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Report from the UNAuthor(s): Roger BaldwinSource: Africa Today, Vol. 3, No. 3 (May - Jun., 1956), pp. 10-11Published by: Indiana University PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4183808 .
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FEATURES
Report from the U By Roger Baldwin
Timetables for Independence The most important African news
from the UN concerns a significant change in U. S. policy on the colonial issue. For the first time in ten years the U. S. has opposed the colonial powers in the Trusteeship Council on an important issue-the question of establishing timetables for independence for non-self-gov- erning territories. In explaining this change, Benj. Gerig, the U. S. representative in the Trusteeship Council, stated :"We favor, when- ever we think it helpful, the estab- lishment of target dates for the achievement of intermediate goals." He went on to say that to fix, even approximately, intermediate goals (as opposed to the "rigidity" of long range target dates for indepen- dence) would give the governments and the peoples of the territories a stronger sense of purpose and direc- tion in achieving these goals. The U. S. then proceeded to vote for the establishment of ultimate target dates for self-government for Tan- ganyika, Ruanda-Urundi and the French Cameroons. The deadlock was broken, 8 to 6; for once the co- lonial powers did not carry the day. The Crisis in the Cameroons
The recent report of the UN Visiting Mission to the French Cameroons condemns the U.P.C. (Union of Peoples of the Camer- oons), the strongest Cameroonian nationalist party, for its role in the riots which broke out there in May 1955. (The French have since banned the U.P.C.) A special an- iex to the report tabulates the evidence which supports the charge that the U.P.C. is Communist-ori- ented. However, the International League for the Rights of Man has protested the banning of a political party in a UN Trust Territory.
Since the banning, the United Nations Secretariat has been inun-
dated with thousands of petitions. So many were received that the Secretariat did not have the facili- ties to process them all in the usual way. In this unprecedented situation the most that could be done was to establish the general nature of the petitions, and to classify them ac- cordingly. It has now been estab- lished that out of the 33,026 peti- tions received, 21,848 requested the immediate unification and indepen- dence of the Cameroons, 2,557 con- stituted complaints concerning the May incidents and their aftermath; 467 were complaints regarding prop- erty losses resulting from the May riots; 6,170 were expressions of support for the French administra- tion; and 2,984 were of a miscel- laneous nature. The visiting mis- sion's report has been adopted by the Trusteeship Council with a hope that "normal political conditions" will be soon restored. Meanwhile news comes that petitioners repre- senting NGONDO, a French Camer- oonian cultural organization, are expected to arrive in New York in May. Algeria and the Security Council
A seven - nation committee was formed at the UN towards the end of April to sponsor the Algeriain question, and to attempt to have it raised at the Security Council as a threat to peace. This is the second time within a few weeks that such an attempt has been made. Forced Labor in Portuguese Africa
The question Qf forced labor in Portuguese Africa has for some time been closely followed by the International League for the Rights of Man as well as by the American Committee on Africa. Now that Portugal is a member of the UN the matter may be considered inter- nationally. The question is-by what body? The Committee on Informa- tion from Non-Self-Governing Ter-
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FEATURES
ritories cannot yet pay any attention so long as the status of Portuguese Africa remains undefined. Hitherto Portugal has maintained that her African possessions are 'an integral part of Portugal" and that therefore all events or conditions there are matters of domestic jurisdiction. This is likely to be questioned.
In April ECOSOC considered forced labor, but referred the matter to the ILO conference to be held at Geneva in June. This conference, will be concerned with revising the forced labor conventions to apply wherever it occurs. It is doubtful whether Portugal will participate. The best hope remains that the mat- ter will be raised at the General
Assembly in the Fall. Many people do not even know
that Portugal has extensive Afri- can possessions. Yet in 1954 the Anti-Slavery Society of London ob- served: "We have no hesitation in saying that conditions and practiceL in Portuguese West Africa are among the greatest known causes of misery in the world today." The Portuguese UN delegate attending the 1956 sessions of the Economic and Social Council intervened to deny the Society's strictures. Those requiring further information may contact the American Committee on Africa, which is working to bring the matter to the attention of the American public.
Afro-American Notes Over 400 Af ricanists gathered at
the Warwick Hotel, Philadelphia, on April 20 and 21 for the annual con- ference of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, the theme of which was "Africa and the Western world." Six members of the American Committee on Africa at- tended the conference. The speakers included Benjamin Rivlin, Gwendo- len Carter, Harold K. Hochschild, Harry Rudin, W. R. Bascom, Harold Cooper, St. Clair Drake, Daniel F. McCall, Carl Rosberg, and Edward C. Jandy, as well as a number of official speakers, such as W. F. Cot- trell, chief of the UN Petitions Sec- tion, Ambassador Holloway of South Africa, Roger Vaurs of the French Information Service and the Syrian Delegate to the United Nations, Muhammad El-Farra.
The audience reacted variously to the South African address, as well as to that of the Belgian Ambassa- dor, but despite conflicting opinions on both apartheid and colonialism, an atmosphere of academic dignity was successfully maintained. Un- fortunately there were very few Af- ricans present at the conference, which concluded with speeches by George V. Allen, head of the State
Department's Middle East and East African desk, and Representative Frances B. Bolton (Republican) who recently arrived back from a tour of Africa.
Three Nigerian trade unionists, wearing their traditional robes, re- cently visited the United States on a 90-day tour to study labor condi- tions. They were Messrs. N. A. Cole, Franco Olugbake, and Chief Beyi- oku. During their stay in New York they joined strikers outside Macy's on 34th Street, where the chief, who is six foot six, attracted much at- tention on the picket line. Two other visitors to our shores have been Sir Roy Welensky from Central Africa, and Premier Obafemi Awolowo, from Western Nigeria.
Mr. Nicodeme Amegah, the UN petitioner repatriated by the ACOA has arrived in Accra on his way home to French Togoland. Mr. Ana- ghay, formerly New York repre- sentative of the Istiqlal, who re- turned to Morocco earlier this year, is now in Spain. Mr. Hussein Ait Ahmed, representative of the North African Front of National Libera- tion, who was here last year, is now back in New York once more, where he is active at the UN,
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