From Well-Worn Fatigues to Well-Tailored Suits Joseph Garba’s ‘Diplomatic Soldiering’

In Diplomatic Soldiering, the late General Joseph Garba, one of Nigeria’s earliest foreign ministers, presents a case for the tacit but present ‘Big Brother’ role that Nigeria has sought to play across Africa.

Over the years, scholars have taken various approaches to defining African statehood. Some scholars, such as Robert Jackson and Carl Rosberg, have considered African states with an air of superiority that comes from viewing Africa through Western lenses. Others, such as Frederick Cooper, have identified fault lines and social cleavages that divide the continent's individual countries but keep them in place through the ability of new administrators to ‘guard the gate’ through resource management. Few, however, ever give credit to Africa’s young states for trying to muddle through their differences and precarity or, in other words, in a way that demonstrates a nuanced understanding of the issues new states encounter.

For Africa’s young states, ‘African solutions for African problems’ usually meant internal arbiters and guardians eschewing the influence of former colonial powers and bearing the responsibility of shaping their own future. This organizing principle is a recurring theme in the late General Joseph Garba’s memoir, Diplomatic Soldiering. As Nigeria’s minister of external affairs from 1975 to 1978, Garba was charged with brokering peaceful settlements to contentious issues, such as the Angolan Crisis of 1974 to 1975, and advancing Nigeria’s influence on the African continent. In chronicling his time in office, Garba is able to illustrate the many steps Africa’s early post-colonial leaders took to create a pathway to statehood for their respective countries...