TO THE LAGOS SUMMIT MEETING
... We Africans desire to live in peace
and friendship with all men, without regard to race, creed or other persuasion,
and are prepared to co-operate with all who sincerely and honestly desire our
well-being and advancement. We cannot, nonetheless, needlessly expose ourselves
to the perils which the World power struggle carries in its wake.
It is a great pleasure for Us to be here
today and to address this Conference, the holding of which is a most satisfying
and significant event for Africa. Of the twenty-eight African States which, in
1962, stand proudly independent, sovereign nations, the great majority are
represented here by their Heads of State. This assembly is further enriched by
the presence of observers from a number of other African territories, several
of which will attain their freedom in the near future. To all of them, states
and territories alike, and to all Africans, We extend Our greetings.
At
the same time, We must express Our regret that representatives of the Algerian
Provisional Government are not numbered in our midst, and that their absence
has caused a number of other nations whose representatives should be seated in
these halls to decline invitations extended to them. At the Belgrade Conference
of Non-Aligned States, We deplored the absence of certain African States which
Ethiopia felt should be among those present. Today, again, We cannot help feeling
that our tasks are made more difficult because several African nations are
unrepresented in these halls. But however strongly We may feel on this issue,
We feel even more strongly that no African can escape the circumstances which
have brought us together in Lagos or evade his solemn duty to work with his
fellow-Africans for the cause of this great continent, and We pledge Ourself to
labour unstintingly in the discharge of this obligation during the days ahead.
We wish to thank the sponsors of this Conference,
the Government of the Federation of Nigeria, a young nation itself only
recently emerged from the shadow of colonial rule which has already, by virtue
of its manifest human and material resources as well as the maturity and
judgment demonstrated by those who direct its government, taken its place among
the leaders of Africa. We personally are deeply grateful to the gracious people
of Lagos who have touched Our heart with the spontaneous and warm welcome which
they have extended to Us.
A Challenge
We
meet today at the Summit Conference of Africa. Never before have so many Heads
of African States assembled in one spot to consider together common problems.
Let us demonstrate to those who watch us that in Lagos, in January of 1962, we
meet at the right time and place and on the right subject. We should all
welcome this event; we should seek to employ it to the maximum for our own good
and for the good of all mankind. It is vital to the future of the world and to
the growth of understanding and sympathy among men of good will that contacts
at all levels of the political structure be maintained, that world leaders meet
face to face, that those who carry the heavy burden of leading their peoples in
the path of progress and enlightenment leave no avenue unexplored in the
discharge of their God-given duties. This is the challenge which we, as
res-ponsible African statesmen, face today.
We Africans are still in the process of
becoming acquainted with one another. Only three short years ago, there was no
opportunity for more than a handful of African leaders to come together, to
exchange views, to explore common problems and to seek accomodations and
solutions to them. The destinies of the vast majority of Africans then were
still shaped and controlled by others. But freedom has come to this continent,
and with it an ever-increasing influence for the free African nations. African
States are playing an ever larger role in international affairs. Our presence
in the United Nations has placed our views and problems squarely before world
observers. Our future is in our own hands and we are meeting here now to
consider what that future is to be.
Not Divided
Certain developments have occurred in
Africa since the irresistible tide of independence swept over this continent
which upon superficial examination, have been the cause of concern for the
future. We are told that Africa has been split into competing groups, thus
inhibiting co-operation among the African States and severely retarding African
progress. One hears of the Casablanca Group and the Monrovia Group, of the
Conakry and Dakar Declarations, and we are warned that the views and policies
of these so-called groups are so antithetical as to make it impossible for them
to work together as partners in an enterprise to which all are mutually
devoted.
But
do such hard and fast groupings really exist? And if certain nations sharing
similar views have taken measures to co-ordinate their policies, does this mean
that, between these nations and others, there is no possibility of free and
mutually beneficial co-operation? Is Africa really fragmented, and has
independence been achieved on this great continent only to see the African
nations themselves transform differences into divisions? And are such divisions
as already exist, imposed upon us by history and circumstance, to be widened
and deepened by our own efforts?
Let Us say, first of all, that Ethiopia
considers herself a member of one group only – the African group. We will join
in any deliberations, we will consider any plan, we will debate any proposal
anywhere, and at any time, provided that it contributes to the maintenance of
world peace, the development of Africa’s human and material resources, and the
protection of this continent’s legitimate interests. When we Africans have been
misled into pigeon-holing one another, into attributing rigid and inflexible
views to states which were present at one conference but not at another, then
we shall, without reason or justification, have limited our own freedom of
action and rendered im-measurably more difficult the task of joint efforts, in
harmony and brotherhood, in the common cause of Africa.
Let Us say, further, that We do not regard
the absence of nations from the so-called Casablanca Group as evidence of any
fundamental and irreparable rift between them and the twenty-two nations
gathered in these halls. We have already stated that We regret their absence,
but We are persuaded that they would agree with much, if not all, of what we
shall say here, and that they will join in spirit and in future co-operate with
the decisions we shall take during this Conference.
We
contend, accordingly, that no wide and unbridgeable gulf exists between the
various groupings which have been created. It is Our belief, to the contrary,
that a close and careful analysis of the policies adopted by the African nations
today on a wide range of questions emphasizes, not the differences among them,
but the large number of views which they share in common. When laid side by
side, the Conakry and Dakar resolutions resemble one another in many more
respects than they differ. They reveal a fundamental agreement of principle
upon certain basic economic measures to be taken in specific fields. The
importance of improving rail, road and air communications, of stimulating
commerce, of eliminating customs and trade barriers, of emphasizing and
co-ordinating development planning and economic research – these are common
objectives espoused by all. We Ourself are pleased that agreement in principle
has been reached on the establishment of an African Development Bank, a step
which We urged in Our address to the Conference of Independent African States
in Addis Ababa in June of 1960.
A Committee
We have already attained, then, a
remarkable coincidence of thinking and planning in the highly important
economic sphere. This is in itself a major achievement. It would be remarkable
indeed did twenty-eight nations, in their policies and programmes, reveal no
divergences of opinion. We may take satisfaction and encouragement from the
fact that such a large measure of identity of approach and attitude already
exists.
We urge that this Conference use this as
its starting point, that we emphasize and lay stress on the areas of similarity
and agreement rather than upon whatever disagreements and differences may exist
among us. It is a sound tactic of military strategy to attack where your
opponent’s defence is weakest. It is surely sound strategy for all of us to
move ahead where such movement is unobstructed and unimpeded.
It had been Our intention to propose that
the decisions taken at both Conakry and Dakar, insofar as they involve the
technical aspects of economic planning and co-ordination, be referred to a
committee of specialists representing all African opinion to review them and
report to the forth-coming Conference of Independent African States convening
in three months in Tunisia. As we are all only too aware, the nations most
vitally concerned in the Conakry decisions are unrepresented here. Nonetheless,
We ask that this same step be taken, and that the States not present here today
be asked and urged, in the name of Africa and African unity, to send members to
participate in the work of this committee.
We would suggest that this same committee
simultaneously study the implications and effects which the European Common
Market will have on the economies of the African States and on our efforts to
work out a coordinated programme of African economic development, and recommend
measures designed to minimize the adverse effects of this impact. The European
Common Market constitutes both a great challenge and a grave danger to Africa.
We have witnessed the remarkable achievements which the abolition of customs
barriers and the co-ordination of economic development have brought to pass in
Western Europe, and we are encouraged to press for the taking of similar steps
on our own continent. At the same time, we cannot ignore the dangers inherent
in the further strengthening of an already gigantic economic unit which looms
to the north and casts an ever longer shadow in our direction.
Our
Problems
Turning from the economic to the political
field, we find, again, large areas of agreement, although there are basic
differences in approach which require careful consideration. We must recognize
at the outset that certain po-litical problems have been created by the
rapidity with which African States have achieved their independence. We do not
for a moment suggest that independence came too quickly or was too easily won;
no one here would turn back the clock to the day when he was other than a free
man. But there are some hard facts which cannot be ignored.
Today, on the African continent, there are
twenty-eight independent nations, with the possibility of many more being added
in the not-too-distant future. The population of these nations ranges from
upward of 35 million for the Federation of Nigeria to fewer than 1 million in
the case of several of the smallest States. The economic potential of some
African nations promises future growth and development into richness and
plenty; other States find themselves in financial difficulties, and budgetary
subsidies from one source or another will be required for many years to
maintain their economic existence. We must never forget that the boundaries of
many African nations were arbitrarily created by the colonialist powers at the
time of the scramble for Africa; nonetheless, all African nations are pledged
to respect them and to support the territorial integrity of the existing
African nations. During the period of colonialist rule, contact among Africans
was stifled, such barriers to intercourse and communication as already existed
were perpetuated and new barriers were erected where none had earlier been
found.
We must, then, face the fact that history
has bequeathed to Africa a host of problems. While not of our own making, we
cannot, by pretending that they do not exist, wish them away. The dangers which
they constitute should be apparent to all, and it requires no great measure of
astuteness or wisdom to recognize that, unless we act, the defects to which,
willy-nilly, we have fallen heir will be exploited to our detriment. We have
seen in the Congo the tragic consequences which follow when, within the
confines of a single State, men who have been deprived of the concept of
“nation”, whose horizons have been limited to the confines of their family
relationships, are stirred up one against the other. Exploitation is indeed
possible, and influences abound which will not hesitate to divide us, to pit us
one against the other and to stir up disharmony and suspicion where only
brotherhood and confidence should be found.
To escape exploitation, and to overcome
the political deficiencies which beset us, Ethiopia urges that while we press
ahead with all urgency and speed in those economic areas in which rapid
advances can be achieved, parallel steps should simultaneously be taken to
explore the possibilities of achieving increasing future political unity among
African States – indeed, We believe that we all are, and that we differ only in
our assessment of the speed with which this most desirable goal can be
attained. The task now is to devise the means whereby this basic agreement may
be most rapidly advanced.
A Proposal
One
step has already been proposed which We feel can contribute largely to this
goal. At the 16th Session of the United Nations General Assembly which convened
in New York last September, Our Delegation called for the creation, under
Article 52 of the United Nations Charter, of an Organization of African States.
Implementation of this proposal can pave the way for an expanded degree of
political co-operation in Africa, and, as events and circumstances so permit,
of increasing future political unity as well. This Organization should have a
permanent structure and secretariat, with specialized permanent institutions
charged with continuing study of particular problem areas of vital concern to
Africans. In this form, it would serve as an institutional clearing-house
wherein Africans might consider a vast variety of political and economic
problems, and, in particular, the furtherance of the concept of African
political unity.
This step, in Our view, would bridge
whatever chasm may now exist in Africa. This Organization would enable Africans
to speak with a single, collective voice and would thereby maximize the
contribution of the free nations of this continent to the solution of the
problems of our time. There already exists, in the Conference of Independent
African States, the bare bones of the institution which We envisage, although
organized on a loose and impermanent basis. Let us employ this already-existing
nucleus, let us perfect it and render it permanent.
Ethiopia retains an open mind as to the
precise form which the structure of such an organization should take.
Precedents exist in the Arab League, in the Organization of American States and
in other regional institutions. However, we are not bound slavishly to adhere
to precedent nor blindly to adopt any particular formula. We only urge, and We trust
that this suggestion will receive the unanimous support of all States represented
here, that a Special Committee be created to elaborate specific proposals
looking to the speedy creation of an Organization of African States. This
Committee should conclude its work and report to the forthcoming meeting of the
Conference of Independent African States in Tunisia.
The Cold War
The furtherance of political unity, then,
would be a fundamental objective of the Organization of African States. We
should not, however, ignore a second and equally important aspect of its
establishment. Africa has come of age. With this independence has come not only
the right, but the duty, to deal with our own problems ourselves. So long as we
either cannot or will not deal directly and forcefully with our own problems,
the way is open for unilateral inter-ference in this continent’s internal
affairs by other nations which care less for Africa and more for themselves. In
today’s world, this is equivalent to the importation into Africa of the cold
war struggle, a development which Ethiopia has steadfastly and doggedly opposed
and one to which our total combined resistance cannot be too great. Africa is
still too weak, her available resources too few and her energies too limited for
them or any part of them to be dissipated in a world struggle which cannot add
but only detract from African growth and development. If we permit the tensions
of the cold war to become the tensions of Africa, valuable time will be lost
and precious energy will be wasted, all without any fulfilment of our solemn
duty to secure the advancement of the African peoples in liberty and
well-being. We Africans desire only to live in peace and friendship with all
men, without regard to race, creed or other persuasion, and are prepared to
co-operate with all who sincerely and honestly desire our well-being and
advancement. We cannot, nonetheless, needlessly expose ourselves to the perils
which the world power struggle carries in its wake.
The
creation of an Organization of African States will provide the medium whereby
intra-African disputes – and these will arise, for we are human and not angels
– may be settled peacefully. It will serve as the mechanism through which sound
and constructive measures for increasing co-operation among the nations of
Africa will be originated, articulated and implemented. It will contribute to
the creation and development of the atmosphere and spirit of mutual trust and
confidence so essential to the coordinated and simultaneous advance of the
African States along the path to liberty and prosperity. It will stand as a
bulwark against the interference by one African State in the internal affairs
of another and a safeguard against the involvement of non-African nations in
the affairs of this continent as a whole. If our progress is to be rapid and
effective, we must free ourselves of conflict, of fear, of the suspicion that
other than African hands are shaping events and developments in our continent.
Ethiopia, impelled by these same considerations,
has urged on various occasions that ever-increasing proportions of the foreign
assistance which is being directed to this continent be channelled through the
United Nations Organization. We have supported such concrete proposals as have
been put forward to this end. Aid must be without strings. The assessment of
the need for assistance and the decision to provide it – these are questions
which should be divorced from cold war politics, from the conflicts between
East and West. It is possible to influence positions and oblige adherence to
this or that policy by economic pressure, but only at the expense of the pride
and dignity of those who thus renounce their birthright as free men, and the
bill of sale carries the caveat: “revokable at will”. If the great nations of
the world desire our sympathy and support, they should assist us to become
economically strong and morally independent, for only then will our alliance
with them be meaningful.
Principles
We shall consider during this Conference
certain matters which touch and affect us most profoundly and deeply. We are
all equally dedicated in our opposition to the vicious principle of racial
discrimination embodied in the legal and social structure of the Republic of
South Africa. We are all equally determined to take whatever measures are
required to obliterate from this earth this disgrace to humanity and insult to
mankind. We have all made this known on various occasions in the past. The time
is past when condemnation of this policy was enough; we must now formulate and
implement the measures which will give concrete effect to our collective
determination.
Similarly, ways and means must be found of
speeding the day when our oppressed fellow-Africans will join us in these halls
as free men, for so long as one African lives in subjugation none of us is more
than half free. The events of the past three years give us cause for rejoicing
and renewing our strength and courage. Let us not leave the job half-done.
Kenya, Uganda and Ruanda-Urundi, whose observers are seated in this assemblage,
will soon be with us. Let them not be the last to join our ranks.
In the Congo, to which We have already
referred, we have witnessed the sorry spectacle of special interests flouting
the decisions of the United Nations and resisting, at the risk of civil war and
at the cost of innocent lives and the destruction of valuable property, sane
and reasoned efforts to restore peace and order to the Congolese people.
Foreign mercenaries have reinforced these interests, and arms and ammunition
have found their way, seemingly by sorcery, into rebellious hands. We call for
a halt to these activities; We insist that the illicit traffic in munitions
which has delayed and obstructed a peaceful resolution of the Congo situation
be ended, and that all measures to this end be taken by all concerned.
Ethiopia is justifiably proud of the role
which we have played and continue to play in the Congo, a role wholly
consistent with the staunch support which Our nation has unfailingly given to
international organizations dedicated to the cause of peace and collective
security throughout past decades. If history is to judge Us, We would ask only that
it judge on the basis of Ethiopia’s record of resistance to colonialism,
oppression and aggression, from the date when Ethiopian patriots repulsed the
Italian invaders at Adoua in 1896 and then in 1935 and thereafter. We have
responded to the appeals of the United Nations for assistance in the Congo, and
We have supported the United Nations Congo policies because experience, reason
and instinct have all combined to persuade us beyond peradventure that only in
this way can a peaceful and permanent solution to the vexatious problems which
exist there be settled. A successful conclusion of the Congo difficulties
through the intermediary of the United Nations will immeasurably strengthen
that institution and enlarge and maximize its usefulness as a force for the preservation
of peace, the liberation of the still subjugated peoples of the world, and the
advancement of mankind. Today, We believe that the end of the Congo’s troubles
is in sight. We welcome to this Conference the representative of the Central Congo
Government of Mr. Cyrille Adoula. We urge that the efforts of all Africans be
redoubled in order that the territorial integrity of the Congo may be preserved
and guaranteed and that moderate leadership in the Congo may be enabled to lead
the Congolese people forward in peace and prosperity.
Other Issue
Disarmament
and the banning of nuclear tests remain as problems affecting all of mankind,
Africans not excepted. The means to directly secure these objectives are not in
our hands, but this in no way lessens our duty to our fellow-men and to
posterity to labour without stint that they may be achieved during our
lifetime. Ethiopia has, as a matter of principle and not of partisanship,
condemned the resumption of nuclear testing. We have, as a matter of principle
and not of partisanship, called for a permanent ban of nuclear tests. We have
done so in the conviction that no nation today, no matter how large or
powerful, no matter how persuasive its arguments, can justify the employment of
measures which threaten to visit such calamitous consequences alike upon the
guilty and innocent, the young, the old, and the unborn. In March, the Eighteen
- Nation Disarmament Committee will convene in Geneva. Let us marshal our
influence, and by all means at our disposal seek to assure that this meeting
does not end in failure and frustration, in disaster and despair, as have too
many held before it.
We must also refer to Algeria, where blood
continued to flow as a few extremists, heedless of the sorrow and suffering
which they cause, and in reckless disregard of the truism that force and
violence beget only force and violence, continue to thwart the determined
efforts of more moderate and rational men to grope their way to the peaceful
attainment of the precious gift of liberty by the Algerian people. Our
deliberations here must be directed to speeding the day when men and women may
walk in freedom and tranquillity in Algeria.
Conclusion
These last few years have been glorious
ones for Africa. In a short span in history, the yearnings and hopes of virtually
an entire continent have been realized. Celebration has followed celebration as
Africans rejoiced in their new-found and hard-won freedom.
Now this task is nearly completed.
Ahead of us lie the hard, the difficult years, years when we must grapple with
new sets of problems and face new hardships. There will be little festivity and
few celebrations in these years. Our task is now to prove ourselves worthy of
the lot which we have claimed as our own, capable of employing our talents and
resources in the cause of Africa and the African peoples. The way will be
perilous, sacrifices will be demanded of us, our labours may go unobserved and
our triumphs unnoticed except to ourselves. And, in the ultimate sense, this is
wholly as it should be, for we are men, and this is man’s lot. Let us work
together, arm in arm as brothers, that our progeny may live in peace and
well-being, that posterity will honour our names and our achievements. This
will suffice. This will be our victory. May Almighty God grant it to us.
Jan. 26, 1962.
Selected
Speeches of His Imperial Majesty Haile Selassie – page 216 –
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Foreign Minister Ketema Yifru, Prime Minister Aklilu Habtewold, and Emperor Haile Selassie
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