student

two towns fight over the right to control trade on the ohio river.

two lovers are seprated by a jungle river, which becomes a metaphor for the divisions between their two tribes

two lovers are seperated by the ohio river, which becomes a metaphor for the divisions between their two trading communties.

On a macrolevel it describes and discusses the historical territorial disputes between Nigerian and Eritrean tributes over control of the Mjoesa river, which was very important for cocoa trades with Great Britain in the early 20th century. This 25 year war is initially only a backdrop, with the focus being on the 5 year old Nigerian narrator - Lób'ster but comes more to the fore as he grows older and falls in love with a girl, Ma'gnet from Eritrea. It seems like their love can never be, but in the end Lób'ster manages to stick to Ma'gnet as the great colonialists build railroads that unite the two countries.
On a microlevel there are two angles to see it from, first as an inner journey towards finding the universal equilibrium of love; secondly we can see it as a retelling of Homer's The Odyssey, with Telemachus represented by the rain and Odysseus represented by the fog. Personally I find the latter to be rather far-fetched, so I don't think you should go much into it - perhaps only mention it as an aside.

The final scene in the book is a powerful statement about how savage and [self-]destructive Africa would still be if it hadn't been for colonialism.

See also Mongo Beti's early work for more on this.

Ah, yes. "They became antagonists. You could tell this, not by anything tangible, but by the way they faced each other...."