Book Review
Martin Meredith – The Fate of Africa.
In The Fate of Africa, Martin Meredith narrates in detail how Africa’s current challenges with rule of law and democracy are not new to the continent but simply a case of history repeating itself. Focusing on the key personalities, events and themes of the independence era, he also explores and explains the myriad problems that Africa has faced in the past half-century, and faces still. The Fate of Africa is an essential reading for anyone seeking to understand how Africa came to be what it is today and what is to be done. Meredith’s narration is broadly chronological, he gives a detailed historical background of the emergence of current African states starting with the Berlin conference dubbed the Scramble for Africa, colonialism that led to racial segregation and the underdevelopment of Africa.
In part one of the book Meredith begins by chronicling the long road to freedom of many African countries, such as Ghana under the leadership of Kwame Nkrumah. He narrates the revolution that led to many African countries gaining independence between 1960 and 1980 and the role of the nationalist movements in Tanzania under Julius Nyerere, Kenya, Mozambique and Zimbabwe, leading to the fall of the colonial empires with the assistance of Russia and China. Independence came in the midst of an economic boom especially in countries that were under British rule. However, throughout the book it is clear how former colonial powers continued to dictate the pace of development in Africa well after African States had gained independence.
Part two touches on a broad range of themes which include, economic development focusing on industrialisation and dependence on aid, the significance of nationalist and revolutionary movements and ideas in shaping the value systems of the people, education and the shortage of skilled labour, and the corruption and extravagance of new elites. Meredith also looks at ethnicity in Africa focusing on the Genocide in Rwanda and the events that took place during the 100 days in which over 800 000 Tutsis were slaughtered by members of the Hutu majority government. He looks at how colonialists managed to use ethnicity to separate, control and turn Africans against each other. I think this chapter really examines whether the African Union, the UN and the rest of the international community could have prevented the horror that took place in Rwanda. Meredith also writes about other regional conflicts in Nigeria leading up to the 1966 military coup and the Biafran war and give short accounts of Idi Amin in Uganda, Bokassa in the Central African Republic, Mengistu in Ethiopia, and other tyrants.
Meredith does a commendable job in bring out how history has played a part in the problems that Africa still faces today. From Cape to Cairo former colonial powers have had a hand in the outcome of elections. They have supported individuals who have turned out to be dictators, for example, Idi Amin, Mobutu, Robert Mugabe and Bokasa. Thus, the evolving democracies in Africa will not only require the discipline of the state and the reconstitution of politics, but also the animation of the civil society and its democratic potentials, re-adjustment in economic policy and agenda from the fundamentalist market orthodoxy, resolving the military question and engendering some relative re-ordering of economic and power relations within the global arena.
Part three and the last section of the book covers Mengistu in Ethiopia and the 1984 famine that captured the worlds attention; the Muslim/non-Muslim divide in Chad and Sudan (way before South Sudan became an independent state; the onset and spread of AIDS that led to the death of millions of people; the economic decline; the coming of democracy, or some pretence thereof, to Kenya, Nigeria and many other states; Nelson Mandela and the end of apartheid in South Africa in 1994; the factions and mutilations and child soldiers and outside interference in Liberia and Sierra Leone; Mugabe’s turn to violence in Zimbabwe; and problems with the truth and reconciliation commission.
The Fate of Africa leaves some aspects of Africa’s modern history untouched, but it provides an accessible introduction to the subject and a solid framework from which further explorations can be carried out. It has decent coverage of macroeconomics, but almost no social or cultural history. There’s no consideration of broader health issues such malaria, mental illness amongst the African people that went to war to fight for the independence of their states, Anthrax which was used in biological warfare but most colonial forces to kill the livestock of black people and sleeping sickness.
In my opinion in order to fully understand the dynamics of the African political jungle, there is also need to understand the inherent problems and contradictions in the nature of the domestic and the international political economy of African states, which may significantly vitiate or undermine “democracy-good governance” in Africa.