To Save Africa We Need to Ignore its Nations

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Yes, I know the title sounds a little odd. How can we ignore the nations of the "Dark Continent" in order to save it. Diving directly into the topic I explain how.

For years we have known African nations to be under the clutches of its so called "Big Men", ruthless dictators who have held on to power despite of anything and everything. These men led African nations to ruin economically, socially and politically.

Most African nations achieved their independence in the 1960s (in fact 17 nations celebrate their 50th year of independence in 2010). These nations gained independence with great hopes and aspirations of ridding their poverty and developing a sustainable standard of living.

Unfortunately, all but one nation fell under the clutches of ruthless power hungry dictators who did anything and everything in their power to hold on to power including repression, extreme press censorship and even genocide. Needless to say, the economies of these countries suffered along with its population who became more poor in the years after independence than they were before. The only notable exception is Botswana (in Southern Africa) which has a stable multi-party electoral system and regularly holds free and fair elections. Its economy is also an exception as it has a rapidly developing economy and is considered to me a middle income country with per capital GDP exceeding US$ 6000.

African nations have been able to survive for so long with so much impunity primarily because of two reasons, 1) Recognition by Western governments and 2) Foreign Aid from these nations

All this "help" from Western nations was basically to ensure that Africa does not get attracted to the Soviets in the Cold War.

But the Cold War has ended and there is no major need for the West to continues supporting Africa like it did before the end of the Cold War. The first thing that these donor countries should do is to stop keeping these nations afloat with all their aid money. To do so, the international community should join hands in coming together and de-recognizing these nations and expelling them from the United Nations. This will force the African leaders to look for support inwardly as they will no longer have the support of the rest of the world.

This suggestion might sound radical but these type of actions were taken in the 1970s in Taiwan. The loss of recognition for Taiwan meant that it had lost support of the West in its fight for survival against China. The reigning Kuomintang party had no option but to liberalize the economy, legalize political parties, abolish martial laws and bring in a truly democratic system. The results are for all to see today is Taiwan is a major tech hub in the global economy today.

But what does this de-recognition mean in practice? It means that the international community will tell oppressive regimes like the ones in Chad, Rwanda, Sudan, Equatorial Guinea, Gambia, Togo and others to extract their populations from horrors that their governments have put them in and provide them with at least the basics of life like food, shelter, security and basic rights to begin with.

The logistics of derecognition would no doubt be complicated. Embassies would be withdrawn on both sides. These states would be expelled from the United Nations and other international organizations. All macroeconomic, budget-supporting and post-conflict reconstruction aid programs would be canceled. (Nongovernmental groups and local charities would continue to

receive money.)

If this were to happen, relatively benevolent states like South Africa and a handful of others would go on as before. But in the continent’s most troubled countries, politicians would suddenly lose the legal foundations of their authority. Some of these repressive leaders, deprived of their sovereign tools of domination and the international aid that underwrites their regimes, might soon find themselves overthrown.

African states that begin to provide their citizens with basic rights and services, that curb violence and that once again commit resources to development projects, would be rewarded with re-recognition by the international community. Aid would return. More important, these states would finally have acquired some degree of popular accountability and domestic legitimacy.

Like any experiment, de- and re-recognition is risky. Some fear it could promote conflict, that warlords would simply seize certain mineral-rich areas and run violent, lawless quasi states. But Africa is already rife with violence, and warlordism is already a widespread phenomenon. While unrecognized countries might still mistreat their people, history shows that weak, isolated regimes have rarely been able to survive without making significant concessions to segments of their populations.

For many Africans, 50 years of sovereignty has been an abject failure, reproducing the horrors of colonial-era domination under the guise of freedom. International derecognition of abusive states would be a first step toward real liberation.

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Mitul Choksi

13 June 2010

12:57 PM Indian Standard Time