History · Lesson 11

Decolonisation, OAU/AU, ECOWAS, UN, Commonwealth, OPEC and foreign policy

JAMBWAECNECO

What the syllabus asks

JAMB: Section D 10 Nigeria in international organisations and conflict resolution; Part II C3 Decolonisation and problems of nation-building; C5 Africa and international organisations (OAU/AU, ECOWAS, UN, Commonwealth, OPEC)

WAEC: Decolonisation; problems of independent African states; OAU/AU; ECOWAS; UN; Paper 2: Nigeria in world affairs

NECO: Decolonisation; problems of independent African states; OAU/AU; ECOWAS; UN; Paper 2: Nigeria in world affairs

What you will learn

Explain the causes and paths of African decolonisation.
Analyse the political, economic and social problems of independent African states.
Explain neo-colonialism.
Describe the founding, aims, achievements and weaknesses of the OAU and the AU.
Describe ECOWAS, its achievements and problems.
Explain Nigeria’s role in the UN, the Commonwealth and OPEC.
Explain the principles of Nigeria’s foreign policy and its role in peacekeeping.
Explain the Bakassi dispute and other global issues.

Key points

Decolonisation causes: nationalism, WWII, superpowers, UN, Asia, Pan-Africanism.
Ghana 1957; Guinea 1958; 1960 Year of Africa; armed struggles elsewhere.
Problems: coups, one-party states, ethnic wars, refugees, borders.
Neo-colonialism (Nkrumah 1965); debt; mono-culture; SAPs.
OAU 25 May 1963, Addis Ababa, 32 states; Casablanca v Monrovia.
OAU strengths: liberation; weaknesses: non-interference. AU 9 July 2002 Durban.
ECOWAS 28 May 1975 Lagos, 15 states; free movement; ECOMOG.
UN 24 Oct 1945; Nigeria 99th member, 7 Oct 1960.
Commonwealth: suspension 1995–1999; Anyaoku.
OPEC 1960; Nigeria joined 12 July 1971.
Africa as centrepiece: Angola 1975; anti-apartheid; TAC 1987; ECOMOG.
Bakassi: ICJ 2002; Greentree 2006; handover 2008.

Start here: Decolonisation in Africa

Decolonisation is the process by which colonies became independent states. In Africa most of it happened between 1951 (Libya) and 1990 (Namibia), with South Africa’s transition to majority rule in 1994 (hi13).

Causes

African nationalism: parties, trade unions, the press, students and ex-soldiers demanded freedom (hi8).
World War II: it weakened Britain and France, discredited racist ideology after Nazism, and the Atlantic Charter (1941) proclaimed the right of peoples to choose their government.
The superpowers: both the USA and the USSR opposed old European empires, for different reasons.
The United Nations (1945) and its trusteeship system; the 1960 UN Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples.
Asian independence: India and Pakistan (1947) and Indonesia showed that empires could end.
Pan-Africanism: the 1945 Manchester Pan-African Congress, attended by Kwame Nkrumah, Jomo Kenyatta and others, demanded independence.
The cost of empire: colonial wars (Indochina, Algeria) and development spending made colonies expensive.

Paths to independence

Constitutional negotiation: most of British and French West Africa, including Ghana (6 March 1957), Nigeria (1960) and Sierra Leone (1961).
Referendum: in 1958 France offered its colonies a choice; Guinea, led by Sékou Touré, voted "No" to continued association and became independent at once (October 1958). The others gained independence in 1960.
Armed struggle: Algeria (1954–62), Kenya (Mau Mau, 1950s; independence 1963), the Portuguese colonies (Guinea-Bissau, Angola, Mozambique; independence 1974–75 after a coup in Portugal), Zimbabwe (after the white minority’s Unilateral Declaration of Independence in 1965; independence 1980) and Namibia (1990).

1960 is called the "Year of Africa" because seventeen African countries, including Nigeria, became independent that year.

Worked example 11.1 (WAEC Paper 1)

The first sub-Saharan colony to gain independence from Britain was (A) Nigeria (B) Ghana (C) Kenya (D) Sierra Leone. Answer: B, on 6 March 1957 (Sudan, in 1956, was an Anglo-Egyptian condominium).

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Practice questions

1. The first sub-Saharan African colony to gain independence from Britain was

Ghana (1957)
Nigeria (1960)
Kenya (1963)
Tanzania (1961)

Show answer

A: Ghana (1957)
Sudan (1956) preceded it in North-East Africa.

2. The OAU was founded on 25 May 1963 in

Lagos
Accra
Cairo
Addis Ababa

Show answer

D: Addis Ababa
Founded by 32 states.

3. The OAU was replaced by the African Union in

1963
1975
2002
1999

Show answer

C: 2002
Launched at Durban.

4. ECOWAS was established by the Treaty of Lagos in

1999
1975
1963
1960

Show answer

B: 1975
Signed 28 May 1975.

5. ECOWAS’s peacekeeping force was

ECOMOG
UNAMID
AMISOM
NATO

Show answer

A: ECOMOG
In Liberia from 1990.

Key words

Decolonisation: The process by which colonies became independent.
Neo-colonialism: Continued outside control of a formally independent state.
Pan-Africanism: Movement for African unity and liberation.
Non-alignment: Refusal to join either Cold War bloc.
Secession: Breaking away from a state.
Mono-cultural economy: Economy dependent on one main export.
Structural adjustment: IMF/World Bank economic reform programmes of the 1980s–90s.
Liberation Committee: OAU body supporting liberation movements.
Frontline States: Southern African states bordering apartheid South Africa or Rhodesia.
ECOMOG: ECOWAS Monitoring Group, its peacekeeping force.
Peacekeeping: Deploying neutral forces to maintain a ceasefire.
ICJ: International Court of Justice at The Hague.

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