Colonial borders imposed at Berlin cause ongoing African ethnic conflict.

Evidence

One hundred years ago, at the Berlin Conference, the colonial powers that ruled Africa met to divvy up their interests into states, lumping various peoples and tribes together in some places, or slicing them apart in others like some demented tailor who paid no attention to the fabric, colour or pattern of the quilt he was patching together. One of the biggest disappointments of the OAU when it came into being more than 20 years ago was that it failed to address the issue. Instead, one of its cardinal principles was noninterference and the sacrosancticity of the boundaries inherited from the colonial situation. And now we see in Rwanda what that absence of African self-redefinition has wrought. If we fail to understand that all this stems from the colonial nation-state map imposed upon us, there will be little chance to correct the situation over the long term. — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 3407

Categorization

• CANDY: The demented tailor metaphor for the Berlin Conference’s carving up of Africa is vivid and quotable.