Book Description

This work focuses on the early years of independence and the problems African countries faced soon after the end of colonial rule. Many of those problems still exist today. They include poverty and underdevelopment; adoption of alien ideologies and economic and political systems; structural flaws of the modern African state and its institutions inherited at independence; nation-building, democratization, national integration, and ethnoregional rivalries among others. It is also a historical study of the continent since the partition of Africa by the imperial powers and of the struggle for independence. It also focuses on the continent's demographic composition, shedding some light on the complexity and diversity of the world's second largest continent. The history of Africa's indigenous peoples and their earliest contact with foreigners provides a background to this telescopic survey. The sixties was one of the most important decades in the history of Africa and this work provides a balanced perspective on those years when Africans celebrated the end of colonial rule on their continent. It is a compact study covering a vast expanse of territory from the advent of imperial rule to the attainment of sovereign status for African countries during the sixties and the problems they faced in those years. As a demographic portrait, it excels in depicting the continent as a tapestry that reflects the racial diversity and multiethnic composition of this vast land mass, the second largest after Asia. And as a historical and political analysis, it addresses some of the most important issues in the post-colonial era including the Cold War, with the Congo figuring prominently in the analysis as thefirst theatre of combat and super-power rivalry in the early sixties on the African continent. The dawn of freedom provided opportunities and challenges for the young African nations as they tried to modernize and consolidate their independence in a world dominated by major powers and contending ideologies. It was a rude awakening to the harsh realities of nationhood. One of these was the desire by the major powers to turn African countries into client states as the two ideological camps, East and West, competed for world domination. As Julius Nyerere warned, "We are not going to allow our friends to choose our enemies for us." One of the most contentious grounds for this hegemonic control was, of course, the Congo, right in the middle of the continent. It became the bleeding heart of Africa as the country was turned into a combat theatre mainly between the surrogate forces of the West and the Congolese nationalist forces supported by a number of African countries and by the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China. The Congo imbroglio since the turbulent sixties mainly as a result of foreign intrigue and intervention is one of the most important subjects addressed in this book. And it raises serious questions that have profound implications even today for a continent mired in conflict; this time ignited by the Africans themselves in many - but not in all - cases. Yet, prospects for the world's poorest and most embattled continent are not bleak if Africans seek their own solutions to their own problems in this post-Cold War era of globalization dominated by the industrialized nations. The book includes many photos from the early sixties, the dawn of a new era when Africancountries won independence, which Oginga Odinga described as "Not Yet Uhuru."