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THE FAILURES IN AFRICA
Arnold Beichman
Hoover Institution
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The tragedy of Africa, primarily south of the Sahara, has
been its inability to produce democratic leadership in the
last half-century since the decolonization movement
exploded.
One can argue that Europe itself hasn't exactly been a
model in producing democratic leadership — V.I. Lenin, Josef
Stalin, Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, Francisco Franco,
Antonio Salazar — but Europe has learned its lessons. Today
with the dissolution of the Soviet empire, Europe is a
collection of more-or-less peace-loving democracies.
Not so in Africa. Except for Nelson Mandela and the
recently deceased Leopold Senghor of Senegal, what
more-or-less democratic leaders has Africa produced? And now
we see another African super-tyrant on the move — Robert
Mugabe of Zimbabwe, who is ready to exterminate his
opposition rather than surrender his despotic power.
It will not do any longer to blame the European powers
for Africa's problems. Britain (except for Kenya and the Mau
Mau), France (except for Algeria), Portugal (except for
Mozambique and its West African holdings) gave up their
colonial empires without too much struggle and bloodshed.
What have we seen since the scramble out of Africa
began in the 1950s? Ethnic dictatorships, serfdom,
kleptocracy, soaring infant mortality rates, tens of
millions dying of AIDS and tens of millions already dead, no
access to clean drinking water by 70 percent of Africans,
child slavery, genocidal attacks on neighbors by Sierra
Leone, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia and an 18-year civil war in
Sudan which has taken 2 million lives. Remember Idi Amin,
Emperor Boukassa, Col. Mengistu Haile Mariam, Sekou Toure,
Kwame Nkrumah? And now we have Mr. Mugabe of Zimbabwe. The
list seems endless.
Much blame for the African disaster is supposedly due
to the West, particularly America's "bungling," its refusal,
regardless of what party is in the White House, to get
involved and help a helpless Africa get to its feet. But is
that a valid accusation? It is not.
Despite alliances with France and England, the U.S.
supported — sometimes covertly through the CIA, sometimes
openly — anti-colonial movements in Algeria, Tunisia,
Morocco, Kenya, Cyprus among others. No post-colonial area
got as much U.S. attention as sub-Saharan Africa going back
to the days of Presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy. White
House state dinners, presidential and vice-presidential
visits to Africa, support for AFL-CIO union activity in
Africa, vocational training schemes, scholarships, and
money, money, money. It's no secret where all the money
went: either into Swiss bank accounts or phony socialist
schemes, like "Ujamaa," in Julius Nyerere's Tanzania.
Here, almost a half-century since Africa's liberation
began, and we have a new tyrant, Robert Mugabe. Having ruled
Zimbabwe for 22 years and fearing defeat in presidential
balloting next March, he has done everything to prevent a
free and fair election. Laws passed by Zimbabwe's, or rather
Mr. Mugabe's, parliament ban independent election monitors,
restrict voting rights and make it a crime to criticize the
president. Opposition supporters have been beaten, killed,
imprisoned.
What are other African leaders doing about this crime
against democracy? What can they do or say when, as the New
York Times has pointed out, Angola condones maltreatment of
journalists, Zambia refused to grant the opposition time on
government radio during the country's own election last
month? The Times quotes the International Crisis Group (ICG)
as saying: "Many [African] governments are hesitant to
penalize Mugabe this week for something for which they may
be accused next week." In a special report (obtainable on
the Web), the ICG states:
"The economic and political turmoil in South Africa's
northern neighbor threatens the credibility of the embryonic
New Partnership for African Development [NEPAD], an agenda
for renewal crafted by [South Africa's President Thabo]
Mbeki, Nigeria's President Obasanjo, Algeria's President
Bouteflika, and Senegal's President Abdoulaye Wade, among
others as a vehicle for a new relationship between Africa
and the world.
"While NEPAD seeks to promote Africa's full integration
into the world economy, the Zimbabwe crisis is further
marginalizing the continent, producing a decline in
investment, confidence in local currencies, and tourism. The
regional southern African economy is threatened further by
an influx of refugees from Zimbabwe."
And all this comes at a time when Sub-Saharan Africa's
gross domestic product is about the same as that of Belgium,
a country with one-forty-fifth the population of Africa as a
whole, according to the World Bank. Africa's population has
doubled since 1965 which, because of stagnant economies,
means constantly rising unemployment and underemployment.
Some 100 million people, more than a quarter of the
continent's population, suffer from chronic food shortages.
Is there a solution to this ever-mounting human
tragedy?
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This article was mailed from The Washington Times
(http://www.washtimes.com/commentary/20020122-26525803.htm)
For more great articles, visit us at
http://www.washtimes.com
Copyright (c) 2001 News World Communications, Inc. All
rights reserved.
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