Human mobility, Covid-19, and survival in Africa: revisiting the coronavirus pandemic as the Russia-Ukraine war rages

Abstract

Africa has seen some changes pertaining to human mobility in 2020 and 2021 respectively. The continent has also witnessed a dramatic reduction in cross-border movements, especially along the Zambezi River (Zimbabwe and South Africa, Botswana, and South Africa, as well as Mozambique and South Africa). These changes have been caused by the COVID-19 pandemic which decimated tourism and business travel and severely curtailed labour migration and stifled the movement of all stripes, from that of international students to intellectual exchanges in all fields of studies. While the overall picture of human mobility from 2020 to 2021 was dramatically stifled, the experience of this curtailment is different when juxtaposed with other regions. Also, the war between Russia and Ukraine has not been helpful to Africa either. This paper endeavours to probe the aftereffects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the ravages of the war between Ukraine and Russia in Africa and illustrates that while Africa is yet to fully recover from the socio-economic repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic, this conflict poses another major threat to the global economy with many African countries being directly affected. The article uses the lens of Pan-Africanism as a theory that very well encapsulates the yearnings and frustrations of Africans who are overwhelmed by the onslaught of globalisation that only looks at development from a skewed western paradigm that is more about enriching the already wealthy countries that thrives by a continuous siphoning of the wealth of the marginalised countries. The article uses an archival method of collecting the data that is documented in books, articles and other sources to seek mitigating factors to the COVID19 Pandemic and the war in Ukraine. The paper recommends a drastic change of leadership in Africa to usher in a new crop of leaders who are more driven by the development of the continent in areas of economics, governance, and self-reliance.