Sub-Saharan Africa must abandon the assumption that geography automatically creates solidarity, as relationships between states are ultimately governed by interests. When those interests diverge, sub-Saharan nations must defend their own priorities without guilt or apology, argues medical doctor and author Osmund Agbo in a pointed commentary on the region's complex ties with North Africa.
A Culinary Metaphor for a Complicated Relationship
Agbo's reflection begins with a personal anecdote: his first encounter with couscous aboard an Ethiopian Airlines flight from Washington Dulles to Addis Ababa. The dish, which resembles Jollof rice but tastes nothing like it, left him feeling "tricked," a whimsical metaphor for his broader perception of North Africa's relationship with the rest of the continent.
"From a distance, North Africa appears unquestionably African," he writes. "On closer inspection, however, its political orientation, cultural identity and strategic priorities have often looked elsewhere. The continent is acknowledged when convenient, but seldom embraced as a genuine community of equals."
Unequal Solidarity: Xenophobia South and North
Agbo highlights a troubling asymmetry in African solidarity. While sub-Saharan Africans have widely condemned xenophobic violence in South Africa, similar abuses in North Africa often go unnoticed. Reports from human rights organizations have documented arbitrary arrests, forced expulsions, racial discrimination, and physical abuse against sub-Saharan migrants in countries like Morocco and Libya.
The horrifying images of Libya's slave markets, where migrants were bought and sold in modern-day slavery, shocked the world. Mauritania continues to struggle with the legacy of hereditary slavery, with many Haratins facing severe discrimination. These are documented realities, not internet rumors, Agbo stresses.
The Role of Corrupt Governance in Migration Crises
Agbo acknowledges that North African governments have the right to enforce immigration laws, but insists the issue is human dignity. "There is a profound difference between deporting an undocumented migrant and degrading that person's humanity," he writes. The disturbing videos and eyewitness accounts are troubling because migrants were treated as though they possessed no intrinsic worth.
Responsibility, however, does not rest solely with North African governments. Corrupt governments across sub-Saharan Africa have destroyed economic opportunity and stolen the future of their citizens, pushing millions to risk dangerous migration routes. "The Mediterranean has become a cemetery because too many African governments have become indifferent to human suffering," Agbo argues.
Transactional Identity and Gaddafi's Legacy
Agbo criticizes the transactional nature of African identity, noting that North African victories in sports are celebrated as African triumphs, but solidarity is rarely reciprocated in migration policies, racial attitudes, or diplomacy. "Brotherhood that appears only during football tournaments is not brotherhood. It is branding," he states.
He also revisits Muammar Gaddafi's legacy, arguing that the late Libyan leader's interventions in Liberia and Sierra Leone prolonged civil wars and served his imperial ambitions rather than African interests. "That is not the Pan-Africanism envisioned by Kwame Nkrumah, Nnamdi Azikiwe, Julius Nyerere or Patrice Lumumba," Agbo notes.
Towards a More Honest Pan-Africanism
Agbo concludes that sub-Saharan Africa must engage North Africa as equal partners, not imagined siblings bound by sentimental narratives. "Trust, like respect, should be earned rather than assumed," he writes. "That is not cynicism. It is simply the beginning of a more honest conversation about what Pan-Africanism ought to mean in the twenty-first century."
He admits he could not cheer for Morocco or Argentina in the recent World Cup, a personal act of rebellion against countries that have mistreated people who look like him. The lesson, he says, is that genuine partnership must be measured by consistent mutual respect, not speeches or geography.
