The New Scramble for Africa: Setting the Stage

This is part (1) of a series that will look at the dynamics of the regions and nations of Africa and the geopolitical implications

The Berlin Conference of 1884-1885 established the ground rules for the European dividing up of Africa, termed the “Scramble for Africa”. Over the next decades, the continent was turned into a set of European-created colonies; divided up between Britain, France, Belgium, Spain and Germany. Only Abyssinia (now Ethiopia) was able to maintain its independence.

Wikipedia

Britain, France, Italy, Belgium and Portugal then used WW1 to gobble up the German colonies for themselves, with Britain the biggest winner in the colony grab. German West Africa (modern day Namibia) and most of German East Africa (modern day Tanzania) were taken by the British Empire. The remains were taken by Belgium, with what are now the modern nations of Rwanda and Burundi, and a small piece added to the Portuguese Mozambique. Kamerun was divided by the French and British, as French Cameroon and British Cameroon.

In the north, the hold of Islam and domestic societal institutions and culture were strong and maintained their dominance. Elsewhere, the European powers imposed their versions of Christianity (Protestantism and Catholicism) and imposed their own socio-cultural institutions to a significant extent. While also exacerbating inter-ethnic conflicts by creating territories that cut across ethnic lines and choosing one ethnic group to act as vassal overseers of a colony; as with the Tutsi in Rwanda and Burundi. The socio-economic fabric was substantially remade into an imperfect reflection of the colonial master, while the chosen ethnic overseer elites were heavily integrated into the colonial society (e.g. going to school and university in the colonial country, trained within the colonial army). Thus was neo-colonial domination embedded on many levels, as shown in the French dominated Gabon:

Gabon was an African country, geographically shaped by the French, colonized by the French, forested by the French, led by a francophone assimilated elite who spoke French, read French writing, received French education, practiced French law, worked for French businesses, and who adopted a French system of government that was additionally dominated by France through a system called ‘cooperation’ (a term coined by the French in a series of military, economic, and diplomatic accords). (Yates 2012, Case Study: Neocolonialism in Gabon, para. 9)

It was only in the post-WW2 period that Africa started to throw off the shackles of colonialism, either by national struggle or by being granted independence by the colonial powers.

With Italy having been defeated in WW2, its colony of Libya gained independence in 1956, along with a Morocco and Tunisia where the populations had established national struggles for freedom. Egypt had gained partial independence in 1922, and after a military coup in 1952 (Nasser) gained full independence in 1956. The largest fight for freedom was that of an Algeria that had been fully integrated as a region of France proper, and had a large French settler population. In an utterly brutal war of independence from 1954 to 1962, Algeria gained its independence and the near total removal of the French settler population. These nations had maintained much of their pre-colonial socio-cultural heritage, including the Islamic religion, and the majority had established national liberation movements and armies. Thus, they were able to form fully independent national states; still of course open to continual Western attempts at subjugation.

At the opposite end of the continent, the white settlers of Rhodesia and South Africa declared their own independence and then fought extended wars against the majority black population. In Rhodesia, the indigenous population won through force of arms and took control of the country (Zimbabwe) in 1980, only to be faced with extensive Western sanctions designed to inhibit the development of the country. In South Africa, the handover to majority indigenous rule was achieved though an integration of the ANC leadership into the white elite; akin to the story of Animal Farm. National liberation struggles in Mozambique (1975), Angola (1975) and South West Africa (1990) lead to independent nations. Tanganyika (formerly German East Africa) gained a negotiated independence in 1961 under the independent leadership of Nyerere. Uganda (1962), Zambia and Malawi (both 1964) gained independence, and also operate as majority-governed relatively independent states. Angola fought an extended war, from 1961 to 1974, for its independence. Namibia achieved its independence through a three decade military and diplomatic struggle.

In the north and the south of the continent, fully functional independent states were established with majority indigenous rule. With South Africa as an exception, as an indigenous elite were co-opted by the still economically dominant white elite. In East Africa, Ethiopia stands out as never being colonized. Its occupation by Italy only lasted from 1936 to 1941, otherwise it stands out as maintaining its own socio-cultural and political-economic institutions. Eritrea was federated with Ethiopia in 1950 and fully subsumed within Ethiopia in 1962, then a three decade war of independence lead to it becoming an independent state in 1993. Djibouti gained independence from France in 1997.

The country of Somalia was formed out of British Somaliland (the northern part) and Italian Somaliland in 1960, and suffered from the differing colonial legacies of the British and Italian parts. In 1991, the ex-British part declared itself independent as Somaliland but is seen by the vast majority of nations as an autonomous part of Somalia. The Western powers have intervened extensively in Somalia to stop a truly local autonomous government from forming after may years of internal strife. Sudan gained independence in 1956, but inherited an extremely diverse ethnic mix which lead to the later civil with the country of South Sudan gaining independence from Sudan in 2011. With both Rwanda and Burundi gaining independence in 1962, but suffering from the ethnic tensions between the Tutsi and the Hutu. After a period national struggle (the Mau Mau struggle), Kenya also gained full independent status in 1963.

In northern, southern and eastern Africa relatively independent and functional nations were created, while of course still being the targets of foreign attempts at a neo-colonial subjugation. Western and Central African nations were not to be so lucky. The Belgian Congo is probably the worst case, with Belgium granting formal independence in 1960 only for the West to conspire in the murder of the first elected prime minister (Lumumba), and the placing of a “strong man” puppet in place. Utterly brutalized under Belgian colonial rule, and then a puppet dictatorship, what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo has continued to be undermined and exploited by foreign powers for its vast mineral resources.

France was only pushed out of Morocco and Algeria through liberation struggles. Its elite were not about to set the rest of their colonial conquests truly free. Instead, it constructed a neo-colonial set of structures, such as the CFA Franc monetary system, widespread regional French military bases, and French corporate dominance. Within this neo-colonial empire, known as Francafrique, were the nations of Benin, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal, Togo (all West African CFA Franc), Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon (all Central African CFA Franc). With the newly independent countries possessing little of the native administrative and professional ranks required to effectively manage and run a nation. There are plans to replace the Western CFA Franc with a new more independent currency, the Eco, but these have been postponed a number of times.

The overlapping ECOWAS free trade, infrastructure and security union has also been dominated by French and US influence in a neo-colonial manner. It had included Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde (separated from Guinea-Bissau in 1980), The Gambia, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Togo; with Mauritania leaving in 2000 and Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger leaving in 2025 to establish their own Alliance of Sahel States confederation. The organization is now dominated by a Nigeria that is closely aligned with the US and UK militaries. The UEMOA economic and monetary union overlaps ECOWAS, headquartered in Burkina Faso, with a membership of Benin, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo.

There has been widespread and continued Western interference in these African nations to remove independent-minded leaders (e.g. Nkrumah in Ghana) or aid local “strong men” in maintaining power against populist uprisings. There have also been extensive efforts through Western state and EU agencies, “independent” NGOs, and the UN apparatus to “guide” the internal institutions and development of these nations.

With the fall of the Soviet Union, and therefore a balance to Western power in the region, Western intervention increased across Africa; even into previously relatively independent nations such as Tanzania. With the return of great power politics, with China (economically and financially) and Russia (militarily) offering alternatives to Western dominance, a new “scramble for Africa” has commenced. In later articles, I will cover the dynamics of this new scramble. These will follow the general pattern above: North Africa, Southern Africa, Eastern Africa, West and Central Africa. One of the biggest recent changes has been the forced retreat of French military and economic influence from West and Central Africa.