At a National Security Council meeting of the Tunisian government in late February 2023, President Kais Saied triggered racist attacks against black African immigrants, describing them as perpetrators of violence and crimes, and attempting to change Tunisia’s demographic composition. His statements, which highlighted some of the racial issues that have impinged unity in Africa, led to waves of violence and abuse against thousands of Black Africans who reside, school and work in Tunisia. This is despite the fact that black Tunisian citizens make up 10 per cent of the country’s population.
A not too similar but also disturbing situation is playing out in the ongoing Sudan crisis, where Egypt, another North African country, is requesting visas and payments from Nigerians trying to flee from the conflict, under emergency rescue arrangements organised by the Nigerian government. The implications of these events, what they mean for true unity and development in Africa, and the possible collaborative foreign policy response by Nigeria and the United States (US), are of main concern.
As a result of President Saied’s actions, quite a number of the estimated 21,000 sub-Saharan African immigrants in the country suddenly lost their jobs and housing. Hundreds of them were arbitrarily arrested and held in bad detention centres, with many, including those with Tunisian passports, facing racial abuse on the streets.
Many immigrants subsequently camped outside the International Organization for Migration headquarters in Tunis, while some sought refuge in their home countries’ embassies. In response to these attacks, many African countries launched repatriation schemes for their citizens, which is a sad tale for African unity – or any thoughts of it.
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Tunisia’s legislature passed the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination Act in 2019, which defines and criminalises racial discrimination, a first for an Arab country. Also, that this event occurred in a country that prides itself as the first Muslim country to officially abolish slavery in 1846, says a lot about the actual state of things between Africans from south of the Sahara, and their counterparts from North Africa.
Together with the experience of Nigerians fleeing Sudan in the hands of Egyptian authorities, and other recorded cases, it can therefore be safely argued that it is not just a Tunisian problem, but a problem in North African countries. It also further underscores the somewhat unsettled issue of whether Maghreb countries are Arab, or African.
This racist event to a large extent, makes a mockery of grand socioeconomic plans by the leadership of the continent led by the African Union (AU). Plans such as AU Agenda 2063 and the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) can hardly be achieved if such relations among component parts of the continent exist.
So, what can possibly be done to address this dichotomy between Africans from south of the Sahara, and North Africa?
Well, in times of such crises, victims and interested persons look up to certain countries to play leadership roles, towards resolving these problems. Nigeria is the most populous and largest economy in Africa and south of the Sahara, and it is only normal that victims look up to countries such as Nigeria to play a redeeming role.
The expectation on countries such as Nigeria is backed by precedence, as it is similar to the role she played in the fight against the apartheid government in South Africa, where Nigeria became a ‘frontline state’. Besides this, Nigeria has also played leading roles in providing political support to other African states, such as through the ECOWAS Monitoring Group (ECOMOG), in which $3 billion and $8 billion were spent by Nigeria in Sierra Leone and Liberia respectively, in bringing the civil wars and political conflicts in both countries to an end, between 1990 to 1998.
Contemporary socioeconomic circumstances, however, mean that Nigeria may not be able to provide such unilateral international support, as part of its active diplomacy. Government budgetary provisions for such international diplomatic responses have been on the decline, which makes frontline and ECOMOG-like interventions not feasible.
Such challenging circumstances, however, require some innovative moves and foreign policy entrepreneurial approaches, or partnerships, for desired goals to be attained. Doing nothing is definitely not an option.
This is where the US Strategy Towards Sub-Saharan Africa of 2022, comes in. It is among the main overt foreign policy strategy documents that the well-resourced US foreign policy establishment has, for its engagement with African countries, south of the Sahara.
Published by the Executive Office of the President, National Security Council, this US foreign policy document has as part of its strategy, a resetting of its relations with African countries, as part of ‘A 21st Century US-African Partnership’. Under these partnerships, there is the objective to bolster civil society, through which there will be efforts at addressing racial justice and inequality.
Also, part of the strategy is to transcend geographical seams, where the US aims to deepen cooperation with African countries, to ‘address the artificial bureaucratic division between North Africa and sub-Saharan Africa’.
It is this particular partnership opportunity that the foreign policy arm of the Nigerian government should explore, in addressing the racial challenges that black Africans face in North Africa. Working together with the US government, Nigeria can lead other like-minded African countries to work with the US in engaging North African countries, toward ensuring that the causes of these racial attacks are addressed, as a means of ensuring that they do not occur again.
Given the long history of the trans-Saharan slave trade, as well as its outcomes, holistically addressing these issues will require years of engagement, and as such, significant resources. This proposed partnership with the US allows for leveraging of resources by both countries, for effective and efficient policy outcomes.
This proposed partnership, where there is closer cooperation and administrative teamwork between sub-Saharan African countries and North African countries, provides an opportunity for resolving other socioeconomic challenges that require close cooperation between both blocs, such as insecurity, climate change, trafficking, and water management, among others. It also enhances the chances of implementing the AU Agenda 2063 and the AfCFTA.
For the US, working with Nigeria in this regard is more efficient, as it reduces the risks and costs that are associated with more US physical presence if it takes a solo lead.
A more united Africa also enhances the business prospects for US businesses, with the implementation of continent-wide economic agreements such as the AfCFTA. The AfCFTA when fully implemented, becomes the fifth largest economy in the world, with combined GDP of over $3.4 trillion.
It is important to state that not all non-black North Africans share the rhetoric and orientation of the Tunisian leader that sparked off these latest crises. Indeed, there were protests by some Tunisians condemning such racist behaviour. Also of note is the attempt by Morocco, a North African country, to join the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) on February 24, 2017 as a member.
ECOWAS is the AU-recognised Regional Economic Community (REC) for West Africa, located in sub-Saharan Africa. These are some of the opportunities and sentiments that can be harnessed in the drive to smoothen bureaucratic and socio-economic relations between both blocs.
Another point to note in this effort is the inability of North African countries to successfully cooperate among themselves. The Arab Maghreb Union (AMU), which is the AU-recognised REC for North African countries, has hardly been functional. This inability of AMU to function is due to the disparities in relations between the member states consisting of Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, and Tunisia, since its establishment in 1989. Egypt applied to join in 1994.
Nigeria can deploy its experience in leading ECOWAS for AMU members, with transferable skills for the improvement in relations between both blocks. And a functional AMU would have played an effective role in managing the current political crisis in the North African country of Sudan, which was once a part of Egypt. The action of a functional AMU would have been similar to how ECOWAS effectively contributes in managing political problems in West Africa.
To summarise, there exists an opportunity to comprehensively address the racial problems faced by black Africans in North Africa. Nigeria as the most populous African country, can partner with the US, as part of the US Strategy Towards Sub-Saharan Africa 2022, which aims to address artificial divisions in the continent, that can serve as enablers for these racial problems.
While this proposed partnership between Nigeria and the US allows the US to meet its strategic objectives in an efficient manner, it also enables Nigeria to regain some of its frontline status in addressing racial challenges within the continent. Both parties will also enjoin the benefits of the implementation of the AU Agenda 2063 and AfCFTA, which can only be successfully implemented if every part of Africa works in closer unity.
This collaboration with the US as part of its foreign policy, could see Nigeria regain its ‘frontline state’ status in continental diplomatic operations, as part of the fight to resolve some of the last vestiges of black-based racism in Africa. A more united Africa without artificial divisions among its constituent blocs is a win-win for all.
Uwanaka writes through [email protected]
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