"None of us can stand alone".

As African leaders meet on 1-3 July in the Ghanaian capital, Accra, to deliberate on a union government for Africa, New African dedicates this month's issue to the search for an All-African union government. And how better to start than to go back to the high priest of African unity, Kwame Nkrumah. On 21 October 1965, he stood in front of the member countries of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) then assembled at their summit in Accra, and urged them (in vain, as he had done in Addis Ababa in 1963 at the founding of the OAU) to form a union government. He told them: "Who is there to oppose or frustrate us, if we only have the courage to form an all-African union government? Can the industrialised nations do without our copper, our uranium, our iron ore, our bauxite, our coffee, cocoa, cotton, groundnuts, palm oil--or will they come running to us, as we have been running to them, for trade on equitable terms? It is courage that we lack, not wealth ... Our poverty, in the midst of our unbounded wealth; our weakness in spite of our unbounded might; the greatness of our need and the justice of our cause; the cry of our hungry and oppressed countrymen, as well as the courage and readiness to make further sacrifices by our liberation masses--all these urge me to restate my conviction that we must give political form or reality to our unity."

As the current crop of African leaders once again assembles at this historic summit in Accra, we reprint Nkrumah's October 1965 speech in full to remind them of the monumental task ahead. Titled My faith in a union government has not changed, the speech still cries to the high heavens for African action. Please read on ...

No honour is greater for me personally and the government and people of Ghana than that we should have the privilege of extending to you, distinguished and eminent sons of Africa, our humble hospitality and sincere welcome. I am particularly happy that I should have lived long enough to witness with you here the historic and momentous spectacle of this great assembly of the leaders and representatives of the independent states of Africa.

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We are glad to recall today memories of our struggles for independence; our prophetic imaginings of a new Africa emancipated from colonial chains, standing united and ready to play its historic role in world affairs. The dreams of generations are being steadily realised and fulfilled in many ways.

Today, we raise our voices above the earth and to the world, not as the oppressed and downtrodden of mankind, but with the reborn dignity and strength of a people confident in themselves and certain of their future.

It is in this spirit and with humility but with a sense of pride in our destiny that I stand before you to offer you, distinguished compatriots, a truly African welcome to Ghana.

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Let me take this opportunity to welcome into our midst Brother Dauda Jawara, prime minister of The Gambia, who takes his seat among us for the first time. Gambia's accession to independence is of great significance to us because her independence closes the chapter of British and French colonialism in this part of our continent. Among us here also in the capacity of observers are the representatives of our courageous freedom-fighters in the remaining territories of Africa still under the yoke of colonial rule.

On this historic occasion, our minds must be filled with the suffering and heroism of our brothers in South Africa, Angola, Mozambique, Basutoland, Swaziland, Bechuanaland, South West Africa and the so-called Portuguese and Spanish possessions in Africa, whose mounting struggle for freedom and independence is also our struggle.

Every minute, every moment, that passes sees the intensification of this struggle. Our freedom-fighters refuse to bend their knees to colonial oppression. We salute them.

Allow me to assure them in your name, that we stand by them; their struggle is our struggle, and we are determined that they shall soon come to share with us the benefits of freedom and independence and the responsibilities of managing their own affairs in a united Africa.

The liberation of the whole of our continent, and the restoration of freedom and dignity to those of our brothers who are under the colonial yoke remain our most important and immediate tasks, but we cannot forget that we are an integral part of humanity involved in all conflicts, perils, strivings and hopes of the human race all over the globe.

We cannot ignore the fact that the same imperialist forces which exploit and subvert our independent states, and which exploit and oppress our peoples in the remaining colonial enclaves of Africa, are the very same forces which breed armed conflicts, civil strife and economic impoverishment on other continents. It would be folly for us to dream of Africa as a peaceful and thriving continent in the midst of a world convulsed by armed conflicts, tormented by hunger and disease and continually menaced by imperialist intrigue and aggression. The armed conflict in Viet Nam presents a grave peril to world peace. We must find a way to end that conflict permanently, if the world is to live in peace. In the same way, we must find the means to end the conflict over Kashmir permanently.

We in Africa believe that the unhappy conflict between India and Pakistan can be of benefit to nobody except the imperialists, the colonialists and the neo-colonialists. We must also find a way of putting an end to the current wave of aggression and armed conflicts which are today threatening the peace of the world and causing so much suffering.

We in Africa, therefore, demand the establishment of an Atom Free Zone; we demand the ultimate destruction of nuclear stockpiles wherever they may be and the banning of their manufacture. On these and other issues, we expect the world to respect our point of view, our stand, our heritage and our freedom and independence.

Brothers and colleagues, we are enjoined by the Charter of the OAU to harness the material and human resources of our great and ancient continent for the wellbeing of our people. From the experience of the last two years, are we sure that the Charter as it stands at present contains adequate provisions to enable us to achieve this? The people of Africa are waiting in anxious expectation for a concrete and constructive programme which will assist them to realise their hopes and aspirations. They know their suffering; they know how heavy is their burden and we must know too that if we fail them--woe betide us!

It is true that all of us here are dedicated to the progress of Africa, and that we are determined to forge stronger bonds of unity in the interest of the welfare and happiness of the African people as a whole.

It is also true that a number of resolutions and declarations have been made and adopted, not only by our summit conferences but also by the council of various commissions of the OAU. It is proper that we should have made and adopted these resolutions in the interests of African unity, but unless an effective political machinery is devised, to implement these resolutions, they remain no more than words on paper. In spite of these resolutions and declarations, in spite of all good intentions, in spite of our plans, the naked fact, alas, is that Africa is still an impoverished continent, immobilised by the lack of political cohesion, harassed by imperialism, and ransacked by neo-colonialism.

That is so because our unity is still incomplete and ineffective in the face of grave threats to our very existence. What use is it to us then that our continent is so rich in material and human resources? Brothers and colleagues, the fault is in ourselves, not in our stars.

Situation in Rhodesia

As I speak to you now the situation in Southern Rhodesia [renamed Zimbabwe after independence] constitutes a grave threat to the peace of Africa. The racialist minority which has been allowed to assume power in this British colony now believes that its colonial constitution is not designed to enable it to introduce a complete version of apartheid in the colony.

The racialist regime now threatens to take the law into its own hands and to make a unilateral declaration of independence. We recognise that Britain, as the metropolitan power, bears the ultimate responsibility for the conduct of the colonial regime and for the maintenance of law and order in the colony. But we in Africa cannot remain indifferent to the fate of four million Africans in that territory, and cannot allow an extension of the vile inhuman system of apartheid to other parts of Africa. We call on the British government to do its duty and to fulfil its obligations towards all the citizens in its colony of Southern Rhodesia. If armed force is required to bring the rebellious elements in the colony to order, we expect the United Kingdom government to use force to quell the rebellion.

In the event of the United Kingdom government failing in its duty, I am sure that the member states of the OAU will take whatever steps are necessary in support of the four million Africans who form the majority in Southern Rhodesia. Whatever the outcome of the present crisis, the struggle for the liberation of our brothers in Southern Rhodesia will not be abandoned by the Organisation of African Unity any more than it can be abandoned by the oppressed majority.

We call on the British government to realise that the peace of Africa is immediately involved in the present crisis in Rhodesia and that the only safety and prosperity which the white settler minority can find is in a just and democratic constitution which allows the majority to rule for the benefit of all the people in the territory.

[New African note: When Britain refused to take any action against Ian Smith's unilateral declaration of independence, because London claimed it could not turn its armed forces on its kith and kin in Rhodesia, an outraged Nkrumah pulled Ghana out of the Commonwealth in response, in November 1965].

Problem of refugees

Another issue which requires our urgent attention at this conference is the problem of political refugees. Refugees are a recent phenomenon in this continent, and they have arisen as an outcome of the struggle for independence. Indeed, so extensive is this question that there is perhaps not one independent African state today which has no political refugee problem. While in the fight against colonialism, we can expect a large measure of political cohesion and unity of purpose, what happens thereafter is a different matter.

The responsibility for safeguarding political freedom, once it has been won, and the responsibility for fostering national development are not seen in the same light by those who only yesterday were colleagues and comrades-in-arms. Thus we find that Ivory Coast opposition elements come into hiding in Ghana; that Ghanaian dissidents go to live in Nigeria, Togo and the Ivory Coast. We find similar problems and difficulties virtually everywhere in Africa.

We are all aware of the international convention which recognises that any sovereign state can permit political refugees from another country to dwell in its territory.

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In a speech to the [Ghana] National Assembly on the Geneva Agreement which Ghana and some other African states have ratified, I added an overriding condition that they do not carry out on our soil political activities aimed against their own country.

It would indeed be a sad reflection on our organisation, if even one African, whose wellbeing and progress is the duty of every one of us here, is permitted to wander around this continent, a reproach and a by-word among all men, an outcast, deprived of food and shelter, a stateless individual hounded from state to state, from country to country, without friends, and every man's hands against him. As long as political boundaries persist in Africa, boundaries which we have inherited at independence and were drawn arbitrarily with no heed to the ethnic, economic and social realities of Africa, so long shall we be plagued by the political refugee problem.

All-African union government

The political refugee problem is a social and political problem, and its only solution lies in an all-African Union Government within which our present boundaries will become links instead of barriers.

In the national constitution of Ghana, we have provision for the full or partial surrender of our sovereignty to an all-African Union. No member state should, or can, be expected to surrender its sovereignty for any lesser cause. History is made only by bold ventures and not by retreating in the face of difficulties.

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Those who argue that the time is not ripe or that the difficulties are too great for the establishment of a continental union government are not recognising the imperative needs of the African continent or the overwhelming wishes and desires of the masses of the people of Africa. We can delay no longer in taking the economic destiny of Africa into our own hands. Since the founding of the OAU at Addis Ababa, world trade has moved further and faster into the channels prepared by neo-colonialism.

The increased productivity of our wealthy continent has benefited not us, but the industrialised nations. By depressing the prices of our raw materials and metals, they have stunted our economic progress.

By raising the prices of their manufactured goods, they have drained away any surpluses we might have acquired. The deliberate policy of neo-colonialism emerges, not only to rob us of our wealth, but to prevent us from acquiring capital for our own development.

Those of us who are in the European Common Market and those of us outside it are equally rocked by economic storms and in danger of economic shipwreck.

Everywhere in Africa, our economies are crumbling, our treasuries are getting empty, we are becoming client states, none of us can stand alone. We will remain in that condition until we take the economic and political destiny of Africa into our own hands.

An African Common Market of three hundred million producers and consumers should have a productivity, a purchasing and bargaining power equal to any of those trading and currency blocs which now rule the commerce of the world.

Who is there to oppose or frustrate us, if we only have the courage to form an all-African Union government? Can the industrialised nations do without our copper, our uranium, our iron ore, our bauxite, our coffee, cocoa, cotton, groundnuts, palm oil--or will they come running to us, as we have been running to them, for trade on equitable terms? It is courage that we lack, not wealth.

It is true that we have made half-hearted attempts at economic co-operation, but without the drive and authority which can only come from political action. In this connection, let me quote the words of Brother Nyerere of Tanzania:

  "For Africa, the lesson of our East African experience is that
although economic co-operation can go a long way without political
integration, there comes a point when movement must be either forward
or backward--forward into, political decision or backward into reduced
economic co-operation".

The OAU must face such a choice now--we can either move forward to progress through an effective African Union or step backward into stagnation, instability and confusion--an easy prey for foreign intervention, interferences and subversion.

We have a market which can absorb the produce of modern giant enterprises. We have already through the efforts of the United Nations established an African Development Bank. There are recommendations adopted by the Addis Ababa summit conference as well as by the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) concerning the establishment of a common monetary zone. What is left now is to create a Union Central Bank to back our individual currencies. The decision to create a Central Bank for Africa is a political one. Why is it that we are finding it difficult to take this decision in spite of so many resolutions, declarations and attempts?

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If Africa had one political front, a central machinery, such a decision would not be difficult to take and achieve. Nothing that has happened since our Addis Ababa or Cairo meetings has caused me to alter my mind about the necessity of a union government for Africa. On the contrary, the growing perils in Africa and on the international scene, the growing strictures on world trade, the growing impoverishment of our primary producers, the persistent border disputes in Africa, the increasing instability caused by interference and subversive activities, the continued defiance and insolence of the racist minority regimes in South Africa and Southern Rhodesia--all these urge me to continue our pursuit for the political unification of Africa.

Our poverty, in the midst of our unbounded wealth; our weakness in spite of our unbounded might; the greatness of our need and the justice of our cause; the cry of our hungry and oppressed countrymen, as well as the courage and readiness to make further sacrifices by our liberation masses--all these urge me to restate my conviction that we must give political form or reality to our unity. I am more than ever convinced that Africa should unite into one state with a union government. This is the view which I stated at Addis Ababa in 1963 and I hold to this position.

Machinery for realising our noble aims

It is clear from the shortcomings and difficulties experienced in the running of the OAU that it is necessary to strengthen the charter of the OAU by providing an effective machinery which will enable us to work effectively and successfully for the realisation of our noble aims and objectives. Furthermore, the heads of state and government, and the council of ministers cannot in practice meet as often as the imperative issues of a great continent demand.

I have never wavered in my conviction that the most effective form for the unity of Africa is a single African state, wielding its power through a continental union government. In fact, everything that has happened since our meeting in Addis Ababa has strengthened me in this conviction. At the same time, in order to meet the views expressed by some of my brothers and colleagues, and to achieve as much unity as is possible now, I put forward the following proposals:

We should set up now a full-time body or executive council of the OAU to act as the executive arm of the assembly of the heads of state and government. The assembly of heads of state and government shall appoint from among themselves a chairman for the executive council which will be responsible for implementing the decisions of the assembly.

I also propose that this body shall be responsible for initiating policies and making recommendations to the assembly of heads of state and government on matters pertaining to the aims and objectives of the OAU as set out in Article Two of the Charter.

Under my proposals, the assembly of heads of state and government shall continue to be the supreme governing body of the OAU as in Article Eight of our Charter.

I further propose that the assembly shall elect a union president and a number of union vice-presidents to meet periodically during the ensuing year in order to review the work of the executive council when the assembly is not in session. The general secretariat of the OAU shall be the secretariat of the executive council.

I am confident, brothers and colleagues, that from our deliberations we shall leave yet another significant mark on the history of our times. A United Africa is destined to be a great force in world affairs. So the battle is joined, and we cannot disengage, until the wishes and aspirations of our people have been met.

Just as in the 1950s when we stood abreast and solid in the vanguard of Africa's liberation movement, so in the 1960s we shall see an even greater struggle for the fruits of the African revolution--a new and unified society without which the peoples of Africa cannot independently survive or prosper.

Africa shall be a bright star among the constellation of nations.