Effects of Decolonization
Lasting Legacy of Imperialism
Factors that Impacted the Economic and Political
Success of Newly Liberated Nations:
• Did the nation fight to become free?
• How enlightened had the colonizing power been? Had it
educated a native elite, leaving behind politicians,
economists, and trained personnel with practical skills?
• Were there serious ethnic, cultural, or religious divisions?
• Did a country have natural resources to exploit? Did the
government exploit them efficiently or were they unable
to diversify its economy?
• Did a newly liberated country take sides in the Cold War,
i.e. the United States or the Soviet Union? Superpowers
often intervened in the affairs of decolonized nations.
Left Side Activity
• Pairs: Look at the following political cartoon
on Modern Africa.
• What is the message of the political cartoon?
• How can you tell?
• What problems are identified?
• How do you think they are tied in to
imperialism?
Overview of Why Modern African Nations
Facing So Many Problems:
• Unity
– inherited borders drawn up by imperial powers, split
ethnic groups and tribes
• Finding Professionals
– before independence Europeans dominated
professions
– few Africans had training as educators, doctors,
scientists, engineers, etc…
• Maintaining Government:
– When independence came, Africans had little
experience running a government
Economic Problems Facing
Modern Africa
Economic Challenges
After achieving independence, many African nations faced economic
challenges that came with their new status.
Struggling
Economies
Farming, Mining
Development
Loans
• After independence
most African
nations’ economies
fragile
• African nations not
industrialized,
depended on
farming, mining raw
materials
• For loans, turned to
international
organizations, like
World Bank; bad
planning, corrupt
leaders left nations
with huge debts, no
infrastructure
• Depended on only
one, two exports for
support
• Example: Ghana
depended on
cocoa; Nigeria, oil
Economic Problems
• Structural Legacies
--Economies based on raw material exports
--Aid/dependency
--Migrant labor/labor compounds
--Tension between “tradition” and “modernity”
Economic Problems
• During imperialism European nations set up
export type economies.
– Economies depended on the export of raw
materials.
Cash Crops
Raw materials
Economic Problems
• Many African nations still relied on these export
goods.
– Problem
• When no demand/prices fall/countries become poor.
Economic Problems
• African nations relied on buying manufactured
goods and had no industrial base.
Economic Problems
• Economic Policies
– Failed socialist economy
– Cash crops instead of food
crops
– Lack of funding for rural
areas.
Economic Problems
• African nations have to import manufactured
goods and incurred a large debt.
Economic Problems
• Economic Dependence
– Need for foreign aid
– Need for imported goods
– High debt
Debt and Structural Adjustment
Origins of African Debt
• For some countries (Ghana, for example),
debt began with ambitious development
projects in the 1960s
• In most cases, however, serious
indebtedness began in the early 1970s
• Oil crisis dramatically increased the price
of imports
• Worldwide recession decreased the
willingness of the US and former colonial
powers to distribute aid in grants
Origins of African Debt
• World prices for exports (especially
agricultural exports) fell
• The public sector grew, especially
with increased bureaucracy (in
Ghana, for example, by 150 percent
between 1957 and 1979)
• Between 1970 and 1976, Africa’s
public debt quadrupled
State Contraction in the 1980s:
Trying to Pay Off Debt
• Debt servicing began to take a
substantial portion of many
countries’ GDPs
• Ambitious development plans were
largely scrapped
• Governments tended to focus on
maintaining power and preserving
order
Structural Adjustment: Trying to
Pay Off Debt
• Implemented by the International
Monetary Fund and the World Bank
beginning in roughly 1981
• Required substantial cuts in state
services
• Tended to promote industrialization as a
path to economic growth
• Often involved the devaluation of
currency
Debt, Structural Adjustment
and Legitimacy
• The demands of debt and structural
adjustment often rendered
governments less able to supply the
needs of their people and less able
to claim grassroots legitimacy
• Debt seen as attached to a country,
not to a particular government—
transferred even when a government
was deemed illegitimate
International Aid to Help African
Debt
• Since the 1970s, the general trend has been a
decrease in aid to Africa—monetary aid fell by
almost half in the 1990s
• A large proportion of what is counted as aid by
donor countries is known “phantom aid”—for
example, some 50% of all technical assistance is
said to be wasted because of inappropriate usage
on expensive consultants, their living expenses,
and training
• Aid frequently carries restrictions with regard to
its use
Aid Donors to Africa
• Most donor countries use aid as part of a broader
foreign policy focused on “national interests”
• The US has directed aid to regions where it has
concerns related to its national security, e.g.
Middle East
• Sweden has targeted aid to “progressive
societies”
• France has sought to promote maintenance or
preserve and spread of French culture, language,
and influence, especially in West Africa, while
disproportionately giving aid to those that have
extensive commercial ties with France
African Trade Imbalance
• Many aid packages require receiving countries to
purchase goods from the donor country, often in a way
that disadvantages the economy of the recipient
• Reports have suggested that aid tied with conditions cut
the value of aid to recipient countries by some 25-40
percent, because it obliges them to purchase imports
from the richer nations at uncompetitive prices
• As of 2000, over two-thirds of United States aid was tied
to requirements to purchase goods and services from the
US
• Aid generally fails to increase the export side of receiving
countries’ economies
Economic Realities of Contemporary Africa
• The Combined Gross Domestic Product for all of Sub-Saharan Africa
in 2000 was US$322.73 Billion—less than the GDP for the
Netherlands (and considerably smaller than the GDP for the state of
California)
• Between 1990 and 2000 GNP per capita declined .7 per cent in SubSaharan Africa
• However, since 2000 a number of African countries have
experienced a annual growth rate of around 5%
• Nearly 40% of Africa’s GNP is from agriculture, less than 15% from
manufacturing: lowest of any region in the world.
• Africa counts for less than 2% of global trade
• In 1960 average service debt of an African country was 2% of
exports; in 2000 239% of exports
Economic Realities of Contemporary Africa: Poverty
(Numbers and Percent of People living on $1 or less a day)
World
Region
1990
1999
#*
%
2015
#
%
#
%
S-S Afr
241
47
315
49
404
46
L. Amer
48
11
57
11
47
7.5
S. Asia
506
45
488
37
264
16
5
2
6
2
8
2
M East & N
Afr
Economic Realities of Contemporary Africa: Poverty
(Numbers and Percent of People living on $2 or less a day)
World
Region
1990
1999
#*
%
2015
#
%
#
%
S-S Afr
386
76
480
75
618
70
L. Amer
121
28
132
26
117
19
S. Asia
1010
90
1128
85
1139
68
50
21
68
23
62
16
M East &
N Afr
Economic Realities: Congo
Congo:
• Mineral Rich: Copper, Cobalt, Coltan, Diamonds,
Tin
• Agriculture: wide variety of food and cash crops
including coffee, tea, rubber and commercial
lumber.
• Industry: very little manufacturing, mineral
processing
• Yet: GDP per Capita is $88 compared to an average
of $541 in Sub-Saharan Africa; Per Capita Income
$110 per capita compared to $600 for Sub-Saharan
Africa
Economic Problems in Africa
• Population and Poverty
– Population explosion
– Widespread hunger
Political Problems
Left Side Activity
• Pairs: Look at the following political cartoon.
• What is the message of the political cartoon?
• How can you tell?
Political Problems in Africa
• Political Problems
– Power hungry and greedy
leaders
– Military takeovers
– Harsh dictators
– Ethnic and regional
conflict.
Military Dictatorships
One–Party System
• End of 1960s, nearly all newly
independent African nations
adopted one-party system
• Single political party controls
government
– Elections rarely competitive
– Opposition parties outlawed in
many countries
• Dictators ruled many nations,
maintained power through
patronage, giving loyal
followers well-paid positions in
government
Bribery and Corruption
• Some corrupt officials required
bribes for government
contracts, licenses
• Also ran government
enterprises for personal profit
• New generation of dictators
robbed countries of wealth
– Mobutu Sese Seko, dictator
of Congo, amassed personal
fortune of about $5 billion,
while his people fell into
poverty
Democracy for Some
• Despite conflicts, war throughout late 1900s, many African countries
still dictatorships
• Cold War: U.S., Soviets gave large amounts of money to dictators
friendly to their side
• Cold War ended, money dried up; weakened some dictators’
governments
Elections
• Many Africans saw weakness as
opportunity to create democratic
governments, demanded elections
• By 2005, more than 30 African
countries had abandoned one-party
systems, held elections
Results
• Election results mixed
• Some former dictators resorted to
fraud, intimidation to win elections
• Others elected because people
preferred them to alternatives
Political “Realities” of Contemporary Africa:
Regime Types Today: Africa’s Second
Revolution/Independence
Democratic (17)
Partially Democratic (15)
Undemocratic (16)
Benin
Botswana
Cape Verde
Gambia
Ghana
Kenya
Malawi
Mauritius
Mozambique
Namibia
Nigeria
Sao Tome
Senegal
Seychelles
South Africa
Tunisia
Zambia
Chad
Camoros
Congo (Brazzaville)
Gabon
Egypt
Eritrea
Ethiopia
Lesotho
Madagascar
Morocco
Rwanda
Sierra Leone
Swaziland
Tanzania
Uganda
Algeria
Angola
Burundi
Cameroon
Congo (Democratic Republic) ?
Cote D’Ivoire
Djibouti
Equatorial Guinea
Guinea
Libya
Mauritania
Niger
Somalia
Sudan
Togo
Zimbabwe
Impact of Cold War Funding on
Africa
Results for Africa of aid from U.S. and the West
during the Cold War
• US gave at least $1.5 bill weapons to Africa
during Cold War (1950-89)
– - incl $400 mill to dictator Mobutu in Congo
– $250 mill to Jonas Savimbi’s UNITA movement
Angola
– Half the US aid went to governments with known
human rights abuses including Congo, Rwanda,
Uganda atrocities (perhaps 3 million)
Militarization Across Africa
Portuguese
soldiers
planting and
unearthing
land mines in
Angola, 1970s
•
•
•
•
•
•
Militarization Across Africa: Curse of landmines
Angola: more than 70,000 amputees and more than 16,000 killed.
– Estimates of total number of land mines = 10-20 million
– Angola is the one most heavily impacted by 1-2 land mines per person
– Whatever you want to do, whether it's plant a field or rehabilitate a school or open a
road, you've first got to clear away the mines. The threat of mines has paralyzed the
country
More than 70 types of mines - manufactured in at least 22 countries - have been planted
in Angola during recent decades.
– Mines were installed by the government military, the South Africans, the Cubans, the
Russians, UNITA, the police, by neighboring governments, and several other Angolan
armed groups.
The numbers of mine layers makes demining - which includes understanding the strategy
and patterns of mine laying - even more complicated.
– Mine clearance experts say only the Cubans made accurate maps of their mine fields.
Tens of thousands of one-legged Angolans hobbling around their country on crutches
provide graphic evidence that most of the mines laid here are small anti-personnel mines
designed to maim rather than kill.
Yet the explosives are often targeted at civilians, most often women and children, rather
than soldiers.
Planted near water sources and under shade trees in the savannah, they are designed to
terrorize, often with the goal of depopulating the countryside.
Militarization in Africa—The Cost
• An average of $22 billion is being spent each
year by the nations of Africa, Asia, Middle
East, and Latin America on arms.
• If this were redirected, it would be enough to
reach the UN targets of Universal Primary
Education
• And reducing infant and maternal mortality.
• And Meeting all of the Millennium
Development Goals
Militarization of Africa –Arms Sales
Out of Control
• The U.S., France, Russia, China and the UK together
account for 88% of all the world’s conventional arms
exports.
• There are 639 MILLION small arms and light weapons in
the world
• Today, eight million more are produced every year.
• From 1996-2001, the USA, UK, and France earned more
income from arms sales to developing countries than
they gave in all kinds of emergency, disaster, and
economic assistance aid.
Tribalism and Nationalism
Causing Civil Wars and Genocide
Tribalism and Nationalism
• African boundaries had been set by imperialistic
nations not African nations
– Berlin Conference 1885.
Tribalism and Nationalism
• Many tribes and nations were split by these
European boundaries.
• Because of these splits there is more loyalty to
one’s tribe then the country they live in.
Ethnic Conflicts and Civil War
When the European powers divided Africa into colonies, preexisting political
units were not maintained.
Ethnic Conflicts
• After independence, rival ethnic
groups competed for control,
some by destructive civil wars
• 1967, Igbo-speaking group of
eastern Nigeria proclaimed
independent state of Biafra
• Bloody civil war erupted; 2
million died from fighting,
another 2 million from starvation
Civil Wars
• 1992, civil war, drought led to
suffering in Somalia
• Hundreds of thousands of
Somalis died when warring
militias stole food sent from
international relief agencies
• 1990s, tensions between Hutu,
Tutsi erupted in violence
• 1994, 1 million Tutsi, moderate
Hutus massacred in Hutu-led
government genocide
Example: Nigeria
• In Nigeria this tribalism
lead to a civil war.
• More than 200 ethnic
groups live within Nigeria.
• During independence
many of these tribes
fought for control of the
country.
Example: Nigeria
• The two main groups fighting for control were the
– Muslim Hausa and Fulani people of the north
• Vs.
– Christian Ibo and Yoruba of the south
– In 1966 20,000 Ibo were massacred by the Hausa controlled
government.
– In a several year period about 1 million people had been
killed or starved to death.
– Military leaders took control in the 70’s and 80’s
– In 1999 Nigeria elected a civilian government.
The costs of the new wars to Africa’s
children
Up to 20,000 children are fighting in Africa’s conflicts
today…..
Civil War and Piracy in Somalia
Notes will come from the powerpoint
uploaded on Ms. Barben’s teacher
page…Homework to take notes from
Somalia
• Somalia
–Warlord Mohamed Aidid throws
Somalia into civil war
–Keeps UN food from people,
starving them
Rwanda Genocide
The Rwandan Genocide
100 Days of Slaughter
April 6, 1994-July 18, 1994
Source: David Simon, The Teaching of Africa, PIER, Yale University , July 11, 2005
Genocide in Rwanda
• Rwanda
–Belgium grants independence in
1962
• Hutus are resentful of Tutsi rule
and take over government
Genocide in Rwanda
• Tutsi refugees form Rwandan
Patriotic Front
• 1994: Hutus slaughter close to a
million Tutsis
• RPF fights back and takes over
government
Classification (Rwanda)
Belgian colonialists believed Tutsis were a naturally superior nobility,
descended from the Israelite tribe of Ham. The Rwandan royalty was Tutsi.
Belgians distinguished between Hutus and Tutsis by nose size, height & eye
type. Another indicator to distinguish Hutu farmers from Tutsi pastoralists
was the number of cattle owned.
Stage 2: Symbolization (Rwanda)
• “Ethnicity” was first noted on cards by Belgian Colonial Authorities in 1933.
• Tutsis were given access to limited education programs and Catholic priesthood. Hutus
were given less assistance by colonial authorities.
• At independence, these preferences were reversed. Hutus were favored.
• These ID cards were later used to distinguish Tutsis from Hutus in the 1994 massacres
of Tutsis and moderate Hutus that resulted in 800,000+ deaths.
Stage 3: Dehumanization
• One group denies the humanity of another group, and makes the
victim group seem subhuman.
• Dehumanization overcomes the normal human revulsion against
murder.
.
Der Stürmer Nazi Newspaper:
“The Blood Flows; The Jew Grins”
Kangura Newspaper, Rwanda: “The
Solution for Tutsi Cockroaches”
Dehumanization
• Hate propaganda in speeches, print and on hate
radios vilify the victim group.
• Members of the victim group are described as
animals, vermin, and diseases.
• Hate radio, Radio Télévision Libre des Mille Collines,
during the Rwandan genocide in 1994, broadcast
anti-Tutsi messages like “kill the cockroaches” and “If
this disease is not treated immediately, it will destroy
all the Hutu.”
• Dehumanization invokes superiority of one group
and inferiority of the “other.”
• Dehumanization justifies murder by calling it “ethnic
cleansing,” or “purification.”
• Such euphemisms hide the horror of mass murder.
Organization (Rwanda)
• “Hutu Power” elites
armed youth militias
called Interahamwe
("Those Who Stand
Together”).
• The government and
Hutu Power
businessmen provided
the militias with over
500,000 machetes and
other arms and set up
camps to train them to
“protect their villages”
by exterminating every
Tutsi.
Extermination (Genocide)
Government organized
extermination of Tutsis in
Rwanda in 1994
The Killings
• Killed in their villages or in towns, often by their neighbors
and fellow villagers
• Militia members typically murdered their victims by hacking
them with machetes, although some army units used rifles
• The victims were often hiding in churches and school
buildings, where Hutu gangs massacred them
• Ordinary citizens were called on by local officials and
government-sponsored radio to kill their neighbors and those
who refused to kill were often killed themselves
• Everyone killed so they weren’t killed themselves:
– Mayors
– Priests
– EVERYONE
Rwanda 1994
• “Hutu Mobs armed with machetes and other weapons killed
roughly 8,000 Tutsis a day during a three-month campaign of
terror. Powerful nations stood by as the slaughter surged on
despite pleas from Rwandan and UN observers”
National Geographic 2006.
Genocide in Rwanda April-July
1994
• Many Tutsis ran to churches and missions to hide, thinking that
they would be protected there. These became the sites of
some of the worst massacres because they were trapped.
• In many local villages, Hutus were forced to kill their Tutsi
neighbors or risk death for themselves and their families.
• They also forced Tutsis to kill their own families.
• By mid-May, over 500,000 Tutsis had been murdered. The UN,
under media pressure, agreed to send up to 5,000 troops to
Rwanda, but never sent them in time to stop the massacre.
• The butchering did not stop until July of 1994 when 200,000
Tutsis from neighboring countries invaded and attacked Hutu
forces, stopping the genocide.
• The total death toll ended at 800,000 people.
Number Killed
• Unlike Nazis they didn’t keep record
• The RPF government has stated that 1,071,000 were
killed, 10% of which were Hutu (determined in
February 2008)
• Gourevitch agrees with an estimate of one million
• United Nations lists the toll as 800,000
• African Rights estimates the number as "around
750,000,"
• Human Rights Watch states that it was "at least
500,000
Tutsi Refugee Camp
Tutsi Refugee Camp
Genocide in Darfur, Sudan
Notes come from documentary
Darfur, Sudan
• Ethnic and religious conflict began in
2003
• Between Arab-speaking, Islamic
nomads and militants from the north
and non-Arabic farmers to the south.
Darfur, Sudan
• Violence, genocide, and ethnic
cleansing has killed an estimated
200,000 people and displaced over
two million
Effects: Health Issues
Disease
• African nations also challenged by management of deadly diseases
• Malaria continues to be one of most common causes of death today
• 1980s, new disease, acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) spread
rapidly throughout Africa
AIDS
• HIV virus that causes AIDS weakens body’s immune system, results in death
• Social costs in sub-Saharan Africa staggering; millions of orphaned children
because parents died from AIDS
• Only small percentage of infected Africans receiving AIDS treatment
70% of the world’s estimated
40 million people living with
HIV/AIDS are located in
Sub-Saharan Africa.
Sub-Saharan Africa is home to
90% of the world’s
HIV infected children.
Of 30 children born in
sub-Saharan Africa10 will acquire the virus
simply by being born4 will be infected from breast
feeding .
Most of these children will not
th
live to see their 5 birthdays.
Health Realities of Contemporary Africa
The Scourge of HIV-AIDS
• HIV-AIDS: Out of approximately 40 million HIV-AIDS victims in the
world 29.4 victims reside in Sub-Saharan African countries.
• Nearly three million children under the age of 15 are HIV positive
• Four countries in southern Africa have HIV infection rates of 25% or
higher of adult population
• In the last decade 12 million people died of AIDS in Africa
• Life expectancy in southern Africa increased throughout the region
to nearly 60 years of age in 1990 (from 44 years in 1950); life
expectancy expected to drop to 40-45 years of age by 2005.
• Rays of hope: decline in infection rate in a number of countries,
stabilization in South Africa; reduction in the price of antiretrovirals.
AIDS in Africa
• Data suggests AIDS began in Africa in the late
1970s, spreading south from equatorial areas
over the 1980s
• Southern Africa has been hit particularly hard
by the AIDS epidemic—Botswana has approx.
38% of the adult population infected
• Uganda is often cited as a model for the
control of AIDS—percentage of the population
infected has dropped to 5% from a high of
14%
History of AIDS in Africa
• Between 1999 and 2000 more people died
of AIDS in Africa than in all the wars on the
continent.
• The year 2000 began with 24 million
Africans infected with the virus.
• Each day, 6,000 Africans die from AIDS.
• Each day, an additional 11,000 are
infected.
History of AIDS in Afirca
In 2007…
• 32.8 million living with HIV
• 2.5 million new infections of HIV
• 2 million deaths from AIDS
• Over two-thirds of HIV cases, and some 80%
of deaths, were in Sub-Saharan Africa.
AIDS and Government Stability
Describe the impact of government stability on the distribution
of resources to combat AIDS and famine across Africa.
• In highly affected regions, HIV/AIDS also places huge strains on
state institutions and the economy.
• AIDS most frequently strikes at the most productive members of
society, those 15-45 years old.
– Their deaths have left Africa with over 11 million orphans
• Number of deaths and infection rate to increase over the next 10
years
• Therefore, the acute impact of the AIDS pandemic may result in
the widespread economic and political destabilization of societies,
states, and entire regions.
Impact of AIDS
• Poor health care systems, poverty, and lack of
government organization
• Lack of knowledge about the disease and its
prevention
• Antiretroviral drugs that are able to slow
down the progress of the disease are
expensive
12 million African children
have been orphaned due to the
AIDS virus.
17 million Africans have
already died since the
epidemic began in
the late 1970’s.
Within 10 years the average
life expectancy in 11 countries
in Africa will drop below 40
as HIV/AIDS continues to
shorten life spans.
The Paradox of Botswana: Stable
Government and Economy, but AIDS
Rampant
• Botswana has maintained a stable, democratic government
since 1965
• The country’s diamond resources and strong beef industry
have produced a middle-class standard of living for many
residents
• Even as Botswana thrives, however, it has the second
highest rate of HIV infection in Africa (after Swaziland)—
over 1/3 of people between the ages of 15 and 49 are
infected
AIDS and Famine
Describe the impact of government stability on the distribution
of resources to combat AIDS and famine across Africa.
• If people are sick, what happens?
• Aids kills young adults, especially women - the people whose labor is
most needed. When the rains come, people must work 16 hours a day
planting and weeding the crop. If that critical period is missed, the family
will go hungry. In a community depleted by Aids, each working adult
must produce more to feed the same number of dependents - not just
children but sick adults, too.
• Just as HIV destroys the body's immune system, the epidemic of HIV and
Aids has disabled African countries.
• As a result of HIV, the worst-hit African countries have undergone a
social breakdown that is now reaching a new level: African societies'
capacity to resist famine is fast eroding.
• Hunger and disease have begun reinforcing each other.
Health Realities of Contemporary Africa
Diseases of Poverty:
• Malaria kills over 1 million people in Africa each
year with an estimated cost to African
economies of over $2 billion
• Sleeping Sickness (trypanosomasis) threat to 60
million, infects 300,000 each year
• River Blindness (onchocerciasis) 17.5 million in
Africa (99%) of world total
• Biharziasis impacts estimated 80 million in
Africa
Malaria has not received adequate
attention and is a major cause of
death of children
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Angola
Benin
Burkina
Faso
Eritrea
Gambia,
The
Ghana
GuineaBissau
Kenya
Nigeria
Tanzania
Uganda
Percentage of children under five sleeping under insecticide-treated bednets 2000-2004
Percentage of children under five with fever accessing effective antimalarial drugs 1997-2004
Zambia
Effects: Social Issues Affecting
Women, Children, Urbanization,
and Education
Social Realities of Contemporary Africa
Severe Social Dislocation:
• Male (productive age) labor migration: short term and
long term
• Urbanization:
– unplanned, minimal social services (health,
education, housing, sanitation)
• Gender/family relations:
– change in social relations of production and
reproduction (male migration, “male cash crops,”)
– absence of fathers/husbands;
– rural poverty (women & children most severely
impacted);
– survival strategies (prostitution, beer-making).
Additional Social Problems Facing Independent Africa
• Treatment of women: In African’s more developed
countries and especially in cities, women have attained
a certain degree of economic and social equality.
• However, progress has been slow and women are still
dominated by men, especially in rural areas.
Education Realities of Contemporary
Africa
Education:
Colonial Heritage:
• Education for a very few (at independence, no colony had more than 60% of the
elementary school age population in school, most less than 30%; even lower for
high school and tertiary education
• Portuguese had most restrictive educational program. In rural Mozambique less
than 20% of school age cohort had full seven years of elementary education at
independence in 1975
• At independence in 1960 the D.R. Congo had an extensive primary school system
(70% enrollment) but less than 10% went to secondary school and only 50
university graduates!
• French followed policy of “assimilation”—targeted 10-20% of population with
relatively good education system, but vast majority little or no schooling.
• British generally most “progressive” but great differences between
“protectorates” (Nigeria, Ghana) where in-direct rule was practiced, and settler
colonies (Rhodesias, Kenya) where educational expenditure was very limited.
• Curriculum heavily biased to humanities—limited opportunities in science, math,
technology
Education Realities of Contemporary Africa
Education: Post-Independence Example of
Zimbabwe:
• 1980: 60% of primary school age cohort in
school, less than 40% finished primary
education
• 1995: 100% of primary school age cohort in
school, over 90% finished seven years of
primary school
• 1980: only 64,000 students in secondary
school; 1995 over 800,000 in secondary
school
Effects: Famine
More than half of
Africa is now in
need of urgent
food assistance.
The UN's Food
and Agriculture
Organisation
(FAO) is warning
that 27 subSaharan countries
now need help.
BBC News 31st January 2006
Causes of Famine
• Many farmers say that rains have become less reliable in
recent years, which could be the result of global warming.
• The Sahara Desert is certainly expanding to the south,
making life increasingly difficult for farmers and pastoralists
in places like Niger.
• Also, rising populations have led people to farm on
increasingly marginal land, even more at risk from even a
slight decline in rainfall.
• Southern Africa has the world's highest rates of HIV/Aids
and this is a major factor in that region's food crisis.
• Some of those who should be the most productive farmers
- young men and women - are either sick or have died, so
their fields are being left untended, while their children go
hungry.
Causes of Famine
• It is particularly striking that the FAO highlights
political problems such as civil strife, refugee
movements and returnees in 15 of the 27
countries it declares in need of urgent
assistance.
• By comparison drought is only cited in 12 out of
27 countries.
• The implication is clear - Africa's years of wars,
coups and civil strife are responsible for more
hunger than the natural problems that befall it.
In essence Africa's hunger is the product of a series of
interrelated factors. Africa is a vast continent, and no one factor
can be applied to any particular country.
But four issues are critical:
• Decades of underinvestment in rural areas, which have little political
clout
• Wars and political conflict, leading to refugees and instability.
• HIV/Aids depriving families of their most productive labour.
• Unchecked population growth
Famine in Africa
• Famine occurs when a region does not have
enough food for a long period of time.
• People who are starving can die from
malnutrition.
• Famines are both human-made and natural.
• Drought, or lack of rain, makes food scarce
because crops die.
Famine in Africa
• Human forces, like wars, can also cause food
shortages.
• People in a region can be without food
because its cost is too high.
• All of these factors have led to famines in
Africa.
Famine in Africa
• Famines in Africa today are the result of poor
food distribution and poverty.
• There is enough food on Earth for everyone to
eat well.
• However, many people live where they cannot
grow food.
• People also live where food cannot be easily
transported.
Causes:
Poverty
Poverty and Famine
Poverty is at the heart of Africa's problems. This is an overview
of some of the economic challenges facing the continent.
• Most of Sub-Saharan Africa is in the World Bank's lowest
income category of less than $765 Gross National Income
(GNI) per person per year.
• Ethiopia and Burundi are the worst off with just $90 GNI per
person.
• Even middle income countries like Gabon and Botswana have
sizeable sections of the population living in poverty.
• North Africa generally fares better than Sub-Saharan Africa.
• Here, the economies are more stable, trade and tourism are
relatively high and AIDS is less prevalent.
• Development campaigners have argued that the rules on
debt, aid and trade need reforming to help lift more African
nations out of poverty.
Poverty and Famine
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The basic problem is poverty.
Most Africans live in rural areas, where many are subsistence farmers,
dependent on a good harvest to get enough food to eat.
There are hardly any irrigation systems, so people rely on the rains.
If one rainy season fails, people have very few savings - in either food or
cash - to see them through.
Even in good years, there is a "hungry season", when last year's harvests
have run out and the next crops are not yet ripe.
While people were starving in parts of Niger last year, shops in the capital,
Niamey, were full of food but many could not afford to buy it.
In both the Horn of Africa and Niger, some of the most vulnerable were
pastoralists, whose animals quickly succumbed when there was nothing
left to graze.
When the animals die, their owners have no other way of getting enough
food to eat.
Some say that the pastoralist lifestyle is no longer sustainable.
Causes:
Debt
Debt and Famine
• The Heavily Indebted Poor Countries initiative (HIPC) was set up in
1996 to reduce the debt of the poorest countries.
• Poor countries are eligible for the scheme if they face unsustainable
debt that cannot be reduced by traditional methods.
• They also have to agree to follow certain policies of good governance
as defined by the World Bank and the IMF.
• Once these are established the country is at "decision point" and the
amount of debt relief is established.
• Critics of the scheme say the parameters are too strict and more
countries should be eligible for HIPC debt relief.
• This map shows how much "decision point" HIPC countries spend on
repaying debts and interest.
• Fourteen African HIPC countries will have their debts totally written
off under a new plan drawn up by the G8 finance ministers (2005).
Causes:
Reliance on
aid
Reliance on Aid and Famine
• Africa receives about a third of the total aid given by governments
around the world, according to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.
• Much of this has conditions attached, meaning governments must
implement certain policies to receive the aid or must spend the
money on goods and services from the donor country.
• The World Bank, which is reviewing its conditionality policies, argues
that aid is far more effective, and less vulnerable to corruption, when
coupled with improved governance.
• There was a sharp drop in rich countries' relative spending on aid in
the late 1990s.
• The Make Poverty History campaign urged the G8 to raise an extra
$50bn more in aid per year and to enforce earlier pledges for
developed countries to give 0.7% of their annual GDP in aid.
Famine in Africa
• Tens of millions of people across more than half the
states in sub-Saharan Africa need urgent food aid,
but the causes are often complex and varied.
• Food crises were once primarily triggered by natural
disasters like droughts.
• But according to research by the UN Food and
Agriculture Organization, man-made causes are
increasingly to blame.
• These include conflict and poor governance, as well
as HIV/Aids.
• Rural poverty, international trade barriers,
overpopulation, deforestation, poor use of land and
environmental problems can also be factors.
Famine in Africa
• Many famines have taken place in the Horn of Africa.
• The Horn of Africa is a large peninsula in the
northeast region of the continent.
• Famines in this region include the Ethiopian Famine
of the mid-1980s, which is estimated to have killed
over a million people.
• This famine was made worse by high food prices and
overpopulation,
Famine in Africa
• On the continent, the risk of famine is highest
in Sub-Saharan Africa.
• Today, Niger, southern Sudan, Somalia, and
Zimbabwe are areas with emergency famine
status.
• Africa’s greatest humanitarian crisis is in
Darfur, in western Sudan.
• A humanitarian crisis is one in which many
human lives are at risk in a region.
Africa's Permanent Food Crisis
• More than 30 million people are going
hungry across Africa from the west, to the
horn and the south, says the UN's World
Food Programme.
• Poor rains have contributed to the problem
but the root causes are many and complex.
Which countries are worst affected?
• At the moment, the Horn of Africa is worst hit, especially Somalia,
north-eastern Kenyan and Ethiopia.
• Some 11 million people need food aid in the region after poor rains,
the WFP says.
• About half of these are on the brink of starvation and need urgent
help.
• In West Africa, the WFP plans to help about 10 million people. Last
year's rains and harvests were not too bad but aid workers say that
endemic poverty and conflict mean lots of people still need help.
• Aid workers do not want to repeat the mistakes made in Niger last
year (2005), when little was done to help the hungry until television
pictures of starving children shocked the world.
• Further south, about 12 million need food aid in countries such as
Malawi and Zimbabwe, says the WFP.
4. Drought
Horn of Africa disaster
• Caused by two consecutive poor
rainy seasons begun in 2010
• Complicated by war, restricted
access of NGOs
Horn of Africa disaster
• Ethiopia: 3.2 million
• Kenya: 3.5 million
• Somalia: 2.8 million
• Djibouti: 100,000+
Horn of Africa disaster
• Worst impact in Somalia
• 15,000 fleeing daily, every
month in 2011
• Arriving in Kenya, Ethiopia
Horn of Africa disaster
• Six camps in Ethiopia house
130,000 Somalis
• Dadaab camp in Kenya now
largest refugee camp worldwide
Horn of Africa disaster
• Food prices rising
• Grain in Kenya 30%-80% higher
than normal
• Moving out of reach of
households
Horn of Africa disaster
• Refugee camps overwhelmed
• Conflict and clashes in camps
• Could destabilize border nations
Horn of Africa disaster
• Malnutrition issue worse: 1 in 3
children malnourished
• Impact on local economy
severe: long-term effects
Horn of Africa disaster
• Size and scope and issues lead
many countries to give up
helping
• World Food Program short by
33%.
Horn of Africa disaster
• Somalia has dropped ban on
non-Muslim NGOs
• Al Shabab “welcomes nonMuslim foreign aid groups”
ETHIOPIA
• Estimated population:
77.43m
• Projected number needing
food aid: 1.7m
Key underlying reasons:
• Drought
• Refugees
• High food prices
• Overpopulation
NIGER
• Estimated population:
13.95m
• Projected number needing
food aid: 3m
Key underlying reasons:
• After-effects of 2004
drought and locusts
DEMOCRATIC REP. OF
CONGO
• Estimated population: 57.54m
• Projected number needing food
aid: 3m
Key underlying reasons:
• Conflict
• Refugees
• War, malnutrition and disease
have killed at least 3.8m people in
the Democratic Republic of Congo
in the last seven years.
SUDAN
• Estimated population: 36.23m
• Projected number needing food
aid: 6.1m
Key underlying reasons:
• Conflict in western Darfur region
has displaced 2m people
• South recovering from longrunning civil war
• Drought in parts
• Where farming is taking place, it
is on a very small scale with most
people cultivating with a simple
hand tool called a 'maloda'.
Ethiopia
• Difficult Environment:
– Deep Canyons  Isolated Villages
– Crops Depend on Erratic Rainfall
– Prolonged Drought  Famine
Nutritional problems of children in Ethiopia
• Ethiopia is one of the most food insecure
countries in the world having both chronic and
transitory food insecurity and frequent attacks
of famine in the recent past
– Food insecurity incorporates- low food intake ,
variable access to food, and vulnerability
• Food insecurity is mostly associated with
drought, poor land management practices,
diseases, attack by pests, destruction of crops
by flood, etc..
Current estimated food security conditions: January
to March 2009
Source: FEWS NET and WFP Ethiopia
Nutritional problems ….
• Nutritional problems continue to
be the leading cause of morbidity
and mortality in children
• Manifest by
– Protein Energy Malnutrition ( PEM)
– Micronutrient malnutrition
• Vitamin A deficiency ( VAD )
• Iodine Deficiency disorders (IDDS)
• Iron Deficiency Anaemia (IDA)
Nutritional problems ….
• The plight usually starts during
intrauterine life with maternal
malnutrition
(during and prior to pregnancy)
• Continues to childhood with the
same condition
(Feeding, Health Care,
Environment)
«Hidden» death due to malnutrition in
Ethiopia
80% of the death due to malnutrition is contributed
for by Mild and Moderate Malnutrition
Mild &
Moderate
Severe
Only 1 in 5 malnutrition-related deaths
is due to severe malnutrition
Malnutrition and intellectual development
Reduced:
•
Learning ability
•
School performance
•
Retention rates
Effects: Question of African
Unity
More Problems in African Nations
•Living Standards
–most in poverty, lack capital for development
–Foreign investors deterred by political instability
•African Unity
–Haile Selassie believed that the differences
(linguistic, racial, economic, and political) too vast
and recommended a loose organization of nations
–OAU (Organization of African Unity)
Goals of OAU: African Unity
•Loose Confederation
–Heads of state meet once a year
–Council meets every 6 months
–Commission of Mediation and Conciliation to settle
inter-African disputes
•African Cooperation
–Foreign policy, defense, economics, education
•Liberation of all African territories still under foreign rule
–Worked to end white rule in S. Africa