Africa’s development and the threat of geopolitical changes

By Mohamed Chtatou

Neo-colonial practices can include unfair trade policies, foreign investment that favors the interests of Western companies over those of local populations, manipulation of commodity prices, pressure to adopt neo-liberal economic policies that favor the interests of rich countries, and the promotion of Western cultural models at the expense of local cultures.
Africa is undoubtedly the continent best endowed with natural resources. With a surface area of approximately 30.3 million square kilometers, if one includes the island areas, the continent covers about a sixth of the surface of the globe and one-fifth of the world’s land mass. Today, it is home to approximately 1.2 billion people, or 17 percent of the world’s population, unevenly distributed over 55 states. As a whole, it has a population density average, of about 35 people per square kilometer compared to 47 per square kilometer globally. This average is 4 times lower than that of the European Union, for example. However, the average population growth is very high, and according to population projections, the African population is expected to double by 2050.[i]
‘’Africa is sometimes nicknamed the “Mother Continent” due to its being the oldest inhabited continent on Earth. Humans and human ancestors have lived in Africa for more than 5 million years.’’
Africa’s wealth lies in its soil. The continent has 24 percent of the world’s arable land, yet it generates only 9 percent of agricultural production. The fertile land is unevenly distributed, with large desert areas in the Sahelian basin and wet, highly fertile areas around water basins and along the major rivers. While some are unable to exploit all of their lands, others struggle to cultivate staple crops, resulting in episodes of extreme famine.[iii]
Although the land has not yet unfolded its full potential, it is probably the African subsoil that is the most richly endowed. Africa alone has more than 60 different types of minerals, accounting for a third of the world’s mineral reserves, all minerals combined. For example, it is endowed with 90 percent of the world’s PGM reserves; 80 percent of coltan; 60 percent of cobalt; 70 percent of tantalum; 46 percent of diamond reserves; 40 percent of gold reserves, and 10 percent of the oil reserves.[iv]
Finally, let us not forget that the African continent is full of very varied energy sources, distributed in distinct areas: an abundance of fossil fuels (gas in North Africa, oil in the Gulf of Guinea and coal in Southern Africa), water basins in Central Africa,[v] uranium deposits; solar radiation in the Sahelian countries and geothermal capacities in East Africa. The paradox, however, is that although the continent is an energy power due to its resources, it is only an electrical dwarf in terms of consumption. Africa’s population is equivalent to 17 percent of the world’s population, but consumes only 4 percent of the energy produced. However, in order to fill this gap and meet the growing needs of a growing population, its demand is expected to increase by about 75 percent in the next 20 years. A windfall that could well help unlock the potential for industrial growth potential.[vi]
On the wealth of Africa, Jorge Ortiz writes in Atalayar: [vii]
‘’The research firm New World Wealth, in collaboration with Henley & Partners, has just published a new report on wealth in Africa for 2022. According to the document, there are five countries where 50% of the continent’s wealth is concentrated. These are South Africa, Egypt, Nigeria, Morocco and Kenya.
The content of the report points out some more facts about the reasons why these countries accumulate so much wealth. Firstly, it highlights that South Africans have the greatest combined wealth. They hold more than 651 billion dollars. The list is followed by the Egyptians with 307 billion dollars and the Nigerians, who own around 228 billion dollars in total.
In addition, South Africa has the two richest cities on the entire continent, with Johannesburg, the first, being the richest and having a total private wealth of $239 billion. The second is Cape Town, with a wealth of $131 billion. These are followed by Cairo and Lagos, with $128 billion and $97 billion respectively.’’
Strengthening African unity has long been a sought-after goal that has never been achieved. As the need for regional integration and the reasons for past failures become better understood, new efforts are being made to strengthen economic and political ties among the continent’s many countries.[viii]
The main challenges to achieving integration are to expand trade among African countries, build more roads and other infrastructure, reform regional institutions, increase transparency and public participation, and coordinate private and public sector initiatives more closely.
‘’‘African unity’ has been one of the most consistent themes in African political thought. Since independence, the vision of a continental order stretching from Cape Town to Cairo and from Dakar to Dar es Salaam has been an entrancing one. Africa, rather than being a geographical descriptor, would be a geopolitical identity.
Can Africa plausibly find common ground for a common future? Unity requires more than intra-African cooperation or opening borders – it needs a foundation of common values. ‘Africa’ must stand for something.
This has been recognised, implicitly and explicitly, by the African Union (AU) since its founding. In 2011, an AU Summit was dedicated to ‘Greater Unity and Integration through Shared Values’. It pledged to ‘promote and encourage democratic practices, good governance and the rule of law, protect human rights and fundamental freedoms, respect for the sanctity of human life and international humanitarian law, as part of efforts for the prevention of conflicts.’ Unity features prominently in the continent’s current 50-year developmental blueprint, Agenda 2063.’’
Integration has many benefits. Expanding regional markets gives African producers and consumers more opportunities, well beyond the sometimes small markets of their own countries. There are two virtues of regional economic integration. It can reduce the costs of building essential infrastructure, such as transportation, communications, energy, water supply systems, and scientific and technological research, which one country often cannot finance alone. At the same time, integration facilitates large-scale investment by making economies more attractive and reducing risks.[x]
The desire for integration does not come only from the top. At many levels of society, Africans are striving to forge more ties with each other. For some, these relationships already exist. For others, they have yet to be forged.
Regional integration of the continent has been a dream of many African leaders and led to the creation of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) in 1963. Over the years, many other institutions have been created in different parts of Africa. But on the whole they have done little to increase trade or other exchanges between African countries. In many cases, many countries continue to have the most extensive relationships with their former colonial powers.
You can follow Professor Mohamed Chtatou on Twitter: @Ayurinu