Coming Revolutions in Black Africa

The book holds that the best solution to the perennial conflicts in sub-Saharan African countries is a rational Federalism through a sensible Federal Autonomy structure. The foundation of these conflicts lies in arbitrary colonial boundaries and arbitrary agglomerations of peoples, conflicts that have been aggravated in each country by the poor management of diversity since independence, conflicts that are contributing in great measure to poor pace of development in Black Africa, to poverty, and to massive human suffering. This advocacy of today differs in degrees from the early Pan-African advocacy of previous years, in which many African youths excitedly participated. The earlier Pan-Africanism sought freedom and independence, and eventually led to independent countries and the concretization of the continental brotherhood now known as the "African Union". Yet, the internal formulation, structure and management of these countries make any form of unity impossible in almost all the countries, and are panaceas for conflict and underdevelopment, and that only a system of careful respect for the various nationalities in each country, a sensible federal structure based on such respect, serious deference to the reality of national diversity, and higher qualities of statesmanship among the rulers of each country, will positively change the direction of Black Africa's modern history - will, indeed, generate positive change and progress, and prevent the kinds of painful (and possibly destructive) change that further and heightened conflicts and human suffering would generate.