Before proceeding to ascertain whether African countries are finding the lost mutual love they once had for each other, we need to take a backward leap into history to trace the undulating love that existed among Africans.
The geographical region we now know as Africa was once a home predominantly meant for gatherers. Our ancestors then moved from place to place across the continent to gather food for survival. As they moved from place to place, they were always shown love. In many instances when a gatherer found it difficult to gather food, fortunate Africans always rallied to provide for the unlucky gatherer. This mutual care created bonding among Africans.
This practice continued until Africans began to integrate hunting following the discovery of Stone Age and Iron Age tools. As these Africans hunted in the jungles, not all of them were always fortunate to kill a game. This would have meant starvation but due to the fire of love and affection, it was common for games to be shared equally with those that were unable to get a catch. This selfless practice left every member of the African community fulfilled and satisfied.
As the population of the region increased, it prompted our ancestors to form small groups. These groups shared things and interacted with other groups across the continent but out of greed and desire for expansion, groups started arming themselves to wage war and conquer powerless groups for expansion. This did not augur well with the conquered groups, as there was always a quest for revenge. The Benin Kingdom for instance spanned over 700 years but became powerful during the 14th century. An unbroken chain of Oba’s who passed the title from generation to generation ruled the kingdom. Kings like Ewuare and Esigie further expanded the Kingdom respectively in the 15th and 16th centuries through military campaigns. Despite the perceived success that accompanied the expansion of the Benin Kingdom and other Kingdoms across the continent, the love that once existed among Africans started dwindling.
When the Europeans started exploring Africa, they noticed that some form of love still existed among Africans. This made them devise measures that would create disunity among us. To achieve this, they first contacted Kingdoms and communities close to waterways and made friends with them. After this, they armed them with superior weapons to raid the hinterlands in search of slaves to satisfy the demand for the slaves in the slave market.
According to the account of the Clotilda (the last slave ship that transported slaves from Africa to America despite the ban on transatlantic slave trade), Powerful Fon warriors who were subject to the king that controlled the port of Dahomey in present-day Benin Republic always used sophisticated weapons that left weaker communities at their mercy. History reported that before slaves were gotten for the Clotilda trip, highly skilled female soldiers known as “Amazons” from Dahomey raided the Yoruba region and some parts of central Nigeria to capture people for slavery. One of the unlucky captives of the Fon warriors was Oluale Kossola who was born around 1841 to a Yoruba family in the Bante region of Dahomey. He was on a farmstead during his late teenage years when an accidental attack from a group of Fon warriors was launched. With the stead taken unawares, their leaders were killed before they were rounded up and taken away as prisoners. They were then forced to trek to the Port of Ouidah and housed in the village of Zoungbodji. This village played a major role in the slave trade business due to its strategic location. From there, they were transferred to a temporary barracoon (Slave cell). The conditions in these barracoons were awful due to the overcrowded nature of the cells. In some cells, slaves numbering 40 were forced into these rooms before the arrival of European slave traders. This made the place serve as a toilet, sleeping and eating abode for the slaves. With little windows fitted into these cells as a measure to provide little oxygen for the slaves to remain alive and prevent their possible escape, many ended up dying from suffocation before the arrival of overseas slave merchants. This singular raid by the Fon warriors created enmity between the Yoruba and the people in Dahomey.
As the exploitation of Africa continued, European merchants and explorers started clashing with each other over the control of Africa. This prompted an administrator from Germany to call for a conference in Germany. After the fragmentation of Africa by European countries during the Berlin Conference, the love among Africans took another nosedive as countries under the leadership of French colonial rule related better with their French counterparts than their English and Portuguese-speaking counterparts.
As the exploitation under Colonial rule reached its peak, Africans became tired of the oppression. This prompted Africans all over the continent to unite in love and fight for the independence of African countries.
After the independence of many African countries from their colonial masters, the love among Africans started growing steadily again. During this period, it was common to hear the adage, which says, “It takes a family to give birth to a child but takes a community to train him”. Communities out of love started sponsoring poor Africans to acquire education for the overall good of the continent. Women too who many times, depended upon agriculture to earn a living weren’t left out as they sold their farm produce to cater to the needs of orphans, strangers, and disadvantaged members of the African community.
From 1960 to 1996, Nigeria for instance actively participated in the liberation of South Africa from the apartheid regime. This was exemplified when Nigerians mounted pressure on the Tafawa Balewa’s government to condemn the inhumane and racist action of the apartheid regime. Nigeria even went further to clamour for the intensification of embargoes, boycotts, and economic sanctions against apartheid South Africa. When the situation got sour for native South Africans, the Nigerian government accelerated her love pedal to issue more than 300 passports to South Africans who were seeking to travel abroad.
Before the Fulani people started taking up arms, there used to be love between them and other West Africans. Since many of them who were from Mali and Senegal practiced the transhumance system of raising animals, it made them migratory. On several occasions when they reach an alien community, they are given a temporary place for accommodation and fed by crop farmers. They in turn too usually showed love to their hosts through the gifts of nunu milk and animals. The love however was extinguished due to the infiltration of criminal elements and irreconcilable differences.
During my childhood days, I always heard stories about how an uncle of mine in the Nigerian military spent many years in Liberia on a peacekeeping mission. I never understood the sacrifice and love Nigeria had for Liberia until I undertook personal research recently. According to General Lucky Irabor, “the Nigerian government spent about $8bn to restore peace in Liberia”. If not love, what do you think would have made Nigeria spend such an amount while catalogue of problems like food insecurity, poor health, insecurity, and illiteracy confront Nigerians? Aside from Liberia, Nigeria also showed love to countries like Cote d’Ivoire, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Darfur, and Sierra Leone through her active involvement in peacekeeping operations.
When the 2022 FIFA World Cup commenced in Qatar, I was amazed at the support African countries had for representatives of the continent during the global fiesta. Despite the absence of football giants like Nigeria and Egypt, public viewing centres across the continents were filled with Africans cheering Morocco during her historic quarterfinal match against Portugal. No wonder, they were able to make history by becoming the first African country to reach the semi-final stage of the FIFA Men’s World Cup.
Most recently, when conflict erupted in Sudan and spread to other parts of the country, more than 8 million people were displaced into Egypt, Chad, South Sudan, and Ethiopia. Were it not for the restored generosity among Africans, I don’t think these refugees would have been absorbed by these African countries.
All these acts by Africans prove to me that African countries are beginning to find the lost mutual love they once had for each other.
References:
https://punchng.com/nigeria-spent-8bn-to-restore-peace-in-liberia-says-irabor
https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1057/97801230623903_2