THE EMPEROR HAS TACKLED THIS SELF APPOINTED ASSIGNMENT OF WORKING FOR AFRICAN UNIFICATION WITH VIGOR AND NO LITTLE SKILL. HE IS A GOOD ORGANIZER... HE BEGAN organizing African unity, not by writing a book expounding African philosophy or ideology, but by building Africa Hall - contributing $2,000,000 from His own pocket to provide a suitable place for His fellow African rulers to meet.

Last May He invited and in some cases implored and cajoled 32 heads of State to come to Addis Ababa at His expense. Revolutionists like Nasser, Ben Bella and Sekou Toure, who denounce "imperialists" and "colonial exploiters" at every opportunity, found themselves enjoying the Emperor's hospitality in luxury suites in a guest house especially built for the occasion. Arriving for a massive banquet, Nasser entered Menelik II Hall at the head of the procession with the Emperor, who led him by the hand.

To this day the Organization of African Unity, founded at that May meeting, has no treasury except the Emperor's. He has footed the bill, not only for meetings but also for temporary staff of some 30 persons. He will continue to do so, at least until next May, when a permanent secretariat is to be set up and a permanent site chosen. No one thinks the site can be any other than Addis Ababa.

The Emperor's "philosophy" of African Unity is purely pragmatic. No scheme, however noble and far seeing, is good if it won't work. For that reason, He differs with Dr. Nkrumah's thesis that "Africa must unite now."

Selassie believes that the heads of state must move only step by step toward union because "tradition cannot be abandoned at once." They would not, He feels, agree to "union now" and, disagreeing, would delay and possibly frustrate progress toward cooperation and development.

... The O.A.U. like the Organization of American States, is at best a confederation of wholly independent and sovereign states. Real unity may be a long way off. But Africa Hall at least has been established as a laboratory for testing it and the Emperor has got the experiment started...

" When Nkrumah says Africans must unite," said one delegate, "or Nasser urges Africans to band together to throw out evil imperialists, people call them ambitious, would be dictators, and maybe draw away. But when the Emperor says the same thing, people listen as if THE VOICE OF DOOM had spoken." ... The Emperor is imperturbable and He is a good negotiator. As a conciliator, He works on each disputant separately, winning his confidence, and explaining to each what he has to gain from a proposed compromise. He speaks carefully and never suggests radical change.

With these attributes the Emperor combines an aura of righteousness that comes naturally to HIM. When they are together, the "hotheads" of African revolution never outshine the one and only African Head of State that the others still consent to refer to as "His Imperial Majesty."

"We see HIM fulfilling an extremely important role as an African Patriarch," says a Tunisian official. Others describe HIM as the "KEY MAN" bridging differences and idiosyncrasies of our many African leaders... a man above politics and self-interest."

EXCERPT FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES, MARCH 8, 1964

Taken from Jahug