An Africa of Nations

How could decolonization have happened in Africa so as to result in more ethnically homogenous countries? And what would these countries be? I can think of Katanga, Eweland (or a united Togoland), KwaZulu, Northern and Southern (Southwestern and Southeastern?) Nigeria, maybe Tuareg, Ashanti and Bakongo states, possibly Rehoboth and Casamance, the partition of Eritrea, Sudan, Mauritania, and Chad, an enlarged Somalia, Botswana, Swaziland, and Lesotho. I'd add a divided Libya, since it was on the agenda after WWII, but it wasn't really about ethnicity. Maybe something in Uganda? An Afrikaner state? I'm talking cases where there actually were expressions of the natives' desire for that sort of thing in the late colonial/early independence years.
 

yourworstnightmare

Banned
Donor
Africa mostly wasn't homogeneous to begin with. Most of the old kingdoms were multi-cultural with a dominant people reigning over conquered peoples.
 
OK, here's some ideas of how such an Africa could look like:

1) The Southern Territories (Algerian Sahara), Fezzan, northern Chad, and northeastern Niger are joined together into a Saharan state.

2) A Confederation of Senegambia unites Senegal, Gambia and the African south of Mauritania. The 4th member of the confederation is Casamance, separated from Senegal due to its unique culture. The Moorish north of Mauritania joins either Sahara or a Greater Morocco. If the former, northern Mali goes with it.

3) Greater Morocco would have to be established rather fast, before the Sahrawis start fighting the Spanish colonial regime and develop a taste for independence.

4) Parts of South Africa join Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland. The last is something the apartheid regime actually did plan to do at one point. I'm sketchy on how extensive these transfers would be. An independent Zulu state is also established. The point of this would be to increase the white percentage in South Africa's population.

5) Southern Sudan is made independent while the north of the condominium is made fully Egyptian.

6) The Bakongo-inhabited parts of Angola and the 2 Congos are united. Same for the Ewe-inhabited parts of the Gold Coast and the 2 Togolands.

7) The rest of the Belgian Congo is divided into 4-7 states.

8) Tripolitania and Cyrenaica are kept separate, the former a republic and the later a Senussi emirate.

9) Eritrea is divided between Ethiopia (Akkele Guzay, Denkalia and Serae) and Egypt.

10) The Ogaden and Northern Frontier District of Kenya are made part of Somalia. It may not be possible to get the Ethiopians to renounce the Ogaden for just part of Ethiopia, so give them the Somali port of Zeila to sweeten the deal (they'd been trying to talk the British into giving it up since the '20s).

11) Nigeria is divided into 3 states. The Northern Cameroons join the northern one and the Southern Cameroons the southeastern one.

12) Zanzibar stays separate from Tanganyika.

13) Spanish Guinea gains independence as 3 states: Rio Muni, Annobon and Fernando Po.

14) The Free Republic of Rehoboth is restored.
 
Some very sensible proposals here, with which I agree, especially the part about the (formerly Belgian) Congo and Nigeria being split into several states. These countries were always too large, diverse and unworkable. I was also glad to see South Sudan gain its independence. In my opinion, the Arab north should have been annexed to Egypt when Sudan gained its independence; it never should have been made part of a sovereign Sudan.

Naturally, there are many small ethnicities that could never gain an independent polity, and would have to glom on to a larger state. But multiethnic countries aren't necessarily a bad thing. Look at the example of Switzerland.

Even today, ask someone where the next country to gain independence is most likely to be, and he or she will probably say, Africa. The continent's borders are sure to be adjusted many times in the next century, hopefully without too much bloodshed.
 
2) A Confederation of Senegambia unites Senegal, Gambia and the African south of Mauritania. The 4th member of the confederation is Casamance, separated from Senegal due to its unique culture. The Moorish north of Mauritania joins either Sahara or a Greater Morocco. If the former, northern Mali goes with it.

Senegal and Gambia themselves are multiethnic (Senegal more-so, even without Casamance).


4) Parts of South Africa join Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland. The last is something the apartheid regime actually did plan to do at one point. I'm sketchy on how extensive these transfers would be. An independent Zulu state is also established. The point of this would be to increase the white percentage in South Africa's population.

You can't really partition South Africa without creating something akin to the HRE, their were and are ethnic population centers in lot of places completely diconnected from each other.


7) The rest of the Belgian Congo is divided into 4-7 states.

This is a good idea.


8) Tripolitania and Cyrenaica are kept separate, the former a republic and the later a Senussi emirate.

If the point is to create ethnic nation-states, why would you seperate them given they're both North African Arab?


10) The Ogaden and Northern Frontier District of Kenya are made part of Somalia. It may not be possible to get the Ethiopians to renounce the Ogaden for just part of Ethiopia, so give them the Somali port of Zeila to sweeten the deal (they'd been trying to talk the British into giving it up since the '20s).

I'm going to be blunt, Greater Somalia is not a good idea, yes they're technically the same ethnic group, but they don't even all like each other since what matters is what tribe you're from, not that you're Somali.


11) Nigeria is divided into 3 states.

This is a good idea as well.


12) Zanzibar stays separate from Tanganyika.

I don't think it would affect things either way, but Union of the two does make sense as they have histoicaly been part of a single polity, that ans Zanzibar itself while being religiously homogenous is not ethnically so.


13) Spanish Guinea gains independence as 3 states: Rio Muni, Annobon and Fernando Po.

That really would'nt be feasible, Annobon itself only has 5,000 people and while Bioko could be independent it makes more sense to remain connected to the Mainland.


14) The Free Republic of Rehoboth is restored.

Creating a state of only 25,000 people in the middle of Namibis does'nt seem very logical, plus, IMO they lost any right to a state when they helped the Germans in the Heroror Genocide.
 
Senegal and Gambia themselves are multiethnic (Senegal more-so, even without Casamance).

Yes, and the ethnic borders cross state borders. Since repartition was never in the cards and would have probably been economically disastrous, this is the next best solution.

You can't really partition South Africa without creating something akin to the HRE, their were and are ethnic population centers in lot of places completely diconnected from each other.

I proposed no such thing.

If the point is to create ethnic nation-states, why would you seperate them given they're both North African Arab?

It's actually a political decision. The Fezzan being part of the Saharan state means that it was placed under French trusteeship prior to independence, which leads to the question of what happened to Tripolitania and Cyrenaica. The British administered both regions, but that's different from negotiating a trusteeship over them and I don't think they can pull it off. Neither is Italy getting it. The most likely scenario, assuming a French Fezzan, is British Cyrenaica and Italian Tripolitania (instead of the OTL Italian Somalia). Now the 2 could unite after gaining independence separately, but I expect them to fail at finding a mutually agreeable compromise.

I'm going to be blunt, Greater Somalia is not a good idea, yes they're technically the same ethnic group, but they don't even all like each other since what matters is what tribe you're from, not that you're Somali.

Somali irredentism was very powerful and the current clan politics is the result of having nothing else to fall back on in a time of crisis.

Creating a state of only 25,000 people in the middle of Namibis does'nt seem very logical, plus, IMO they lost any right to a state when they helped the Germans in the Heroror Genocide.

It would depend on the goodwill of apartheid South Africa to survive and I expect they'd secure it. As for the Herero Genocide, nobody cared until much later and it's not at all a good argument. Yitzhak Shamir tried it against German reunification; Slobodan Milosevic tried it against Croatian independence; use it consistently and you won't like where it takes you.
 
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