A Triple Heritage
The fifth of nine programmes written and presented by ALI A. MAZRUI 5: New Conflicts
No legacy from the colonial period in Africa has posed more problems than the boundaries. The lines divided some, corralled others, making later disputes inevitable. In East Africa Ali Mazrui finds Somali people living in four different countries; in Nigeria he sees the borders at the origin of the civil war that cost almost a million lives. Mazrui also discusses the course of African revolt against white masters, from the Mau Mau struggle in Kenya to the growing confrontation in South
Africa. He draws a parallel with Algeria, where the eight-year-old war of independence took a terrible toll before the whites gave up and left for
France. 'It was a question of wills,' says Mazrui. 'There may be a lesson there for the whites of South Africa.' Film editor MALCOLM DANIEL Series producer PETER BATE
Executive producer DAVID HARRISON
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