Africa Day: Through unity greatness is achieved

25 May, 2014 - 17:05 0 Views
Africa Day: Through unity greatness is achieved

The Sunday News

Op2

Julius Nyerere

Saul Gwakuba Ndlovu
MAY 25, 2014, is the fifty-first anniversary of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) now called the African Union (AU).
Inaugurated in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the pan-African body brought together leaders of a wide range of ideological persuasion.Ethiopia’s head-of-state was at that time Emperor Haile Selassie, the ninety-fifth member in a hereditary line that traced its origin to King Solomon of the biblical fame. That Jewish king had a well known amorous liaison with the extraordinarily beautiful queen of Sheba and it was from her historic lineage that Emperor Haile Selassie descended.

The Emperor was ironical, an anti-imperialist so he stated, and offered his ancient capital as a launching pad of the continental organisation on

25 May 1963.
Among the 30 heads of state who attended the august occasion were Ghana’s Dr Kwame Nkrumah, Guinea (Conakry’s) Sekou Toure, Mali’s Modibo Keita, Egypt’s Gamal Abdel Nasser, Tanzania’s “Mwalimu” Julius Nyerere, Uganda’s Milton Obote, Kenya’s Jomo Kenyatta, Cameroon’s Alhaji Ahmadou Ahidjo, Sierra Leone’s Dr (later Sir) Milton Margai, Tunisia’s Habib Bourguiba, Somalia’s De Abdirashid Ali Shermarke and all other heads of governments of other independent African countries.

Dr Joshua Nkomo, Robert Dambaza Chirekema and Joseph Bruno Msika represented the then banned Zapu. Zanu had not yet been formed.
The main objective of the OAU was to help decolonise the entire African continent, including its islands such as the Comoros in the Indian Ocean and several Guinean (Bissau) islands on the Atlantic Ocean.

A decision had been taken at a high-powered international conference in Accra, Ghana, in 1958 that independent African states should help those still under colonial domination to be free.

That help was in various forms: scholarships to liberation movements to help them to train personnel to run their respective countries at their attainment of independence; military training for guerrilla warfare against colonial forces.

Whereas scholarships were offered by some states directly to liberation movements, military assistance was channelled through the OAU’s liberation committee based in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

The military aid was given to liberation movements recognised by the OAU.

South Africa had two such organisations, the African National Congress (ANC) and the Pan-African Congress (PAC). Zimbabwe also had two, the Zimbabwe African People’s Union (Zapu) and the Zimbabwe African National Union (Zanu).

Mozambique was initially represented by at least four parties the Unias Democratica Nacional de Mozambique (Udenamo), the Mozambique African Nationalist Union (Manu), the Uniao Africana de Mozambique Independent (Unami) and the Mozambique Africana Nacional Congress (MANC).

The first three, Udenamo, Manu and UNAMI merged in Dar es Salaam on 25 June 1962 to form the Frente de Libertacao de Mozambique (Frelimo).

MANC, led by a Me Simbi who was based in Lusaka, Zambia, fizzled out after Simbi and his couple of office workers were removed by Zambian government authorities from their small office in 1968. MANC had never been recognised by the OAU. Namibia was originally represented by the South-West African People’s Organisation (Swapo) and the South-West African National Union (Swanu).

Swanu was derecognised by the OAU in 1967 and disappeared from the scene.

Angola had its well known liberation movement, the Movimento Populoar de Libertacao de Angola (MPLA). A second organisation known as the Revolutionary Government of Angola in Exile (GRAE) was recognised by the Government of the then Congo-Kinshasa on 29 June 1963.

However, the OAU by and large stuck to the MPLA and gave it material aid until Angola became independent on 10 November 1975.
Guinea-Bissau had its Partido Africano da Independencia da Guine eCapo Verde (PAIGC). For a brief period, the PAIGC was challenged by an organisation called FLING which was based in Senegal. However, the OAU continued to support the PAIGC as Guinea-Bissau’s only authentic liberation movement. It was based in Guinea-Conakry where its president (PAIGC’s) Amilcar Cabral was murdered by a former PAIGC official working in close liaison with Portuguese agents.

Guinea-Bissau became independent on 24 September 1973.

The liberation committee’s chief officer was Colonel Mbita, a Tanzanian Pan-Africanist who always encouraged all liberation movements through their representatives in Dar es salaam to fight until their respective countries were free.

Whenever he thought that there was very little or no activity taking place in any of the African continent’s territories still under colonial oppression, he would call the representative of the liberation organisation concerned and warn them that continued lack of serious activity could lead to stoppage of aid and eventual derecognition by the OAU.

Colonel Mbita was also a very firm believer in unity among or between liberation movements such as Zapu and Zanu. He used his influence to bring about the Patriotic Front (PF).

It could serve Africa well economically especially if its various nations, all of which are now independent sovereign states, were to unite not only to fulfil the aspirations of the OAU founding fathers.

The aims and objectives of the OAU were: To promote the unity and solidarity of the African states; to co-ordinate and intensify efforts to achieve a better life for the peoples of Africa; to defend their sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence; to eradicate all forms of colonialism from Africa; and to promote international co-operation, having due regard to the Charter of the United Nations and the Universal Declaration of Human  Rights.

The OAU had four standing specialised commissions: The Economic, Social, Transport and Communications Commission, the Defence Commission, the Labour Commission and the Scientific, Cultural and Educational and Health Commission.

Ad hoc commissions were set up whenever it was necessary, particularly for the maintenance of peace or its creation as the case might be.
It is in and through unity that African states can achieve greatness no less than the United States has reached high socio-economic goals. Unity is power not just or only at national but very much so at international level.

The African Union (AU) would be well advised to move towards that goal sooner rather than later for the benefit of the continent’s increasing population.

Saul Gwakuba Ndlovu is a Bulawayo-based retired journalist. He can be rached on cell 0734328136 or through email [email protected]

Share This:

Survey


We value your opinion! Take a moment to complete our survey

This will close in 20 seconds