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There are two faces of Africa. One is that of a wild continent filled with all kinds of exotic animals, an
impoverished continent where drought and famine abound or a region where war and conflict are endemic. From Liberia, Cote d’Ivoire in West Africa to Central African Republic, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo in Central and Eastern Africa to Zimbabwe in Southern Africa conflicts are tearing the continent apart. To top it all, post 9/11, Africa is being viewed as a safe haven of terrorists like Osama bin Laden.
What we need to do is to go beyond the image of Africa as a “lesser sibling” and a “problem continent”. The other less-advertised face of Africa is where democracy is blooming — first in the wave of multi-party elections across the continent and also in the emergence of the democratically-elected South Africa in the post-cold war era. Some of the violent conflicts appear to be ending whether in Angola, Rwanda, Somalia and Sudan. The Africans are increasingly looking at homegrown solutions for their problems whether it is governance, economic development, and conflict resolution or counter terrorism. African leaders like Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria and President Wade of Senegal have come forward in the search of African solutions for African problems.
Indians have been engaged with Africa for centuries together as traders, migrants and professionals. Since independence India has had close ties with the Africans. Politically, we have in past identified with the African countries in their struggle against colonialism and Apartheid. Economically, we have acknowledged their developmental concerns and extended support and assistance. Emotionally and culturally we are tied to the number of people of Indian origin that migrated to African shores. However, with the end of cold war and the emergence of a new South Africa, the rallying point between the two regions i.e. support to liberation struggles and anti-apartheid struggle have come to an end. Issues such as disarmament and non-alignment that had brought the two together have taken a backseat in this era of globalisation. In the recent years we have witnessed the rise of economic thrust in India’s foreign policy. In the early Nineties, the Ministry of External Affairs annual reports reiterated that, “in the future, new relationships based on concrete economic, technological and educational cooperation will assume enhanced significance”. Indeed, ever since economic liberalization in 1991, India’s foreign policy has been increasingly driven towards finding export markets, attracting foreign capital and know-how. This policy shift is echoed across Africa as most of the economies are going through economic reforms and liberalization. They are looking for partnerships to ameliorate their economic woes and have sought India’s help. In the past one year alone, there have been visits by seven heads of states from Africa: Tanzania, Mauritius, Zambia, Senegal, Djibouti, Namibia, Mozambique and South Africa.
India has not only identified with the problems and challenges before Africa but has shared them in mind and heart, out of a sense of common cause and a shared future. This is an unbreakable link, which will extend to facing the new and emerging challenges confronting the Africans in the new millennium. One of the major problems that the Africans face today is that of economic marginalisation. In the aftermath of the recent Iraq war there is a growing fear that the developed countries will neglect Africa further. To deal with this problem, the Flow of Investments in Africa, a new plan called the New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD), was launched in 2002. Here the Africans are searching for partnership in development with the promise of protecting democracy and human rights. They have been engaging the Europeans, Americans, Japanese and the Chinese on this issue and have also approached the Indians. Africa is attracted towards India partly due to the past ties. Over the past decades, we have provided more than US$2 billion in technical assistance to countries of South. More than 1400 representatives of developing countries, a majority from Africa, are being provided training every year under the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation Programme. Also, at any time, we are host to around 10,000 African students in our country. Trade between India and sub-Sahara Africa has increased by almost 300 percent over the last nine years.
Apart from the past ties, it is the new image of India in the 1990s — that of the leader in Information Technology (IT) industry, biotechnology and telecommunications — that has attracted Africa to India. Now the ball is in the Indian court to turn this political goodwill into commercial success. The Indian government appears to be receptive to this challenge and has launched a Focus Africa programme. In July 2002, a conference on India and NEPAD was held in New Delhi that brought representatives of Indian industry and financial institutions and their partners in Africa together. The conference addressed, among other issues the question of improving utilisation of the lines of credit extended by India to many countries in Africa. Recently, the government has proposed US$200mn lines of credit for projects under Nepad through the Exim Bank.
Africa is also becoming an attractive source of energy in the recent years. Africans feel energy is going to be the main bridge to the African countries in the coming days and their main focus for the future. In the coming decades, India together with China is going to become the largest consumer and importer of petroleum products. Energy diplomacy, therefore, will be part of its foreign policy. Though most of the Indian petroleum energy imports come from West Asian region, in the recent years India has been on the lookout for alternative sources. The highly volatile nature of the West Asian region and the chances of the supplies being disrupted are factors that are pushing towards this change. In 2002, India invested nearly $750 million in Sudan to ensure India’s energy security.
The West African region is another sector that interests India. Most of West Africa’s oil producers are not OPEC members: Angola, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Congo-Brazzaville and Cameroon. West Africa is one of the important oil-producing regions in the world. Reports say that 7 billion barrels of the globe’s newly-proven deposit of 8 billion barrels of crude oil (2001 figures) are produced in the region of Gulf of Guinea in Africa. Currently, the daily oil production in the region has topped 4.5 billion barrels.
Finally, India is keenly watching the African experiments in conflict resolution. In the past, India has contributed through its presence under the UN flag in peacekeeping and peace building in Africa. Indian peacekeepers were present in Angola, Mozambique, Somalia, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Sierra Leone and Congo to name a few in the last decade. Indian peacekeepers’ presence in Africa indicates our commitment to support any process aimed at bringing peace and development to the continent. The NEPAD initiative promotes a new partnership in which African leaders accept responsibility and accountability for doing what is right to restore peace and political stability on the continent. NEPAD thus has all the ingredients of a most ambitious but vital peace-building agenda — an agenda, if successfully implemented, would go a long way towards addressing the root causes of armed conflict and of terrorism. Significantly, the first of seven priorities listed for the detailed integrated development programme under NEPAD is that of “conflict prevention, management and resolution”. As of now African armies are sending troops for peace keeping in Africa.
In the twenty-first century while the Africans are charting a new course in their relations with the rest of the world, a new partnership between India and Africa will go a long way in strengthening the ties. This new partnership should not be restricted at the government-to-government level. Efforts should be made to rope in the business, industry, academia, cultural organizations and, most importantly, the civil society. Encouraging contacts between the people of Africa and India at various levels would go a long way in not only bringing us closer but be more perceptive of each other’s problems.
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