Cheikh Anta Diop

History & Creativity of Africa Should Not Be Forgotten Today

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Jacques Cheminade at the December 2025 youth conference points to an Ife head and a passport mask. Schiller Institute

February 7, 2026

Below is a presentation to a youth conference on the rich history of Africa, by Jacques Chiminade, a respected political personality in France. (Excepted from EIR magazine, Feb 6, 2026))

The African Continent and the Future of the World

When the conditions of the present lead to a high-risk future, and the threatened annihilation of humanity if nothing is done to change our way of thinking and acting, then human inspiration must come from the beautiful achievements of the past. In the long arc of our human history, in those moments when man’s creative free will and commitment to the future—to natural law—prevail, we can build the basis for increases in the potential relative population-density. This potential for humanity to increase comes from those contributions from the past. It’s like in a chorus, when the contribution of various voices—various singing, cross-voices—creates the beautiful unity of the composition.

Those moments of achievement have taken place in practically all parts of the world during portions of human history. It did not reach a durable level for the whole of humanity, because the various contributions were relatively isolated. The creative thinking was located in one part of our Earth and could not spread everywhere through a continuous process of ongoing organizing. Therefore, it collapsed. It could not then be based on a durable self-perception necessarily rooted in the perfecting of the other, on organizing, on universality.

Now I come to Africa, which is our topic here. First, Europe—and in general the West—have to get rid of colonialism forever, neocolonialism, and geopolitics as well, to respond to the challenge of the oneness of humanity. It demands that we propose to the people of the African continent the most advanced means for development, leaving it up to their free will to accept or refuse them. I am nonetheless convinced that they are going to accept them, because they are fully committed to a better order. They are committed to becoming a type of new China with African characteristics.

Now, racist ignoramuses like [former French President] Nicolas Sarkozy and his advisors here in France say that Africa has not been part of human history until now, and needs to be helped to enter human history. To this crazy statement, we can reply that Africa has belonged the whole time to human history. Most of our ancestors in Europe, and the United States as well, come out of Africa. According to experts in genetics—it’s the only thing that I would accept from them—our ancestors were originally all Black, and our skin only adapted to the cold weather of Europe.

Renowned Senegalese historian Cheikh Anta Diop (1923-1986) as a university student in Paris.

Cheikh Anta Diop, the great African historian, has shown us that Egyptian dynasties come from Africa, and in particular those from the upper region of the Nile, in the Meroë region.

The Ife Civilization

Now, I want to show you the civilization of the Ife region, which covered the present states of Nigeria, Benin, Togo, and [surrounding areas]—it’s part of the great Yoruba civilization. I have here on my desk—and introduce you to—one of the most famous heads that you can admire for its beauty. This is it here. It’s a copy from the British Museum. And more deeply, the Ife started its development many centuries before Christ, in the Neolithic age, and there is a lot of archaeological material on that.

The Ife then blossomed between the 9th and the 14th Centuries of our era, were affected by a terrible Black Death plague during the 14th Century—the same as in Europe—and managed to recover from it during the 15th, and in particular the 16th to the 19th Century, before being destroyed by colonial looting.

These heads of the Ife culture are heads of kings, queens, and also close collaborators of the kings and queens. There was even a famous woman queen of Ife: Luwo Gbagida. Not only men were kings; women also. Ooni meant king or queen. And it was derived from art, from the word for art.

These heads are not things in themselves for the sake of art. They are the product of a whole advanced civilization which at some points was more advanced than Europe.

Closeup of the Ife head replica on Mr. Cheminade’s desk

The heads are made either of terra cotta, bronze, or brass. The heads are from the Middle Ages—the first ones between the 8th and 9th Centuries—more advanced than in Europe.

The city of Ife, according to archaeological evidence, had probably about 100,000 inhabitants—more than any city in Europe at those times. And the heads in bronze or brass were made with a lost-wax casting process, which required an extreme refinement to master such a process. It was only mastered many years later in Europe to mold bells for the churches—which is easier to do than to produce a beautiful head.

The Ife culture produced all kinds of goods for the population, but needed copper, and also zinc and lead, both to produce the heads and to manufacture. The heads are made of 70-77% copper, 16.5% zinc, and 11.3% lead. So they have a very refined composition.

Copper came from continental Europe, Byzantium, Morocco through the Niger River, and also Timbuktu on the camel’s back.

Timbuktu, by the way, has still today—in the historical families of the city—the most precious manuscript books from a Muslim African tradition. Ahmed Baba of Timbuktu was one of the respected thinkers of the 16th Century and also known in certain parts of Europe.

Ife was involved in heavy trans-Saharan trade, connecting Eastern and Western Africa, the Indian Ocean, and also the Mediterranean.

An example of a passport mask, from the Dan people of Liberia and Côte d’Ivoire

Supreme Creative Power

But there is more to it—and it’s the most interesting part for us and for our knowledge of history, theology, philosophical theology. The Ife believed in a supreme divinity, Olodumare, generator of the potential creative power in the universe—not so far, in a less accomplished form, from Cusa’s Posse Ipsum: God being the all-possibility itself, or the power to be.

Olodumare created man in the following way: He asked the artist divinity—called Obatala—to mold in agile form the first human being with a potential to create Ona or art. Hence, Ooni art, representing the kings and queens as an expression of the most perfected man or woman—and not idols. The beautiful face here on my desk represents that [artistic] accomplishment of man.

With the mental and physical looting of the colonialists, showing how they think, Leo Frobenius, the German ethnologist and archaeologist who discovered, by chance, Ife heads in 1910—before dying, just before dying—assigned them to some Greek colony in Africa. They were so beautiful that he thought they could not be genuinely African.

Well, the truth is that they are genuinely African—the most advanced form of art, not only in Africa but at a world level. There are human heads with influences of Asian and Egyptian cultures, because there is one humanity beyond diversity.

And there we have, I think, one of the most beautiful expressions which gives hope for our future.

Abolish the Colonialist Spirit

The infamous Berlin Conference (Nov 1884 -Feb 1885) where Europe carved up Africa

Let me conclude: Let’s get rid forever of the colonialist spirit. Let’s get rid of neocolonialism and geopolitics. Let’s get rid of all the consequences of the Berlin Treaty of 1885 and the Berlin Conference of 1884-1885, which shared the looting of Africa by all European countries.

Let’s then integrate ourselves in the long arc of humanity by our knowledge of the African input to the history of humanity.

I would have liked to tell you about so many African cultures: the Nok, the Igbo, the Edo, Oyo, Zulu, Xhosa—[South African leader Nelson] Mandela was, by the way, from a Xhosa culture—and the great kingdom of Benin culture, with Benin City on the Benin River, which according to enthusiastic experts—they may have exaggerated a bit, but they saw it like that—had walls four times longer than the Great Wall of China, and employing 100 times more materials and more workers than the Egyptian pyramid of Cheops.

The city was looted and destroyed by the British expedition of 1897 on behalf of free trade, and propagating at the same time the slander of an African gratuitous barbarity which “stinks of death.”

So, our commitment today as citizens from Western states should be to give the African countries the means for development: a new architecture for peace through shared security and common development—sharing the task with China, Russia, Turkey, India, and others which are active in Africa—sharing in a reverse spirit of the 19th-Century Treaty of Berlin.

Not pickaxes and shovels, but nuclear energy for all.

You, the youth—we, the youth—have this crucial task for world peace before us. Much more than that: We can only succeed if we learn from Africa—if we learn to learn from the best of African history.

I have hope. I have here also on my desk what’s called a “passport mask” from Western African civilizations—to honor the ancestors and identify and protect the travelers. Yes, Africa was not an area of fixed ethnic entities. It was a continent of exchanges and traveling.

Well, we young travelers of the future of peace: Let’s go there with the identity of one humanity beyond all borders. Thank you.

Read below my earlier posts:

Nuclear Energy Challenges Western Colonial Mind-Set: Cheikh Anta Diop & John Kennedy Would Concur

“To terminate the African slave trade, we need to raise the value of man in Africa.” American System Economist, Henry Carey

Creativity Is The True Source of Economic Wealth

Lawrence Freeman is a Political-Economic Analyst for Africa, who has been involved in economic development policies for Africa for over 35 years. He is a teacher, writer, public speaker, consultant on Africa, and an analyst of global strategic relations. Mr. Freeman strongly believes that economic development is an essential human right. He is the creator of the blog: lawrencefreemanafricaandtheworld.com, also publishes on: lawrencefreeman.substack.com, “Freeman’s Africa and the World, and on X @lkfreemansafrica

Neo-Colonialism in Africa Must be Replaced With Industrialization

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The three members of the Alliance of Sahel States (AES)—Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger—are shown in green. Three of the states that are seeking close cooperation with the AES—Tanzania, Sudan, and Nigeria—are shown in red.

May 10, 2025

This article Africa’s Revolution is reprinted from the May 2, issue of Executive Intelligence Review-EIR.

Africa’s Revolution: Alliance of Sahel States Boosts the Tempo

by David Cherry and Dean Andromidas

[Print version of this article]

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Revolutionary Government of Burkina Faso Facebook page

Ibrahim Traoré, head of state of Burkina Faso and a leader of the Alliance of Sahel States. Much of Africa is pushing back against the attempt by Gen. Michael Langley, commander of U.S. Africa Command, to portray him as corrupt in a U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee hearing April 3.

April 23—A revolution is underway in Africa to break the bonds of neocolonialism and industrialize the continent. It has been slowly picking up momentum for more than a generation. Now a new sense of freedom and possibility is unmistakable.

In 2015, the African Union Assembly of Heads of State adopted a grand design for Africa’s next fifty years called “Agenda 2063: The Africa We Want,” of which its plan for an African Integrated High-Speed Rail Network (AIHSRN) is emblematic of the whole.[fn_1]

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An African Union poster promoting the African Integrated High-Speed Rail Network, a high priority of Agenda 2063, the Africa We Want.

Agenda 2063 did not come out of the blue, but was nurtured in the environment of several wholesome processes aimed at economic integration of the entire continent to promote rapid economic and technological development.

While ignored and even undermined by the G7 and the European Union, Africa’s revolutionary process received strong support from China through the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC, begun in 2000); the birth of the BRICS in 2009 and its subsequent growth; China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) begun in 2013; the first and second meetings of the Russia-Africa Summit (2019, 2023); and the Russia-Africa Partnership Forum (first ministerial meeting in 2024).

Today, Africa’s full members of the BRICS are South Africa, Ethiopia, and Egypt. Africa’s partner members are Nigeria and Uganda. And the BRICS bank—headquartered in China and called the New Development Bank—established the first of its four regional offices in South Africa.

These collaborative processes sparked the new sense of freedom and possibility on the African continent.

The effort has been slowed by the lack of strong unity among the states, which allows the institutions of the Washington Consensus—led by the International Monetary Fund and World Bank through their destructive “structural adjustment programs”—to pick off individual countries that lack the power to oppose them. That is why the Pan-African movement has made no headway since the days of Ghana’s founding President, Kwame Nkrumah, and later, the revolutionary leadership of Burkina Faso’s Thomas Sankara.

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Senegalese scholar and scientist Cheikh Anta Diop called for industrialization, nuclear power, and the highest levels of education.

The famous Senegalese physicist, historian, and political leader, Cheikh Anta Diop, always asserted that Africa could only achieve independence and resist the power of its former colonizers through becoming a true federation of its many states.

In a 1977 interview, Diop said that the only independent countries on the planet were the United States, the Soviet Union, and China, because they were continental powers. When asked how can Africa become a federation, given the weakness of the then Organization of African Unity (predecessor of the African Union), he said,

To begin with, a group of states could already band together in an open federation and actively incite the other states to join. I understand that this is more easily said than done, but a start has to be made somehow, somewhere. I see no other way for such a state than in one, two or three states taking the initiative of surrendering a good part of their own national sovereignty and accepting to be the initial nucleus of an open federation. This demands courage, a lot of courage, political foresight and, above all, a deep, profound commitment to Africa as a historical, cultural, and political entity.[fn_2]

It appears that this process is now beginning with the formation of the Alliance of Sahel States.

The Alliance of Sahel States

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freeworldmaps.net

The three members of the Alliance of Sahel States (AES)—Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger—are shown in green. Three of the states that are seeking close cooperation with the AES—Tanzania, Sudan, and Nigeria—are shown in red. The number is growing.

The revolutionary process that led to Agenda 2063 moved to another level when Mali’s army carried out a coup in May 2021. Burkina Faso’s army followed with a coup in January 2022, and Niger’s in July 2023. The three governments soon formed a confederation, the Alliance of Sahel States (AES), which is already making provision for possible additional members. Shining brightly among the guiding lights for these revolutionary governments are Diop and Sankara, both mentioned above. Diop mapped out the industrialization of the continent in a little book called Black Africa: The Economic and Cultural Basis for a Federated State (1974), and Sankara was exemplary as the selfless and visionary President of Burkina Faso from 1983 until his assassination in 1987. The AES is already winning admiration across Africa.

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Burkina Faso Government

African hero Thomas Sankara, president of Burkina Faso from 1983 until his assassination in 1987.

The three revolutionary governments have now obtained support from the Russian Federation. The foreign ministers of Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger arrived in Moscow “to address the profound aspirations of AES peoples” in the first AES-Russia consultation over April 3-4, 2025 at the invitation of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

In this consultation, Russia said it would train AES troops and law enforcement personnel and supply them with military equipment to fight the prevalent Islamist terrorism, without imposing conditions on the Alliance. According to the AES, Russia will also play a role in the introduction of an AES currency. In an April 11 RT interview with Niger’s Foreign Minister, Yaou Sangaré Bakary, the minister said the AES would introduce its own currency and ditch the CFA franc and UEMOA (the West African Economic and Monetary Union), both tightly controlled by France. He said it would not happen immediately, but “Russia will occupy an important place in the introduction of our currency.” Tasks such as this, he said, will be easier now that the AES has kicked out the French and U.S. military forces—that was the most difficult.

Bakary’s short but quietly powerful interview with RT will doubtless have an impact across Africa. “We know our sovereignty begins with the printing of money,” he said, and “you can’t be AES and accept that the printing press is in France.” “Most of us [cabinet ministers] are over sixty. We are not doing this for ourselves. We are doing it for our children.”

The Alliance, Its Ripples, Its Parallels

The momentum of the AES is producing a variety of ripple effects across the continent. And there is independent, parallel motion. The following brief accounts report only a few developments in the AES and a small number of other countries, chiefly from the first three weeks of April. On the larger canvas, there are many more.

AES. The Alliance of Sahel States (AES) of Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger announced March 13 the formation of its investment bank, the Sahel Confederation of States Investment and Development Bank, with an initial capital of 500 billion CFA francs ($860 million).

The AES air force chiefs met at Mali’s Military College April 19 with a view to forming a joint air force. In February and March, the chiefs of staff of the three countries’ militaries had also met, and two joint anti-terrorist operations have now been carried out. From February 24 to March 6, they conducted large-scale patrols “to regain control in unsafe areas, protect the local population and destroy the operational potential of terrorist groups,” according to Pravda Mali March 7. Pravda Mali reports many AES developments.

Burkina Faso. Two years ago, head of state Ibrahim Traoré said, “Soon the factories will rise.” In January 2025, the first tomato processing plant began operations. In February, Burkina Faso produced its first gold bar, refined from its own gold ore. The government plans to increase cotton production to 550,000 tons by 2025-2026, an increase of 83%. To achieve this goal, abandoned lands will be restored, 5 billion CFA francs will be budgeted for farmers’ subsidies, and 346,778 hectares will be allocated for cotton with an expected yield of 865 kilograms per hectare. Traoré announced April 21 that all education, up to and including university, will be free for all citizens.

Mali. Mali seeks to increase rice production by more than 80% by 2030, from the current 3 million tons to 5.5 million tons, APA News reported April 21. Prime Minister Abdoulaye Maïga appealed for the necessary investments from national and international partners on April 17, when he chaired the National Forum on Sustainable Financing under the sponsorship of the National Program for the Intensive Rice System (PN-SRI), in Bamako. While Sahel governments have been working toward food self-sufficiency, Mali still has to import some of its rice, a staple food in much of West Africa and the Sahel.

Nigeria. Nigeria, the immediate neighbor of Niger which had threatened it, has reversed itself and now seeks peace and cooperation, as reported by Arise.TV (Nigeria) on April 17. After the coup in Niger in July 2023, Nigeria had led ECOWAS (the Economic Community of West African States) in imposing sanctions on Niger and attempted to organize an invasion to depose the revolutionary government. But on April 16, Nigeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Tuggar, arrived in Niamey, the capital of Niger, at the head of a delegation of senior diplomats, policy advisors, and defense liaison officers, to restore and strengthen relations between Nigeria and Niger. The Nigerian delegation brought a message for General Abdourahamane Tchiani, the head of state of Niger, from Nigerian President Bola Tinubu. Discussions covered mutual security, trade, economic development, and building the trans-Sahel railway.

Nigeria has meanwhile developed its own indigenous attack drone, according to Africa Today (YouTube), April 17. African governments in need of military hardware to fight terrorism have found themselves at the mercy of the vendor or the vendor’s government. Timely delivery has been a problem for Nigeria when it has been facing the destructive Boko Haram or other terrorist networks.

Sudan. The government of Sudan formalized cooperation with Niger and Mali in June 2024. Deputy Commander of the Sudanese Armed Forces General Shams al-Din Kabbashi, and Niger’s head of state, Gen. Abdourahamane Tchiani, met in Niamey, the capital of Niger, June 7, 2024 and agreed to work on common positions to be taken in meetings of regional and international organizations. Gen. Tchiani hoped that stability could be restored soon in Sudan and expressed Niger’s readiness to cooperate with Khartoum in addressing common difficulties. Gen. Kabbashi flew on to Mali, where he met with the President, General Assimi Goïta. The two agreed to establish cooperation in the political, economic, and cultural fields, and signed MOUs between their respective ministries of defense and foreign affairs. They also considered cooperation between Sudan and other Sahel countries in the security field and in coordinating positions in regional and international organizations.

Tanzania. The President of Tanzania, Samia Suluhu Hassan, on April 17 sent her predecessor, former Tanzanian President Dr. Jakaya Kikwete, as her special envoy to the Burkina Faso capital, Ouagadougou, to meet head of state Captain Ibrahim Traoré and his associates. Dr. Kikwete and his team came with a proposal for partnership and deep cooperation. He spoke of cooperation in agriculture, mining, education, health, manufacturing, and military affairs. One of the first proposed steps in this cooperation is in cardiology. The Tanzanian Heart Institute is a leader in cardiology in Africa, and Tanzania proposes cooperation with, and training for, Burkinabe surgeons.

Ghana. Ghana has ordered all foreign nationals to cease artisanal gold trading by April 30. “This directive is part of the enforcement of the newly enacted Ghana Gold Board Act, which aims to reform gold sourcing, boost revenue, and curb smuggling,” according to the New Africa Channel (YouTube) April 16. The Act was signed into law by Ghana’s new President, John Dramani Mahama, on April 2.

DR Congo. The Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Judith Suminwa, has called for a “patriotic action plan” to control mining. During a three-day national dialogue April 15 to 17, she endorsed the initiative of a civil society organization, the Crisis Committee for Peace and Security, to reform the role of government in the mining sector. She charged the organization to come up with “a concrete, rigorous, ambitious, and patriotic action plan,” saying, “Mining governance cannot remain the domain of technocrats and cabinet experts. It must return to being a subject of public debate, a lived social issue, and a political priority.” She said the war in eastern Congo “stems from an insatiable appetite for our coltan, gold, copper, cobalt, and other minerals,” according to copperbeltkatangamining.com.

Suminwa was briefly the Minister of Planning before being appointed prime minister in June 2024.

Uganda. President Yoweri Museveni reaffirmed his prohibition of any export of unprocessed minerals, including iron ore, when he opened the Eighth African Leadership Forum April 7 in Kampala. In his speech, broadcast on CTV Uganda, he said, “I have banned all the export of unprocessed minerals from here.” Adding, rhetorically, “Let them stay in the ground. When the grandchildren come, they will get them out.” The prohibition goes back to 2015, but Uganda’s trade data show that it could only be applied imperfectly. Museveni is working toward a fuller implementation of his prohibition, as shown by the commissioning ceremony of the Abyssinia Group of Industries’ new steel mill in Jinja in January, where Museveni also spoke and emphasized the need for Ugandans to process the country’s raw materials in such manufacturing facilities as this new steel mill.

All across the African continent, there is a rising awareness that industrialization is uniquely capable of building the power needed to make African sovereignty a reality. At this moment, the Alliance of Sahel States and its policies, including its federative principle, are recognized by many African leaders—far more than the few enumerated here—as providing leadership and a powerful beacon of hope for the continent.

[fn_1] EIR will soon publish a full article on Agenda 2063. It was described in “Extending the New Silk Road to West Asia and Africa” in EIR, November 17, 2017, on pages 44-46. [back to text for fn_1]

[fn_2] The interview was published in Afriscope in February 1977 and reprinted as an appendix in the Expanded Edition of Cheikh Anta Diop, Black Africa: The Economic and Cultural Basis for a Federated State (Chicago: Lawrence Hill Books, and Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press, 1987). [back to text for fn_2]

Lawrence Freeman is a Political-Economic Analyst for Africa, who has been involved in economic development policies for Africa for 35 years. He is a teacher, writer, public speaker, consultant on Africa, and an analyst of global strategic relations. Mr. Freeman strongly believes that economic development is an essential human right. He is the creator of the blog: lawrencefreemanafricaandtheworld.com, also publishes on: lawrencefreeman.substack.com, “Freeman’s Africa and the World, and on X @lkfreemansafrica

Nuclear Energy Challenges Western Colonial Mind-Set: Cheikh Anta Diop & John Kennedy Would Concur

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Cheikh Anta Diop, IFAN laboratory, Dakar, 1976. Photo by Jake Scott,

The article below by my colleague, Nancy Spannaus, creator of the website americansystemnow.com provides a useful up-date on momentum for expanding the world’s production of nuclear energy. This is of vital importance for the future of the African continent, and its growing population. Almost one third of African nations are involved  in some stage of acquiring nuclear energy. A growing number of African leaders are pushing back against the Western dictates, that Africa nations must forgo the use of their own natural energy resources in order to “save the planet” from climate change. These demands are dripping with a racist-colonial mentality that demands Africans cannot use their natural hydrocarbon resources to generate electricity for their people. On a continent with over 600 million without access to electricity and over 450 million Africans living in poverty; this is criminal and immoral.

Nuclear energy must become an increasing portion of energy consumption for African nations. It provides abundant long term energy, it is ideal for desalination, and produces important medical isotopes. On a continent starved for energy, nuclear fission and ultimately fusion, are essential. As importantly, African nations that embrace nuclear energy will lift their economic mode of production to a more advanced energy infrastructure platform. This will prepare these economies to operate an even higher level of technology in the future; fusion power. The application of nuclear technologies, along with space exploration, will force an upshift in the skill level of the labor force, requiring more scientists, engineers, and training centers.

This concept was understood by the great Senegalese scholar, Cheikh Anta Diop more than six decades ago. He optimistically wrote in his renowned book, Black Africa: The Economic and Cultural Basis for a Federated State:

“If we wish to see the African Nation everyone is talking about these days adapt itself to the needs of a modern technical world, we have from its very beginnings to provide those technical institutions that guarantee the life of a modern nation . We should forthwith create the following institutions:  

A) an institute of nuclear chemistry and physics;

B) an electronic institute;

C) an aeronautics and astronautics institute;

D) an institute of applied chemistry for industry and agriculture;

E) an institute of tropical agronomy and biochemistry

F) an institute of health, specialized in the study tropical diseases.”

Diop strongly believed it was important for African nations to be engaged in the development of thermonuclear (fusion) energy, which is orders of magnitude more powerful than fission. He wrote, “…Africa should be following: first, to bank on the triumph of thermonuclear energy and immediately create a pilot fusion center in an appropriate African country open to all African researchers willing to follow this line of pursuit…”

President John Kennedy also reflected the same technological optimism of Diop. He supported the right of African nations to developing their economies by utilizing their natural resources and having access to technology. Speaking in 1960, Kennedy said:

“Call it nationalism, call it anti-colonialism, Africa is going through  a revolution…Africans want a higher standard of living. Seventy-five percent of the population now lives by subsistence agriculture. They  want an opportunity to manage and benefit directly from their resources in, on, and under the land…The African peoples believe that the science, technology, and education available in the modern world can overcome their struggle for existence, that their poverty, squalor, and disease can be conquered.” (Emphasis added)

Should we do less than emulate the thinking of Kennedy and Diop, today?

Hopeful Signs on Nuclear Power’s Future

Read below my earlier posts on nuclear energy for Africa:

Nuclear Power A Necessity for Africa’s Economic Growth

Mozambique is Obligated to Exploit Its Resources For the Development of Its Economy

Nigerian VP: Osinbajo “Climate Justice Must Include Ending Energy Poverty” Especially for Sub-Saharan Africa

Lawrence Freeman is a Political-Economic Analyst for Africa, who has been involved in economic development policies for Africa for over 30 years. He is the creator of the blog: lawrencefreemanafricaandtheworld.com. Mr. Freeman’s stated personal mission is; to eliminate poverty and hunger in Africa by applying the scientific economic principles of Alexander Hamilton.

Presidents of Egypt, South Africa, and Nigeria Speak-out

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Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el Sisi Reiterates Egypt’s Orientation Is Toward Africa

           President el-Sisi, in a timely reiteration of a theme in his 2014 inaugural address, told the UN General Assembly Sept. 19 that “Africa lies at the heart of Egypt’s foreign policy.” He also condemned the current world order for its hypocrisy and its reliance on “conflict and zero-sum games,” and had sharp remarks about the state of affairs in Libya and Syria.

          Concerning Africa, el-Sisi said, “As Egypt’s geographical home, Africa lies at the heart of Egypt’s foreign policy, for it is in Africa that our historic roots lie, and it is from Africa that we derive pride in our identity and our deep sense of

belonging. This continent has also become subject to the same security threats facing the Arab region, and constitutes a major example of the crisis in the current international economic order, which cements poverty and economic disparity. This global order bears a major responsibility in the economic, political and social crises that threaten international peace and stability, rendering any discussion on sustainable development goals futile.”

          Leaders in Black Africa in the 1950s and 1960s, the era of African (political) independence–such as Ghana’s Kwame Nkrumah and Senegal’s Cheikh Anta Diop–looked to ancient Egypt and the Egypt of their contemporary, President Gamal Abdel Nasser, as a source of inspiration.

          El-Sisi repeatedly condemned the current world order, and pointed to the alternative, saying in one place, “Force and zero-sum games cannot remain as a means to realize interests, especially in today’s world, which is based on mutual interdependence among nations, and where significant horizons for cooperation and understanding exist to achieve the common interests of everyone….”

          “This requires,” he said, “involving developing countries more in the international economic governance structure and facilitating their access to easier financing, markets, and technology transfer.”

          Turning to the Arab region’s crises, with emphasis on Syria, he said that these crises can only be resolved by “upholding the notion of the modern nation-state.” There will be “no salvation for Syria except through a consensual political solution amongst all Syrians at the core of which is the preservation of the unity

of the Syrian state, the maintenance of its institutions, and the broadening of their political and social base to include all factions of the Syrian society, and to decisively counter terrorism until it is defeated.”

          On Libya, Iraq, and Yemen, he said: “Egypt will not allow the continuation of attempts to tamper with the unity and integrity of the Libyan state, or to undermine the capabilities of the Libyan people. We will continue to work diligently with the UN to achieve a political settlement based on the Sokhairat Agreement. The aforementioned logic applies to the Egyptian strategy regarding the crises in Iraq and Yemen.”

South African President Zuma’s Message at the UNGA: No  More Regime Change, Anywhere!

           President Jacob Zuma’s assertive address to the UN General Assembly on Sept. 20 included a denunciation, in detail, of regime change as a threat to world peace and development. It seems clear that his message was directed especially to U.S. President Donald Trump.

          He said in part: “In 2011, the African Union called for dialogue to resolve the crisis in Libya. Unfortunately, some among us here opted for guns and bombs. Today those countries are making little effort to promote stability in Libya. The major focus and preoccupation has become how to deal with the flow of migrants arriving in Europe from our continent and the Middle East, which are just mere symptoms.

          “The war in Libya contributed a great deal to the destabilization of the Sahel region and all the way to Central Africa, creating a corridor for illicit trafficking in arms as well as terrorist activities.

          “In fact, had our warning been heeded, that the supply of arms to civilians in Libya and the arming of civilians in Syria would cause loss of life, great instability, and mayhem, the world would be more peaceful today.

          “South Africa continues to call for an immediate end to the violence and for a Syrian-led political transition and a negotiated settlement reflecting the will of the Syrian people.

          “In both instances of Libya and Syria, we strongly cautioned against seeking to resolve internal challenges of sovereign states by imposing foreign solutions through military means.”

          Regarding North Korea, he said:

          “We continue with our call for calm in the Korean Peninsula. The situation cannot be allowed to get out of hand. …. It can no longer be acceptable that some few countries keep arsenals and stockpiles of nuclear weapons as part of their strategic defense and security doctrine, while expecting others to remain at their mercy.”

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari Speaking on October 1.

Below are excerpts from President Buhari’s address to the Nation of Nigeria on the 57th anniversary of independence from British colonial rule

                 “Recent calls on re-structuring, quite proper in a legitimate debate, has let in highly irresponsible groups to call for dismemberment of the country. We cannot and we will not allow such advocacy. As a young Army Officer, I took part from the beginning to the end in our tragic civil war costing about 2m lives, resulting in fearful destruction and untold suffering. Those who are agitating for a re-run were not born by 1967 and have no idea of the horrendous consequences of the civil conflict which we went through
                “December last year, this Administration has produced over 7 million 50Kg bags of fertilizer. Eleven blending plants with a capacity of 2.1 million metric tons have been reactivated. We have saved $150 million in foreign exchange and N60 billion in subsidy. Fertilizer prices have dropped from N13,000 per 50Kg bag to N5,500.

              “Furthermore, a new presidential initiative is starting with each state of the Federation creating a minimum of 10,000 jobs for unemployed youths, again with the aid of CBN’s development finance initiatives.

               “Power remains a huge problem. As of September 12th, production of power reached an all — time high of 7,001 Megawatts. Government is increasing its investment, clearing up the operational and financial log jam bedeviling the industry. We hope to reach 10,000 Megawatts by 2020.

               “Key priorities include better energy mix through solar and Hydro technologies. I am glad to say that after many years of limbo, Mambilla Power Project has taken off.

               “Elsewhere in the economy, the special window created for manufacturers, investors and exporters, foreign exchange requirements has proved very effective. Since April, about $7 billion has come through this window alone. The main effect of these policies is improved confidence in the economy and better investment sentiments.

               “The country has recorded 7 consecutive months of lower inflation, and the Naira rate is beginning to stabilize, appreciating from N525 per $1 in February this year to N360 today. Broad-based economic growth is leading us out of recession.