This is not news , Africa is the only continent that produces what it doesn't need but imports all that it needs. It is very unfortunate that Africans have not been able to break this colonial structure.
Unlike most of Africa, Europeans never colonized Ethiopia. The closest they got is a 5-year occupation during World War II which is too short to count as true colonization.
The Italian occupation was definitely an attempt at colonization. We can argue if it was considered temporarily successful or not, but I’m not sure what true colonization is like I’m not sure what a true Scotsman is.
Yeah they definitely tried to colonize Ethiopia then. We're agreeing. They simply failed to stay long enough to convert an occupation into a colonization.
This is still true. They do receive some foreign aid money from Western countries, including the US, but that's different from being a colony even if it is a tie to the global economic and geopolitical system.
An assertion about "Africa" is like an assertion about "Asia", which includes everything from Russia to Thailand to India to China to Turkmenistan to Iran to Japan to North Korea. There are few assertions one can make about all of Africa, which covers Egypt to Morocco to South Africa to Kenya to Liberia to Madagascar, and so much in between.
> the only continent that produces what it doesn't need but imports all that it needs
That's normal trade behavior. You produce things in which you have comparative advantage, then trade them for things that others produce more efficiently.
France produces far more wine than it needs and Japan produces far more cars than it needs because both are great at making those things. Then they trade; resources are used most efficiently, because both are more efficient at producing their specialty; and consumers get the best products in the world. You get more for less. Otherwise you'd have lots of Japanese wine and French cars.
But when what you export is mere commodities without adding extra value you are most likely to get little in returns . Africa is hollow inside , no manufacturing going on within sub Sahara. The only industry in this region is extractive ones . And their so-called products are not even priced locally , they have little or no control at setting prices.
They can start with the corrupt scum that enable this behavior, for example local warlords/political kingmakers that ingratiate themselves to the foreign markets and blatantly enrich themselves at the expense of their neighbors. They're not all "victims."
