The European Union has only 23 languages. Africa has at least 2000, and between 6000 and 10,000 political or social entities , each of which once had its own governance and legal system , its leadership and customs and culture . And, like an imagined Europe unified by force by outsiders, Africans played no part in the creation of their nation states .

Their boundaries were drawn on maps in Europe by Europeans who had never even been to Africa , with no regard for existing political systems and boundaries . Half a century later Africans were given flags and national anthems, airlines and armies, and told they were now independent : Kenyans or Nigerians or Chadians .

Dowden, Africa, p 56