For centuries, the fate of Africa’s riches was written in foreign capitals. Slave raiders and colonial empires treated Africa as a treasure trove to be plundered at will. Today, a new generation of African leaders and activists speak with revolutionary optimism: “Never again!” The continent is reclaiming its natural wealth with the pride of Sankara and the indignation of Fanon. It is demanding to be heard and counted, no longer the silent victim.
Consider the sheer audacity of foreign exploitation. Tri-continental Dossier no.16 calls it “one of the great scandals of the 21st century” that African resources remain under foreign thumb. Centuries of slavery and colonialism shaped an economy specialized for extraction. In Ghana, $5.2 billion of gold was mined in one year, yet the government got only 1.7% in royalties. A Canadian mining company was known to operate in central Africa with “virtually no restrictions,” according to the dossier.
The theft was both relentless and normalized.
No more. A wave of resource nationalism is sweeping the Sahel and beyond. In 2024, Niger’s new regime boldly nationalized a French-owned uranium mine, insisting: Nigerien resources for Nigeriens. Mali’s junta armed itself with history, seizing $50 million in gold from Barrick as a warning to outsiders. All over West Africa, coups and new governments have made the same demand: “Our land, our wealth, our future.”
As Reuters reports, Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso are moving to take control of foreign-operated mines and mineral deposits. Even the language has changed: where once contracts protected multinationals, now constitutions and laws assert state ownership of “strategic minerals.”
This is not nostalgia for any mythical golden age. It is cold realism mixed with moral resolve. Ordinary Africans carry scars of the old order. Generations recall how Eldorado turned into ruin as Frantz Fanon wrote, “Each generation…. must out of relative obscurity discover its mission.” Today’s mission is clear: the resources of Africa must fuel African prosperity, not foreign profit. The former dreams of “chemical carve-ups” are now the stuff of protest chants.
Consider the numbers, Africa holds nearly half of the world’s cobalt (in DR Congo alone) and manganese, and vast untapped lithium and rare earth deposits.
Yet for too long the people watched others get rich. Now governments face the stark choice: resist and build local value chains, or submit and stay poor.
And now, a discovery that could reshape the stakes: Almost 3 years ago, Uganda announced it has discovered an estimated $12 trillion worth of gold reserves, an almost unimaginable reserve of wealth buried beneath African soil. In an age where gold still anchors global finance, this revelation is not just geological, it is political. Will this fortune be extracted for foreign vaults once again? Or will it inaugurate a new chapter in African resource sovereignty?
The question looms large: who will benefit? The gold of Uganda must not become the next verse in the old song of plunder. It must become a cornerstone of a new anthem, one of dignity, control, and transformation.
With this awakening comes courage. Leaders like Thomas Sankara once shouted, “Our wealth belongs to us!” Their spirit lives on. Civil society groups demand royalties paid in full, factories built on-site, fair wages and environmental safeguards.
For too long, Africa’s voice was drowned in the roar of machinery.
Today, it rises, booming with revolutionary optimism: “We will not be stolen from again.”
- History of Theft: Slavery and colonialism bequeathed a legacy of plunder, from railroads torn up for export to forests bulldozed for foreign logging.
- Corporate Dominance: Foreign companies long dictated terms. In Ghana’s gold sector, for instance, the state’s take was under 2% even as profits soared abroad.
- New Nationalism: Now governments are seizing back control. Niger’s uranium nationalization and Mali’s gold seizure sent a signal: resource sovereignty is non-negotiable.
Yes, this is bold, one might even say it is necessary. The blood and bone of Africa demand it. The continent’s resource nationalism is not some wild fantasy; it is a corrective force. The political geography of power is changing, sometimes chaotically, but it is changing.
In the end, the proud march of African self-determination may reshape global economics. For the first time since colonial maps were drawn, the destiny of Africa’s wealth belongs to Africa itself. And with that truth awakened, no force on earth can silence the roar of liberation.
