What are the Most Powerful Nations in Africa??

Ethiopia does not have Economical power However, they are very poor and just had like a version of a Cival War.
 
godofthunder9010 said:
It would be nice if the USA's hands weren't tied on the Sudan mess. We did Afganistan and Iraq, so now everything we do is wrong. I think France is trying to do something over in Sudan actually. Anyone know details?

Also, Republic of Congo seems to have tremendous potential if it can maintain a stable government. Egypt and South Africa are stable governments, so they are the most powerful by default.
I apologize if I step on any toes here, but speaking from personal experience, the govt in South Africa is not stable. The ANC Regime (that's what it is) had extensive training on manupilating the international media - trained by the soviets back in the day. The picture being painted of south Africa by the international media is fake. South Africa used to be the most powerful nation in Africa until about 8 years ago. When Mbeki took over, everything went to hell in a handbasket. The genocide in Rwanda could have been limited more if the UN had allowed Executive Outcomes (Then a South African company) to jump in. South Africa cannot get into the Sudan crisis because the South African Defense Forces are alreadyt stretched paper thin - dealing with "VIP" details in the Congo and domestic political issues and oppression in South Africa itself. Last time I heard the SANDF had 2 operational Olifnt tanks, 3000 to 7000 soldiers that were combat ready (didn't have aids or arfen't too old) and I think 4 Mirage based fighters that usually run out of Fuel by September each year. too sure about Egypt's situation, but I do know that they have quite a number of Migs and a substantial amount of soldiers.
Sudan is a hot potato. Noone wants to get involved. I don't blame the USA for not wanting to go in there. After Somalia, any campaign ideas in Africa leaves a bad taste.
 
I knew South Africa ended thier nuclear program however I always thought they had a small, yet good in technology army.
 
Everyone who qualifies to make the list of, "Most Powerful Nations in Africa" would make that list in relative terms. The fact of the matter is, there aren't any nations there that would qualify as even a World Power. Every nation in Africa is weak relative to the rest of the world.

I have a hard time believing that South Africa has suddenly dropped to the same level of chaos and instability that seems to dominate the rest of Africa. I guess I'd have to see some amount of evidence.
 
Believe it or not nowdays ,the black folk in south Africa discriminate against the White folk.Funny na?
Anyways I Believe Soth Africa is.
 
IFound the article...I couldn't find it for the longest time...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/2129563.stm


Yes, you are correct, SA did develop and still develop some of the best military vehicles and weapons out there. Look at the Rooivalk, Ratel, Rooikat, G6 - any one of them are world class.
Unfortunately, as you'll see in the article, the typical African Army is developing from the ashes of the old SADF - top heavy and not functional. The best part of the current SA defense forces is the 18 Rooivalk attack choppers. They are very effecient and lethal...especially with the Mokopa anti armor missiles. From what I've heard, they are all based at Bloemfontein - in one location!

Yeah things are a bit different in SA now. It goes a little deeper than discrimination, however. A lot of hate in South Africa at this time.
 
Yeah, that article does demonstrate that the South African military is not in very good shape right now. I suppose the most likely reason is that, with Aparteid ended, there is no obvious enemy. Lack of foreseeable enemies does tend to weaken militaries. Still, the level of mismanagement cited is far beyond that. SA government needs to decide how important a strong military is to them.

Aside from that, I believe that SA still has the strongest economy in Africa. They have the ability to be mostly self- sufficient. I don't know of any other African nation that could make that claim.

Racism could certainly be the undoing of South Africa. Resentment left over from Aparteid is understandable of course, but it's also self-destructive. IMHO, it behooves the current government to demonstrate that South Africa is stronger now than it was during Aparteid.
 
The end of apartheid was a case of good news and bad news. The good news was that the minority whites were no longer running the country. The bad news is that was why South Africa had such a thriving economy and natural resource exports. The large farm and ranches owned by the Afrikaners were not only huge producers of food crops and livestock but they also employed a lot of black Africans. These successful farms are being broken into small tracts and given to Mbeki's cronies who are promptly failing to produce at the levels of the large farms if at all.
 
Extremely well said, folks.
The end of Apartheid had to happen, but an unfortunate spinoff is that South Africa is now spiralling towards the level of other African countries. Yes, SA still has the best economy in Africa, but it is getting worse.
One form of Apartheid was switched for another. As godofthunder9010 mentioned, there is resentment, but it is carried to the extreme and fuelled by the Regime. The attacks on Afrikaner farmers are unusually cruel and it is seldom that anything of value is robbed - most of the time, the farmer is killed, wife and kids tortured and a weapons stolen - this has lead to around 40 000 of the original 80 000 farmers fleeing from their farms or being killed, thus, no more crops are being produced. Our grain and food imports have grown considerably in the past few years. This mass migration from farms to the cities end other countries have led to even worse unemployment amongst farm laborers.
Despite this, the economy is still one of the best - in fact, the best in Africa. The inerals industry is really huge.
The military problems are not so much lack of funds as it is lack of proper management. The most money spent in the SA military goes towards salaries for the top brass.
 
i reply the posts and comments made on several pages backward on this thread from pages 1 to 5, after i made many months of research and consulted serbving military officers, military analysts and war historians in africa and north america.
my own opinion concluded after my months of detailed research is thus, best country by country ranking for the top ten african military powers is :

1. EGYPT

(too powerful,too strong,too well trained, too well equipped and too experienced to be challenged by any other african country. the world respects egypt's power, they have only been defeated by israel and no country in the world has ever defeated israel since 1948. egypt defeated libya in 1977 war when gadaffi's military was well equipped. libya 400 soldiers killed, egypt 100 killed. libya 21 jets shot down, egypt 6 jets downed. libya 100 tanks and APC destroyed, egypt almost no tanks lost )

2. ALGERIA

(it will shock any country that tries to fight algeria, very well equipped with large numbers of modern army and airforce,yet people don't know. algeria is a silent big power and they train a lot, no country has dared to challenge algeria in north africa's hostile and volatile region)

3. NIGERIA AND SOUTH AFRICA SAME POSITION

(nigerian army is stronger, south african airforce is stronger, a balance of power. both have a navy built for peculiar territorial needs and may just match each other in combat.the world respects nigerian artillery and infantry skills. south african army and and airforce have poor combat history, they almost lost their only major war fighting cuba that traveled 12,000 kilometers away from home for the african bush war in namibia to engage south african forces that traveled only1,000 kilometers away from home. i am only ranking south africa on a joint number 3 position because they manufacture and stockpile very modern military equipment, but not in very many numbers though. they have a moderate number of very good frigates, submarines, jest fighters and self propelled artillery.

nigeria has an unbeaten track record of 100% military success in wars and my own research records show that nigerian army has never retreated on any battle frontline. nigeria won all its wars, biafran war of almost half a million soldiers engaged on both sides, liberia war with over 50,000 soldiers engaged on both sides, sierra leone war with over 40,000 soldiers on both sides engaged, sudan/darfur war, and today in mali's war with nigerian army and air force jets fully deployed just yesterday. south africa has tactically avoided any major battle zone hostility since it lost to cuba over 20 years ago. south african military is often overrated by those who do not research into its combat history, producing and stockpiling weapons does not win a war, you have to prove your capabilities in real live battles and not simulations)

4. ETHIOPIA, ANGOLA, AND SUDAN SAME POSITION

(ethiopia has a battle hardened well tested army and air force,combat experience nation against nation,its airforce flew warplanes against italy over 70 years ago! respect ethiopia. angola and sudan have latest jet-fighters and massive tanks/artillery firepower with many years of real combat experience in big civil wars)

5. MOROCCO, ERITREA, UGANDA SAME POSITION

(morocco has good jet-fighters,but its soldiers are not first-class on land and air combat. eritrea is a small nation with powerful airforce and army having many years of serious battlefield experience. uganda has a modernized airforce with good jet fighters and a moderately experienced army with good commanders)

anybody on this website with a different research result ? please bring it on with proofs and records to confirm. thank you gentlemen.
 
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I would look or the one with the most stable government and the most friends, rapidly followed with good resources with those some one will always step in and bail you out, for a price of course
 
South Africa had a very good military until 1994 when the ANC took over, who then systematically destroyed it as they were terrified of a military coup. The standard today is appalling, the army is a joke, the air force sent a cadre of affirmative action pilots to the UK to be trained by the RAF, each and everyone failed the course and the IQ testing, and the navy are 75% HIV. I could go on and on. Zimbabwe is another joke.
 
The newcommer Agaugust may actually have a point here.

Algeria has been a more or less forgotten and silent corner of Africa, though they have had relative peace with their neighbouring countries, they still have experienced serious problems with rebels and terrorist groups trying to destabilise the government.

Even though yesterdays action in the hostage case seemed chaotic and poorly managed, the performance was far better than I would have expected from a north African armed force.
And allthough it seemed like someone jumped the trigger yesterday, it may be some pieces of information we don't know yet.

Algeria may very well be a military power to count in here.
 
Africa's humans army or animals army? If countries had an army just consisted of their animals, Africans would have had the strongest army in the world.
I like their animals wildlife a lot and I always watch documentaries about Africa's animals. Savannah is a real battle field but for animals. I think Savannah means shambles in African language.
 
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Africa's humans army or animals army? If countries had an army just consisted of their animals, Africans would have had the strongest army in the world.
I like their animals wildlife a lot and I always watch documentaries about Africa's animals. Savannah is a real battle field but for animals. I think Savannah means shambles in African language.

Which of the thousands of languages do you mean? South Africa alone has 11 official languages.

Is this thread within the forum rules???
 
of course ,South Africa.

The South African military today are a joke, the army is badly trained, badly equipped and poor quality troops, most of the fighter jets are grounded as there are no pilots to fly them and the Navy is 75% HIV positive.

The Army in Botswana is far superior, they are well equipped and trained by the British Army. I know, I've seen British troops training them.
 
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