THE UNITED NATIONS ORGANSATION (UNO) AND THE DECOLONISATION OF AFRICA

The United Nations Organization (UNO) was formed in October 1945 in San Francisco, USA. Its formation originated from the principles of the Atlantic charter of 1941. The UNO was formed to replace the defunct League of Nations which failed to preserve world peace and respect for the rights of man. Unlike the League, the UNO was committed to solving the concern of big powers dominating weaker states in the name of imperialism.

The UNO therefore got determined to do away with imperialism (foreign domination), which had greatly promoted gross violation of human rights and hence contributed to the outbreak of World War II. The role of the UNO in the growth of African nationalism was hence as follows:

Impact of the UNO on African Nationalism

Reference Questions:

a) How did the formation of UNO inspire African struggle for independence?

b)   Explain the contributions of the United Nations Organisation to the decolonisation of

Africa

c)  Assess the role of the UNO in the growth of African nationalism

1.  The United Nations Organisation immediately adopted the resolutions of the 1941 Atlantic charter and this  influenced  the growth of African nationalism.  The Charter of the UNO uncorporated most of the articles of the Atlantic charter on independence and sovereign rights. Notable of the resolutions was  "Restoration of the Sovereign Rights and Self- government to those who were deprived of them." Major Powers of the UNO called upon foreign governments to give the colonial people in Africa an opportunity to claim for their sovereign equality and independent existence without foreign manipulations. This hence legtimised and formalised African aspirations for self-rule.

2.  The UNO set up a "Decolonisation Committee" to ensure that all colonised people of the world were free from all forms of foreign domination. The major role of this committee was to attend to grievances of people and states  that were under domination, and monitor political developments aimed at preparing these colonies for self-rule. The Decolonisation Committee sent visiting missions to African colonies like Nyasaland, Northern Rhodesia, Somaliland  and  Libya  to  supervise  independence  arrangements  and  constitutional progress. The committee mounted pressure against European powers to dismantle their colonial empires in Africa and Asia

3.  Consequently, the United Nations Organisation established the "Trusteeship Council" with the  responsibility  of preparing  the  mandated  territories  for independence.  Mandated territories were the former German and Italian colonies, and all territories which had been put under the defunct League of Nations. "Chapter XI of the UNO-Charter obliged the Trustee-powers  to put into  account  the political  interests  of the peoples  and to assist them in the progressive development of their free political institutions." The Council was therefore, tasked to supervise political and constitutional reforms in the mandated states as part of transformation towards self-rule. Hence African states like Tanganyika, Rwanda, Togo, Libya, Somaliland and Cameroon immediately independent. The council sent commissioner Pelt Adrian to prepare the Libyan independence constitution and in 1954, it attended to the TANU proposals for self-rule in Tanganyika. Thus independence was given to Libya (1951), Somaliland and Togo (1960), Cameroon and Tanganyika (1961), and Rwanda (1962).

4.  The UNO issued the "Universal Declaration of Human Rights Charter" (UDHR) in 1948, which  inspired African agitation for independence. The Human Rights  Declaration spelt out fundamental rights and freedoms of all peoples of the world. The rights and freedoms presented in the articles of the UDHR included freedoms of speech, association, assembly, press, fair representation and the sovereign right to independent existence, among others. African freedom fighters used the UDHR charter to rise up and agitate for their rights and freedoms deprived of them by European colonial masters.

5.  The UNO declared the years from 1950 to 1960 as a decade (ten years) of decolonisation.

One of the objectives of the UNO was total decolonisation and granting of sovereignty and independent existence to all peoples and states under foreign domination. The body hence gave dominating governments a timeline by which they had to initiate political developments which would prepare Africans for self-determination. Therefore, African agitation for political freedoms was influenced by the activities of the United Nations.

6.  The United Nations Organisation provided African nationalists with a political platform to address their anti-colonial grievances; seek for political guidance and pressurize imperial powers to end their colonial domination. In 1955, Julius Nyerere of Tanganyika was given an opportunity to address  the UN General Assembly and consequently demanded  for immediate decolonisation of Tanganyika, which was realised later in 1961. In 1966, the SWAPO was allocated a permanent seat in the General Assembly of the UNO to represent the Namibian  people,  hence Kerina one of the Namibian  nationalists  took up the seat. Such UN efforts encouraged decolonisation of Africa.

7.  The International  Peacekeeping  Body passed  strong  condemnatory  resolutions  and imposed strict embargoes and sanctions against stubborn foreign regimes who delayed to withdraw from their colonial territories. The regimes targeted by the UNO included the Portuguese colonial regimes in Angola, Guinea Bissau and Mozambique, the apartheid regime in South Africa and Namibia, and the UDI-regime of Ian Smith in Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe). The condemnatory  resolutions threatened  the  political image of foreign regimes in Africa while the sanctions and embargoes caused diplomatic, trade and economic setbacks (disadvantages). Whereas strong UN-condemnations encouraged nationalist uprisings in Africa, the diplomatic and economic sanctions humbled the foreign governments to initiate political and administrative reforms which led to self-rule in their colonial territories,

8.  Consequently, the United Nations Organisation passed and emphasised the observation of Resolution 1515 on independence which had an impact of the growth of African nationalism. The resolution legtimised the right to independent existence of all peoples of the world and denounced all cases  of foreign domination exercised against the colonial people. The provisions of Resolution 1515 were adopted by the liberation committee of the OAU and used them to condemn Britain for looking on as the minority whites declared themselves  independent  in  Southern  Rhodesia  (Zimbabwe)  at  the  expense  of independence for majority Africans.

9.  The UNO directly participated in the decolonisation process of Africa through influencing and observing independence discussions between foreign governments and African nationalist organisations. The United Nations initiated such roundtable discussions to ensure a peaceful transition from imperialism to majority rule. In 1974, the UNO sent its delegation to preside over the Alvor Peace Talks between the Portuguese government and Angolan, nationalists, which led to the decolonisation of Angola in 1975. The UNO was also instrumental in independence discussions in Rwanda, Eritrea, and multiracial Peace Talks in Southern Rhodesia (1978-80) South Africa (1990-94) and Sudan (2005-2011), which resulted into liberation of majority blacks from racism.

10. The United nations General Assembly provided a platform for the consolidation of Afro- Asian solidarity. African  and  Asian delegates  always  found the  opportunity to  stand together and use one voice during the sessions of the General Assembly, as they condemned  domination by western  powers. African  nationalists interacted with other nationalists from Asia and the Arab world. Out of this interaction, there was the formation of the  Afro-Asian-Arab solidarity. This solidarity or unity  enabled the  Africans to get support from member states  like India and China which helped them in the struggle for independence.

11. The United Nations worked closely with and through the OAU to ensure total independence for Africa. Most of the UN support to the African decolonisation process went through the OAU. The UNO and the OAU collectively put pressure on foreign governments in Africa to initiate political reforms in their territories. The OAU used the UN-General Assembly to promote the African cause for complete independence. An African delegation consisting of foreign ministers of Liberia, Tunisia, Madagascar and Sierra Leone was commissioned by the OAU to speak at the meetings of the UN Security Council (UNSC), addressing the issue of genocide (mass  killing) in Portuguese colonies,' which, attracted  international attention against the atrocities of Portuguese colonialists in Africa, and paved way for self- rule in Angola, Guinea Bissau and Mozambique.

12. The  United  Nations  Organisation  influenced  African  nationalism  and  decolonisation process  through sending observer  missions to  monitor elections in  different African colonies. Most of the independence elections in Africa were influenced by pressure from the UNO in its attempt to completely liquidate imperialism and bring an end to colonial domination  in the world.  UN Observer missions  were witnessed  to Algeria in 1962,  in South West Africa (Namibia) in 1990, in Eritrea in 1993 and South Africa during their first historical multi-racial election in 1994, among others.  The supervision given by the United Nations ensured peaceful transfer of instruments of power from foreign governments to natives, hence inspiring African independence.

13. The United  Nation  Organisation  recognised  African  nationalist  organisations  (political parties and liberation movements), thus inspiring independence attainment. In 1966 the UN General Assenbly agreed to recognise the South West African Peoples Organization (SWAPO) as the rightful representative of Namibian national interests. Many nationalist organisations consequently petitioned for the intervention of the UNO in favour of their nationalist agitations as a strategy to seek the international body's recognition. In the due course, the UNO morale boosted the struggle for African independence.

14. The UNO  extended  direct  support  to  the  African  states  struggling  for independence.

Financial military and logistical support was extended to liberation movements through the  UN-Committee  to  spearhead  nationalist  agitations  against  foreign  domination especially in Southern Africa. Beneficial organisations included the South West African Peoples Orgasnisation (SWAPO) of Namibia and the African National Congress (ANC) of South African consequently, the Mozambican Liberation Front (FRELIMO), the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) sought for assistance from the UN-Security Council during their quest  for self-  rule.  The UNO  hence  became  an  ally  of the  African  liberation movement, which sped the Colonisation process.

15. The organisation  promoted African nationalism  by supporting  consolidation  of African independence. It condemned and intervened in civil wars which broke out in Africa. In 1960, the UNO worked to preserve the independence of a very young state of Congo Leopoldville (Zaire) by condemming the Katanga secessionist attempt, and went ahead to deploy peacekeepers  in the country. The UN-mission intervened in the Sudanese civil war (1955-2005), Nigerian civil war of 1967 -70 in Angola (1975-2000) and Mozambique (1977-1992)