The African continent is very diverse, with European and Muslim influences that are present in architecture, religion, culture and other traditions, such as Christian marriage; it is rich in potential mineral abundance, skilled workers, booming new businesses and biodiversity.
With an area of about 30.3 million square kilometers counting the island areas, the continent covers about 6% of the world’s surface and a fifth of the emerged lands, in fact, the continent has 24% of the arable land in the world, but it only generates 9% of agricultural production.
The wealth of this territory is found in its soil, since it has a large number of natural resources such as diamond mines, oil, gas and other minerals such as: bauxite, manganese, nickel, platinum, cobalt, radium, germanium , lithium, titanium and phosphates,
However, despite the fact that all these inputs are marketed, only 10% of the benefits from the extraction of natural resources remains on the continent, to a large extent, these benefits are reflected in the financing of guerrillas and militias, which control, for the most part, the diamond and gold mines.
Some analysts argue that these riches are, in fact, a curse that plagues African countries, as they have been a frequent cause of crisis and tension, mainly due to corruption and recurrent political crises linked to the desire to control wealth. . It is not surprising that the exploitation of natural resources has had very little impact on the daily life of the population.
As we can see, it is not difficult to understand why Africa is so desired. As mentioned, it possesses a large part of the reserves of the three main types of raw materials: fertile lands for agriculture, minerals and the energies essential for the industrial development of the world.
What to do?
The main challenge is to dismantle the system that extracts wealth from Africa. To achieve this, African civil society organizations need to press for changes in their countries by promoting economic policies that are truly conducive to equitable development.
Therefore, seeking better conditions and the development of this region must become a main topic on the international community’s agenda.
