Africa, Another Side of the Coin: Northern Rhodesia's Final Years and Zambia's Nationhood

(Hardback)

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Africa is a lost cause'. This is a despairing view widely held by many in the West, in much of the world and even in Africa. Many people in the old European colonial powers - and not only the dwindling band of old Africa hands who served in the colonies or had life-long connections in business or agriculture agree - but even the many sympathisers with African aspirations are in despair, lamenting maladministration, corruptiuon, civil and inter-state wars, poverty, famine and the seemingly unstoppable march of AIDS. And all in a huge and magnificent continent teeming with vast potential wealth and with a population of enduring attraction and ability. Some blame colonialism in disrupting a natural order of African development but Western contact has accelerated the transition from the old Africa to the new. This is the other side of the coin and perhaps hope is beginning to dawn and even in the West Africa's plight is recognised as of vital importance in an age of globalisation - a scar on mankind. An African renaissance' may far-fetched but there is perhaps light at the end of a long and dark tunnel. This is the backdrop against which Andrew Sardanis's fascinating life is set. It begins in journalism in Cyprus - on the receiving end of British colonialism - and moves to Northern Rhodesia where he played a leading rolas an international businessman on his own acccount and in multinational corporations, and in the politics of independence leading to the new nation of Zambia. He was at the heart of Zambia's political and business development and always a sympathetic but objective and critical observer and adviser, in government, in business, and a close but objective friend of leaders including Kenneth Kaunda. This is the story of the twilight of colonialism and birth and development of a major new African nation seen from a unique standpoint from a subject' of a colony and from a leading role in independence and laced with the bucaneering of big business.

Author Bio

Andrew Sardanis was born and educated in colonial Cyprus, worked as a journalist and moved to Northern Rhodesia in 1950. He participated in the independence movement of Zambia and played a major role in the first Administration of the country. After a business career that took him to almost all the sub-Saharan countries he now takes care of the Chaminuka Nature and Wildlife Reserve, near Lusaka, Zambia.