The Fate of Africa, by Martin Meredith, New York: PublicAffairs, 2006.

Summary: Meredith, a foreign correspondent who has made a lifelong study of Africa, chronicles the last 50 years of African history from the hopes of independence from colonial rule and promising beginnings through the heartbreaking instances of corruption, economic pillaging, and various slaughters and genocides including that of AIDS.

Ex Africa semper aliquid novi–“Out of Africa always something new.” Pliny the Elder

This epigraph at the beginning of this work is indeed apt. As a young man in the sixties, I learned of the independence from colonial rule achieved by various African states. In the seventies, I read of the brutal regime of Idi Amin. In the 80s, we listened to Paul Simon’s Graceland and its songs speaking of the beauties of Africa and the longings for freedom from apartheid. Our hearts were stirred by the transition from apartheid to black rule under Nelson Mandela in the 1990s. And then there were the heartbreaks of genocide in Rwanda and South Sudan, the brutal and corrupt regime of Robert Mugabe, and the devastation of HIV/AIDS throughout Africa.

While Africa emerges again and again in our news and collective consciousness, I am like many others in understanding relatively little about this huge continent and so I picked up this history to begin to redress that lack. What I found filled out my understanding while chronicling a largely heart-breaking history that left me with many questions.

Meredith begins by summarizing the colonial history and its arbitrary dividing up of Africa into colonial entities, often throwing together tribal groups significantly at odds with each other. Ethiopia alone succeeded in avoiding colonial rule. Western commercial enterprises harvested the wealth of Africa while, in sub-Saharan Africa Christian missions promoted education, health care, as well as the faith.

He then chronicles the beginnings of independence first with Ghana under Kwame Nkrumah in 1957, and the high hopes he promoted of Pan-Africanism and African leaders leading independent nations. He then follows independence movements from country to country–Egypt, French-speaking Africa, other English colonies. With variations, the account is one of national institutions set up on Western models that gradually are dominated by single party rule, a strong man, with significant resources channeled into the pockets of corrupt politicians while depleting national economies and increasing international debt.

The book seems to from bad to worse until the final chapters on South Africa. We see the descent into the maelstrom of Somalia and Rwanda and the aftermath of bloody tribal war that led to the fall of Mobutu in Zaire. We read of the rampant spread of AIDS and the often inadequate responses of governmental figures and health officials to this generation-killing epidemic.

Meredith concludes the book with the miracle of South Africa, the ascent of Nelson Mandela, the work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission the succession of Thabo Mbeki, at once skilled in fostering economic transition and yet paranoid of western science in dealing with HIV/AIDS.

The book leaves me with many questions, even though its accessible narrative enlarged my historical understanding. One is how tribal rivalries and national identities can be reconciled, a question at the heart of so many of the tragic conflicts on this continent. Another is, what can be done to develop the rule of law and leadership with integrity? A third question is how can the rest of the world community constructively engage with Africa without promoting new forms of colonialism or dependencies that thwart the indigenous development throughout this continent? As a Christian, I also found myself wondering whether there is a greater role for the church throughout Africa in promoting reconciliation and ethical practice, along the line of Desmond Tutu’s work with the Truth and Reconciliation Commissions. Sadly, there was evidence in the book that the church often divided along lines of tribal rivalries rather than functioning as a reconciling force.

The final thing I found myself curious about is whether there are good indigenous works of African history, rather than those written by westerners, which seem to dominate the book lists in this area? While I found Meredith both helpful and well informed, I still felt I was reading the work of an outside observer and feel the need to complement that with the work of someone writing from within the African context.