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Is there any hope for Pan-Africanism? Is there a future for continental free trade?

I have been deeply reflecting on our beloved continent, Africa, and the growing tide of xenophobic sentiments. Even more concerning is how commentators on social media are amplifying these divisions, often fueling hostility and distrust among Africans. If this trend is not addressed with urgency and responsibility, it could have far-reaching and devastating consequences for the continent.

Africa is richly endowed, possessing nearly 30 percent of the world's natural resources. Some estimates suggest that the known and untapped mineral wealth of the continent could be worth $10 to $30 trillion, depending on market conditions and the extent of extraction. Despite this immense wealth, Africa continues to struggle to meet the basic needs of many of its people. Millions of people still live in extreme poverty and lack access to quality healthcare, education, decent housing, and employment opportunities.

This reality raises a crucial question: why would Africans turn against each other when our greatest challenge is not our African compatriots, but the lack of development that continues to hinder our collective progress? Instead of allowing xenophobia to divide us, we must embrace unity, cooperation, and a shared vision of a prosperous and industrialized Africa.

It is disheartening to witness the growing xenophobic sentiments among some Africans themselves. At a time when African leaders are promoting a vision of a continent without borders, where Africans can freely travel, trade, and cooperate, some countries are instead tightening borders and, in some cases, asking their own citizens to leave their territories. This development is both troubling and unfortunate.

It raises a fundamental question of whether we truly understand and appreciate the vision that underpins the African Continental Free Trade Area and Pan-Africanism. While 54 African countries have signed the agreement, 48 have ratified it and formally committed to its implementation. Eritrea is the only African country that has not signed the agreement.

African leaders, scholars, and intellectuals have championed the ideals of Pan-Africanism for decades, which are gradually being translated into practical policies of economic integration and cooperation. We hope that this initiative will, in the near future, help to transform the destinies of all African nations.

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It is painful to witness the recent incidents of xenophobia on the continent, which should be a major concern for all Africans. I believe that many of these problems stem from our failure to properly educate the younger generation about our history. Many young Africans are unaware of how several African countries have supported and inspired each other in the struggle for independence and liberation. Countries have sacrificed resources, lives, and diplomatic support to secure the freedom of their African states. It is therefore heartbreaking and agonizing to see how Africans are now treating each other with hostility and suspicion.

It is equally sad that, instead of seeing ourselves as brothers and sisters working towards a common destiny, we are now viewing each other through a xenophobic lens that affects jobs, business opportunities, and development. While other continents are tearing down barriers and strengthening free trade and cooperation between neighboring countries, Africa seems to be moving in the opposite direction by pushing its African compatriots out of their countries within the continent.

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In a conversation with Engy Abdelwahab, a senior journalist from the Egyptian newspaper Al-Masry, she suggested that Pan-Africanism remains more than just a political slogan; it is a historical necessity shaped by the shared experience of Africa with colonialism, exploitation, and the ongoing challenges of neocolonial economic dependence. According to many, true liberation for Africa cannot be achieved until the continent remains economically fragmented and dependent on external powers.

Engy added that the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) represents one of the most ambitious efforts to transform the ideals of Pan-Africanism into practical economic integration. By creating a unified African market with over 1.4 billion people, the agreement could significantly boost intra-African trade, industrialization, job creation, and economic sovereignty. Africa has enormous agricultural potential, strategic mineral resources, a young population, and a vast human capital base, yet much of its wealth continues to benefit external economies rather than African societies themselves.

She believes that the future of Pan-Africanism must go beyond economics. It should be rooted in justice, human dignity, solidarity, and mutual respect among African nations. Young Africans are increasingly sharing cultural, intellectual, and emotional bonds that transcend colonial boundaries, creating hope for a new continental consciousness.

She shared a personal experience from a training program for African journalists in Egypt, where participants from across the continent discovered how deeply their hopes and struggles were intertwined. This experience reinforced the belief that Africa's greatest wealth lies not only in its natural resources but also in its people and their shared dream of unity.

She believes that the future of Pan-Africanism ultimately depends on whether Africans continue to believe that their destinies are intertwined. If the continent can build a model based on justice, industrialization, knowledge, and solidarity, Africa could become not a peripheral region, but one of the defining global powers of the future.

Kirtan Bhana, another journalist from South Africa, describes the situation as follows: in history, there are moments when events that once seemed isolated begin to manifest as part of a larger civilizational pattern. What seems fragmented suddenly comes together. Political shifts, economic integration, cultural awakenings, and geopolitical changes begin to move in sync.

Ms. Bhana said: "In today's Africa, things are starting to come together." The creation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) is an economic arrangement and a bureaucratic trade mechanism, a tangible expression of a deeper continental awakening, a consolidation of African consciousness that has endured centuries of conquest, dispossession, division, and distortion.

The AfCFTA, launched in 2018, is a practical economic engine of this vision. With a market exceeding 1.4 billion people and a combined GDP measured in trillions of dollars, the AfCFTA has the potential to become the largest free trade area in the world by number of participating countries. More importantly, its goal is to fundamentally restructure intra-African trade by reducing dependence on external markets and strengthening regional value chains.

“For generations, Africa has been portrayed through the lens of deficiency, poverty, instability, conflict, and dependence. However, this portrayal has always concealed a much deeper truth: that Africa has been at the center of human history, and that its current rise is not accidental, but historically inevitable."

What is happening in Africa now resembles less a sudden emergence and more a civilizational correction. The establishment of the Organization of African Unity on May 25, 1963, in Addis Ababa, marked the institutional birth of continental political solidarity. The Organization of African Unity (OAU), which emerged at the height of the anti-colonial liberation struggles, embodied the understanding that African independence could not survive in isolation. Dr. Kwame Nkrumah's warning that Africa must unite or perish was not rhetorical idealism; it was geopolitical realism.

The liberation movement in Southern Africa further strengthened this continental ethos. From Angola and Mozambique to Namibia, Zimbabwe, and South Africa, African solidarity became a practical force. The Battle of Cuito Cuanavale in Angola in 1988 remains one of the most decisive turning points in modern African history. It changed the regional balance of power and accelerated the collapse of apartheid.

Long before that, the Battle of Adwa in Ethiopia in 1896 shattered the myth of European invincibility when Ethiopian forces decisively defeated the Italian colonial armies. Adwa became a global symbol of Black resistance and African sovereignty, inspiring anti-colonial movements around the world and providing psychological encouragement.

Long before that, the Battle of Adwa in Ethiopia in 1896 shattered the myth of European invincibility when Ethiopian forces decisively defeated the Italian colonial armies. Adwa became a global symbol of Black resistance and African sovereignty, inspiring anti-colonial movements around the world and providing psychological strength to oppressed peoples from the Caribbean to the Americas. These military victories were signs of an emerging African historical continuum.

The greatest challenge for Africa, however, may not come from outside the continent, but from internal fragmentation. Persistent xenophobic sentiments based on issues related to illegal migrants, fueled by misguided and narrow nationalism, directly contradict the logic of Pan-African development. It is important to note that the rise of Africa does not require isolation from the world. Nor does it mean hostility towards external partnerships.

thediplomatic