More from Africa
Here is a story that is almost hilarious, it's so sad:
HARARE, 29 May 2006 (IRIN) - Cash shortages have returned to haunt Zimbabweans. Banks started rationing money on Friday, allowing clients to withdraw only Zim$5 million (about US$49) to avert crowd trouble, but most ran out of mint-print, prompting desperate clients to form overnight queues outside...
Reserve Bank officials told IRIN that plans to print about Zim$60 trillion (about US$592.9 million) were briefly delayed after the government failed to secure foreign currency to buy ink and special paper for printing money.
(Emphasis added)
Robert Mugabe is without question a corrupt and despicable dictator who needs to be removed if this nation is ever to overcome his atrocious rule. I wonder what the correct foreign response is for a country in such a dire need of regime change, but without any national security interest to us, positive or otherwise. Obviously, the politically wise thing to do is to ignore it, but that hasn't seemed to work for Zimbabwe, or indeed Africa as a continent in the past. Any thoughts?
Oh, and Chavez loves Mugabe, apparently.
posted by Kent @ 2:12 PM
3 comments
3 Comments:
I was in Botswana and Zambia last August, and I talked to some of the locals there... what is going on is really quite shocking and scary.
One of the things Mugabe has done in power has been the 'redistribution' of white-owned land. Basically, that means telling all the white landowners that they have 24 or 48 hours to get the hell out or else they'll go to jail (and I can't imagine a Zimbabwean jail is a nice place to be).
It's incredibly scary and very sad - the country is literally falling apart, but what's even sadder is that it's hardly alone in Africa. Botswana was one of the stabler countries in Southern Africa, due to a thriving diamond industry and tourist attraction, but also due to a competent government.
Africa seems riddled with dictators in the worst sense of the word, but as for a solution?... I really don't know.
And I hate to harp on this, because I think its become a cliche... but I do think the media, and by greater extent the public, shares some of the blame. When you open a newspaper, you never hear about Africa. Sometimes, you'll flip a few pages and find something about Darfur (which is in its own right an unbelievable atrocity), but for the most part there's nothing.
I don't know what a good solution is. With no natural resources, and basically no economic potential, I think there's very little incentive for businesses to cultivate more stable governments. In addition, the countries don't tend to draw attention to themselves - unless you happen to live in South Africa, in which case all this is a very big deal.
Africa has been a neglected and exploited continent for a very long time. I expect it will probably remain that way for a long time as well. I think that ultimately, change will have to come from within; I don't think a massive foreign restructuring is realistic anytime soon. And, unfortunately, the prospects for change from within are not bright.
A couple things about your post:
"I think there's very little incentive for businesses to cultivate more stable governments."
I think pretty clearly it's the other way around. Stable governments cultivate more business. I think intergovernmental trade organizations need to spend more time on creating these good institutions. History has shown that, if a country becomes an attractive investment, businesses will invest.
Secondly:
"It's incredibly scary and very sad - the country is literally falling apart"
Really? Literally? Like, pieces of it are literally falling off? Weird.
That's what you get for co-blogging with an English nit.
Literally - pieces of rock are falling into the ocean as we speak. Haven't you seen "An Inconvient Truth?"
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