Ever wondered why Africa seems to be constantly involved in conflict while the rest of the world’s other continents live in ‘peace’. I was not present during the period prior to the colonisation of this beautiful continent and I do not believe the series of events as documented by a certain Smith or even van der Merwe. Native ancestors did not leave behind any legacies in the form of conventional communication but nevertheless our forefathers shared their experiences with those willing to listen. Popular philosophical views may refer to these foretold experiences as myths, but I choose to believe them.
Colonialists came to Africa and readjusted the geographical borders which the African people had set for themselves. These borders were there for reasons which the white man viewed vague, but today he comes to Africa to talk peace to civil wars. The African nation consists of diverse communities, speaking different languages and practicing different beliefs. They lived separately according to these differences which only make sense, but clearly we all forgot about that today. We have been singing the unity song for far too long to even realise that the very existence of this unity is just a fragment of our imagination. The reason there’s today a civil war in the Darfur region of Sudan, Africa’s biggest country is because of this very reason.
What happened in Rwanda was clearly not lesson enough for Africa as history is repeating itself in the form of Darfur. The Arabs and Africans in Sudan have been involved in a battle that has claimed the lives of more than 250 000 people already and still counting because regardless of the wide publicity, this war is still raging. Could this have been avoided? Yes. Had these people not have been forced to live together for centuries; they would not have to kill each other so the other tribe or ethnic group could prove their superiority above the other. Unfortunately for Africa, the solution as mandated by the powers that be is unity. This is the same unity that guaranteed the materialization of these wars in the first place.
Armies will be deployed into these troubled regions to oversee that there is peace and unity. It is an illusion because up to this day things have not returned to ‘normal’ in Rwanda, Burundi or even the DRC regardless of armies being deployed there. What is normal in Africa anyway? Unity can only be a functional entity in society if it is on an individual basis, e.g. Indian boy dating the white girl. That’s about as real as this unity notion gets. If one expects the Zulu tribe to live together with Bapedi in harmony, then that’s just being unrealistic. South Africa is amongst a handful of other African countries which were fortunate enough not to have been forced to live in mixed ethical groups.
In the 1990s the violent conflicts that broke out in hostels all over the country is proof enough that you can never mix oil with water and expect it to blend. The sooner those in power realise that the only solution to Africa’s heartache is to let the people live separately as they did before colonisation, this continent may just finally be stable.
