Page 214 - Afrika Must Unite

AFRICA IN WORLD AFFAIRS *99
to discuss disarmament, or to call a world disarmament
conference.
W hen the non-aligned nations talk of disarmament they are
not merely concerned with the destructiveness and madness of
the armaments race. They are thinking of the vast possibilities
now denied the people of the less-developed areas for increased
standards of living, the development of agriculture and industry,
the planning of cities, the abolition of illiteracy and want, and the
curing of disease. It has been estimated that one-tenth of the
expenditure involved in armaments would be enough to raise the
whole of the less-developed world to the level of a self-sustaining
economy. The influence of the uncommitted nations must be
exerted to the full to restore a proper sense of values to the
world.
As a contribution to this end, the G hana government set aside
£50,000 for an Assembly held in Accra in June 1962, and
attended by representatives of all organizations throughout the
world whose aim is the ending of the threat of nuclear warfare
and the establishment of universal peace. At the meeting of the
Preparatory Committee for this ‘Accra Assembly’, held in
Zagreb, Yugoslavia, in M arch 1962, it was agreed that the
following subjects should be discussed: the reduction of inter­
national tensions; methods of effective inspection and control in
disarmam ent; the transformation of existing m ilitary nuclear
materials to peaceful purposes, and the prevention of the spread
of nuclear weapons; economic problems involved in or arising
from disarm am ent; and the examination of such fundam ental
problems as hunger, disease, ignorance, poverty and servitude,
with a view to utilizing for social purposes resources now misused
as a result of the armaments race.
The three basic aims of G hana’s foreign policy are African in­
dependence, African unity, and the m aintenance of world peace
through a policy of positive neutrality and non-alignment. The
first two aims are inextricably bound together, since until we are
free from foreign domination we cannot be completely united.
Yet united action is essential if we are to achieve full independ­
ence. The third aim is closely associated with the other two.
Living as we do under the constant threat of universal
destruction, the more unaligned nations there are, the wider the