Anaversion to the international borders drawn by the colonial powers, if not their complete rejection, has been a consistent theme of anticolonial nationalism in Africa. The borders are blamed for the disappearance of a unity which supposedly existed in Africa in precolonial times; they are regarded as arbitrarily imposed, artificial barriers separating people of the same stock, and they are said to have balkanized Africa. The borders are considered to be one of the humiliating legacies of colonialism which, according to this view, independent Africa ought to abolish.

¹ Probably the most publicized rejection of the borders was contained in the resolution on “Frontiers, Boundaries and Federations” of the All African People's Conference which met in Accra in 1958. For the text of the resolution seeLegum,Colin,Pan Africanism: A Short Political Guide (London:Pall Mall Press,1962), pp.229–232Google Scholar.

²Proceedings of the Summit Conference of Independent African States (hereinafter cited asProceedings), Addis Ababa, May 1963, Vol. 1, section 1, Document AGENDA/CONF/5, May 15, 1963. In the final agenda of the foreign ministers' conference the Somali proposal was included under item VII, “Establishment of Permanent Conciliation Commission” (Document AGENDA/12, May 17, 1963). However, it was not listed on the agendas of the two committees set up by die foreign ministers as the establishment of a conciliation commission was subsumed under die discussion on the “Establishment of Organization of the African States” (item I of Committee I, Document CIAS/Plen./3, May 22, 1963).

³ The Somali President's address and the Ethiopian Prime Minister's reply can be found inProceedings, Vol. I, section 2, Documents CIAS/GEN/INF/25 and CIAS/GEN/INF/43. See alsoPadelford,Norman J., “The Organization of African Unity,”International Organization,Summer1964 (Vol.18, No.3), p.527CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

⁴Proceedings, Vol. I, section 2, Document CIAS/GEN/INF/36, p. 7.

⁵Proceedings, Vol. I, section 2, Document CIAS/GEN/INF/33, p. 2. For the views of the President of the Malagasy Republic and the Prime Minister of Nigeria seeibid., Documents CIAS/GEN/INF/14, p. 4 and CIAS/GEN/INF/35, p. 2, respectively. A similar view was expressed at the 1960 conference of African states by J. Rudolph Grimes of Liberia. SeeSecond Conference of Independent African States, Addis Ababa,06 14–26,1960 (Addis Ababa:Ethiopian Ministry of Information,1960), p.33Google Scholar.

⁶ See the discussion inBoutros-Ghali,Boutros, “The Addis Ababa Charter,”International Conciliation,011964 (No. 546), pp.29–30Google Scholar. See alsoPadelford,,International Organization, Vol.18, No.3, pp.525–536Google Scholar; andElias,T. O., “The Charter of the Organization of African Unity,”American Journal of International Law,041965 (Vol.59, No.2), pp.243–267CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

⁷Ibid., p. 248.

⁸ In Article 4 of the Charter of the Organization of American States (OAS) peacemaking is listed as one of the purposes of the Organization. The OAS Charter requires also by Article 20 that all disputes between American states “be submitted to the peaceful procedures” as set forth in the OAS Charter “before being referred to the Security Council of the United Nations.”

⁹ For a detailed discussion and a somewhat different assessment of the OAU's role seeWild,Patricia Berko, “The Organization of African Unity and the Algerian-Moroccan Border Conflict: A Study of New Machinery for Peacekeeping and for the Peaceful Settlement of Disputes Among African States,”International Organization,Winter1966 (Vol.20, No.1), pp.18–36CrossRefGoogle Scholar. On the origins of the dispute seeReyner,Anthony S., “Morocco's International Boundaries: A Factual Background,”Journal of Modern African Studies,091963 (Vol.1, No.3), pp.313–326CrossRefGoogle Scholar; and I. William Zartman, “The Politics of Boundaries in North and West Africa,”ibid., August 1965 (Vol. 3, No. 2), pp. 155–173.

¹⁰ The promise was contained in a secret agreement signed on July 6, 1961, by Ferhat Abbas, then head of the Provisional Government of the Algerian Republic. The text of the agreement was released by Morocco and published inLe Monde, October 23, 1963.

¹¹ Tunisian mediation seemed unacceptable to both contestants. Morocco resented Tunisia's early recognition of Mauritania whereas Algeria was antagonized by Tunisia's own claims to portions of the Algerian Sahara. SeeLe Monde, October 15, 17, 20–21, 22, 25, and November 6, 1963.

¹²The New York Times, October 6, 1963; andLe Monde, October 12 and 19, 1963.

¹³Le Monde, October 8 and 16, 1963.

¹⁴The New York, Times, October 15, 1963; The Times (London), October 21, 1963; andLe Monde, October 22, 1963. For the text of the Moroccan reservation seeMaghreb (Paris),03–041964 (Vol.1, No. 2), p.12Google Scholar.

¹⁵ For the text seeLe Monde, November 1, 1963.

¹⁶ OAU Document ECM/Res. 1 (I). See alsoThe Observer, November 17, 1963, andLe Monde, November 17–18, 1963.

¹⁷Le Monde, February 21, 1964. For details of the demilitarization agreement seeLe Monde, March 10, 1964.

¹⁸Le Monde, April 26–27, 1964.

¹⁹ OAU Document CM/Res. 18 (II).

²⁰Le Monde, May 13 and 26, 1964.

²¹Le Monde, July 17, 1964.

²² OAU Document CM/Res. 37 (III).

²³ OAU Document CM/Res. 53 (IV).

²⁴ OAU Document AHG/Res. 32 (II).

²⁵The New York Times, May 21, 1966;Le Monde, May 27 and 29–30, 1966, October 21, and November 10, 1966;Africa Research Bulletin,071966 (Vol.3, No.7), pp.568–569Google Scholar; andMaghreb Digest (Los Angeles),07–081966 (Vol.4, Nos. 7–8), p.92Google Scholar

²⁶ For some recent discussion of the background to the Somali problem seeDrysdale,J.,The Somali Dispute (London:Pall Mall Press,1964)Google Scholar;Touval,Saadia,Somali Nationalism (Cambridge, Mass:Harvard University Press,1963)CrossRefGoogle Scholar;Lewis,I. M., “Pan Africanism and Pan Somalism,”Journal of Modern African Studies,061963 (Vol.1, No.2), pp.147–161CrossRefGoogle Scholar;Castagno,A. A., “The Somali-Kenyan Controversy,”Journal of Modern African Studies,071964 (Vol.2, No.2), pp.165–188CrossRefGoogle Scholar; and Mesfin Wolde Mariam, “The Ethio-Somalian Boundary Dispute,–219.

²⁷ UN Document S/5536.

²⁸The New York Times, February 10, 1964.

²⁹ The following account is based on the unpublished summary record of the Second Extraordinary Session of the Council of Ministers, held in Dar es Salaam, on February 12–15, 1964.

³⁰The Times (London) andLe Monde,02 13,1964Google Scholar.

³¹ UN Document S/5542.

³² UN Documents S/5557 and S/5558.

³³ OAU Document ECM/Res. 3 (II).

³⁴ OAU Document ECM/Res. 4 (II).

³⁵The Observer and The New York Times, February 16, 1964. Following the Council of Ministers meeting other African states, including Ghana, Morocco, and Tanganyika, also tried to mediate in the dispute. (SeeLe Monde, February 20 and 25, 1964.)

³⁶ The account which follows is based on the unpublished summary record of the Second Ordinary Session of the Council of Ministers, held in Lagos on February 24–29, 1964.

³⁷ OAU Document CM/Res. 16 (II).

³⁸ OAU Document CM/Res. 17 (II).

³⁹ The full text of the communiqué was published in theOAU Review,061964 (Vol.1, No.1), pp.40–41Google Scholar.

⁴⁰ An agreement to this effect was reached between the Somali, Ethiopian, and Kenyan representatives in the presence of the Provisional Secretary-General. For the text seeThe Somali Republic and the Organization 0f African Unity (Mogadishu, Somalia:Ministry of Foreign Affairs,1964), pp.39–40Google Scholar.

⁴¹Ibid., pp. 25–27.

⁴² Unpublished summary record of the Third Ordinary Session of the Council of Ministers, held in Cairo on July 13–17, 1964.

⁴³Africa Research Bulletin,031965 (Vol.2, No.3), pp.256–257Google Scholar.

⁴⁴Africa Research Bulletin,101965 (Vol.2, No.10), p.381Google Scholar. The agreement is not being observed.

⁴⁵East African Standard, December 14 and 15, 1965.

⁴⁶Africa Research Bulletin,011965 (Vol.2, No.1), pp.227–228Google Scholar.

⁴⁷Le Monde, September 18–19 and October 12, 1966; andAfrica Research Bulletin,09 and101966 (Vol.3, Nos.9 and 10), pp.618–619 and pp. 641–643Google Scholar.

⁴⁸ This account is based onLe Monde, November 1, 5, and 10, 1966, and the news bulletins of Agence France Presse.

⁴⁹ SeeGhana Today (published by the Information Section of the Ghana Office),London,07 5,1961Google Scholar.

⁵⁰ The following account is based on the unpublished summary record of the Third Ordinary Session of the Council of Ministers, held in Cairo on July 13–17, 1964.

⁵¹ For the text of the President's message seeConférence des Chefs d'Etat ct du Gouvernement de I'OVA, Texte des Discours Prononcés a la Conference, Le Caire 17–21 Juillet 1564 (Cairo:Administration de l'lnformation,1964), pp.231–233Google Scholar. See alsoLe Monde, June 30, 1964.

⁵² OAU Document AHG/Res. 19 (I).

⁵³ President Yaméogo reportedly stated in this connection that President Nkrumah had already appointed an Upper Volta president to succeed him after his assassination. (SeeThe Guardian, April 23, 1964.)

⁵⁴ The account which follows is based on the unpublished summary record of die Fifth Extraordinary Session of the Council of Ministers, held in Lagos on June 11–13, 1965.

⁵⁵Ghana Today, March 23, April 20, and May 4, 1966, andAfrica Research Bulletin,061966 (Vol.3, No.6), p.549Google Scholar.

⁵⁶ Interesting for their comments about border problems were also the speeches of the Emperor of Ethiopia, the Presidents of Dahomey, the Malagasy Republic, and Tanzania, the Prime Minister of Nigeria, and the representatives of the Ivory Coast, Somalia, and Upper Volta. The speeches are printed in Conférence des Chefs d'Etat.

⁵⁷Ibid., p. 229; andThe Somali Republic and the Organization of African Unity, pp. 15–18.

⁵⁸lbid., p. 19.

⁵⁹ OAU Document AHG/Res. 16 (I).

⁶⁰The Somali Republic and the Organization of African Unity, pp. 16–24. The Somali National Assembly resolution was adopted on the eve of die Conference of Nonaligned Nations, held in Cairo in October 1964. The Cairo Conference proclaimed in its resolutions the same principle of respect for existing frontiers but with some qualifications added. For die discussions in the Somali National Assembly and the comments of Prime Minister Abdirazaq Haji Hussein on the resolutions of die OAU and of the Conference of Nonaligned Nations seeSomali News (Mogadishu),10 2, 9, 16, 23, and11 6,1964Google Scholar.

⁶¹The Somali Republic and the Organization of African Unity, p. 18.

⁶² SeeEmerson,Rupert,Self-Determivation Revisited in the Era of Decolonization (Occasional Paper No. 9) (Cambridge, Mass:Center for International Affairs, Harvard University,121964)Google Scholar. Of interest in this connection is also the joint communiqué issued by the Emperor of Ethiopia and the President of India on October 13, 1965, which, in the context of the Kashmir problem, declared the Emperor's support for “the principle that self-determination should apply only to colonial territories which have not yet attained their independence and not to parts of sovereign or independent states.”

⁶³ SeeWallerstein,Immanuel, “The Early Years of the OAU: The Search for Organizational Preeminence,”International Organization,Autumn1966 (Vol.20, No.4), pp.774–787CrossRefGoogle Scholar.