From the 1884 Berlin Conference to BRICS+ in 2025
In the winter of 1884, European diplomats gathered in the salons of Berlin to agree on rules for the colonisation of Africa. Around the table, no African nation was invited. The continent that was to be divided was absent from the room. Lines drawn with European rulers and ink carved up territories and peoples, not according to their own choices, but according to the competition for resources and markets among imperial powers. This moment became a turning point in the “Scramble for Africa”, and it set in motion a long century in which African rights and interests were structurally sidelined. ([Al Jazeera][1])
The Berlin Conference did more than redraw borders. It hard-wired an economic logic into the emerging world order: Africa as a supplier of cheap raw materials and a captive market for manufactured goods; Europe and, later, Western-led institutions as the centres where value, rules and profits were decided. The result was a pattern of extraction, debt and currency dependence that kept most African countries at the bottom of global value chains, even when political independence was formally achieved. ([Wikipedia][2])
Almost 140 years later, debates about the future of the global order take place around a very different table, under the label BRICS+. What started as a club of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa has now expanded with new members such as Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, the United Arab Emirates and, most recently, Indonesia, turning the bloc into a broader and more diverse coalition of major emerging economies. ([brics.br][3]) For the first time, several key African states are not only objects of global governance, but active co-authors of financial, trade and infrastructure rules.
South Africa has long held the first African seat in BRICS, giving it a platform to articulate the concerns of Southern African and wider continental agendas. With Egypt and Ethiopia joining, the BRICS+ map now anchors three strategic points on the continent: the south, the north and the Horn of Africa. Egypt links the Mediterranean, the Nile and the Suez Canal, serving as a gateway between Africa, West Asia and Europe. Ethiopia, with its large young population and vast hydropower potential, is emerging as a pivotal node for East African connectivity and energy transition. ([Peoples Dispatch][4])
Beyond these full members, a wide range of African countries have signalled interest in joining BRICS or becoming close partners, from Algeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo to Angola, Nigeria and Uganda. ([African Business][5]) The DRC, which we previously analysed in BRICS-Bridge, has expressed strong interest in deepening partnerships with BRICS countries. With world-class reserves of cobalt, copper and other critical minerals, it could move from being seen as a mere “mineral pit” to becoming an engine of green industrial value chains, provided that the rules of the game are rewritten more fairly. ([TASS][6])
What, then, does it mean for Africa to “rewrite order”. First, it means reclaiming the right to set the terms on its own resources. For decades, the bulk of value has been captured outside the continent. BRICS+, if used wisely, can become a collective bargaining platform for moving from raw exports to shared industrial investments, technology partnerships and long-term value creation on African soil.
Second, it means reshaping financial architecture. The long experience with conditional lending and austerity has eroded human and institutional capacity in many countries. Instruments such as the New Development Bank, South–South infrastructure funds and local-currency settlement arrangements, if aligned with African strategies, can open breathing space in which debt becomes a tool for development rather than a permanent trap. ([European Parliament][7])
Third, rewriting order requires breaking the mental trap of “there is no alternative”. For years, many governments were told that only one development model was viable: rapid privatisation, unilateral trade opening without a solid productive base, and near-total reliance on a single reserve currency for international transactions. Today, BRICS+ offers room for experimentation with new combinations: more diversified currency baskets, active industrial policy and smarter integration into global markets, without isolation but with a clearer defence of domestic priorities. ([PubAffairs Bruxelles][8])
Fourth, Africa rewrites order when its key states become recognised “nodes” of the new system. South Africa, Egypt and Ethiopia can form three complementary axes: a southern axis, a northern axis and a Horn of Africa axis. The DRC, Angola and Zimbabwe, as part of the Southern African Development Community, are positioning themselves as potential BRICS partners; Algeria and Nigeria, as energy powers, and Uganda and other new partners are approaching BRICS as a platform to amplify their voice in efforts to reform global financial and trade rules. ([Valdai Club][9])
BRICS+ on its own, however, will not perform miracles. History shows that any multilateral framework can become an empty talking shop if members do not drive it with coherent agendas. The real meaning of “Africa rewrites order” will emerge only if African states, building on instruments such as the African Union and the African Continental Free Trade Area, use BRICS+ to push specific priorities: fairer terms for raw materials, better recognition of Africa’s young workforce, and the design of green and digital corridors that bring the continent from the margins to the centre of global connectivity.
If the Berlin Conference symbolised a century in which global order was written on the body of a continent absent from the room, BRICS+ can become the opening chapter of a century in which that same continent holds the pen. Africa now faces a choice: remain a playing field for other powers, or become an architect of the rules that will govern its future. “Africa rewrites order” is not a slogan; it is an invitation to use the opportunities of BRICS+ to restore rights that were denied for generations and can now be reclaimed within a fairer global architecture.
Map of the European presence in Africa since 1884:
https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1_MxtfH2c8FhXaHIkc1mzlc7YGz2wAol0
Alireza Mohammadi, Coordinator of House of Wisdom
Global Order Expert
[2]:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin_Conference?utm_source=chatgpt.com%20%22Berlin%20Conference%22
[3]:
https://brics.br/en/about-the-brics?utm_source=chatgpt.com “About the BRICS”