One Jose Ortega y Gasset noted, “We have need of history in its entirety, not to fall back into it, but to see if we can escape from it.” Africa’s predicament in world politics is what one of the prominent African sons, Kwame Nkurumah feared and urged African states to immediately unite to fight neo-colonialism.
The 1648 Westphalia Treaty signalled the end of thirty years of perennial, destructive wars that destroyed Europe and created a fissure for European powers to release their existing problems. It was a time for Europe to think outside the land. A move from the feudal mode of production created a number of problems which bred both internal wars and wars of expansion. Each country needed to expand within Europe; weaker nations were subsumed and co-opted by the victors. External expansion also meant acquiring new areas for obtaining necessary wealth.
Africa, the only unoccupied continent by the foreigners then, became a casualty to European powers. Despite the fact that the Portuguese had already occupied some parts of Africa, it was termed as unofficial occupation. Asian traders in Africa (especially the Eastern part of Africa) had established their residence in the area but did not dominate East Africa. They were preoccupied with trade as opposed to subjugation.
The Berlin Conference of 1884/5 marked the official occupation of Africa by Europe. This came as a result of the reporting and discoveries done by European geographers, explorers, traders and missionaries. European countries subdivided Africa amongst themselves. Some countries like France captured African lands to compensate the loss of Alsace and Loraine from the Franco-Prussia war. Big European powers like Germany got in Africa to check the activities of their rivals.
In the mid-1950s, African countries battled to regain their independence from their colonial masters. While most of them gained independence, it didn’t make a big difference as the exiting powers had divided Africa into segments that were loyal to them. We had the Paris Africa (Francophone), the London Africa (Anglophone) and the Lisbon Africa (Portuguese Africa). Since then, the toughest task of the emerging African leaders has been to unite these three Africas.
The end of the cold war came with a lot of hot spots in Africa. Bloodshed was the rule of the game. The former colonial masters fought on the African continent covered in African masks. The war is still on. Anglophones and Francophones are pitted against each other in Africa as they struggle to control the continent’s wealth. Rwanda, for example, is a designated entry point in Central Francophone Africa i.e. DRC, CAR, Congo Brazzaville. After a successful conversion of Rwanda into Anglophone, the same is used as a channel to other Central African countries.
The struggle for global power is intense with the resurrection of Russia on one hand and the rising of China on the other. The US with their allies want to maintain their power. The unipolar system is heavily shaken. Who is going to be a Messiah for Africa under such a situation? Who will offer Africa leadership to navigate the effects of the global power struggle? Should the African population and natural resources be plundered and looted and more blood shed? Is there any hope for Africa to get out of this mess?
