The creation of the Organization of African Unity: Haile-Selassie I, "the Providential Man"

The creation of the Organization of African Unity: Haile-Selassie I, "the Providential Man"

Emperor Haile Selassie I led Ethiopia from1930 to 1974. Due to lack of reaction from Members of the League of Nations with regard to the Italian aggression on Ethiopia, which was legally established and clearly identified, and while the war between the two countries raged, Emperor Haile Selassie I in an imperial tone delivered a historic speech before the General Assembly of the League of Nations on June 30, 1936. During this historic speech, he criticized the concept of collective security, the sincerity of States vis-à-vis their obligation toward implementing international treaties, the credibility of the promises of the great powers towards the small States in respect to their integrity and sovereignty and the principle of the equality of the States[1]. While asking for help to eject the Italian occupying forces from his country, Emperor Haile Selassie I, said in an imperial tone: "Apart from the Kingdom of the Lord, there is no nation on this earth which is superior to another ... Today is us, tomorrow it will be you ". This charismatic leader, an admirable son of Africa, was the one who 27 years later, would preside over the destinies of the first African continental organization known as the Organisation of the African Unity (OAU).

Emperor Haile-Selassie I, also known as the “The Ras Tafari Regent” of Ethiopia was open to international cooperation. He convened the first continental meeting of African leaders with a view to create a continental legal entity that would help to design the first charter and inescapably became the first President of the OAU. In the course of his acceptance speech at the rostrum of the Organization of African Unity[2], he made a speech whose depth of words is still reasoning in our mind : "History teaches us that unity is strength, and warns us in order to overcome our differences in the search for common goals, to strive, with all our combined forces, for the path of true brotherhood and African unity[3]”. “…it is the inalienable right of our peoples to take their destiny in their hands... "Today, Africa has emerged from this dark period. Armageddon is part of the past. Africa has just been reborn as a free continent, and Africans as free men and women. Today, we look to the future, calmly, with confidence and courage. Our vision of Africa is not only that of a free Africa but that of a united Africa[4]. " These words of the Emperor Haile Selassie I depicts his personality and leadership as "a providential man" who was destined to unite the African continent. When the three Pan-Africanist ideologies, the "radicals" of Casablanca, the "moderates" of Monrovia and the "Pro-French" of Brazzaville were challenging each other and clashed, God raised among them, the Regent Rastafari, Emperor Haile Selassie I to inspire the political compromise which led to the creation of the Organization of the African Unity.

The "radicals" or “Casablanca group”, which was an informal group of African states that shared the same vision of Africa and Pan-Africanism was led by Ghanaian President Nkrumah and Guinean President Sékou Touré. This faction created in early1960 was made up of Algeria, Egypt, Ghana, Guinea, Libya, Mali and Morocco[5]. On January 4, 1961, the late Mohammed V, King of the Kingdom of Morocco convened an international conference in Casablanca with the aim of adopting the Casablanca Charter and promoting continental unity[6]. However, this promising alliance failed to attract other States to influence the decisive ideological battle of attaining absolute independence from the “colonial masters and African Unity “in Addis Ababa in 1963, because of endogenous rivalries between the African leaders and exogenous pressures (from the former colonial powers, the United States).

As part of internal problems for the “Casablanca faction” to build consensus amongst its peers, one can cite, among other things, the falling out between Nkrumah and Sékou Touré relating to the suspicion of the involvement of the Nkrumah regime in the assassination of Togolese President, Sylvius Olympio, a loyal ally of Sékou Touré. Furthermore, the unilateral decision taken by Nkrumah, in the run-up to the Addis Ababa Summit (1963), to launch the idea of a new charter for the political unity of Africa without prior consultations with the members of the group. Moreover, his diplomatic initiatives such as the aborted attempt at reconciliation with Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso), despite warnings from Conakry and Bamako. Additionally, Nkrumah’s decision, to receive an official visit to Accra of the President of Mauritania, whose sovereignty was not recognized by Morocco, few months after the signing of the Casablanca Charter, contributed to discrediting him and weakening his camp to the point of losing enthusiasm and fighting spirit that the faction needed to defend its vision of a Pan-Africanist project[7].

The “moderates” of the Monrovia group (Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Togo, Tunisia, Congo (Kinshasa), Cameroon, Senegal…) also Pan-Africanists, advocated respect for the borders resulting from colonization and in favor of a unity achieved in a gradual manner in which economic and technical unity should precede political unity and but not at the expense of nationalism and state development.

The "Pro-French" of the Brazzaville group constituted the third group composed of all the former French colonies of the Monrovia group, with the exception of Guinea, Madagascar and Rwanda, and formed the African Union and Malagasy (UAM) as well as the Economic Cooperation for the African and Malagasy Organization (CEOAM). Countries in this group believed that “securing” their power required mobilization internally and externally in order to push rivals as far away from their own borders as possible. Contrary to Nkrumah’s, vison, the leaders of this group understood very early the need of extending their influence, starting with the closest neighborhood[8].

The challenge for proponents of creating a continental organization was to bring the different ideological factions together in order to discuss their differences and find a compromise[9]. Rival groups in Africa had to make peace. The followers of the ideology of absolute independence (Kwamé Nkrumah, (Ghana), Sékou Touré, (Guinea), Ahmed Ben Bella (Algeria), Mohamed V (Morocco), Modibo Keita (Mali) and the supporters of an independence moderated by cooperation agreements with the former colonizer (Félix Houphou?t Boigny (Ivory Coast), Léopold Sédar Senghor (Senegal), Habib Bourguiba (Tunisia), had to find common position. The imperative was to silence the antagonistic passions of the Africans leaders and to campaign for the compromise and merge of the three factions of Casablanca, Monrovia and Brazzaville and subsequently to merge them into one common position: the will to build African unity[10].

Emperor Haile-Sellassie I, rejected the proposal of his Minister of Foreign Affairs to join the Monrovia group which had 22 States against 6 States for the Casablanca group. Other countries publicly declared their alliance either with the Monrovia bloc or with Casablanca bloc, Emperor Haile-Sellassie I, openly declared Ethiopia’s neutrality and underlined that "Ethiopia considered itself a member of a single group, the African group[11] ". This was an opportunity for the “Ras Tafari”, to "assume an effective role in the inevitable evolution of Africa and especially of its unity”[12].

This posture of Emperor Haile-Sellassie I as unifier and benefactor of African Unity through his laudable deeds, such as offering two hundred scholarships for Africans at the Accra Conference through the "Ha?le-Selassie I Scholarship Program for Students from the Continent" allowing the best of them to study in Ethiopian colleges, militated in favor of Ethiopia hosting the Conference of May 1963 and attaining the location of the headquarters of the OAU in Ethiopia, Addis Ababa.

In the November 1958 Conference, on "The Role of Ethiopia in the Development of Africa", the Editor-in-chief of the Ethiopian Herald, Dr. David Abner Talbot, highlighted "the contributions of Ethiopia to the evolution of the continent” such as:

-        The value of the example of the preservation of independence given by Ethiopia through its victory against the Italians during the battle of Adwa on March 1, 1896, which is moreover the first African victory over a European army;

-        The reinforcement of Emperor Haile-Sellassie I’s image as a “champion of African freedom” in his fight against the Italian invasion (which had resulted in an occupation and not in colonization);

-        The Emperor's international reputation with his famous political combat at the tribune of the League of Nations in June 1936[13].

Today, our responsibility towards the past requires us to remember this worthy son of Africa for his significant and historic role in the discussions that led to the adoption of the Charter establishing the OAU after bitter negotiations between the “radicals” of Casablanca, the “moderates” of Monrovia and the “Pro-French” of Brazzaville. A story was told by more than 500 journalists present in Addis Ababa, on May 25, 1963, about the creation of the OAU.  One of them wrote: “This day, this night of May 25, 1963 never ended, with its harvest of rumors, news sometimes optimistic, sometimes pessimistic. The Conference of African States seemed destined to end in a fish tail. Perhaps they would not sign the Charter, as expected, this evening? Suddenly, around one o'clock in the morning, information filtered down to the harassed journalists (...). One after another, African leaders were putting their signature on the document (...). A clamor arose filling the Africa Hall. Tears in their eyes, men hugged their neighbors. The OAU was born (...). Africa had never known such moments and has not known any since. A dream had become true! Unity had been achieved between the “radicals” of the Casablanca Group, the “moderates” of the Monrovia Group and the “pro-French” of the Brazzaville Group”.

The purpose of this article is to keep the flame of history burning, to pay tribute to Emperor Haile-Sellassie I, so that these historical moments that shaped the creation of the OAU, now African Union will never be forgotten. This is our modest contribution to posterity and to the dream of our founding fathers. However, the question is: Did Emperor Haile Sellassie I and the founding fathers of the OAU now AU are proud of the evolution and implementation of their precious vision today?

Bibliography

? Jean-Baptiste Dudant, L’Ethiopie face à la Société des Nations, La récré de l’Ihei, Blog des doctorants, 10 décembre 2020, consulte le 16/08/2022, disponible sur : https://www.recre-ihei.fr/10-decembre-lethiopie-face-a-la-societe-des-nations#:~:text=En%20contradiction%20avec%20ses%20engagements,en%20toute%20connaissance%20de%20cause%20%C2%BB.

? Discours de remerciement lors de son élection comme premier chef de l'Organisation de l'unité africaine en 1963.

? Racines d'Afrique, L'empereur Hailé Sélassié : le "Lion éthiopien de Judée" rédaction francophone du 14.06.2018 https://www.dw.com/fr/lempereur-hailé-sélassié-le-lion-éthiopien-de-judée/a-43783019 consulté le 01/04/2020

? https://mali-web.org/international/retrospective-extraits-du-discours-de-lempereur-haile-selassie-a-loccasion-de-la-creation-de-lorganisation-de-lunite-africaine-suite Mali-web.org: L'info en direct du Mali consulte le 28/03/2020 Email: [email protected]

? https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groupe_de_Casablanca

? Union africaine: Nasser Bourita rappelle l’esprit de la Charte de Casablanca | www.le360.ma

? Amadou Lamine Ndiaye. Les idées politiques de Julius Nyerere : un projet panafricaniste revisité.p.139. Histoire. Université Toulouse le Mirail - Toulouse II, 2017. Page 135,136. Fran?ais. FfNNT : 2017TOU20002ff. Fftel02020560

? Amadou Lamine Ndiaye. Op cit, p 137

? DELPHINE LECOUTRE, l'Ethiopie et la création de l'OUA, page 116

? Ndongo Aboubakri sidi, Quelle voie africaine de l’union ? (Deuxième partie, Des Etats-Unis d’Afrique à la naissance de l’OUA et de l’Union africaine) paragraphe 1. Consulté le 20/06/21 sur : www.dhdi.free.fr/recherches/etudesdiverses/memoires/ndongo.htm

? DELPHINE LECOUTRE, op cit, page 116

? DELPHINE LECOUTRE, op cit, page 114

? DELPHINE LECOUTRE, op cit, page 116

[1] Jean-Baptiste Dudant, L’Ethiopie face à la Société des Nations, La récré de l’Ihei, Blog des doctorants, 10 décembre 2020, consulte le 16/08/2022, disponible sur : 

https://www.recre-ihei.fr/10-decembre-lethiopie-face-a-la-societe-des-nations#:~:text=En%20contradiction%20avec%20ses%20engagements,en%20toute%20connaissance%20de%20cause%20%C2%BB.

[2] Discours de remerciement lors de son élection comme premier chef de l'Organisation de l'unité africaine en 1963.

[3] Racines d'Afrique, L'empereur Hailé Sélassié : le "Lion éthiopien de Judée" rédaction francophone du 14.06.2018

https://www.dw.com/fr/lempereur-hailé-sélassié-le-lion-éthiopien-de-judée/a-43783019 consulté le 01/04/2020

[4] https://mali-web.org/international/retrospective-extraits-du-discours-de-lempereur-haile-selassie-a-loccasion-de-la-creation-de-lorganisation-de-lunite-africaine-suite Mali-web.org: L'info en direct du Mali consulte le 28/03/2020 Email: [email protected]

[5] https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groupe_de_Casablanca

[6] Union africaine: Nasser Bourita rappelle l’esprit de la Charte de Casablanca | www.le360.ma

[7] Amadou Lamine Ndiaye. Les idées politiques de Julius Nyerere : un projet panafricaniste revisité.p.139. Histoire. Université Toulouse le Mirail - Toulouse II, 2017. Page 135,136. Fran?ais. FfNNT : 2017TOU20002ff. Fftel02020560

[8]Amadou Lamine Ndiaye. Les idées politiques de Julius Nyerere : un projet panafricaniste revisité. Op cit, p 137

[9]DELPHINE LECOUTRE, l'Ethiopie et la création de l'OUA, page 116

[10] Ndongo Aboubakri sidi, Quelle voie africaine de l’union ? (Deuxième partie, Des Etats-Unis d’Afrique à la naissance de l’OUA et de l’Union africaine) paragraphe 1. Consulté le 20/06/21 sur : www.dhdi.free.fr/recherches/etudesdiverses/memoires/ndongo.htm

[11] DELPHINE LECOUTRE, l'Ethiopie et la création de l'OUA, page 116

[12] DELPHINE LECOUTRE, op cit, page 114

[13] DELPHINE LECOUTRE, op cit, page 116