Transcript Wednesday, November 19: Africa

Nations in Africa
Ancient Kingdoms of Africa
The Spread of Islam in Africa
African Colonialism
African nations and states
African Economics
• 50% Africans live in extreme poverty
• Only 15% in “sustainable environment for
economic growth”
• GDP growth:
– 1970’s 14%/year: resource exploitation
– 1980’s –5% year: global recession/debt
– 1990’s 3%/year:collapse of USSR/cold war conflicts
subside
• Some fast growers, 1999-2003
– Mozambique, Uganda, Angola, Congo-Brazzaville
Human Development Index (HDI)
• Longevity is measured by life expectancy at
birth;
• Knowledge is measured by a combination
of the adult literacy rate and the combined
primary, secondary, and tertiary gross
enrolment ratio; and
• Standard of living is measured by GDP per
capita (PPP US$).
Human Development Index (HDI)1995/2001
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Norway
Iceland
Sweden
Australia
Netherlands
Belgium
United States
0.924
0.918
0.924
0.926
0.925
0.923
0.923
0.944
0.942
0.941
0.939
0.938
0.937
0.937
Lowest HDI Countries
1995/2001
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
Côte d'Ivoire
Malawi
Zambia
Angola
Chad
Guinea-Bissau
Congo, Dem. Rep. of the
Central African Republic
Ethiopia
Mozambique
Burundi
Mali
Burkina Faso
Niger
Sierra Leone
0.405
0.404
0.414
..
0.342
0.347
0.380
0.370
0.322
0.325
0.317
0.308
0.313
0.270
..
0.396
0.387
0.386
0.377
0.376
0.373
0.363
0.363
0.359
0.356
0.337
0.337
0.330
0.292
0.275
African Debt
• $300 Billion
• Payments are $15 Billion annually
– (v. $10 Billion which would go far to solve AIDs
epidemic)
• Origins of debt:
– Petrodollars, 1970’s
– Structural Adjustment
• Loans made to dictators not elected by people
• S. Africa $18 billion used to support apartheid
• Mobutu in Congo: more aid from US than the rest of Africa—
diverted to his Swiss bank accounts
• Loans have grown:
• Nigeria’s original $5 Billion now $32 Billion, already paid
back $16 Billion
• HIPC: only a small dent in the numbers
Conflicts in Africa: 1990-2002
Rwanda
Democratic Republic of Congo
(formerly Zaire)
Background to today’s war
• “Congo Free State” –personal property of King
Leopold
– Extremely cruel and rapacious
– “Heart of Darkness”
• Belgian colony 1908 until 1960
– Belgians decide to leave along with the rest of the
colonial powers
– Democratic elections: Patrice Lamumba
• Uprising in south appealed to USSR for help
– US CIA sponsors coup d’etat and installs Joseph
Mobutu/supports assassination of Lamumba
(“Poisonwood Bible”)
Background to today’s war
• 1965-1997: Joseph MobutuMobutu Sese Seko
– Despotic ruler:“Kleptocracy”
• Built palaces and took wealth while country plunged deeper and deeper
into poverty
• 1997: Laurent Kabila, a rebel fighter, installed by
Ugandan and Rwandan troops
• No better than Mobutu in leadership
• Among others, Hutus fighting for him, killing ethnic Tutsis
• civil war
– About face: UG and RW try to dislodge him together
– But start to back different rebel groups start fighting with each
other
– Angola, Zimbabwe and Namibia send troops to defend Kabila
Background to today’s war
• Two issues:
– Control of Diamond mines at MbujiMayai
– Rwandans want the Hutus back to retaliate
• Economy tanks, ignored peace
agreement (Lusaka accords), Kabila
assassinated
• Son: Joseph Kabila succeeds father
– Develops relations with west/US, gets aid,
talks about human rights, but opponents
fear a repeat of historic US support for
Mobutu
Background to today’s war
• 2002: Peace agreement in Pretoria, SAsort of
sticks
– Rwanda pulls out 20,000 troops in Oct. 2002
– Seeming peace, then
• May 2003: trouble flares up in Bunia, eastern
Congo
– Vacuum of power
– Mineral rich: gold, diamonds and coltan
– Lendu and Hema
• French, then UN peacekeeping forces:
– Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Uruguay
News Story Congo
• News Hour/Salih Booker (Africa Action)
interview
• http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/africa/janjune03/congo_5-28.html
AIDs
and
War
AIDs and Economic Development
for Africa?
• Africa within global economy: history of
external intervention– Most recent: External Debt and SAPs have:
• devastated health care gains made during the
1960’s/1970’s -• Reduction in public health care and forced
privatization benefiting elites;
• privatization of water
–  Debt reductions?
Economic Development for Africa?
• US Africa Policy: AGOA (Africa Growth and
Opportunity Act): US Vision not Africa’s
– Imposed “Free Trade” Agenda
• Open African markets/Minor access to US market
• US and other rich countries subsidize farmers $1 Billion/day!
– Prioritizes oil (Nigeria) and resource extraction
– ignores human rights abuses v. healthy open free
trading initiatives
• WTO rules protect pharmaceutical corps, not
people-AIDs, GMOs (Genetically Modified
Organisms)
African Initiatives
•
NEPAD (New Partnership for African
Development): encourage external investment
on equal terms
–
•
•
Problems with this, but seems to be addressing some
of them
“African Model Law for the Protection of the
Rights of Local Communities, Farmers and
Breeders, and for the Regulation of Access to
Biological Resources."
African Union?
HIV/AIDS Demographics, Africa
Composition of the Infected Population, 2001
Sub-Saharan Africa
Rest of the World*
Children
9%
Children
3%
Men
38%
W omen
30%
W omen
53%
* Total does not equal 100 percent due to rounding.
Source: UNAIDS, Report on the Global HIV/AIDS Epidemic, July 2002.
© 2003 Population Reference Bureau
Men
66%
AIDS’ Effect on African Agriculture
Agricultural Labor Force Lost to HIV/AIDS, 1985-2020 (Projected)
Percent
26
Namibia
Botswana
23
Zimbabwe
23
M ozambique
20
South Africa
20
17
Kenya
M alawi
14
Uganda
14
Tanzania
13
Source: Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), “AIDS—A Threat to Rural Africa: Fact Sheet” (www.fao.org/focus/
e/aids/aids6-e.htm, accessed July 12, 2002).
© 2003 Population Reference Bureau
AIDS Orphans in Sub-Saharan Africa
Distribution of Children, by Country, End 2001
Tanzania
7%
Zimbabwe
7%
Other
21%
Uganda
8%
South Africa
6%
Kenya
8%
Côte d'Ivoire
4%
Malawi
4%
Ethiopia
9%
Democratic
Republic of Congo
8%
Nigeria
9%
Mozambique
4%
Zambia
5%
Source: UNAIDS, Report on the Global HIV/AIDS Epidemic, July 2002
© 2003 Population Reference Bureau