The Second Scramble

Today we take a team of 12 to south Sudan to oversee ourprojects there and to observe the referendum that in all likelihoodwill see the south secede from the north, forming the world'snewest nation. Canadians - governments, NGOs, and a large number ofcitizens - have invested heavily in the region over the last decadeand the referendum, occurring on January 9th, could see thebeginning of an entirely new future for Sudan itself.Yet while the eyes of the world will be focused on Sudan for the next month, adeep trend is making itself manifest on the African continent thatcould have diverse effects on the already poor and destitutepopulations. It's something former UN Secretary General Kofi Annanhas termed, "the second scramble for Africa." It's an aptdescription and has the potential to devastate the continent theway the original "scramble" did. This has been the subject ofprevious posts but is now reaching huge proportions.A new land rush is consuming massive expanses of farmable land - a processthat removes people from their historical villages, destroysbuildings and homes, and offers the land to wealthy investors totill the soil and reap the rewards. A World Bank study released inSeptember determined that at least 110 million acres - the size ofCalifornia and West Virginia combined - were being used for such apurpose, displacing tens of thousands of people in the process.Sudan is one of the worst culprits, along with Mozambique andEthiopia.This is why land rights must be part of any futuredevelopment in Africa. The assumption is that land is owned by therespective governments and farmers have no say in the matter shouldthey be told to leave their historic homestead. As a result, secretdeals are negotiated with wealthy investors to take over millionsof acres of arable land in order to make profit. This is the kindof result you get when aid levels drop, as agricultural assistancedeclined from 20% in 1980 to just 5% now. Farmers aredisplaced, often with no compensation. Furthermore, there is often little indication that the domestic food supplies levels areincreased at all. The investors descend on a region, till the soil,and then send off the yield to other areas of the world, earn hugeprofit and leave the indigenous people devastated. Locals are nowdemanding a voice in these negotiations but are presently ignored.A deal that would have seen a full half of Madagascar's arable landfall to a South Korean conglomerate galvanized opposition andeventually overthrew the government in an election there. There aresome who claim that such investments actually assist the economicdevelopment of Africa, but Kofi Annan's warning is pertinent: "Thefood security of the country concerned must be first and foremostin everybody's mind. Otherwise it is straightforward exploitationand it won't work."Yet the list of investors is formidable:France, South Korea, India, Belgium, China, multinationalorganization, Saudi Arabia ... and Canada. What chance does theaverage farm family have against such powerful investors? In Sudan,CIDA has concentrated its disbursements more on large-scaleagriculture and the World Food Program rather than on subsistencefarming, which becomes the main source of empowerment for theaverage Sudanese.All Canadian investors must be careful that theydon't bypass the rural Sudanese in their rush for profits orresults. Canadians have invested too much in Sudan over the lastdecade only to see it become the object of a new form of "goldrush."The vast continent of Africa is still populated by a 80%rural base. To exploit that now just as the continent has roundedthe corner of economic and governmental reform would be a tragedy.To be in Sudan as the referendum takes place will be a tremendousexperience, but should the large-scale operators, including thosefrom Canada, witness the democratic process while at the same timedenying the rights of the average farmer, we'll have gotten Africawrong again and the people who will suffer the most will be thepoorest.Note: I'll be in Sudan fromJanuary 3-14th and will return to blog posting upon myreturn