Africans tired of being seen as the world's beggars

By Staff
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Google Oneindia News

DAKAR, Oct 31: Africa's image as a continent hopelessly racked by war and famine is bruising the self-esteem of its ambitious youth and overshadowing progress on governance and economic development, senior aid officials say.

The world's poorest continent may face major challenges fighting poverty, corruption and diseases like AIDS and malaria, but many Africans are fed up with being seen as the world's beggars, portrayed with their hands constantly outstretched.

The images of desperate orphans being beamed around the world in the media frenzy over Madonna's adoption of an African child, or the scenes of famine that accompany fund-raising concerts like last year's Live 8, show only one face of Africa.

''It's a demoralising image for those who want to succeed,'' said El Hadj Hane, a 28-year old Senegalese law student who spends his nights working at Dakar airport so he can pay for university classes and books by day.

''We're young. We have brains. We have a will to succeed without relying on anyone else at all.'' It is a message only slowly being understood by policy makers in donor countries, whose envoys often express surprise at the frenetic activity they see in cities in Africa, a region better known for brutal conflict and humanitarian crises.

''Every time I set foot in a new corner of Africa ... my commitment to this tremendously important continent has been reinforced ... by seeing the extraordinary energy and ambition of Africans,'' World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz said in a speech in Paris this month.

''They don't want charity; what they want, and what they deserve is opportunity. I believe there is no shortage of energy, ambition or entrepreneurial spirit.'' Fairer access to global trade was key to helping realise that ambition, Wolfowitz said, pointing out that Africa's share of global exports had fallen to less than half of the 3.5 per cent it was in 1970.

EQUAL PARTNER

But only about a third as many wars are raging in Africa as five years ago, with countries like Liberia and Sierra Leone gradually rebuilding after the end of conflicts which shocked the world with their images of drugged-up child soldiers.

More than half a dozen states in sub-Saharan Africa have successfully held democratic polls in the past few years while the World Bank says the continent's economic outlook is the rosiest in more than a decade.

''Africa is catching up,'' the European Commission's aid chief, Louis Michel, said during a trip to Dakar last week.

''If Africa is becoming a geopolitical stake, if the Chinese are here, if the Russians are here, if the Indians are here, if the Americans are here, it is because things are starting to move in Africa,'' he told a news conference.

That meant the sometimes condescending way in which the West had done business with Africa in the past had to change to give African leaders of countries with a record of good governance freer rein to take charge of their own development.

''We have to do away with paternalism. Today we are in a different relationship, a balanced political dialogue of mutual respect where the developing partner is an equal. It is a totally different approach,'' Michel said.

It is as much a change of mindset for the receiver as it is for the donor.

''Give us back what you have taken for 400 years, plus 25 per cent interest, and we will not come to you as destitutes, we will come to you as rich people,'' said Gambia's President Yahya Jammeh after winning a third term in office last month.

''We have to change our attitude ... and realise that Africa can only be liberated by Africans,'' he said.

Reuters

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