Africa Rising 21st Century

               Africa is blessed with many natural resources – from diamonds and other precious stones to petroleum and natural gas to strategic minerals on which the modern world relies.   However, Africa’s greatest natural resource is its people, especially its youth.               Africa has the youngest population in the world, with 70% of sub-Saharan Africa under the age of 30.   This makes Africa potentially a tremendous consumer market, provided these young people escape poverty and accumulate sufficient buying power.   It also gives Africa a tremendous pool of labor, provided young African are sufficiently trained and remain on the continent rather than become part of Africa’s brain drain.             There continues to be a great deal of turmoil in Africa these days.   Even the number of coups and unco...

                 On May 30, 2019, the framework agreement establishing the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) entered into force , but this continental body still hasn’t become fully operational , as nations at different levels of development and economic vibrancy  continue to negotiate on critical commitments, including tariff liberalization schedules and services . Once fully realized, the AfCFTA would cover 54 countries (the largest of any regional tr ade bloc) , creating a market encompassing 1.2 billion people with a combined economic output in excess of $2.5 trillion .   The World Bank  estimates  that the AfCFTA could lift more than 30 million Africans out of extreme poverty (defined as having an income of less than $1.90 per day), and 68 million more people out of moderate poverty (an income of $5.50 per day), within 13 years.  Nevertheless, there continue to be skeptics...

  On April 23, 2021, U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken proudly announced the appointment of Jeffrey Feltman as the U.S. Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa.   The Horn of Africa, sometimes referred to as the Somali Peninsula, is composed of Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia and Djibouti, but problems in these countries also impact Kenya, Sudan, South Sudan and   Uganda.  In announcing Feltman’s appointment, Secretary Blinken said: “This appointment underscores the Administration’s commitment to lead an international diplomatic effort to address the interlinked political, security, and humanitarian crises in the Horn of Africa.  Having held senior positions in both the State Department and the United Nations, Special Envoy Feltman is uniquely suited to bring decades of experience in Africa and the Middle East, in multilateral diplomacy, and in negotiation and mediation to develop and execute an integrated U.S. strategy to address...

          There have been an increasing number of reports and much discussion on the hunger in Africa impact of the Russia-Ukraine conflict since I wrote my blog on it ( Ukraine War Causes Hardships for Africa – April 21).   It is becoming increasingly clear that this conflict is worsening hunger issues on the continent the longer it persists and will eventually threaten stability in many places not now touched by conflict. According to the World Food Programme (WFP), as many as 811 million people worldwide go to bed hungry every night, and the number of those facing acute food insecurity has more than doubled - from 135 million to 276 million - since 2019. A total of 48.9 million people are facing “ emergency levels of hunger.”   The WFP attributes this “seismic hunger crisis” to a deadly combination of four factors: Conflict is still the biggest driver of hunger, with 60 percent of the world's hungry livin...