Page 194 - Afrika Must Unite

NEO-COLONIALISM IN AFRICA 179
in the working of the Community constitution and has even
succeeded in making some of the clauses inoperative.
The coming together of Senegal and Sudan in the M ali
Federation secured them a joint independence within the Com­
munity, subject to the French retention of a military base. The
Mali Federation, because of the difference in the political atti­
tudes of the leaders, M r Leopold Senghor and M r Modibo
Keita, has since divided once more into its national parts,
Senegal and M ali. Houphouet-Boigny followed by demanding
independence for the countries of the Conseil de Is Entente,1
Ivory Coast, U pper Volta, Niger and Dahomey, without pre­
ceding agreements. Sovereignty has since been conferred on
Togo, the Congo Republic (Brazzaville), Chad, Gabon,
Cameroon, the Central African Republic (formerly Ubangui
Shari), and M adagascar. And at last, Algeria has wrested
independence after seven years of bitter fighting.
Now that African freedom is accepted by all except the die­
hard racialists as an inescapable fact, there are efforts in certain
quarters to make arrangements whereby the local populations
are given a token freedom while cords attaching them to the
‘mother country5 rem ain as firm as ever. This arrangem ent gives
the appearance of nationhood to the African territory but leaves
the substance of sovereignty with the metropolitan power. A
certain token aid is pum ped in by the colonialist power in order
to mislead the people and give the impression that something is
being done for them. It is m eant to divert the nascent demand for
a change of government involving more positive independence
and a programme envisaging popular welfare. The intention is
to use the new African states, so circumscribed, as puppets
through whom influence can be extended over states which
m aintain an independence in keeping with their sovereignty.
The creation of several weak and unstable states of this kind in
Africa, it is hoped, will ensure the continued dependence on the
former colonial powers for economic aid, and impede African
unity. This policy of balkanization is the new imperialism, the
new danger to Africa.
Its mechanics are simple. In the dynamics of national
revolution there are usually two local elements: the moderates
1 Council of Understanding.