Africa needs to play role in world affairs

What started as a trickle that barely registered on media reports has now forced the entire Western world to sit up and take notice as hundreds of thousands flee to Europe.

Syrian leader Assad was initially seen as a reformer, the ideal antidote to a history of aging dictators in a troubled region.

This could not have been farther off the mark. Similarly, any hope that the rebels would put to an end the brutal regime and save a war-jaded global community the trouble of military intervention has since turned out to be a pipe dream.

Syria now lies in tatters and the deepening humanitarian crisis will have ramifications that will ultimately impact Africa.

Not surprisingly, the rest of the Arab world appears to be relatively unconcerned. Perhaps it is waiting for the equally lackadaisical United Nations to mandate humanitarian compassion.

What has all this got to do with Africa, which, some might say, has more than its fair share of tragedies? Africa often seems to play the role of victim, ravaged by internal strife, externally-instigated troubles, natural disasters.

Yet, the new economic and business narrative is one of “Africa rising”, economic renewal, Africa’s century.

It was just a year ago that the world rallied to Africa’s help to contain and fight the Ebola virus that was threatening to spill over beyond the continent’s borders.

Africa itself has a sad history of ignoring its own domestic tragedies — from Rwanda 20 years ago to the slow-burning quagmire of Somalia. The perennial blood-letting in the Congo remains a blight on the conscience of the continent.

To be fair, the African Union has done much to shed the old image of an impotent observer and donned the robes of rapid response to domestic and cross-border hostilities.

As far as the unfolding crisis in Europe is concerned, I consider the real issue to be the resounding silence from Africa. This exodus, in fact, started to receive attention when boatloads of Africans began to cross the Mediterranean Sea.

The world became aware of the extent of human trafficking, the wars, oppression, persecution, and poverty that trigger the displacement, from Somalia, Eritrea, Senegal, Gambia, Central African Republic, resulting in over half-a-million people waiting in Libya to make the perilous journey into fortress Europe.

Africa remained largely silent as this tragic drama played out, when Africans drowned in the sea or perished in unventilated trucks. Africa remains silent as the Syrian exodus unfolds.

Why has the African Union, or individual African leaders, not offered any solutions at all, from condemning the atrocities that give rise to the displacement in the first place to offering passage, as unlikely as this might sound?

Some of these refugees possess skills and maybe even resources that could be put to good use in Africa. Equally important, by maintaining silence and inactivity in the face of global tragedies, Africa risks silencing itself into irrelevance.

Economic renewal is all very well, but it must be accompanied by a quest for soft power that lends the continent a voice and legitimacy, as part of the solution to the world’s headaches. A rising Africa must quit the injured corner and learn to wear the captain’s armband.

Prof Kamoche is the author of Black Ghosts. [email protected]