„The failure of Africa is also a failure for Europe.”

Dr. Claude Kabemba did his PhD in inter­na­tional rela­tions at Wits Univer­sity Johan­nes­burg and is running a deve­lo­p­ment orga­ni­sa­tion. In an inter­view with Henri Maiworm he explains why the colo­nial powers have never left Africa, what China does differ­ently and what is the main reason for explo­ita­tion in Africa.

Dr. Kabemba, you are heading Southern Africa Resource Watch and you are an expert about natural resources in Africa. Many African count­ries are abun­dant of natural resources. Which role can these resources play if it is about the aspects of deve­lo­p­ment and wealth crea­tion?

When you see other count­ries that have depleted their mine­rals like for examples many count­ries in Europe, they used these mine­rals to create wealth and diver­sify their economy. That is some­thing where Africa is failing because Africa is caught into a diffi­cult situa­tion with a lack of effi­cient leader­ships, which do want to serve their citizen and not them­selves. But it is also important that we take the African deve­lo­p­ment direc­tion away from mine­rals alone. There are a lot of other sectors that can be better then mine­rals and we don’t talk a lot about those.

Which sectors do you mean?

I am talking about agri­cul­ture – Africa has one of the most arable land, good water in many parts of the conti­nent or tourism, which is another very important sector that can help to bring in foreign money and use that to diver­sify the economy. But we also need to talk about fishe­ries to ensure there is an industry: Right now, most of the water we have in Africa is not used by African fishermen. The Euro­pean, the Japa­nese, the Chinese – all the foreign fishermen are coming to take fish from Africa. Mostly this has to do with the internal weak­ness in Africa which is more prono­unced on the leader­ship level. If Africa really want to utilise all this, they need to have a strong posi­tion, that is why regional inte­gra­tion within Africa is important.

You are also criti­cising the EU for showing double stan­dards when they are inter­fe­ring with African states espe­ci­ally if it is about demo­cra­tis­a­tion processes. What beha­viour are you expec­ting from the EU?

Out of histo­rical reasons the EU has the respon­si­bi­lity to continue talking and ensu­ring that the right things happen. But you see, the irony is not that the EU is simply retreated because it was too much involved. It is because there has been contra­dic­tion in the EU invol­ving. Why would you take certain value for this country and you do not apply the same value on another one? I am asking the EU to act after its values in all its rela­ti­onships whether with Africa or the USA. Today their inter­fe­rences divide and weaken Africa. Since inde­pen­dence to now a lot of Euro­pean invest­ment happened but it did not work. The failure of Africa is also a failure for Europe. Mostly the failure is an African leader­ship problem. The Euro­pean Union has to invest in buil­ding a strong citi­zen­ship in Africa that can hold govern­ments accoun­table. You cannot account govern­ment with pres­sure from the outside alone. You need people who will stand up to their leaders.

In the Euro­pean perspec­tive Africa is suffe­ring under its stereo­types of poor­ness and hunger. Are there African count­ries which could func­tion as a good example for other African nations?

You can take count­ries like Ethiopia with an extra­or­di­nary progress over the past few years. The govern­ment is very strong on the fight of corrup­tion. Or you have Ghana. Until recently we have seen a little reverse in the progress Ghana was doing but Ghana has always been a shining example through its demo­cratic process. We have also Senegal – a country with very few mineral resources but with very active citizen and a very strong demo­cracy process. Rwanda is one of the most shining examples. With Paul Kagame Rwanda has a strong leader – but some would even say he is a dictator. This is where we need to talk: Is it good to have a strong leader, poli­tical stabi­lity and econo­mical deve­lo­p­ment or to have demo­cracy, trans­pa­rent free elec­tions with a collapsed economy?

What do you prefer?

In general, I believe that for African count­ries demo­cracy provides a strong foun­da­tion for sustainable deve­lo­p­ment and growth, which can prevent reversal. The case in Rwanda is a special one because of the history, where its coming from. But there is also the hope that when the insti­tu­tions are strong, they will be open up and there will be more freedom and more parti­ci­pa­tion for the people. Is it sustainable? That is a ques­tion only time can answer.

Are there examples of count­ries, where natural resources func­tioned as a key for deve­lo­p­ment?

The entire South African economy is coming from mine­rals mainly by the South African Gold industry. There is also Bots­wana and Namibia, which is being built by its diamonds. If we have a look at the North of Africa with Morocco, Tunisia we see a little bit of consis­tency. I think Libya was the perfect example of how to use oil to empower people. But this was inter­rupted. This case of Libya showed us why the West has a problem helping Africa.

Natural Resources can also cause human rights abuses and even war and conflicts – If we think about count­ries like South Sudan with oil or Sierra Leone with diamonds. How can this be prevented?

No, to make it clear: Mineral resources do not cause conflicts, people cause conflicts.

One of the biggest inves­tors in Africa is China, which is inves­ting a lot in infra­struc­ture but has also started many mining projects. Can China be a good partner for African count­ries, if it is about acces­sing and extra­c­tion mineral resources?

The infra­struc­ture that is put into place is there to extract the mine­rals not to help the society. China has found a fertile soil that was well prepared by the western count­ries to exploit Africa. Western count­ries have left Africa in a totally disrup­tive situa­tion where China can come in and take. What China is doing differ­ently than Europe is that they are doing some of the mega big infra­struc­ture deve­lo­p­ment projects which the Euro­peans refused to. Europe was putting money in soft invest­ments like educa­tion, health or peace. They were not inves­ting in roads or bridges. In the end, it all comes to the ques­tion: Does the African govern­ment nego­tiate correctly with its part­ners. One of the issues we iden­ti­fied is weak nego­tia­tion capa­city, but this is also deli­be­rate because we want to take the brown enve­lope under the table.

So what you are basi­cally saying is that the colo­nial powers left Africa and China stepped in?

No, the colo­nial powers never left. They are still there, very present in fighting about control. There is a struggle between the newco­mers and the old. It is just simply that ever­y­body has seen that Africa is an empty space you can come in, take what you want and go. China is doing that, Russia is coming back, Turkey is coming back and many others. Ever­yone is focus­sing on extra­c­ting, exploi­ting and taking from Africa. African leaders are helping them for little inte­rest, but they take ever­y­thing. China is doing what others have always done on the conti­nent. The chall­enge for China and Europe is that they are crea­ting a partner which is beco­ming a monster. As things get worse, there will be no deve­lo­p­ment. Like this you will never stop people looking for a better life. China is sending so many Chinese to Africa, but at one point Afri­cans will go to China, because as long as they don’t find their ways in Africa and China is prospe­ring they will go there just as they have come to Europe.

In your speech you said: ​„We should not forget the histo­rical context if we talk about an EU-African Part­ner­ship.” But you also said the rela­ti­onship has not changed much in compa­rison to colo­nial times. How would an equal part­ner­ship between Europe and Africa look like?

An equal part­ner­ship will only work if Africa is ready to protect its inte­rest and nego­tiates on an equal basis by stan­ding on its posi­tion and decis­ions without being pushed by its part­ners. And it is not only the EU, it is also China and every other. It seems to us that Africa is just too weak to stand on its posi­tions which are good for its bene­fits. That is why there is a strong call for inte­gra­tion for Africa to built a strong block to nego­tiate and speak with these big powerful count­ries.

The German Marshall plan is supposed to assist African count­ries in deve­lo­p­ment. Is a plan which is orga­nized by western count­ries the right plan for Africa – or would an African plan for Africa be a better choice for the conti­nent?

Africa has it’s own plan for deve­lo­p­ment with the Agenda 2063, we don’t need another one. Why create a new one? If the Marshall Plan supports the goals of Agenda 2063 – why did you create it at all? I am very critical with the Marshall Plan. Because it is selec­tive and destroys the spirit of regional inte­gra­tion. It divides the count­ries and puts up condi­tio­na­li­ties for the count­ries to join.

What does Agenda 2063 mean for the African states en detail?

It is an aspi­ra­tion with goals around demo­cracy, peace, sustainable econo­mical deve­lo­p­ment, indus­tria­li­sa­tion, agri­cul­ture deve­lo­p­ment, protec­tion of the youth and women but also around value addi­tion to mine­rals and infra­struc­ture buil­ding. The Agenda 2063 is a very orga­nised reflected vision of the chal­lenges which this country has to deal with. The problem is that this is not the first time Africa came up with a blue print like this. The visions before were similar but they all failed – failed because Africa puts up this Agenda and waits for Europe to come to fund it. But if you are getting this agenda founded by non-African count­ries they got leverage on impo­sing. For example they might decide to fund a railway but they will decide where this railway must pass. This will distort the deve­lo­p­ment plan. Africa needs real invest­ments.

Most of the natural resources of Africa are getting exported without value addi­tion – if we think about cocoa or coffee. So most of value adding process gets handled outside Africa. How can this issue be tackled?

Strong and committed leader­ship is the only way. African govern­ments have to make decis­ions to not allow this from happe­ning and they must stand to this decis­ions. The ques­tion is if we are having leader­ships which are strong enough. Value adding is not a new thing. In the 1960s, when many African count­ries got inde­pen­dent, there was also the goal of gaining control about our own resources. That is what one of the calls for inde­pen­dence was for, that is for what we fought, but since then nothing has happened in decades. This is not the fault of Europe or China. It is the fault of Africa.