[Maktab]

Great point. For historical reasons, many African countries established better links between themselves and their former Colonial rulers than they did between themselves, with inter-country links being neglected.

Immediately after independence this made sense, as those links back to Europe were already well-established and they were to countries with far higher trading capacities than neighbouring African countries, but in the long-run it retarded the growth of African trading regions and the diversification of industry in many parts of the continent.