by Peter Mwaura
Friday, January 14, 2011
Will international support for Southern Sudan’s self-determination rekindle Africa’s waning, and in some cases forgotten, self-determination movements?
For example, will the Saharawi people of Western Sahara, Africa’ only remaining colony, now be in a better position to push for their self-determination?
Or is the lesson learned that you can only achieve self-determination after a long and bloody fight?
The right of self-determination is often submerged in other issues. Experience shows that the right depends on geopolitics, economics and state practice (state’s sense of legal obligation).
Consider Biafra, which declared its independence from Nigeria some 40 years ago. The Igbo people retreated to their homeland after two major pogroms in which up to 30,000 Ibos were killed. On May 30, 1967, they declared independence.
According to President Julius Nyerere of Tanzania, the only country that recognised Biafra, the Igbo had a right to secede. He argued that they had suffered in the hands of other Nigerians and Tanzania felt obliged to recognise Biafra.
“Only by this act of recognition can we remain true to our conviction that the purpose of society, and of all political organisation, is the service of Man,” he said.
The international community supported Nigeria. Britain, the former colonial power, which had and still has economic interests in Nigeria, was a key arms supplier to Nigeria, enabling it to crush Biafra in 1970.
Some of the factors that led to the non-recognition of Biafra can be seen in the case of Western Sahara, which has been struggling for self-determination since 1975 when it was invaded and occupied by Morocco as Spain, the colonial power, abandoned the territory.
Morocco has since then stalled a referendum, to be supervised by the United Nations, to determine whether the Saharawi wants to be part of Morocco or to be independent. Morocco is an important ally of the West.
Because of state practice and geopolitics, most of Africa’s self-determination movements are, in fact, doomed. Such is the case with the secessionist movement in Casamance, the southern enclave of Senegal. The Djolla people of Casamance have been waging a struggle for independence for over 15 years.
Other examples of doomed breakaway movements include the Oromo people, who live in southern and central Ethiopia (also northern Kenya) and the Somali people in the Ogaden region of Ethiopia.
There are other equally unlucky secessionist movements in Angola, Benin, Cameroon, Chad, Comoros, Democratic Republic of Congo, Côte d’Ivoire and Equatorial Guinea, to mention only a few.
Let’s not forget, too, Afrikaners who seek self-determination in a South Africa that is dominated politically by black people.
At the same time, let’s not forget that self-determination, defined as the right of peoples freely to determine their political destiny, is recognised in major international instruments, including the United Nations Charter.
The African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, promulgated by the Organisation of African Unity (now African Union), also provides for the right to self-determination.
The charter, which entered into force in 1986, states: “All peoples shall have the right to existence. They shall have the unquestionable and inalienable right to self-determination. They shall freely determine their political status and shall pursue their economic and social development according to the policy they have freely chosen. Colonised or oppressed peoples shall have the right to free themselves from the bonds of domination by resorting to any means recognised by the international community.”
However, the right of self-determination, both as an international legal construct and as a practice on the ground, is clearly not a cure-all.
As Margaret Ferrari of the UN General Assembly’s Special Committee on Decolonisation, speaking at an October 8, 2007, meeting on the Western Sahara dispute, observed: “There is no magic formula of ‘one-size fits all.’”
Rather, she said, “different territories have different needs and expectations and should be considered on a case-by-case basis”.
Peter Mwaura
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