#BorderlessAfrica: Young Africans Unite in Addis Ababa to Dismantle Colonial Borders

141 years after the Berlin Conference that carved Africa into arbitrary territories, a new generation of young Africans is rising to rewrite the story — reclaiming their right to move, trade, and connect freely across the continent their ancestors once traversed without borders.

One hundred and forty-one years ago, European powers gathered in Berlin to slice Africa into territories — drawing borders that would divide peoples, economies, and cultures for generations. Now, a new generation of Africans is convening in Addis Ababa to finish the unfinished business of decolonization — by reclaiming their right to move freely across their own continent.

From November 14–15, 2025, at the African Union Headquarters in Addis Ababa, the pan-African movement Africans Rising for Unity, Justice, Peace and Dignity, in partnership with the African Governance Architecture (AGA), will host the High-Level Influencers Forum on Borderless Africa. The landmark gathering will bring together some of Africa’s most influential content creators, journalists, youth leaders, and policymakers to ignite a new wave of action for the #BorderlessAfrica campaign.

“This generation refuses to inherit colonial borders as our destiny,” says Hardi Yakubu, Africans Rising’s Movement Coordinator. “We are reclaiming our right to move, connect, and build our shared future together.”

The Forum is taking place against a backdrop of stark statistics and even starker realities. Despite six decades of independence, most Africans still face visa restrictions when travelling within their own continent. The 2024 Africa Visa Openness Index shows that citizens of African countries still require visas for 46% of intra-African travel routes, while only 28% of routes are visa-free — a glaring contradiction in a continent that dreams of unity.

Yet, in youth-driven digital spaces and civic movements, the narrative is shifting. The #BorderlessAfrica campaign, launched in 2022 and expanded in 2024, has evolved into a continent-wide call to action. Its mission: to push African governments to ratify and implement the AU Free Movement Protocol and fast-track the African Common Passport, both vital pillars of the African Union’s Agenda 2063 — “The Africa We Want.”

At the upcoming Forum, participants will engage in high-level discussions, creative storytelling sessions, and strategy dialogues exploring how to dismantle colonial mindsets and replace them with people-centered narratives of freedom and connection. From Lagos to Lusaka, Nairobi to Niamey, these young influencers are becoming the new architects of a continent that refuses to be fenced in.

“Borders have become barriers to opportunity, trade, and unity,” Yakubu adds. “A borderless Africa isn’t a dream — it’s a necessity for our collective prosperity.”

The movement’s timing is no accident. As economic integration accelerates through the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), freedom of movement is emerging as its missing link — the human dimension of the continental market. Without it, young entrepreneurs, traders, and innovators will remain trapped by the very borders that divide their potential.

The Influencers Forum seeks to close that gap — not through policy papers alone, but through storytelling, media power, and civic mobilization. Its conveners believe that the struggle for freedom of movement is not merely bureaucratic, but moral — a defining chapter in Africa’s ongoing liberation story.

As delegates converge in Addis Ababa — the symbolic home of Pan-Africanism — one message rings clear: a borderless Africa is no longer an aspiration; it is a movement in motion.

Learn more and take action:
🌍 Borderless Africa Campaign
📝 Sign the People’s Petition for a Borderless Africa
📸 Media Kit