This is a list of currently active separatist movements in Africa. Separatism includes autonomism and secessionism.
What is and is not considered an autonomist or secessionist movement is sometimes contentious. Entries on this list must meet three criteria:
Under each region listed is one or more of the following:
The Kabyle independence movement is supported by the Kabyle people, a Berber ethnic group. Kabylia was an independent from colonial Algeria until it was annexed in 1857. Supporters of independence from the region are opposed to the perceived Arabization policies pursued by the Algerian government. [5]
Kabylia is a charter member of the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO) [6]
Kabylia is a charter member of the Organization of Emerging African States [7]
Central-Eastern Angola
Cabinda is a charter member of the Organization of Emerging African States [6]
Ambazonia is a charter member of the Organization of Emerging African States [6]
Dar El Kuti (Republic of Logone)
Dar El Kuti is a self-proclaimed state supported by the Popular Front for the Rebirth of Central African Republic (FPRC), a Muslim rebel movement in the Central African Republic. [21]
South Congo (Brazzaville)[ citation needed ]
Mayotte continues to have autonomist and separatist movements despite the island having voted to become France's 101st department in 2011. [37]
Rift Valley, Western Province, Nyanza
Started in Morocco during the 1920s, [52] [53] and was revitalized in 2013. [54] The Rif Independence Movement is a charter member of the Organization of Emerging African States. [54]
Canary Islands is a charter member of the Organization of Emerging African States [6]
British Indian Ocean Territory
The Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization, or simply UNPO is an international organization established to facilitate the voices of unrepresented and marginalised nations and peoples worldwide. It was formed on 11 February 1991 in The Hague, Netherlands. Its members consist of indigenous peoples, minorities, and unrecognised or occupied territories.
Secession is the formal withdrawal of a group from a political entity. The process begins once a group proclaims an act of secession. A secession attempt might be violent or peaceful, but the goal is the creation of a new state or entity independent of the group or territory from which it seceded. Threats of secession can be a strategy for achieving more limited goals.
Presented below is a list of the lists of active separatist movements by continent:
The Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda is a guerrilla and political movement fighting for the independence of the Angolan province of Cabinda. Formerly under Portuguese administration, with the independence of Angola from Portugal in 1975, the territory became an exclave province of the newly independent Angola. The FLEC fights the Cabinda War in the region occupied by the former kingdoms of Kakongo, Loango and N'Goyo.
The Southern Cameroons was the southern part of the British League of Nations mandate territory of the British Cameroons in West Africa. Since 1961, it has been part of the Republic of Cameroon, where it makes up the Northwest Region and Southwest Region. Since 1994, pressure groups in the territory claim there was no legal document in accordance to UNGA RES 1608(XV) paragraph 5, and are seeking to restore statehood and independence from the Republic. They renamed the British Southern Cameroons as Ambazonia.
Cabinda may refer to:
The Republic of Cabinda was an independent protectorate of Portugal that was taken over by Angola after Portugal declared Angola a free country. It is currently an unrecognized state which Angola considers its Cabinda Province. The Front for the Liberation of the State of Cabinda-Exército de Cabinda (FLEC) claimed sovereignty just after the Republic of Cabinda was proclaimed as an independent country in 1975 from Portugal and just after Angola invaded. The government of this entity operates in exile, with offices located in Paris, France, and Pointe Noire, Republic of the Congo.
The Cabinda War is an ongoing separatist insurgency, waged by the Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda (FLEC) against the government of Angola. FLEC aims at the restoration of the self-proclaimed Republic of Cabinda, located within the borders of the Cabinda province of Angola.
The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) is a separatist group in Nigeria that aims to restore the defunct Republic of Biafra, a country which seceded from Nigeria prior to the Nigerian Civil War (1967–1970). Since 2021, IPOB and other Biafran separatist groups have been fighting a low-level guerilla conflict in southeastern Nigeria against the Nigerian government. The group was founded in 2012 by Nnamdi Kanu and Uche Mefor. Kanu is known as a British Nigerian political activist known for his advocacy of the contemporary Biafran independence movement. It was deemed a terrorist organization by the Nigerian government in 2017 under the Nigerian Terrorism Act. As of May 2022, the United Kingdom started denying asylum to members of IPOB who engaged in human rights abuses, though the U.K. government clarified that IPOB had not been designated as a terrorist organisation.
Mthwakazi Republic Party is a political party in Zimbabwe. It has been described as both secessionist and restorationist, seeking to restore the Mthwakazi kingdom.