1960 entered history as the \u201cYear of Africa\u201d<\/a>\u201417 countries then gained sovereignty, freeing themselves from the sway of France, England, Italy and Belgium. More states later proclaimed independence.<\/p>\n At the time these events were seen as a fresh chapter: citizens hoped for better lives and politicians for global recognition and diplomatic rights.<\/p>\n But history took a harsher turn. After decolonisation a flywheel of civil wars began to spin, and it has yet to stop.<\/p>\n In the 1960s conflicts engulfed Algeria, Tunisia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Uganda and many others. Some fought for independence from Europe; others for power at home.<\/p>\n The cold war added fuel to Africa\u2019s bonfire of \u201ccivic self\u2011awareness\u201d. The two superpowers\u2014the US and the USSR\u2014pursued mirror-image interests, scarcely hesitating to bankroll opposing factions in plain sight.<\/p>\n Angola became one of the hottest fronts. The Soviet Union sought influence over the country\u2019s leadership; America strove to thwart it. The classic clash of hegemons produced a 27-year civil war that claimed more than 500,000 lives.<\/p>\n Today Angola is one of the largest oil producers and, thanks to diamond mining, has one of the fastest-growing economies. Yet about half its people live below the poverty line.<\/p>\n Angola\u2019s conflict is a vivid, if hardly unique, example of how rivalry between great powers can escalate and ensnare other countries, to the detriment of vulnerable states and peoples. Sadly, current governments seem to have learned little.<\/p>\n Many scholars call Africa a \u201cgeological marvel\u201d. By various estimates, the continent holds up to 30% of the world\u2019s raw materials, including oil, gas and mineral ores.<\/p>\n According to VIMS, Africa\u2019s subsoil contains 86% of the world\u2019s chromium ores, 71% of platinum-group metals, 69% of diamonds, 57% of phosphates, 44% of bauxites, 43% of cobalt, 41% of graphite, 27% of tantalum, 23% of manganese ores and 22% of uranium.<\/p>\n Attention is now particularly fixed on rare-earth elements (REEs), of which Africa also has plenty.<\/p>\n They comprise a group of 17 metals<\/span> with similar chemical properties. In recent years REEs have found wide application, from electronics to mechanical engineering.<\/p>\n The problem with rare earths is not their \u201crarity\u201d but the difficulty of extraction. They are often recovered as by-products of other deposits, such as gold\u2014complicating purification. \u201cDirect\u201d access to REEs is therefore prized.<\/p>\n China is the de facto monopolist here, accounting for 69% of rare-earth production. That reality is pushing other powers to act more actively\u2014and more radically\u2014especially in long-suffering Africa.<\/p>\n If cold-war conflicts were ideological, today they are overtly about resources. The old colonial powers never left, persisting with an \u201ceconomy of plunder\u201d.<\/p>\n DRC<\/strong><\/p>\n For the Democratic Republic of the Congo, war has become a permanent business model. For three decades now, the continent\u2019s deadliest conflict has dragged on<\/a>, claiming, by various estimates, more than 6m lives.<\/p>\n Formally it is an ethnic struggle between Tutsis and Hutus. In reality it is a battle to control cobalt mines\u2014vital to the manufacture of electronics, smartphones and cars.<\/p>\n The rise of AI has further stoked demand. Cobalt is essential for high\u2011energy batteries and the chips used to train artificial intelligence.<\/p>\n The M23 rebel group, backed by Rwanda, is a textbook modern \u201cresource\u201d army.<\/p>\n Fighters seize deposits, impose their own \u201ctaxes\u201d and sell ore through convoluted chains of intermediaries to international corporations. The weapons and cash received in payment then fund more war\u2014a vicious circle paved with \u201cblood cobalt\u201d.<\/p>\n In the summer of 2025 US President Donald Trump moved to reconcile<\/a> the DRC and Rwanda by proposing a deal. He added that China \u201chas already bought up many minerals in the republic, so the United States has to catch up\u201d.<\/p>\n According to the US State Department, Congo\u2019s mineral reserves are valued at $25trn. As part of a peace accord, the DRC and Rwanda agreed to launch a \u201csecurity coordination mechanism\u201d, ensuring a share of resources for the Americans.<\/p>\n But M23 did not show up to sign. The group accepted the restoration of \u201cstate authority\u201d nationwide, yet vowed not to surrender \u201can inch\u201d of its territory.<\/p>\n CAR<\/strong><\/p>\n In the Central African Republic the \u201cresource curse\u201d has evolved from local chaos into a criminal vertical of power.<\/p>\n The region runs on \u201cforce in exchange for a licence\u201d. According to an AllEyesOnWagner<\/a> investigation, Russian entities (first the \u201cWagner\u201d PMC, now the \u201cAfrican Corps\u201d) offered the government a bundle of services: guarding the president, training the army, fighting rebels.<\/p>\n Payment is not in money, which the CAR lacks, but in exclusive subsoil rights. It is hardly 19th\u2011century colonialism; rather, an outsourcing of sovereignty\u2014delegating the right to coerce and to control resources to foreigners.<\/p>\n What are the benefits of such a \u201cbusiness model\u201d? \u201cBlood diamonds\u201d no longer need to be smuggled through the jungle. They are mined by a company with a French name and a Dubai registration, shielded by a government licence and foreign mercenaries.<\/p>\n The set\u2011up suits almost everyone involved: local elites take a cut to preserve the appearance of power; outsiders get effectively laundered resources. Ordinary citizens, as ever, are left with a bloody strongman and poverty.<\/p>\n Sudan and Libya<\/strong><\/p>\n These two countries show what happens when the \u201cresource curse\u201d reaches its terminal stage: state collapse and the monetisation of chaos.<\/p>\n In Sudan, where civil war reignited in 2023, rival generals Abdel Fattah al\u2011Burhan and Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo are competing not for the capital but for logistics. Whoever controls the road<\/a> from the gold\u2011producing Darfur region to the Red Sea port controls the money flows.<\/p>\n Their war is not a political quarrel but a contest between two criminal syndicates for an export channel.<\/p>\n Libya is often called a filling station for mercenaries. After the overthrow of Muammar Qaddafi, it became an ideal hub for non\u2011state groups.<\/p>\n Arms from the dead dictator\u2019s arsenals are traded freely, mercenaries are recruited and smuggling proceeds are laundered. Libya is an archipelago of anarchy, where war funds\u2014and reproduces\u2014itself.<\/p>\n The bipolar world of the 20th century has given way to a multipolar scrum. In the DRC the interests of the US (via support for Rwanda), China (via loans and infrastructure) and Russia (via armed groups) already collide. This \u201cwar by proxy\u201d is even less predictable, with no end in sight.<\/p>\n![\"image\"](\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/img-5c3fcec3f2b717d3-10631145009962581.webp\")
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The resource curse<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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Apocalypse now<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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Blockchain will not help here<\/strong><\/h2>\n