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ADVERSE TIMES
plague both man
and beast as drought tightens its
grip on the nations bordering the
Sahara -
and beyond. As the
animals perish, experts on Africa
feel that many of the nomadic
people wi/1 lose their wi/1 to live.
One official feels that unless there
is a drastic change, whole nations
could disappear.
Africa Tomorrow
The Africa of today will not re–
semble the Africa of tomorrow.
Today. many nations oftbe Saharan
regions suffer unspeakably. Am–
bitious projects of planting trees and
tapping the water under the Sahara
have not stopped the relentless
march of the Saharan sands.
But the Creator of the peoples of
Africa says that the Sabara will
ftourish again as in times past. The
book of Isaiah has many references
concerning the restoration of the
desert places. Isaiah 35:6-7 paints a
picture far different than the trag–
edy striking North Africa today:
"Then shall the lame man leap like
a hart, and the tongue of the dumb
sing for joy. For waters shall break
forth
in
the wildemess, and streams
in the desert; the burning sand shall
become a pooL and the thirsty
ground springs of water" (RSV).
The Romans spoke of magnifi–
cent trees that formed huge forests
in the Africa of old. They will ftour–
ish again as Isaiah 41: 19 says. " I will
set in the desert the fir tree, and the
pine, and the box tree together."
But for the people of the Sahara
and sub-Saharan regions to live a
balanced life, all of Africa must be
welded together under the govern–
ment of God. The natural re–
sources* that exist in Africa mostly
south of the Zambezi will spell pros–
perity wben combined with a re–
stored farm production in Africa 's
north .
Africa has tremendous resources
- human and water - that are still
mostly untapped. The potentiaJ of
this huge continent has only been
scratched. The great natural re–
sources promise wealth far beyond
the dreams of most of the world's
developing nations. Though Africa
is plagued now by a desperate short–
age ofskilled labor. the time is com–
ing when the need for technical
personnel. administrators and man–
agers will be solved as effectively as
the problems of climate.
The future of the deserts and nat–
ural resources of Africa are out of
the hands of man. Only the Creator
holds the power to solve such over–
whelming human and enviren–
mental problems. In the Bible the
Creator reveals good news con–
cerning the Sahara's and all Africa's
future: "The wildemess and the
solitary place shall be glad for them:
and the desert shall rejoice. and
blossom as the rose" (lsaiah 35: 1).
This ís indeed good news!
o
•The astounding fact is that all of the world's
53 most important minerals are found in Af1ica.
though not necessarily in Saharan or sub·Saha·
ran Africa. The continent, mainly south of the
Zambezi, has 96 percent of t.he noncommunist
world's diamonds, 42 percent of the cobalt, 60
percent of the gold, 34 percent of the bauxite and
23 percent of t he uranium. Africa's iron ore re–
serves are twice as large as America's, and its coa!
reserves are estimated at 100 billion tons. Oil is
abundant in Libya, Algeria and Nigeria, iron ore
in Mauritania. (Data frorn Department of State
Publication No. 8663,
The U. S. Role in A(rican
Development,
Current Foreign Policy Series.
Sept.
1972. )
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