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

After achieving independence, many African nations faced economic challenges that came with their new status.

• After independence most African nations’ economies fragile

• Depended on only one, two exports for support

Struggling Economies

• African nations not industrialized, depended on farming, mining raw materials

• Example: Ghana depended on cocoa; Nigeria, oil

Farming, Mining

• For loans, turned to international organizations, like World Bank; bad planning, corrupt leaders left nations with huge debts, no infrastructure

Development Loans

Economic Challenges

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 Sub-Saharan 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

M East & N Afr

5 2 6 2 8 2

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

M East & N Afr

50 21 68 23 62 16

Economic Realities: CongoCongo:• 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.

• 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

Bribery and Corruption• 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

One–Party System

Military Dictatorships

• 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

• 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

Elections • Election results mixed• Some former dictators resorted to

fraud, intimidation to win elections• Others elected because people

preferred them to alternatives

Results

Democracy for Some

Political “Realities” of Contemporary Africa:Regime Types Today: Africa’s Second

Revolution/Independence Democratic (17) Partially Democratic (15) Undemocratic (16)

BeninBotswanaCape VerdeGambiaGhanaKenyaMalawiMauritiusMozambiqueNamibiaNigeriaSao TomeSenegalSeychellesSouth AfricaTunisiaZambia

ChadCamorosCongo (Brazzaville)GabonEgyptEritrea EthiopiaLesothoMadagascarMoroccoRwandaSierra LeoneSwazilandTanzaniaUganda

AlgeriaAngolaBurundiCameroonCongo (Democratic Republic) ?Cote D’Ivoire DjiboutiEquatorial GuineaGuineaLibyaMauritania NigerSomaliaSudanTogoZimbabwe

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.

http://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&frm=1&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&docid=SJHFJZ6X3f_P3M&tbnid=en8kSACDigPVtM:&ved=0CAUQjRw&url=http://people.eku.edu/davisb/Africa/resources.htm&ei=4dmTUpqBLsHWkQemvYDgBw&bvm=bv.56988011,d.cWc&psig=AFQjCNHV9EbNiAo3pePQAYZ7xp9RpzZNxQ&ust=1385507632496479

When the European powers divided Africa into colonies, preexisting political units were not maintained.

• 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

Ethnic Conflicts• 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

Civil Wars

Ethnic Conflicts and Civil War

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 Genocide100 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.

.Kangura Newspaper, Rwanda: “The Solution for Tutsi Cockroaches”

Der Stürmer Nazi Newspaper:“The Blood Flows; The Jew Grins”

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

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

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

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 Africa-

10 will acquire the virus simply by being born-

4 will be infected from breast feeding .

Most of these children will notlive to see their 5th 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 anti-retrovirals.

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.

http://3quarksdaily.blogs.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/2007/08/02/aids_africa.jpg

AIDS and Government StabilityDescribe 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 FamineDescribe 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

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Angola Benin BurkinaFaso

Eritrea Gambia,The

Ghana Guinea-Bissau

Kenya Nigeria Tanzania Uganda Zambia

Percentage of children under five sleeping under insecticide-treated bednets 2000-2004Percentage of children under five with fever accessing effective antimalarial drugs 1997-2004

Effects: Social Issues Affecting Women, Children, Urbanization,

and Education

Social Realities of Contemporary AfricaSevere 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 ContemporaryAfrica

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 AfricaEducation: 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

• Negative Impact of ESAP conditionalities on education

Effects: Famine

BBC News 31st January 2006

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 sub-

Saharan countries now need help.

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 FaminePoverty 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 FamineThe 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 Co-operation 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 non-

Muslim foreign aid groups”

ETHIOPIA

• Estimated population: 77.43m

• Projected number needing food aid: 1.7m

Key underlying reasons: • Drought • Refugees • High food prices • Overpopulation

• Estimated population: 13.95m

• Projected number needing food aid: 3m

Key underlying reasons: • After-effects of 2004

drought and locusts

NIGER

DEMOCRATIC REP. OF CONGO

• Estimated population: 57.54m • Projected number needing food

aid: 3mKey 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.

• Estimated population: 36.23m• Projected number needing food

aid: 6.1mKey underlying reasons: • Conflict in western Darfur region

has displaced 2m people • South recovering from long-

running 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'.

SUDAN

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: Januaryto 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

Severe

Mild &Moderate

Only 1 in 5 malnutrition-related deaths is due to severe malnutrition

80% of the death due to malnutrition is contributed for by Mild and Moderate 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