Mbeki: Friend to Africa's O.J.

I’m still trying to determine exactly what to think and say about this, but South Africa’s Thabo Mbeki seems extraordinarily tone deaf to the ugliness going down north of his border. It seems right to observe that a Sudan without Bashir may somewhat resemble a giant chicken with its head cut off. Who will dare to suggest that the north country rally ’round Salva Kiir Mayardit?

Then again, who will dare to suggest that the Sudan ought to remain a single country, war-torn and whole? In the African Union archives you will find a “Summary Note on the African Union Border Programme and its Implementation Modalities,” drawn up during a conference lasting for three days in early June of last year. It includes the following language:

Article 4(b) of the Constitutive Act of the African Union lists respect of borders existing on achievement of independence among the principles of the AU. At the same time, the Constitutive Act stipulates that the objectives of the African Union include achieving greater unity and solidarity among African countries and peoples, accelerating the political and socio-economic integration of the continent, and promoting peace, security and stability.

[…] the inviolability of the borders inherited from colonization is considered a principle for Africa, and their demarcation and delineation a priority. The resolve made by the African leaders to retain their inherited borders should not be taken to mean a desire to confine each country within its own designated territory. On the contrary, it means that border delineation and demarcation is a condition for successful integration. A non-defined border is susceptible to being a source of contention, and even conflict. Border delineation and demarcation, in a way, removes its potential nuisance; it opens the door rather than closes it; it allows for a healthy process of cooperation and integration.

Nearly half a century after the political liberation of the Continent, the delineation and demarcation of the borders inherited from colonization still faces technical and major financial problems. Subject to an inventory to be made, it is estimated that less than a quarter of African borders have been defined; this shows the magnitude of the work that African States have to accomplish in order to attain the objective set in the CSSDCA Solemn Declaration, which is, the delineation and demarcation of those African borders that have not been defined by 2012, at the latest.

Indeed. But who has the patience for this daunting assignment? 2012 is a long way away, and a lot can happen between now and then. Letting big African countries fracture into tiny shivers has always seemed like a bad idea. But how could the incomprehensibly murderous recent wars in Sudan and Zaire have been any worse among ‘foreign countries’? How would Ethiopian-Eritrean rivalry be improved upon if Eritrea lost its independence? The task of slowly legitimizing colonial borders, the better to transcend them, is an almost superheroic task, and one loaded with an amount of melancholy and sadness that Europe could at least make an effort to mitigate.

How? I’m not sure yet. Ask Sarkozy. He’s full of ideas.