Africa, protagonist of the new "global equilibrium"

(To Antonio Adriano Giancane) Africa, a land full of riches and not just diamonds as appeared in the film presentation "Blood Diamond": L'Africa is much more!

Africa is a huge mine of natural resources such as oil, diamonds, gold, rare earths, coltan and cobalt. Even the uranium used by France comes from Africa in particular from Niger. Niger, for example, has the largest uranium reserves in the world as well as being rich in biomass oil and coal.

France abandoned its uranium mines in the mother country in 2001 and now imports uranium from Niger which has become independent since 1960.

The country's electrification rate is so low that Niger has to resort to foreign electricity imports.

The growth rate of the country after the pandemic has deteriorated, in addition, worsening climatic conditions and internal security problems have aggravated the country's condition.

Niger's GDP per capita is one of the lowest in Africa at $1.310, the monetary unit is the CFA franc, the official language is French, the poverty rate is 40,81%, the net migration is -0,2 per 1000 inhabitants.

The Nigerien population is growing steadily and especially in rural areas where, unfortunately, extreme poverty remains very high with limited access to drinking water and sanitation.

Niger is no longer a colonial country but almost nothing has changed since that period.

But why does Africa, a country with enormous resources which if well managed could bring great wealth to the whole country with benefits for the African people, continues to be the scene of exploitation, civil wars, slavery and immigration? Why doesn't the part of the world that considers itself "civilized" implement policies that can give dignity to this people?

In Africa, men, women and children work tirelessly and without adequate social protection in the mines, violating and trampling on every form of human right, to extract coltan and cobalt, minerals essential to sustain the technological and industrial evolution we are experiencing.

There is only one reason, in the colonial period the mines belonged to the colonial countries, but today they belong to those who hold the contracts, that is, not to Niger or the Nigeriens but to the eastern and western foreign powers present in the African countries.

African countries will not be able to overcome colonialism or post-colonialism on their own, they do not have their own training and political skills to carry on this transformation process.

The paradox is that France needs Niger's uranium for the production of electricity in order to function and Niger, despite having uranium, does not have electricity for itself.

The paradox can be replicated for most African countries.

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Africa, therefore, continues to be a land of conquest for all Western but especially Eastern countries (China – Russia) which through even corruptive processes create political and economic uncertainty and instability, favoring the flourishing of mercenary companies in the pay of anyone, resulting in the trafficking of arms, drugs, human beings and the proliferation of terrorism.

The alarm was raised by the foreign minister Antonio Tajani who in an interview given to Avvenire stated that «Africa must not become a land of conquest, it is unthinkable today to imagine a new race for that continent like that of the ominous nineteenth century. However, in countries such as Sudan, Libya or Central Africa we have long been noticing growing foreign influences which are causing a deterioration of the conditions of security and stability in already very fragile areas».

According to Minister Tajani, it is necessary to create a new cooperation for development especially within the EU, speaking with a single voice and leaving out individual initiatives by countries that are currently not sufficient in terms of history, caliber and size to produce the desired changes.

If Europe still wanted to be the protagonist of a few steps in history, it would have to implement a single strategic economic project for the African countries whose priority is not lower than the war now taking place on the borders of the EU.

Africa, protagonist of the new "global equilibrium"