adminRomano Prodi
THE African continent is in a situation of political and economic transition, with some encouraging developments and some negative consequences. Overall, the economic conditions are greatly improved: Africa is growing at unprecedented levels and in 2012 its GDP grew at 6,6 percent, compared to 3,5 percent in 2011.
This increase is partly due to the economic “reappearance” of Libya after its contraction in the aftermath of the 2011 civil war, but West Africa too led Africa’s growth, closely followed by Central Africa and East Africa.
However, there are also some critical situations. Two years after the revolutions in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya, social tensions and political violence continue to threaten political order and human security. Moreover, the two economic giants of the continent, Nigeria and South Africa, are facing difficult economic conditions.
Furthermore, despite some encouraging progress in many African countries, instability and armed conflict in West Africa and the Sahel region remain an issue of major concern for the local population and the international community. As long as security is not restored, the economies of the region will remain vulnerable.
Most problems and conflicts in Africa have regional origins and require regional solutions. The conflict in Mali is a case in point; it is centred in Mali but has its origins and consequences in the Sahel region. The Sahel, one of the poorest areas of the world, faces complex governance, humanitarian and development challenges. It is plagued by increasing presence of transnational criminal and terrorist organisations, which has resulted in the widespread flow of arms, drug trafficking and hostage taking.
In order to tackle these different problems what I suggest to do is to employ an innovative approach based on two different but complementary pillars: the first is a sort of “bottom” level approach towards economic and political development, and the second is a “top” level approach towards international cooperation in Africa.
Such an approach largely derives from my experience as UN secretary-general’s special envoy for Sahel.
Let us begin from the “bottom” level approach. First of all, we should fight against the deadly connection between poverty and insecurity in Africa. In doing so, however, we should not try to impose our models of development on African societies, but rather the starting point is to listen to the local people, to understand their priorities and to take account of their expectations. This will require, as we have already started to do in Sahel, an intense activity of consultation with the involvement of civil society, tribal and religious leaders, members of universities, women organizations, business, and local media.
The first step is to empower experts, local universities and governmental institutions, to discuss and draft their own plans for development. Their leadership, in the starting phase, is essential to ensure the ownership on their solutions. The most important element of this bottom-up approach to development is to start with the involvement of the local populations in any economic project, especially the young generations. If we fail to improve the economic situation of the young African population, the likelihood of criminal and terrorist activities spreading all over Africa will be high. We could be confronted with situations similar to what happened in Mali.
In regard to the “top-down” approach concerning international cooperation, I have always believed in African integration. I have always been close to the African Union because I am truly convinced that not only the development of Africa, but the dignity of African populations depends from the unity of the continent; a unity that can be organised in a variety of ways, probably around regional organisations that cooperate among each other.
Co-operation within Africa, however, should be complemented by an international framework of co-operation among those actors with significant interests in the African continent: from international organisations like the European Union, the United Nations, the World Bank, to states like the US, China, and many others.
The approach I am suggesting is significantly different from past and current practices, especially from those bilateral policies that most Western countries developed towards Africa in past decades. Unlike these countries, China has developed a continental foreign and economic policy with interests and investments all over Africa.
China has been able to create a structure of relationship with Africa based on a variety of interests like energy and food security, and Beijing has heavily invested in sectors like mining, oil extraction, agriculture, public works, and manufacturing.
As I mentioned before, China has been, also, able to develop a continental policy based on diplomatic relationship with most African states. In a way China has been the first country to understand that Africa will be the continent of the future: both in terms of population, economic growth, and security. But in Africa China is not only in search of resources and interests to develop. Beijing is also in search of soft power, because the Chinese leaders know very well that in international politics and economics hard power is not sufficient. The complexity of such a project, which involves society and regional and international institutions, is a great challenge in itself. But only if we create a truly co-operation among African governments, civil society and international actors, we can guarantee to the populations of Africa, growth, peace and stability.
Romano Prodi is UN Special Envoy for the Sahel. This article is reproduced from The African Executive.
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