The international influence in the various African societies has been marked by the presence, increasingly broad and intense, of powers such as the United States, China and India. The reasons behind these are varied: for economic, geopolitical interest, although I consider that the changes in the economy and its relationship with the major world markets configure the greatest consequence.
In the debate on the future of Africa, the question may be raised as to whether the current world economic crisis - which leaves no country indifferent to the fact - in the case of most African States can, for a time. longer.
- vulnerable to the economic recession of the United States in the first place and also in that of China, although this to a lesser degree momentarily.
Faced with such a question, Andrew Mold - a research economist at the Study Services of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development - indicated that from his analyzes, he found that 70% of African exports have European countries as their final market, which is why These should be included in the debate to see how it will affect the recessionary crisis that has developed in the European continent.
Various opinions
It is important to keep in mind that in African countries there are some strategic sources of energy supply from the United States. Regarding the subject, David García Cantalapiedra -researcher of the Royal Elcano Institute of Spain- analyzed the actions that Washington began to develop from the year 2000 with the objective of stabilizing and guaranteeing energy supplies in places in the Gulf of Guinea.
On the other hand, the presence of jihadist-Salafist terrorism in North Africa and the Sajel increased the importance that the United States attaches in its foreign policy to the African continent, even more in the presence of China in strategic countries. A subject that will soon have to be elucidated in the brand-new Barack Obama government.
But, it is also very important in this debate to take into account the opinion of other international actors such as that expressed by Hao Huang -researcher of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute- when insisting on various occasions regarding the institutional aspect that he says play China on the African continent.
In the case of the Spanish government, the great problem posed by the debate on the future of Africa centers on illegal immigration, since Spain lives this reality permanently and directly. Two main routes depart from sub-Saharan Africa, crossing the Strait of Gibraltar in “cayucos” (flat-bottom canoe built by emptying a tree trunk, which can carry between 25 and 45 people of illegal African immigrants, although being fragile they often perish in the open sea).
Javier Nart -Member of the International Criminal Court- considers that non-democratic governments in Africa, in order to strengthen their dictatorial power, have been based on the destruction of social structures and the creation of private military bodies (army of mercenaries) who use terror indiscriminately and massively against the population.
The great African reservoir
The African continent has abundant geological riches, and yet it appears as the poorest in the world. What is or are the causes of such contradiction? For the Higher Center for Defense Studies of Spain (CESEDEN), the problem is the cause of the connection between wealth in natural resources and the growing corruption and internal instability in most African countries.
It must be taken into account that Africa will generate 15% of the oil and gas that will be consumed worldwide in the next decades of this 21st century. Sub-Saharan Africa stands out as the world's largest mineral reserve, although economically such resources are currently exploited and exploited by foreign companies, particularly of Anglo-Saxon origin.
Such situation generates serious internal conflicts due to its control, which are manifested in acts of violence and illegal trafficking of said resources. (See our article in CHRONICLES 28 / XI / 08, on "War in the Congo").
In such a situation, the European Union has as its fundamental objective to consolidate a political alliance between the two continents, reinforcing peace and security as well as democratic governance and development within an integrating framework that includes all African countries. With such objectives, since 2003, the European Union has implemented a total of eight operations in various areas of the black continent. The most recent was located in 2008 in Guinea-Bissau (EUSSR).
The meeting of Jaca
As reported by the Defense Magazine of Spain, at the XVI International Defense Course in Jaca (Huesca), where leading international experts attended, the African question was approached from a historical, economic, political and social perspective.
Bernardo Lugan -expert in African history- pointed out that "the current situation in Africa is limited to experimental mutations throughout history.", Highlighting - in his opinion - some of the main factors: a) such as the Islamization of the northern part of the continent product of centuries of invasions and permanence; b) decline of Nigeria and Senegal in favor of the development of the coastal regions of the Atlantic, c) the influence on the African continent of the two great blocks that staged the Cold War, c) the demographic explosion (105% in the last 20 years, while agricultural production has increased by 43%, which is generating the current food catastrophe.
Figures to consider in the debate
- The wars on the African continent, not complete due to a lack of accurate information, produce overwhelming numbers of victims. The conflict of. To date, Congro has caused more than 4 million deaths, 2,500,000 displaced people and 400,000 refugees. Somalia - considered as a "failed state", without national armed forces,. it is controlled by the "warlords". The territorial conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea, unleashed in 1988, has caused more than 1 million deaths and 2 million displaced people. In Sierra Leone, life expectancy is 34 years, with the death toll exceeding 250,000, in addition to the mutilated. In Nigeria, three opposing tribal ethnic groups coexist, facing each other in a fight without quarter Muslims and Christians.The complex conflict in Sudan has already generated more than 2 million deaths and almost 5 million displaced
(Source: Defense Magazine).
What will be the foreign policy of the United States, particularly in relation to Africa?
There is no doubt that the current President Barack Obama has before him to solve a great geostrategic issue in various convulsed areas of the world.. It is important that, following his pre-electoral speech, ratified - largely in his presidential address - the new international system supported by the United States, Russia and China, must be ambivalent; sometimes of confrontation, others of cooperation, according to the profile and scope of each conflict or situation.
Undoubtedly, the issue of Africa should be integrated - urgently - among the first on the agenda of the great international debate.
