Perilous Nationalism In Africa

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29273, 3 August 1960, Page 12

Perilous Nationalism In Africa

Throughout the continent of Africa constitutional changes are being made with bewildering swiftness. Recently the crisis in the Congo has monopolised world attention that might normally have been shared by events in a dozen African capitals. More important results have been a compelling emphasis on the perilous problems of nationalism, doubts whether the accepted timetable of constitutional advance is prudent, and the introduction of a potentially crucial • factor—the United Nations—to moderate and guide the exuberant passions of early independence. In the Congo the United Nations for the first time isscontributing directly to the shaping of a “ black ” African republic. If it accedes to Congolese requests for financial and technical assistance, a precedent will be set for international co-operation to help newly-independent African States over their difficult formative years. This augurs well for the future peace and economic stability of the emergent Africa. It should not be forgotten that the anarchy which independence brought to the ill-prepared Congo Republic has been unmatched in any of the other new States. Generally Africans have approached their increased responsibilities cautiously. Britain’s policy has been to grant independence to its territories only after long and careful preparation; but the

other colonial Powers—France, Belgium, and Italy, for example —have not been so prudent The urge towards autonomy is infectious; and the apparent ease with which other territories have shed their colonial ties is increasing the impatience of all Britain’s African subjects to achieve self-government This tendency could threaten the future of Africa, where the creation of power vacuums invites opportunist intervention. With the lifting of European restraints, tribal rivalries are revived and racial stresses intensified. The premature departure of European administrators is much likelier to result in economic and social disorganisation than in the progress for which the African peoples hope. In areas where constitutional changes have far outstripped social and economic advances the granting of ’ independence to small, tenuously-united States is always fraught with the risk of chaos. Far-sighted African leaders deplore this balkanisation of their continent Some advocate a United States of Africa, from which the Union of South Africa and perhaps the Rhodesias would be excluded. but which would embody the enormous latent strength of all the native Africans. The prospect of

such a union among hundreds of racial groups appears remote. No continent is shrouded with more uncertainties than Africa; none is poorer in trained indigenous leadership, none more vague in its international purpose. Since mid-June four newlyindependent African States have been created: the Federation of Mali, consisting of Senegal and Soudan, on June 20; the Malagasy Republic (Madagascar), on June 26; the Somali Republic, consisting of the British Protectorate of Somaliland and the former Italian Somalia, on July 1; and the Federal Republic of the Congo, also on July 1. Mali and the Malagasy Republic achieved independence within the framework of the French Community under the terms of General de Gaulle’s promise to ensure selfdeterpiination for all France’s overseas territories. Arrangements have also been made for other French territories in Africa to gain autonomy. The Somaliland Protectorate, granted independence by Britain on June 26, chose to be associated with neighbouring Somalia as soon as the latter ceased to be a United Nations trust territory under Italian administration. Belgium, faced with increasing African resistance and tribal dissensions, abdicated its authority over the Congo at two round-table conferences in Brussels earlier this year. Britain’s deliberate approach to constitutional changes in the Commonwealth has not eliminated the birthpangs of new nations, but it has avoided many of the hazards that beset Africa’s newest States.