Removal from the West

West Africa, from the Trans-Saharan routes of commerce in the 8th through 17th centuries, to the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, propelled and perpetuated by European racial ideology and economic motives, has always played a vital role in commerce and the maintenance of global might. And yet, this system, long set and enforced by the Western handbook, beyond the independence of African states from foreign powers, has from the turn of the 20th century become increasingly contested. Through self–preservation and a retraction from former colonial powers, West African nation states are redefining the geopolitical landscape.

In an interview with TheSwissBox Conversation, a private media platform based in Switzerland, Nathalie Yamb, a prominent activist and diplomat of Swiss Cameroonian origin, remarked that “when the United Nations was created, there were many African states that were still colonies, and thus were not a part of the United Nations.” In this way, many African states were not present in the making of the United Nations in 1945, following the end of World War II, as the majority of African countries (and most notably, West African nation states) would not reach full sovereignty war or peaceful protest until the 1960s. Thus, the fundamental organizer and building block of the globalized world, was ultimately founded, as Yamb later argues, on the basis of exclusion.

Further, until the 1990s, it was France that would manage and pass resolutions that concerned Africa, itself, and the former colonial powers, such as the United Kingdom. In turn, the newly sovereign nation states, across the African continent, were never truly sovereign. They had been hyphened by the European continent and continued to be manipulated and contorted to fit their agenda. And in West Africa, France would lead this push.

Since the decolonization of Western Africa in 1960, the French military has intervened over fifty times on the African continent in the name of counterterrorism and peacekeeping operations, with a significant presence in the region of the Sahel where jihadist insurgencies, in the 2010s, bounced from Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso—all former French colonies. And yet, this system, this neocolonial network (otherwise known as Françafrique), has in recent years, become increasingly controversial to a growing dissatisfied populace. While, at the same time, broader ideologically backed social movements began to take root. One movement in particular, Pan-Africanism, has become a simultaneous defense.

Pan-Africanism, with roots tracing back to the late 19th century, has been used as a general term for various movements in Africa where there exists a shared goal to bolster the unity of Africans and eliminate both colonialism and the pains of white supremacy from the continent. Although born under the peak of colonial rule, this movement has extended well into the 21st century. Under this same guise, West African nation states are implementing this ideological framework into reality.

On September 16, 2023, to ensure mutual defense and protect against insurgencies, Burkina Fasso, Niger, and Mali, signed the Liptako-Gourma charter, ensuring a means of stability in the Sahel region, all the while promoting Pan-Africanism’s legitimacy. Ultimately, the Liptako-Gourma charter works to promote sovereignty of African nation states through the means of confederation.

In lieu of turning to the oppressor, in lieu of coughing up national resources for military aid, Burkina Fasso, Niger, and Mali, are all exhibiting and displaying sovereignty through means of unification. West African countries are working inwards, and defying insurrection from the ground up.

And yet, according to Yamb, “this scares the West because if Africa units, if Africa reintegrates itself, the continent will naturally become much stronger.” Yamb states here that the potential for a united, integrated Africa will create a larger, stronger entity, that cannot be easily coerced by European powers. It creates an Africa that does not depend on former colonial rule to squash insurgencies (such as those in the Sahel) but creates an Africa that is built on internal collaboration—a fostering of strength that returns security and wealth back to the continent.

In a similar style, Cote d’Ivoire, along with Gabon, Chad, Senegal, and Burkina Faso (as well as the respective countries of the Liptako-Gourma charter), severed military ties with France. Solomon Ekanem, an editor at Business Insider who specializes in African economic and political development, noted that “the wave of expulsions of French influence from former colonies in Africa reflects a deep-seated shift in geopolitics, nationalism, and a growing rejection of what is perceived as neocolonialism.”

Control, whether military or economic, on the shores and in the interior of Western Africa, is no longer welcome. African governments are using the confederation as a means of defense against Western encroachment. These incidents are not isolated. Rather, according to Ekanem, there is a growing movement toward internal cooperation and self-reliance.

Conversely, this removal from former colonial powers has sparked new potential for foreign investment outside of France’s (and the European Union’s), sphere of influence. The Robert Lansing Institute cites the withdrawal of French influence as an opportunity for global superpowers such as Russia and China to assert their economic might upon the region.

However, regional powers such as Nigeria and Ghana might also see this shift in political might as a means for greater dominance of the region, an opportunity that does not involve foreign influences, though could perhaps intensify regional rivalries.

West Africa is displaying clear signs of a retraction from former colonial influences. To fill the void France left, some West African states are confederating to bolster their regional power and retract from foreign powers as a whole. And yet, as the geopolitical landscape begins to shift, with China beginning to expand its sphere of influence in the form of infrastructure deals and plans for greater economic stake in the region, new powers and regional rivalries may begin to take shape in West Africa and the greater continent.

As a crossroads of trade, religion, and greater social movements, West Africa has always been—and will continue to become—a hotspot of economic potential and political rivalry. And yet, this system long laid out by the former colonial powers, is changing cards. Though only the future can decide its fate.