Forward & Backward

In Africa, at last, a great bloc dedicated to common sense and moderation is taking shape. Foreign ministers of 19 African nations* met in Lagos, Nigeria, last week to approve the charter of the Organization of African and Malagasy States, which is dedicated not to revolution and fiery boasting but to the peaceful settlement of disputes, economic growth, improvement of education, transport and health.

The new grouping, a kind of miniature African United Nations first planned in Monrovia a year ago, joins most of the former French territories with the prominent English-speaking lands (Nigeria, Liberia, Sierra Leone) of Western Africa.

OAMS will not upset national sovereignties; its members preferred to settle for a league with more modest and attainable goals. Its chances of success are accordingly far greater than the glittering schemes of Kwame Nkrumah, the thwarted boss of Ghana who dreams of ruling the continent. Stung by his failure to win wide support, Nkrumah sent no envoy to the Lagos talks. Instead, he hastily convened a rival meeting of his own in Accra.

Nkrumah's conference of "freedom fighters" turned out to be another dreary, anachronistic round of anticolonial, anti-imperialist speeches preaching "freedom" on a continent already largely free from colonial rule. The Common Market of Europe was Nkrumah's new cuss word ("neo-colonialism"), and NATO was also dragged in for critical comment. Although his own country is impoverished, the dictator promised lots of money to potential allies. Nkrumah's party paper dubbed him Africahene (King of Africa) to top all his other self-bestowed titles, including Osagyefo (Redeemer) and Asomdwehene (King of Peace).

Most of the delegates to Nkrumah's conference were earnest, well-meaning black nationalists from regions still under white control, including Northern Rhodesia, Portugal's Angola and Mozambique. Today they welcome anticolonial support from any source. But if experience is any guide, they will want no part of the King of Africa once they win that freedom, forget their slogans, and start the hard task of nation building.

*Cameroun, Central African Republic, Chad, the two Congos, Dahomey, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Malagasy Republic, Mau ritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Togo and Upper Volta.

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