What If : A Further Fragmentation Of Post-Colonial Africa?

[eretzyegern]

I made this post after being inspired by the alternate history of @Dking527 : What if , in the style of The New Order, Thousand Week Reich, Kaiserreich the new post-colonial countries segmented themselves further? Like when it happened in Ruanda-Urundi (which became Rwanda and Burundi), the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland or the Mali Federation?

I am asking this because I saw often on alternatehistory something resembling a "trope" of "mega countries" like a Greater Morocco, Greater Congo or the United Arab Republic with the two Sudans, or a West African state like the (in my opinion) underrated Red World mod for Hearts of Iron 4.

The idea came when I was trying to "create" with a reasonable motive for a country consisting of Senegal, Gambia and the litoral and most popolated areas of Mauritania.

What is your guys thoughts on this subject?

 

[Retro_Reaction]

The easiest way would be to remove sources of income such as Minerals and Oil that allow small ethnic groups that own the geographical location of those minerals, to have a source of income that allow them to afford arms and weapons to suppress and eventually absorb other ethnic groups.

If a countries main exports are based on labour input dispersed across the whole population, rather than a small segment of the population, the choices for unification are increase the money producing segment of the populations involvement in government, or their seperation if they see no incentive to remain.

 

[Whiteshore]

Could Biafra and Katanga managing to win their independence provide a further precedent for secessionist groups all over Africa?

 

[Deleted member 163405]

Thanks for the shoutout I’m glad I could provide some impetus for discussion. Anyways, while I prefer to think of a better more unified africa, the concept of a more divided one is also interesting as well. I think one easy way this could happen is to have stronger divisions within post-colonial western blocs. Instead of the USA vs the Soviet Union, you could have France, Britain, USA, and the Soviet Union could all be jockeying for power and influence and thus will be more likely to support separatists. So you’d have a more divided and more imperialized post-colonial africa.

 

[TheKutKu]

A brutal european imperial collapse in or around ww2 would certainly help with less time for nation-wide independence elite to form, less developped infrastructures and less eroded traditional authorities.

 

[walmart]

Removal of France would be required for anything in Francophone Africa. Some candidates for balkanization in Africa beyond otl would be the break up of Uganda into various Kingdoms but that would require a colonial pod in the 1950s, Nigeria splitting into three from a different civil war, Ethiopia as result of a defeat in the Ogaden war, and the Congo from an alternate Congo Crisis.

 

[Warthog]

Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland

Was a short term colonial creation (10 years vs the preceding > 50 years of colonialrule).

The independence movements in Malawi and Zambia were clear that Southern Rhodesia wasn't going to democratize anytime soon, so split was inevitable