Richard Kwang Kometa
3 July 2009
The arrival in Africa of the President of Russia, Dmitri Medvedev last June 22, 2009 soon after that of the President of the Untied States of America strikes a significant note for the continent.
As if by coincidence, President Medvedev began his visit in Egypt like President Barack Obama, before travelling to Angola, Nigeria and Namibia. Before Medevedev, the Kremlin already demonstrated a keen interest in Africa after the Cold War when in 2006 President Vladimir Poutine, now Prime Minister of Russia, paid official visits to Morocco and South Africa.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russia virtually stayed out of Africa, giving the impression that Europe and the United States of America could have a free ride on the continent. It is obvious now that economic and geo-strategic dynamics have changed. Russian companies are in place and Africa's resources are among others the priceless target.
According to some economic analysts, Egypt is the first Russian economic partner in the Arab world with trade exchanges estimated at 4.1 billion US dollars in 2008. Within the same period, 1.84 million Russian tourists travelled to Egypt. The giant Russian aluminium exploiter, Oleg Deripaska already takes care of mining exploitations in Nigeria and Guinea while Alrosa, a Russian diamond monopoly is said to dominate the sector in Angola. In Namibia, uranium seems to be the principal interest of Russia. The list of raw materials that the African offers for the development of various aspects of Western and Russian economies is long. Disturbingly, the continent holds all world records in underdevelopment, disease, poverty and all sorts of hardship.
Actually, Africa has for centuries been a point of attraction to countries in the Developed World. Unfortunately, the outcome at each stage in history has been the same, namely, sapping the African continent of the rich natural and human resources to boost progress in the West. At one moment in history, it was the scramble for Africa, and then the colonisation of Africa after slavery and slave trade already had their toll on the continent.
Although the language and the motives of Western transactions with Africa seem different today, it remains important that the continent should define its objectives and ambitions in bilateral and multilateral negotiations with their partners in the developed world so that trade and other business imbalances could be correct early enough. The feeble argument that Africa is being badly treated by its western partners must be treated with a pinch of salt because, within the continent, little is being done to protect the rich heritage - be it natural or otherwise. It is even a sheer miracle that Africa is still viable today to the point that others keep coming for sources.
The continent must not be like a beautiful fruit tree by the wayside. Every passer-by plucks a share and the fruit tree seems to forget that it could one day grow old.
That is the difficult posture that leadership within the continent must adopt. They must make Africa wake up and they must take decisions that would protect the continent and not deplete the entire wealth in the region for peanuts as is the case in most African countries.
Contracts and raw material exploitation licences are given ever so often to foreign companies in Africa, loan agreements signed and the debt burden keeps rising while little infrastructure and progress in general is seen by the people. There could be no better time than now for Africa to wake up and be purposeful in all trade and business transactions.
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My brother or sister who wrote this article; these are words very well said. Its up to those Puppet Africa Leaders and their friends to wake up and smell the hot burning coffee with stricking realities; or else, Africans MUST do that to them. Absolutely MOST. These are one of the reaseons why Africa MUST Unite. Because in Unity, there's ALWAYS a strenght. Why we Africans when some of us have power, we are out of control and self dignities for our own people and Africans as a whole? Why? Is this the reason why they were killing prominent… [Read Full Text]