Dr Ashraf Abul Saud
Since the Cold War ended and the so-called New World Order emerged in 1991, African nations have experienced deepened marginalisation within the global economy.
Rather than emerging as active participants, they have become increasingly dependent on external systems.
This dependency manifests in stagnant growth in productive sectors, escalating external debt, and deteriorating social and political conditions.
The United Nations’ data, as of December 2024, classifies 32 out of the 44 least developed countries worldwide as African, underscoring the continent’s persistent challenges.
These post-Cold War dynamics have given rise to a hybrid governance model often termed “neocolonial afrocracy”.
It retains the essence of authoritarian, personalised rule while incorporating superficial elements of liberal democracy, provided they do not threaten Western capitalist interests.
This arrangement maintains influence without granting true autonomy.
The central question remains: why the renewed, intense competition for Africa today?
The continent’s vast and strategic resource wealth provides the clearest answer.
Africa possesses around 30 per cent of the world’s known mineral reserves, including dominant shares of materials vital for modern technology, defence, and the global energy transition.
It holds substantial portions of cobalt, often over 50 per cent of reserves and production, largely from the Democratic Republic of Congo, chromium (around 40-45 per cent production), platinum (up to 90 per cent in some estimates), manganese, gold (around 20-40 per cent production), phosphate rock, and other essentials like uranium, diamonds, and rare earth elements.
Beyond minerals, the continent accounts for roughly 12 per cent of global oil reserves and 8 per cent of natural gas, alongside enormous arable land, freshwater resources, and agricultural potential.
This abundance echoes the infamous late-19th-century Scramble for Africa, when European powers violently divided the continent under the pretext of a “civilising mission,” or political paternalism.
They claimed to spread civilisation, with missionary efforts often serving as the vanguard of conquest.
One stark example from an Ivory Coast newspaper captured the era’s hypocrisy: with guns in hand, spread the Gospel and secure trade routes.
France pursued this aggressively, founding the Alliance Française in 1884 to culturally assimilate a select minority of Africans, training them to administer vast colonies through full assimilation.
Colonial rule imposed artificial borders drawn in European capitals, ignoring ethnic, social, economic, and cultural realities.
These arbitrary lines birthed “artificial states”, legal constructs rather than organic nation, states, planting the seeds for enduring border disputes, ethnic conflicts, and governance fragility that plague the continent today.
The September 11 attacks of 2001 marked another turning point, launching a modern phase of selective interventionism.
Major powers focused on regional “anchor” states, such as South Africa in the south, Nigeria and Senegal in the west, and Ethiopia in the east, to secure influence over key issues and resources.
This approach has fuelled a kind of covert rivalry among global players, often exploiting Africa’s wealth at the expense of its people.
The US, in particular, shifted attention to African oil as a strategic alternative to Middle Eastern supplies amid geopolitical uncertainties.
It designated countries like Nigeria, Angola, and Gabon as priority sources.
While US imports from Africa have fluctuated, recently around 3-5 per cent from West Africa overall, with Nigeria holding a significant share of that portion, the strategic framing persists.
Past peaks saw Africa supplying about a fifth of US crude, and West African growth was once projected to surpass Gulf imports in importance for diversification.
In the current era, the competition has intensified further due to surging demand for critical minerals needed for electric vehicles, renewables, batteries, and digital technologies.
Powers, including the US, Europe, China, and others vie for secure supply chains, often through investments, partnerships, and infrastructure projects.
This “new scramble” risks repeating historical patterns: resource extraction with minimal local benefit, eroded sovereignty, and deferred development.
Nevertheless, this moment holds transformative potential. If African nations leverage their resources through unified strategies, value addition, fair deals, and regional integration, dependency could evolve into genuine agency and prosperity.
Without deliberate action, however, the race may once again enrich outsiders, while leaving Africa on the margins.
Dr Ashraf Abul Saud
is a writer and an international relations scholar.
