Africa is the world’s second largest continent with close to a billion people. Thirty three out of its more than 50 countries are counted among the world’s least developed countries which means that according to the United Nations, these countries show the lowest indicators of socioeconomic development with the lowest level of Human Development Index ratings of all the countries in the world. There are, as of April 2008, 49 countries in the world classified as Least Developed Countries. All but 16 of these reside in Africa, primarily in the Sub-Saharan region.
Interestingly, many of the world’s poorest countries (almost two thirds of them) are very rich in natural resources. Oil, gas, mining and timber industries are significant in more than 50 developing countries. Yet often the people who live in these countries benefit nominally, if at all, from the oil, gas, diamonds, minerals or timber sold by their governments to global investors. For instance, in Africa’s oil-rich Equatorial Guinea, more than 50% of the civilian population lives on less than $1 per day. The same is true for other countries like resource-replete Sudan, where 90% of the population lives in extreme poverty despite the abundance of natural resources.
This plight is indeed tragic. Instead of yielding revenues that become invested in much needed infrastructures – educational, public health, transportation systems, and agricultural expenditures that would lead to sustainable development – the resource wealth from these countries often lines the pockets of the elite national ruling parties. This often means the already-suffering civilian population remains poor, hungry and in need of external humanitarian aid. More people in Sub-Saharan Africa – about 20 million – are dependent on humanitarian aid. This number is more than that of the combined total of the remaining world.
So what’s the correlation between poverty, conflict (up to and including civil war) and the abundance of natural resources in these least developed or developing countries? The long answer is complex, but a definite factor is corruption where a lack of transparency and accountability exists. Put simply, if the government of a least developed country partners with foreign investors to extract oil, gas or mine diamonds, and the deal made between the two parties remains undisclosed to any entity other than the agreeing parties, this opacity often facilitates corruption, embezzlement and misappropriation of revenues. In some instances, the presence of natural resources is actually used by governments to fuel regional conflict. Resource revenues are spent to purchase weapons and fund military efforts against civilians so that continued access to the natural resources is ensured. When this happens, the natural resources in question are called conflict resources. This is because the resources are the source of conflict between regional parties and that of the government using the resources to gain wealth and oppress its civilians.
Many efforts to help expose and end corruption are being, and have been, successfully made. International organizations like Global Witness (www.globalwitness.org), Transparency International (www.transparency.org) and others are working to advocate and install lasting change in some of the world’s most exploited regions. These groups also help civil society learn about, and become involved in, efforts to fight corruption and protect human rights.
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