The Nation (Nairobi)
February 19, 2000
Nairobi - Africa is capturing the attention of the West
as a continent to do business with if recent major international events are anything to go
by.
At last the international community seems to be waking up to the reality that Africa is
fast emerging as a major trading partner, one that cannot be ignored by those who want to
sell their goods and expertise.
Only last month, the International Monetary Fund hosted a historic caucus with African
leaders in Libreville, Gabon, whose objective was to spell out the institution's new
funding arrangements for developing countries.
This week, American President Bill Clinton hosted an African summit in Washington to
address issues facing Africa. Such issues include the devastating Aids scourge, improving
the image of Africa in the US and changing America's policy towards the continent.
But there is much more than meets the eye in these initiatives. Certainly, the West is
not becoming philanthropic all of a sudden. It is not about to salvage Africa from the
abyss. It won't even address the critical issues that hound our continent.
For us, the burning issues are the debt burden, Aids, trade imbalance, political
dictatorship, wars and displaced people. These, however, did not get the attention they
deserved, either in Libreville or in Washington.
Put differently, international meetings on Africa have never put the agenda of the
continent on the priority list. The logical deduction, therefore, is that the meetings are
used to delude African leaders that their countries are part of the international agenda,
while the truth is different.
In fact, the major beneficiaries of such meetings are the donor countries and
organisations, which skilfully use such occasions to market their products and expertise.
In other words, the West is strategising on how to manipulate and exploit Africa afresh,
this time through persuasion rather than force of arms.
Indeed, as American economics professor George Ayittey commented, Western leaders
should stop playing political football with Africa."
African leaders must parry attempts by the West to manipulate them for selfish
interests. Our problems cannot, and should not, be solved by and from Europe or America.