outside of traditional leaders/indirect rule) or
elections were largely absent in all colonial regimes
• Taxation (revenue generation)—without representation—was
central to the survival of the colonial state (Metropol opposed
to financial support of their colonies)
• “Forced Labor”—and at times forced conscription into police
force/army
Understanding Contemporary Africa: The
Political Legacy
Cultural Pluralism and the Creation of
“Tribalism”/Ethnicity
• Myth of “Tribe” & unique “tribal”
characteristics
• Issue of Colonial borders: separation of
language/ethnic groups
• Policy of “Divide and Rule.”
• Role of Mission societies
Understanding Contemporary Africa: The
Political Legacy/Cultural Pluralism
Understanding Contemporary Africa: The
Political Legacy/Creation of Ethnicity
Case of Nigeria:
• Lugard’s policy of
“Indirect Rule” (& “Divide
and Rule”)
• Differential policies
toward Hausa, Igbo and
Yoruba
• Creation of Igbo ethnicity
• Peripheralization of
“minor” groups
Understanding Contemporary Africa: The
Political Legacy/Creation of Ethnicity
•
Case of Burundi and Rwanda
•
Myth of ancient deeply embedded
ethnic (“tribal”/ “racial”) rivalry
between Tutsi and Hutu peoples
•
Belgian policy and the creation of
ethnicity/ “race” in Burundi and
Rwanda
Burundi
Rwanda
Understanding Contemporary Africa: The
Political Legacy/State Capacity
Review basic functions of national governments:
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•
•
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Guarantee sovereignty of the country
Guarantee safety and protection of all citizens
Guarantee basic human rights for all citizens
Guarantee equal protection under the law for all citizens
(Help) Provide basic infrastructure: transportation and
communication
• (Help) Provide basic social services for all citizens: basic
education, adequate health care, clean potable water, descent
shelter
• Stimulate and support economic productivity and growth
Understanding Contemporary Africa: The
Political Legacy/State Capacity
Realizing these basic functions of government
dependent on:
• Constitutional commitment to democracy and basic
human rights
• Independent judiciary
• Specialized institutions of government (departments)
that carry out specific functions of governance:
defense, public safety, education, health care, etc.
• Skilled and dedicated civil servants/bureaucrats
• Revenue
Understanding Contemporary Africa: The
Political Legacy/State Capacity
• Major imperatives of all colonial regimes: Hegemony
(domestic peace) and revenue (extraction) all other
agenda subservient to these imperatives [exception
of the settler colonies]
• Institutional development privileged institutions of
“public safety” and “control”: police, army, “native”
court system,” labor recruitment, and taxation
• Institutions/departments with portfolios in finance,
economic development, employment, transportation,
communication, housing, health care, education—
severely under-developed
Understanding Contemporary Africa: The
Political Legacy/State Capacity
Paradox of “Over-Developed State” (Postcolonial) with “Under-Developed” Capacity.
Over-Developed in terms of its relationship to
civil society and the domestic economy—
monopoly of responsibility for development
(social, economic, political), but. . .
Severely under-developed in its capacity
(institutional and human to meet these
challenges/responsibilities)
Competition over scarce resources
Understanding Contemporary Africa: The
Economic Legacy
Economic rationale for colonialism (review):
• Demand for raw materials to fuel industrial
revolution in Europe & generate profits for
businesses (nascent Transnationals)
• Guaranteed markets for industrial goods (crisis in
capitalism?)
• Need for safe investment opportunities for emerging
transnational corporations
• Three “Cs”: Pressure from “humanitarians” and
mission societies: Commerce as prime factor in
promoting Christianity and “Civilization” in Africa
Understanding Contemporary Africa: The
Economic Legacy
• Central economic imperative of all colonial
regimes: colonies must “pay their own
way”—no drain on metropol treasury.
• Top agenda of colonial regimes: raise
revenue—find & promote mode/area of
production that support colonial regime and
concurrently generate profits for metropol.
• Creation of “Mono-Economies.”
Understanding Contemporary Africa: The Economic
Legacy/Colonial “modes of production”
1.Mineral: Africa rich in
mineral resources,
several colonial
economies centered
on the exploitation of
minerals: e.g. Zambia
(Northern Rhodesia)
and Congo (Belgian)
Understanding Contemporary Africa: The Economic
Legacy/Colonial “modes of production”
2. Large-scale agriculture
(“plantation”) agriculture:
colonial regime identify one or
two major agricultural products
to be developed for export.
Mainly East and Southern
Africa: Kenya (coffee, tea)
Zimbabwe (tobacco, beef),
Mozambique (cotton/cashews)
Understanding Contemporary Africa: The Economic
Legacy/Colonial “modes of production”
3. Small-Scale Agricultural
Production: Most African
colonies did not have large mineral
deposits nor were they attractive for
large scale plantation type agriculture.
In these countries revenue was
generated through government
mandated/encouraged small-scale
agricultural production for export: e.g.
cotton (Mali), groundnuts (Senegal,
Gambia) cocoa (Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire)
Understanding Contemporary Africa: The Economic
Legacy/Colonial “modes of production”
4. Labor providing
colonies: Some African
colonies were resource part—more
often sections of colonies. These
colonies became “labor reservoirs” for
farms, mines and industries in
neighboring countries. E.G. Burkina
Faso (to Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana)
Malawi/Mozambique/Lesotho/
Swaziland (to South Africa, Zimbabwe,
Zambia). Colonial regimes earned
money through taxing recruitment and
remissions from laborers.
Understanding Contemporary Africa: The Economic
Legacy/Colonial “modes of production”
5. Mixed/Diversified
Economies: Colonial regimes
did little to stimulate real economic
growth and diversification with the
notable exception of “settler colonies”
such as Kenya, Southern Rhodesia,
and South Africa. Economic
development and diversification central
to the settler’s agenda for their
“countries.”
Understanding Contemporary Africa: The
Economic Legacy/ “Land” and Labor
• Regardless of mode of production
colonial economies required access
and control over land/natural resources
(most often without compensation),
and of . . .
• Labor (often forced or non-voluntary) –
including labor for commercial crops
instead of subsistence crops in small
scale commercial production zones.
4. Understanding Contemporary Africa:
Impact of the Cold War
The 1960’s, the decade of Africa’s
independence coincided with
the height of the Cold War.
• Newly independent African
states/leaders were often
called upon to take sides
between the East and West.
• U.S. and West suspicious of
Marxist/nationalist rhetoric of
many new leaders particularly
in countries with strategic
location and/or resources:
Congo, Angola, Somalia,
Ethiopia, Rhodesia, South
Africa
Understanding Contemporary Africa: Impact
of the Cold War
Impact of Cold War?
• Instability caused by assassinations,
coups, and civil strife within and
between key African “client” states.
• Wars directly linked to Cold War
machinations: Angola civil war
(invasion by South Africa, Cuban
troops); Congo (including recent “First
African World War;” Ethiopia/Somalia;
Liberia, Mozambique; Sudan
• “Failed States:” Congo, Liberia,
Somalia, Sudan.
• Economic devastation: Case of Congo
rich in natural and human resources
• Human suffering: millions killed (over a
million in Angolan civil war); Angola
second largest number of land-mine
amputees (after Cambodia) Africa
second largest refugee population in
the world
Results for Africa of aid from U.S. and the
West during the Cold War
• US gave at least $1.5 bill weapons to
Africa during Cold War (1950-89)
– - incl $400 mill to dictator Mobutu in Congo
– $250 mill to Jonas Savimbi’s UNITA
movement Angola
– Half the US aid went to governments with
known human rights abuses including
Congo, Rwanda, Uganda atrocities
(perhaps 3 million)
Somalia
10/15/69 President Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke is assassinated by one of his
bodyguards.
10/21/69 Coup d’état in Somalia. Major General Mahamed Siyad Barre
takes over as Chairman of the Supreme Revolutionary Council (SRC). A
number of prominent leaders and potential political rivals to Barre are
UN & US Retreat in Somalia
Societal Wreckage of War-Somalia
Baidoa, Som, City of Death
- vandalized statue
Children of War-Somalia
Children of War
Photograph by Joel Frushone, U.S. Committee for Refugees
They’re preparing to leave the only home they have ever known.
These children, whose parents are Somali, were born in the Daror
refugee camp in the Ogaden region of Ethiopia. Their parents had
come here in the late 1980s, fleeing northern Somalia after a violent
uprising that led to government bombing of the region’s largest
city, Hargeysa. More than a decade later, with peace and relative
stability in what is now the self-proclaimed state of Somaliland,
refugees are going home. Returning families receive resettlement
supplies, including 330 pounds (150 kilograms) of wheat and about
five quarts (five liters) of cooking oil. Most sell the supplies.
Militarization Across Africa: Curse of
landmines
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Angola: more than 70,000 amputees and more than 16,000 killed.
Estimates of total number of land mines = 10-20 million
Angola is the one most heavily impacted by 1-2 land mines per person
Whatever you want to do, whether it's plant a field or rehabilitate a school or open a
road, you've first got to clear away the mines. The threat of mines has paralyzed the
country
More than 70 types of mines - manufactured in at least 22 countries - have been planted
in Angola during recent decades. Mines were installed by the government military, the
South Africans, the Cubans, the Russians, UNITA, the police, by neighboring
governments, and several other Angolan armed groups.
The numbers of mine layers makes demining - which includes understanding the
strategy and patterns of mine laying - even more complicated. Mine clearance experts
say only the Cubans made accurate maps of their mine fields.
Tens of thousands of one-legged Angolans hobbling around their country on crutches
provide graphic evidence that most of the mines laid here are small anti-personnel mines
designed to maim rather than kill. Yet the explosives are often targeted at civilians, most
often women and children, rather than soldiers. Planted near water sources and under
shade trees in the savannah, they are designed to terrorize, often with the goal of
depopulating the countryside.
Militarization Across Africa
Portuguese soldiers
planting and
unearthing land mines
in Angola, 1970s
Militarization in Africa—The Cost
• An average of $22 billion is being spent each
year by the nations of Africa, Asia, Middle
East, and Latin America on arms.
• If this were redirected, it would be enough to
reach the UN targets of Universal Primary
Education
• And reducing infant and maternal mortality.
• And Meeting all of the Millennium
Development Goals
Militarization of Africa –Arms Sales
Out of Control
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The U.S., France, Russia, China and the UK
together account for 88% of all the world’s
conventional arms exports.
There are 639 MILLION small arms and light
weapons in the world
Today, eight million more are produced
every year.
• From 1996-2001, the USA, UK, and France earned
more income from arms sales to developing countries
than they gave in all kinds of emergency, disaster,
and economic assistance aid.
The costs of the new wars to
Africa’s children
Up to 20,000 children are fighting in Africa’s conficts today…..
Understanding Contemporary Africa: Impact
of Globalization
• Drastic reduction primary price of primary resources
(agricultural crops and non-strategic minerals).
• Concomitant increase in price of industrial
goods/services produced in North.
• Heavy indebtedness: impact of petrol dollars
• Decline in investment—slowing diversification of
economy
• Neo-liberal orthodoxy—withdrawal of state, decline
in services, rise in unemployment; emphasis on
“comparative advantage.”
• “Peripheralization” of Africa?
Africa and the Millennium Development Goals at
the Half-Way Point
Goal One: Eradicate Extreme Poverty and Hunger:
• Share of population below national poverty line:
high-Zambia 72.9%; low Benin 29%
• Share of population living on $1 per day: high—
Zambia 75%; low South Africa 10.7%
• Prevalence of child malnutrition, underweight as
% of children under 5: high Ethiopia 47.5%; low
South Africa 10.3%
• Share of population below minimum dietary
energy consumption: high Eritrea 73%; low
Gabon 5%
Source: Africa Development Indicators, 2006 (World Bank)
Africa and the Millennium Development
Goals at the Half-Way Point
Goal Two: Achieve Universal Primary Education
• Net primary enrollment ratio as a % or relevant
age group: high Seychelles 100% & Uganda
98%, Malawi 95%; low Djibouti 33%
• Primary Completion rate as a % of the relevant
age group: high Seychelles and Mauritius
100%; low Niger 25%
• Youth Literacy Rate (ages 15-24): high
Seychelles 99%, South Africa 94%; low Mali
24%
Source: Africa Development Indicators, 2006 (World Bank)
Africa and the Millennium Development
Goals at the Half-Way Point
Goal Three: Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women:
• Ratio of girls to boys in primary and secondary school: high Cape
Verde, Lesotho, Mauritius, Namibia, Rwanda and South Africa all
100% or higher; low Chad 58%
• Ratio of young literate women to men (ages 15-24): high—
Botswana, Equatorial Guinea, Kenya, Lesotho, Mauritius, Namibia,
South Africa, Swaziland all at 100% or higher; low Chad 42%
• Women members of national parliament as a % of total MPs: high—
Rwanda 49%, Mozambique 35%, South Africa 33%; low Nigeria 6%,
Kenya 7%
• Share of women employed in non-agricultural sector: high—Namibia
51%, Botswana 47%--most countries did not report
Source: Africa Development Indicators, 2006 (World Bank)
Africa and the Millennium Development
Goals at the Half-Way Point
Goal Four: Significantly Reduce Child Mortality:
• Under five mortality rate (per 1,000): high—Sierra Leone
283, 10 countries with over 200 compared to 12
countries in 1990; low—Seychelles 14, Mauritius 15,
Cape Verde 60, South Africa 66
• Infant mortality rate (per 1,000 live births): high—Sierra
Leone 165, 22 countries with greater than 100,
compared to 26 countries in 1990; low—Seychelles 12,
Mauritius 14, Namibia 47, South Africa 54
• Child immunization rate/measles: high—six countries
with 90% or higher; low—four countries lower than 50%
compared to 9 countries with lower than 50% in 1990
Source: Africa Development Indicators, 2006 (World Bank)
Africa and the Millennium Development
Goals at the Half-Way Point
Goal Five: Significantly Improve Maternal Health:
• Maternal mortality ratio per 100,000 live births:
high Sierra Leone 2,000 with 16 countries with
rates of 1,000 or above; low- Mauritius 24, with
seven countries with 500 or lower.
• Births attended by skilled health staff as a % of
total: high: Mauritius 99% with six countries at
85% and higher.
Source: Africa Development Indicators, 2006 (World Bank)
Africa and the Millennium Development
Goals at the Half-Way Point
Goal Six: Significantly Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria and other
Diseases:
• Prevalence of HIV as % of 15-49 year age group (2005):
high—Swaziland 33% and five countries with 20% or
higher (down from 8 countries in 2002); low 27 countries
with 5% or lower.
• Deaths due to malaria per 100,000 population: high—
Niger 469 with nine countries above 200; low Kenya 64
(of area in which malaria is endemic)
• Tuberculosis infect rate per 100,00 population: high—
Swaziland with 1,222 with seven countries with 500 or
above.
Source: Africa Development Indicators, 2006 (World Bank)
Africa and the Millennium Development
Goals at the Half-Way Point
Goal Seven: Ensure Environmental Sustainability
• Forest area as a % of total land: high—Gabon 85%, Congo
(Brazzaville) 66%--almost all African countries suffered a loss of
forest area between 1990 and 2005
• Nationally protected areas as a share of total land area (%): high
Zambia 31.9%, Tanzania 29.8%, with five countries at 15% or
above; low Lesotho with 0.2%
• Population with sustainable access to an improved water source
(%): high: Mauritius 100%, Botswana 95%, with 10 countries over
80% compared to four countries in 1990;
• Population with sustainable access to improved sanitation (%):
high—Mauritius 99% with eight countries at 50% or higher
compared three countries in 1990.
Source: Africa Development Indicators, 2006 (World Bank)
Africa and the Millennium Development
Goals at the Half-Way Point
Goal Eight: Develop a Global Partnership for Development
(hard to quantify & measure)
• Between 1990 and 2005 significant reduction in debt as
per cent of GDP and of export earnings thanks to debt
restructuring and debt forgiveness
• Mobile and Fixed line telephone subscribers per 1,000
people: high 842 Seychelles with 10 countries at 100 or
higher compared to one country in 1990.
• Personal Computers per 1,000 persons: high—Mauritius
279, Seychelles 179 and Namibia 109; low 1 in Niger,
with 16 countries at 5 or under.
Source: Africa Development Indicators, 2006 (World Bank)
African Renaissance: Cause for
Optimism?
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Concrete moves to end wars in
Congo/Great Lakes; Angola,
Liberia, Sierra Leone, Ethiopia/
Eritrea.
Democratization: Africa’s Second
Independence.
Economic growth: a number of
countries registering 5% annual
growth-rates, 2000-2005.
Birth of the African Union &
NEPAD (New Economic
Partnership for Africa’s
Development.)
Intelligence, commitment, and
vibrancy of Africa’s youth.