A roller-coaster ride called Africa

I always wondered why is it that Africa lags behind the rest of the world when it comes to economic and social progress.

The answer lies in the recent history of the African continent. Here is what I found, thanks to the Internet:

The 19th century brought colonial rulers to Africa. They stripped the land off its riches: minerals, crops and even people, all for economic gains. This continued through the 20th century.

Finally in the 1960s, the African nations started to gain independence. However, the countries lacked a working economy, basic infrastructure, and educated people. What they did not lack was ethnic divisions. All this undermined development.

The cold war came next. Many of these African countries were used as pawns in the big game being played by the super-powers. Corrupt dictators were supported by both the superpowers to advance their own needs leading to gross human rights violation, rampant corruption and ethnic cleansing.

This in turn led to rebellion and civil wars. To the outside world, these wars made no sense. But if one looked closer, one could see the true reasons: control for natural resources. Africa was rich in gold, diamonds, minerals, and oil. Many of the civil wars were supported by developed powers and big corporations to once again further their own interests.

When the cold war ended, the powers moved on leaving African behind in the dust. Aid was cut off, and the crumbling economies came crashing down. What followed was more civil wars, genocide and misery.

I wonder no more ..

The silver lining is that Africa is recovering from all these twists and turns. Things are slowly turning around. And maybe one day in the near future, we will have a strong and healthy Africa competing against the rest of the world.