Central Africa Today...

Develping stable governments and economies for poor Central African countries is difficult due to war, diseade, and environmental problems. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, the bad government and the crimes have scared away the foreign buisnesses eventhough it has lots of minerals that could make the country rich such as gold, diamonds, and cobalt. Central African Republic has minerals, but as it doesn't have transportation, it can't export the resources. Because Cameroon has steady economy unlike other countries in Central Africa, the people of Cameroon have a high standard of living. Most people of Equatorial Guinea are poor although economies grew due to the recent foundation of oil. Sao Tome and Principe have unstable economy and have few resources, but they found oil in water that might help their economy. Gabon has highest standard of living in the region, and more than half of the country's income comes from oil. The income of the Republic of Congo comes mostly from oil like Gabon, and the country is mostly urban and is growing. Angola has been struggling with its poor and unstable economy. Most of its income comes from farming, and it still has hope as there are diamonds and oil in the country. Zambia is rich with copper mines but its economy growth is slow as it has high debts and inflation. The economy growth of Malawi is even slower as it depends on aid from outside of the country, not its own industries.
As you can see, many countries of Central Africa are poor and very unstable. These are effects of the cause of many things. Firstly, as there are so many ethnic groups, who compete each other for power, there were many civil wars that affected the economies of the region. Secondly, diseases like Malaria and AIDS are common in Central Africa and affect the economies also as there are a lot of young peole compared to the older people. Thirdly, partly because of war and decrease in food production caused food shortage, which means there are not enough resources to feed the civilians living in the region and the resources need to be more developed. Lastly, as the environment is one of the most important resources in Central Africa and should be managed, but the growing industries are destroying the environment. It makes us hard to choose whether to keep the resource or grow the industries. Overall, the countries of Central Africa is having hard time making the countries stable and rich, but it's difficult due to many issues and challenges.