Distorted view of Africa on the global stage

Policies on Africa pursued by global powers, articulated at key forums like Davos, need to be underpinned by sound premises and fair representations, write Terence McNamee and Moky Makura in Daily Maverick analysis. They say the cost of not doing so are too high – for everyone. ‘World leaders will gather in Davos, Switzerland from (today) Monday for the annual World Economic Forum. They will have a lot to say about pressing global issues, everything from climate change and economic inequality to geopolitical tensions and artificial intelligence. The leaders of major global powers – of which fewer seem to be attending this year than at previous gatherings – might also say a few things directly about other countries. Africa famously “is (not) a country”, but it’s a safe bet that the 54 countries that comprise the African continent will be spoken about more generally than any other region of the world. It is partly for that reason that we should resist taking at face value almost anything that they say about Africa publicly at Davos.’ According to McNamee and Moky, trying to unpack what global leaders say about Africa and assign clear meaning to their statements is a fraught enterprise. ‘In the case of Western governments, there is a further muddying factor: the ruinous consequences of 20th-century European colonialism. However openly or obliquely it is acknowledged, historical guilt tends to soften their rhetoric on Africa. In these circumstances, is it ever possible to discern world leaders’ true intentions when they speak about Africa?' The writers note that the weight given to partnership with Africa in statements by world leaders, whatever its putative origins, is starkly at odds with the continent’s actual power and influence in global politics. ‘On most key measures, Africa is at the margins. The interests of great powers still prevail on issues of international finance, justice, security, energy, climate and so on. The continued marginalisation of African perspectives in international decision-making processes offers a salutary lens through which frequent talk of “partnership” must be viewed.

The current debate over the much-needed reform of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is a potent case in point. Despite Africa accounting for nearly one in every five persons on the planet, there are no permanent African members on the 15-seat UNSC. Decades of lobbying by African leaders and like-minded counterparts elsewhere pushing for a fairer distribution of power at the world’s top table, which was set in the 1940s and hasn’t changed since, have come to naught.’ They point out that migration is a central pillar of Western foreign policy towards Africa. ‘In recent years, no other issue involving Africa has exerted greater influence on domestic politics within Europe than the management of irregular migration from Africa to Europe. Efforts to control and regulate migrant flows from Africa to prevent acute crises, whether they occur at borders and sea-crossings or within local communities gripped by rising anti-immigration attitudes, are the daily diet of media in Europe and increasingly in the United States. Addressing the root causes of migration – such as poverty, unemployment, extremism and conflict – is the oft-unspoken aim of a considerable chunk of aid and investment to Africa.’ They add in the DM analysis that with with many African countries experiencing a regression in democratic practices, evident, inter alia, in the recent elimination or weakening of constitutional term limits by leaders in nearly a third of African countries and the surge in military coups (seven in the past 26 months), leading voices inside and outside the continent recognise the urgent need for democratic renewal. But the authoritative – some would say condescending – way US leaders speak about democracy in Africa is increasingly misplaced… None of this is to say that US leaders are being disingenuous in their pleas and inducements to Africa on democracy.' They add that heightened competition among global powers for Africa’s resources has raised the spectre of a 'new scramble for Africa', evoking parallels with the colonisation of the continent by European empires that began in earnest exactly 150 years ago They say it is hard to escape the conclusion that unresolved legacies of colonialism continue to distort how European leaders speak about Africa and to Africans.

Full Daily Maverick analysis