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respond to the topic(s) two paragraph focusing on the main points discussed in the assigned readings. These are essentially summaries that should also capture the central argument being made. In historical discussions, remember that time perspective and specific examples are critical in the understanding of events. **Watch on YouTube, Basil Davidson “Africa, program 7 (Rise of African nationalism” 57 mins.Chap. 5 &6—Closer Union & the Formation of Organization of African Unity (OAU)The Afro-Asian Bandung Conference of 1955, the 1956 Loi-Cadre allowing internal autonomy for French African colonies along with the independence of Morocco and Tunisia and a year later, Ghana and the possibility of others soon necessitated the creation of a closer union of Africa. Several meetings and resolutions punctuated this push for a union or a Pan-African organization for Africa:In April 1958, Kwame Nkrumah hosted a conference in Accra, Ghana’s capital for several African countries, including Egypt, Ethiopia, Sudan, Tunisia, Morocco and Libya where he emphasized friendship among African countries. He called for peace and security as per the UNO Charter to allow Africans “assert our own African personality and to develop according to our own ways of life, our own customs, traditions and culture” Pp. 195-96. Among others, this conference agreed to ensure unity in Africa’s approach to world affairs, to settle African disputes through negotiations, to support Algerian and South African nationalists in addition to condemning all forms of racial discrimination, economic cooperation by launching a Joint Economic Research Commission, and cultural cooperation through sports, festivals, and exchange of teachers and students. April 15 was declared as an “African Freedom Day”. To this extent, this first meeting of independent African countries was a watershed in the future of Africa.In December 1958, Nkrumah convened another meeting the All-African Peoples’ Conference (AAPC) was held in Accra. The focus of this meeting was African unity and the struggle against colonialism. This meeting attracted nationalists from all over Africa, including Patrice Lumumba of Belgium Congo, Ntsu Mokhele of Lesotho, Tom Mboya of Kenya (representing Kenya Council of Labour), and Holden Roberto of Angola. Nkrumah declared the 1950s as the decade of African independence and that the independence of Ghana would be meaningless without that of the rest of Africa. He emphasized that political freedom will result in other freedoms, warned against the rise of imperialism and rejected the big powers’ attempts to involve Africa in the ongoing Cold War. In his speech delivered by his wife, Dubois urged that for the sake of unity and success of Pan-Africanism, individual states should give up some of their heritage. Delegates agreed to create a permanent organization headquartered in Accra, whose aims were African understanding and unity, fight against colonialism, have a common defense policy, and create a union of African states. Already, Ghana and French Guinea had formed a union in 1958 and it was hoped that other, especially newly-independent African countries would join the union that would culminate in the United State of Africa. Nkrumah studied at Lincoln University and was heavily influenced by the USA growth from the first 13 colonies. The idea of Union so alarmed some of the African countries about the loss of their sovereignty that they strongly opposed this move.In 1959, Liberia’s William Tubman invited Nkrumah and Guinea’s Sekou Toure to Monrovia where he proposed a federation or an “ Associated States of Africa” instead of Union. They agreed on several principles about the nature of an African organization, including the formation of a “Community of Independent African States,” the right for self-determination of Africans, as well non-interference by a member of the community of African states in the internal affairs of other members. But this was temporary diplomacy by Nkrumah whose goal was an African Union.The differences between pro -Union and Federation resurfaced in the June 1960 Addis Ababa, Ethiopia meeting where Ghana and Liberia disagreed. Although Emperor Haile Selassie took a moderate approach emphasizing African unity, the Liberian delegate, Rudolf Grimes accused Nkrumah of interfering in the internal affairs of Togo by urging the Ewe there to join their kin in Ghana. Even Nigeria (which became independent in October 1960) opposed Ghana’s political union approach by proposing social-cultural and economic unity first. It accused Nkrumah of being to ambitious and of planning to become president of Africa. Nkrumah countered that a loose economic confederation was useless without political union and accused some of the African leaders of being puppets of others. He then discussed the dangers laying ahead as evidenced in Belgium Congo, where Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba had been overthrown by Western backed Congolese and throwing the country into turmoil. Lumumba was murdered on Jan. 17, 1961.Another group emerged in Oct. 1960 consisting of Franco-phone African countries all of which had attained independence, except for Algeria. They met in Abidjan, Ivory Coast under Houphouet-Boigny where they discussed the Algerian question. In December, these countries held a conference in Congo Brazzaville and another in Dakar, Senegal. In what came to be known as the Brazzaville Declaration, the meeting recognized the autonomy of Mauretania, and asked France to end the Algerian War so that the two countries can secure admission at the UNO. The fact that the Brazzaville Group or Bloc excluded other independent African countries created friction.Thus, in Jan. 1961 King Mohammed V of called for a conference in Casablanca to address not only the Belgium Congo crisis, but also the autonomy of Mauretania to which Morocco was opposed. Nasser, Nkrumah, Toure, Algerian nationalist Ferhat Abbas, Libyan representatives, among others attended. In addition to the above issues, the union of African states and a constitutional framework were discussed. Regarding the Congo, Ghana insisted on keeping its troops there as part of the UN troops to create stability. This conference approved an African Charter whose aims included support for liberation struggle, unity, and non-alignment in the cold war, and created an African Consultative Assembly to ensure all these. The conference also proposed a Joint African High Command to defend the continent. All these principles became part of the Protocol of the African Charter signed in April-May 1961 in Cairo by Foreign Ministers. These group of mainly radical African countries came to be known as the Casablanca Group or Bloc.Reacting to the Casablanca meeting, a group of the

more conservative African countries met in Monrovia, Liberia in May 1961. Although they invited the Brazzaville Bloc of countries, they excluded the Casablanca Bloc. This group came to be known as the Monrovia Group or Bloc. This meeting was dominated by Nigeria’s Prime Minister, Abubakar T. Balewa who proposed a gradual approach to African unity. Among its resolutions, this conference condemned colonialism and apartheid, the Congo assassinations ( Lumumba and his allies), but refused to recognize the Algerian Provisional Government as the Casablanca Bloc did. Even more important, this meeting supported the principles of the existing African boundaries and non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries. The Monrovia Bloc was attacked by Ghana’s media as agents of imperialism, while a Nigerian paper accused Nkrumah of planning to destroy other countries to achieve his dream of becoming president of Africa. For his part, Nigerian opposition leader, Obafemi Awolowo proposed a division of Africa into politically, economically and culturally integrated zones first as the best way of achieving an All-African Union. In late 1961 the East African Common Services (later East African Community) organization was formed, essentially proving Awolowo right. This organization for Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania was encouraged by the British colonial regime since 1948.However, there were also several national disputes compounded the drive towards African unity:(a) Morocco considered Mauretania part of its territory, why it opposed its autonomy(b) Morocco also claimed part of Algeria leading to war(c) Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia quarreled and fought over their frontiers(d) Nigeria and Cameroon also quarreled over their borders(e) The Ewe problem between Togo and Ghana remained a source of tensionYet, Nkrumah pressed ahead about African union giving the examples of USA and USSR. He argued that Africa could not survive without political unity, and the tragedy of the Congo must have weighed heavily on him.In Jan. 1962 a meeting was held in Lagos, Nigeria which the Casablanca Bloc boycotted mainly because the Algerian Provisional Government was not invited. While the Nigerian President Nnamdi Azikiwe angrily criticized the boycott, Emperor Selassie regretted the exclusion of Algeria’s leaders, advised that all Africa was one, and emphasized Ethiopia’s commitment to African political unity. Out of this meeting, a Charter for African States was drafted emphasizing among others, sovereign equality of states, non-interference in others’ internal affairs, respect for the existing boundaries, peaceful settlement of disputes, cooperation of African states in all fields, and a formation of an Assembly of African Heads of States.In Feb. 1962, a meeting of Pan-African Freedom Movement for East, Central and Southern Africa (PAFMECA) in Addis Ababa agreed to a federation that would eventually lead to African unity. Then in May, Sekou Toure and Leopold Senghor called for the unity of the Casablanca-Monrovia groups. In July, Algeria achieved independence, and the Congo crisis remained unresolved. And in Oct. 1962, Houphouet-Boigny, Modibo Keita and Toure met for the first time since 1958 to discuss African and other issues. It became increasingly necessary to have a continental conference. A meeting of independent African states was scheduled for May 1963 in Addis Ababa. Before this meeting, Committee of African Organizations (CAO) met in London and resolved among others that, leaders had one important responsibility of uniting all African states, abandoning the divisionary groupings, drafting a Charter of African Unity for all states, and identifying the name of the union, its Secretariat and headquarters. CAO also called for the formation of a Pan-African News Agency, Radio and TV, and an African High Command.On May 22, 1963, all 32 independent African States save for Morocco and Togo were represented, and Kwesi Armah represented CAO. Emperor Selassie opened the conference by urging compromise and a gradual move towards unity. Nkrumah disagreed arguing that immediate political unity was the only answer to African development and industrialization. He warned that any delay would lead to more obstacles, including increasing poverty that would ignite resentment against leaders. Nkrumah continued: “Unite we must. Without necessarily sacrificing our sovereignties, big or small, we can here and now forge a political union based on Defence, Foreign Affairs and Diplomacy, and a Common Citizenship, an African Currency, an African Monetary zone and an African Central Bank….”pp. 225-26. Esedebe has correctly observed that Nkrumah’s noble ideas were rejected because of his personality and having antagonized many African leaders.At this conference, a charter was ratified that established the Organization of African Unity (OAU) with the following aims:(a) Promote unity and solidarity of African states(b) Coordinate and intensify their cooperation and efforts(c) Achieve better life for African peoples(d) Defend African states’ sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence(e) Eradicate all forms of colonialism from Africa(f) Promote international cooperation, paying attention to UNO & the Universal Declaration of Human RightsThe OAU Charter’s principles, included sovereign equality of all states, peaceful arbitration of disputes, non-interference in the internal affairs of member states, and non-alignment. Heads of States would convene annually to elect a chair, it required a two-thirds membership quorum, and a Council of Foreign Ministers acted as subordinate executive to the assembly of sates and governments. A 5-year Secretariat headed by Secretary-General and commissions dealing with various issues were also established wit Addis Ababa as the headquarters.Between 1965- 73, OAU performed poorly, except its opposition to colonialism. The OAU found itself divided on many issues such as breaking diplomatic relations wit UK over the Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI) by Rhodesian settlers, settling the Congo crisis, and the Biafra War in Nigeria. One of the culprits here was that OAU did not establish an African High Command to enforce the agreements. The one thing that the organization was united on was opposition to colonialism in Africa. The answer to OAU’s failed history was its replacement by the African Union (AU) in 2001 with a more forward-looking African policy. In all, there are 54 independent countries in AU. This body and likeminded bodies elsewhere are now preoccupied with many Pan-Africanist issues ranging from hunger, shelter, health care, inequalities, to dictatorship and abuse of human rights. The issue of racial discrimination, too, has continued to endure in many parts of the world.