African Colonial Borders: Fragmentation and Integration, 1960 – 2011

African borders from its inception were crafted and designed to represent European aspirations. It modes and procedures were precipitous and considered arbitrarily. In the process, pre-existing political groupings were partitioned and distinct pre-colonial groups were brought together. In post-independence Africa, colonial borders metamorphosis to meet new challenges and exigencies. The paper therefore argues that, African colonial borders did not only fragment pre-existing political groupings but also brought different ethnic groups with different cultures, languages and religions together. Evidence is seen through the numerous civil wars, political instabilities, social unrest and secessionist attempts experience in most of the African states after independence emanates due to vague border. The paper concludes that at independence African states have been making formidable efforts through the Organisation of African Union (OAU) and later African Union (AU) and at regional and sub-regional groupings to promote economic, social and political integration of African states. Policies have been adopted by individual states to knit fragmented political groups through economic, political and social integrations.