Chapter 4 Redefining Decolonization in the Sahara, 1959–1960

Abstract

This chapter looks into the redefinition of decolonization in the Sahara. It notes that negotiations about independence in Belgian Congo, British Central Africa, and French Algeria were profoundly shaped by Ghana's propaganda campaign and reconfigured diplomatic alliances in the North and South. The problem of African sovereignty was particularly urgent in 1959, following the atomic fallout on the African continent and the negotiations between colonial powers and African nationalists in the Belgian Congo and the Central African Federation. The chapter explains that the contested meaning of sovereignty was at the core of diplomatic debates following the explosion of the Sahara bombs. It highlights how the language of a Cold War arms race helped everyone avoid the real stakes of the debate, namely the future of African self-government.