In December 2006, statisticians had a close brush with the aftermath of the five-nation war in the Democratic Republic of Congo. This was a war that had started in 1998 and ended around 2003. It weighed heavily on the nascent Africa Symposium for Statistical Development (ASSD), which had just launched in January 2006, and almost aborted it at birth.

It was a war that pitted brother against brother, sister against sister, brother against sister, and sister against brother – a grand colonial project that ensured the colonised would fight each other in perpetuity. The colonial seed was potent and survived all seasons.

The Southern African Development Community (SADC) chair, President Nelson Mandela, was pitted through this war against the chair of the SADC Security Organ, President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe.

n 1998, Zimbabwe, Angola, Mozambique, and Namibia were dragged into the war by Mugabe, despite protests from Mandela. These four SADC states found themselves fighting against Rwanda and Uganda in the DRC. Namibia and Mozambique later withdrew, leaving Angola and Zimbabwe to battle Uganda and Rwanda.

Many have written about the war as it unfolded, and many continue to write about it now, as a grotesque escalation takes place when de-escalation is needed. This war remains the long hand of a colonial project whose architects convened at the Berlin Conference of 1884. These ghosts, while their bones rest restlessly, are comforted by the current exigencies of their plan – that Africa will never rest as it grapples with the consequences of the borders as they stand today.

The United Nations and African Union had decided to retain colonial borders, fearing that redrawing them would bring instability. Yet, it is precisely the acceptance of these borders that has seen Africa knowing no peace. These borders tore apart communities, forcing them into separate political entities. Africa must pause and ask what this is all about and what it means for us.

Perhaps we should take lessons from how Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso have cooperated to resist the colonial project. Their example brings to mind our modern-day Manthatisi of Likonyela, the mother of the Batlokwa nation, who defended her people with everything she had.

Dr Arikana Chihombori-Quao, a medical doctor and activist, has stood tall against all odds for more than a decade, relentlessly challenging the colonial project, particularly the French colonial debt. She is our modern-day Manthatisi, and we must heed her call.

The two weeks from December 2 to 17, 2006 were the longest on the statisticians' calendar. At stake was the follow-up session to the inaugural Africa Symposium for Statistical Development in January 2006. The second ASSD was scheduled for Rwanda, and Rwandan President Paul Kagame had shown great enthusiasm for hosting it.

However, our detour to Angola from December 2 to 7 had the potential to reopen the wounds of the five-country war, where Angola and Rwanda had fought on opposing sides. It was the longest week of my life, as well as that of the current Statistician-General, Risenga Maluleke, who had to engage in delicate diplomatic manoeuvring in a highly fragile situation. Statistics South Africa and the African Development Bank were the main funders and organisers of the Luanda detour en route to Rwanda.

Dr Anna Afonso Lorenzo, now the First Lady of Angola, was then the Minister of Planning responsible for statistics. She had graciously welcomed this stop in Luanda before we proceeded to Kigali and had accepted an invitation to attend the second ASSD in Kigali, hosted by Kagame in January.

In Luanda, President José Dos Santos of Angola was scheduled to open the bean counters’ session. Everything seemed set for January 2007 in Rwanda—until the African Development Bank pulled the rug from under us just three days before the Luanda summit. All hell broke loose.

What was meant to be a continental gathering in Luanda was reduced to a skimpy SADC meeting, shattering all plans for a presidential opening. The disappointment was palpable, and its impact on the Kigali summit, just six weeks away, was imminent. The political ramifications were as clear as any statistician’s graphs and spreadsheets. It was time for urgent action.

Dr Donald Kaberuka of Rwanda had recently been appointed President of the African Development Bank, and the missive coming from that quarter angered Luanda. Maluleke and I had to launch a peace mission. The juiciest and most profound details of that shuttle diplomacy will be in my memoirs, but suffice it to mention the following.

I called Charles Lufumpa, the director of statistics at the AfDB, who was my counterpart on the Luanda mission.

I told him, “You’d better be in Luanda before 17 December.” He replied, “Pali, it’s not possible—the flights from Tunis to Angola are difficult.”

I said, “If I were you, Charles, I’d stop talking about flights and start walking to Luanda from Tunis right now. The stakes are too high. The AfDB will have mud on its face, and it will reopen wounds from the five-year, five-country war in the DRC, where Luanda and Kigali fought on opposing sides.” He heeded my call.

I then told Maluleke, now the current Statistician-General, “Luanda is going to skin Lufumpa alive—you’d better get on a plane to Luanda and be a witness and a buffer.”

Everything was set for Luanda. Maluleke handled the situation excellently, and the Africans smoked a peace pipe in readiness for Kigali in January 2007, which was now just under six weeks away. Statistics was saved.

Dr Afonso Lorenzo was warmly welcomed in Kigali by President Kagame, and the agenda for statistical development was back on track. Yet, as we reflect on this, the history of statistics might just awaken us to the deeper consequences of our colonial nightmare.

Dr Pali Lehohla is a Professor of Practice at the University of Johannesburg, a Research Associate at Oxford University, a board member of Institute for Economic Justice at Wits and a distinguished Alumni of the University of Ghana. He is the former Statistician-General of South Africa

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