Revue - Les Cahiers de l'Arbitrage N°2 - 2023 - 13

NUMÉRO SPÉCIAL AFRIQUE
to increase our understanding of the region, it is useful to aggregate. As the reader
will see, specific examples are used to illustrate general points. Also, specific
examples are sometimes used to generalise - not always successfully.
I. - Antiquity to the Middle Ages 5
Most of Africa during antiquity and the Middle Ages remains opaque even
to historians of that period. We are told that a series of Kushitic Kings followed
by Persians and Ptolemies ruled Ancient Egypt. 6
Little is known about dispute
resolution in this period, but, like in later civilisations, disputes were likely to
have been related to succession, territory, family matters, trade and commerce.
Not much more is known about dispute settlement in the successive Sudanic
Kingdoms of West Africa - Ghana, 7
Mali, and Songhay. These kingdoms were at
the centre of the gold trade in West Africa North African traders risked their lives
by crossing the Sahara Desert so they could access west African gold for trade with
Europe. Such long-distance trade of a valuable resource is bound to have led to
disputes and conflicts. One of the kings of the Ghana kingdom is reported to have
dispensed justice " while dressed in sensational trappings and during the course of
awe-inspiring ceremonies " . 8
Could a trader in the Sudanic Kingdoms of Ghana,
Mali, and Songhai have had recourse to an adjudicator if a buyer refused to pay
for a caravan of gold, salt, or copper? Would the trader have chosen a different
decision-maker if the recalcitrant buyer hailed from a neighbouring city, Islamic
North Africa, or, even farther away, from a Spanish city on the Mediterranean
coast? Would the decision rendered by the adjudicator have been binding and
enforceable? We may never know.
While little detail of dispute resolution in that period exists, there is at least one
account of creative dispute prevention. In the Solomonic Christian Kingdom of Ethiopia,
to prevent disruption caused by succession struggles, the great warrior king, Amda Seyon,
established a royal prison to host potential heirs of the reigning king. 9
Imprisonment,
while an extreme form of dispute prevention, was successful in this context.
Historical material from this period in African history does not allow us to ascertain
that origins of international arbitration can be found here. But we cannot rule it
out. We would not be surprised to find systems of dispute resolution that involved
binding decisions rendered by third parties in hierarchical societies. Especially those
in which kings, queens, and other leaders often claimed divine or sacred powers. We
can speculate about the existence of these systems in Africa, as others have done it
elsewhere. Writing about the early twentieth century, Wolaver noted that:
" The origin of arbitration is lost in obscurity. At what time or place man first
decided to submit to his chief or to his friends for a decision and a settlement
5. These are classifications used in European history (roughly between the 8th
century BCE to
1500 AD).
6. Great Kingdoms of Africa, p. 30.
7. Geographically located in present day Mali and Mauritania, rather than the Ghana of today.
8. Great Kingdoms of Africa, p. 73.
9. Great Kingdoms of Africa, p.93-94.
Les Cahiers de l'Arbitrage 2023‑2
287

Revue - Les Cahiers de l'Arbitrage N°2 - 2023

Table des matières de la publication Revue - Les Cahiers de l'Arbitrage N°2 - 2023