Minneapolis spokesman., 1962-02-16

summit fear, which became a re
would boycott the conference.
Before agreeing with or
statement, let's examine and at
tempt to answer the following
questions.
What were the original objec-
tives of the Lagos Summit?
How far was it possible to
achieve them with or without the
participation of the Casablanca
Group?
Since the Casablanca bloc de-
dded not to participate, what was
actually accomplished?
AS for the first question, the
shortest and simplest answer was
that the original objectives were
to achieve some measure of Afri-
can unity - economically, cultur-
ally, socially and eventually, polit-
ically.
Our erstwhile masters, the Brit
ish and the French, kept us isolated
from each other. There was a con-
siderable amount of cultural, econ
omic and social unity between
British Colonies and no doubt the
same state of affairs existed
among the French Colonies. But
British and French Colonies were
as completely isolated from each
other as China is from Peru. There
were not even common roads con-
Meeting French and British colon
les that adjoined one another.
Even today, in our first years OF
independence, a letter from Lagos
to London, whether by air mail or
surface mail. gets to its destina-
ton much quicker than one from
Lagos to Porto Novo to Abidjan,
and by far the quickest way to
send a cable to Porto Novo or
Abidjan is to send it via Paris.
French is not taught in the
schools in the ex-British Colonies
and English is not taught in the
schools in the ex-French Colonies,
SO there is no common language
In which to communicate, except
where a boundary divides native
language group, as on the Nigeria
Dahomey boundary, on both sides
of which Yoruba is spoken. AS
Yoruba is only one of the many
languages of Nigeria and one of
the two or three languages of Da-
honey, that does not go very far.
In the economic field, it is the
same thing. All our economy is
London-oriented, all their is Paris
oriented.
And yet, as the yearning for in
dependence and the spirit Of ma
tionalism spread throughout Afri-
ca, in spite of these barriers to
communication, Africans feel them
selves to be one in spirit and long
to make that spirit tangible.
Of course, pondering on these
gross anomalies which divide AT.
rica to an extent that Europe has
never been divided since the Mid,
die Ages, the leaders have beer
led to think of more ideal forms
Of unity.
To quote Nigeria's Prime Min
lister, in his opening address to the
All-Nigeria Peoples Conference ir
Lagos last August 10:
How can we bring the people Of
Africa closer together, so that al
Of us shall have the feeling oi
oneness?
Shall we tackle our problem ir
Africa regionally - West, East
North, South and Central Africs
or shall we take the Continent
as a whole?
How are we to assist the re
naming dependent territories IL
Africa to obtain full independence
within the shortest time possible
How do we tackle the problem
of territories where there arr
European minority settlers?
DO we aim at achieving an i'm
mediate political union Of all Afri
can states or do we as beginning
start by cooperating in scientific
economic and cultural relations?
AT present we lack the neces
sary capital and technical skill Il
develop our resources by ourselves
alone and so, how are we to Obtain
help from outside and still keel
from being under the influence o
one power bloc or another?
How can we in Africa help t
preserve world peace and promot'
the happiness of mankind general
ly."
These strings of the spirit among
African leaders led to a series o
conferences. The first was tn
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