TINASHE SITHOLE | Africa without borders could help continent prosper — what’s getting in the way
There is a pressing need to revive Pan-Africanism to foster peace and unity in defiance of rising political and economic instability — but how?
Image: BOLDG
The vision of a “borderless Africa” is one of unity and shared prosperity for the continent. It is rooted in the ideals of the Pan-Africanist movement.
There are contradictions, however, between those ideals and the realities of governance on the continent.
There is an urgent need to revive Pan-Africanism to foster peace and unity. Internal divisions, structural poverty, poor governance and competing national interests have undermined Pan-Africanism over the decades. Political and economic instability are on the rise. The escalating conflict in Sudan has the potential to destabilise neighbouring countries.
Historically, Pan-Africanism began in earnest with the first Pan-African Conference in London, in 1900. Influential leaders and movements championed it, notably in the wave of African liberation between the 1950s and 1970s.
The formation of the Organisation of African Unity in 1963 marked a critical step towards uniting Africa. Leaders committed to creating a United States of Africa. But they often undermined unity through domestic authoritarian practices, power struggles and governance failures.
My academic research has examined domestic conflicts that have affected many parts of Africa. It has analysed ethnic conflicts in Sudan, Rwanda and Kenya, state-sponsored election violence and coups in Lesotho and Mauritania. It shows that political intolerance, bad governance and social marginalisation fuel instability and conflict within African countries.
In my latest research paper exploring Pan-Africanism and Africa’s developmental challenges. I argue that unity can only be realised if African states first address critical domestic challenges.
Challenges to Pan-African integration
Many regional initiatives emphasise cross-border integration and development. The African Union’s Agenda 2063, a framework for socioeconomic transformation, is one.
The goals of Pan-Africanism are at odds with the desire of political elites to maintain power in their individual countries. They see open markets as a threat to their authority
Agenda 2063 envisions a peaceful, prosperous and globally competitive Africa. It advocates for projects focusing on infrastructure, trade and empowerment of youth and women. But bad governance and socioeconomic inequality within individual nations undermines these ambitions.
For example, the poor governance of mineral resources in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has fuelled violent conflict. More than 5.6-million people are internally displaced, 1-million are exiled in neighbouring countries. Armed groups exploit the country’s mineral resources, worsening instability and undermining regional integration by creating cross-border humanitarian crises.
To bridge the gap between the ideals and practice of Pan-Africanism, African leaders must commit to:
- resolve domestic challenges and systemic contradictions; and
- foster equitable development that transcends national borders.
Resistance to open markets
The goals of Pan-Africanism are at odds with the desire of political elites to maintain power in their individual countries. They see open markets as a threat to their authority. The African Continental Free Trade Area shows this tension. It officially entered into force on May 30 2019 and trading under its framework began on January 1 2021. However, Nigeria, among other countries, initially delayed participating. It feared that cheaper imports would harm domestic industries and displace local jobs.
Agricultural sectors in less industrialised African nations are particularly vulnerable. They fear that competition from more industrialised African economies would hurt local farmers and deepen inequalities. For example, Botswana and Namibia banned South African vegetable imports in December 2021.
Botswana said the ban was meant to be good for local farmers and the economy. But it restricts free trade, creates cross-border supply barriers and puts national interests first. This blocks regional integration goals. Botswana’s new government has begun lifting the ban.
Internal strife
Structural poverty, governance failures and ethnic politics in some countries are barriers to national unity. Political power is contested along ethnic lines, deepening divisions.
For example, former Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe was celebrated as a Pan-African leader for his strong stance against western imperialism. His legacy, however, shows he undermined elections through state-sponsored violence. He also weakened national unity by eroding democratic processes. Political persecution and economic collapse on his watch fuelled a refugee crisis, causing resentment and tension in Southern Africa.
Uneven benefits of regionalism
Regionalism has been championed as a pathway to Pan-African unity. Yet its benefits are uneven. The Economic Community of West African States has successfully promoted stability and peace and mediated conflicts in Liberia and Sierra Leone.
However, political instability, unequal resource distribution, corruption and weak infrastructure hinder broader progress. This includes expanded trade networks and stronger regional governance.
Mozambique, for example, is experiencing post-election unrest. And a deadly insurgency in the northern Cabo Delgado province has raged since 2017. These examples highlight how Mozambique’s political leaders have failed to address local grievances, instead fuelling violence and conflict for their benefit. This is at the expense of domestic unity, peace and development.
A belated military intervention by the Southern African Development Community in July 2021 failed to end the insurgency.
What needs to be done
A stable, inclusive and equitable domestic foundation is the basis of regional integration. For example, countries could use a framework that makes decision making and resource distribution more inclusive. This could promote national cohesion.
Without addressing internal governance crises, structural poverty and ethnic divisions, African states will remain fragmented. If they cannot unite their own nations, can they ever hope to unite as a continent?
Practical action to meet governance challenges together would strengthen Pan-Africanism.
One approach could be to establish a “cross-border unity and action forum” to help communities, business leaders and civil society bodies share best practices. They could also develop regional projects and take on common challenges.
Lastly, a “Pan-African local action network” could connect grassroots bodies, community leaders and small business forums across Africa.
Local entrepreneurs in agriculture or technology could work with counterparts in other countries through exchange programmes. They could establish regional business incubators, or simplified cross-border trade agreements. These connections between citizens would drive unity, shared accountability and solidarity.
A borderless Africa
Pan-Africanism is often used to deflect responsibility for domestic failures while offering superficial solidarity.
Without addressing internal governance crises, structural poverty and ethnic divisions, African states will remain fragmented. If they cannot unite their own nations, can they ever hope to unite as a continent?
As Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana’s first prime minister and president, stated: “If we are to remain free, if we are to enjoy the full benefits of Africa’s rich resources, we must unite.”
• Tinashe Sithole is a postdoctoral research fellow at the SARChI Chair: African Diplomacy and Foreign Policy, University of Johannesburg
This article was first published in The Conversation
The History of Pan Africanism
“Pan Africanism can be said to have its origins in the struggles of the African people against enslavement and colonisation” Dr Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem (Pan Africanism: Politics, Economy and Social Change in the Twenty-first Century) And this struggle may be traced back to the first resistance on slave ships – rebellions and suicides – through the constant plantation and colonial uprisings and the “Back to Africa” movements of the nineteenth century.
However, it was in the twentieth century that Pan Africanism emerged as a distinct political movement initially formed and led by people from the Diaspora (people of African heritage living outside of the Continent). In 1900, the Trinindadian barrister – Henry Sylvester Williams – called a conference that took place in Westminster Hall, London to “protest stealing of lands in the colonies, racial discrimination and deal with other issues of interest to Blacks”.
This conference drafted a letter to the Queen of England and other European rulers appealing to them to fight racism and grant independence to their colonies. It was the African American scholar and writer, Dr W.E.B. Du Bois who convened the first Pan African Congress in 1919, in Paris, France. Again it demanded independence for African nations. Further congresses – essentially extended meetings of like-minded Africans searching for a way forward - were held in 1921 (London, Brussels, Paris), 1923 (London and Lisbon), 1927 (New York).
Each reiterated and refined the demands for rights and freedom and built support for the cause. However, perhaps the most significant was the 5th Congress held in Manchester in 1945. For the first time, a large number of Africans from the Continent were present and the meeting provided impetus and momentum for the numerous post-war independence movements.
This Congress also reserved the right of the colonised, once peaceful methods had been exhausted, to use force to take forward their struggle for self-determination. Just over a decade later in 1958, Kwame Nkrumah, first leader of independent Ghana called a meeting in the capital city, Accra, of all the independent African states – Egypt, Sudan, Libya, Tunisia, Liberia, Morocco and Ethiopia – in order that they should recommit themselves to supporting independence for the rest of the Continent.
By 1963, there were 31 independent nations. Some were agitating for immediate Continental political union while others favoured slower steps towards unity.
Emerging from the exchanges between the two camps, the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) was formed in May, 1963. Throughout the twentieth century, cultural Pan Africanism weaved through the politcal narrative – the Harlem Renaissance, Francophone philosophies of Negritude, Afrocentrism, Rastafarianism and Hip Hop. Artists of African origin and heritage have found inspiration in and been drawn to exploring and communicating their connections with the Continent.
Post-independence, a new generation of African writers – such as Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka, Bessie Head gave voice to issues that could be recognised throughout the Continent (links to other pages from the key words here). The 6th Pan African Congress in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania in 1974 took place fuelled by the radical Black movements sweeping the Diaspora espousing militant Black pride and fighting white domination with Black separatist organisation.
The Congress was attended by 52 delegations from Africa, the Caribbean, the Americas, Britain and the Pacific. Disappointed by the OAU's lack of engagement with the Diaspora, this Congress restated the global unity of Black peoples struggling for liberation.
Inspired by the principles of self-reliance being instituted by the Tanzanian president Julius Nyerere, many hoped also to give concrete support to the new wave of independence movements in Angola, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau, Zimbabwe and South Africa – but the Congress was unable to create clear structures to enable such action.
The 7th and last Congress in Kampala, Uganda in 1994 sort to rectify this by setting up a permanent organisational structure to carry forward decisions taken at the Congress meetings. Still, divisions and debates remained – was Pan Africanism a movement of the people or had it now been taken over by governments, were Black Africans of Sub-Saharan origin the only true Africans? Pan Africanism is no different from any other broad based and passionate political movement.
It contains diverse and sometimes opposing opinions about the best way to fulfill the common objective of the self-determination of Africa and African peoples around the world. The 7th Congress aimed to reconcile differences and create a wide and open coalition of all citizens of African countries and Diasporic people of African heritage who wished to commit themselves to the liberation of the Continent and the Diaspora.
There have been no further congresses but Pan Africanism remains a vital force in Continental and Diasporic culture and politics.
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