The Sweep of Nationalism in Africa

Abstract

The political revolution in Africa is reaching its final stages. When the United Nations was founded in 1945, there were only four states in Africa which could be classified as independent: Egypt, Ethiopia, Liberia, and South Africa. Egypt did not consider herself African; South Africa was then and continues to be dominated by a white minority group. Libya, through direct action of the United Nations, obtained independence on December 24, 1951. Since then, the inde pendence movement has swept through Africa, starting in North Africa and extending to black Africa in 1957 and 1958 when Ghana and Guinea became independent. By the end of 1964, there probably will be a total of thirty-seven independent Af rican states. The exceptions to independence then will be Portuguese Guinea, Angola, and Mozambique, Southern Rho desia, and South Africa. Unless the Portuguese, Southern Rhodesian, and South African governments recognize the just ness and pragmatic prudence of British and French positions in granting national independence to African possessions, the only alternative to a terrible blood bath may be international intervention. To date, independence has been freer of blood- shed in Africa than revolutions have been elsewhere in the past. With the political revolution nearing completion, African states must simultaneously develop their political institutions and carry out a war against the triple curse of poverty, illiteracy, and disease.—Ed.