Unity is the only way out of Africa’s socio-economic, political tantrum

Africa was robbed of its human resources and pride following the infamous and inhuman slave trade from which slave hunters from Europe and the US had prospered. Before presenting an analysis on the three levels of the pillage of Africa, the author provides a brief summary of the slave trade which was a prelude to the pillages.

The Atlantic slave trade, involving the forced enslavement and transportation of Africans to the Americas, primarily occurred between the 16th and 19th centuries, with the first voyage likely sailing in 1526 and the trade peaking in the 18th century. That is 5 centuries ago.

Over the period of the Atlantic Slave Trade, from approximately 1526 to 1867, some 12.5 million captured men, women, and children were put on ships in Africa, and 10.7 million arrived in the Americas.

The transatlantic slave trade had profound and long-lasting impacts on Africa, many of which are still felt today. : Millions of Africans were forcibly taken, resulting in a significant loss of population, especially of young, healthy men and women. This depopulation slowed down economic and societal development in many regions. This led to social disruption in which families and communities were torn apart. Traditional social structures and cultural practices were undermined, leading to social instability. European traders often provided weapons to African leaders in exchange for slaves. This led to wars and raids between communities and kingdoms to capture more people for trade, fostering violence and instability.

Local economies became dependent on the slave trade instead of producing goods or developing industries, discouraging innovation and economic diversification. Some African kingdoms became powerful by engaging in the slave trade, but others were destroyed or weakened, disrupting state formation and long-term governance.

The trade dehumanized African people and embedded a legacy of racial inferiority, which persisted through colonialism and beyond. It also created a diaspora of Africans across the Americas and Europe, separating people from their cultural roots. The patterns of exploitation and domination established during the slave trade laid the groundwork for European colonization of Africa in the 19th century.

The first stage or level of the pillage of Africa began in the Scramble for Africa. The Scramble for Africa (1880–1900) was a period of rapid colonization of the African continent by European powers. But it wouldn’t have happened except for the particular economic, social, and military evolution Europe was going through.

With the end of European trading of enslaved people a need for commerce between Europe and Africa was put as an option. Capitalists may have seen the light over the practice of enslavement, but they still wanted to exploit the continent. New “legitimate” trade would be encouraged. Explorers located vast reserves of raw materials, plotted the course of trade routes, navigated rivers, and identified population centers that could serve as markets for manufactured goods from Europe. It was a time of plantations and cash crops, when the region’s workforce was put to work to producing rubber, coffee, sugar, palm oil, timber, etc for Europe. And the benefits were more enticing if a colony could be set up, which gave the European nation a monopoly.

With new technological innovations in steam engine and medicine, the startup of the industrial revolution prompted a number of European countries to colonize several countries of Africa as raw material sources for their nascent industries.

History of external colonization of Africa can be divided into two stages: Classical antiquity and European colonialism. In popular parlance, discussions of colonialism in Africa usually focus on the European conquests that resulted in the scramble for Africa after the Berlin Conference in the 19th century.

From the description of various parts of Africa which became colonies of the European powers, key points to note are how the African continent within a very short period of time was partitioned into colonies as shown by the sequence within the instance of about 20 years of partition by the European powers.

The second stage of the pillage of Africa continued right after the years of independence in the 1960s whereby direct colonial rule shifted to neo-colonialism with nominal political independence. The colonial powers still controlled the administration, resource utilization and education systems for producing pro-colonial era intellectualism. The former colonists forced the past colonies to adopt their language as official language and imposed western values on the formation of government structure and operations.

In the third stage, which included the formation of the OAU and later AU, African countries came to be better organized to fulfil their lofty goals by commissioning various operational documents like Agenda 2063, AfCFTA which among other things included the use of African natural resources for the development of Africa. Which the author wishes to mention in brief.

Africa possesses a significant share of global mineral reserves – including 92% of platinum, 56% of cobalt, 54% of manganese and 36% of chromium.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is rich in mineral resources, including copper, cobalt, diamonds, gold, tin, tantalum, and lithium, with cobalt and copper being particularly significant.

The mining industry of Mali is dominated by gold extraction but also produces diamonds, rock salt, phosphates, semi-precious stones, bauxite, iron ore, and manganese.

In 2022, Africa produced approximately 332 million metric tons of oil, equivalent to roughly 7 million barrels per day, representing about 8% of global oil output.

Africa possesses huge amount of water resources like 12 river basins in Ethiopia and vast arable land but Africa has not been able to feed her population but the vast majority of African population is still going hungry.

In 2023, an estimated 1 in 5 people in Africa faced hunger, with a global total of around 733 million people experiencing hunger, according to a UN report published in July 2024. Over 40 million people across West and Central Africa are struggling to feed themselves during the 2024 post-harvest season while 20 million are going hungry in East Africa.

How can Africa reverse this bleak situation and ramifications of poverty in all its forms? First, African needs to ensure stability, peace and political commitment by its leaders. Wars among African nations, ethnic based conflicts and recurrent natural disasters are challenging African countries. Africa has failed to be stable. In a modest research he has made, the author has found out that between 1957- 2023, 33 coups were conducted in 7 African countries resulting in massive displacement and death. Africa cannot develop under such circumstances and would remain a raw material resource for western industries. This needs to stop.

Second, African countries need to share resources and integrate their economies to withstand the crisis that could emanate from the current global economic order. No African country can develop only by its own efforts and Africa needs to engage in meaningful, quality oriented self-reliance and at least feed its population instead of depending on foreign aid on food.

Third, African leaders and political parties need to work on the promotion of good governance and equity in all aspects of public life including economic development programs with specific focus on gender parity.

Fourth, African countries should work together in curbing terrorism, human and Arms trafficking particularly in the western and northern part of Africa as well as the Horn.

With her exemplary socio-economic and political-legal reforms, Ethiopia is already spearheading in sharing hydroelectricity with neighboring countries forming Africa’s power integration through mega projects like GERD and Koisha HEP. Ethiopia is connecting African coast to coast through EAL Group and is also at the top level in the implementation of Nile Basin Imitative.

Through her National Green Legacy initiative, Basket Bounty and Made in Ethiopia import substitution initiatives, tourism development through ecotourism projects and irrigation development Ethiopia has become a showcase for Africa’s socio-economic development.

Fifth, African countries need to cooperate in the areas of education and cultural exchange. This is important for training qualified leaders, managers and technicians for African industries and agricultural development. They can learn a lot from Ethiopian experience in technology transfer and development.

As if the pillage of Africa did not suffice, the US administration has recently shut down the development and humanitarian support through tariffs that Africa may not be able to shoulder. This is indeed a wakeup call for Africa to rethink on continental development cooperation and mutual assistance.

If Africa cannot unite, the massive exploitation of its resources by the west will continue and the population in the continent will remain in a vicious circle of poverty and no African country can thrust out of this humiliating situation by its own efforts Africa needs to unite.

Editor’s Note: The views entertained in this article do not necessarily reflect the stance of The Ethiopian Herald

BY SOLOMOON DIBABA

THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD THURSDAY 17 APRIL 2025

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