We choose Africa

All the darkest predictions about Africa are unfortunately coming true. First Mali, then Sudan, then Burkina Faso and last month also Niger were overturned by a military coup. In all cases there is the influence of Wagner's Russian mercenaries who, by supporting the coup plotters, replace the French, detested by the population as a colonial power that has never renounced its role, they take over strategic territories for resources mining and the land routes over which the migratory flows that terrorize the EU, weapons and drugs pass.

What happened in Niger hurts in particular, where the democratic election of President Bazoum in 2021 had allowed the country to take the path of a slow and steady economic recovery. Of course, the 2015 European request to outlaw the transport of migrants weighs heavily on the country, as it was the main occupation for many Nigerian families in a desert country. And, despite the population mostly living below the poverty line, Niger is the seventh largest producer of uranium, a key fuel for French nuclear power plants in particular. Two opportunities missed by the EU which instead invested here in a security way, sending Italian and French military contingents to stop migrants and terrorists and sold war supplies for defense. Not to mention the environmental damage. In fact, over half of the uranium extracted from the Niger subsoil is in the hands of Oran, a company controlled by Paris. According to experts, uranium reserves are not yet exploited to the maximum and last May Oran (formerly Areva) made an agreement with the Niamey government to increase production. The French company, however, in addition to economically exploiting the country, is accused by local activists of having done nothing to avoid the pollution of the aquifers, leaving thousands of tons of radioactive sludge in the open. Until now, Niger appeared to be the most reliable country in the region. With the coup there is a risk of interrupting a democratic path that was struggling to advance despite jihadist threats and the number of African states that choose autocracy in an anti-Western way is expanding. In a nutshell, another African country risks choosing China and Russia.

With its penetration into the African continent and the blackmail of grain to Africa, Moscow is attempting to escape the isolation produced by the invasion of Ukraine. But Africa remains central to our future. In fact, Africans will rise to two and a half billion in 2050 and will approach 4 billion by the end of the century, equal to more than a third of the entire world population. If we add to this that Africa is the continent most affected by climate change with drought, desertification, forced migrations and conflicts, we can clearly see how the future of the planet will depend to a large extent on what development is ensured for that immense population.

It is a challenge that directly concerns Europe "vertical macro continent" which has no military force, but for investments in African nations it is 10 times higher than the total Chinese investments in the continent. However, Europe lacks a major economic, social and institutional development program for Africa to which we can offer welfare, environmental policies, social and training programs, democracy, development of civil society and tools to fight corruption, the real African cancer . We repeat, this is the time for Europe to choose Africa with new political proposals and a new spirit, so that democracy, consequent peace and development are no longer a privilege of the few and coups d'état end up in the books of history.


Paolo Lambruschi
NP August / September 2023