Introduction

Whenever I shut my eyes down to sleep I wonder if the people on other continents feel the same darkness I see. I thought the black blanket on my way to doze was only meant for the land of darks. Still, I am closing my eyes, on the surface of this darkness was a spirit of Pan-Africanism and it was said to let there be light in the mainland stirring hope for the populace and there appeared a scattered light across the continent. The bigger lights- Patrice Lumumba, Kwame Nkrumah, Thomas Sankara, Atse Menilik and Nelson Mandela, were shining during the early days. But the darkness was so deep that the lights were wiped out with only a few able to sustain their beams. The night sent a figurative message by literally burning Patrice Lumumba into ashes, the only remaining discovered was his tooth.

Burning the gold… 

Patrice Lumumba was the first democratically elected leader of the Belgian Congo; even if he hardly made it more than two months in his revolutionary ideas of disenfranchisement, independence and self-determination of his landmass. He was thrown from his position by a Belgium-backed opposition leader who loaded him with colonial bullets and he was burnt with sulphuric acid. Days after they killed him the news was broken for the public as if Lumumba was killed by a mad member of a tribe after escaping from a prison. But people were very aware of what took place. Belgian Embassies across the world were flooded with demonstrators sending them a message they could no longer trick these people. His body was discovered a year later in 1961, his whole bones and flesh were burnt into ashes. The only thing that remained was his golden-capped molar tooth, which was later taken by fleeing colonisers.  It was returned after 60 years of Belgium’s stay in 2022. 

Roasted piece… 

I am not a dentist out here concerned about a rotten tooth replaced by a golden one which survived a sulphuric acid ordeal. Rather I am worried that  African lights are continuously being burnt down. Previously it was slavery and colonialism that burnt us. It was a direct divide-and-rule principle. Africa was divided into edible pieces of bites via the Berlin conference. African local rulers cooperated with the colonisers in showing their resources and lands. The West divided them according to its own interest arranging the geographical and social mindset conducive to securing their stake. The same fire kept serving them a roasted piece of Africa. These factors enabled them to extend their control until now via the hidden hands of Neo-Colonialism.

The artists with black ink…

The political maps of the current states in Africa stem from the boundary commission design which was composed of European cartographers. These artificial boundaries are inappropriate in terms of ethnic composition and economic benefit. Taking the case of East Africa, the ethics of Somalia was divided between Ethiopia, Kenya, Djibouti and Somalia; Afar was segregated into Djibouti, Eritrea,  and Ethiopia; Anwak between Sudan and Ethiopia, Oromo between Ethiopia and Kenya. This boundary has also penetrated inside a country dividing it between different ethnic groups. On the face of this dozens of literature full of fabricated stories that instigates hate among inter-groups that share borders were continuously produced which were in turn adopted by the African elites. Africa chose not to alleviate this issue but to endure the ethnic clashes which were indirectly or directly related to issues of colonial boundaries. Weapons are purchased using large foreign currencies spending more than 50% of annual budgets for the military, they lose a huge number of productive forces, during which other economic activities will remain stagnant and this installs poverty- the operating platform of Neo-Colonialism. This colonial scar can single-handedly be responsible for the dark colour of the continent.

Colonial strings…

After 1960 Africa was left with a destabilized community which didn’t have a social and psychological flow. The people didn’t know anything but war. They were constantly preoccupied by the fear they would lose their freedom again by a neighbouring force, which was the dread mirrored from the colonial era. They used to spend extra energy preparing for each other. This era launched Africa into the pre-planned realm of neo-colonialism from the strings of colonial archery.

Africa’s Congenital anomaly

Except for a few places, Africa was deprived of an economically sounding political map. Pastoralists and Nomads lost access to water and a wide range of land, populous countries became landlocked and obliged to pay up to 20% of their budgets for renting a port, rivers that cross borders became reasons for conflict restraining the potential to produce energy and agricultural products, and lack of ports invoked their significance in international diplomacy further affecting their economy. The centre-periphery relation was distorted. Some of the lands even look like a hundred-meter running track, which was previously artificially designed as a tunnel for transporting goods to the ports. Africa is made to be crippled to live by the Western aid on a needed basis. This is like a child born with a lethal congenital anomaly who has to visit a hospital frequently for the rest of his life until his death.

Conclusion.

If we remain bound to the artificial lines and mindset that divided us it is difficult to escape the grip of the darkness. We should reach an agreement to recognize the pest and to solve it from the roots. We have escaped colonialism because everyone adopted a resistance which was first ignited by countries like Ethiopia, even if the rising of the new world order also contributed to it. Our lights were burnt, but there are still fragments of them inside our hearts. Lumumba’s tooth will stand as a symbol of changing the rotten Neo-Colonial system in Africa with a new one with our red blood, golden heart and evergreen natural resources which will stand the burning power of the darkness.