Slavery, disease, famine, war, tribal or ethnic hatred, colonial legacies, environmental degradation, species extinction, false hope, genocide, ever-changing borders, religious tension, drought, international aid, English, French, Swahili and dozens of other languages, no schools, poor schools, little medicine and heat - does any other continent on planet earth contain as many destructive forces as Africa?.
Here is one more. Dictatorship. After Ghana became the first (sub-Saharan) African nation to achieve its independence from a colonial power (Britain) in 1957, no fewer than twelve more countries on the 'Dark Continent' threw off the yoke of colonial rule three years later.
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It was a very short honeymoon.
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Many of these liberated African nations have found themselves at war and under highly repressive dictatorships. Cote d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast), one of the twelve nations to gain independence in 1960, is currently on the precipice of civil war. Its story is much the same as many other nations in Africa. A leader comes to power through rigged elections. Although initially discontented, enough of the populace is won over by patronage, government contracts and false promises to hope for the best in the new and - at best - semi-legitimate leader. A period of time goes by, usually years, and the nation becomes poorer due to malfeasance by the government. The UN and other Western nations then attempt to ameliorate the situation by applying enough economic pressure to ensure new elections. One of two results are then bound to occur. Either the election is rigged to award the vote to the corrupt ruling party, or the ruling party denounces the electoral verdict as a sham and claims the vote was rigged by the opposition. In any case, the rulers remain in power against the wishes of the people - setting the stage for a civil war.
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Welcome to Cote d'Ivoire - where President Laurent Gbagbo (b. 1945)refuses to step down despite clearly losing the presidential election last week. Instead, he has further curtailed free speech and is currently running a provocative propaganda campaign against the UN peacekeeping force in his country.
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Here is one unfortunate truth about Africa. Dictatorship and war are not going away anytime soon. It will take years of education, coordination by African and non-African countries on economic, social and political levels and one or two new generations to bring the scourge of authoritarian rule to a halt.
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In the face of modern communication, the rise of women to the world stage (the 21st century is the century of the woman) and the unstoppable march of democracy - at least politically, Africa is slowly but surely on its way to becoming no continent for old despots.
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(Picture: Africa)
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J Roquen