AFRICA in the Post-Cold War Era

How did the end of Cold War effect the postcolonial third world countries in the continent?
What are the main reasons for the endemic state
failure in Africa? How did the west try to intervene?

1. Basic Information
The African continent was
colonized by the Europeans.
Only in the second half of the
20th century could African
countries acquire
independence. As a result,
they lagged behind in
economic development and
democratization.

2. The Legacy of European Colonial

Rule

The African economy is geared to supply the Europeans with

cheap raw materials and open markets. The result is the richness
of Europe and poverty of Africa. The new rulers after colonial era
tried to remedy for this through rapid state-led industrialization
=> Third World Socialism

3. National Boundaries, Tribal

Loyalties and Economic Entities
The Continent is
divided into several
and largely artifical
nation-states. Their
borders divide tribal
loyalties and integral
economic entities
(Like the coast of
West Africa). This
situation creates
unstable and
unsustainable states.
To remedy this
situation, their rulers
try to homogenize
their populations
=> Civil wars, ethnic
cleansing and
genocide.

4. The Third World Debt Crisis

In the 1970s, western banks were awash with petro-dollars

coming from oil-rich countries. Not knowing how to earn

interest on this huge liquidity, they lent it to third world
countries (including African countries) in need of hard
currency. The western banks thought sovereign countries
would always pay. Corrupt African rulers thought they found a
never-ending cash resource => reckless borrowing.
By 1980s, these credits were in default. The IMF and World
Bank refused to allow further lending to these countries in the
absence of severe austerity measures.
=> African governments found themselves between a rock and
a hard place: If they didnt apply the austerity measures, they
would go bankrupt. If they did, there would be drastic socioeconomic consequences.

5. The End of Cold War and Nonalignment

With the end of the Cold War, non-alignment ceased

to be meaningful. The rewards of playing one side

against the other was no longer available to the third
world. Thus, the west was emposing new terms of
engagement as the native regimes in Africa sought
continued trade and investment to sustain their
economies. In Africa, countries formerly propped up
by communist bloc subsidies started to collapse.
From 1989 to 1992, the resources of the west were
concentrated in Central and Eastern Europe, Soviet
Union and the Middle East. Thus, they did very little
to avoid state failure throughout Africa.

6. The Somalian Crisis 1991-1993

In early 1991, the situation in Somalia rapidly deteriorated as

the 21 year long repressive regime of Siad Barre was

overthrown by rebels who proceeded to fight amongst each
other. Armed gangs took over food production and distribution
as government functions simply ceased to exist. This led to a
severe famine which killed thousands of Somalis. Nearly a
million of them fled to neighboring countries.
Though the UN Security Council Resolution 751 created the
tiny UNOSOM (UN Operation in Somalia) mission to distribute
food in the plighted country, the task was too immense for a
50-man team. On July 24 1992, the Egyptian Secretary
General of the UN, Boutros Boutros-Ghali chastised the West
for being focused solely on Europe (Yugoslavia) and accused
them with racism.

7. US-led Intervention: Operation

Restore Hope
By August 1992, US President H. W. Bush (father of G. W.)

authorised US airlifts for food transport and distribution in

Somalia (Operation Provide Relief). However, the situation on
the ground remained more or less the same as armed gangs
confiscated the food aid and the UNOSOM or other NGOs had
no military muscle to stop them.
On December 1992, the UNSCR 794 mandated a US-led
military intervention called Operation Restore Hope. US
marines landed on the beach near the capital city Mogadishu.
The military presence of the US-led UN coalition (including
Muslim countries like Turkey, Malaysia and Pakistan) quickly
pacified the warlords and alleviated the effects of the famine.
All but one of the warlords agreed on the establishment of a
national government.

8. Muhammed Farrah Aidid Resistance and the US

Reaction
The strongest of the Somalian warlords,

Muhammed Farrah Aidid resisted the establishment

of a coalition government with other warlords, since
if left to his own devices, he would eventually
subdue them and assume sole control of Somalia.
The US prosecuted Aidid and his top officials
throughout Somalia, and arrested several. During
the hunt for Aidid and his men, the US soldiers
angered the Somali population who had greeted
them as saviours. Soon, the US troops would turn
into invaders.

9. Black Hawk Down/ The Battle of

Mogadishu/ Malintii Rangers
On 3 October 1993, an elite group of 123 soldiers which

included Rangers, US Navy SEALS, Special Operations Aviation

Regiment and Delta operatives conducted a land incursion and
a helicopter drop in downtown Mogadishu to apprehend a
number of key Aidid officials.
The operation was badly planned and conducted. The
Americans had underestimated the strength and organizational
skills of their adversary while largely overestimating their own.
Two US Black Hawk helicopters were shot down by Aidid militia.
US soldiers were trapped near the crash sites in isolated
pockets as thousands of Aidid militia besieged them throughout
the night. By next morning, a relief force rescued them. 18 US
soldiers and 2000 Somalis died in what had become the biggest
firefight involving US troops since the Tet Offensive in Vietnam.

10. The US Withdrawal from Somalia

and the Continent
After retrieving their prisoner Black Hawk pilot

Mike Durant the US forces left Somalia. By 1995,

the UN relief operation came to an end as
Muhammed Farrah Aidid declared himself
president of Somalia.
Aidids government was brief and severely
challenged by other factions. He died in 1996 as
the country returned to stateless anarchy.
The Black Hawk Down fiasco and the ensuing
peace enforcement and peace keeping operations
in Bosnia distracted the US attention from Africa.

11. The Rwandan Genocide of 1994

In April 1994, the ongoing rivalry between the Hutu and Tutsi in

the former Belgian East Africa colony of Rwanda erupted into

violence. The Hutu had been the majority that were deliberately
subdued to the Tutsi minority by the Belgian colonial rule. When
Belgian colony left, the majority Hutu overthrew the Tutsi
monarchy in 1962.
By 1990, the Tutsi militia called the Revolutionary Peoples Front
(RPF) operating out of neighboring Uganda was increasing the
ethnic tension in Rwanda. The governing Hutu decided to apply a
final solution for the Tutsi. Triggered by the assasination of
president Juvenal Habyarimana on April 6, 1994, the violence soon
turned into a genocide of Tutsis and pro-peace Hutus (Some 500 to
800 thousand dead).
Throughout the 4 month long genocide, the west did nothing,
paralysed by the Somali experience and focused on Bosnia.

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