Big powers intensify their rivalry for control of
Africa’s ‘magnificent cake’
Today, the world is witnessing a new scramble for control of Africa’s lucrative resources which is not dissimilar to the lead up to World War 1. At the heart of this new scramble are the US and its old colonial allies from Western Europe pitted against, Russia and China. The US and its European allies are attempting to defend their domination of the continent from the challenge to it being mounted by China and Russia. Britain and France, which both have sordid histories of hundreds of years of colonial crimes on the continent, play a key role in the US led alliance. This intense struggle for control of Africa can be seen in the economic political and military fields.
Since foreign direct investment (FDI) and loans are the principal means through which the big powers deploy their capital in Africa in order to suck its wealth to their shores, it is not surprising that these areas see a great deal of activity by the main imperial actors.
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Foreign Direct Investment
Foreign direct investment in the continent dates back to the days of colonial conquest when Belgium’s king Leopold declared Africa ‘a magnificent cake’ to be carved up in Berlin in 1884 by Europe’s big colonial powers. This ‘investment’ ensures that control of key economic sectors in most African countries is exercised by foreign powers, including transnational corporations and governments. Through exploitation of the workers, repatriation of profits, control of pricing, tax evasion and other such methods, these powers are able to drain Africa of its wealth while leaving the mass of African people living in poverty and without access to the basics of life. The United Nations Conference |
Glencore International, a Swiss based trans-national corporation, listed on the London Stock Exchange, with coal, copper, cobalt and iron mines in both South Africa and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
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on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in its 2022 World Investment Report notes that the total volume of foreign direct investment in the continent, in 2020, amounted to just over US$1 trillion. The main owners of these investments are transnational corporations based in the UK (US$65 billion), France (US$60 billion), The Netherlands (US$49 billion), USA (US$48 billion), China (US$43 billion), Italy (US$32 billion), Singapore (US$21 billion), Switzerland (US$17 billion) and India (US$15 billion). South Africa, which was originally established as an apartheid run European settler colony is the only African country that features among the top 10 owners of foreign direct investment on the continent, with investments valued at US$29 billion. A 2016 War on Want report outlines how these foreign direct investments undermine Africa’s economic independence while placing its most lucrative economic resources in the hands of foreign powers. The report, titled ‘The New Colonialism: Britain’s scramble for Africa’s energy and mineral resources’ pointed out that 101 companies listed on London’s Stock Exchange, with operations in 37 African countries, controlled over $1 trillion worth of Africa’s most lucrative resources including oil, gas, gold, diamonds, copper, cobalt, silver and coal. Although, historically, most investment into Africa focused on energy and mineral resources, this pattern is changing and all sectors of African economies are now being targeted, including agriculture, utilities, transportation, manufacturing and many others.
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Foreign Debt
In addition to the foreign grip on Africa’s economic sectors through foreign direct investment, foreign debt is another mechanism that is used to enslave Africa. According to the World Bank’s 2022 International Debt Report, African countries in 2021 had a total public debt burden of some US$790 billion which represented 179% of their export earnings. The servicing of this debt amounted to some US$83 billion in that year. This sum is greater than the GDP of 46 of Africa’s 54 countries. The Committee for the Abolition of Illegitimate Debt |
notes that some 60% of African countries spend more each year on servicing their debt than they do on health care. In fact, a number of countries including Zambia, Ghana, Sudan and Mozambique use up more than 40% of their government budget on servicing external debt. In this way, the foreign debt becomes another means of diverting Africa’s wealth away from meeting the needs of its people and instead delivering it into the pockets of the foreign billionaire money lenders. According to the World Bank’s 2022 report, 46% of Africa’s 2021 public debt was held by bondholders, such as hedge funds, and commercial banks which charge interest rates on average of 6% but which can climb as high as 10%. Another 32% was owed to the IMF and World Bank with interest rates of around 1%. The final category was bilateral debt and this accounted for 22% of Africa’s public debt. China is the main holder of African countries’ bilateral debt.
Political Control
Given the enormous wealth to be made from deploying capital in Africa in the form of foreign direct investment and debt, it is not surprising that all the big powers are making political and military moves to secure their positions on the continent. Britain, as the old colonial power that had the most colonies in Africa, has moved aggressively with its Commonwealth to seize more countries and bring them under its sphere of influence. In addition to those countries which gained independence from Britain, the commonwealth has been expanded to take in former French colonies like Rwanda, Cameroon, Gabon and Togo and Portuguese colonies like Mozambique. In a similar vein, France, another old coloniser in Africa, has defended its colonial empire through the establishment of its Communauté Française d’Afrique (CFA) and by tying its former West African colonies to it through its economic and monetary union. This requires that its African members keep 70% of their foreign exchange earnings in the French Treasury. France too has expanded its sphere of influence by pulling into its Communauté the former Spanish colony of Equatorial Guinea and the Portuguese colony of Guinea Bissau. The US, for its part, exerts its influence from its position as the so-called world’s sole super power. It makes use of its economic, diplomatic and political muscle to achieve its goals on the continent. In addition, since 2014, it has organised the United States–Africa Leaders’ Summit as a further means through which to exert its influence and bring various
Given the enormous wealth to be made from deploying capital in Africa in the form of foreign direct investment and debt, it is not surprising that all the big powers are making political and military moves to secure their positions on the continent. Britain, as the old colonial power that had the most colonies in Africa, has moved aggressively with its Commonwealth to seize more countries and bring them under its sphere of influence. In addition to those countries which gained independence from Britain, the commonwealth has been expanded to take in former French colonies like Rwanda, Cameroon, Gabon and Togo and Portuguese colonies like Mozambique. In a similar vein, France, another old coloniser in Africa, has defended its colonial empire through the establishment of its Communauté Française d’Afrique (CFA) and by tying its former West African colonies to it through its economic and monetary union. This requires that its African members keep 70% of their foreign exchange earnings in the French Treasury. France too has expanded its sphere of influence by pulling into its Communauté the former Spanish colony of Equatorial Guinea and the Portuguese colony of Guinea Bissau. The US, for its part, exerts its influence from its position as the so-called world’s sole super power. It makes use of its economic, diplomatic and political muscle to achieve its goals on the continent. In addition, since 2014, it has organised the United States–Africa Leaders’ Summit as a further means through which to exert its influence and bring various
The 2018 Forum on China–Africa Cooperation, hosted in Beijing, China
African countries under its control. China which is also making economic and political inroads into the continent has also established its own Forum on China–Africa Cooperation within its Belt and Road Initiative. The Russian Federation, which since the collapse of the Soviet Union has not been particularly active in Africa, is now becoming increasingly so. In 2019, it initiated its own Russia-Africa Summit and the second of these will be held in St. Petersburg, Russia in July 2023. In the wake of the war in Ukraine Russia has also intensified its diplomatic activity on the continent with recent official visits by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to a number of African countries, including South Africa, Sudan, Mali and Eritrea.
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Military Control
Not surprisingly, this struggle for influence and control over the continent, its people and resources also finds a military expression. The US has literally imprisoned Africa within its AFRICOM military command which was created by President George Bush Jnr in 2007. This projection of US military power on the continent is intended to defeat its strategic rivals while maintaining western domination and plunder of Africa’s resources. It has established numerous bases throughout the |
US uses AFRICOM to militarily imprison Africa and defend western colonial interests on the continent
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continent, conducts various military exercises involving different African countries and is currently waging war in a number of areas including Somalia and the Sahel where it is working with troops from France. Like the US and France, Britain too has bases across the continent in Djibouti, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Somalia. China has established a base in Djibouti and it was recently announced that Russia has signed an agreement with the government of Sudan to establish a base in that country. At the same time, Russia is displacing French troops in a number of countries in the Sahel including the Central African Republic and Mali. Recently, South Africa took part in joint naval exercises with China and Russia.
End all foreign intervention in Africa
It does not serve the interest of Africa and its people for the continent to be used as a battleground for a fight between various big powers nor for African countries to become caught up in the intrigues and competition between these powers. Over a hundred years ago, Marcus Garvey raised the slogan “Africa for the Africans, at home and abroad”. This slogan foresaw an Africa independent and free of foreign domination and colonial plunder whose resources were used for the betterment of its people. This vision permeated the 1945 Pan African Congress in Manchester, England and the anti-colonial struggles that raged on the continent in its aftermath. Today, it is a slogan which is even more relevant as it underlines the urgency of putting an end to all foreign intervention in Africa.
No to foreign bases or troops in Africa!
No to foreign ownership of Africa’s economies!
Unilateral cancellation of the debt!
It does not serve the interest of Africa and its people for the continent to be used as a battleground for a fight between various big powers nor for African countries to become caught up in the intrigues and competition between these powers. Over a hundred years ago, Marcus Garvey raised the slogan “Africa for the Africans, at home and abroad”. This slogan foresaw an Africa independent and free of foreign domination and colonial plunder whose resources were used for the betterment of its people. This vision permeated the 1945 Pan African Congress in Manchester, England and the anti-colonial struggles that raged on the continent in its aftermath. Today, it is a slogan which is even more relevant as it underlines the urgency of putting an end to all foreign intervention in Africa.
No to foreign bases or troops in Africa!
No to foreign ownership of Africa’s economies!
Unilateral cancellation of the debt!
