Page 15 - Afrika Must Unite

INTRODUCTION xv ii
tered by colonial rule and just as long as there exist on African
soil puppet governments m anipulated from afar. O ur freedom
stands open to danger just as long as the independent states of
Africa rem ain apart.
At this very moment, the Union of South Africa is building up
a m ilitary machine comparable with those of the foremost
nations of W estern Europe. This presents a most ominous
danger, not just to the struggle of those African peoples still
fighting for freedom, but to the very existence of the independent
African states. Unless we meet this obvious and very powerful
threat with a unified African front, based upon a common
economic and defence policy, the strategy will be to pick us off
and destroy us one by one.
O ur essential bulwark against such sinister threats and the
other multifarious designs of the neo-colonialists is in our
political union. If we are to rem ain free, if we are to enjoy the
full benefits of Africa’s rich resources, we must unite to plan for
our total defence and the full exploitation of our material and
hum an means, in the full interests of all our peoples. ‘To go it
alone’ will limit our horizons, curtail our expectations, and
threaten our liberty.
But since we cannot sit idly by waiting for the consummation
of our hopes for the earliest unification of Africa, we in Ghana
are making our plans and shall strive unremittingly to raise our
people to such higher levels of civilized living as we are able to do
by our own exertions. At the same time, we shall never relax
our efforts to bring total independence and unity to this African
continent, for the greater good of all Africa and of each of us as
component members of African Union.