Africa Up Close

This blog was originally posted on NewSecurityBeat, a blog of the Environmental Change and Security Program at the Wilson Center.

Thirty-four years ago, Burkina Faso’s president, Thomas Sankara, was murdered. Only now are his alleged assassins on trial. Had he survived, the arid, landlocked country of more than 20 million people might well have taken a far different path to development.

Growing up as a Black man in the United States, I am all too familiar with how racism shows up in our society today. From slavery and Jim Crow laws of the past to police brutality and mass incarceration in the present, American racism is well documented. However, a fact that tends to be overlooked is that anti-Blackness is a global phenomenon, present in many countries. One such country is Sudan. Though I’ve grown up in the United States, my family always made sure I was in touch with my relatives overseas, and I’ve grown to love the country my parents were born in. However, as I grew older and participated in discussions with other Sudanese, I began to recognize that Sudan has its own battles when it comes to prejudices, showing up in the form of mass internalized anti-Blackness. Inspired by the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement happening around me in the United States, I decided to explore the issues of colorism that have developed in Sudan over many generations.

Africa has been taken aback by the discrimination against black people currently happening in China’s Guangzhou city. China, after having reportedly made headway in containing the coronavirus, is concerned that black Africans might bring a second wave of infections.  A McDonald’s outlet in Guangzhou put it bluntly with a recent notice that read: “We’ve been informed that from now on black people are not allowed to enter the restaurant. For the sake of your health, consciously notify the local police for medical isolation; please understand the inconvenience caused.” Gabriella Dilan, a Ugandan medical student studying in Wuhan, recently told Al Jazeera’s The Stream that Africans in that part of China were subjected to more days of isolation and had their medical clearances withheld for longer periods of time than did non-Africans. This, in turn, prevented Africans, for longer periods than non-Africans, from accessing banks and other facilities that would require leaving one’s dwelling place.

Libya Citizens along the Libyan-Tunisian border. Photo courtesy of the EU Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations Department via Flickr Commons.

World leaders met in Berlin on January 20 to enforce an arms embargo and ceasefire to end the long-running civil war in Libya. A little over two months later, the fighting restarted and intensified as the world’s attention turned to the global fight against coronavirus. In Libya, the Government of National Accord (GNA) announced emergency measures and restrictions in recent weeks, urging citizens to self-isolate to stop the spread of the virus. Meanwhile, residents in Tripoli described the resumption of Khalifa Hafter’s self-styled Libyan Arab Armed Forces (LAAF) offensive on Tripoli and resulting fear as the “worst since 2011,” with the attackers shelling homes, killing six civilians, and injuring six more.

A Chinese construction sign in Angola near Kavugi Kifunta. Photo courtesy of jbdodane via Flickr Commons.

Chinese engagement in Africa is highly varied, politicized, and wrought with pessimism regarding China’s intentions and its impact. In this blog post, I plan to discuss some misperceptions about China’s relationship with Africa, address some of the challenges that African nations will face as Chinese investment grows, and speak to the potential opportunities for greater cooperation and better development on a large scale.

This farm in Ghana serves as one example of Africa’s agricultural landscape. Photo courtesy of Peter Casier via Flickr Commons.

Agriculture is the heartbeat of Africa. The continent’s major agricultural advantages include an abundance of natural resources, a young and growing labor force, and a rising middle class, in addition to a surge in urbanization. The Continent has an estimated 600 million hectares of uncultivated arable land, roughly 65 percent of the global total. Its tropical and sub-tropical climates enable the cultivation of a wide variety of agricultural produce with minimal technological dependence. Africa also boasts large regional markets, even if the markets lack major industry players. Approximately 80 percent of agricultural land in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is owned by farmers who cultivate small-based plots of land on which they grow subsistence crops or two cash crops, directly employing 175 million people.

Voters queuing at a polling station in Kenya during the 2007 elections. Photo courtesy of User DEMOSH via Flickr Commons.

Political tensions are high in Kenya with just a few days to the general elections. The European Union has warned that the country could once again plunge into violence, and the Kenya Elections Observation Group (ELOG) expressed dissatisfaction with the preparedness of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC). Opinion polls suggest that the election will be a two-horse race between the incumbent, President Uhuru Kenyatta, and the opposition leader, Raila Odinga. In attempts to woo voters, both candidates are targeting the youth vote—the largest voting bloc in Kenya. The candidates are very active on new media platforms popularly used by the youth: Facebook, Whatsapp, YouTube, and Twitter.

The National Assembly in Dakar. Senegal’s government has a long history of international engagement, including with the ICC. IMF Staff Photograph/Stephen Jaffe, via Flickr. Creative Commons.

In October 2016, Burundi announced its decision to withdraw from the International Criminal Court (ICC), followed swiftly by South Africa and the Gambia (though the Gambia’s new president has reversed that decision). The idea of African countries withdrawing from the ICC has been floated since 2013, when Kenya’s parliament voted in favor of the country’s withdrawal in response to a warrant levied against President Uhuru Kenyatta, though Kenya has not yet taken further steps. These three withdrawals provoked fear of a coming “mass African exodus” from the ICC, fears that may have now materialized in a recent announcement of mass intent to withdraw at the January 2017 African Union (AU) summit.

A Nigerian soldier with UNAMID, in Darfur. Photo by Stuart Price / UN Photo, via Flickr. Creative Commons.

The United Nations has long enjoyed legitimacy as the international arbiter on issues of war and peace. A UN mandate signals international support for military action to maintain or restore peace. “Blue Helmets” are usually welcomed as guarantors of peace.

2016 was a difficult year for UN peace missions in Africa. High-profile missions in the Central African Republic, South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Mali are at high risk of failure. Even in Darfur, which has been off the front page, violence and suffering continues. The legitimacy of UN peace missions in Africa is now in question because of dramatic failures to protect civilians and widespread sexual exploitation and abuse by peacekeepers.

Commemorative cloth from Yahya Jammeh’s 2006 election campaign. Photo by Tommy Miles, via Flickr. Creative Commons.

Africa and the international community heaved a sigh of relief as Yahya Jammeh, the former President of the Gambia, finally agreed to step down on January 20, 2017. This decision came after months of denying the results of the December 1, 2016 elections in which the coalition opposition candidate, Adama Barrow, a successful property developer, football enthusiast, and longtime resident in the UK, won a plurality of the vote. Jammeh, who had come to power in a military coup and ruled the Gambia with an iron hand for 22 years, brooking no opposition or challenge, had once declared he would be president for “a billion years.” His refusal to accept the election results had been challenged across the board by the newly elected Gambian president, the regional grouping of states called the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the African Union (AU), the United Nations (UN), and key international powers like the United States. His decision to step down brings the immediate crisis to an end, but the Gambia still faces significant challenges in establishing public trust in government and moving forward with development. The success of ECOWAS in forcing Jammeh to step down stands as an example of how Africa can independently handle its security challenges.