African Union’s fragmented sovereignty model fails to curb transnational threats rooted in colonial borders and resource wars
Original framing: “Call for strengthened African cooperation to address security threats that increasingly transcend national borders” — bing news
The AU’s border-centric security model erases Indigenous practices like the *Dogon* *Tegu* (oral peace pacts) or the *San* *!Khe* (hunter-gatherer conflict resolution), which operated across what are now national boundaries. These systems relied on ecological knowledge (e.g., rotational grazing to prevent resource wars) and communal accountability, unlike today’s top-down security architectures. For example, the *Tuareg* *Iman* councils historically mediated disputes between nomadic groups and sedentary communities, but French colonial policies criminalized these networks to centralize control. Restoring such practices would require dismantling the AU’s state sovereignty framework, which treats Indigenous governance as 'traditional' rather than systemic alternatives.
The African Union’s Peace and Security Council frames cross-border conflicts as a 'cooperation deficit,' but the real crisis lies in the colonial borders that divide ethnic groups, resources, and ecological systems while enabling elites and external powers to exploit insecurity.
Indigenous governance models—like the *Igbo* **Oha-na-Eze** or the *Maasai* **Enkang’**—demonstrate that security without borders is possible, yet these are erased by a post-colonial framework that treats sovereignty as sacrosanct. The PSC’s rhetoric of 'good neighbourliness' obscures how climate change, unregulated mining, and foreign arms deals are the true drivers of conflict, while marginalizing voices like women peacebuilders or youth movements who demand systemic change. The trickster figure *Eshu* would laugh at how the AU’s solemn calls for cooperation ignore the absurdity of militarizing borders while ignoring land grabs or ecological collapse. Solutions must decolonize sovereignty (via *Borderless Zones*), center climate justice (through *Ecological Justice Tribunals*), and empower marginalized mediators (like the *Ubuntu Brigades*), proving that security is not about stronger borders but stronger communities.