COVID-19 and African Borders in Transition

This edited book explores the realities in various borderlands across Africa vis-à-vis the complexities that have emerged with the upsurge of COVID-19, which put the world at a standstill. In other words, it investigates the changing dynamics of borders and bordering in Africa, with a specific focus on how borders were managed before, during and in the aftermath of COVID-19 restrictions on global mobility. The evolving nature of threats associated with COVID-19 has led to border closures (land, sea and air), calling our attention to the current state of emergency preparedness in the context of cross-border-related health threats, risk characterization, crisis management, emergency risk communication, capacities and capabilities for prevention and control. However, borders and frontiers are located on the periphery, limiting the early warning and response capabilities of states. This book marks a comprehensive and field-defining analysis through its questioning of what kind of transitions have occurred in African borderlands and our perceptions as to how borders and bordering have traditionally been viewed and upheld.

“COVID-19 and African Borders in Transition is an edited volume whose chapters collectively and compellingly capture the status, challenges, and promise of African borders. Assessed through the prism of the pandemic, which exposed the fragility of cross-border management worldwide — the impact on Africa is brought to life by the chapters of this book. In the generation following 9/11, the task of border management has been to reconcile global commerce and the international travel zone with heightened security requirements. Without flinching from confronting squarely the often-unsatisfactory current situation in border management on the African continent laid particularly bare by COVID-19, the editors and authors point the way to a future where borders in Africa can be a place for collaboration, cooperation, and regional integration rather than occasions for division and conflict. It is both a valuable status report and a blueprint vision for border-related developments in Africa’s future.” (Alan Bersin, Global Fellow at the Wilson Center for International Scholars in Washington DC, Former Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Assistant Secretary for Policy and International Affairs at the Department of Homeland Security)

“COVID-19 and African Borders in Transition reflects the new dynamics of African borders, inter-African relations and the emergence of a trans-African border scholars’ community engaged in strengthening political and societal relevant research on the fascinating borderscapes of Africa.” (Martin Klatt, University of Southern Denmark)

Samuel Okunade holds a Ph.D. in Conflict Transformation and Peace Studies from the University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Specifically, he researches borders and migration, especially concerning human trafficking and migrant smuggling in Africa. He equally advances the course of border communities that have an age-long history of marginalization and neglect by the government.

Leon Mwamba Tshimpaka is a senior postdoctoral research fellow at GovInn, SARChI Chair in the Political Economy of Migration in the SADC Region, University of Pretoria, South Africa and adjunct professor at the School of Liberal Arts and Humanities, Woxsen University, India. He researches migration, citizenship, borders, Africa-EU relations, alternative regionalism, anti-corruption, and Development.

Willie Eselebor holds a Ph.D. in Peace and Conflict Studies, specializing on borders and migration. He was a lecturer at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, and had an early career with the Nigeria Immigration Service (1980–2012), serving in diverse schedules on border control (air, sea, and land) and consulting for the UN-IOM, EU, AU, ECOWAS, ICMPD, and GIZ