The expensive continent of Africa has been scarred over its history by persistent challenges like political instability and corruption. Throughout their complex historical development, the continent still deals with issues that stem from the exploitation of their resources, which has ultimately contributed to the merging of an unstable geopolitical landscape.
The arbitrarily drawn borders on the continent are unquestionably one of the main reasons for the amount of conflict between African nations. So, on top of an already unstable and conflictuous region, some foreign powers, coincidentally those responsible for the extensive exploitation of Africa, still need to be considered as relevant factors that can cause instability in the continent.
Over the past few years, African countries have been making headlines through a variety of political scandals and coups that are directly affecting the future of these nations and have inexplicable consequences for the international community. The amount of violence and outrageous acts being committed in Africa, especially in the Sahel region, is eye-catching to many, but once again, such attention doesn’t come with any solutions to their problems.
After the January 24th declaration by UN Chief Antonio Guterres that Africa is now the global epicenter for terrorism, we are only left to ponder why the situation on the continent has escalated enough to end in this affirmation and if there are other, more implicit, factors that ultimately culminated in their continuous friction.
As stated, corruption in Africa is still quite alarming, and the ties between those corrupt leaders and the former nations that were once responsible for exploiting their resources to the point of a literal dependency between them cannot be overlooked. The cycle established is damaging for generations of individuals who are conditioned to live in such dangerous situations.
The global north’s influence in Africa has been questioned for many decades, with false promises of aid in their development that clearly set unimaginable goals for African countries, when in reality they simply filled those in power’s interests in maintaining their people’s hopes and their pockets full.
Essentially, maintaining the chaos in Africa is certainly serving the best interests of some other nations, who simultaneously condemn what’s happening in the region but repetitively fail to protect human life and aid in their development. It means that Africa ultimately serves as a great scapegoat for other nations to hope for diplomacy and stability in the international community but wish for it to continue as long as they are being favored by it.
All of this means that a declaration by the UN chief that Africa is the new global epicenter of terrorism seems ironic when you analyze the facts and understand that Africa’s current political and social scenarios were created by foreign nations that, till now, failed to recognize the damages they caused and left them to fend for themselves internally and internationally.
In conclusion, Africa’s complex narrative is rooted in its known historical exploitation and persistent corruption, all of which contribute to its current questionable political scenario. The influence of foreign powers continues to have consequences for the region, and acknowledging the intricacies of Africa’s situation is extremely essential to understanding their challenges.
By The European Institute for International Law and International Relations
