Haile
Selassie I Calls For Union Of Africans
Below are extracts from His Majesty's
Address unto the Historic Conference of
Independent African States held in Addis
Ababa from May 25, 1963...
... WE STAND TODAY ON THE STAGE OF world affairs, before
the audience of world opinion. We have come together to assert
our role in the direction of world affairs and to discharge
our duty to the great continent whose two hundred and fifty
million people we lead. Africa is today at mid?course, in
transition from the Africa of Yesterday to the Africa of Tomorrow.
Even as we stand here, we move from the past into the future.
The task on which we have embarked, the making of Africa,
will not wait. We must act, to shape and mould the future
and leave our imprint on events as they slip past into history.
"...We seek, at this meeting, to determine whither we
are going and to chart the course of our destiny. It is no
less important that we know whence we came. An awareness of
our past is essential to the establishment of our personality
and our identity as Africans...
Fettered And Bound
"...The events of the past hundred and fifty years require
no extended recitation from Us. The period of colonialism
into which we were plunged culminated with our continent fettered
and bound; with our once proud and free peoples reduced to
humiliation and slavery; with Africa's terrain cross?hatched
and checker?boarded by artificial and arbitrary boundaries...
Africa was a physical resource to be exploited and Africans
were chattels to be purchased bodily or, at best, peoples
to be reduced to vassalage and lackeyhood. Africa was the
market for the produce of other nations and the source of
the raw materials with which their factories were fed.
Today, Africa has emerged from this dark passage. Our Armageddon
is past. Africa has been reborn as a free continent and Africans
have been reborn as free men. The blood that was shed and
the sufferings that were endured are today Africa's advocates
for freedom and unity...
Free And United
"Today, we look to the future calmly, confidently and
courageously. We look to the vision of an Africa not merely
free but united. In facing this new challenge we can take
comfort and encouragement from the lessons of the past. We
know that there are differences among us. Africans enjoy different
cultures, distinctive values, special attributes. But we also
know that unity can be and has been attained among men of
the most disparate origins; that differences of race, of religion,
of culture, of tradition, are no insuperable obstacle to the
coming together of peoples...
The road of African unity is already lined with landmarks.
The last years are crowded with meetings, with conferences
with declarations and pronouncements. Regional organizations
have been established. Local groupings based on common interests,
backgrounds and traditions have been created.
Next>>
|