2013：The Year of African Renaissance

　　Africa’s collective economy maintained agood momentum of rapid development throughout2013. The security situation in Africa remained stablein general. The international community， both establishedpowers and emerging powers， are attachingmore importance to Africa. But at a crucial stage oftransition， Africa still needs to strengthen internal processesfor further development.

　　Rapid economic growth

　　The 2013 economic growth rate of African countriesas a whole is predicted to be 4.8 percent， according tothe 2013 African Economic Outlook released by the AfricanDevelopment Bank in August. In July’s IMF WorldEconomic Outlook， the expectation for economicgrowth rate of Sub-Saharan Africa was revised from5.5 percent to 5.1 percent. Meanwhile， 12 out of the54 Africa countries are predicted to have a growth rateof more than 7 percent in 2013， according to estimatesby Ibrahim Assane Mayaki， CEO of the New Partnershipfor Africa’s Development (NEPAD) Planning andCoordinating Agency.

　　Africa’s rapid economic development in recentyears is attributed to many factors， including theoverall political stability， African integration progressand cooperation with emerging powers. Five EastAfrican Community member states signed a treatyon November 30 to establish a monetary union. It’sa key step toward implementing a single currencysystem within 10 years， one of the community’sestablished goals. In addition， South Africa， Kenyaand many other African countries are paying moreattention to infrastructure and have started newrounds of construction. On November28， Kenya launched an ambitious， $13.8billion infrastructure project to updateand extend its railway system.

　　Despite these gains， there was still animbalance of economic growth in Africa.

　　Since the North African unrest in 2011， thepolitical situation in countries like Libya andEgypt remained unstable， affecting theireconomic development. The latest reportfrom the African Development Bank saysthat among 10 African countries with the fastesteconomic growth in 2013， three are from WestAfrica， three Southern Africa， two Central Africa， oneNorth Africa and one East Africa.

　　Overall stability and local tensions

　　In 2013， the Central African Republic and Egyptboth experienced a non-constitutional regime change.On March 24， Seleka， a Central African rebel force，captured the capital Bangui and overthrew the Bozizegovernment. In Egypt， military intervention cameafter consistent political instability and on July3， ousted President Mohamed Morsi， whohad been in power after a presidentialelection for only one year and three days.

　　In addition， the situation in Libya remainedgrim， with the spillover effect of the Libyanwar contributing to a deteriorating situationin Mali. French military interventionthere came at the beginning of 2013 andthe subsequent war and lingering droughtsparked a severe humanitarian crisis in theregion. It’s estimated by the UN that over18 million locals are subject to seriousfood shortage and more than 500，000have become refugees. In addition to theterrorist organization “Boko Haram，” which provokedpersistent bloodshed in Nigeria， the Somali Youth Partylaunched a terrorist attack on September 21 in a shoppingmall in Nairobi， Kenya， killing and injuring over 200people.

　　Despite local tensions， the overall situation ofpolitics and security in Africa turned out to be goodin 2013. Kenya and Zimbabwe successfully heldelections， without any after-election unrest as in2008. Relations between Sudan and South Sudanimproved when the two sides agreed to develop adetailed schedule on implementing peace agreements.

　　Madagascar’s presidential election held onOctober 25 is a crucial step in solving its five-yearlongpolitical crisis.

　　Meanwhile， some African countries expresseddissatisfaction toward the West’s interference inAfrican affairs. Ugandan President Yoweri Musevenipublicly criticized the ICC’s (International CriminalCourt) accusation against Kenyan President UhuruKenyatta.The African Union also strongly urgedthe ICC to postpone the trial of the Kenyan leaderin order to maintain political stability. All of theseactions show the confidence and determination ofAfrican countries in maintaining stability and unityin the area.

　　AU’s active role

　　The year 2013 can be seen as a year of African Renaissance.

　　The 20th African Union Summit in January andthe 21st in May both adopted the theme of Pan-Africanismand African Renaissance. The 21st AU Summitproposed the “Agenda 2063，” planning to achieve anAfrican renaissance in less than 50 years. Therefore， topromote African integration and to play an active rolein maintaining peace and security are the AU’s twooverarching missions.

　　According to the AU’s plan， a unified free tradezone will be established in Africa in 2017. Beforethat， a small-scale free trade zone will be first establishedin 2014 through integrating three regionaleconomic communities including the Common Marketfor Eastern and Southern Africa， the East AfricanCommunity and the Southern African DevelopmentCommunity. As such， cross-border infrastructure willbecome the AU’s new focus， and it hopes China andother emerging economies can play a bigger role inrelated fields.

　　During the 21st AU summit， a consensus wasreached on founding an African peacekeeping forceas soon as possible， with many countries expressingtheir willingness to send troops for the cause.

　　In January 2013， the African Union decided tosponsor $50 million to the African-led InternationalSupport Mission to Mali (AFISMA)， sending a messagethat “Africa is committed to solve their ownproblems with African mechanisms，” and that subregionalorganizations should also play an active rolein peace and security. The Economic Community ofWest African States has sent at least 1，000 peacekeepersto Mali. The Economic Community of CentralAfrican States also announced its plans to sendmore peacekeepers to the Central African Republic.

　　International status rise

　　With an economic take-off， Africa is becoming a hotspot for foreign investment. The United States， France，Japan and other developed countries have all increasedinvestment in Africa. Emerging countries like India，Brazil and Turkey have also followed suit. In March2013， Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Tanzania，South Africa and the Republic of Congo， and attendedthe Fifth BRICS Summit held in South Africa. The newChinese leadership dedicating its first official overseasvisit to Africa indicates the great importance attachedto the continent. The successful dialogue betweenBRICS countries and African leaders not only enhancedthe international status of Africa， but also furtherpromoted the diversification of international cooperationin Africa.

　　On the other hand， big powers’ competition inAfrica intensified. In 2013， U.S. President BarackObama paid a visit to Africa， his second but mostextensive during his term of office. In June， Japanheld the Fifth Tokyo International Conference onAfrican Development in Yokohama， and meanwhileincreased its aid to Africa. The United States andFrance increased their military presence in Africa onthe pretext of fighting terrorism and intervened militarilythere in the name of “responsibility to protect，”raising worries among some African countries.

　　In 2014， the African economy will maintain arapid growth momentum. Economic developmentand improving people’s livelihood have becomethe most important focuses of African countries.More and more countries are learning from the riseof East Asia as they strive for continued development.

　　But meanwhile， Africa is facing challenges ineconomic transformation and upgrade. It’s urgent tostrengthen its endogenous drive， since most Africancountries still rely on the extraction of resourcesto stimulate their economic growth. In addition，there’s vulnerability in Africa’s socio-economicdevelopment. The economic growth still cannotbenefit most common people， and unemploymentrates remain high in some countries. The capacityof African countries to withstand emergencies isgenerally weak， which makes it difficult to preventlocal unrest.