West Africa and the Politics of Decolonization
By Aderemi Ojo
At the first meeting of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), after Nigerian President Bola Tinubu was elected chairman, Tinubu warned the regional leaders against the specter of modern imperialism haunting the continent. "We should serve a warning to exploiters," he said at a meeting with West African leaders in Abuja, "that our people have suffered enough." Earlier in the speech, the Nigerian leader had told his counterparts in the ECOWAS that "we will not allow coups after coups in the West African subregion."
Tinubu made overly zealous statements that, taking into account recent happenings in the region, may not be entirely unfounded. Between 2020 and 2023, West Africa witnessed a series of military coups. In particular, the Mali coup of 2020 seemed to have triggered a domino effect in the region. The stretch of countries across the Sahel belt of Africa, from Mali on the Atlantic toward Sudan by the Red Sea, has now garnered a reputation as "The Coup Belt." In 2020, Mali's military seized power, and in 2021 neighboring Chad, Guinea, and the East-Central African nation of Sudan were pulled into the vortex. Burkina Faso experienced two military coups in 2022 and 2023, and just after Tinubu's exhortation at the ECOWAS Summit, Niger Republic's democracy gave way to a military junta.
The coup leaders in each country had various excuses for toppling their national governments, but a common theme emerged across the region: all claimed to have carried out the coups out of necessity to win freedom from foreign exploitation for their countries. This view is arguably accurate. Despite decades of decolonization efforts–which were often bloody affairs requiring clarity and courage–West Africa still grapples with reliance on its former colonizers. Practically, Western colonizers designed the region's economic systems, encompassing currency, trade, and food production, to consign West African countries to third-tier status within the global capitalist system. This history puts the region in an underdevelopment context that lends the coup-makers a measure of legitimacy.
AN ABRIDGED HISTORY OF COLONIZATION IN WEST AFRICA
However, the question of colonization and decolonization is complicated in the modern context. In 1885, at the famous Berlin Conference, Africa was partitioned by the imperial powers of old, including Germany, Britain, France, Belgium, and the Ottoman Empire, among others. This was colloquially called the “Scramble for Africa.” In West Africa, from 1890 to 1918, the Europeans brutally suppressed the natives, carving up spheres of exploitation and creating dominions that were forced into exploitation by the existing global superpowers over a period of the next half-century. European colonizers reorganized the economic systems of various African states, which had sustained civilizations for ages, to meet the needs of the imperial powers. While exchange between West Africa and Europe became widely uneven, European colonizers took over agriculture and mining to feed the industries of Europe during the Industrial Revolution. West Africa was ruthlessly exploited.
Beginning in the 1950s and through the 1970s, West African countries tossed off political domination by attaining flag independence, but the economic arrangements endured. Nigeria is the perfect case study of colonizer efforts to maintain control over formerly colonized territories. The staff of the colonial office in London tried every trick up their sleeves to retain British influence over the Nigerian economy.
Across various levels of British administration, including the Colonial Office, there were discussions about the future of foreign trade in postcolonial Nigeria. British oligarchs and financial institutions pushed for provisions in the 1960 independence constitution of Nigeria for representation of Western financial interests in the federal and regional parliaments. The Colonial Office suggested that an Economic Advisory Committee (EAC), which would include African and European firms, be established to direct economic policy or at least influence it substantially.
When Ghana gained independence, then-President Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana identified this phenomenon as "neo-colonialism." Nkrumah wrote in his 1965 book Neo-Colonialism, the Last Stage of Imperialism that colonialism had not ended; it had only morphed into a more subtle form that was no less effective against African states than the brutality of colonialism. Notable intellectuals of African political thought, particularly Tanzania’s former President Julius Nyerere, espoused similar views.
NEOCOLONIALISM’S MODERN CHALLENGES IN WEST AFRICA
As it happened, Presidents Nyerere and Nkrumah–as well as other early leaders of the anti-colonial movements–passed away one after another, leaving behind an unfulfilled desire and struggle to decolonize. The British, French, and Portuguese left the region's governance structures to indigenous ruling elites, although exploitative activities continue to dominate the continent’s economic life. As the effort to win economic freedom continues unresolved, economic and political needs in the modern world have undergone changes. New economic realities have infiltrated the discussion on decolonization, and new crises have emerged.
Emerging powers, notably China and India, have joined the scramble to exploit economic and political power in Africa. Sitting atop enormous natural resource reserves, Africa holds a never-before-seen economic potential in the world. Its fifty-four votes at the United Nations General Assembly hold negotiating power, and with 17 percent of the global population, Africa is a huge potential market for foreign goods. These economic and political advantages are enticing to both existing and emerging global powers in a multipolar world. The Chinese are engaged in intense mining activities in five African countries including Guinea, Zambia, South Africa, Zimbabwe, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Recently, Nigeria turned down Elon Musk's proposal to mine lithium there but offered China a license. Russia, on the other hand, is trying to pick up where the USSR left off, building political and economic influence across the continent.
The fact that the continent’s economic and political potential lie untapped in the hands of the political elites irks ordinary people. A 2022 poll in West Africa suggested that the majority of people in the region want to participate in the selection of their leaders, although they think democracy on the continent is flawed and seem to express various forms of skepticism. Speaking at the University of Waterloo in January 2010, economist Dambisa Moyo sounded the alarm. She emphasized the urgency of reformed governance if democracy is to survive on the continent. Economic hardship, hunger, poverty, and insecurity have endured for such a long time that political freedom has little meaning to ordinary people living across the region. Nigeria, for instance, is the largest African country by population, home to one of the world's largest populations of school children, and recently named the poverty capital of the world. For a population enduring such kind of suffering, it is easy to conclude that democracy has been ineffectual.
These economic and social problems are reasons why, in spite of Tinubu's warning, ordinary people living in the region have tolerated coups. The continent is inhabited by a population that has grown weary of the endless presence of colonial powers on its shores. It is natural, therefore, that any means of throwing off the fetters of imperialism are welcome. In this sense, Tinubu's statement about "serv[ing] a warning to exploiters that our people have suffered enough" rings true.
THE CLASH OF IMPERIALISMS
On one hand, the African continent is subject to the antiquated culture of military coups and the often misunderstood concept of decolonization. On the other hand, the region faces emerging risks in the form of neocolonial partners like China and Russia. Finding no regional or Western allies, as former colonial powers like France are now mistrusted, coup leaders in Mali, Niger Republic, and Burkina Faso looked eastward for urgently needed assistance.
After isolating itself and squandering any goodwill Russia might have following its invasion of Ukraine, the Kremlin has reverted to Cold War tactics. The vacuum in junta-controlled West Africa offers Russian President Vladimir Putin an opportunity to make desperately needed friends. In exchange for raw materials that Russia needs for industrial production, the Kremlin will provide food and military support to junta leaders in Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso. Clearly, this exchange does nothing to advance the decolonization of African countries. Instead, The leaders have succeeded at locking themselves in a complex situation. They kicked out one form of imperialism only to welcome another iteration of it.
Throughout July 2023, ECOWAS threatened coup plotters in Niger with military intervention. Had ECOWAS gone through with the threat, a Cold War-style proxy war might have engulfed the region with Russia and the West playing active roles. Niger has requested military assistance from Russia's mercenary organization, the Wagner Group, whereas the United States and its allies can use resources from AFRICOM to fund ECOWAS military units.
If Africa is to escape the grip of greedy exploiters, and if West Africa is to shed its reputation as a Coup Belt, leaders must decisively complete the rigorous and complex tasks of decolonization and economic recovery. West African leaders need comprehensive plans for reviving the region's economy. The people need security, affordable healthcare, physical infrastructure, clean water, education, and jobs. They want their governments to wage a genuine fight against corruption and tackle insecurity with results.
Aderemi Ojo is an administrator, researcher, community organizer, speaker and writer. Currently, he is Archivist and Associate Researcher at the National Archives of Nigeria, Calabar and Research Fellow at Institut français de recherche en Afrique —IFRA, Nigeria. His podcasts on Nigeria's history appear on major podcast platforms including Spotify, Google podcast and Anchor FM. His writings have appeared on reputable platforms including The Cable, Modern Ghana and This Day Live. He is a prolific keynote speaker and research presenter at Nigerian and international platforms. He obtained a certificate in history and diplomatic studies in 2015 and a bachelor’s degree in history in 2023 from the University of Ibadan in Nigeria.
West Africa. 5-63. is by the U.S. Library of Congress and is in the public domain. Image used in header is cropped.
