The past few days have offered a brutal snapshot of Africa’s unresolved crisis. In Burkina Faso, militants from Jama’at Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin (JNIM), affiliated with Al-Qaeda, overran the Diapaga military base in the east, seizing most of the city and exposing the precarious state of security in the Sahel. Meanwhile, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the M23 rebel armed group, which has been fighting the government since the beginning of the year, tightens its grip on Goma, leading to vulnerable political conditions in which stolen minerals are funneled to foreign markets. In the diplomatic arena, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa was treated with disrespect in the US when President Donald Trump ambushed him with a crude, racist presentation about so-called “white genocide,” using footage falsely attributed to South Africa. Kenya now fears economic chaos as the US threatens to revoke the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) trade deal, a reminder that many African economies are still at the mercy of external powers.

This is the continent’s daily reality. Behind the headlines lie patterns of systemic violence, extraction, and manipulation. Whether it is Boko Haram in Nigeria, Al-Shabaab in Somalia, or foreign security firms in Mozambique, the message is the same: Africa’s enemies are armed not only with bullets but with contracts, media narratives, and economic traps. The ‘post-colonial’ moment has long expired – what remains is a managed crisis, policed by the IMF, militarized by AFRICOM, and sanitized by the African Union’s silence.

And yet, in the middle of this, we are told to celebrate. May 25th is Africa Day – the anniversary of the founding of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) in 1963. Every year, flags are raised, speeches are delivered, and African leaders sing songs of unity. But let’s ask the uncomfortable question: What exactly are we celebrating?

When Kwame Nkrumah, Gamal Abdel Nasser, Julius Nyerere, Ahmed........

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