Includes bibliographical references and index.

Part 1. Conceptions, international law and charters. Self-determination and secession : African challenges / Redie Bereketeab ; Acquisition of autonomy : application of the right of self-determination in Africa / Dan Kuwali ; The OAU doctrine on colonial boundaries and conflicts of separation in the Horn of Africa / Kidane Mengisteab. -- Part 2. Non-colonial creation successful secession case : South Sudan. Political history of Southern Sudan before independence of the Sudan / Samson Samuel Wassara ; Sudan's first civil war for self-determination / Sirisio L. Oromo ; Second civil war : creation of the united 'New Sudan' / Leben Nelson Moro -- Part 3. Colonial creation unsuccessful cases of self-determination : Somaliland and Zanzibar. Guests in our houses : Somaliland and British colonialism / Ladan Affi ; Less and more than the sum of its parts : the failed merger of Somaliland and Somalia and the tragic quest for 'Greater Somalia' / Abdirahman Yusuf Duale (Bobe) ; Identifying challenges to winning an international recognition and its prospects in Somaliland / Adam Haji-Ali Ahmed ; The Zanzibar secessionist sentiments : can regional integration theory provide insights into the phenomenon? / Francis T. Matambalya -- Part 4. Identity groups claiming secession that failed. Why Katanga's quest for self-determination and secession failed / Tukumbi Lumumba-Kasongo ; Nigeria and the Biafran war of secession : when national unity triumphs over self-determination? / Godwin Onuoha and Cyril Obi ; The paradoxes of secessionism among Tuareg in northern Mali / Ole Martin Gaasholt -- Part 5. Colonially created, annexed by neighbouring countries cases. Namibia's negotiated transition to independence / Henning Melber ; Eritrea, a colonial creation : a case of aborted decolonisation / Redie Bereketeab ; The Saharawi people's quest for self-determination : the complexities of unachieved decolonization / Belkacem Iratni.

This text provides a unique comparative study of the major secessionist and self-determination movements in post-colonial Africa, examining theory, international law, charters of the United Nations, and the Organisation of African Unity (OAU)/African Union's (AU) stance on the issue. The book explores whether self-determination and secessionism lead to peace, stability, development and democratisation in conflict-ridden societies, particularly looking at the outcomes in Eritrea and South Sudan.