http://Founding Chapter - Coalition for a United States of Africa

Africa's leaders and the African Union MUST NOT BE AFRAID to unite as one nation and declare themselves a United States of Africa.

Reality bites for United States of Africa dream after summit

The drive towards forging a United States of Africa was running out of steam Wednesday as leaders filed away from a summit without agreeing on a timeline for creating a new government for the continent.

The three-day summit in Ghana, which wrapped up shortly before midnight on Tuesday, was devoted to a grand debate on a union government with burning issues such as Darfur and Somalia barely getting a look in.

But when host President John Kufuor delivered a closing declaration, it was clear that leaders who favour a gradual approach towards integration had stymied the fast-track ambitions of Libya's Moamer Kadhafi and Senegal's Abdoulaye Wade.

In the absence of any timetable, Kufuor announced an audit of the current executive body, the African Union commission, and the commissioning of four studies on the prospects of a new government.

"Africa shall evolve," he told journalists. "It's not a revolution we are invoking so we cannot give you a timeline."

One of the studies will focus on "the contents of the union government concept and its relations with national governments" while another will examine its "domains of competence and impact ... on sovereignty".

The others will concentrate on the "elaboration of a road map and timeframe for establishing the union government" and how such a project would be funded.

The scope of the topics under review illustrate the lack of consensus among leaders of the world's poorest continent on how they want to move forward.

While many paid lip service to the idea of an alternative USA, few went along with Kadhafi's blueprint for the creation of a 15-member cabinet -- including defence, foreign and trade ministers -- by 2008.

For all the talk of unity, analysts believe differences among the 53 nations are too vast to accommodate a centralised executive which could speak with one voice.

"The United States of Africa has immense emotional appeal but as a political programme it does not have an enormous amount of traction," said Terence Corrigan of the South African Institute of International Affairs in Johannesburg.

"Among countries like South Africa there's a realisation, which they are reluctant to express too loudly, that you have a big gulf in terms of economic development and political cultures which militates against the rush towards a union government.

"You also have the competing tradition within Africa that the notion of sovereignty is a very powerful one."

Indeed, in an echo of the arguments within the European Union, many heads of state expressed fears about sovereignty.

In an address to the summit on Tuesday, EU commission president Jose Manuel Barroso said Europe's experience was political integration came after and not before economic integration.

Kadhafi arrived in Accra after stopovers in some of Africa's most impoverished countries such as Guinea and Sierra Leone, calling for "the voice of the people to be heard.

The shortcomings of the AU, established five years ago in Durban, have been exposed by its failure to persuade anyone bar Uganda to send peacekeepers to Somalia and the inability of a poorly-equipped force to stem the bloodshed in Sudan's western Darfur region.

Many leaders, including Mbeki who hosted the Durban summit, believe the AU needs nurturing rather than a complete overhaul.

Much of its troubles have stemmed from a lack of finance. An eve of summit meeting of foreign ministers was handed a report which showed only seven states were up-to-date with their dues.

Ludeki Chweya, a lecturer at the University of Nairobi, said many leaders want to give the AU more time to prove its worth.

"I think there's scepticism among some leaders because the matter has come up too suddenly," he said. "It seems to me that it was a bit rushed."

The United States of AFRICA!!… Heard about it before??

25 June - 3 July, 2007- 9 th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the African Union, Accra, Ghana
The Summit will be devoted to a “Grand Debate on the Union Government”.
Events
25-26 June : 14 th Ordinary Session of the Permanent Representatives Committee (PRC)
28-29 June : 11 th Ordinary Session of the Executive Council
1-3 July: 9 th Ordinary Session of the Assembly
Media Advisory | Media Accreditation Form | more

The Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union, at its 8th ordinary session in Addis Ababa from 29-30 January, 2007, decided that the next ordinary session of the Assembly to be held in Accra, Ghana in July, 2007, will be devoted to a “Grand Debate on the Union Government.” In the same vein, the Executive Council of the African Union will hold a retreat of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs in Durban, South Africa from 8-9 May, 2007 to brainstorm on the state of the union, which is to the same effect as the Grand Debate.

USA for USAfrica: The Coalition for African Unification…

Hear the "Ballad of The United States of Africa" in Real Audio performed by The Wood Brothers: Click Here

Our Mission is ALMOST accomplished as The African Union Summit to be held this July 2007 in Accra, Ghana has as it's sole agenda item: The Formation of a United States of Africa!

THIS is THE Moment of the start of a New African History and we are depending on THESE leaders to put aside their fears and doubts and for the 1st time in their political careers, to actually LEAD the African people to a new era...

As the world press at large have finally caught on to the fact that Africa CAN unite this July into a united federation of nation-states, the main thing they want to report on is that Africans are feeling doubt on following through on their greatest opportunity.

In other words, they are afraid to save themselves and join together as one nation. That they would rather debate and argue among themselves as they always have done throughout history than dare to see a vision of a united Africa and take advantage the opportunity act on it.

I assure you, if the African leaders do not take heed and insure the destiny of all Africans by taking the step to unify this July...

Africa will give up on itself and the self imposed destruction of the remainder of Africa will speed up exponentially.

Africa has found a new piggy bank in the form of China and will put it's collective self in hock again to a new master after the G-8 nations forgave most of their debt and opened the door of opportunity for the nations of Africa to unite as one collective nation.

A united Africa will not need to borrow, it will create it's own economy in the building of it's united infrastructure, payment of taxes to the new national treasury from the nations currently stealing it's resources who will now have to pay fair market value and attract investment from around the world because a united Africa is a sound business proposition and opportunity.

A major proposition of whether Africa will need to form a United States of Africa in the bid to promote greater integration will be on the table when Ghana hosts the African Union Summit in July.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nana Akufo-Addo who announced the subject in his briefing of Parliament about the upcoming summit, said there will be need to consider the issue.

The proposal is to run Africa federally as pertains in the United States of America.

AU members states have been asked to deliberate on the issue ahead of the summit and to come up with steps needed to be taken to reach the goal. Ghana’s Parliament will debate the matter in May.

The Accra Summit will also seek to address the composition of the AU Executive and a replacement for Alpha Konare who has indicated he intends to step down as a AU Presient.
The African Peer Review Mechanism will also be on the menu of the summit and the unresolved business of pockets of conflicts in parts of the continent.

Support the movement by putting the WORD out. When people see you in United States of Africa apparel, engage them on the matter and have THEM join US as well... See:

http://www.cafepress.com/usa4usafrica

At this point The USA4USAfrica is seeking an African Corporation, Businessman, Media Company or group of individuals who can order 100,000 or more United States of Africa shirts, buttons, hats, or any combination to distribute to people in Africa's largest cities and particularly Accra, Ghana before the upcoming African Summit this July where the sole agenda item is the formation of a United States of Africa. This show of solidarity for a united Africa will hopefully find enough people photographed in the attire and thus appear in the major media that up to this point still refuse to give any coverage or press releases on the unification of Africa in major media publications ( except the BBC and Vanity Fair Magazine).

The challenge for the next generation of African people who are nationalists, pan-africanists, African-centered thought and others on the fringe of such thinking is to move beyond the pathological rhetoric of what African people should be doing to what am I doing?

Clearly for those from 18 years of age to those in their forties there are possibilities that did not exist for those who came before them at the international level. Access to global Pan-African processes use to take a great deal of effort and financial discipline. Now at the push of a button this generation can be in direct contact with other African people in other parts of the world.

Yet even this generation is suffering from problem of terminal uniqueness. In other words it is assumed that the rest of the African world sits around waiting to read what our scholars have to say or waits to hear what our organizations think. The reality is that the rest of the African world doesn't know that we exist simply because there is not enough cross-pollination taking place in the first place.

Clearly this generation must GO to Africa if they plan on talking about Africa. This generation must TALK to real groups on the African continent. This generation must BE IN Contact with Francophone and Anglophone Africa which means it needs to develop its language skills.

This generation must become involved, actively, in the politics of the African Union and developmental groups in Africa. For every thought that entertains conspiracy theories there must be two thoughts that participate in political/economic and social structure development in Africa. The following are only a few websites that connect with Africa today. To know the African past and have no mastery of the Africa present is merely another form of self-anesthetizing. Those 18 years of age to 40 are responsible for the African future whether they want to take responsibility for it or not. Hear one of the songs from the soundtrack by clicking HERE.

"There are no words to describe what I feel about the possibility of the achievement of The United States of Africa. The applause of the entire globe could not give this cause justice, and justice is what this cause will bring. I am sure that the US of Africa will mean the extinction of poverty and the promotion of world Unity. I know the day will come when its constitution is signed. It will be signed not with greed and power in mind, but instead with love and unity. My prayers and deepest salutations are with you all." – Jared

It is frightening to know that the behavior Ancestor Garvey described below is still applicable today. It also adds to the explanation of why we are in the condition we are in today. There is enough wealth among all of the professional athletes of African descent in every sport to underwrite each independent African school ten times over.

There are enough Hip Hop artists of African descent to do fundraisers for every nation building organization in addition to joining them to revolutionize the political direction of African American youth to one of global revolutionary nation building.

There are enough independently wealthy African American lawyers who could join such organizations, providing them with the legal counsel necessary to empower their work. Such individuals have more personal wealth than they know what to do with which goes to buying cars, homes, and celebrating themselves with extravagant parties as professional agents direct them to make themselves marketable to white society at the expense of empowering Black people.

It is not enough to give out scholarships, cars or makeovers. All people have the legal right to do whatever they want to with the wealth they accumulate but time and history are not kind to those who should have done more and avoided the responsibility. When the white world is no longer interested in them, what they have done for their people will determine who takes care of them as their suns set.

Note: While this article is dated it is still important as it examines the world of Hip Hop, the message of Hip Hop and the messangers of Hip Hop. Hip Hop is composed of two dynamics. There is the vehicle of music and the message that is contained in its images and lyrics. The emergence of Hip Hop has been created by a generation projecting plenty of smoke but little fire.

The smoke has threatened something different but the fire has amounted to little intensity simply because it has been fueled more by ignorance and self-centeredness. Hip Hop has been the manifestation of children caught up in self-indulgence and overcompensation for feelings of personal poverty. Therefore it has lacked any kind of revolutionary message that would speak truth to power. While it has always had the potential, that potential has never been reached.

Even the messages that might speak to liberation have usually only been those of self-pity rather than collective social empowerment. Those in the different genres of Hip Hop have attempted to adjust to each other's existence without challenging the validity of each other's messages for fear of potential internal reprisals within the group. White male supremacy in the media has promoted mindless Hip Hop at the expense of Revolutionary Hip Hop, and those who have reaped personal profit from mindless Hip Hop have been used to neutralize Revolutionary Hip Hop which explains why we can have a store in Mawali called "Nigger".

At some point Revolutionary Hip Hop artists will have to draw a line in the sand with their peers who have become nothing but profitable tools of oppression for white male supremacy.

In the end if the artists do not check themselves, they will merely reflect a historical image of an "Uncle Tom" gangster, a buffoon clown of sexuality and an image of petty self-indulgence that a generation in the future will come along to brand as worthless to the liberation and self-determination of African people.

Note: We as an African people, especially in the U.S., have been taught to dissociate from one another to such a degree that while those African people in the music industry have complete freedom to express themselves and consider themselves to be on the cutting edge of popular music yet are so globally ignorant that they miss the constant opportunity to make music with African people on the continent and in the Caribbean which would revolutionize hip hop in the cross-pollination of sound and lyrics.

"All of us may not live to see the higher accomplishment of an African Empire-so strong and powerful, as to compel the respect of mankind, but we in our life-time can so work and act as to make the dream a possibility within another generation."

Marcus Mosiah Garvey

We, the organizers are working under the following premises:
That we are living in a world where the term globalization denotes exploitation of labor and natural and human resources for the vast majority of the world's population. For that reason, struggle in Africa finds itself at the world stage. A local struggle must by necessity locate itself in the global struggle. The international arena has become the theater of change. Therefore, those serving change, whether as writers, historians, scholars, and/or political activists in and for Africa have to be willing to serve, in word and deed, contemporary struggles against continued marginalization elsewhere.

We are 1 month away from the formation of a United States of Africa and Africa's leaders and the African Union MUST NOT BE AFRAID to unite as one nation and declare themselves a United States of Africa.

The United States of Africa: The challenges

Demba Moussa Dembele (2007-04-04)

Demba Moussa Dembele examines the external and internal challenges faced by Africa in the face of globalization and the US led war on terror and asks if the current African leadership is up to building the United States of Africa in the present global environment.

'Africa must unite or perish!' Kwame Nkrumah

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the independence of Ghana, the first sub-Saharan African country to break from the dreadful colonial yoke. It was under the leadership of President Kwame Nkrumah, enlightened, visionary and Pan Africanist leader, who devoted time and energy to liberating other African countries. Nkrumah fought tirelessly for the unity of African countries into a single African Federal State. He was convinced that the newly independent countries needed to unite to liberate other African countries and lay the ground for their economic emancipation. He understood that a divided Africa would still remain under domination and be an easy prey for global capitalism.

It is in part for his vision and far-sightedness that the Anglo-American imperialism co-opted Ghanaian felons to stage a coup that toppled Nkrumah and sent him into exile until his death. But Nkrumah’s vision and dream did not die with him. Quite the contrary: they remained very much alive throughout the years. As Africa got deeper into crisis, as its external dependence worsened, bordering on the threat of re-colonization, Nkrumah was largely vindicated while the proponents of ‘balkanization’ were completely discredited.

An illustration of this is the foundation of the African Union (AU) in 2001 and the decision of the Heads of State and Government to move toward the United States of Africa by the year 2015. This is a fitting tribute to the memory of President Nkrumah!

But the road to realizing this dream faces great hurdles, both externally and internally. In particular, the current world system, characterized by an increasing militarization of neoliberal globalization, presents overwhelming challenges for the African continent.

A) The challenge of globalization

The decision comes at a time when corporate-led globalization has entailed very high costs for the African continent, as a result of the acceleration of trade and financial liberalization and privatization of national assets to the benefit of multinational corporations. Trade liberalization, combined with western countries’ disguised or open protectionism and subsidies, resulted in the deterioration of sub-Saharan Africa’s terms of trade. Trade liberalization alone has cost the region more than $270 billion over a 20-year period, according to Christian Aid (2005). An illustration of these costs is Ghana, which lost an estimated $10 billion. According to Christian Aid, it is as if the entire country had stopped working for 18 months! Capital flight, fuelled by trade and financial liberalization, has reached alarming proportions, estimated at more than half of the continent’s illegitimate external debt, according to the Commission for Africa (2005).

The privatization of State-owned enterprises and public services has resulted in a massive transfer of the national patrimony to foreign hands, precisely to western multinational corporations. This, combined with the illegitimate and unbearable external debt, has deepened external domination and increased the transfer of wealth from Africa to western countries and multilateral institutions, as acknowledged by the Commission for Africa (2005), put together by the British Prime Minister, Tony Blair. And members of the Commission had reliable sources to back up their claim, since Britain is one of the main beneficiaries of this transfer of wealth. Quoting a study published in 2006 by Christian Aid, Archbishop Ndungane (2006) indicated that:

'Britain took away far more money from sub-Saharan Africa than it gave in aid and debt relief last year, despite pledges to help the region. In all, it took away £27 billion from Africa. In the 12 months since an annual Group of Eight (G8) summit in Scotland last July, the British economy gained a net profit of more than £11 billion ($20.3 billion) from the region. The charity calculated that almost £17 billion flowed from Britain to sub-Saharan Africa in the past year, including donations, remittances from salaries earned by Africans in Britain and foreign direct investments. At the same time, more than £27 billion went in the opposite direction, thanks to debt repayments, profits made by British companies in Africa and imports of British goods and capital flight.'

This is just one example of the financial hemorrhage hurting Africa. This is compounded by the ‘brain drain’, which has deprived Africa of thousands of highly trained workers in all fields. The World Health Organization (2006) says that more than 25% of doctors trained in Africa work abroad in developed countries. About 30,000 highly skilled Africans leave the continent each year for the United States and Europe. Still according to Archbishop Ndungane (2006), in the US alone

'African immigrants are the highest educated class in the range of all immigrants…there are over 640,000 African professionals in the US, over 360,000 of them hold PhDs, 120,000 of them (from Nigeria, Ghana, Sudan and Uganda) are medical doctors. The rest are professionals in various fields – from the head of research for US Space Agency, NASA, to the highest paid material science professors. ...'

B) The challenge of the US 'War on Terror'

The challenge posed by neoliberal policies to Africa will be aggravated by the militarization of globalization, with the doctrine of ‘pre-emptive strike’ adopted by the Bush Administration. One of the tragic illustrations of this doctrine is the illegal aggression and occupation of Iraq with the numerous crimes against Humanity committed by the occupying forces the world has been witnessing since the invasion. Another illustration of that doctrine is the threat of war against other sovereign countries, such as Iran, North Korea or Syria.

These aggressions and threats are part of what the US imperialism calls 'war on terror'. The Bush Administration is attempting to draw African countries into that strategy, which poses an even greater threat to Africa’s security and development. Since 2002, the US government has put together a special program, named “PanSahel”, whose stated objective is to train the armed forces of the countries involved to enable them to track down groups supposed to be linked to Al Qaeda.

The recent announcement of the creation of a US military command for Africa - Africa Command (AfriCom) - is a major step toward expanding and strengthening the US military presence in Africa through more aggressive policies to enlist support from African countries for its 'war on terror'. According to George W. Bush, 'the new command will strengthen our security cooperation with Africa and create new opportunities to bolster the capabilities of our partners in Africa.”

In reality, the objectives of the Africa Command are to be found in the US drive for global dominance and its growing appetite for Africa’s oil. US imperialism seeks to protect oil supply routes and American multinational corporations involved in oil and mineral extraction. In fact, several studies have forecast that the United States may depend for up to 25% of its needs on crude oil from Africa over the next decade or so. One clear sign of this trend is that several US oil companies are investing billions of dollars in oil-producing countries, notably in the Gulf of Guinea region. Thus, oil is one the main driving forces behind the US activism on the continent. It has nothing to do with Africa’s ‘security’. On the contrary, this is likely to increase the insecurity of the continent!

Therefore, the US strategy aims to secure strategic positions in Africa by using the threat of “terrorism” to gain military facilities and bases to protect its interests. The countries which accept to cooperate with the US may become more and more dependent on the US and inevitably on NATO for their “security”. They will be forced to provide military bases or facilities for US forces and serve as a canon fodder in the US ‘war on terror’, as Ethiopia has done in Somalia. The US strategy will sow more divisions among African countries and undermine the goal of African Unity.

C) Internal challenges

To the challenges posed by the global context described above one should add the internal challenges facing African countries.

As indicated above, the neoliberal policies imposed by the IMF and World Bank and the violence of corporate-led globalization have further weakened Africa. The principal characteristic of the continent is its weakness and divisions, despite the foundation of the African Union and the adoption of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD). The divisions are ideological and political. Neo-colonial ties are still strong with former colonial powers. There are still many foreign military bases and facilities on the continent. Several countries still depend on western countries for their “security”. France is intervening in the Central African Republic in an attempt to help the government push back attacks by rebel groups.

A similar operation took place a few months ago to help the Chadian government repel a rebel attack that threatened some parts of the capital. These countries are home to foreign military bases and have signed defense agreements with their ‘protectors’. These military bases are also used to launch criminal aggressions against other African countries, as the United States did when it launched air strikes against innocent civilians in Somalia from their air base in Djibouti! France is using its military bases in West Africa – Senegal and Togo- to destabilize Cote d’Ivoire.

These examples underscore the vulnerability of the continent and the fragile nature of many States, some of which have all but collapsed, in large part as a result of structural adjustment policies. Africa’s vulnerability is also reflected in the widespread poverty affecting its population, in the deterioration of the health and educational systems and in the inability of many States to provide basic social services for their citizens. Poverty is the result of policies imposed by the IMF and World Bank, using the pretext of the illegitimate debt with the complicity of African governments. This has aggravated economic, financial, political dependence on western countries and multilateral institutions. Food dependency has dramatically increased. According to the FAO and other UN agencies, more than 43 million Africans suffer from hunger, which kills more people than HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined! As a result, Africa spends billions of dollars in food imports, paid for by credits and ‘aid’ from western countries and multilateral institutions.

The external dependency and the extreme vulnerability of the continent are also reflected in the surrender of economic policies to the World Bank and western “experts” by many countries.

II) Can Africa overcome these challenges?

In view of these formidable challenges, building the United States of Africa may seem an impossible task, a Promethean undertaking. Indeed, one should be skeptical about the ability and willingness of current African leadership to build a genuine African unity. Because not only are the odds overwhelming but also past experience does not show any sign of optimism. Therefore, if African leaders are really serious about achieving this noble objective, they need to make tough and courageous decisions.

A) Need for political will

The document on the United States of Africa, published by the African Union (2006) claims: 'it should be realized that what unites Africans far surpasses what divides them as a people' (page 8). Yet, this did not translate into a political will to overcome their divisions and move toward strengthening African unity. Therefore, what African leaders need first and foremost is the political will to make the tough decisions and the courage and determination to implement them. In reality, the decision to establish the United States of Africa is the latest in a long series of decisions and agreements, most of which were never implemented. Some of the agreements on regional integration are more than 30 years old, but they are still lagging behind for lack of genuine will to implement them. The slow pace of integration and lack of solidarity is a reflection of the unwillingness of many African leaders to place the fundamental interests of the continent above national or even personal interests in order to move decisively toward genuine unity and cooperation.

The lack of political will is better illustrated by the fate of key documents adopted over several decades and that should have strengthened African unity and laid the foundations for the United States of Africa. Think of the Lagos Plan of Action (LPA), adopted in 1980 and which was quickly forgotten in favor of the IMF and World Bank-imposed structural adjustment programs (SAPs). Think of the African Alternative Framework, which was among the first documents to level a devastating critique of SAPs in 1989. Think of the Arusha Charter for Popular Participation in Development and Social Transformation, adopted in 1990 and which contains a blueprint for citizen participation in the design and implementation of public policies within a democratic and participatory decision-making process. Think of the 1991 Abuja Treaty, for the creation of the African Economic Community. This list is not exhaustive. Yet, when some African leaders proposed NEPAD in 2001, it made a scant mention of these documents. Instead, it attempted to rehabilitate failed and discredited neoliberal policies.

B) Freeing the African mind.

The political will has an ideological dimension, which is the need for African leaders to free their minds and understand once for all that they must take responsibility for their own development. No country or group of countries, no international institution, no amount of external ‘aid’ will ever ‘develop’ Africa. Likewise, no foreign country, no matter how powerful, will ever guarantee the ‘security’ of African countries. It is therefore illusory to assume that the United States, France or Britain will provide ‘security’ for Africa! Quite the contrary: these countries’ interest is to see a weak, divided and defenseless Africa. African countries must take responsibility for their own collective security! In this regard, African governments must close down all foreign military bases and scrap all defense agreements signed with former colonial powers and US imperialism. Furthermore, African governments must end their allegiance to neo-colonial institutions, such as ‘Francophonie’, Commonwealth and so forth.

C) An enlightened leadership

For these dramatic changes to take place, Africa needs an enlightened and visionary leadership, who would listen to the voices of the people. This also means promoting leaders who are accountable to their own citizens, not to outside powers or institutions, as is the case in many countries. Furthermore, Africa needs leaders who can define an agenda consistent with Africa’s interests, not let someone else do it in their place. In other terms, African leaders must no more accept that others speak or define policies in their place for their continent. A case in point is the US “war on terror”. As indicated earlier, some countries are supporting the US agenda. But fighting ‘terrorism’ is not a priority for Africa. The continent has other priorities, which have nothing to do with terrorism.

D) Involve the African people

So far, African leaders seem to have forgotten the African people in the conception and implementation of their agreements. To overcome the challenges outlined above, African leaders must understand that they must move from a union of States to a union of peoples. This means that the success of the United States of Africa depends on putting African the people at the center of the project. The popular participation in decision-making and implementation of public policies, as called for by the Arusha Charter, is a critical factor in building a genuine and strong Union. This seems to be understood by the document published by the African Union (2006), which says that 'the Union Government must be a Union of the African people and not merely a Union of States and Governments' (page 4).

This seems to be just a lip service paid to the idea of popular participation, because so far, there are no concrete steps to make it a reality. Despite the establishment of some institutions, like the Economic, Social and Cultural Council (ECOSOCC), the people have no say in the decisions of the Union. To achieve a genuine Union of the African people, the first step should be to allow a free movement of people –on the continent and in the Diaspora- throughout the continent. It is unthinkable to build the United States of Africa by keeping the current borders in place and limiting the free flow of African citizens across the continent. The building of the Union must be rooted in the mobilization of the African masses across the artificial borders set by former colonial powers in order to divide and weaken the African people.

III) Conclusion

The paper has reviewed the challenges facing Africa in its attempt to build the United States of Africa. External factors, such as the high costs of neoliberal globalization and the US ‘War on Terror’, are likely to hamper African efforts at unity and independence. These external factors take advantage of Africa’s internal weaknesses and tend to aggravate them.

But does the current African leadership have the capacity and will to overcome the internal and external challenges in the process of building the United States of Africa? It is doubtful. Most of current African ‘leaders’ take their orders from western capitals and have surrendered their policies to the IMF, the World Bank and the World Trade Organization. In the words of the late Professor Joseph Ki-Zerbo (1995), these are ' "leaders" with frightened minds' who can only 'imitate” their western masters. How can anyone trust such ‘leaders’, some of whom contemplate providing military bases to the United States in the name of fighting 'terrorism'?

The building of the United States of Africa requires a new leadership with the political will to follow through their commitments. This means promoting a new type of leadership in Africa, imbued with the ideals of Pan Africanism, genuinely dedicated to the unity, independence and sovereignty of the continent and to promoting the welfare of their citizens. It is a visionary leadership, like Nkrumah and others of his generation. A leadership who refuses Africa’s enslavement and will never accept that others speak or define policies for Africa.

So, building the United Sates of Africa requires a different kind of leadership with decolonized minds, who are willing to stand up to foreign domination, who would listen to their own citizens and promote policies aimed at recovering Africa’s sovereignty over its resources and policies. In other words, the success of such undertaking requires a leadership imbued with the values and ideals of Pan Africanism and genuinely committed to the unity, independence and sovereignty of Africa.

References

African Union (2006). A Study on an African Union Government. Towards the United States of Africa. Addis Ababa

Christian Aid (2005). The economics of failure. The costs of ‘free’ trade for poor countries. London

Commission for Africa (2005). Our Common Interest. London (March)

Ki-Zerbo, Joseph (1995), Which Way Africa? Reflections on Basil Davidson’s The Black Man’s Burden.

Ndungane, Njongonkulu, “A CALL TO LEADERSHIP: The role of Africans in the Development Agenda”. Harold Wolpe Memorial Lecture (30 November 2006), Howard College Campus, University of KwaZulu-Natal

New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD)

* Demba Moussa Dembele is Director, African Forum on Alternatives based in Dakar. He can be contacted at dembuss@hotmail.com or forumafricain@yahoo.fr

* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org

Thus, we move forward as members of a generation that seeks to step up to history and answer the call that all previous generations have hearkened to: that Africa takes control of its economic, political and cultural livelihood. It is time for our generation to answer Frantz Fanon's call to action, saying: "Every generation must out of relative obscurity find its mission; fulfill or betray it."

We also recognize that there are a number of political activists who have taken individual or collective stands but still work in localized isolation. This organization, then, is geared towards bringing together conscious voices of all those struggling to bring change to their societies so that they can recognize in both word and deed, each others' struggles. We also hope to provide a forum by which a unified voice can generate a platform that is, in praxis, cognizant of struggle, not only in Africa, but in the United States, Latin America, the Caribbean and Asia.

Dr. Leary has also developed the African American Male Youth Respect Scale, a scale which measures the relationship between present and historical issues of respect in relationship to the use of violence among this population.

Dr. Leary's upcoming book "Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome: America's Legacy of Injury and Healing" incorporates her research in both America and Africa, as well as her twenty years experience as a social work practitioner and consultant to public and private organizations.

In her book Dr. Leary first exposes the reader to the conditions that led to the Atlantic slave trade and allowed the pursuant racism and efforts at repression to continue through the present day. She then looks at the seemingly insurmountable obstacles that our ancestors faced as the result of the slave trade. Next she discusses the adaptive behaviors they developed, both positive and negative, that allowed them to survive and often even thrive. Dr. Leary concludes by reevaluating those adaptive behaviors that have been passed down through generations and where appropriate, she explores replacing behaviors which are today maladaptive with ones that will promote, ensure and sustain the healing and advancement of African American culture.

African Union Headquaters P.O. Box 3243 Addis Ababa Ethiopia Tel: (251) 1 51 77 00 Fax:(251) 1 51 78 44 website:

To further understand what stands against the Unification of Africa, One must understand what prevents Black America from participating in efforts to unify Africa and that is the destruction of the Black Family structure here in the United States itself...

'There is a crisis of unprecedented magnitude in the black community, one that goes to the very heart of its survival. The black family is failing."

Quibble if you will about the "unprecedented magnitude" – slavery wasn't exactly a high point of African-American well-being. But there's no quarreling with the essence of the alarm sounded here last week by a gathering of Pentecostal clergy and the Seymour Institute for Advanced Christian Studies. What is happening to the black family in America is the sociological equivalent of global warming: easier to document than to reverse, inconsistent in its near-term effect – and disastrous in the long run.

Father absence is the bane of the black community, predisposing its children (boys especially, but increasingly girls as well) to school failure, criminal behavior and economic hardship – and to an intergenerational repetition of the grim cycle. The culprit, the ministers (led by Boston's Rev. Eugene Rivers III, president of the Seymour Institute) agreed, is the decline of marriage.

Kenneth B. Johnson, a Seymour senior fellow who has worked in youth programs, says he often sees teenagers "who've never seen a wedding."

The concern is not new. As Rivers noted at last week's National Press Club news conference, the late Daniel Patrick Moynihan sounded the alarm 40 years ago, only to be "condemned and pilloried as misinformed, malevolent, and even racist."

What is new is the understanding of how deep and wide is the reach of declining marriage – and the still-forming determination to do something about it.

When Moynihan first issued his controversial study, roughly a quarter of black babies were born out of wedlock; moreover, it was largely a low-income phenomenon. The proportion now tops two-thirds, with little prospect of significant decline, and has moved up the socioeconomic scale.

There have been two main explanations. At the low-income end, the disproportionate incarceration, unemployment and early death of black men makes them unavailable for marriage. At the upper-income level, it is the fact that black women are far likelier than black men to complete high school, attend college and earn the professional credentials that would render them "eligible" for marriage.

Both explanations are true. But black men aren't born incarcerated, crime-prone dropouts. What principally renders them vulnerable to such a plight is the absence of fathers and their stabilizing influence.

Fatherless boys (as a general rule) become ineligible as husbands – though no less likely to become fathers – and their children fall into the patterns that render them ineligible as husbands.

The absence of fathers means, as well, that girls lack both a pattern against which to measure the boys who pursue them and an example of sacrificial love between a man and a woman. As the ministers were at pains to say last week, it isn't the incompetence of mothers that is at issue, but the absence of half of the adult support needed for families to be most effective.

Interestingly, they blamed the black church for abetting the decline of the black family – by moderating virtually out of existence its once stern sanctions against extramarital sex and childbirth and by accepting the present trends as more or less inevitable.

They didn't say – but might have – that black America's almost reflexive search for outside explanations for our internal problems delayed the introspective examination that might have slowed the trend. What we have now is a changed culture – a culture whose worst aspects are reinforced by oversexualized popular entertainment and that places a reduced value on the things that produced nearly a century of socioeconomic improvement. For the first time since slavery, it is no longer possible to say with assurance that things are getting better.

As the Rev. Jesse Jackson once said in a slightly different context, "What began as a problem has deteriorated into a condition. Problems require solving; conditions require healing."

How to start the healing? Rivers and his colleagues hope to use their personal influence, a series of marriage forums and their well-produced booklet, "God's Gift: A Christian Vision of Marriage and the Black Family," to launch a serious, national discussion and action program.

In truth, though, the situation is so critical – and its elements so interconnected and self-perpetuating – that there is no wrong place to begin. When you find yourself in this sort of a hole, someone once said, the first thing to do is stop digging.

A new "Scramble for Africa" is taking place among the world's big powers, who are tapping into the continent for its oil and diamonds. Tony Blair is pushing hard for African debt relief agreements in the run-up to the G8 summit in Scotland in July. But while sub-Saharan Africa is the object of the west's charitable concern, billions of pounds' worth of natural resources are being removed from it...READ THIS

* A note from Mark Wood, Founder of the USA4USAfrica coalition and this website:

In 1996 we said Kofi Annan would broker the relief of African debt to the west as one of his first moves to position himself for election of the United Africa's first president. In the years since, we have seen Kofi Annan added to the character assassinations occurring with black celebrities of note worldwide and across the board, from sports stars to music stars to movie stars to politicians, including Kofi Annan.

Kofi Annan would not have brokered an agreement that gave the debt owed nations mineral rights and other consolidations that would leave the African nations when they DO UNITE, totally depleted in their own national resources from the debt relief brokered by Tony Blair of Britain - and would leave the United African Nations again in a position of debt.

The fact that Kofi Annan is being discredited on the world stage because of a job he brokered for his son for a job that barely paid $2600 per month ( not enough to even exist in greater Manhattan ) is evidence that a proven leader of Kofi Annan's stature can be nickel and dime'd out of leadership of the UN and a United Africa is part of a covert effort to make sure Africa never rises from it's knees on the world stage.

A major part of the unification of Africa, is that it's people need to VISUALIZE a United States of Africa or United Africa.

In trying to get a MOVIE produced regarding a United States of Africa and talking to Studio people, Hollywood has the same response as Rhett Butler in that American classic film "Gone with the Wind", Frankly my dear, WE JUST DON'T GIVE A DAMN!

'This is Africa," says an African to an American in "Sahara," set in Nigeria and Mali, "and nobody cares about Africa."
To a large extent, he's right. For proof, look at the movie itself - standard buddy fare about American salvagers seeking a Civil War ship that somehow wound up in an African desert. All the heroes are white, except Hispanic star Penélope Cruz, and African tribulations (tyranny, warlords, violence) serve as little more than an exotic backdrop.

Even the main crux of the plot - a plague of toxic pollution - galvanizes the characters mostly because it's headed for the Atlantic Ocean and thence to New York City's crowded coast. Why, people who buy multiplex tickets dwell there!

This sort of approach to Africa is common. Mass-market movies hardly ever set their stories there - and when they do, as in "Out of Africa" and "White Mischief," they're mostly interested in photogenic landscapes. Africa is almost as much of a "dark continent" for moviegoers today as in the past.

There's a grim irony in this, at a time when headlines about western Sudan are crying out to the world for attention, just as events in Somalia did a dozen years ago. It takes catastrophe of huge proportions to focus American minds on African issues.

Prize Award Ceremony Kofi Annan receiving his Nobel Prize from Gunnar Berge, Chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee.

Kofi Annan of Ghana is the seventh Secretary-general of the United Nations. The first Secretary-general to be elected from the ranks of United Nations staff, he began his term on 1 January 1997 and recently elected to a second 5 year term.

Kofi Annan has devoted almost his entire working life to the UN As Secretary-general, he has been preeminent in bringing new life to the organization. While clearly underlining the UN's traditional responsibility for peace and security, he has also emphasized its obligations with regard to human rights.

The movie is personal and autobiographical as well. It tells the story of how this particular movement for a United States of Africa was born from pure chance.

It details how the screenplay's author, Mark Wood came to Los Angeles from Milwaukee with hopes of the typical music and movie fame as a "Jimi Hendrix - Bootsy Collins" styled 1 man band in the tradition of Prince. This adventure that started at age 20, follows his path from the various companies he worked which connected him to meet many of the famous in music, television and film and realize that fame without meaning and a purpose for the betterment of humanity is, while comfortable, is meaningless in the "Big Picture" of Life.

A chance meeting with one of the most known living people on earth, Muhammad Ali and their discussions over 3 separate visits, not about boxing, but religions, humanity, philosophy and the state of black people in the world today and how they got there triggered my personal meaning of purpose.

Mr. Ali said he would like to see Africa as a united country in his lifetime or at least know the process was in place before he died. The more I thought about it, the more sense it made.

Being shortly after "We are the World" and Live Aid, Africa's starvation and misery was broadcast world wide and then forgotten until the next disaster. For all the money generated, in the present, Africa still cries the same tears and a "911" amount of people die EVERY day.

A united Africa is in my best interest, your best interest and most importantly, Africa's best interest. A united Africa is an Africa strong enough to heal it's own wounds and nourish itself from it's own STILL largely untapped resources.

A united Africa will involve the world's economies and in fact revive them. a United Africa will require debate and decision among Africans themselves, but how do you get the debate on the world and African stage for it to take place?

My idea is a movie, so people can visualize a United Africa, my other idea is the soundtrack to the movie with participation of various artists on a "We are the World" scale, all contributing songs and music themed on a Unification of Africa and why it should be...

Being a heavy smoker, I may not live to see it, but I made a promise to Mr. Ali that I would try to make it happen or start to happen in HIS lifetime and hopefully in MINE.

The rate of death in Africa is exponential and a United Africa must be in place by 2025 or there will be NO African people to unite.... What say ye?

The movie has alternate endings, one triumphant, one sad, then eventually triumphant.

The original song whose lyric included the line the movement was born from, predicts the leader of a United Africa surviving an assassination attempt in the year 2020, but recovering and surviving to lead and even more united new continent nation. Under the new federal Africa of united country states with open borders so any person born on African soil (any color ) could live in ANY area of Africa of their choice to live, educate, seek business opportunity and lifestyle. Starvation across the land mass would be eliminated from inter-continental highways and infrastructure. Finally Africa would realize the economic benefits of having the world's largest coastline and secure fair market price and profits for many of it's natural resources still mostly 98% undeveloped over the last thousand years. Potential, that would benefit all of it's people and the world as well.

AIDS and it's exponential death rate are finally under control and Africa is healing and drawing people from all over the world who can now travel the entire continent in safety and wonder. The smiles and health of children that have had their very lives saved and given a chance, the return of two parent families in ensuing generations, all this and more because Africa is one and self sufficient, from an idea, no one gave a chance.

With a need to be brief, the screenplay will be marketed to the major and independent film markets. The marketing and licensing possibilities all lead to growing the concept and movement into realization.

Join the USA for USAfrica (United States of America for a United States of Africa)

How about this, The USA for USAfrica received a stunning e-mail revealing the FIRST mention of the concept of a United States of Africa, ( besides the first President of Ghana and the Wood Brothers in the 1996,) was from none other than the late Gene Roddenberry, the creator of the TV series Star Trek. The only black cast member, Uhura of the series was born where?

Apparently an Africa thoroughly involved in Education, Science, Opportunity and Freedom.

The Internet concept for "USA4USAFRICA" came from a prophetic song written by The Wood Bros entitled "November 18th 2020". Among the song's predictions are the Continental earthquake on the western Pacific rim in the year 2013 and the the 1st leader of the United States of Africa in 2020.

The USA4USAFRICA was actually born from the quote of Muhammad Ali in 1987 in a personal meeting in which he revealed he would like to see the whole of Africa united in his lifetime. I never forgot those words and decided one day I would have a viable way to make it happen. Then came the Internet and in a moment of epiphany the movement was reborn as USA4USAFRICA.

While we understand the beginning of the USA for USAfrica may have an unusual genesis, the heart felt reasons behind the movement are unmistakable, and the need for a United States of Africa, is Undeniable.

No continent in the world is better positioned than Africa, ( a United Africa ) to contribute to the welfare of Mankind over the next thousand years. As an ABC Night Line reporter covering Africa noted, "Africa is 98% virtually the same as it was a thousand years ago." An incredible vast land of undeveloped potential both for it's people and the world.

In a United States of Africa, a citizen could freely travel from Gambia to South Africa to Algeria or anywhere on the continent to seek education, opportunity, commerce or the simple pleasure of tourist travel within their vast country.

A common African currency much like the EU model affords the ability to buy and sell throughout the continent with a reliable backed currency. A transcontinental citizenship throughout Africa will one day become the envy of the free world.

Much of Africa's third world debt could be relived if freedom and security of capitalism were able to thrive in any African country - state from taxes paid by companies involved in business in any African location. An immediate positive effect would arise from local, municipal and federal levels throughout Africa.

Any and all of these possibilities can only arise from what can take place in a United States of Africa. With national borders being no more restrictive than state borders, allowing transcontinental travel, commerce and opportunity for all African citizens.

A United States of Africa with the largest usable coastline in the world could one day be the country that enriches all of Mankind, feeds the world, heals the world, teaches the world and balances the world. There is so much more involved and the USA for USAfrica is not naive to the many levels that must be addressed, our point is the dialogue must begin at once, in the media, on the airwaves, in discussions and editorials.

The concept of a United States of Africa must immediately be brought into public debate worldwide and among Africans themselves.

Read more on the coming United States of Africa from these newspaper and media excerpts:

The Organization for African Unity ended a counsel of ministers conference July 2000 in Togo with its latest call for a formal union of African countries. Desmond Orjiako, spokesman for the 37-year-old alliance, told reporters that union was “easily one of the most important issues to be discussed,” and declared that all the African states have now accepted the idea in principle.

“We had two strong views on it,” said Orjiako. “Some delegates felt the union was very important but the formation process was just too fast. They wanted to have certain things ironed out first. Others felt the discussions should continue because they had made so much progress.”

Not everyone is optimistic. Zimbabwe political scientist Tafadzwa Musekiwa says the biggest impediment to union is the reluctance of many African leaders—including in some cases harsh dictators—to give up power.

“The idea of uniting Africa is a noble one,” says Musekiwa. “But I am afraid such an idea may not be realized, at least in [the next] thousand years.”

SO MUCH MISERY

Disunity and warfare both inside and among the continent’s 53 countries—about 30 percent of the world’s total—is often blamed for Africa’s many ills.

Six African countries are perennially among the 10 poorest on Earth, according to the World Bank. This year an estimated 8 million people risk starvation in the Horn of Africa, a result of famine and war.

Last year more than 3 million people in 15 countries were forced to abandon their homes because of war, insurgencies and repression, according to the U.S. Committee for Refugees. Political violence in Congo-Brazzaville accounted for an estimated 800,000 refugees. A resurgence of Angola’s long-running civil war forced at least half a million people to flee.

More than 400,000 others fled their homes in Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo, and 350,000 left because of the border war between Ethiopia and Eritrea. Large populations also fled in Sierra Leone, Sudan, Uganda, Somalia and five other countries.

Underlying many attempts to explain all this strife and suffering is the oft-heard assumption that Africa’s problems can be traced back to the way it was carved up by Europe’s 19th-century colonial powers.

Seven countries—France, Britain, Germany, Portugal, Spain, Italy and Belgium—partitioned the continent at the Berlin Conference of 1884-85. Conference host Otto von Bismarck—the “Iron Chancellor” of the German Empire—famously declared: “My map of Africa lies in Europe.”

The competing powers gerrymandered the landmass with their own political boundaries, which often divided language and cultural groups. The resulting ethnic fragmentation has been blamed for helping touch off some 50 successful political coups during the post-colonial period.

Global competition during the Cold War further exacerbated strife, as governments in the East and West staged surrogate war and intrigue in Africa through adopted clients.

BOUNDARIES TO BLAME?

Now that the Cold War is over, one of the many colonial legacies that remain is language. French is the official language in 18 countries. In 15 others it’s English. In Cameroon and Seychelles, it’s both.

Richard Roberts, director of Stanford University’s Center for African Studies, points to the “fascinating case”; of the border between Nigeria and Benin. “The line was drawn in the middle of the Yoruba state, in the middle of a coherent precolonial state. Now you have two national Yorubas. In Nigeria, where English is the official language, and in Benin, where French is.”

Far from uniting, a number of countries periodically undergo secession crises sparked by language and ethnic differences. The black Christian and animist south of Sudan—geographically the largest African country—feels rejected by the Arab Moslem north, leading to a violent state of civil war for much of its more than four decades of independence.

“All across the Sahara there are boundary disputes,” says Roberts. “The Senegal River was used as the border between Mauritania and Senegal, but there was a constant flow of people back and forth across the river. All of a sudden, they belonged to different countries.”

“Almost none of the current boundaries relate to tribal boundaries,” says George J. Demko, geography professor and former director of Dartmouth College’s Rockefeller Center. “Anybody would have screwed it up, though, not just the Europeans. No matter who created the borders, they would have had to trample over some of those tribal lines. You couldn’t make states out of all those tiny tribal units.”

Demko is one of many analysts who believe that redrawing national boundaries is not the answer to Africa’s many ills. “This business of being politically correct about boundaries is a little silly. I would argue that any attempt to restore boundaries that existed before the colonial period would cause nothing but more conflict.”

Geography professor H.J. de Blij of Marshall University agrees. “Governments that find themselves in possession of territory are loathe to give it up, however reasonable the claims of their neighbors might be.”

De Blij, Demko and others see far more important issues that need to be addressed if Africa has any hope of emerging from its seemingly endless misery, including what Demko calls a “failure of leadership.”

“I really think the main cause of conflict is no longer boundaries,” he says. “It’s corruption, lack of education, and lack of enlightened political leadership and national cohesion.”

Adds de Blij: “The truth is, Africa has not had any tutelage in statehood applicable to the kinds of states the colonial powers left behind. As a result, Africa has virtually no voice in international affairs. African countries are powerless: I think that’s really the key.”

These difficulties make any prospect of Africa uniting under one national flag—much less of successfully dealing with tribalism and regionalism inside many of the separate states—unlikely anytime soon, in the view of many. In the words of a recent Zimbabwe newspaper editorial, the United States of Africa continues to be “a pipedream.”

The ultimate goal is "A United Africa". This is the final destination of the long journey but we should pause and ask several questions. The first of these is "where did the journey start?" as we can draw on lessons from the past for understanding of the issues we currently face. The second question; "where are we now?" places achievements and challenges in the movement towards unity in context, and gives us the necessary information to ask "Where do we go from here?"

The call for a " United Africa" has been around for a long time. A look back at history is needed to understand the evolution of "Pan-Africanism" which takes its roots from the slave trade, colonialism, oppression and exploitation. Pan-Africanism represented a reaction against the oppression of the black man and the racial doctrines that marked the era of slavery.

Pan-Africanism evolved from a movement of self-assertion and resistance to enslavement in those early days, to organized forces with cultural and political claims. After the Second World War, It took on a continental dimension and came to represent the quest for continental unity.

The continued survival of this movement and its functional relevance to this day underlines the validity of the political, economic and strategic consideration behind Pan-Africanism.

The first Pan- African conference to address the problems of African people worldwide was held in 1900, when Mr Henry Sylvester-Williams convened a conference in London. The delegates talked of creating a movement to campaign for African people's rights. It achieved the idea of oneness in experience that has reconfirmed itself again and again.

Following the procedure adopted by Henry Sylvester-Williams, in connection with the 1900 Pan-African conference, W.E.B DuBois convened and presided over a series of Pan-African congresses between 1919 and 1945 which laid the ground for later successes. The fifth in the series, held in 1945, is considered to herald the beginning of a new era where for the first time, Africans from Africa, Africans from the Caribbean and Africans from the United States came together and designed a programme for the future independence of Africa. They proclaimed all dependencies must be free from alien control, both political and economic.

Seen in retrospect, this Congress won the reputation as pacemaker for decolonization in Africa, which demanded an end to colonial rule and an end to racial discrimination. While it carried forward hopes and visions for a United Africa, the Fifth Congress injected a note of militancy, which was taken back to Africa and enhanced the struggle for national independence.

Ninety delegates attended, with twenty-six from all over Africa. These included Peter Abrahams for the African National Congress (ANC), and a number of men who were later to become political leaders in their countries, such as Hastings Banda, Kwame Nkrumah, Obafemi Awolowo and Jomo Kenyatta.

With the independence of African countries, the first significant step was taken in the continent's struggle for unity as it gained a much-needed base on African soil. Pan-Africanism remained in the realm of ideas until Ghana, under Kwame Nkrumah, became a sovereign state in 1957. The emancipation of Ghana served to pave the way for closer co-operation among African people. Thus, from 1958 onwards, the notion of Pan -Africanism moved into the realm of practical policies.

The national liberation struggles made Africans realize more and more that they faced common tasks and that unity had become a necessity. In April 1958, for the first time, leaders of independent African States met to discuss common problems with a view to working out common policies covering political, economic, cultural and social matters. The meeting was held in Ghana and was attended by seven other independent states, namely; Libya, Ethiopia, Liberia, Morocco, Tunisia, Sudan and the United Republic of Egypt.

The broadest representation of the numerous political and public organizations in African countries was achieved through the All-African People's Conference. The first conference met at Accra, Ghana in December 1958 under a banner proclaiming "HANDS OFF AFRICA! AFRICA MUST BE FREE!"

The special Contribution of American and West Indians of African origin to the development of Pan-Africanism was noted at the First All-African People's Conference in Accra in 1958 by Dr. Nkrumah who said

An address entitled " the future of Africa" by DuBois who was at that time approaching 91 years of age and unwell, was given on his behalf by his wife. Among other things he said,

The second gathering was held in Tunis, Tunisia in January 1960 and the third in Cairo, Egypt in March 1961. From conference to conference there was a great desire for unity and on May 25 1963, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 32 African Heads of states and Government came together to form the Organization of African Unity (OAU), a crucial step in the movement towards integration.

Libyan President Muammar Qaddafi has come up with some pretty bizarre ideas over the years, which is why it was so surprising to find a group of Cornell students seriously debating the merits of one of them: The United States of Africa. The discussion was prompted by the visit to Cornell by Pete Ondeng, the head of the Kenyan Secretariat of the New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD), as part of the Institute for African Development's (IAD) ongoing Thursday seminar series. The prominence of NEPAD in the IAD seminar series is indicative of how seriously many African intellectuals are considering the idea of regional integration.

Integration is a much-debated topic: The European Union will most likely decide this week that reforms in Turkey meet the Copenhagen criteria and European ministers will then vote on whether to allow Turkey to take the next step toward integration; America is constantly evaluating the success of NAFTA and debating its economic dependence on Mexican migrant workers and importation of cheap drugs from Canada. Even on the micro-scale at Cornell University, residential communities with special priorities like Ujamaa, Alice H. Cook House and the Center for Jewish Living are constantly engaged in striking a balance between forging a unique identity around their founding principles and vision and integration with the broader campus community.

However, to discuss integration in Africa, one needs to have a better understanding of the continent. At this time, one needs a healthy dose of optimism even to begin examining the problems that African countries face. The economic climate is characterized by widespread poverty, rampant unemployment, large foreign debt and a workforce crippled by HIV/AIDS, where it is estimated that in many countries, almost one in three young adults are infected by the virus. Then we have the worse examples of countries plagued by civil war and genocide. The inability of the Organization of African Unity to handle the atrocities in Darfur, Sudan and the exodus of refugees it has created just add to a long list of the continent's shortcomings, which include not providing clean water to most of its citizens; causing millions to die from preventable diseases and entire villages dying from starvation during floods and droughts because relief food can not be adequately distributed.

In examining the vicious cycle of African poverty, Mr. Ondeng notes that Sub-Saharan African countries transfer to their creditors several times more money than they spend on healthcare. Unfortunately, the transition from colonialism to corrupt post-colonial leaders, fueled by institutional and multinational corporate profiteers who were unabated by illiterate populations has left the continent in dire straits. Perhaps the malady of African leadership is illustrated by the recent talks aimed at providing some sort of government in war-torn Somalia. When the delegates of the Transitional National Government of Somalia realized that they were being hosted luxuriously in the city of Eldoret, they brought along three times as many cronies than they were permitted. Being cash-strapped, the organizers soon decided to move to a cheaper location in Nairobi, which immediately prompted boycott calls from the Somali leaders: It was contrary to their religious beliefs to be hosted in a city that had a zoo! With leaders who always put their personal comfort over the welfare of their people, there is no hope for progress on the continent.

It is within this African context that one must understand Mr. Ondeng's cautious optimism and the vision for a United States of Africa. Eyeing with envy the economic prowess of America and the European Union, to some a united continent is the Utopian solution to all Africa's problems. Proponents argue that countries in Africa were sliced up arbitrarily during the Berlin Conference, with borders cutting through tribal lines, leaving behind an odd mixture of people with strong tribal identities bundled together and expected to form a democratic state. For example, the Kenyan population is so comfortable with tribal politics that nobody raised an eyebrow when the columnists for the leading Kenyan newspapers demanded that after the death of former Kenyan Vice President Michael Wamalwa, his successor be chosen from the same Luhya ethnic community to preserve the tribal balance of power in the country; and indeed this is exactly what happened. In much of Africa, elections are more about tribal affiliations and alliances than they are about issues and ideology.

It is unlikely that a United States of Africa would solve any of these problems. If geography is the basis for integration, then Egypt is better off casting its lot with Syria and Israel than with Namibia and Madagascar; Algeria and Morocco should capitalize on their proximity to Europe rather than looking for common ground with Zimbabwe. More important, even regional integration like the East African Community had to be postponed for five years because it came with a whole host of problems. Allowing in geographically mobile and educated workforces from a neighboring country can only further exacerbate local unemployment with no guarantee that profits will not be repatriated back to the home country. Furthermore, expanded markets only benefit countries with a comparative advantage in manufacturing industries and with available capital, which again will benefit some countries to the short-term detriment to others.

Odeng counters that we should look at the long-term benefit. The wisdom of John Keynes replies that there is no such thing as the long run: "In the long run, we are all dead." Odeng rebuts that we should plant the seeds of integration, whose fruits will be reaped by a future generation. This discussion brings to mind a Kenyan proverb: We did not inherit the world from our parents, we merely borrowed it for our children.

Shaffique Adam is a graduate student in physics. He can be reached at sa234@cornell.edu. Alice in Wonderland appears alternate Tuesdays.

By Barnaby Phillips in Lome

One of the most important subjects on the agenda at summit in Togo is the proposal to form an African Union - a pan-African body with strong political and economic ties intended to eventually take the place of the current Organisation of African Unity.

African leaders fear their continent is becoming increasingly powerless in a tough global economic environment.

Many believe that unless Africa can talk and act with greater cohesion, it will continue to be virtually ignored by the richer countries.

Beyond this general consensus, which is shared by all the 30 or so heads of state in Lome, there are considerable differences about what is the best way to proceed.

Gaddafi for union

At one end of the spectrum is Libya's Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, who has grabbed much of the attention here.

Colonel Gaddafi raised the idea of an African Union, loosely modelled on its European counterpart, at an extraordinary summit in Libya last year.

His ambition is that the union should come into existence, in some form, in 2001.

Colonel Gaddafi can count on support for this idea from several small countries in Africa, like Burkina Faso and Togo, who have benefited from his financial largesse.

Regional groupings

But some of the more powerful African countries are wary of losing their own regional influence and concerned at any initiative that would weaken their sovereignty or ability to act independently.

Nigeria, for example, enjoys its role as the dominant force in the existing West African grouping, the Economic Community of West African States, Ecowas.

In recent years Ecowas has made significant progress in easing travel restrictions in West Africa, and has started the process of establishing a single West African currency.

In southern Africa, South Africa enjoys a similarly important role in SADC, the Southern African Development Community.

Although SADC's effectiveness has been diminished in recent years, in part because of political differences between South Africa and Zimbabwe, many southern Africans would prefer to work towards regional integration first, before looking at pan-African unity.

Likewise in East Africa, where Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania have been working to revive the old East African Community, which collapsed in the mid-1970s because of political and ideological differences.

There are about 50 African states, and they trade far more with the rest of the world than they do with each other.

Despite Colonel Gaddafi's plans, its hard to see how an African Union will mean much in practical terms, at least in the short term.

But it is possible that new pan-African institutions, such as a parliament and a court of law, will come into existence in the next few years - possibly providing a basis for a more united Africa in the future.

Mr Annan said that integration was the way to develop Africa's economy but said that its poor infrastructure, debt burden and many conflicts were sizeable challenges.

"To build a successful union in such conditions will require great stamina and iron political will," said Mr Annan.

He said that Africa must solve its problems before expecting Western leaders to increase its aid or forgive debts.

This is the gist of Africa's latest development plan - the New Partnership for Africa's Development (Nepad).

"They will respect us even more when they see us actually resolve the conflicts that disfigure our continent. And I do mean, resolve them. Managing them is not enough," he said.

But Colonel Gaddafi was not asking for Western aid:

"Those who want to assist us, we welcome. Those who want to impose conditions on use, we don't want them," he said.

"We are not children who need to be taught.

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Kadhafi pleads for United States of Africa

         Dakar, Senegal (PANA) -  The leader of the Libyan Revolution, Colonel
Muammar Kadhafi has reiterated the need to form the United States of
Africa in order to give the continent more influence in the
world.

Kadhafi, who was addressing a videoconference on Thursday, asked
Intellectuals from Africa and the Diaspora meeting in Dakar, to
emphasise in their resolutions the creation of the United States
of Africa.

"No African country taken individually has enough bargaining
power to negotiate on an equal footing with big European or
American countries," he observed, adding that there are 18
African countries, which taken together, have the size of a city
like New York in the USA.

According to Kadhafi, it is therefore urgent for African
countries to unite and establish a strong government. "We need
one trade minister to negotiate for us and one foreign minister,"
he argues. This will help unify Customs codes, which is the only
way for Africa to have balanced relationships with the rest of
the world.

He said Africa also needs to break with consultative assemblies
and set up a Pan-African Congress that makes decisions.

He gave the example of the Libyan popular congresses, which are
the expression of the people's power.

Furthermore, Kadhafi urged Africans from the Diaspora to defend
the interests of the continent where they live.

"We have noticed that whenever an African holds a position of
responsibility in an important institution or a big country, he
forgets his origins and is sometimes more Catholic than the
Pope," the Libyan leader observed.

This is not the case for Jews, who take advantage of their
responsibilities in the American or European administrations to
defend the interest of Israel, he noted.

"I do not understand why Africans from the Diaspora are so shy
and unassuming? Why wouldn't they assert their rights in America
and in Europe, where their ancestors had been forcibly taken to
work as beasts in farms and factories," Kadhafi queried.

There is another disaster, which he feels that Africans should
correct. "We send our children to America and Europe to study and
be trained. After graduating, they chose to stay and serve those
countries instead of returning to Africa, turning deaf ears to
the tremendous sacrifice we made for their studies," Kadhafi told
intellectuals, urging them to find a solution to that problem.

Dakar - 08/10/2004

See: www.Africa2020.com which is updated throughout the day with hundreds of news stories from the United States of Africa. Their name was inspired by The Wood Bros. song on a futuristic Africa called November 18^th 2020 Hear the song at the hyperlinked title.

INVENTING THE MULTINATION
Would a United States of Africa work?

In July, in Lomé (Togo), the Organisation of African Unity summit approved the act establishing an African Union which should eventually replace the OAU. But the dream of a United States of Africa can only become a reality if a new model of multinational state is adopted, based on a social and democratic pact and rooted in Africa’s own traditions.

By Mwayila Tshiyembe

The United States of Africa remains a constant theme - the great dream cherished from the earliest days of pan-Africanism.. For many political leaders, the failure of the post-colonial state is the root cause of the marginalisation and upsurge in violence that is plunging whole swathes of Africa into chaos. They also think the failure is the source of the dramatic rise in poverty that now threatens the survival of tens of thousands of people. It is destroying what remains of social cohesion, and leaving the way open to the terrifying pandemics of Aids and malaria. Meantime managers are unemployed, have left the country or are closeted away in a bankrupt civil service, wasting the hard-won knowledge they acquired from western schooling.

But the purveyors of this gloomy analysis rarely raise the possibility of a new state model based on African traditions. Yet that is the absolute prerequisite if Africa is to emerge from the crisis, and it is the only chance of meeting the challenges of globalisation. Unless new life is injected into it, the concept of a United States of Africa will remain an empty shell. Africa will not have genuine constitutional states or sustainable development - never mind the intellectual revival and resolve it so desperately needs.

The failure of the post-colonial state reflects a questioning of the will to co-exist, and a loss of purpose and direction. The nations (or ethnic groups) are in fundamental disagreement about the community’s basic values. How are we to define a free society, authority that is properly conferred and shared, and law that seems to come naturally? State and society seem to have been in conflict ever since Africa’s plurinational societies saw their own model destroyed to make way for an enforced western caricature.

Although colonial domination disrupted the process of state building, African societies remain plurinational by nature. The pre-colonial nations - that marked out the identities of these multinational states - survived: even though they were parcelled out and often dispersed among several states, it was not impossible to reforge a societal link. An unexpected consequence of the crisis in the nation-state is that the concept of nation is no longer shackled by the law or by revolutionary mystique. The break-up of the Soviet Union and former Yugoslavia, the separation between the Czech Republic and Slovakia, the Tutsi genocide and the chaos in Somalia are all proof of that.

From now on, it will be possible to distinguish between the legal nation - "state" - and the sociological nation - "ethnic group". The sociological nation is founded on shared traits (language, blood ties, religion and a common history) and an evident desire to live together. It is the bedrock of nationality of origin. But the post-colonial state merely notes its existence, having no historical or administrative memory of the people and countries juxtaposed, simply because colonialism willed it so.

Reinstating these nations will make it possible to bring to an end the crisis of national consciousness and identity that is ravaging Africa, and will prevent political manipulation of disputes over nationality. The kind of manipulation that has led, for example, to the banishment the Banyamulengue community to the east of Congo-Kinshasa, and the marginalisation of former President Kenneth Kaunda in Zambia or former Prime Minister Alassane Ouattara in Ivory Coast. If the multinational state were established, the law would lay down that nationality is defined by consciousness and membership of a community of shared values (Akan, Mosi, Bamileke) and citizenship by consciousness and membership of a state (Ivory Coast, Burkina, Cameroon) (1).

This renaissance of the state can be rooted in Africanness. Contrary to received wisdom, black Africa, like Europe, created its own model of multinational state and nation-ethnic group: the empires of Ethiopia, Ghana, Mali, Songhay, Noupé, Ifé, Benin, Kanem-Bornou, the Congo, Monomopata and Zimbabwe date back to the African Middles Ages (2). In those societies, the political element came before the state, although it is traditionally assumed to have developed with the advent of the nation-state.

In contrast to the nation-state, with its monopoly on legislation, the plurinational character of African societies led them to establish two legislative areas within the constitution of the multinational state. The state is responsible for general legislation, and the national or ethnic area for specific legislation on land-ownership, inheritance, registration of births and deaths and so on. An individual basks in genuine pluralism of law, depending on the area of law that is relevant, as well as the kind of activity he pursues in it and the status he claims.

African law must therefore be rescued from the non-law or "customary" law to which it has been relegated because colonialism made it mimic other systems, and pluralism of law must be restored. The African Charter on Human Rights tried to reflect this special feature by including in its title the concept of "peoples’ rights"; but it failed to define the substance of those rights. The post-colonial state has thus retained absolute sovereignty, and peoples have been deprived of their own means of subsistence: the Ogoni people of the Niger Delta, for instance, Nigeria’s oil-producing region, or the Dioula people of Casamance who are rebelling against the Senegalese state.

Furthermore, in this model of a multinational state, the rights of minorities cannot be enforced against the rights of the majority. The state and the nations that make it up would have to respect the principles of equality and the right to be different, in order to achieve a common destiny. In return, these nations automatically enjoy the same rights and duties based on "founder rights", including the right to language, religion, culture and nationality. Consequently, the issue of minority rights is without political foundation in a multinational state.

A kind of integral federalism is thus emerging and, in it, power is allocated on the basis of a threefold federation of nations, citizens and localities. It operates on the premise that the state acts on behalf of several nations, scattered over a number of localities. In that sense, authority and political action can be exercised rationally and effectively only if power is accorded first by reference to nations and citizens, and only then by territory. In fact, the tribal districts, communes and autonomous provinces are politically significant only because they are the cradles of the nations and citizens concerned - the founders of the political system.

A major new feature of integral federalism is the transformation of these sub-ethnic groups into jointly-managed political areas that channel a mix of peoples towards a shared destiny, so avoiding any form of ethnic cleansing. The territorial federalism of the nation-state relies on the fundamental principle that since the nation is a single, indivisible entity, effective exercise of political authority depends on it being applied to the whole of the territory over which the population is dispersed. But integral federalism requires that power be structured according to the political division of the territory: into cantons, communes, federate state and so on.

More than just territory

A federation of localities implies moving beyond the European notion of "territory" and investing in the African concept of an area perceived as a framework for living. It contains networks, forms of interchange and memories that bind people to their locality and their environment. Often there is no correlation between political and socio-cultural area (3). A new social pact is vital if the multinational state is to be founded on the dual consent of nations and citizens, thereby reconciling citizenship (individualism) and multinationality (community) as two sources of state legitimization.

This is the principle of multinationality (4). Defined as the political area in which a new democratic pact is founded and mediated, it is legally binding on each of the nations and the state. Strict respect for equality and the right to be different pave the way to a common destiny. It is a different way of experiencing the state, in which political unity and national unity are not one and the same

Thus defined, the multination mobilizes two principles. The first is that nations and citizens are doubly representative as separate entities and, the second is that sovereignty can be divided or shared. Shared internally for the benefit of the nations and citizens, or externally for the benefit of the sovereign states. Examples of that are the economic and political integration in the European Union or the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas), and, in future, among the states of southern Africa.

The multination means new political rights: the right to exist, to vote, to resist oppression, to ancestral lands, to a share in wealth and so on. This process of "republicanising" traditional power uses a series of mechanisms to reconcile the traditional and the modern. The local tribal authority (government and assembly), designated the basic local community, is restored, and above it come the autonomous commune and region. The tribal district is accorded powers in regard to the registration of births and deaths, primary health care, basic education, rural development and the establishment of voting rights for nations, enabling them to appoint their own representatives in the bicameral assemblies, at communal, regional and federal level.

That right to vote is exercised by representatives freely chosen by each village community, from among the professional classes on the basis of a specific electoral college. Political parties no longer have a monopoly on political activity, and the tribal government can mobilise the abilities of all citizens. That reform does not call into question either the state’s internal and external frontiers, or the balkanization of nations by the Berlin Conference (1878).

Unlike the nation-state, the multinational state does not take over citizens; citizens themselves appoint and dismiss governments according to commonly-accepted rules. The reversal of this dialectic relationship means that there are different forms of citizenship: single citizenship in a federal multinational state and dual citizenship in a confederal multinational state where it replaces the usual dual nationality. Citizenship of the EU, as defined in Article 8 of the Maastricht treaty, is based on that same approach.

In a radical departure from the traditional approach, a constitution based on the peoples - a "demotic" (5) or pluralist constitution - reforms the legal infrastructure because it takes account of the pluralism of society in addition to the multi-party system. The different elements in heterogeneous societies are given back their status as peoples or nations - a distinctive political and legal reality of the multinational state. Despite being straitjacketed into political entities carved out by colonialism, the mixed population groups continue to assert their identity. They do not present a unified and homogenised body within a contrived state-based nation, but reflect a diversity of sociological nations in search of the state for all peoples, if not all nations (6).

The purpose of a multinational state’s constitution is not just to accord status to the authorities and to citizens. Above all, it offers sociological or ethnic nations a political and legal status, allowing them to establish their inalienable right to legitimate the state and exercise power on the same basis as citizens.

In that sense, the constitution will establish - for the first time in post-colonial Africa - the legal status of a state that reflects, in terms of its democratic nature, its law, its history and its culture, the social logic of the plurinational societies that lend it substance and meaning.

Patriotic humanism

In traditional societies, the fallibility of majorities is one of the principle rules of governance. Reintroducing that should act as a check on western-style democracy that gives power to the majority. The aim is to make everyone a winner instead of having winners and losers. That provides a form of democracy in which power-sharing reflects the actual balance of power, established at the ballot box. The majority makes great gains, but the minority makes some gains too. The aim is not to prevent an elected majority from governing but to separate out the power to govern and the power to control the administration of government. The majority exercises power and the parliamentary opposition monitors the exercise of that power.

For example, in the paradoxical societies of Rwanda and Burundi, in which the sociological duality of Hutu majority and sociological Tutsi minority seems insurmountable, civil peace is attained through a variety of mechanisms. The Hutus, Tutsis and Twas must be recognised as separate peoples. A new republican pact under which all state powers are allocated proportionally among the three peoples must be drawn up (within the civil service, government, diplomatic service, administration etc.), so that an electoral victory by the political parties does not threaten the right of each people to exist. Traditional authority must be republicanised. And the inalienable right of each people to live in peace in a multinational state of Rwanda and Burundi, within the existing frontiers, must be proclaimed.

The nation-state advocates nationalism, but the ideology of the multinational state is patriotic humanism. Humanist, it acts as a cradle to protect and promote human rights, citizens’ rights and peoples’ rights, regardless of their nationality, language, religion, customs and so on. Even if mandated to defend nationalism as the ideology of the nations of the country it administers, the multinational state is not entitled to claim paternity over it. As a homeland, it represents the union sacrée (7) of nations and citizens (federal state) and of the states (confederal state). It is anchored in the soil by the local lands that are a source of both memories and activities that embrace the living and the dead in a shared destiny.

The renaissance of a multicultural civil society requires several levels of citizenship: political, economic, social and cultural citizenship. Political citizenship is, admittedly, the best-known, though it is still of paramount importance that citizens’ rights be positively laid down in black Africa.

But even before citizenship takes full effect politically, it represents a societal link founded in solidarity, and is the catalyst for co-existence. Sociability and solidarity present an ongoing political challenge, involving economic, social and cultural issues. Indeed, the creation of these new forms of citizenship vitally challenges unemployment, the loss of identity and dislocation of the social link, civil wars and so on - all scourges that undermine every kind of citizenship. Given the problems of access to economic, social and cultural rights, all countries are potential powder kegs. The traditional view of these forms of citizenship, previously expressed exclusively by reference to the state, therefore needs a radical re-think.

Three changes are required. The state’s monopoly on the exclusive creation of economic, social and cultural rights must be broken. Citizens, nations and the state must be placed at the heart of the complex, by transforming economic, social and cultural rights into human rights and citizens’ rights, rights of nations and of the state. All sides must be given an active role in a three-way partnership comprising state, citizens and nations, in order to establish the bases for a new policy of wealth redistribution (8). The transformation of the subsistence economy into an economy based on the accumulation of wealth must reconcile economic efficiency and social cohesion, the mobility of capital and of work, the benefits of regulation and free enterprise. In that way, citizens, nations and the state will be able to re-assume responsibility for their own history. The emergence of new political, economic, social and cultural citizenships represents a vital challenge, given unemployment, loss of the social link and identity, and the civil wars that often undermine them completely.

The multinational state provides both a political organization - at the level of plural-national society - and a capacity for common action to tackle the issues and challenges of a shared destiny. Democratic, its authority is accepted and shared in by the nations and citizens. Post-national, it is based on the principle of unity within diversity. It thus provides an area that unites nations, languages, religions, cultures and localities, constants whose survival the state must guarantee.

This definition of the problem helps liberate the 10-year debate on Africa from the pseudo-democratization that has muffled it. But even though there have been welcome signs of a bolder approach, Ethiopia has merely transformed recognition of ethnic pluralism into a method of political domination instead of democratic revolution. Its fingers burned by the ethnic "tampering" of apartheid, South Africa has lacked the clear-sightedness and courage to recognize the plurinational nature of its society. And although some kingdoms have been restored in Uganda, this show of traditional authority has served only as a symbolic backdrop designed to legitimize the regime.

The problems of the multinational state bring Africa’s special traits within the sphere of globalization - a battlefield in which cultures clash head-on. Africa must make an effort here, if it wants to survive and experience a revival during the third millennium. In revenge for the past, Africa would could teach a lesson to a Europe focused on heterogeneity - of nations, languages, religions, standards, localities and so on - as a result of the crisis in the nation-state and enlargement of the EU.

Democratic and post-national in nature, the multinational state could provide the "ideal-standard" model for the constitutional, political and conceptual transformation of the pluralinational societies of the 21^st century, be they sociological nations (in the case of black Africa), or legal or state-based nations (the EU, for example

The founding of the "USA for USAFRICA" movement calls for nothing less than the formation and conception of a "United States of Africa" as a way to insure the survival of a pivotal continent in the development and history of Mankind.	The position and purpose of the USA for USAfrica coalition is to lobby for Mr. Kofi Annan to be elected as the first President of a United States of Africa - ratified by the vote of all Africans in Africa's first continental election and action as a United Africa by the end Mr. Annan's second term as head of the United Nations in 6 years.
The finished movie screenplay takes an autobiographical view of the movement from it's beginning at Muhammid Ali's Freemont Place home in 1987 Los Angeles to the Internet birth of the movement in Valencia, CA. 1996, through it's "media boom" born on the Internet, to it's gathering of supporters, famous ( Muhammad Ali ) and everyday people of all backgrounds who after consideration, arrive at the conclusion, that a united Africa will not only spur a worldwide movement involving the largest number of people in history, but also spur mankind to pull together for peace in the world, "at last".	Oscar winner, Morgan Freeman is being asked to play the role of Kofi Annan, and producer songwriter Babyface is being asked to play the role of the USA4USAfrica co -founder, Mark Wood and Matthew Perry is being asked to play the role of co founder Robert Wood.
The movie takes place in several U.S. and African locations going through as many countries possible in the Soderberg "Traffic" movie/documentary style, interspersed with film and live video footage. Being an autobiographical version of a movement already in place, enough "liberties" can be taken with the screenplay and script to give the film enough buzz for green light status. The music portion of the film drives it even further with an all star soundtrack from artists featuring their most heartfelt songs of freedom and change. It's a concept that can not be denied. From rappers to freestyle poets, to the business and bankers who see untold opportunity if they could participate in a United Africa. The very debate of the idea will spur and grow the movement to the point where it actually happens.	All movie's have to have an opposite factor, and it lies in the reality that Libya's Kadafi heeded some of the first e-mails sent by the USA4USAfrica to the early African Internet of the mid 90's and has been actively wooing African leaders into a United States of Africa led by himself! Yes this is actually happening and if your media has not been presenting it to you, PLEASE click on some of the links supplied on this web link: United States of Africa? Thus our purpose of lobbying for U.N. leader Kofi Annan.
	A latest addition : Everyday - can be heard HERE We are adding tracks to be included in the film soundtrack and letting web visitors decide which tracks to include. Prince, Ziggy & Lenny: we are waiting for you to upload your track contributions as well. E-mail to wood-mark@sbcglobal.net Here are the first additions besides the tracks to the right. You can also hear considered tracks at: http://geocities.com/blueturbanstones/ Hear one of the songs from the soundtrack by clicking HERE.

More than just territory

Patriotic humanism

Reality bites for United States of Africa dream after summit

The United States of AFRICA!!… Heard about it before??

POSTED: 9:26 a.m. EDT, June 28, 2007

Story Highlights

Organizers defend agenda despite calls to address Darfur

Leaders disagree on timeline for united Africa

USA for USAfrica: The Coalition for African Unification…

http://www.cafepress.com/usa4usafrica

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Letters

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Actualising the United States of Africa Dream

Posted: Wed May 30, 2007 4:27 pm Post subject: Union Government of Africa (UGA): what a nice vision!!	Reply with quote -

Union Government of Africa (UGA): what a nice vision!!! Read here the final proposal from the Pan African Parlament (PAP) http://www.pambazuka.org/aumonitor/images/uploads/Draft_PAP_Position_on_CG_-16th_April_2007.pdf Africa will be one country and the current 54 national states will be reduced to the status of only federal states: http://unitedstatesafrica.tripod.com/ The expected process is to forge Africa with: - one transcontinental citizenship - one currency - one defence force - one foreign department - one policy of foreign trade - one centeral government managing the above - one pan-African parlament - one African court of law - univisum = people without border as Africans used to live before 1885 Scramble for Africa - free from legacy of colonialism such as artificial borders which devided for eg. Oromos in to two, Tigarus in to two, Afars in to three, Somalis in to five...etc and slowly forge a working inter-Africa federal states. At the begining the 54 current African countries will be the federal states in USAfrica. What is the impact for us "Ethiopians"? First Ethiopia will be one of the federal states and slowly it will be changed to the fact that national states like Oromia, Tigrai, Amharai, Afar, Somalia ...etc will be the autonomous federal states in a USAfrica. So the question to be asked is: why should Amharas cry for centeralization of Ethiopia and Oromos for secession of Oromia?? Both these movements are against the movement and policy of forging USAfrica. I think CUD and OLF leaders who formed AFD are such far-sighted, so that they agreed to struggle for the common agendas like Freedom and Democracy giving up their illusion of eg. desmantling Oromia and decolonizing Oromia respectively. Let's all take this vision of AFD and fight against Weyane fascists to forge first a democratic and integrated Ethiopia with a genuine autonomy of Oromia, Amharai, Tigrai, Afar, Somali...etc to pave the way for USAfirca as described above. Viva USAfrica!!!!!! Visit also http://unitedstatesafrica.com http://unitedstatesafrica.50megs.com http://unitedstatesofafrica.blogspot.com Last edited by Meraraw on Fri Jun 01, 2007 7:20 pm; edited 11 times in total