Do you believe a united Africa is possible?

Question

Libyan leader Col. Ghaddafi has recently announced his intentions to pursue a unitary African state. Is this possible or even desirable? Why or why not?

Answer 1

I offer no opinion on whether a united Africa is desirable, because it's not possible. There is already far too much disunity within many of the 50+ countries that currently exist in Africa. Trying to shove them together into a single country can't work because no one could lead Africa.

Some of the respondents have noted the great Islam/Christianity divide, which certainly contributes to part of the problem. However, there are plenty of conflicts contained wholly within one of those religions' spheres of influence: e.g. Darfur is a Muslim vs. Muslim conflict within Sudan, and DR Congo is a multi-faceted battle in which religion doesn't play any obvious role.

Also, I would be loath to trust the motives of Gaddhafi, who brutally represses his own people. Why would (relatively) free people in places like Kenya or South Africa willingly cast aside their own forms of government in favor of one that almost certainly would be worse?

Answer 2

This is an excellent question.

I believe a unified African is possible, similar to either
1. Europe Common Market but each nation keeps sovereignty
2. Muslim Superstate comparable to what existed in prior centuries & is the goal of bin Laden & friends

# 1 would be good for Africa & the rest of the world, except where there is trade imbalance

# 2 would be very bad for most view points, except bin Laden, Iran etc. who want this

If either come into being, I expect it will be centuries go by because
* Africa is in ruins, civil wars, religious wars

AIDS started in Africa & has done damage there comparable to the Black Death of Europe, maybe even worse than all the Plagues of history. There has been a lot of in denial about medical science, then most all of the people aged 20-50 are dead from AIDS, and the conflicts, the very people who normally run a nation, its middle class etc.

I don't know if Africa started environmental self-destruction before AIDS was started by some incredibly stupid and sinful human beings, or if it is partially due to killing off most everyone except the elderly and children, many of whom are enslaved into child soldiers.

Anyhow, there are lands that used to be rich agriculture, timber exports. All ruined by over-grazing, over-demolished, and then there is the mass blame the west, instead of learning how to fix it.

True, colonialism did a lot of damage historically, but under colonialism, the invaders were not demolishing the economy.

Answer 3

Impossible.

One, Africa has an immense religious division between Christianity, Islam, Hinduism (South Africa), and some other various faiths.

Two, Culture. Th African continent has numerous different cultures.

Three, Governments. Types of Government vary across the continent from a militaristic government in places like Libya, and Parlimentary in South Africa.

Four, Language. An incredible amount of spoken word languages exist on the African continent.

Answer 4

Not at all. Well, not until Algeria/Polisario or Morocco give up on the Western Sahara, which doesn't look like it's going to happen anytime soon. Not until Uganda controls the uprising, not until Guinea Bissau gets rid of its narcs problem, etc etc etc.

And personally, I don't think it's really possible - despite what most Americans are lead to believe, Africa is just so incredibly diverse, racially, linguistically, religiously....

Ghaddafi is a total nutcase, on the other hand.

Answer 5

Here is why, Nigeria has oil, South Africa and the Ivory Coast has diamonds and other precious metals, and there are many other countries in Africa that do to. Then there are countries like Liberia, Rwanda, Malawi etc that bring nothing to the table, how do you convince a nation like South Africa to go along with that. in addition, Ghaddafi isn't leader that has the clout in Africa to pull this union off.

Answer 6

I believe that most of the problems of the thridworld, including corruption and civil war, either stem from or are aggravated by US/European interventionism and otherwise the imposition of their interests. An African Union with strong ties to the developing Latin American Union will secure the economic independence of the resource senters from the centers of consumption (i.e the third world from the first), thereby allowing for the development of African and LAtin American resources without fear of US.European meddling.

Quadaffi's proposition is not only possible, it is desirable. Those stating that tribalism will get in the way are demonstrating such prejudice against the african people that their opinions should be immediately disregarded. The white man is full of hate for the black and brown man. They pretend it is contempt, because they cannot bear our success.

DO you want an example? When the Black Panthers were popular and successful, why did the government murder and imprison its members? The men who rob us and want to control our lives want nothing more than for us to give up. But history has shown that it is possible for the third world to unite.

In the near future, an alliance of Latin American countries, African countries and Arab countries will stand up in alliance and forbid the imperialists from ever stealing our resources again. Until then, all we can do is resist and decry the the murderers who punish us all.

Answer 7

Nope. Tribalism has so far prevented even Unified Countries in Africa. Tribal warfare is pretty constant in just about every Country on the Continent.

But, let's encourage Ghaddafi Duck to try. The more resources he commits to the project, the less chance he has of doing something that might actually be annoying.

Answer 8

Half the countries are military dictatorships run be despots who keep the common people down with fear. And those are the ones that aren't embroiled in endless civil wars. The few truly stable nations in Africa don't trust Ghaddafi, so I can't see this ever happening.

Answer 9

I think this is the biggest impossibility out there for so many reasons - racial differences, religious differences, economic differences, etc. The differences are dramatic and so long standing and for years some of the existing countries in Africa have seen traumatic civil war so how can you solve that and create a country throughout the African continent.

Answer 10

I think the best you could hope for are a few regional alliances or unions. I don't think an EU-style union for the whole continent is in the forseeable future. Certainly North Africa is much different than central and south (little-s) Africa. But certainly such a union could benefit African development greatly.