5 historic times African countries attempted to merge but failed

This article has been edited and was first published on May 10, 2018.

Africa is the only continent in the world that was divided among European colonialists in 1884 in what was termed the Scramble for Africa. So many tribes were divided by colonial borders while others were merged with other tribes.

Following the independence struggle in the continent, Tanzania became the only African country formed by a merger of two states, Tanganyika and Zanzibar.

However, there were several attempts by other states during the post-colonial era to merge politically and economically, yet failed to come to a consensus.

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Another attempt is being made by the six-member East African Community (EAC) consisting of Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda.

They attempted to merge politically after a proposal was made in 2004 to create the East African Federation. In 2016, they instead, favoured a confederation which is yet to be finalized.

Before the EAC, history has recorded five attempts made by African nations to merge but failed. Read about them below.