Problems in the Heart of Darkness
Plagued by war, famine, genocide, refugees, AIDS, and strange -- even brutal -- tribal customs, Africa has long been 'the forgotten continent,' the place with so many causes that people are exhausted just thinking about trying to help. Studies have shown that images of a famished kitten evoked more pity from Americans than a starving child in Africa. Why? Because we are constantly inundated with these images, these causes, these cries for help. Worse, every attempt to aid the situation seems to have made little headway in this sea of misery. The UN, the Red Cross, and US Foreign Aid agencies have given billions over the years to try and curb civil violence, feed the hungry, provide vaccines, provide diplomacy, medicine, etc. but still the appeals for help. Why? What more can be done?
Of course, one part of the solution is making sure that the aid, the money, the vaccines are going to the right place, and are giving the desired results. Giving $10 million in aid money to a corrupt government that will spend it on building a new palace is predictably unsuccessful. Inundating a struggling textile market with 5 tonnes of used US clothing and shoes will not help to build sustainable income or a strong economy, despite the good intentions of the donors. Sending $1 million worth of vaccines and food into a war zone, where it will be confiscated by warring tribal groups and sold to create profit for more guns -- not going to work. What has been proven to work, or might, if there were any infrastructure or security to sustain it? Grassroots loans, in-country training programs, educational programs, small, efficient, technologies that help villages create power (for example, the soccer ball that generates electricity by being played with; basic computers that are attached to a hand-cranked power source, etc.). These help countries like Ethiopia, places without oil or diamonds (which are more of a curse than an accessible resource).
But why should it be a curse to have natural resources, like the Tana River Delta in Kenya? This is another key part of the solution. The answer is: Western businesses (and typically, they are European, US, or Canadian companies, although Russia, China, and India are becoming increasingly interested in the 'Dark Continent'). Hypothetical: Western Business 1 wants to develop farm land in the Tana River Delta, and use it as an area to test and harvest genetically modified food which it can't do in the US. However, they have a rather large investment to make if they want to farm here. The political situation in the region is not stable, and they will have to invest quite a lot to build roads to ship the food, security to protect it, etc. So, they introduce the idea to African politicians in the region, and say, "We will give you $150 million for this land, because, although it might be worth $250 million, we have to invest $100 million in infrastructure and security to protect our investment. AND, if we're developing this land, we want an exclusive contract for everything on it for the next 15 years." The politicians, who will just take the money and pocket it, say "Sure. But there's a problem with these pesky tribesmen in the region; they're very violent; we'll have to get some paramilitary in here to make sure everything's safe." So they call in the paramilitary, who have orders to force these people to leave...and there you go. How much the politicians tell Western Business 1 about this whole process is unclear, but the result is the same. Western investment in Africa is not generally a good thing for the African people. They take control of the natural resources (which should be used for the benefit of the economy as a whole), for a sum which is never seen by the populace, and they move out the people living there -- frequently, by force. Same goes for oil, same goes for diamonds.
This is not to say that tribal wars or AIDS do not contribute substantially to problems in Africa (AIDS is actually starting to be somewhat under control, since the drug manufacturers lowered their prices in Africa). Tribal wars still present a problem, but frequently, as demonstrated in the article, these are augmented and supported by Western investors & their cohort African politicians (many of whom want to bilk the people and natural resources for as much wealth as possible and then move to the US or London). Of course, then you have the IMF in there too, telling the people how to improve their economy with their typical one-fits-all scenario, and the whole thing is a big mess.
