Africa

59.5 million. This is the number of people who found themselves displaced from their country of origin in 2014 because of persecution, conflicts, widespread violence and human rights violations. That number is 8.3 million more people than in 2013. In this Paper, we look at the reasons behind such a worrying increase and we propose solutions in order to respond to a situation which is already out of control.

Corporations, soldiers, politicians, NGOs …. and in the center, the suffering masses. These are the main actors in a drama that has been people’s daily experience in the Democratic Republic of the Congo for decades now, but the situation has grown worse due to the high demand for certain minerals that are especially plentiful in the African subsoil. This booklet introduces us to the complexities of this problem that exposes the contradictions of globalization.

This booklet aims to analyse which elements characterise the political, social and economic reality of Africa against the backdrop of the new political and economic context of the modern world, (multipolarity, the leadership of emerging markets such as China, India and Brazil, as well as so-called South-South Cooperation). Is Africa facing a new and hopeful future in contrast with a present and a past that has been dominated by war, hunger and poverty?