Revue - Les Cahiers de l'Arbitrage N°2 - 2023 - 17

NUMÉRO SPÉCIAL AFRIQUE
African Republic (Transvaal), 30
and Germany about the island of Lamu, 31
a territorial dispute between the United Kingdom
and a dispute between France and
United Kingdom about zones of influence in West Africa. 32
In the nineteenth century, major European states had accepted international
arbitration as a mechanism to resolve international disputes. The Alabama
Claims arbitration 33
is often cited as the watershed moment when states accepted
arbitration, not war, to resolve disputes between themselves. The British, French,
Portuguese, and others accepted international arbitration to resolve disputes
between themselves. But even where these disputes related to African territories,
Africans were not involved. The exclusion of Africans is evident in their absence
from The Hague Peace Conferences of 1899 and 1907. Only later in their
histories could African states become signatories to the Convention for the Pacific
Settlement of International Disputes of 1899, as modified in 1907. As we will see
later, African states have relied on the procedural legal framework created by the
Peace Conferences to resolve disputes between themselves, and with non-African
states.
The legal framework for the other type of international arbitration
- investment arbitration - had not yet been established. It was not until the
first half of the twentieth century that states recognised, and accepted as some
may say, that an individual could directly make a claim against a state under
international law.
III. - Independence and Beyond
After the Second World War, the independence of African and other states from
the European powers became inevitable. When it eventually happened, the dispute
resolution framework in African countries was a mix of the legacy of colonial-era
laws and of new international obligations. International arbitration as a mechanism
for resolving disputes became most poignant in disputes between African states
and foreign investors. There was broad consensus that foreign investment was
needed for development, despite ideological differences in other areas of political
and economic governance. The promise of the new international economic order
was not realised. African states had to find other ways of reassuring investors that
les îles de Inyack et Éléphant (Baie de Delagoa ou Lorenzo Marques), 24 juillet 1875, UNRIAA
Vol XXVIII, pp. 157-161; Arbitral award between Portugal and the United Kingdom, regarding the
dispute about the sovereignty over the Island of Bulama, and over a part of the mainland opposite to
it, 21 April 1870, UNRIAA Vol XXVIII, pp. 131-139; Arbitration between Great Britain and Portugal
as regards questions relative to the delimitation of their spheres of influence in East Africa (Manica
Plateau) Decision of 30 January 1897, UNRIAA Volume XXVIII, pp. 283-322.
30. Award as to the Boundary between the United Kingdom and the South African Republic
(Transvaal), 5 August 1885, UNRIAA Vol XXVIII, pp. 185-188.
31. Arbitration entre l'Allemagne et le Royaume-Uni concernant l'Île de Lamu, 17 août 1889,
UNRIAA, Vol. XXVIII, pp. 237-248.
32. Arrangement entre la Grande-Bretagne et la France afin de délimiter leurs Zones d'influence
respectives dans la région du Niger, UNRIAA, Vol. XXVIII (26 juin 1891), pp. 255-258.
33. Alabama Claims of the United States of America Against Great Britain, Award of
14 September 1897, UNRIAA, Vol. XXIX, pp. 125-134.
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Revue - Les Cahiers de l'Arbitrage N°2 - 2023

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