RSS
Home
Do Africa's problems get less attention from the world?
Print
Email
RSS
Subscribe
I may be wrong on this but it seems like Africa’s problems get less attention compared to some from other parts of the globe. Let’s take the Iranian election protests for example. For the last few weeks we have witnessed outrage across much of the world over it. Here in the United States there were protests and plenty of media coverage. And there was a lot of pressure on President Obama to be more vocal on the violent acts of the security forces over there. This pressure came primarily from conservatives who are already upset with the president for willing to engage the Islamic Republic in talks.
I also was upset about the violence of the security forces. I believe the people had a right to protest whether their claim of fraud was right or not. But what I wondered during the whole thing was, why wasn’t there a similar outrage last year after elections in Kenya and Zimbabwe? Were these cases not as important? Where was the pressure from the likes of O’Reilly, Hannity, and Limbaugh on President Bush to do or say something?
I understand the situations were different, especially in Kenya. There, the violence was between the civilians. The groups with grievances unleashed their anger on the supporters of the supposed winners. Nevertheless, over a thousand people died in a matter of weeks. I understand there’s little we can do to control people’s rage, but maybe more pressure on the Kenyan government could have forced them to use their security forces more efficiently in order to quell the violence.
In Zimbabwe, the government’s security forces used intimidation tactics against the opposition supporters. They did it before the election and before the second round of vote. Granted there was some pressure on Mr. Mugabe, along with sanctions. However, although in the end he agreed to the power-sharing deal, he didn’t relinquish power altogether.
Now, all the attention and pressure did not change the outcome in Iran, but the important thing is that they (attention/pressure) were obvious. Unfortunately, I did not notice the same for those two comparable African situations. Were they less worthy? Or worse, are Africa’s problems less worthy than those of other parts of the world? It seems to be the case. We basically ignored the genocide in Rwanda and Burundi, let the wars in Sierra Leone and Liberia last too long. Today, Darfur gets some attention but how many people know about what's happening in Congo and Uganda? There may be many reasons why the Dark Continent gets less attention from the world but hopefully that can change in the near future.
Related Articles:
Add a Comment
The African continent is constantly portrayed as a charity case and that is unfortunate. Nevertheless, we have to be realistic and admit that there …
Ex New York Giants wide receiver Plaxico Burress was finally indicted in New York City in connection with the incident last year where he accidently …
