Turmoil in Africa

From Stand With Africa.com “In 2001 civil war and conflict affected 16 countries in sub-Saharan Africa”. European colonists are responsible for the widespread turmoil in Africa because of their mishandling of returning countries to the people of Africa. They forced their culture onto a completely foreign one and caused strong lines to be drawn through African culture. Today European countries like Belgium, France, England, and Portugal continue to profit from the resources of Africa while governments are overthrown, genocides occur, and famine and disease wreak havoc on the land. Under the umbrella of the U.N. they are able to put up minimal effort while creating a pleasing mirage for the media.

Africa was first split up during the Scramble for Africa. In 1884, European countries met at a conference in Berlin and signed an act called the “General Act of Conference at Berlin” which split Africa up between seven European countries: England, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Belgium, and Portugal. During this period of early African colonization, brutality towards Africans was at its worst, especially in Belgian controlled Congo. “The Butcher of Congo” is an article by Baffour Ankomah and writes about King Leopold’s rule of the Congo:

“Only 90 years ago, the agents of King Leopold II of Belgium massacred 10 million Africans in the Congo. Cutting of hands as we see in Sierra Leone today, was very much part of Leopold’s repertoire. Today Leopold’s “rubber terror” has all been swept under the carpet.” 

Similar methods were used throughout the other African colonies. Forced labor was practiced in Africa until the end of World War Two. Catherine B. Ash from Wayne State University wrote about forced labor in “Forced Labor in Colonial West Africa”:

“During the colonial period in West Africa, European officials and businessmen faced a perennial shortage of labor; their response was to rely on coercion. Despite their rhetoric of “free wage labor,” colonial officials thought Africans needed encouragement to understand time and work discipline. Africans continually resisted, making forced labor inefficient and costly. West Africans incorporated the European rhetoric of the abolition of slavery, free wage labor and workers’ benefits into their protests against colonial labor practices. By the late 1940s, most forms of forced labor had been abolished.”

 Decolonization of Africa began in the 1950s, starting with Libya breaking away from Italy. In 1960 the Congo gained its independence from Belgium. Destabilization followed with the Congo Crisis, where multiple groups made grabs for power. 100,000 died in the six years of chaos, which ended with a U.S. backed man named Mobutu seizing power.