Africa Rising is missing in action.
Our continent has the largest number of foreign countries conducting military operations on its soil. These conflicts are eroding the realisation of the Africa Rising promise: that we can level our own resources — and not be taken advantage of — in the 21st century global economy.
Recurrent civil conflicts are flushing our hard work spent on building resilient, productive African economies down the drain. A constant drumbeat of militant insurgencies and instabilities threaten to become our new norm. An insidious layer of this instability comes as a result of foreign powers deciding once more that Africa can be the arena to exercise their rivalries. This has a damaging domino effect on our economy, public safety, and overall quality of life.
To the detriment of African families and children, our continent is still struggling to grab hold of the fundamentals: functioning institutions, sound business environment, safe movement of people, skilled labor force, and stewardship of our resources.
Civil conflicts are holding back our economic development. They are widening inequalities and eroding human capital. In healthy societies, citizens should be free to engage in protests or demonstrations in struggle for higher hierarchy of needs. However, these violent conflicts are a deterrent for investments. Entrepreneurs, including international businesses, are not attracted to communities marred by uncertainty and instability.
If we are unable to stop the increasing rate of high-intensity conflicts and conflict-related deaths and kidnappings in Africa, we are make it easier for the world to be skeptical about Africa’s economic promise. Africans must vigorously adopt an approach to security promotion that strengthens ownership of both our regional security and a realistic development agenda that is not overly dependent on foreign “help.”
