ONE of the biggest reasons Africa remains the poorest region on earth is the disunity that exists among its people.
Apart from that, there are so many conflicts sprinkled across the continent with not less than four African countries featuring in the top 10 most dangerous places in the world.
Such statistics are not good for business. They can not help in attracting investment and development.
Very few can decide to risk investing their money in such a volatile atmosphere.
Fortunately for the content, most of the countries are peaceful, forward-thinking and enjoy peace. They also remain attractive to Foreign Direct Investment.
It therefore remains the responsibility of the majority of the peaceful African countries to ensure they restore peace in the few pockets on the continent that are unstable and a risk for investment.
This fact is driven by the fact that the more than 300 years Africa has been in contact with outsiders; it has seen more pain than joy.
This calls for the actualising of the term that an African problem will need an African solution.
Africa is a continent that produces a lot of raw materials that the outside world uses. In most cases, one African country exports one raw material, which is processed outside the continent and another African country imports the processed goods at a high price.
Africa must start trading within itself.
This is the case in the Americas where several states came up to form the United States of America and also the same has happened in Europe where the many countries of the continent have come together to form an economic bloc called the European Union.
There would be no harm in Africa coming together and working towards a common bloc.
In our sister newspaper the Sunday Times of Zambia, we yesterday carried a story where the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) called for special tailored interventions aimed at promoting and restoring stability in the region.
The argument that SADC pushed is that conflict in a particular country is a conflict everywhere.
This was said at the SADC Extraordinary Organ Troika Summit in Angola where the regional grouping’s Chairperson Hakainde Hichilema, the Zambian President, said it was time deliberate moves were taken to restore peace across the Democratic Republic of Congo as opposed to just discussions.
“This summit underscores the value and commitment SADC member countries place to matters of peace, security and stability in our region. If peace is absent, development in our region will suffer,” President Hichilema said.
The move by SADC is what Africa needs so it sorts out the pockets of instability that affect the free flow of goods from one region to the other and also restricts the amount of investment one area can attract as compared to others.