Published February 7, 2008
China, India are Africa's 'new colonialists': Soros
They're exploiting the poorest continent just like the previous European masters did
(DAKAR, Senegal) Hungry for oil and minerals, China and India have become Africa's new colonialists, exploiting the world's poorest continent in the same way as its old European masters, billionaire financier George Soros said on Tuesday.
European nations' scramble for resources, from slaves to diamonds and gold, led them to subjugate Africa's peoples under colonialism. After independence swept the continent in the 1950s and 1960s, they often supported corrupt and dictatorial regimes.
Over the last decade, amid concern over minerals funding wars from Angola to Democratic Republic of Congo, Western governments and MNCs have largely accepted the need for accountability and transparency in extractive industries. But India and China, which are pumping billions of dollars of loans and investment into Africa, have not, Mr Soros said.
'They are in the process of repeating the mistakes that the colonial powers have made,' Mr Soros told Reuters here. 'There's a certain irony in the old colonialists recognising their past mistakes and trying to correct them, and the new colonialists then repeating those mistakes.'
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