There is a new scramble for Africa

By Jonathan Rosenthal

Fights among foreigners for influence have seldom been kind to Africa. In the first “scramble for Africa”, European powers raced to grab as much as they could. In the cold war America and the Soviet Union staged coups and backed rebels and tyrants to gain advantage, bringing misery upon the continent’s people. In 2024 foreign meddling is set to intensify, fuelling the fires of conflict in a region already being buffeted by coups and civil wars and strengthening the hand of autocrats and military juntas.