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By M. Ahmed
While the world expects so much from this new millennium, Africa watches as it slips further and further behind. It was a different situation only a few years ago, when the future looked much brighter for the world's poorest continent. After teetering at the edge of ruin for so long, things seemed to be turning around for Africa. There was talk of an "African renaissance." Many believed Africa would become a major force in world affairs. There was every reason to feel hopeful. Growth was up. The political and social, as well as economical atmosphere was less bleak than ever. Nations were attempting to rebuild. Africa was drawing on its strengths: family, community and determination. Democratic rule was reemerging, most publicly in South Africa, but all over the continent. And today? Today Africa is again plagued by so many of its old demons: war, rebellion, natural and man-made disasters. Corruption is the law of the land. No one is immune from it. What opportunities that existed have been lost. Even those countries blessed with wealth in the form of oil and minerals, and there are many in Africa, have yet to find the means to make good of them. Africa is in a very real crisis in terms of AIDS. In South Africa, up to a quarter of the working population is expected to be infected in the next five years. Incidents of rape in South Africa are among the highest in the world. An African myth that says sex with a virgin can cure AIDS is spreading the disease in the more tragic of ways. Africa has suffered from a syndrome much of the world has suffered at one point or another. The African countries were born of colonization. In the late 1800s, the Europeans were competing for Africa's natural wealth. It was a time of exploitation, and little was done to aid any type of growth within the countries. When the era of independence began with Ghana in 1957, the economic and administrative circumstances of the continent were very poor. The colonial boundaries created in the Berlin Conference of 1885 were suddenly national boundaries. Not only were these borders alien, so too was the very concept they represented. Completely unprepared for self-governance, the new nations of Africa were left on their own. They were regularly thrown into disarray by recurring natural disasters. Their economies were tied to primary goods, a situation which almost automatically binds a country into a state of dependency. Political and administrative systems were very weak and checks on power were nonexistent. And, while natural resources were present, the resources to create educated citizens were not. Still, Africans had high hopes and expectations for themselves. Yet, problems combined with little to no structure, created the perfect environment for exploitation - this time by the leaders rather than the colonizers. As the Cold War ended, Africa found itself no
farther along than when it had started. Unfortunately, the situation of
its politics, society and economy is much the same as it was fifty years
ago. Today the continent still faces the same struggles it was facing at
independence - what to do with its unnatural borders, how to make do with
dependency economies, and how to remedy institutions that just don't work
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