United States of Africa

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Africa
Africa

The United States of Africa is a name sometimes given to one version of the possible future unification of Africa as a national and sovereign federation of states similar in formation to the United States of America, mirroring the idea of the United States of Europe. The idea has recently been advanced by Libyan leader Muammar al-Qaddafi at a 2000 summit in Lomé, Togo [1], and by Alpha Oumar Konare, chairperson of the African Commission, on the occasion of the commemoration of the Africa Day, on May 25, 2006.[2]

The phrase "United States of Africa", was mentioned first by Marcus Garvey in his poem 'Hail, United States of Africa' in 1924. Garvey's ideas deeply influenced the birth of the Pan-Africanist movement which culminated in 1945 with the Fifth Pan African Congress in Manchester, England, attended by W.E.B. Du Bois, Patrice Lumumba, George Padmore, Jomo Kenyatta and Kwame Nkrumah. Later, Nkrumah and Haile Selassie (among many others) took the idea forward to form the Organisation of African Unity, the forerunner of today's African Union.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^  "United States of Africa?" at BBC News
  2. ^  Statement of the UA Commission Chairperson

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