The Sunday News
Saul Gwakuba Ndlovu
The 25 to 30 January 1960 Tunis All-African People’s Conference offered liberation movements once more an opportunity to highlight their grievances to the world at large. Colonialism came under a great deal of verbal attack, and so did racial discrimination.
The conference called for the abolition of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, and the granting of independence to about 20 African countries that were still ruled by either Britain, France, Portugal or Spain.
Meanwhile, the process to grant independence to Togo, Cameroon, Nigeria, the Belgian Congo (DRC) and Somalia had been put in motion, and independence dates for each of these countries had been agreed between the metropolitan powers and the officially recognised representative political parties of each of those countries.
The Tunis gathering of African government officials and progressive African-led political organisations recommended to independent African states the establishment of an African investment bank, that of an African Common Market, the formation of an African transport company for land, air and marine purposes, the creation of an African research and training institute, and the promotion of industrialisation, agrarian reform, and agricultural modernisation.
A strong resolution on African unity was passed, reiterating that which was adopted by the 28 April 1958 Accra Heads of State conference.
We should note here that whereas the All- African People’s Conferences made by and large recommendations some of which were in resolution form, or confirmed resolutions passed by Heads of State or calling for their implementation, Heads of State conferences passed resolutions that had to be put into effect. They did not recommend but took actual decisions.
A slight difference occurred, however, in cases where Head of State resolutions had to be referred to respective parliaments for ratification. That was the case with the Ghana-Guinea-Mali Union resolution made by the Presidents of those respective states: Kwame Nkrumah for Ghana, Sekou Toure for Guinea, and Modibo Keita for Mali.
The Tunis 25 to 30 January 1960 All-African People’s Conference was followed by the Second Conference of Independent African States held in Addis Ababa from 15 to 24 June 1960.
Hosted by Emperor Hailie Sellassie’s government, the African Heads of State reaffirmed their complete loyalty to the United Nations Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and to the Declaration of the Bandung and the Accra conferences.
It dealt with what was at that time major worldwide burning issues, disarmament and discontinuance of nuclear and thermo-nuclear weapons tests, colonialism with particular reference to Algeria, South -west Africa (Namibia). It was at that conference that Liberia and Ethiopia decided to take South Africa to the International Court of Justice at the Hague on the South-west Africa then controversial question as to whether that country should be treated as a South African territory or as a United Nations responsibility, a UN responsibility because it had been a League of Nations mandated territory, and was handed over to South Africa as such after the First World War.
Liberia and Ethiopia were League of Nations members and, therefore, had the locus standi to sue South Africa, another former League of Nations member over South-west Africa, a League of Nations mandated territory at that time.
Much of the conference time was spent on the Algerian and the South-west Africa (Namibia) issues. African unity was referred to in connection with previous resolutions, particularly those of the Accra conferences.
After the 15 to 24 June 1960 Addis Ababa Heads of State conference, 12 French-speaking African Heads of State convened their own meeting in Brazzaville, Congo Republic from 15 to 19 December 1960, and issued a communique at the end of their meeting.
The document dwelt at length on the Algerian issue and on that of Mauritania, a former French colony which had become a sovereign and independent state on 28 November 1960, less than a month before the Brazzaville conference.
Its initial application for UN membership was, very surprisingly, vetoed by the Soviet Union, a UN Security council permanent.
Pointing out that Mauritania had already been recongnised by many governments as an independent state, the 12 presidents said: “The undersigned States regret that the USSR had vetoed this admission. They are astonished that a Great Power, which put forward a resolution at the 15th session of UNO asking for the immediate independence, through negotiations, of all colonial territories, opposes the admission of a former colony, which gained independence precisely by these means . . .”
After asking independent African states “to redouble their efforts for the admission of Mauritania,” the Heads of State declared: “Yesterday, in her heroic and pacific struggle for independence, Mauritania received the support of her friends. Today, in her struggle for her admission to UNO, Mauritania can count on the active solidarity of our states who are affected but not discouraged by the great injustice done to her through the Russian veto.”
The declaration referred to the Algerian situation, and asked the colonial power, France, “firmly” to end the Algerian war in 1961 by granting that country self-determination.
The declaration repeatedly treated Madagascar as a separate or unique state by saying “the undersigned states and Madagascar . . .” At that time, African leaders had a problem of distinguishing between what was geographically African from what were ethnically Africans.
Pan-Africanists, such as Nkrumah, Sekou Toure, Modibo Keita, Kenyatta and Joshua Nkomo looked at the issue in geographical terms, emphatically calling for the unity and liberation of the African continent from Cape Agulhas on the continent’s southern tip to Cape Blanc on its most northerly tip and from Sao Tome Principle island off the Sene-Gambia Atlantic Ocean coast in the continent’s most westerly part of its bulge, to the island of Mauritius, off Africa’s horn in the Indian Ocean.
Those opposed to Pan-Africanism included Dr Hastings Kamuzu Banda of Nyasaland (now Malawi), Houphouet Boigny (pronounced Hooffe Bwanye) of the Ivory Coast and Philibert Tsiranana of Madagascar. Dr Banda could never reconcile himself with the Arab states. He publicly and most strongly accused them of having played the major and most atrocious role in the deplorable slave trade. How could he unite with such people? He asked.
Tsiranana, for his part, looked at the African geo-political development from a purely ethnic perspective as did Egypt in the early leadership days of President Gamal Abdel Nasser when in 1958 Egypt formed a union with Syria which was called the United Arab Republic (UAR).
Nasser later changed his political attitude and declared as his government policy that Egypt was, first, an African country and, second, an Arabic nation. This was also the Algerian and the Libyan government’s official policy on every African issue at the United Nations.
The Heads of State who attended the 15-19 December 1960 Brazzaville Conference were Alhaji Ahmadou Ahidjo of Cameroon, Fulbert Youlou of the Congo Republic, David Dacko of the Central African Republic, Hubert Maga of Dahomey (in 1975 the country changed its name to Benin), Houphouet Boigny of the Ivory Coast, Leon M’ba of Gabon, Maurice Yameogo of the Upper Volta, Filibert Tsiranana of Madagascar, Moktar Ould Daddah of Mauritania, Hamani Diori of Niger, Leopold Senghor of Senegal and Francois Tombalbaye of Chad.
Hard on the heels of the Brazzaville conference of 12 presidents followed an All-African People’s Conference held in Cairo from 23 to 31 March 1961, in fact, the third by the All-African People’s Conference since its launch in Accra in 1958.
The Zimbabwe issue was on the agenda of each of these conferences, the December 1958 Accra and the January 1960 Tunis All-African peoples conferences, and representing the country was Joshua Nkomo. After the Accra congress, he had gone to Cairo where he opened an office. From there, he flew to Moscow where he was officially but privately received by the Soviet Union government officials.
Those conferences discussed Africa’s colonial problems, and that of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland featured prominently. The Tunis and Cairo conferences passed a resolution of Dr Banda and Henry Masauko Chipembere of Nyasaland, James Robert Dambaza Chikerema and George Bonzo Nyandoro of Southern Rhodesia and called for their release from detention.
The Cairo conference urged freedom-fighters in Algeria, Angola, Basutoland (now Lesotho) Bechuanaland (now Botswana), Cape Verde islands, Kenya, Nyasaland, Northern Rhodesia, Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) Portuguese-Guinea (Guinea-Bissau) Ruanda-Urundi (Ruanda and Burundi). Mozambique and South-west Africa (Namibia) to intensify their respective struggles for national freedom.
The meeting also recommend the creation of what it named an All-African Freedom Fund Committee to consolidate and administer the Freedom Fund established by earlier decisions.
The Fund committee was to be headed by a Secretary General as its executive officer. It also recommended the establishment of what it called a “Free-Africa Radio Station” to be used by freedom-fighters.
On Nyasaland and Rhodesia, the Cairo conference:
n Condemned the then current constitutional changes in Northern Rhodesia and Southern Rhodesia and demanded the immediate granting of independence to the two Rhodesias on the basis of one man one vote;
n It demanded the immediate and unconditional dissolution of the Central African Federation and the consequent independence of the central African territories of Nyasaland, Northern Rhodesia and Sothern Rhodesia, which by their right would decide their political future;
n Called upon all Commonwealth countries to eject the imposed Central African Federation from the Commonwealth as it was in fact a pocket edition of the apartheid policies of the Union South Africa;
n Called upon all African and Commonwealth countries not to fraternise with the imposed Central African Federation through diplomatic exchanges, trade relations, tourism or any other socio-cultural exchanges;
n Demanded the release of all political prisoners and detainees and the two Rhodesias such as George Nyandoro, Chikerema, and Masauko Chipembere whose only crime was their dedication to the struggle against imperialism and colonialism;
n Call upon the All-African Conference and the independent Africans states to redouble their aid and support to the African of Central Africa against British imperialism . . .”
Other resolutions called on the South African apartheid regime to leave South-west Africa forthwith, and for the granting of independence by Britain to all its colonies and protectorates.
Portugal and France were also called upon to give independence to their colonies. The conference called upon the Afro-Asian countries to demand the expulsion of South Africa from the United Nations because of its apartheid policies.
The Cairo conference expressed its “particular indignation at the savage assassination of Patrice Lumumba, permanent member of the conference and Prime Minister of the legitimate Government of the Congo.
It accused Kasavubu, Mobutu, Tshombe and Albert Kalonji of the murder of Lumumba and called for their punishment. Describing Lumumba as “the hero of Africa,” the meeting said it considered the then Kisangani-based, Gizenga-led administration to be the legitimate government of the Congo.
We should mention two important developments that occurred while all these conferences were being held. One was the coming together into a union of Ghana, Guinea and Mali as already stated. The other was the creation of an organisation known as the Pan-African Movement of East and Central Africa (Pafmeca) whose secretary general was Kenneth David Kaunda of the then Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia).
Pafmeca was based in Dar es Salaam in Tanganyika at that time, and was meant to co-ordinate and facilitate freedom fighters’ requirements. Zambia was not yet born by then, and the British government was not categorically clear about whether or not it would dissolve the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, also known as the Central African Federation. So Kenneth Kaunda’s Party, the United National Independence Party (Unip), was preparing for an armed uprising, should the worst come to the worst, to free Northern Rhodesia.
Pafmeca was created also because some states in West Africa were clearly against Kwame Nkrumah’s “independence now” approach based on what he called “positive action” to liberate the entire African continent. Those states belonged to what was referred to as the “Monrovia Group”. They stood for “gradual” rather than “immediate” liberation of Africa from colonialism.
In Kwame Nkrumah’s camp was Guinea’s Sekou Toure who had literally told the French colonial officials to pack up their bags and baggage and leave Guinea immediately whatever the consequences. Guinea became independent on 20 October 1958. The other leader who agreed with Nkrumah’s militaintly anti-colonialist policies was Mali’s Modibo Keita.
These three leaders were wholly for a united Africa. They decided to bring together their three countries as a nucleus of a what would be called “The United States of Africa. “the first announcement towards that goal was made in Accra on 23 November 1958. It was about what was termed the Ghana-Guinea Union, also known as the Union of African States (UAS).
On 1 May 1959 in Conakry, Guinea, a joint Ghana-Guinea communique was issued following a meeting between Nkrumah and Sekou Toure. The document elaborated the practicalities of such a union, and indicated principles for a much larger African union of independent states whose allegiance was to be to the union only.
In November 1960 Nkrumah visited Mali and a communique was issued at the end of his stay emphasizing the importance of African unity. On 5 December 1960, Guinea’s President Sekou Toure and Mali Modibo Keita met at Siguiri in Guinea and issued a communique saying that the friendly relations binding their two countries to Ghana should be intensified.
On 24 December 1960, the three presidents met in Conakry, Guinea, and later officially announced that they were determined to create a union of the three states that would be named “The Union of African States (UAS).
Article 1 of the UAS was about its name, but article 2 stated that the union would be regarded as a nucleus of the United States of Africa, USA, and its membership would be open to every African state or federation of states. It reaffirmed its complete adherence to the Accra and Casablanca resolutions..
That development did not go down well with the Monrovia group who met from 8 to 12 May 1961 and discussed three issues: settlement of international disputes by peaceful means the setting up of a commission to be attached to the Organisation of Co-Operation of African and Malagasy states, and the border dispute between Ethiopia and Somalia about which they appealed to Emperor Halie Selassie of Ethiopia and President Shermake of Somalia to resolve peacefully.
Attending that Monrovia conference were Presidents William Tubman of Liberia who was in the chair, Felix Houphouet Boigny of the Ivory Coast, Ahmadou Ahidjo of Cameroon, Leopold Senghor of Senegal, Philibert Tsiranana of Madagascar, Sylvanus, Olympio of Togo, Hubert Maga of Dahamey, Francois Tombalbaye of Chad, Hamani Diori of Niger, Maurice Yameogo of Upper Volta, Fulbert Youlou of the Congo (Brazzaville), Prime minister of Nigeria Sir Abubaker Tafawa Balewa, Prime Minister of Sierra Leone, Sir Milton Margai, the Somali Prime Minister Abdi Rashid Shermake, and the Mauritanian Prime Minister, Moktar Ould Daddah. Tunisia was represented by a foreign ministry official.
On 1 July 1961, the three UAS presidents, Nkrumah, Toure and Keita, met in Accra and worked on a government policy document on defence, domestic affairs, culture, and economic co-operation among their three states: Ghana, Guinea, Mali.
At that time it was obvious that there was a difference of approach, if not of opinion, on the African continental unity issue. The world at large watched with abated breath as independent African states held consultations after consultations.
The west clearly stood behind the Monrovia Bloc, that with the likes of Houphouet Boign of the Ivory Coast who had been a French cabinet minister when his country was still an overseas department of France.
Liberia, for its part, was to all practical purposes a United States economic appendange. Monrovia was named in honour of the US president Monroe, during whose term Liberia was founded. The Casablanca Group, for its part, was for non-alignment, and had as its staunch members political giants such as Egypt’s Gamal Abdel Nasser, Ghana’s Nkrumah and Guinea’s Toure.
It was in such an atmosphere that the next Heads of State conference which established the OAU was held in May 1963 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
n To be continued next Sunday
- Saul Gwakuba Ndlovu is a retired, Bulawayo- based journalist. He can be contacted on cell 0734 328 136 or through email. [email protected]
