of political parties
and other groups
in the late 1950s and early 1960s in Africa
.
It was attended by
delegates from independence movements
in areas still under European colonial rule
,
as well as by delegates from the independent African countries,
including representatives of the governing parties of some of those countries.
In the Conference's own words, it was open to 'all national political parties
and national trade union congresses or equivalent bodies or organisations
that subscribe to the aims and objects of the conference.'
The Conference met three times: December 1958, January 1960, and
March 1961; and had a permanent secretariat
with headquarters in Accra
.
Its primary objectives were independence for the colonies; and
strengthening of the independent states and resistance to neocolonialism
.
It tended to be more outspoken in its denunciations of colonialism
than the Conference of Independent African States, a contemporary
organisation which, being composed of heads of state, was relatively
constrained by diplomatic caution.
Wallerstein says that the All-African Peoples' Conference was
the "true successor to the Pan-African Congress
es."
The subject matter and attitudes of the Conference are illustrated by the
following excerpt from its second meeting:
The Conference
Demands the immediate and unconditional accession to
independence of all the African peoples, and the total evacuation of the
foreign forces of aggression and oppression stationed in Africa;
Proclaims the absolute necessity, in order to resist the
imperialist coalition more effectively and rapidly free all the
dependent peoples from foreign oppression, of coordinating and
uniting the forces of all the Africans, and recommends the African
states not to neglect any form of co-operation in the interest of all the
African peoples;
Denounces vigorously the policy of racial discrimination
applied by colonialist and race-conscious minorities in South and East and
Central Africa, and demands the abolition of racial domination in South Africa,
the suppression of the Federation of Nyasaland and Rhodesia, and
the immediate independence of these countries;
Proclaims equality of rights for all the citizens of the
free countries of Africa and the close association of the masses for the
building up and administration of a free and prosperous Africa;
Calls on the peoples of Africa to intensify the struggle
for independence, and insists on the urgent obligation on the
independent nations of Africa to assure them of the necessary aid and
support; . . . .
First Conference: Accra, 5–13 December 1958
The first conference was preceded by a Preparatory Committee composedof representatives from the eight independent African states—other
than South Africa. (They were Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Libya,
Morocco, Tunisia, and the United Arab Republic.) The conference itself was
attended by delegates from 28 African countries and colonies. The
number of delegates was more than 300, and the conference claimed that
they represented more than 200 million people from all parts of Africa.
Tom Mboya
, General Secretary of the Kenya Federation of Labour,
was elected chairman.
One important discussion was over the legitimacy and desirability
of using violence against the colonial powers. It was agreed that
violence would be necessary in some cases. Concerning the struggle
in Algeria
, full support was given to the recently proclaimed
Provisional Republican Government
(Gouvernement Provisoire de la République Algérienne -- GPRA). On the Cameroon
,
the Conference supported the fight of the UPC
maquis, demanding
full amnesty
and UN
-sponsored elections. The Conference
considered unity and solidarity to be key strategies in the fight against
colonialism and economic domination after colonialism; it called
for the establishment of Africa-wide organisations, including trade unions
youth groups, and a Bureau of Liberatory Movements. It was at this
meeting that the decision was made to establish a permanent secretariat
at Accra. The first secretary-general was George Padmore
,
then living in Ghana. The following year, he died and was replaced by
Guinea's Resident Minister in Ghana, Abdoulaye Diallo
.
Prominent persons at the first Conference included Patrice Lumumba
,
who headed the Congolese
delegation.
Wallerstein summarises by saying: "The impact of this and
subsequent AAPC meetings on political awareness in Africa is difficult
to measure, but nonetheless very real. The AAPC brought many African
nationalist leaders into contact for the first time with others
who had already won independence for their countries or were
in active and violent struggle for it."
Second Conference: Tunis, 25–30 January 1960
One feature of the AAPC was tension between conservative andavant-garde elements. After the first conference, Tom Mboya
was 'more or less' fired as chairman and was absent at Tunis.
The conference adopted a proposal by the Algerians and Moroccans
for an 'international corps of volunteers' to go to fight in Algeria
in the manner of the International Brigade that had gone to
Spain
in the 1930s.
The Conference voiced considerable concern over neocolonialism—the
tendency of the nominally freed states to actually remain subjugated
to the imperialist powers because of economic dependency and
other factors. This was expressed, for example, in the
Economic and Social Resolution:
Economic and Social Resolution
Considering the underdeveloped state of African economies
which is a result of the colonial system and foreign domination;
Considering the tendency of the colonialist countries to
substitute economic for political domination
and thus rob the newly won independence of the African states
of its true content;
Considering also the departmentalisation
and lack of harmony existing in the African economies
and the inadequacy of technical cadres and finance;
Considering that economic growth and development
constitute the surest guarantee of the freedom of the African continent;
Considering that foreign Powers sometimes use their economic aid as
a means of endeavouring to divide the African territories and
isolate the Independent States from territories that are still under
colonial rule;
The Conference
Affirms that independence is a prerequisite
to all economic development;
Declares that the peoples of Africa are determined to work for the
economic development and liberation of Africa,
for the benefit and under the control of the masses;
Recommends to the independent African states:
I. The intensification of their efforts to wrest their
respective countries from economic dependence
on the imperialist countries. . . .
The general resolution also spoke on this topic:
The Conference
. . . recommends the African governments to be
active in liquidating the neo-colonialist groups, particularly
any foreign military establishments on their soil;
Considering moreover the important social and economic 'enclaves'
created by the imperialist countries in Africa in the industrial and
agricultural sectors, by the establishment of special monetary,
financial, technical and social institutions entirely controlled
by themselves;
Observing these foreign 'enclaves' result in the
exploitation of the human, vegetable and mineral resources of Africa, and
that they have been installed in the service of foreign economic systems;
Observing further that the existence of these 'enclaves'
enables the imperialist countries to bind the economy of certain
African countries very stringently in the domains of customs,
finance, trade, currency, etc.;
Considering on the other hand, that the imperialists are aiming
at the organisation of all these new institutions of domination with
each African people taken separately, while they are
themselves co-ordinating strictly their action in order
to present a united front against the efforts of economic
liberation on the part of Africa;
The Conference
Affirms the absolute necessity of turning the economy of the
African countries to the profit of its peoples, and of acting with
unity in the economic field, as in the
political and cultural fields;
Proposes therefore the creation by all the Independent
African States, of common organisations for the
conduct of finance and commerce, and of centres of social and economic
research, for the purpose of studying the forms of technical assistance to
Africa and of training the technicians whom Africa needs to ensure
her economic development and her social progress;
Proclaims finally the irrevocable character of the
movement towards African
independence, liberty and unity; . . . .
The Conference was particularly critical of the French
government
for taking measures to limit the sovereignty of its territories
in North Africa that were being decolonised.
Considering the existence of the French Community,
a new form of imperialist domination, and the present attempts of the
French Government to impose upon countries associated with this
community and on the threshold of independence, bonds
of a kind which would deprive them
of true national sovereignty; . . . .
Third Conference: Cairo, 25–31 March 1961
The mood at this conference was more militant than at thesecond conference, partly because some conservative groups had withdrawn,
and partly because the conference occurred during the crisis in the Congo.
The Congolese issue was raised by the Secretary-General, Abdoulaye Diallo,
in his opening address:
Today there are two forces existing in the Congo; forces which represent
the imperialist interests, and forces which represent the interests of the
Congolese people. The former are led by Messrs. Kasavubu, Tshombe, and their
cohorts; the latter, or in other words ours, are led by Mr. Gizenga,
who has the sympathy of all the people and the support of the
immense majority of the population.
Later, the Conference adopted a very strong resolution on the Congo:
The Conference denounces the role played by General Kettani in the degradation
of the situation in the Congo and demands the dismissal of Dag Hammarskjold
equally responsible for the murder of Lumumba.
In another clause Kasavubu, Mobutu, Tshombe and Kalonji were denounced
for their role. The Conference proclaimed Lumumba the 'hero of Africa'.
The issue of neocolonialism was again raised by the Conference;
its four page Resolution on Neocolonialism is cited
as a landmark for having presented a collectively arrived at definition
of neocolonialism and a description of its main features.
Internal contradictions within the AAPC led to its eventual demise.
Wallerstein has described the make up of the AAPC around the time of the
Third Congress:
The AAPC had become the meeting ground of three groups:
African nationalists in non-independent countries, whose
revolutionary ardor was often tactical and hence temporary;
leaders of the so-called revolutionary African states, whose
militancy was often tempered by the exigencies of diplomacy
and the reality of world economic pressures;
African radical-nationalist opposition movements in independent states,
which states were considered by these opposition movements as clients
or "puppets" of the West. This latter group (which included the UPC,
the Sawaba of Niger led by Djibo Bakary, the
Moroccan Union Nationale des Forces Populaires [UNFP]
represented by Mehdi Ben Barka) was perhaps the most genuinely and the
most persistently militant. It also had the least real power.
Therefore, while this third group often dominated the conferences and
gave the tone to the resolutions, it was the second group (the
governments) that dominated the
structure and held the purse strings.
The difference between the two groups was to prove fatal to the AAPC, as
radical pronouncements by the Conference began to pose difficulties
for its governmental members in their diplomatic relations with the
more conservative African states. Although it was decided at the 1961
Conference that
a fourth Conference be held at Bamako, Mali, in February 1962, that
meeting never took place because the host government, Mali, and the
Secretary-General's government, Guinea, were reluctant to proceed with it.
Wallerstein says that 'The Casablanca governments were content
to let the AAPC disappear quietly in their attempts to come to terms
with the other African governments.'
Sources
Richard Gott, John Major and Geoffrey Warner (eds),Documents on International Affairs 1960.
London, 1964, Oxford University press;
pp 349 et seq.
Gillian King (ed),
Documents on International Affairs 1958.
London, 1962, Oxford University Press;
pp 583 et seq.
International Organisation, vol 16, no 2 (Spring 1962), pp 429–34. Was
available free on JSTOR as of November 2007.
Immanuel Wallerstein
, Africa: The Politics of Unity; New York, 1967,
Random House.
'Resolutions adopted by the Second All-African Peoples' Conference,
Tunis, 30 January 1960'. Watt's source is Colin Legum,
Panafricanism, London, 1962, Pall Mall Press. pp 236–47.