12:59 GMT 26th January 2012
The ease with which civil protest was hijacked, first by armed groups and later by Nato, came as a shock. Regime change by external forces had gone out of vogue, so few expected Nato to brazenly embark on one under the cloak of a dubious UN resolution to protect civilians.
While Africa was also caught off guard by these events, its irrelevance in global politics was laid bare. In the case of Libya, Nato openly sabotaged all efforts by the AU to broker peace between the government and the rebels. It is unthinkable that the EU or even the Arab League would have been brushed aside in such a way.
It was not always so. In 1975, once Nigeria threw her weight behind the independence movements in Angola and Mozambique the Portuguese acquiesced. That's why it was dubbed 'the giant of Africa'.
Nicholas Sarkozy, who spearheaded the Libyan intervention also ordered French troops to intervene on the side of the Ivorian rebels. The success of his mission in both cases has sent an unmistakable message to African leaders, especially those in francophone countries - that you can only survive in power if the French want you to. More than ever before, francophone Africa will be more concerned with pleasing the French than serving the interests of its peoples.
Why is Africa so weak? There are many reasons. The rest of the world has formed alliances and grown stronger while Africa is yet to find a common platform to espouse its interests. In a world where the EU is ta1king about a fisca1 union after running a common market and common currency for years, Africans are unwilling to move closer to integration. Even regional blocs like Ecowas have not made much progress towards the creation of a common market.
African countries have been left behind in the economic race. In the days of the non-a1igned movement, Nigeria used to share the table with India and Brazil. In today's world, as they take their place as emerging economies, it shares nothing with them. Despite being a major oil producer, it cannot even refine enough fuel for its own needs.
Militarily, the continent is going nowhere. Apart from South Africa, no African country has a serious domestic defence industry. Of what use is a country's military if a mere arms embargo can mean you lose the ability to defend yourself? Again, apart from South Africa, there is hardly any African country with a military that can withstand foreign attack. It is as if the continent has gone back to the 17th century when the British, Belgians, Portuguese and Germans only needed a few cannons and rifles to subdue much of the continent.
The continent has a1so not leveraged on its resources. Africa is rich in oil but only the Angolans have an international standard oil company. Most of Africa's mineral wealth is exploited by foreign companies or exported in its raw form. As a result, countries are unable to maximise the returns on their resources or deploy them as a catalyst for the development of the wider economy.
Lastly, the continent is not creative enough to invest in the development of soft power. The best example of this approach is Qatar, a country of 300,000 citizens which created Al Jazeera and has used it to 'punch above its weight' in international relations.
If Africa wants to escape a repeat of the humiliation it suffered in 2011, it has to think deep.
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