“A scar on the conscience of the world.” This is how former British Prime Minister Tony Blair described Africa when he stood at the helm of the European Union. A week before his planned visit to Africa, US president George Bush has echoed a similar message of despair and frustration about Africa. “Africa has…witnessed some of mankind’s most shameful chapters, from the evils of the slave trade to the condescension of colonialism.” “Even the joy of independence,” continued Bush, “which arrived with such promise was undermined by corruption, conflict and disease. Just a decade ago, much of Africa seemed to be on the brink of collapse, and much of the world seemed content to let it go.”

Behind this scenario which Judson Knight summarises as “an untold tale of cruelty, corruption, mismanagement, rampant disease and poverty,” there is another untold story about Africa. This continent sits on 90% of its platinum, 50% of its gold, 98% of its chromium and 64% of its manganese. Africa is rich in diamonds, has more oil reserves than North America, and has been estimated to hold 40% of the world’s potential hydroelectric power. This is the paradox of Africa’s wealth. These are the resources that have dragged Africa into what is described today as the “oil and mineral curse.” The scramble for these resources by great powers is fast accelerating Africa’s tragedy.

Great power concern for Africa’s wealth was a driving force behind East-West confrontation after World War II. The cold war as this conflict was called was as much a struggle for African resources as it was a conflict of ideology and strategy. While China was busy shipping African minerals through the Chinese-constructed TAN-ZAM railway in Southern Africa, Washington was preoccupied with shipping arms to Joseph Désiré Mobum in Zaire, Jonas Savimbi in Angola and Samuel Doe in Liberia. The resultant “proxy wars” created the conditions necessary for the extraction of African resources. This was the Africa which president met when he entered the Oval office. “When I took office in 2000, Africa was home to six major conflicts: Angola, Burundi, Congo, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Southern Sudan,” he said on the eve of his recent visit to the continent.

The end of the Cold War radically changed the face of great power intervention in Africa. While Washington counted the blessings of its “New World Order” and celebrated over the collapse of what President Ronald Reagan called “the evil empire,” China was gradually crawling into Africa. Building on its Cold-War-era gains, China successfully outpaced the crumbling Soviet Union as the most influential eastern power in Africa. This has brought China into direct conflict with former “oil-suckers” in Africa; US, EU and Japan.

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