SCRAMBLE FOR AFRICA
Africa, one seen by europe as the heart of darkness, anti-civilization. It makes news for it's conflicts and poverty. For a long time, the world saw Africa as a lost cause, then one country saw opportunity and this began a new race for Africa. Not so different from the scramble of the 19th century where colonial britain and france draw raw materials, slaves and geo-political influence. Now in the 21st century, Global powers are more or less in the same race for Africa. USA, European Union, India, China, Japan, Israel, Canada are all in the race for Africa and one country (China) is emerging as the clear winner. Africa, the continent of 54 sovereign states, 17% of the world's population, 9.6% of the global oil output, 90% of the world's plantinum supply, 90% of the world's cobalt supply, half of the world Gold supply, 2/3 of the world's manganese, 35% of the world's Uranium, 75% of the world's cottan and 54 votes in United Nations General Assembly. This is what makes Africa so attractive and makes the continent a battle for global powers. There are numerous funds, investment, infrastructure, military power, soft power, trade, geopolitics and every country has its own interest in Africa.
In 2016, Israel began its own move for Africa. The first Israeli prime minister to visit Africa in 50 years. What does he want? VOTES in favour of Israel against Palestine in the United Nations resolutions. "Africa and Israel share similar histories" he said. Israel went on to sponsor solar water and agriculture technologies. In the same year 2016, Senegal co-sponsored a UN resolution. It condemned the construction of illegal jewish settlement in the west bank. What did israel do? It cancelled the Mashav drip irrigation project. The European Union has pledged more than $54 billion in "sustainable" investment for Africa. What does EU want? They want Access to the African market of 1.3 billion people. Brexit has negotiated free trade agreement for at least 40 countries. No country has bigger interest in Africa than China. China is funding 1 in every 5 infrastructure project in Africa. Africa has infrastructure deficit and china has a signed cheque book. Starting from 2005, china has built 6,200 kms of railway including the continent longest railway connecting Ethiopia and Djibouti. Beijing has also built the African Union Headquarters in Addis Ababa. What does China want in return? A lot like geo-political influence to start with. China is selling it's culture, currency in Guinea Bussai. Exit signs are even written in Mandarin.
7 African countries use chinese currency, China is Africa largest trading partner. At least, 10,000 chinese firms operate in Africa. Africa has resources, China has Access and a 3rd of China's investment in Africa are in the mining sector and finally, it get to debt trap Africa.
But here is a thing, China is not the Africa biggest investor. The US is Africa's biggest investor and it account for $54 billion of FDI stock. There are more than 600 US companies in South Africa alone while the US president Trump refered to African Nations as shithole countries. For the longest time, Africa was nothing but a war zone for washington. It has over 7000 US troops deployed in the continent. They spread across 13 different countries including Mauritania, Libya, Niger, Chad, Central Republic, South Sudan, Somalia. Why is US interested in Africa. Africa is now the new front to take on China and washington is now fighting it out for power and influence. According to US Department of State, it says "Africa is the continent for the future. Thus, we need to make most out of it potential. By 2050, it population will be more than double to 2.2 billion people with over 60% under the age of 25.
In the 1900's, Africa was colonized with force and now in 2020, it is being trapped by loans. Read on how Africa is entrapped by debt. China account for 14% of subsaharan debt. This is the modern day slavery. In kenya, the volume of chinese loan is six times that of france which is the country second largest creditor. Sri lanka can tell you what happens when chinese loans are not repaid. Sri lanka hands a major port to china as it is struggling with debt. China and other super power countries are looking to capture Africa. China has a strong diaspora, it is spending big money, it is selling it's movies, culture, currency. China extract raw materials from Africa, manufacturers product with them and sells back to Africa. In the 19th century, the rivalry was between Britain and France which fueled Africa colonisation. In the 21st century, it's US and China. Just like in the 19th century, there are numerous countries racing for Africa and we doubt if there is anything in for Africa.
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