The Looting Machine

Starred review from February 1, 2015
A brave, excoriating expose of the systematic ruination of resource-rich countries of Africa, leaving "penury and strife" for its millions of inhabitants.A Financial Times journalist based at various points in Africa since 2008 (Johannesburg, Lagos), Burgis makes some astonishing assertions and revelations about the ongoing kleptocracy in the most resource-rich countries of Africa-e.g., Angola, Congo, Equatorial Guinea and Nigeria. In many cases, China has been the dark force behind the extraction. The author examines the much-debated "resource curse" for countries in which "extractive industries" such as oil and mining dominate: These richest African countries also rank at the top of the world's extreme poverty rates. The pot of resources is rife for the taking by those who control the state ("big man" politics), and because the rulers do not need to tax the people to fund government, there is no need for their consent. Burgis explains how this inversion of "no taxation without representation" ruptures the social contract between the rulers and the people, who have no ability to hold them accountable. Specifically, the author delves into Angola's shadowy Futungo cartel, by which the family of leader Jose Eduardo dos Santos has amassed a "war chest" from the country's oil industry. Burgis also looks at the destruction of Nigeria's textile industry by Chinese imitators and smugglers, thrusting millions of Nigerians into horrendous poverty, as well as the Chinese middlemen who prey on African industries and the massive investment provided by the Chinese to spur development, mining and drilling. The author destroys the argument that a commodity boom actually creates economic growth and better lives for people-indeed, the opposite is true when one considers the human development index. Moreover, Burgis strenuously blames the West for its "complicity" in encouraging the commodity rape of Africa. An earnest, eye-opening, important account for Western readers.

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March 1, 2015

While reporting from Johannesburg, South Africa and Lagos, Nigeria for the Financial Times, Burgis realized that natural resources might be Africa's curse, not its salvation. In this alarming history of colonialism and exploitation, Burgis skillfully explains how Africa's longstanding difficulty in securing Western support has led to a partnership with China in which that country has provided "infrastructure for interference" to several African countries since the 1990s. Interviews with politicians, miners, and even militia members humanize residents yet also describe how oil-backed credit became de facto in Angola, how counterfeit textile smuggling became commonplace in Nigeria, and how the recent commodities boom in the United States led to military-controlled mines and mineral-funded wars in the Democratic Republic of Congo. This decades-long history of oil hierarchies and diamond monopolies and kleptocrats and autocrats is further examined in Guinea, Niger, Ghana, and South Africa, with Burgis connecting them to finance-driven Wall Street and oil-based Houston. For each African country, the author provides historical insight into shadow governments, the agencies behind the machine, and the resilience of residents. VERDICT Essential for understanding the colonial Africa of the past and, even more so, the diverse Africa of today. For public and academic libraries collecting in African history and international relations, fans of Adam Hochschild's King Leopold's Ghost, readers interested in Africa's future, and especially readers who aren't.--Stephanie Sendaula, Library Journal

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