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Africa: African Arguments Online

Ndesanjo Macha — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 15:04:42 +0000

African Arguments Online is a multi-blogging platform that covers contemporary African events and develops debates on themes that are important to an ever changing continent. The platform comprises 6 blogs: Making Sense of Sudan, African Politics Now!, Rethinking Zimbabwe, Business Africa, The Central Africa Forum and Diaspora Debate.

Each debate on the multi-blogging site consists of many individual arguments. The first contribution is commissioned from an expert on the theme. Responses are then invited and moderated by the editor.

African Arguments logo. Image courtesy of www.africanarguments.org/

African Arguments Online About page says:

Africa has long been the locus and the focus for the most impassioned and intellectually-informed debate. But for many years, specialist Africa coverage in the world’s media has been in decline, alongside the withering of many African journals and magazines that used to provide a forum for debate and opinion. African news and views have moved to the web, but there has been no comparable Africa-wide movement which provides in-depth analysis and debate of the issues and controversies that animate the continent today. With African Arguments Online we intend to fill this gap.

Let’s take a look at some of the latest arguments posted on the site. In “Making money in Somaliland: meeting Abdirashid Duale, CEO, Dahabshiil”, Magnus Taylor talks to Abdirashid Duale. Abdirashid Duale is CEO of Dahabshiil, which is one of the biggest international money transfer companies in the Horn of Africa.

Abdirashid Duale - CEO of Dahabshiil. Photo courtesy of www.africanarguments.org/

Dahabshiil is an example of how the entrepreneurial strata in Somali society has survived the country’s long-running upheaval. It combines diaspora expertise and money with a particularly strong desire to support communities back home, and in doing so to make a healthy profit in an underdeveloped business environment. Duale tells me that the diaspora are the biggest source of investment in Somalia where, particularly in the more stable regions, the housing and construction sectors are booming. Flights back to Hargeisa, and even to Mogadishu, are frequently booked out, as diasporans, and globe-trotting Somali businessmen fly in to visit extended families and check up on their investments – not the image we normally get of the country.

William Townsend reflects on the elections in the Democratic Republic of Congo:

‘Congo is on the move, but where is it going?’ asked Dr Theodore Trefon (author of the African Arguments book Congo Masquerade) at an international conference, hosted by the Royal African Society in London earlier this week. It was hoped that the historic presidential poll conducted in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) last November, only the second since six years civil conflict came to an end in 2003, would consolidate plurality and herald a new era of political accountability. Instead, Kris Berwouts (until recently, the Director of the Belgium-based European Network for Central Africa) described the unfolding political picture as one of growing uncertainty and pervasive insecurity, limiting opportunities for the Congo’s vibrant civil society to take root and flourish.

Writing about post-civil war politics in Angola, Keith Somerville wonders whether UNITA is sinking after one of its leading member, Abel Chivukuvuku, decided to defect:

Abel Chivukuvuku Chivukuvuku, a former foreign secretary of UNITA. Photo courtesy of www.africanarguments.org/

The desire of UNITA to rebuild itself and develop the support base to seriously threaten the hegemony of the MPLA will not be furthered by the decision of a leading member, Abel Chivukuvuku, to leave and make his own bid for political power, in opposition to the party that has been his home throughout his political career. Chivukuvuku, a former foreign secretary of UNITA when it was a guerrilla movement led by Jonas Savimbi, now wants to run for office in a coalition with former members of the small PRS (Partido de Renovacao Social) party and the Democratic Block…

Jolyon Ford rethinks investor risk in contemporary Zimbabwe:

There is a limit to what one can read into visual impressions made during the Mining Indaba in Cape Town earlier this month….
The Zimbabwe country stand was notable mainly for the relatively large number of well-groomed delegates from the country’s Minerals Marketing Board. The stand however hardly appeared swamped with expressions of interest from conference delegates. Now, given the experiences of many farm, mine and business owners in Zimbabwe in the last decade — and continued political and mining policy uncertainty and potential volatility — it may seem unsurprising that conference attendees largely gave the stand a wide berth.

Still, the question remains whether current analysis tends to exaggerate the political risks of investing or operating in Zimbabwe.

Diaspora Debate is a forum for exciting, informed and vigorous debate on the issues engaging the African Diaspora in the United Kingdom and beyond.

The current debate question raised by Dele Fantula is: What’s Diaspora Got To Do With It? The question has attracted reactions from Semhar Araia, Boko Inyundo and Chukwu-Emeka Chikezie.

Dele Fantula argues:

For a long while, Africa’s diaspora have been a trump card afro-optimists have wielded against the pessimists despairing about the future of the continent. Rather than a symptom of a ‘brain drain’, they saw in this large pool of skilled professionals the brightest and best of Africa, who fled the detritus of the failed states of the 70s, 80s, and 90s, and became the vanguard that would transform said basket cases into shining examples of functioning market democracies. So it’s somewhat contrary popular perception to find that the current stability and prosperity in Africa’s nations has had little to [do] with the diaspora.

"Members of the African diaspora in China. Photo courtesy of www.africanarguments.org/

He asks:

So why the faith in a group of people who by and large fled the continent when it was most in need, and returned when it least needs them? Where exactly has the diaspora shown itself to be a glorious knight in shining armor? Are we investing a little too much in this myth about ourselves and too little in the future – most crucially, in the skills and capacity of Africans on the ground?

Semhar responds to Dele's post by pointing out shortcomings in his arguments:

…it’s worth noting that Fatunla fails to define who exactly the diaspora is within the context of his analysis. It is overly simplistic and dangerous to suggest they are “a group of people who by and large fled the continent when it was most in need, and returned when it least needs them”. The diaspora must be disaggregated into its many parts and identify what contributions they actually are providing.
…..
The other shortcoming with What’s Diaspora Got to Do With It is that it falls completely short on recognizing the diaspora’s added value – which is far beyond economic remittances and sporadic tourism. Even though remittances continue to be the largest form of diaspora contributions, amounting to roughly $40 billion a year to support livelihoods and development, it is not the only form of significant deliverables from diaspora.

Chukwu-Emeka notes that most diaspora returnees are ill-equipped to drive change in Africa:

But few of the diaspora returnees will drive change in African countries. For the most part, they will be ill equipped to do so. Think about it. Many will have spent a considerable part of their career in the lower, middle, and senior ranks of their respective occupations. For those who have worked in western developed countries (and some emerging economies), these ranks are typically well defined and structured, and operate in the context of stable institutions, an enabling ecosystem of support, and adequate soft and hard infrastructure.

African Arguments Online is hosted by the Royal African Society and the Social Science Research Council.

Somaliland: Challenge for openly gay president

Ndesanjo Macha — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 15:56:42 +0000

Sokari's reaction to the news that Somaliland's President is openly gay: “Roll on the next AU [African Union] meeting. Will he stand up for LGBTI Rights?…If not and his identity becomes silent then he betrays his own self as well as the people who voted for him.”

Somaliland ready to join international community

Ndesanjo Macha — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 16:14:13 +0000

“Successful Presidential election means the country is now in a position to move forward and join the other independent states of the world,” reads a press release from Somaliland Forum.

Somaliland: Elections in Hargeisa

Ndesanjo Macha — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 16:33:34 +0000

Doreen blogs from Hargeisa, the unofficial capital of Somaliland: “There are swathes of colour everywhere, from the hotel lobby to the streets to the market place to the campaign trail.”

Macedonia: Singing Skopjans Cover Footbal World Cup Anthem

Filip Stojanovski — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 22:13:23 +0000

Singing Skopjans celebrated [MKD] the start of the Football World Cup in South Africa by singing its anthem, “Waving Flag,” because they “realized that the Somali K'naan managed to slip a powerful social song to FIFA and Coca-Cola, which fits perfectly with the current situation in Skopje.”

Somaliland: Arrest of opposition politicians condemned

Ndesanjo Macha — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 21:27:12 +0000

The Voice of Somaliland publishes a statement from the Qaran Party:”It is regrettable that at this day and age, having all experienced the horrors of bad regimes in the past, the people of S/Land are once again reliving the abusive powers of yet another callous regime.”

Somaliland: sign of order and normalcy

Ndesanjo Macha — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 00:25:33 +0000

A sign of order and normalcy in Hargeysa, the capital of the Republic of Somaliland.

Somaliland: we cannot be fooled

Ndesanjo Macha — Sat, 10 Mar 2007 23:36:19 +0000

Ahmed Quick Written by Ndesanjo Macha · comments (0)
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Africa: renewable technologies

Ndesanjo Macha — Thu, 28 Sep 2006 07:47:39 +0000

Africa Unchained writes, “Karekezi, S…surveys (PDF) the dissemination of renewable technologies in Sub-Saharan Africa…and attempts to evaluate the potential for these technologies to meet the energy needs of Africa’s poor…“

Africa: Moving on from the digital indaba

Ndesanjo Macha — Tue, 26 Sep 2006 03:44:50 +0000

Meskel Square on “Moving on from the Digital Indaba“:
“Overall it was a huge success. One way of judging that is to look at all the discussions that are still carrying on in posts and comments and Technorati links. The discussions started with the race debate which I now wish I hadn't joined (there was just something about that pig/hairless-bulldog). But it has now moved on to thinking about what should come next.”

Africa: Is the Battle against AIDS Lost?

Alice Backer — Wed, 23 Aug 2006 11:32:38 +0000

Forum Realisance believes (Fr) former colonial powers and pharmaceutical companies are partially to blame for the AIDS crisis but saves harsher words for Africans and failed African leaders: ” Ignorance and illiteracy reproduce AIDS blindly without the least use for reason. Isn't it sacred and legitimate to protect oneself? Why not do it? By weakness in front of the beauty of orgasm? Weakness because of the taboo of sexuality? Curious logic.”

Somaliland, Somalia: Journalistic criticism

Luisetta Mudie — Wed, 26 Jul 2006 21:40:01 +0000

Guest-blogging on the Voice of Somaliland Diaspora, Faysal Diriye launches an attack on journalistic standards among Somali Web sites which he describes as Siadist. “Cheap shot journalism! Too subjective, too emotional, and as boring as hell! They often shed more tears than thunder clouds could spill,” he writes.

French-Speaking Bloggers on Rabat Conference on Migration

Alice Backer — Fri, 21 Jul 2006 14:07:44 +0000

What Will the Conference Bring?

Says France-based African blogger Le Pangolin,

Du 10 au 11 juillet 2006, s'est tenue à Rabat au Maroc, la première rencontre interministérielle euro-africaine sur les problèmes des migrations entre ces deux continents.Elle a regroupé 57 pays africains et européens et certaines organisations humanitaires qui se sont bruyamment invitées à la table de négociation.

From July 10 to 11, 2006, the first interministerial Euro-African meeting on the problems of migrations between the two continents was held in Rabat, Morocco. The Conference attracted 57 African and European countries and a couple of humanitarian organizations that insisted on inviting themselves to the negotiation table.

Though cautious in his wording, Senegalese blogger-mayor Robert Sagna, was willing to give the conference's resolution the benefit of the doubt:

L’Europe, l’Asie, l’Amérique, l’Australie et même l’Afrique connaissent le phénomène migratoire ; il faut savoir le gérer ; la répression n’est sûrement pas la meilleure manière, comme le souligne la Déclaration de Rabat, il faut engager un dialogue politique, mais les solutions durables à mon avis passe par la Croissance et le Développement d’une part, et une répartition équitable des résultats de cette croissance et de ce développement, d’autre part.

Europe, Asia, America, Australia and even Africa are all familiar with migrations; it is important to manage the phenomenon properly. Repression is probably not the best way, as the Rabat Declaration emphasizes, we need to start a political dialogue but durable solutions in my opinion should involve growth and development on the one hand and an equitable distribution of the results of that growth and development on the other.

France-based African blogger Le Pangolin agreed that policing was a short-sighted solution and had mostly harsh words for the conference, for Europe and for Morocco:

De ce qui est ressorti de cette conférence c’est une impression générale d’une rencontre pour rien, même si pour certains observateurs optimistes c’est signe que l’Europe reconnaît son échec et surtout le Maroc malgré ses exactions envers les négro-africains de l’année dernière passées sous silence internationale, ne peut continuer à jouer au gendarme de l’Europe, car le Maroc lui-même est un pays qui offre que l’émigration à sa jeunesse malgré son potentiel économique.

There is a general feeling that the meeting was useless even though some optimistic commentators took it as a sign that Europe is recognizing its failure. Also, Morocco despite its internationally silenced abuses vis-a-vis Negro-Africans last year, cannot continue to play the role of Europe's cop because Morocco itself is a country that offers only emigration to its youth.

Les politiciens européens en manque d’idées et d’audace préconisent le durcissement des lois envers les étrangers et l’exclusion d ‘une partie de leur population. C’est ce qui ressort du plan adopté à Rabat ce sont des mesures vagues du genre :
ØCoopération entre l’Europe et l’Afrique dans le contrôle des frontières
ØRéduction de la pauvreté
ØAccroissement de l’aide au développement
ØEt l’Europe sans scrupule souhaite contrôler les flux financiers émanant des ressortissants africains à destination de leurs pays.
A lire ces mesures on comprend vite que les ministres africains et européens n’ont rien compris à la chose.
Pour les ministres africains c’était l’occasion de remettre à plat les rapports économiques existants, mais hélas les ministres africains n’ont pas encore saisi tous les contours du problème.

Unimaginative European politicians advocate a hardening of the laws against foreigners and the exclusion of a part of the population. That is what transpires from the plan adopted in Rabat, vague measures such as:
*Cooperation between Europe and Africa on the control of borders
*Poverty reduction
*Increase in development aid
*And an unscrupulous Europe hopes to control the financial flows between Europe-based Africans and their homelands
Reading these measures, it is obvious that African and European ministers don't understand this crisis. For the African ministers this was an opportunity to rehash the existing economic relations but alas African ministers have not yet wrapped their heads around the extent of the problem.

What is Behind the Migration of Africans to Europe?

Both bloggers attempted to put migrations of Africans to Europe in perspective.

Zinguinchor, Senegal mayor Robert Sagna thought:

Les flux migratoires ont toujours existé et sous des formes diverses : violentes ou pacifiques.
De nos jours, la libre circulation, des biens et des hommes, constitue l’élément essentiel d’un brassage planétaire, au cœur de ce qui est appelé « mondialisation ». Les biens et les services ne peuvent pas circuler sans les hommes, et les nouvelles technologies de l’information et de la communication ont fini de faire de ce globe terrestre un village planétaire, un vase communiquant où la richesse et l’opulence des uns sont une soupape d’appel des plus pauvres en quête de moyens de survie. Cela impose à l’humanité toute entière, une nouvelle attitude faite d’ouverture, de générosité et de tolérance. La notion de frontière fermée n’est plus de mise et il est illusoire de vouloir arrêter la mer avec ses bras.

Migrations have always existed and in various forms: violent or peaceful.
These days, the free circulation of goods and persons is an essential element of a global melting pot and at the heart of what is referred to as “globalization.” Goods and services cannot circulate without people and new information and communication technologies have completed the process of making a global village of the planet, a pipe where the wealth and opulence of some serves as a valve sucking in the less fortunate looking for means of survival. This imposes on humanity as a whole a new attitude made of openness, generosity and tolerance. The notion of closed borders is no longer possible and it makes no sense to want to stop the ocean with one's bare arms.

Le Pangolin looked closely at structural and historical issues:

Sur le plan économique, l’Afrique a du mal à nourrir sa population, sa production agricole détournée vers les cultures d’exportation pendant la colonisation, puis poursuivie les années d’indépendance a scellé le sort alimentaire des Africains. (…) Un pays comme le Congo pour un budget annuel d’Etat de près de 1000 milliards de francs cfa, dépense près de 200 milliards de francs cfa pour subvenir à ces besoins alimentaires (et dire que dans ce pays il pleut en moyenne 9 mois sur 12 et que près de 60% de sa superficie est constituée de foret).
Tant que les pays du Nord et de l’Asie continueront à subventionner leur agriculture et que le FMI et la banque Mondiale continueront à imposer le libéralisme à tout va aux pays africains en empêchant les gouvernements africains de subventionner leur agriculture, du coup tous ces éléments rendant l’agriculture pas du tout lucrative en poussant les paysans vers les villes (le taux d’urbanisation des pays africains a dépassé celui des pays d’Europe et des USA, on relève de chiffres dépassant 65% ) tout cela ayant pour conséquences :
L’augmentation de la pauvreté rurale
Ø Augmentation des bidonvilles
Ø Augmentation d’insalubrité donc des maladies infantiles et de sa mortalité
Ø Augmentation du taux de chômage, les migrants ruraux n’ayant pas pour la plupart de formation professionnelle, ces derniers manqueraient de tout (école, loisirs, santé, travail) d’où criminalisation de la vie privée et politique en Afrique.
Ø Augmentation des importations des produits alimentaires européens, asiatiques et américains avec conséquences augmentation de l’achat des devises étrangères.

On the economic front, Africa has a hard time feeding its population, its agricultural output having been channeled towards exports during the colonization period [and since the trend] continued during the years of Independence, Africans' fate was sealed. (…) A country like the Congo for an annual state budget of 1000 billion of CFA Francs spends about 200 billion CFA Francs to feed its population (this despite the fact that it rains about 9 months out of 12 and that 60% of is surface is covered by forests).
The countries of the North and of Asia continue to subsidize their agriculture and the IMF and the World Bank continue to impose liberalism at the drop of a hat to African countries while preventing those countries from subsidizing their agriculture, making agriculture non-lucrative by pushing peasants to the cities (the rate of urbanization in Africa surpasses that of Europe and USA at up to 65%), with the following consequences:
*Increase in rural poverty
*Increase in city slums
*Increase in sanitary and hygiene problems and hence in infantile diseases and mortality
*Increase in unemployment rates, rural migrants not having for the most part any professional training, they lack everything (schooling, entertainment, health, work) hence the criminalization of private and political life in Africa
*Increase in imports of food from Europe, Asia and the USA ensuing an increase in the purchase of foreign currencies.

Using Drained Brains Differently

Senegalese commentators on Robert Sagna's blog tried to offer solutions.

For Kader, brains being drained out of Africa need to be managed to the continent's advantage :

L’un des facteurs favorisant le flux migratoire est la possibilité de travail (même au noir)
N’oublions pas qu’une nation qui vieillit a besoin de sang neuf; c’est malheureusement le cas des pays européens
un renouvellement de la population est toujours à l’ordre du jour . Celà participe de la dynamique des populations.
un autre facteur qui se dessine est la volonté de moins investir sur la formation des cadres et de pomper les ressources humaines des autres nations: c’est la volonté affichée des USA et aujourd’hui de la France à travers la fameuse loi sur l’immigration
Quelle attitude développer? Réorienter la coopérations? L’heure n’est elle pas venue pour que nos ressortissants hautement qualifiés soient des “coopérants” de type nouveaux?

One of the factors favoring migrations is the availability of work (even on the black market). Let's not forget that a nation that is getting older needs new blood; that is unfortunately the case of European countries. A renewal of the population is always needed. That is part of dynamics of populations. Another factor is the will to invest less in the training of cadres and to pump the human ressources of other nations: that is the will of the USA and today of France through its new immigration law. What attitude to develop? Reorienting cooperations? Isn't it time that our highly qualified nationals become new kinds of “cadres”?

Africa: Lessons Learned from Mittal Steel

Alice Backer — Thu, 06 Jul 2006 02:29:46 +0000

Lessons drawn by Le Pangolin from the recent acquisition by Indian-owned steel company Mittal Steel of European-owned Arcelor (Fr): ” Economic actors of developing countries can really change the world if they are so inclined. (…) The West is not invincible.”

Somaliland: Is the Army Fit?

Luisetta Mudie — Mon, 03 Jul 2006 21:42:44 +0000

Ahmed Quick, at the Voice of Somaliland Diaspora, asks if the government of the emerging democracy of Somaliland has given enough thought to the state of the country's armed forces.