The so-called rules-based international order that started its maneuvers on the heels of the end of World War II has not brought about development that Africa needs. The highly hierarchical order has rather hijacked international multilateral organizations and has been using them to systematically perpetuate hegemonic relations among the wealthiest Western nations and the poorest African countries.
Africa needs a renewed world order where its people can live a dignified life. Such an order should allow the African people to properly utilize their resources to extricate themselves from abject poverty, and it should facilitate the continent's dearly useful youths to find the proper niche to invest their labor, skills and knowledge in for the good of their society. Countless African youths desperately cross the world's dangerous migratory routes, often exposing themselves to robbery, beatings and other inhumane treatments at the hands of brutal human traffickers. Organ traffickers, too, perform horrific theater on the helpless migrants. This is not to mention the scorching temperature and the death that await migrants in the Mediterranean Sea. The International Organization for Migration has called this year the deadliest year since 2016.
Wealthier countries at times close their borders and at other times call the countries where the migrants come from "shit holes". Economic and political migrants and asylum seekers are considered sub-humans in some destinations.
The existing West-dominated exploitative world order is tailored to fit the West and is made deliberately unfit for the Global South and East. The current system serves to make poor countries poorer. The World Social Report 2020 indicates that unequal societies are less effective at reducing poverty, grow more slowly, and make it more difficult for people to break out of the cycle of poverty. Such economic divide have not surfaced out of the blue. These are the result of lopsided development approaches.
The structural adjustment of the 1980s in Africa would lend us a better example in this regard. As schools and health services were liberalized, families were unable to afford healthcare and school fees. Such conditionality put restraints on the choice of development course for countries.
Developed countries impose their wills on developing ones. It is clear that the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the United Nations Security Council operate as per of the wills of a few countries. Countries in Africa are at the mercy of the decisions of these few nations. Unless African nations are allowed equal participation on policy decisions that affect them and on international matters as well, the underdevelopment is sure to deepen.
A few countries that moved up through the ladder of wealth with their rigorous efforts are tagged with derogatory terms such as "dictatorship", "undemocratic", "despots" and what have you.
The existing world order is nothing short of institutionalization of exploitation.
It is embodied in the guise of "protection of human rights", "expansion of democracy" and "development" and other rosy words. Countries and governments that adhere to the dictates of the wealthiest nations are ranked top in human rights handling, democracy and development, and sometimes called "favorite dictators". Any country and grouping that stands out of their bracket, no matter how good its record, is "undemocratic", "brutal", "dictatorship" and the list goes on. Farsighted leaders are demonized and puppets glorified by the West-controlled media.
World famous scholars John Mearsheimer and Jeffery Sachs in a recent debate at the All-In Summit 2024 agreed that the United States has sought to create world countries in its own image, which Sachs called "delusional". His take is that it does not care whether a country is ruled by the military or is a democracy or whatsoever; the thing is just to project power.
Toward a new era
The Pan-African vision is on the horizon — "an integrated, prosperous, and peaceful Africa, driven by its own citizens and representing a dynamic force in the global arena".
This will not occur because we wish it to. It behooves us to work hard and smart. It requires us to make the needed sacrifices. It requires a 21st-century mindset that puts Africa's interests first. The old way of doing things cannot and will not usher Africa toward attaining its vision. Opinion leaders in every country of Africa should put the interest of Africa first — the guns must be silenced.
It needs partners that support the quick transfer of skillsets and knowledge. It requires friends that lend support in the effort to expand critical development infrastructure. Practical assistance that propel development are critically needed. The China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative, for instance, is being translated into projects such as ports and road and rail connectivity. East Africa is now increasingly connected with the maritime trade routes of the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean. Recently, Ethiopia used rail wagons for the export of livestock. The rail transport connection also helps create more understanding among the diverse cultures of the region. It is time to end the rosy words and pretentious friendship and begin a genuine partnership.
"Modernization is an inalienable right of all countries," Chinese President Xi Jinping rightly said in his keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the 2024 Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in Beijing on Sept 5.
Our needs are explicitly expressed in Africa's development blueprint Agenda 2063.African people widely agree that Agenda 2063 is a relevant development discourse, which is stated in the introductory part of the second decade of the agenda's implementation. The ambition is to elevate all countries of Africa, including the islands, well above the poverty line.
Africa envisions becoming a continent of middle income countries by 2033. It needs to transfer knowledge and skills. It needs to be a good competitor in the tech world. And this demands that it channel its resources into investments that would accelerate its growth and development. First and foremost, superpowers that want to play their proxy games should stay away. Good partners should continue investing in areas that are mutually beneficial.
There are no babysitting countries that feed into the mouths of Africans. Countries and governments in Africa must clearly know their respective interests. They must work hard and smart to align their plans with their shared vision. If Africa is divided internally, it is given that any entity will try to fish in the troubled waters. Who is to blame then?
Current generations of Africans in areas including academia, media, power circles and other influential positions should seriously work to defend the interest of Africa. In 1619 and even before, our ancestors made a grave mistake. Powerful and influential ones traded the strong Africans for tobacco, cloth, sugar, rifle raiding villages and bringing colonialists deep into Africa. We need to take care in case our short-lived gains supersede the noble cause expressed in Agenda 2063.
The author is editor-in-chief of The Ethiopian Herald, a national newspaper in Ethiopia.
