2014: The African Outlook

As we bid adieu to 2013 and usher in 2014 with pomp and pageantry, we are finally in a position to reflect on this past year. Whether you had a personally terrific year or one which you hope to better in 2014, improving on your short falls and recognizing and mastering your best practices are in order. It holds the same for us Africans. As continent it is about that time to see what we are entering the New Year with and what challenges and gains we take with us to a future we hope is filled with peace and prosperity.

For the African youth, 2014 is shaping up to be a year of opportunities and hard work. Surviving in most African economies is often arduous labour and maneuvering, yet this is not the hard work I talk about. 2014 will see the birth of the Obama administration's Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders. This unique opportunity which the American president promised and acted upon is geared towards creating a new, analytic, creative and African minded crop of leaders for the continent. It aims to destroy the stereotype of dictatorial, selfish and nepotistic African leaders which the world has been served with. Some have criticized this initiative as neo-colonialist and brainwashing. I agree that this would have been better had it been an initiative of African leaders with the like of Kofi Annan, Ian Khama of Botswana, Paul Kagame of Rwanda and the Late John Evan Atta-Mills of Ghana. However this isn't the case and the initiative is already taken. The AU can still start its own program, partner with the United States or support and monitor the program. However I will not support the outright naysayers as this is a great training ground for future African leaders. After all even if they consider the United States as enemies, you can still learn a great deal from your enemies.

Unfortunately I must say it isn't all merry for every youth in Africa. With the division of the Sudan, many hoped lasting peace would prevail; it seems not. In these past few days a conflict has flared involving the president and his vice, the military with sharp ethnic undertones. Yet again Africa enters the New Year with a major conflict. Many European countries and some African countries have started evacuating their citizens. This reminds me of the beginnings of Rwandan Genocide. Here, right now, in this moment is when the AU can play its big role. This is the time for a broad continental military effort to avert a disaster. In Rwanda and more recently, Mali, we waited for the west to come (Mali has been a source of embarrassment for me ever since). If we hope to be major contenders on the world stage in years to come, this cannot be the case. If we truly hope to show that “the black man is capable of managing his own affairs”, then it is imperative that we step up to those affairs.

Those affairs are limited not just to Sub-Saharan Africa but also to our northern territories. Until by an act of divine nature Africa is divided and North Africa, moved away, I will forever consider North Africa part and parcel of the African destiny. That destiny today is clouded by the turmoil in Egypt where the removal of Hosni Mubarak has opened the doors for this period of political upheaval and in Libya, where assassinations and unpatriotic militias are the order of the day. The African Union often cries foul when citizens of these countries turn to the Arab League for help and guidance. In all fairness, the AU must ask what it has doesn't to significantly alleviate the sufferings of its own residents. The African Union has much more to do than simply suspending members; a stronger union is not achieved that way.

The African Union can and should celebrate the application of Haiti to be an Associate Member of the African Union. The integration of the African Diaspora in whatever form it exists is key in realizing our goals and dreams and aspirations for a better Africa. Our brothers and sisters separated by the injustice of slavery, today seek to return home on their own volition. This is a further into the future we dream. Hopefully this bold step by Haitians will trigger similar acts from other African nations in the diaspora.

This year has also seen the taking of one our chief icons, Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela. Madiba died at the age of 95 after a long, tiring life of fighting for equal standing for all Africans and tolerance by all the worlds' people. His legacy is one which should inspire each and every one of us to imagine what we want Africa to look like and word tirelessly and boldly towards it. It is all nice and proper to mourn him, but let's honour him by creating a better Africa and a better world than he left behind.

I would be remiss to end this without touching on football, the passion of the continent. Next year Africa will be represented by five of our best teams, Ghana, Cameroon, Nigeria, Cote d'Ivoire and Algeria. These teams have long proven themselves as worthy champions of the African Football cause. Ghana made it all the way to the knockout stage of the last world football extravaganza has been drawn into what many consider the group of death. However the resilience if the Black Stars and the passion and skill of all the teams gives our continent hope. At the club level Raja Casablanca a Moroccan club started to help oppose French rule, made it all the way to the finals and fell only to a top form Bayern Munich side. All this and many other achievements make our footballing landscape look well watered.

2014 will no doubt be a challenging year for Africa. Much has been done but there is even much more to do still. This will be the year for the African youth to rise and be counted. The work is hard and long but success is assured.

Story by Bernard Nortey Botchway, Executive Director, The New African Project.