Name: Lawal Akinkunmi Abdulmuthalib

African Interstate Relations

Question: in what ways does colonial and neo-colonial experience affect the
mentality of African interstate relations?
Introduction
Africans see colonialism as synonymous with material exploitation; cultural
expropriation and anthropological impoverishment... the African survivors of
colonialism suffer gross ego distortion. Their continent has become the most
bastardized and misused continent, and they themselves have been milked dry and
so their self confidence. In one word, they have been dehumanized. Ehusani (1996:32
Africa, the “birthplace of humankind.” and the second largest continent in the world has
been maliciously described as the “dark continent”. This Eurocentric view has been
debunked by the pre-colonial, colonial and postcolonial history of Africa has shown that the
continent has innumerable resources but still experience societal degradation in all facets of
human existence due the effect of colonial mentality. Violence, refugee problem and
destruction of lives and properties are almost daily features in the continent. The continent
of Africa is now seen as a weak and volatile region of the world. Her colonial experience,
refusal to remove the garments of colonial mentality, ethnic tensions, boundary disputes,
border clashes, corruption, bad leadership and puerile followership have all led to her woes,
troubles and calamities as far as stability is concerned. This paper critically examines how
colonialism and neo colonialism affect the mentality Africa interstate relations.
Rejoinder to the Question
The African countries were colonized by different European powers- Britain, France,
Germany, Portugal etc. This has structural implications, for instance those sub Saharan
countries colonized by France avoid much economic relation with those colonized by Britain
or other European power.  This weak structure of inter State relations also serve the neo
colonialists who explore this weakness for their economic gains. These African countries
sometimes have stronger economic, political and cultural relation with their former
colonizers more than the other African countries and other European powers hence
emphasis on Francophone or Anglophone. This emphasis is more among francophone as
France fear British encroachment in her former colonies. Free trade relationship in most
African countries becomes limited as francophone or Anglophone countries reduce the trade
barriers tariffs only within sub- groups (Jhingan 1997:291).

By the 1960s, almost the whole of Africa (including Nigeria, October 1, 1960) with few
exceptions had attained political independence. The Organization of African Unity OAU) was
formed in Addis Ababa in May I963 with the aim of attaining African solidarity and co-
operation. However shortly before the formation of O.A.U, Africa was polarized into two:
radical bloc and conservative bloc. While the radical block called the Casablanca was led by
Ghana with the aim of wanting total break from the colonialists after independence, the
conservative group tagged the Monrovia group was led by Nigeria wanted gradual approach,
and that total break was undesirable because of the small and weak nature of some African
states. To the radical bloc not breaking away implies mere political independence and not
economic independence. One thing common to the independent African states from the
onset was that it was not all that easy for them to put off the garments of colonial mentality,
which greatly affect the success of OAU and its eventually replacement by the AU.
 Again, there appears to be an internal rivalry between the Francophone and the Sub
Saharan Africa especially in West African. This is manifested in their different pursuits of
economic policies despite the fact that they all belong to one sub-regional economic bloc-
ECOWAS. With the exception of Guinea, all other francophone countries in West Africa are
still tied to the apron-strings of their former colonial master-France. In fact, they have
always done their things their own way in total disregard of the larger political economic
interest of SSA countries. (Ademuyiwa, 2007:4). Also language barrier among Francophone
or Anglophone is another issue that affect Africa interstate relations, language among citizen
during trade and commerce often lead to disagreement among trading partners.

These francophone countries also formed monetary union among themselves without
recourse to the ECOWAS. They also adopted a common currency amongst themselves- CFA
Franc. This spurred the remaining countries, that is the Anglophone West African countries;
Nigeria, Ghana, Gambia, Sierra Leone and of course, Guinea, to form the West African
Monetary Zone (WAMZ) with the intention of adopting a common currency too though with
little success these division and antagonism within these states are plots by political
leadership within Sub Saharan Africa to hampers the efforts of common economic bloc in the
region (Ademuyiwa, 2007:4-5).

Borders disputes, the crises in Sudan and Kenya where killings, maiming other
violent acts are carried out daily are case studies of African restlessness in wars of
destruction created by colonialism. Such conflicts cannot be settled within Africa, as external
assistance is usually sought especially from the western world not minding the security
implications. African countries no doubt face a lot of crises including problem of nation
building and legitimacy. At the external level, government of one country could have
constant border disputes as we have between Somalia and Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia,
Mali and Burkina Faso. Both domestic and external conflicts may lead to erosion of
governmental authority as resort to arms importation.

Conclusion

Most African countries are now governed by civilian leaders with democracy, as the order of
the day. It is however sad to note that in spite of this development, Africa is still a weak and
volatile continent in the globalizing world system as pervasive and persistent violence has
confounded efforts to improve economic performance in the region. It was not up to a
decade after independence when most African countries started borrowing heavy amount of
money from the western world especially their erstwhile colonial masters. To such countries,
political independence had been eroded since economic independence was no longer there,
resulting to dependency, cultural imperialism, and mental inferiority.

Reference

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Cohen, B. J (1973) The Question of Imperialism: The Political Economy and Dependence.
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