St. Paul recorder. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1934-2000, 1962-02-16
Was Lagos Confob
Step Toward Unity
Among Africans I?
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Brazzaville Conference of the
twelve French-spealxing states:
Senegal, Togo, Congo (Brazza-
ville), Dahomey, Niger, Haute Vol
ia, Ivory Coast, Tchad, the Cent
raj African Republic, Gabon, Maur-
itania and Malagasy.
They did not realize much. They
had always been fairly well in
tegrated together under the
French. Independence had led to
some disintegration. They aimed
and, in large measure, succeeded
in correcting this tendency. Within
the French Community, they were
still pretty well tied to the econ
omic and political apron-strings of
France.
This was followed by the Cas-
ablanca Conference in January,
1861, which was attended by Nor
Deco, the United Arab Republic,
Guinea, Mali, Ghana, Lybya, and
the Provisional Government of AL
geria (the FIN. insurgent Gov
eminent in exile in Tunis).
The Conference was attended by
the Heads of State of all the indie
pendent states except Lybya, which
sent its Foreign Minister. Ferhat
Abbas, the Prime Minister attend
ed there the Algerian Provisional
Government. The Ambassador of
Ceylon to the United Arab Re-
public also attended.
The Conference was convened at
the invitation of the late King Mo-
manned v of Morocco principally
to discuss the Congo situation. 1t,
however, dealt with several other
problems of vital interest to Africa,
such as Algeria, Mauritania, Pal
estine, French nuclear tests in the
Sahara, Ruanda Urundi, apartheid
in South Africa, racial discrimina-
ton generally, the Strengthening
and safeguarding of newly indie
pendent African countries and the
creation of unity in Africa.
A more significant achievement
was the declaration of an "Afri-
can Charter, aimed at the con-
solidation of liberty in Africa and
the building of its unity and secur-
ity. 1t was decided to create an
African Consultative Assembly
composed of representatives of ev-
cry African state having a per-
manent seat and holding periodical
sessions; four standing committees
political, economic, cultural and
military - and a Liaison Office
for establishing effective co-opera-
ton among the above mentioned
organizations.
In order to define the practical
procedure of the functioning of
these organisations, meeting of
experts of the MEMBERSHIPS was
convened at Conakry, the capital
of Guinea. The report of this meet
ing, referred to as the "Conakry
Recommendations" called for the
establishment of a common market
to accompany growing political
union. 1t also advocated the ending
of customs barriers between the
Casablanca countries, the ending of
quota systems and preferential
treatment, the creation of a Coun-
Gil of African Economic Unity and
the establishment of an African
Economic Development Bank. The
formation of a joint air and ship
ping company among the member
states was also recommended.
It can be seen that the resolu-
tons made at Casablanca, though
ideanstic, were highly desirable
and some of them at least were
highly practical. But If they were
to go further than achieving some
measure of desirable political, eco
nomical and cultural unity among
the Casablanca Group themselves,
In fact if the resolutions referring
to Africa as a whole were to mean