EDITORIAL: Pre-colonial borders a fantasy that will drown Africa in blood
The calls by some Namibians and Africans at large for a return to pre-colonial borders may sound romantic - a dream of reclaiming identity, sovereignty, and historical justice. But in truth, it is a dangerous fantasy that threatens to plunge the continent into chaos and carnage.
Yes, the borders we know today were drawn in European boardrooms by colonial architects with little regard for ethnic, linguistic, or cultural realities. That is a historical fact. The case of the Banyamulenge community - rooted in Rwanda but now part of South Kivu in DRC due to arbitrary colonial lines - is one such example of a people stranded in a country not of their choosing.
Closer to home, the Caprivi Strip (now Zambezi Region) bears the mark of Berlin Conference cartography and has remained a lightning rod for fringe secessionist sentiment. But even within Zambezi itself, those demanding secession are a tiny minority, and their calls are met with resistance by fellow residents who feel Namibian. That’s internal division before national government even enters the frame.
In the north, the situation is no less precarious. The Ovambadja and Ovakwanyama peoples, whose cultural footprints extend deep into Angola, would have every reason - under the logic of pre-colonial reclamation - to claim that vast areas of Angola are, in fact, Namibian. That alone would spark a regional war.
The hard truth is that Africa cannot afford to re-open the colonial map. Undoing these borders would unleash a bloodbath. There is no version of that exercise that does not end in tribal wars, mass displacement, and continent-wide instability.
The real struggle is not about land demarcations anymore. The demand must be for inclusive, representative governance and equitable distribution of resources within the nation-states we currently have.
Yes, the borders we know today were drawn in European boardrooms by colonial architects with little regard for ethnic, linguistic, or cultural realities. That is a historical fact. The case of the Banyamulenge community - rooted in Rwanda but now part of South Kivu in DRC due to arbitrary colonial lines - is one such example of a people stranded in a country not of their choosing.
Closer to home, the Caprivi Strip (now Zambezi Region) bears the mark of Berlin Conference cartography and has remained a lightning rod for fringe secessionist sentiment. But even within Zambezi itself, those demanding secession are a tiny minority, and their calls are met with resistance by fellow residents who feel Namibian. That’s internal division before national government even enters the frame.
In the north, the situation is no less precarious. The Ovambadja and Ovakwanyama peoples, whose cultural footprints extend deep into Angola, would have every reason - under the logic of pre-colonial reclamation - to claim that vast areas of Angola are, in fact, Namibian. That alone would spark a regional war.
The hard truth is that Africa cannot afford to re-open the colonial map. Undoing these borders would unleash a bloodbath. There is no version of that exercise that does not end in tribal wars, mass displacement, and continent-wide instability.
The real struggle is not about land demarcations anymore. The demand must be for inclusive, representative governance and equitable distribution of resources within the nation-states we currently have.
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Namibian Sun
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