Comments
*
Africa has made some very small steps in the right direction,
while remaining very far back. Yet in the long run I'm hopeful
for them. The last shall be first and the first shall be
last.
* There are still many obstacles to get around/over, as
you say, many stand in your way too.
*
Just make sure you keep your independence. Don't become
depedent on China for investment and money and try to keep
as much under the control of your own people too, though
that will be hard. Many are fighting for a unified peaceful
Africa. But so many push against it for their own personal
gain.
* I'm all for "Africa's renaissance", but spare
us the traffic warden's please. The last time i was in Africa,
i found the continent could scarcely afford to be without
them itself, let alone exporting them to every street corner
in london.
* Africans continue to pursue the quest to break the chains
of "global apartheid"
by seeking greater influence within inequitable international
institutions
such as the UN,
the World Bank,
the International Monetary Fund and
the World Trade Organisation.
*
Unpolitical business is good for the poor around the world.
There is separation of church and state. There should be
separation of state and business. Punishing developing countries
by depriving them of economic growth with sanctions or conditioned
intern'l involvement and investment only hurts the poor
and powerless among the population and those who need work
for a livelihood.
* Africa is doing the tango - one step forward two steps
backwards.
* The main problem for post-Independence Africa is that
it has never been able to feed itself and is now at the
mercy of the price increases in basic staples such as wheat,
rice and milk. Huge population growth has been sustained
by food aid. The Chinese are simply using the improved infrastructure
to remove finite raw materials. They are not settling and
farming like the British did. Where is the manufacturing?
In Asia. This Chinese scramble for Africa is simply wholesale
pillage.The profits will not benefit Africans. With the
growth in world population outstripping food supply Africans
need to be better farmers. Yet nobody seems to want to be
a farmer. Most of the populations in African countries are
under 25 and they are heading for the sprawling cities to
make a fast buck. There is something wrong when people have
mobile phones but no basic sanitation. Southern Rhodesia
was the breadbasket of the surrounding region and continued
to be so as Zimbabwe. Until Mugabe threw the farmers out
and reduced the country to just another charity case. Ironically
many of these farmers have accepted generous inducements
to take their skills to other African countries. The continent's
troubles are only going to get worse because of the population
explosion. The Pope's edicts on birth control have been
a (ahem) Godsend to the NGO's. Ever more work means an expanding
business and more "customers". Africa needs all
the farmers it can get to break free of these charity overlords.
It also needs access to markets and a fair price for it's
produce.
*First of all Africa has 50+ countries , its a continent
and each nation has MANY complex issues which needs resolving.
There are different religions, languages etc...it would
be ever so difficult to try and 'unify' Africa. Some countries
make progress more than others, but some DONT at all and
my country (Somalia) hasn't.
*
Im not losing hope but i cant help but feel apart from corruption
there is something else lingering in the background which
has prevented African nations from growing.
* Nigeria and South Africa have been leading peacekeeping
missions and seeking to promote regional integration
*
Sadly if the above is true its the only positive thing one
can say. Nigeria, as anyone who has been there knows, is
full of corruption at all levels. The hydrocarbon wealth
is kept in the pockets of a few and has done little to benefit
the people as a whole. S. Africa is still full of poverty
and riddled by crime.
Of China has invested heavily in Africa but not for the
benefit of the Africans but to fuel its own urgent need
for resources.
Sadly most nations in the Continent are ruled by corrupt
leaders who show no signs of change.Vast areas of it's land
are rented out for the exclusive use of other nations, its
wildlife is disappearing, its people are trying to get out
and its problems are still blamed on the past - colonialism.
* More has to be done to make sure that the growth isn't
restricted to a small elite. But
I agree, things are on the move!! :)
*The question is are Africans happy to welcome the Chinese
and work alongside them? According to a recent documentary
the Africans feel threatened by the entrepreneurship of
new comers! Will this subside or will it escalate hate crimes?
* Look at how Africa is changing
The continent is on the move in the areas of economic development,
conflict resolution and democratic governance
I've been watching how Africa has changed ever since colonialism
ended.
To be perfectly honest, it gets worse each year.
* It seems the author is focusing on sub-Saharan Africa
- no mention on the historic developments in the African
countries of Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya.
*
Speaking of just sub-Saharan Africa, we should welcome positive
trends in governance, accountability, and democratic process.
Let's not get ahead of ourselves, however, as large swathes
of Africa are food insecure; most people are outside the
rule of law; and economic growth is based largely on extractive
industries and somewhat dodgy Chinese investment.
Let us not forget the dogged refusal of African powers and
leaders to deal effectively with Mugabe and other autocratic
nutjobs.
* It seems the author is focusing on sub-Saharan Africa
- no mention on the historic developments in the African
countries of Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya.
* China, unlike the west, is investing heavily in Africa's
infrastructure sectors roads, railways, electricity
and has established a strong presence in its extractive
sectors.
*
Yes, we did that too when we were running Africa for our
own profit.....
Expect a 19th century approach backed by 21st century technolgy
from the Chinese.
Make that 19th century minus the missionaries and educators.
*
Hopefully Africa will go the way of the members of the Europe
Union, as we have avoided fighting each other for some considerable
time now.
Achieving democracy, the rule of law and as-honest-as-possible
politicians is possible with hard work in the promotion
of establishments needed to support this kind of workable,
pragmatic ideal.
I wish Africa all the best.
* The hope of Africa lies with its people..the huge and
often unrealised potential of all those living in poverty.
Getting a grip on corruption and venal politicians will
be a good start
* The Guardian is quite happy with articles like this one
which effectively reduce `Africa` to one homogeneous unit.
The author, of course, will know perfectly well that it
is a nonsense to claim that Egypt or Algeria have much in
common with South Africa or Kenya or Rwanda. And unless
he is abnormally well-travelled he presumably doesn`t know
much about most `African` places.
I guess you have to be a PC multi-culti type to say `they
are all the same, can we commission an article about "Africa"
and what is happening there`?
* "Im not losing hope but i cant help but feel apart
from corruption there is something else lingering in the
background which has prevented African nations from growing.".
Perhaps, the "something else lingering in the background"
that you are feeling is population explosion?
Why should China be the only nation on earth to have the
good sense to formally restrict its population growth? Try
as it might, even now, and as propserous as it is, China
finds it difficult to house and feed its population.
What makes African, Arab and South America populations feel
they are exempt from commonsense.
* 'One billion consumers will provide an important future
global market'
Apparently It will be 2 billion by 2030 and anyone who thinks
they will want to stay in a disintegrating Continent is
living in cloud cuckoo land. Africa and Europe are heading
for an almighty clash as a tidal wave of humanity tries
to force their way over our weak borders.
* It makes a pleasant change to have good news stories from
Africa. I hope very much that the ones reported in this
article are true. I wonder on the other hand how much sense
it makes to report on Africa as a single entity. Would it
be meaningful to report on economic progress , or democratic
governance in Europe taken as a whole? In relatively good
times this would allow for positive reports while appalling
counter examples are ignored.
*
Continents are geological entities (well, more or less,
I know that Turkey and Russia present problems and that
Israel appears in the Euro-vision Song Contest). How much
sense does it make to assume that continents have a common
political and economic identity that makes it possible to
report on them as a single entity?