Afro-Madagascar Union
The Afro-Madagascan Union , also African-Madagascar Union (French: Union Africaine et Malgache , UAM) was an intergovernmental organization created in 1961 of former French colonies , which advocated close cooperation with France and with each other and was based in Bangui in the Central African region Republic. The Joint Afro-Madagascar Organization (GAMO, French: Organization Commune Africaine et Malgache , OCAM), which it replaced in 1965 , soon broke up and, after being renamed several times, was finally dissolved in 1985.
development
Brazzaville group
In the Congolese capital Brazzaville there were two representatives of the states of French Equatorial Africa and French West Africa, as well as Cameroon and the Malegasian Republic (Madagascar), which became independent after the breakup of the Communauté française (CF) and the Communauté Franco-Afro-Malgache (CFAM) Conferences convened (1960 and 1961). Guinea, which had already decided against the communauté in 1958 and had formed a union of African states with Ghana since 1959 , and Mali, which had joined this union in 1960, did not take part in the Brazzaville conferences and instead formed the rival Casablanca group in 1961 .
The topic of the Brazzaville Conferences was a continuation of the cooperation with the former colonial power, which the states of the Casablanca Group rejected as a neo - colonial sell-out. Another point of contention was the attitude towards the white minority regimes in South Africa and Southern Rhodesia and towards the remaining colonial power Portugal.
Afro-Madagascar Union for Economic Cooperation
The result of the conferences in Brazzaville and in the Cameroonian capital Yaounde in March 1961 was the decision to create an African-Madagascar organization for economic cooperation (French: Organization Africaine et Malgache de coopération économique , OAMCE) and after another meeting in September 1961 in the Madagascar capital Antananarivo the establishment of an African-Madagascar Defense Union (French: Union Africaine et Malgache pour la défense , UAMD). In addition to a President (since March 1963 Maurice Yaméogo ), a General Secretariat and a Council of Ministers (Chairman 1963: Jacques Rabemananjara ), the UAM therefore also had a Supreme Defense Council and a joint General Staff, which, however, was in fact dominated by France.
After the founding of the Organization for African Unity (1963), however, the UAM adopted a new statute in March 1964 at its meeting in the Senegalese capital Dakar, in which it left all political questions to the OAU, which in fact reduced it to the OAMCE, and renamed itself to the African-Madagascar Union for Economic Cooperation (French: Union Africaine et Malgache de Coopération Économique , UAMCE). The Mauritanian President Moktar Ould Daddah was appointed its President in March 1964 . The defense union was dissolved, and it was replaced by bilateral alliance agreements between the individual states and France.
An African-Malagasy Union for the Post Office and Telecommunications (French: Union Africaine et Malgache des Postes et des Télécommunications , UAMPT) was created, and a joint airline ( Air Afrique ), a joint shipping company and a banking union were agreed (French : Union Africaine et Malgache des Banques de Développment , UAMBD).
Joint Afro-Malagasy organization
Although the Brazzaville states had prevailed against the Casablanca group in the case of the OAU statutes, the OAU pursued a strictly anti-colonial course in foreign policy and supported rebel groups in Congo-Zaire and the Portuguese colonies, while some states of the Brazzaville group for " Dialogue "and trade with Portugal, South Africa and Southern Rhodesia as well as a renunciation of support for Congolese rebels advocated.
At the meeting on February 12, 1965 in the Mauritanian capital Nouakchott , the UAM again gave itself a new name and a new charter. The Joint African-Madagascar Organization (French: Organization Commune Africaine et Malgache , OCAM) again elected Daddah as its president and accepted Togo and the former Belgian colony of Rwanda as new member states. At an extraordinary summit conference in Abidjan in May 1965, however, nine OCAM member states also took up the former Belgian colony of the Congo (Democratic Republic of the Congo, 1971 to 1997 named Zaire) and called for a boycott of the next OAU summit conference. Mauritania, Congo-Brazzaville (Republic of the Congo) and Cameroon, however, spoke out against the acceptance and recognition of the Congolese Chombé regime. Daddah also protested that the calling of an extraordinary summit conference had taken place behind the back and against the will of the president, so Mauritania left the organization in July 1965. On June 28, 1966, the new statutes of the OCAM were signed at the summit in Antananarivo (Tananarive).
Instead of previous military ambitions, the OCAM members agreed on economic, cultural, social and technical cooperation as a goal. Cooperation with France, with whom Gabon, Congo (Brazzaville), Madagascar, Senegal, Chad and the Central African Republic continued to form the community in 1968, remained particularly close. The previous union for postal and telecommunications and Air Afrique, in which the non-member Mali also participated, was retained.
Joint Afro-Mauritian Organization
In 1970 the island nation of Mauritius also joined the organization, and the OCAM was then renamed the Joint African-Malagasy-Mauritian Organization (French: Organization Commune Africaine Malgache et Mauricienne , OCAMM). But in 1972 Zaire and the People's Republic of the Congo left the country, followed in 1973 by Chad, Cameroon and Madagascar. Without Madagascar, the organization had to give itself a new name again in 1974, but also as the Joint African-Mauritian Organization (French: Organization Commune Africaine et Mauricienne ) it again used the acronym OCAM. At the Kigali conference in 1975 new guidelines for the regional implementation of a sugar agreement were adopted.
After the Lomé Agreement, which was renewed again and again from 1975 onwards, on extended cooperation between the European Community (EC) and the ACP countries and Gabun's exit in 1976, the OCAM gradually lost its importance completely. From 1977 to 1978 the Seychelles were also briefly members of the OCAM. In March 1985, the OCAM finally disbanded. Instead, at least the Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius and the Seychelles created the Indian Ocean Commission (COI) in 1984 with France (for Reunion) .
Member States
The member states changed several times, the number of members, which had increased to 15 in 1965, decreased to 9 countries by 1985. Of the 12 states that originally founded the Brazzaville Group , only six were ultimately members of the OCAM.
| UAM 1961 | OCAM 1965 | OCAM 1974 |
|---|---|---|
| Mauritania | ||
| Congo Brazzaville | Congo (until 1973) | |
| Madagascar | Madagascar | |
| Chad | Chad | |
| Cameroon | Cameroon | |
| Gabon | Gabon | Gabon (until 1977) |
| Niger | Niger | Niger |
| Upper Volta (Burkina Faso) | Upper Volta (Burkina Faso) | Burkina Faso (Upper Volta) |
| Central African Republic | Central African Republic | Central African Republic |
| Ivory Coast | Ivory Coast | Ivory Coast |
| Dahomey (Benin) | Dahomey (Benin) | Benin (Dahomey) |
| Senegal | Senegal | Senegal |
| Togo | Togo | |
| Rwanda | Rwanda | |
| Congo-Zaire (1965–1972) | ||
| Mauritius (since 1970) | ||
| Seychelles (1977–1978) |
flag
In April 1962, the UAM issued a flag that contained 12 gold stars on a green background. In the middle was a red outline map of Africa. The 12 gold stars are based on the European flag on the one hand, and on the other hand symbolize the 12 UAM founding states of the Brazzaville group. Regardless of the change in membership and fluctuation, the UAM flag was continued by the OCAM.
literature
- Thea Büttner (Ed.): Africa - History from the Beginnings to the Present , Part IV (Africa from the collapse of the imperialist colonial system to the present). Cologne 1985
- Dieter Nohlen (Ed.): Lexicon Third World - countries, organizations, theories, terms, people . Reinbek near Hamburg 1984
- Walter Markov , Alfred Anderle , Ernst Wurche: Small Encyclopedia World History , Volume 2. Leipzig 1979
- Gustav Fochler-Hauke (Ed.): Der Fischer Weltalmanach 1969. Frankfurt am Main 1968
- Gustav Fochler-Hauke (Ed.): Der Fischer Weltalmanach 1966. Frankfurt am Main 1965
- Gustav Fochler-Hauke (Ed.): Der Fischer Weltalmanach 1964. Frankfurt am Main 1963
- Werner Rosenberg (Ed.): Die Welt 1964 - data, facts and information from 1964 , pages 88 and 91.Dietz Verlag Berlin 1965
- Werner Rosenberg (Ed.): Die Welt 1966 - data, facts and information from 1965 , pages 81, 84 and 353. Dietz Verlag Berlin 1966
Web links
- know.de: OCAM
- worldstatesmen.org: OCAM
- Flags Of The World: Union Africaine et Malgache / Organization Commune Africaine et Malgache
Individual evidence
- ↑ translated more appropriately than literally as United African-Malagasy Organization (Werner Rosenberg) or Organization of African States and Madagascar (Thea Büttner)
- ↑ Rosenberg 1964, pages 88, 91 and 415
- ↑ Markov / Anderle / Wurche, page 480
- ↑ Fochler-Hauke: FWA 64, pages 236ff
- ↑ Rosenberg 1965, pages 81, 84 and 353
- ↑ Lothar Rathmann (ed.): History of the Arabs - From the beginnings to the present , part 7 (The struggle for the development path in the Arab world), page 461. Akademie-Verlag Berlin 1983
- ↑ Fochler-Hauke: FWA 69, page 69
- ↑ Fochler-Hauke: FWA 66, page 181
- ^ Nohlen, page 449
- ^ Arnold Rabbow: dtv lexicon of political symbols , page 169. Munich 1970