Theresa May urges firms to pump cash into African ventures to help fight terrorism

26.09.2018

Mrs May will unveil plans for the UK to overtake the US as the biggest investor in Africa from the G7 group of industrialised countries within four years and help boost jobs. (Image: AFP)

British firms should pump cash into African ventures to help fight terrorism, Theresa May urges today.

In a major speech in Cape Town, the Prime Minister will urge UK companies to invest in the continent as way of thwarting extremism.

The Conservative leader was due to land in South Africa early Tuesday morning for a three-day trip which also takes Nigeria and Kenya.

Twenty-nine captains of industry, including bosses from Bombardier Transportation, JCB and the City of London, have joined the trade mission.

Mrs May will unveil plans for the UK to overtake the US as the biggest investor in Africa from the G7 group of industrialised countries within four years and help boost jobs.

She will warn: “The challenges facing Africa are not Africa’s alone.

“It is in the world’s interest to see that those jobs are created, to tackle the causes and symptoms of extremism and instability, to deal with migration flows and to encourage clean growth.

“If we fail to do so, the economic and environmental impacts will swiftly reach every corner of our networked, connected world.

“And the human impacts – from a loss of faith in free markets and democracy as the best way to secure global growth and human rights, to greater conflict and an increased susceptibility to extremism – will be similarly global.”

British officials fear terror groups prey on “a lack of prosperity” across the continent to lure jobless, vulnerable locals into waging war.

Africa's soaring population means it needs to create 18 million a jobs a year by 2035 just to stand still, without cutting the unemployment rate.

UK sources believe pumping more private sector funds into the continent will help deter would-be extremists from signing up for terror organisations such as al-Shabaab and ISIS, and also stem the tide of migrants crossing the Mediterranean for better lives in Europe.

One official admitted that while boosting investment in Africa would help its countries and citizens, it was also in Britain's “self interest”.

Mrs May will say: “Healthy African economies are good news for British people as well as African people.”

Bidding to build bridges with Tory backbenchers who want to slash the overseas aid budget, the PM will also signal that more money will be funnelled to projects which benefit Britain.

Right-wing Conservatives have repeatedly demanded Mrs May scrap the Government's commitment to spending 0.7% of national income on international development.

She will say: “Our development spending will not only combat extreme poverty, but at the same time tackle global challenges and support our own national interest.

“This will ensure that our investment in aid benefits us all, and is fully aligned with our wider national security priorities.”

Mrs May is also due to visit Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela was held for 18 years of his 27-year incarceration.

The PM will present President Cyril Ramaphosa with the bell from a troop-carrying ship which sank 101 years ago in the English Channel.

The SS Mendi was bringing more than 800 soldiers – mostly black South Africans - to fight with allies on the Western Front in the First World War when she was hit by a cargo ship in thick fog about 13 miles south of the Isle of Wight.

More than 600 men were killed in what was the worst maritime disaster in South Africa’s history.

Source: Link