African Transformations - Snapshots Autumn 2012

Abstract

There is always something happening on the African continent, and as Pliny the Elder (23–79 AD) put it: “Ex Africa semper aliquid novi”, meaning something new always comes from Africa. If we just consider that on July 9, 2011, with the formation of South Sudan (in fact, its separation from Sudan), a new state was created in Africa, the principle of “what I possess” (jus possidetis), which was also applied by the new leaders of the former colonial territories that gained their independence in the 1960s, is put into new light.