Challenges of a new African ocean and continent, By Owei Lakemfa

When we sleep, nature is always awake, working. Even if we snore, it can’t be as loud as the Nyiragongo volcano in the Democratic Republic of Congo that this week, threatens to erupt like it did on May 22, 2011. Freddy’s tragic floods that tore through Malawi, Mozambique and Madagascar killing about 300 people, are like a drop in the ocean compared to the new sea world that buried the continent.

The East African Rift System (EARS), which stretches from the Afar region in northern Ethiopia, which separates countries like Kenya and Tanzania from parts of Africa has been found to be separating at seven millimeters per year.

The clearest indication of tectonic plate changes, creating a 35-mile crack in the Ethiopian desert in 2005. This is the most revolutionary and extra ordinary event because tectonic changes that usually take a few hundred years, happen only a few times. day.

Geologists point to stories of rapid changes in the belly of continents such as the Victoria microplate, the largest on Earth; tucked between each side of the rift, has been two years now, has played anti-clock wise. There are also several active volcanoes in the East African region that contributed to the breakup of the continent. These include Ol Doinyo Lengai ‘Mountain of God’ in Tanzania which rises to an elevation of 9,442 feet and has one of the fastest flowing lava flows on earth.

There is a group of volcanoes in Ethiopia like Aloo Dalapila and Mount Erta Ale ‘smoking mountain’ which have been erupting for more than a century. There are only five known volcanoes with lakes in the world, this is the most unique; there are two lava lakes, since 1967.

Satellite measurements also show the slow birth of a new sea and a new continent in Africa. Geophysical Research Letters, an authoritative biweekly peer-reviewed geoscience journal published since 1974 said geologists have made two basic confirmations; A new sea is being created in Africa, and the continent as we know it, will be divided in two.

Christopher Moore of the University of Leeds in England, using satellite radar to monitor volcanic activity, said: “This is the only place on Earth where you can study how continental rifts become oceanic rifts.” In Africa, he added: “We can see that the oceanic crust is starting to form, because it is very different from the continental crust in composition and density.”

Cynthia Ebinger, a geophysicist at Tulane University in New Orleans, who studies the phenomenon said: “The hottest city on Earth is in Afar. Daytime temperatures often reach 130 degrees Fahrenheit and cool down to 95 degrees at night.

Ken Macdonald, a marine geophysicist and professor emeritus at the University of California, Santa Barbara, explained how the new sea will get water: “The Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea will flood the Afar region and into the East African Rift. The valley and become a new sea, and part of Africa The East will be a separate small continent.

The challenge is to have a new ocean in Africa that will slice through the continent creating two very different continents. It starts with a question; do we need a new sea? If not, can we still prevent it? If so, how do we prepare to include the large land that will be given away, the people that will be displaced, the state that will be recreated, merged or a new one that will be born?

Preparation for this season can start with tackling something as mundane as a name for a new sea. Africa is bordered to the north by the Mediterranean Sea, to the west by the Atlantic Ocean, to the east by the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean and to the south by the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. But there is no name.

The Indian Ocean was named after India while the Atlantic Ocean which until the 19th century was called the Ethiopian Ocean, was eventually called the Atlantikôi pelágei or “Sea of ​​Atlas” named after the Greek god, Atlas. So, since the African Union, the AU has not succeeded through diplomatic negotiations or the United Nations to properly change the name of the Atlantic Ocean or the Indian Ocean after Africa, maybe a new ocean that will emerge in five or ten million years will be named Africa. Ocean. But do we have to wait that long?

Earth, about 240 million years ago, was a single supercontinent, known as Pangea before it slowly split into seven continents. Now with the African mother who gave birth to six other continents, pregnant again, the eighth continent will be born. The Arabian plate in the last thirty million years has moved from the mother of Africa leading to the creation of the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.

Birth is usually accepted in Africa. In the case of children, we tend to designate a special day for the naming ceremony when we play drums and celebrate. Can we do less if we have born a new continent? Should we be glad that our continent can be divided into two?

Obviously there are advantages such as Zambia, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo and Malawi that have their own coastline. But geologists say smaller continents including Somalia, Eritrea, Djibouti, eastern Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, and Mozambique that lie in the valley may be far from the rest of the continent.

Of course, with new seas, there will be more maritime activities including ships and fishermen and shorter routes to other parts of the world. But is this an advantage that Africa can take or are we going to sit back and allow foreigners to take advantage and control new routes and maritime businesses?

When looking into the distant future, there are problems like: will the twin continents remain one or develop like North and South America? Will it be a security implication and will trade tie together as a common entity even though they have become like Siamese twins separated?

There are many advantages and challenges of Africa being divided into two separate continents with a new ocean between them. But do I have the right to see millions of years into the future? I really need to discuss that future because it may be sooner than people think. Now, let’s see how far it goes with AU Vision 2063.

Owei Lakemfa, former secretary general of African labor, is a human rights activist, journalist and author.