The Council for Afrika International, a UK-based
think-tank on Friday linked the unrest in Mozambique over rising cost of living to outmoded models of development and called for an African-centred solution to the stalemate.
Dr Koku Adomdza, a spokesperson for the group, who made this known in a statement copied to the Ghana News Agency in Accra, noted that �poverty including shortage of essential needs in Africa is an error which must be addressed through the rejection of old bankrupt neo-colonialist models of underdevelopment�.
�Given the natural resource endowment of Africa, there is no justification whatsoever for poverty in the continent, to the degree that
the future leaders of Africa � the youth, would find the need to resort to riots to have their legitimate concerns addressed.�
Dr Adomdza said the impasse in the South African nation was a signal of systemic vision and paradigm paralysis as well as institutional, policy and operational lethargy.
�From glorious sunshine, gold, diamonds, oil, rainforests, deep blue oceans, rivers to exotic aquatic and wildlife, nature has tremendously blessed Africa. With competent stewardship and advocacy, Africa should have been a leading economy in the world.
�However, the majority of Africa�s rich resources are siphoned out of Africa in the form of record financial capital flight to the tune of a whopping $1.06 Trillion per month�through a complex web of criminal and unethical activities.�
Dr Adomdza observed that African leaders have the power to deliver their people from impoverishment and actualise economic prosperity.
�What we witness in Mozambique may well be a tip of the iceberg where the youth of Africa are beginning to assert their rights as equal citizens.
�We believe that African leaders have the power to prevent these unpalatable riots by rejecting tried, tested but failed underdevelopment policies,� and embrace innovative, unorthodox, creative, strategies to
guarantee the human rights of Africans.
Dr Adomdza urged the youth to seek appropriate means of engaging government and comply with the rule of law.
The unrest in Mozambique was sparked by rise in the price of bread by 25 per cent as well as fuel and water.
So far 10 people have died in the deadly confrontation between the angry youth and security personnel.