How Africa is Fighting Western Profiteering From Conflicts & Safeguarding Its Biosafety
How Africa is Fighting Western Profiteering From Conflicts & Safeguarding Its Biosafety
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From profiting from conflict economies through Western supply chains to US-controlled and biosecurity facilities planned in Kenya, this episode exposes the mechanisms of a new extraction economy. Yet African states are fighting back—nationalizing resources, demanding scientific sovereignty, and building integrated energy infrastructure.
Research increasingly confirms that conflict economies in Africa generate substantial revenues for Western corporations. When governance weakens in resource-rich regions, costs fall, and access to raw materials becomes significantly easier for external actors. Dr. Doaa Salman, the vice dean and head of the economics department at October University for Modern Sciences and Arts in Egypt, describes this as a self-perpetuating system and unpacks the intricate relationship between conflict economies in Africa and Western supply chains.
“We find that the Western supply chain sustains instability through mineral laundering; illicitly extracted minerals are smuggled through neighbors' countries, notably Rwanda, and enter the global supply chain as a clean product. So this has explained how the new classical systems govern resource flows, trapping perpetual economies and global share capital [...] Western companies have operated with limited accountability for many long times due to the jurisdictional fragmentation, weak enforcement of home state laws, and the complexity of attributing corporate action to war crimes,” Dr. Salman pointed out.
Recently, when Ebola broke out in East Africa, the narrative portrayed was one of Africans as victims or subjects, never as leaders or innovators. And that has been the trend over the years: when a new global health crisis emerges, we would be told that Africa needed saving. The proposal to build a high-containment quarantine facility in Kenya with US support has reignited these debates. Dr. Luisa Manuel, a scientist and expert in parasitology from Angola, argued for a new paradigm in African biosafety—one built on self-reliance, transparency, and community trust.
“Successful international partnerships should be based on transparency, mutual respect, shared decision-making, and clearly defined responsibilities. Local institutions and African scientists should participate in planning, governance implementation, and the evolution process. Partnerships should focus not only on infrastructure but also on technology transfer, capacity building, workforce training, and scientific leadership. In my view, the most effective collaborations are those that strengthen national capacities while respecting sovereignty and promoting long-term sustainability. Africa does not only need laboratories and health infrastructure. Africa also needs strong scientific institutions, training professionals, and scientific leadership. International cooperation is valuable, but sustainable health security can only be achieved when African countries have the capacity to lead, manage, and strengthen their own public health systems,” the scientist said.
This episode also features:
Lejone Mpotjoane, Minister of Energy and Mining, Lesotho.
Cyril Grant, Minister of energy, Sierra Leone
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