Economic Underdevelopment & Famine

B. Over the past 25 years, prospects have shifted from optimism to pessimism, with poverty and famine now synonymous with Africa.

C. Sub-Saharan Africa carries the brunt of African poverty.

A. Although prospects for economic development were recently positive, poverty is not new to Sub-Saharan Africa.

1. Pre-colonial poverty caused by poor natural conditions.

2. Colonialism unleashed two more factors contributing to poverty in the region: slave trade; and wars.

3. Later neo-colonial development transformed the African economy into an export-oriented, cash-crop economy; not suitable for economic independence.

B. Political independence in the 1960s was greeted with hope that many of the obstacles to economic development had been removed.

III. Contemporary Economic Conditions

A. Mass famine of 1983/1984 alerted world to Africa's underdevelopment.

B. Two case studies on the course of economic development: Zambia and Zaire.

IV. Causes of African Poverty and Famine

A. Policy mismanagement by government.

B. Corruption by ruling elites, bureaucrats and business managers.

C. Inadequate investment in the economy in general and agriculture in particular. Far too little irrigation systems and agricultural technology.

D. Soil erosion and desertification.

A. Current trends are bleak; if unabated, more famine is likely.

. . .
conomy of Zaire has also collapsed largely due to policy mismanagement. President Mobutu Sese Seko has ruled Zaire since 1965, seizing power through a CIA supported coup. In Mobutu's 28 years of rule, not a single hospital has been built. The transportation system and highway network has deteriorated. The country is roughly the size of the United States east of the Mississippi, but today it has fewer maintained roads than Toledo, Ohio. In 1990, per capita annual income was $170, one-tenth their 1960 levels. Only 3% of the government's budget goes to health and education; 23% goes to the military; and 50% goes to salaries and benefits for the ruling elite and their families. In the meantime, Mobutu has purchased extensive real estate in France, Belgium, Spain and Switzerland. His net worth is estimated somewhere between $3 billion and $7 billion (Richburg, 1990, p. 1). Mobutu destroyed Zaire's economy with no objections from the West, including the United States. Zaire is an important source of valuable minerals for the Western nations, and Mobutu has allowed his country to be used as a base for covert American military operations. For years, western diplomats have been justifying their support of Mobutu by claiming that
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Approximate Word count = 3218
Approximate Pages = 13 (250 words per page)

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