Nigeria and the Liberation of Southern Africa

Abstract

We have already noted that one of the main aims on which the Organization of African Unity rests as a continental entity, is the liberation of the colonial and white minority oppressed states of Southern Africa. We also noted that this is perhaps the only area in which the Organization can be said to have achieved any measure of success. However, on a more substantial level, this success can be said to be only marginal. There are many reasons for this: a greater part of the failure is, of course, due to the many difficult external factors, but some part of the failure is undoubtedly self-induced. The problems of Southern Africa have been complicated by a number of factors. First, the multiplicity of claims of national and territorial interests made by many countries and regions of the world—from Africa itself, through Europe, and even to the Americas—means that the true interests of those around whom the drama of the region is played are often submerged. A second factor is that Black African States have, for too long, put their trust in the main players in this drama, to the extent of allowing themselves to be reduced to a state of near-impotence.