"Why is it Africa is the only place in the World where things are worse now than, lets say, 50 years ago? There is no easy, or politically correct, or univocal answer to the question." Robert. Wrong. Africa continues to be the White Man's Burden - a land where the civilised West must poke its nose into, and intervene in the internal political and economic affairs of African nations. Unelected debt collectors from Western institutions have long played the most decisive role in African fiscal life, more so than regionally appointed African finance ministers. The harsh economic programmes imposed on African nations by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund have literally bled many African nations dry. Ann-Louise Colgan, a respected researcher on African affairs argued back in 2002 that the 'policies mandated by the World Bank and IMF have forced African governments to orient their economies towards greater integration in international markets at the expense of social services and long-term development priorities.' The powerful Western institutions like the World Bank and the IMF have taken up the White Man's Burden in a way that their predecessors the Victorian imperialists could only have dreamt of. Western fiscal domination of African economic life since the era of national liberation have twisted and stunted the economic development of the entire continent. Indeed, witness the farce of banks and financial organisations in the City of London, or Wall Street and Paris donating tens of thousands of pounds to African charities on one day of the year - but it is the very same money-men who's working of the international monetary system that takes out three or four times as much money out of Africa as the total amount of charitable aid put in. It is Western interference and economic exploitation that is the real burden on African nations - the idea that Africa is a burden to the West is a myth - the mythology of the White Man's Burden rest on the old racist assumption that the self-evident superiority of the advanced West give them the absolute right to interfere in the political affairs of African nations. Africa is worse now than it was some fifty years ago - but the blame for that lies squarely with the great Western powers. It is not until that interfering burden is removed from African affairs will any genuine and lasting solutions come about to free Africa of its wars and famines.

...and I will prove it. But first I will say that the "white man" has been taken advantage of Africa for a very long time and that the IMF and others have been counterproductive to say the least in its efforts to build them up. The solution is not to do nothing but to stop doing the same mistake all the time and start to be a little humble. Lets start at the beginning. We have always been a little racist against the black people in Africa. This is not a small problem but rather a background noise that distort our understanding and findings about Africa. The famous Swedish idea historian Sven Lindqvist show this in his book "Exterminate all the Brutes" 1992. It is the best book I have read about Africa and it is so damn good I just had to mention it. The consequence of this racism is that we accept their suffering and are less moralizing over our "white man" horror because we expect it even though we might not personally agree with it. So we do nothing since basically, we just don't care that much. The end of colonialism in Africa is a fairly new thing - about 40 years. Since then we have had about four ideas on how to fix the problems and none of them have fixed it. We have during this time sent our most stupid, confused and ideological people to fix it. (Sorry for being so blunt) I have personally managed to do a lot in African even though I have done it as small experimental projects and as a hobby. We just have to stop sending so stupid people to Africa and they have to do things that generate wealth for them there and that is financially self sustained. This means starting up businesses, or helping others starting business. Because any entrepreneur will tell you that a business idea is all about how to solve a problem - and Africa has a lot of them. So it is relatively easy to do.

Thanks to Robert Mugabe, who turned 83 years old on 21-2-2007 and has been President for 27 years, Zimbabwe, which at independence had so much to look for, has become emblematic for Africa:The basket case of the World. Eloquent and intelligent, still admired today by many African leaders for his role in freeing Zimbabwe from colonial rule, he's turned into a power-hungry tyrant, much more interested in his own privileges than in his countrymen welfare. Rampant inflation, violence, economic stagnation and hatred have demoralized the population and, except for a minority of cronies, turned almost everybody against him. Still he refuses to step down, and implausible intervention by former colonizers is hoped for to get rid of him before things get any worse. Even his African leader friends, deeply embarrassed by the situation, are refusing to intervene, afraid to be labeled new colonialists. Why is Zimbabwe a paradigm for Africa? Because it is a distressing example that intelligence, erudition, and experience of its leaders, combined with actual or potential wealth of the country ,is not enough in the absence of a truly disinterested implication for the betterment of the Nation.

"Why is it Africa is the only place in the World where things are worse now than, lets say, 50 years ago?" Certinaly there are many deep problems in africa, however the post's so far seam to blame fiscal institutions. Now dont get me wrong the world bank is a case of cronic mismanagemant, many of the atempts at market libralisation have resulted in terrible falure. Yet we cant pin the blame only upon the world bank. Many of these problems are far removed form gorverment institutions, which could not have predicted or controled AIDS, the ingrained geographical problems that leave many subsitance farmers traped in a cycle of famine and povery and again problems that arise throught mangled post colonial borders that help trigger ethnic conflict. Let alone bad governence and corruptuion of many of the african countrys themselves.

Dear Robert, I admire your posts. Not just here in this thread but all over OD. You make great contributions to OD. Still, it is very rare that I agree with you. "The problem in Africa is the Africans. Culturally, traditionally, they have never been and are not now capable of getting out of trouble by pulling their own boot straps." Then Sweden's "success" is cultural too and yours - yes - everything in the world is cultural. Do you see the problem with such an explanation? You could say this about everything and anything, and yet you have not said anything at all really. Though, and here is my argument - we usually have a way of explaining our own history and our own society (materialistic history, idealistic history etc) but when you say the most unsubstantial thing about Africa, you can get away with it. The part in our brain that works as a bullshitometer simply do not kick in. Because they are black. Because it fit our picture of savages. Of course they are not suffering real problems of economy, political and maybe most important - lack of safety and security. People that are not safe are desperate people. And desperate people do desperate things. I also think that if Africa was not the disaster that it is - the black identity in the US and other former slave countries would carry a much more explosive dynamic in the present racial conflict. This is a highly personal opinion. So, maybe even our interpretation of Africa is cultural? //CL

Nobody should be concerned about Sub-Saharan Africa. China is in the process of taking over lock, stock and all smoking barrels. We in the West are somewhat fettered by political correctness and therefore unable to provide the back-handers required by most African governments before anything can be achieved. Not so the Chinese. They are able to pay off those in power where and when necessary to ascertain a continued supply of minerals, oil and anything else they may require. Those who are continually grousing that the plight of Africa is all the fault of former colonialism will soon find out what modern colonialism is all about when they become part of the burgeoning Chinese Empire. I have just completed two years working in Ethiopia and have witnessed human rights violations beyond belief and have been assured that Ethiopia is one of the more moderate and less corrupt of Sub Saharan countries. The West has slapped a few wrists after the political killings in 2005 and continued dishing out cash through the World Bank, DfID et al. We apparently 'need' Ethiopia 'on side' to ensure they keep their troops in Somalia and ensure that the supposed threat of radical Islam is not fostered there. Meles and his cronies dine well and the population continues to starve or live off Bob Geldof's handouts when they can get hold of them.