Ibrahim Hassan Gagale
Sunday April 23, 2023
Sunday April 23, 2023
Your excellency, I heard your opposition to colonial borders in Africa
without presenting substitute solution that would not lead to endless
violent, continental clan wars that would return Africa to Stone Age. It
would be great if each African country has population of the same
ethnicity but it is impossible to have that in the Third World (Africa,
Arab World, Asia and South America). In Africa, subclans of the same
clan inhabit different African countries due to colonial demarcations
without considering clan lineage or ethnicity. That is why the
Declaration of African Conference in 1964 of Reaffirming Colonial
Borders was iissued to recognize and protect African colonial borders as
they are in order to prevent tribal secession wars seeking postcolonial
reunifications that would plunge the whole continent of Africa into
endless violence, anarchy and chaotic tribal wars bringing down African
states.
If African colonial borders are denied or rejected and clans and tribes are given chance to have postcolonial reunifications based on their ethnicity, the consequences in the continent would be dire and devastating because endless, violent wars would erupt between states defending their territorial integrity bound by colonial borders and clans or tribes seeking reunifications with their own ethnicity as colonial borders define the territorial integrity, people, independence and recognition of each African country.
African colonial borders, like Arab World, Asia and South American colonial borders were unfortunately drawn all by European colonial powers and are based on land, not on ethnicity or clan lineage. Existence, peace and stability of Africa depend on respecting, recognizing and implementing colonial borders which are unalterable or unchangeable. Tribal armed factions driven by tribal emotions or tribalism, as it is happening now in Las Anod city of Somaliland, tried before to change African colonial borders by force to unite their clan or tribe after independence but all ended in failure because no country accepts to divide its territory as colonial borders are recognized and internationally legitimate.
Trying to change African colonial borders is like opening can of worms that would return Africa to Stone Age as subsequent results would lead to endless clan wars seeking postcolonial reunifications with gun point as no Africa state wants to lose part of its country and population. It is easy to oppose African colonial borders but it is difficult to change it or replace it. There is no single African country that made its own borders.
FEW EXAMPLES OF CLAN DISTRIBUTION IN AFRICA
To
mention few, Afar Clan inhabits Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Djabouti. Tuareg
Clan inhabits Senegal, Nigeria, Mali and Niger. Fulani Clan inhabitis
Mali, Nigeria, Chad and Cameroon. Lunda Clan inhabits Congo, Zambia and
Angola. Yoruba Clan inhabits Nigeria, Benin and Togo, Somali Clan
inhabit Djabouti, Somalia, Somaliland, Ethiopia and Kenya etc. It is
rare to see an African country whose population is based on single
ethnicity. No country or region in Africa has the right to claim the
land of a subclan inhabiting another African country for reasons of
tribal lineage or ethnicity.
As colonial borders of Africa are unchangeable and all borders are based on land, so are Somaliland Republic borders. As any other African country, Somaliland inherited colonial borders from Somaliland British Protectorate, Somaliland territory and people cannot be divided, its colonial borders cannot be altered or changed and tribal borders cannot be drawn in Somaliland to destroy its territorial integrity and national unity. Somaliland achieved independence before Somalia gaining international recognition on June 26, 1960.
Your excellency, I hope this short article helps you understand how it is difficult to reject or deny African colonial borders and how it is important to keep African current status for the sake of peace and stability.
Ibrahim Hassan Gagale
Email: [email protected]