Independent Africa Ought To Abolish International Borders!!

[Somalian_Boqor]

Independent Africa ought to abolish international borders drawn by the colonial powers?

I am personally for an honest and less Europeanized map of Africa.

Continental borders of Africa are today almost exactly as they were at the time of independence 50 years ago change is needed!!!

[LobsterUnit]

rubbish.

[Somalian_Boqor]

Muammar al-Qaddafi isn't exactly known for brilliant ideas on maximizing political justice; his own country, Libya, is essentially his private fiefdom. But a few weeks ago, he had a pretty good one: to partition Nigeria, "the giant of Africa," as he called it, in half. Religious violence along the border between the country's north and south seemed to have drawn a pretty clear battle line; Nigeria's massive and massively diverse population seemed to warrant separate states. After years of watching this oil-rich country of 150 million struggle to manage its obvious divides, Qaddafi just gave voice to what others must have been thinking: Time to split Nigeria up.

But in Africa, the declaration fell on deaf ears. Nigeria recalled the Libyan ambassador and firmly rejected the idea. Even for a continent accustomed to Qaddafi's antics, this time the Libyan leader went too far. Talking about redrawing continental borders -- which are today almost exactly as they were at the time of independence 50 years ago -- is something of a cardinal sin. But Qaddafi did not exactly repent. He had misspoken, he said: Nigeria should not be split in two, but perhaps into three or even four nations.

Silence about borders has become Africa's pathology, born in the era of strongman leaders that followed decolonialization. Loath to lose any of their newly independent land, the continent's leaders upheld a gentleman's agreement to favor "stability" over change. Today, the unfortunate result is visible in nearly every corner of Africa: from a divided Nigeria, to an ungovernable Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), to the very real but unrecognized state in Somaliland. Borders created through some combination of ignorance and malice are today one of the continent's major barriers to building strong, competent states. No initiative would do more for happiness, stability, and economic growth in Africa today than an energetic and enlightened redrawing of these harmful lines.

Like it or not, talk of a new map is echoing around Africa today for one very clear reason: Sudan, the continent's largest country by landmass, is scheduled to hold a referendum vote next January, in which the people of the country's autonomous south could decide to secede. <<<(This is what we need for Somaliland) Many see the prospect of instability as threatening. Yet there is no better time to rethink the tangled issue of African borders. If it works in Sudan, perhaps other countries should follow.

In fact, many thought the borders would change back in the late 1950s and early 1960s, when most African nations broke free from colonial rule. "An aversion to the international borders drawn by the colonial powers, if not their complete rejection, has been a consistent theme of anticolonial nationalism in Africa," wrote the scholar Saadi Touval in 1967. He went further, pretty much summing up the problems that still persist today: "The borders are blamed for the disappearance of a unity which supposed existed in Africa in preolconial times; they are regarded as arbitrarily imposed, artificial barriers separating people of the same stock, and they have said to have balkanized Africa. The borders are considered to be one of the humiliating legacies of colonialism, which, according to this view, independent Africa ought to abolish."

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2 ... _a_new_map

[gedo_gurl]

Hmmnnn well Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Burundi and Rwanda are already on the case...its happening already mate

[Somalian_Boqor]

Not really!

[gedo_gurl]

Not really!

Why?

[nomadicwarlord]

Hmmnnn well Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Burundi and Rwanda are already on the case...its happening already mate

East African Federation with a single currency. Most Tanzanians don't favor this federation due to its size and fear the issue of land scarcity and growing population in Africa.

SB - I agree with your question but I think the original founders of OAU made sure they keep these artificial boundaries intact. There will be a shift of power.

[Somalian_Boqor]

Not really!

Why?

It's all empty promises that's why.

[gedo_gurl]

SB - not the kind of answer I wanted.

Nomadic warlord - Tanzania actually has a lot of land, and a lot of land that they want...need..to be farmed on. Ignore the xenophobia for now.

[Somalian_Boqor]

gedo_gurl I working on a paper, will give you a longer explanation later inshallah.

[gedo_gurl]

gedo_gurl I working on a paper, will give you a longer explanation later inshallah.

Thanks, InshaAllah later. This is a very interesting development

[nomadicwarlord]

SB - not the kind of answer I wanted.

Nomadic warlord - Tanzania actually has a lot of land, and a lot of land that they want...need..to be farmed on. Ignore the xenophobia for now.

That is the only objection they have with the federation. The government is on par with the union but the people are skeptical. I like the integration for the betterment of the region and the continent.

[gedo_gurl]

It's happening whether those backward Tanzanians want it to or not. They willingly allow white, Indian, Chinese etc to work and live there with much worse consequences for their economy. This is hardly something new either, they stupidly put an end to the union and now they are merely reviving a revised version. Economically and socially, this will be the best thing to have happened to that nation. The only thing worrying them is the threat of war. They only object to it because they are the only nation in that union to not have a serious war/violent outbreak, they think it will spread and destroy the peace (the only thing besides, arguably, Kilimanjaro they have going for them) .

[nomadicwarlord]

It's happening whether those backward Tanzanians want it to or not. They willingly allow white, Indian, Chinese etc to work and live there with much worse consequences for their economy. This is hardly something new either, they stupidly put an end to the union and now they are merely reviving a revised version. Economically and socially, this will be the best thing to have happened to that nation. The only thing worrying them is the threat of war. They only object to it because they are the only nation in that union to not have a serious war/violent outbreak, they think it will spread and destroy the peace (the only thing besides, arguably, Kilimanjaro they have going for them) .

One of the most stable countries in Africa. Their economy will fall in place sooner or later.