The decades when the continent couldn’t raise major funds on ordinary commercial markets are over, but there are still worries about over-indebtedness. by Sanou Mbaye The nations of sub-Saharan Africa, in the post-independence euphoria of the 1960s, wanted to end the international division of labour under which they exported raw materials and imported manufactured goods. … [Read more...] about Africa borrows on the open market
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CHINA-AFRICA COOPERATION – THE STAKES
China-Africa Civil Society Dialogue : Development Challenges in Africa and the Chinese Development Experience Beijing, P.R. China, October 18th -19th , 2010 For most of the past five decades African countries were locked out of international capital markets. As a result, they have largely been spared the twin woes of the 2008 financial turmoil and subsequent world economic … [Read more...] about CHINA-AFRICA COOPERATION – THE STAKES
Africa’s Misplaced Monetary Ambitions
DAKAR – Sub-Saharan African is in the grip of currency-union mania. Regional groups of countries in eastern, southern, and western Africa are all giving priority to the idea of creating a monetary union. But haven’t we heard this all before in Africa? Indeed, today’s enthusiasm for currency unions ignores the poor track record of previous attempts on the continent to … [Read more...] about Africa’s Misplaced Monetary Ambitions
Leveraging Africa’s Diaspora remittances
There is something familiar about the tide of news about sub-Saharan Africa’s increased economic hardship in the face of the worst world financial crisis and economic downturn for decades. The tide flows through exactly the same conclusions of the UN and other multilateral Institutions, academics, NGOs and Civil Society experts on Africa’s issues. They stretched to include … [Read more...] about Leveraging Africa’s Diaspora remittances
Africa’s Diaspora to the Rescue
DAKAR – There is something dismally familiar about the tide of news reports concerning Africa’s increased suffering – more poverty, malnutrition, civil strife, and death – in the face of the recent global financial crisis. Almost everywhere, the media translates academic conclusions into graphic illustrations of brutality and despair in places such as Guinea and the Democratic … [Read more...] about Africa’s Diaspora to the Rescue
PROJECT PROPOSAL : CREATION OF THE AFRICAN DIASPORA INVESTMENT BANK (ADIB)
The promoter of the African Diaspora Investment Bank (ADIB) is the London-based Senegalese banker Sanou Mbaye, a former member of the senior management team of the African Development Bank, and the author of “L’Afrique au secours de l’Afrique” (Africa to the Rescue of Africa). African migrant remittances to their country of origin is such an important source of finance that … [Read more...] about PROJECT PROPOSAL : CREATION OF THE AFRICAN DIASPORA INVESTMENT BANK (ADIB)
CHINA – AFRICA : Matching China’s activities with Africa’s needs
The Heinrich Böll Foundation (HBF) Regional Office for East & Horn of Africa, Nairobi, and Fahamu Kenya brought together Chinese experts on Africa and representatives of African civil society organizations, providing a platform to exchange views and perceptions, and discuss areas of concerns to both sides, based on various country and thematic case studies. I. CHINA’S … [Read more...] about CHINA – AFRICA : Matching China’s activities with Africa’s needs
Africa’s Integration Imperative
Karl Marx predicted that states would wither away in anticipation of an idyllic communist society capable of auto-regulating economic imbalances and empowering the masses. So he would have been flabbergasted to see his prophecy realized, not by communism, but by the globalization of Anglo-American economic liberalism. Opening up markets to the free flow of capital, not the … [Read more...] about Africa’s Integration Imperative
Toward an African energy doctrine
For Karl Marx, there was an historic necessity for States to wither away in anticipation of an idyllic communist society capable of auto-regulating economic imbalances and empowering the masses. The towering revolutionary author of Das Kapital would have been flabbergasted to see his prophecy realised, not under the flagship of communism, but that of the globalisation of the … [Read more...] about Toward an African energy doctrine
Sub-Saharan Africa’s Leadership to Nowhere
Why are the countries of sub-Saharan Africa the poorest in the world? One reason is the set of ill-designed development strategies that the IMF and the World Bank have implemented in the region for nearly half a century. But the centuries-old culture of leadership that is ingrained in many African societies has played an equally disastrous role. Indeed, the overwhelming … [Read more...] about Sub-Saharan Africa’s Leadership to Nowhere
West African expectations of Europe
Institute for peace support and conflict management (IFK) Africa-Workshop January 26th to 27th, 2006: Sorting Out the Mess: Wars, Conflicts and Conflict Management in West Africa To assess the expectations West Africa can look forward to from Europe, there is, first, the need to understand the root causes of the problems that have beset the populations and the … [Read more...] about West African expectations of Europe
Starving for Capital in Sub-Saharan Africa
Sub-Saharan Africa's appalling poverty and living conditions have been exposed repeatedly through television and the Internet. But these agonizing pictures represent only the symptoms of an underlying - and largely unreported - malady: capital flight. Capital flight stems from myriad causes: debt servicing, the awarding to foreign firms of almost all contracts financed by … [Read more...] about Starving for Capital in Sub-Saharan Africa
NEPAD : the wrong plan ?
NEPAD, the last plan to kick-start Africa's economic development adopted by the OAU in Lusaka (Zambia) on July, 11, 2001, is articulated around investment in the key sectors of infrastructure, agriculture, health and education. The plan is to be financed by the international community and through private capital flows, mainly from the multinationals. In choosing this way of … [Read more...] about NEPAD : the wrong plan ?
Legislation and litigation to rescue the development process
Sub-Saharan Africa "Working together" INTRODUCTION The social and economic distortions that have stifled, so far, all development attempts in sub-Saharan countries have been a matter of concern over the years. The mere fact of their persistence, in spite of the attempts made, cannot be ignored. And when the stakes are as high as the ambition to alleviate poverty and setting … [Read more...] about Legislation and litigation to rescue the development process
Sub-Saharan Africa on the Sidelines, A false economic dawn?
After the collapse of the Mobutu regime Zaire, now renamed the Democratic Republic of Congo, has been left stripped of resources, in spite of the mineral wealth being eyed covetously by foreign investors. Elsewhere, the International Monetary Fund's figures point to a significant improvement in sub-Saharan Africa. However, imposing structural adjustment, privatisation and … [Read more...] about Sub-Saharan Africa on the Sidelines, A false economic dawn?
