Saving Africa from its parasitic power elites

Continuing intra-State and inter-State armed conflicts in the African continent are rendering the prospects of achieving, even to a degree, the UN-sanctioned Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), increasingly bleak and remote. Two cases in point are Somalia and Sudan.

In the case of Somalia, the possibility is great of the country being "Talibanized", with armed formations described as "Islamic militias" capturing a good part of the country's territory, in a running, years-long confrontation with the increasingly ineffective central Somali government. The conflict in Somalia is compounded by entry into the country of Ethiopian troops who are backing the armed forces of the Somalian central government. Apparently, what is greatly feared by not only Ethiopia - which has fought several wars in the past with Somalia - but also the rest of Africa and the West is the possible "Talibanization" of Somalia.

In a thought-provoking development, the Islamic militias in Somalia have called for armed support from similar formations or "Jihadic" groups from around the world. Such calls, tend to raise the spectre of "a clash of civilizations" even on the African continent with the forces of religious fundamentalism putting themselves against mostly, conservative, pro-Western regimes, enjoying little or no support from their publics.

In Sudan, the Darfur crisis is continuing to bleed the country while with the possibility growing of the conflict burgeoning into a regional conflagration with neighbouring Chad being accused by the Sudanese government of helping the breakaway Darfur region militarily.

Chad, in turn, accuses the Sudanese authorities of succouring anti-State, breakaway forces in Chad.

The most tragic fallout from these aggravating intra and inter-State conflicts in Africa is the increasing disruption of civilian life and connected crises which put the brakes on local and international efforts at bringing a degree of normality into the lives of these harried populations. Consequently, the question arises as to whether even modest progress could be made towards realising the MDGs in Africa.

While some parts of Asia have been in a position to boast of accelerated economic growth and connected "miracles" over the past 25 or 30 years, such successes have continuously eluded Africa, which along with Asia and Latin America have traditionally represented the post-colonial world in all its varied distortions and deprivations. Now, these regions are said to showcase the ravages of neocolonial control - in all its dimensions - from the power centres of the world system.

Therefore, there is much more than meets the eye in the highly vaunted "miracle economies" of, for instance, South East and East Asia. The prime test to be met is to ensure that the people or the masses benefit from what passes off as development.

In other words, growth needs to be balanced with equity. It would be interesting to find out how many of our economic power centres of Asia meet these standards. However, the truth about Africa is that even growth has, largely, eluded it over the decades, leave alone having a measure of equity. Its masses wilter and die below the poverty line while its parasitic power elites conduct long wars of attrition with each other. Sudan and Somalia are just two cases in point.

Given these circumstances, the possibility is decreasing of Africa making even modest progress towards achieving the MDGs. Development models certainly have to be in focus in discussions of Africa's development prospects, but an equally important requirement is accountable governance.

The world community needs to impose increasingly tight procedures of accountability on Africa's political and power elites. This is one means of achieving growth plus equity. The international community must ensure that economic assistance for instance siphoned from it to Africa, is used for the benefit of the impoverished African masses. This is an essential precondition for development in the truest sense.

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