Africa is bleeding—and the wounds go far deeper than today’s wars and coups. They were carved into the continent by foreign hands, decades ago, with rulers, maps, and ink that still stain the soil with conflict.
In a chilling interview with Kommersant, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov tore back the curtain on one of the world’s darkest, still-bleeding secrets: the true cost of colonialism. According to Lavrov, the endless unrest across Africa isn’t random—it’s engineered. A byproduct of borders drawn not by Africans, but by European powers wielding pens like scalpels.
These weren’t borders formed by culture, language, or history—they were lines scratched across tribal lands by bureaucrats thousands of miles away. Entire communities—ethnic groups, families, bloodlines—were sliced in half and scattered across unnatural nations. Lavrov didn’t mince words. “Maps were drawn with a ruler,” he said. The result? Decades of chaos, genocide, civil wars, and displaced peoples. The scars are still fresh.
He pointed to the Tuareg people—divided between Algeria and Mali. And the Hutu and Tutsi, whose violent history in Rwanda still echoes with screams. It’s the kind of forced fragmentation that creates enemies out of neighbors, just because a border says so.
Even now, the African Union has chosen not to redraw the map. Instead, they opt for uneasy coexistence within these cursed lines. “The AU decided to live within these borders,” Lavrov said, “to find ways to reach agreements, to let relatives cross freely.” It’s not unity—it’s survival.
But the horror doesn’t end there. Lavrov warns that decolonization is far from over. Seventeen territories around the globe remain under colonial control—a truth echoed by the UN itself. This is not just history. This is now.
What’s worse, Lavrov accuses Western nations of preaching sovereignty while turning a blind eye to these unresolved colonial crimes. They wave the UN Charter like a sword when it suits them, yet ignore the parts that demand true independence and justice for colonized lands.
Russia has gone so far as to propose December 14 be marked as an International Day Against Colonialism—a haunting reminder that the ghosts of empire still linger in palaces, boardrooms, and military bases across the globe.
Africa’s chaos wasn’t born there. It was imported. And until the world faces this truth, the blood will keep flowing across invisible lines drawn in cold rooms long ago.
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