Rich, Rich Mama Africa

At the weekend I took a drive out to Nivasha, which is a lake about an hours drive from Nairobi. Well I didn't drive but that's neither here nor there. On the drive out of Nairobi we passed through sprawling suburbs that consisted mostly of shanty towns and markets. They gradually became less and less dense and Donkeys, goats and cattle became more frequent. It is hard to tell where the city starts and ends as there is not really anything you could describe as planning involved in the construction of a slum. Once we moved into the countryside I was amazed by how lush and green it is. Another myth busted.

In Europe we are always told how poor Africa is and true the people are poor but this is the richest continent on earth. When we got to Nivasha I saw Masai tribespeople herding cattle and goats and Zebras were just lounging on the side of the road as if they owned the place. Take a picture of a Zebra in front of an African and they will think it's hilarious! Zebras here are like rabbits in Ireland. I also realised something about wildlife documentaries when we went looking for wildlife and couldn't find much because of the vegetation. They are only filmed when it is very dry because the animals are easier to see and the more difficult conditions make it more dramatic. It's quite similar to the approach of the western media really. They only report of Africa when there is a drought or a civil war, I mean who wants to hear good news about Africa? So we as westerners develop a mindset that Africa is a poor place and that the hardships that occur happen because they have no water and no resources. We develop images of Africans as being helpless people, children who couldn't feed themselves if it wasn't for the benevolence of the west.

Nothing could be further from the truth. If anything most of the suffering in Africa has been caused by wealthy as Imperialists, old and new, sought to dispossess the Africans of what was rightfully theirs be it land or resources. Take Sudan for example. The civil was there was caused by the creation of a State where the Muslin north was in control of the African Christian and Animistic south. The south however had water and oil. Two things any country needs. However the Arabs in the north had a problem. There were black people living on all the water and oil that they felt was rightfully theirs. The solution? Genocide. So the southerners had little choice but to defend themselves. The result was twenty years of civil war and two million dead as well as millions of people displaced. Now however they have a fragile peace. The Chinese are courting both sides in order to get access to the oil. They have always been supportive of the northern government and seventy per cent of all Sudanese oil is exported to China.

The old Imperialists, the British, created a situation where civil war was inevitable. The new Imperialists the Chinese were willing to exploit this situation in order to develop their economy. They were willing to do business with the most one of the most despotic regimes on earth supplying them with weapons and infrastructure in order to keep the oil flowing. Now there is peace they are free to take the oil without anybody having to fire a shot. The southern Sudanese don't face the genocide that their countrymen in Darfur do but it will remain to be seen if they ever benefit from the wealth of their country. Or if to quote the song 'It's the same old song with a different meaning'.