Abstract
Many studies on public international law and peace have focused on the role selfdetermination
played in bringing about independence and liberty in third-world
countries. Besides self-determination, this article seeks to investigate the dilemma
surrounding the right to remedial secession and its inability to lead to peace in
Africa. Political leadership in Africa is encountering numerous human rights violations,
discrimination and marginalisation, which has led to civil conflicts. In the
search for peace and security, many people have been clamouring for the right
to secession but unfortunately, peace has remained a tragedy on the continent.
By analysing whether the right to remedial secession entails automatic peace,
this article reveals that most rights to secession granted to many communities in
Africa do not lead to peace. It is argued that granting the right to secession in a
community where there is lack of political will and patriotism, in a community
divided along tribal lines, and a community marred by deep-rooted corruption
and nepotism; will not bring about peace and security. Thus, there is need for
Africans to have strong political will and be more patriotic, and overcome corruption,
ethnicity and nepotism for the remedial right to lead to peace. To arrive
at these assertions, the article adopted a qualitative research analysis with an
exploratory approach.