It's worth emphasizing that the endless claims that "European colonialism" is responsible are not only wrong, but perverse. Firstly, the North African and Middle Eastern countries where dominated by the Ottomans, (Turkey) for many centuries. Europeans only took partial control relatively briefly when the Ottoman Empire was collapsing. During most of that period, the Ottoman Empire was rich and powerful both regionally and across much of the known world, for long periods, much more so than most of Europe. Also, they Arabs were the engine of the international slave trade for centuries. Not just the Atlantic slave trade that Americans generally think of, but the Mediterranean and African slave trades. Virtually all African slaves passed through Arab hands, and the huge Mediterranean slave trade of was Ottoman and Arab. It's sheer arrogance on the part of Europeans and Americans who think they are so all-important. They automatically classify all non-white people as historical victims who aren't entitled to the assumption that they have moral agency.