Bandung Conference

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The Savoy Homann Bidakara Hotel in Bandung, the venue
The participating states in 1955
Representatives of the participating states in Bandung (front left Gamal Abd el Nasser and right Jawaharlal Nehru )
Indonesian poster for the conference
Cover of the Bandung Bulletin distributed daily during the conference
Gala dinner for the conference participants
Delegation meeting of the Economic Committee
Plenary session
Dwi-warna conference building at night
The head of the observer delegation from Palestine, Mufti Mohammed Amin al-Husseini in discussion with the Prime Minister of the People's Republic of China, Zhou Enlai

From April 18 to 24, 1955, the first Asian-African conference ( Malay : Konferensi Asia-Afrika ), known internationally as the Bandung Conference , took place in the Indonesian city ​​of Bandung . It was attended by representatives from 29 countries in Asia and Africa, which together represented a little more than half of the world's population at the time.

Preparations

On January 13, 1954, the then Indonesian Prime Minister Ali Sastroamidjojo made the proposal to hold a pan-Asian-African conference. At that time, large parts of Africa and parts of Asia were still in European colonial possession. India and Pakistan had only gained independence from the United Kingdom seven years earlier, and Indonesia's independence had only been recognized by the former Dutch colonial power four years earlier. In the run-up to the meeting, the newly independent states had already held a number of regional meetings, all of which served the goal of exploring common interests and representing them together. In particular, the so-called “Colombo Group”, consisting of India, Pakistan, Burma , Ceylon and Indonesia, played an important role in the preparation of the Bandung Conference. The final decision to hold the conference was made on December 28 and 29, 1954 in Bogor . The objectives and discussion points of the conference were formulated as follows: 1. the promotion of friendly relations as a basis for cooperation between the participating states, 2. the discussion of social, economic and cultural problems, 3. the discussion of problems that particularly affect Asia and Africa, like national independence, racism and colonialism, 4. a determination of the position of the Asian-African world of states in the present and the question of what role these states could play in solving the problems of the modern world.

Invitations were sent to all formally independent or semi-independent states in Asia and Africa. The Republic of China (Taiwan) , the South African Union , Israel , and North and South Korea , but North and South Vietnam were not invited . Even Japan received an invitation. All the invited states agreed to participate, only the President of the Central African Federation declined regretfully on the grounds that he was unable to attend due to lack of time.

Participating states

The conference was hosted by five countries: the host country Indonesia, as well as Pakistan, India, Burma and Ceylon. The Prime Ministers of these five countries attended the conference. Representatives of the countries listed in the table below took part. The political systems of the participating states were extremely different. The spectrum ranged from absolute monarchies (Saudi Arabia, Iran, Ethiopia) to communist one-party dictatorships (People's Republic of China, North Vietnam).

country political
system
Pact system /
political association
population Area
( mi ²)
Afghanistan Kingdom 1931Afghanistan Afghanistan kingdom - 12,000,000 (1949) 245,000
Burma 1948Burma Burma republic - 18,859,000 (1952) 261,789
Cambodia 1948Cambodia Cambodia kingdom - 3,227,000 88,780
CeylonSri Lanka Ceylon republic Commonwealth 8,103,000 (1953) 25,352
China People's RepublicPeople's Republic of China People's Republic of China communist
one-party rule
Eastern bloc 602,000,000 (1954) 3,760,339
Egypt 1952Egypt Egypt republic Arab League 20,729,000 (1951) 386,000
Ethiopia 1941Ethiopia Ethiopia Empire - 18,180,000 (1953) 350,000
Gold Coast 1878Gold coast Gold coast colony Commonwealth 3,989,000 78,802
IndiaIndia India republic Commonwealth 356.829.485 (1951) 1,221,000
IndonesiaIndonesia Indonesia republic - 78,163,000 (1952) 735.865
Iran 1925Iran Iran Empire - 19,151,000 (1951) 628,000
Iraq 1963Iraq Iraq kingdom Arab League , CENTO 5,100,000 (1950) 116,600
JapanJapan Japan Empire - 85,500,000 (1952) 147,690
JordanJordan Jordan kingdom Arab League 1,500,000 (1950) 37,500
Laos KingdomKingdom of Laos Laos kingdom - 1,189,000 69,480
LebanonLebanon Lebanon republic Arab League 1,285,000 (1951) 4,000
LiberiaLiberia Liberia republic - 2,750,000 (1953) 43,000
Libya Kingdom 1951Kingdom of Libya Libya kingdom Arab League 1,340,000 (1952) 1,100,000
NepalNepal Nepal kingdom - 7,000,000 (1948) 54,000
PakistanPakistan Pakistan Islamic Republic SEATO , Commonwealth 75,687,000 (1951) 365.907
Philippines 1944Philippines Philippines republic SEATO 20,631,000 (1952) 115,000
Saudi ArabiaSaudi Arabia Saudi Arabia kingdom Arab League 6,500,000 (1948) 870,000
SudanSudan Sudan republic Arab League 8,764,000 (1951) 967,500
Syria 1932Syria Syria republic Arab League 3,381,000 (1952) 66,046
ThailandThailand Thailand kingdom SEATO 19,192,000 (1952) 200,148
TurkeyTurkey Turkey republic NATO , CENTO 20,935,000 (1950) 296.503
Vietnam North 1955North Vietnam North Vietnam communist
one-party rule
Eastern bloc 9,851,000 together
127,380
Vietnam SudSouth Vietnam South Vietnam republic - 5,579,000
Yemen Kingdom 1927Yemen Yemen kingdom Arab League 5,000,000 (1952) 75,600

Delegates

The delegations were made up of high-ranking personnel. The delegates included the heads of government of India, the People's Republic of China, Pakistan, Indonesia, Egypt, Burma, Ceylon, Lebanon and Cambodia.

Country Head of the delegation
Egypt 1952Egypt Egypt Gamal Abdel Nasser
Ethiopia 1941Ethiopia Ethiopia Aklilu Habte-Wold
Afghanistan Kingdom 1931Afghanistan Afghanistan Mohammad Naim Khan
Burma 1948Burma Burma U Nu
Cambodia 1948Cambodia Cambodia Norodom Sihanouk
CeylonSri Lanka Ceylon John Lionel Kotalawela
Gold Coast 1878Gold coast Gold coast Koio Botsio
IndiaIndia India Jawaharlal Nehru , Krishna Menon
IndonesiaIndonesia Indonesia Sukarno , Ali Sastroamidjojo , Ruslan Abdulgani
Iraq 1963Iraq Iraq Muhammad Fadhel al-Jamali
Iran 1925Iran Iran Ali Amini , Djalal Abdoh
JapanJapan Japan Takasaki Tatsunosuke
Yemen Kingdom 1927Yemen Yemen Hassan ibn Yahya
JordanJordan Jordan Walid Salah
Laos KingdomKingdom of Laos Laos Katāy Dōn Sasōrit
LebanonLebanon Lebanon Sami Solh
LiberiaLiberia Liberia Momolu Dukuly
Libya Kingdom 1951Kingdom of Libya Libya Mahmoud Bey Muntasser
NepalNepal Nepal Sovag Jung Thapa
PakistanPakistan Pakistan Muhammad Ali Bogra
Philippines 1944Philippines Philippines Carlos P. Romulo
Saudi ArabiaSaudi Arabia Saudi Arabia Faisal ibn Abd al-Aziz
SudanSudan Sudan Ismail al-Azhari
Syria 1932Syria Syria Chalid al-Azm
ThailandThailand Thailand Wan Waithayakon
TurkeyTurkey Turkey Fatin Rüştü Zorlu
Vietnam North 1955North Vietnam North Vietnam Phạm Văn Đồng
Vietnam SudSouth Vietnam South Vietnam Nguyễn Văn Thoai
China People's RepublicPeople's Republic of China People's Republic of China Zhou Enlai , Chen Yi , Qiao Guanhua , Huang Hua

observer

The Algerian national movement Front de Liberation Nationale participated in the 1955 conference with observer status. The representative of the competitive movement, the Mouvement national algérien (MNA), Chadli El Mekki was also among the participants. He handed Jawaharlal Nehru a letter from Messali Hadj . Present at the conference was Archbishop Makarios III. of Cyprus (then still a British colony), as well as representatives of the anti-colonial movements in Morocco (Franco-Spanish protectorate) and Tunisia (French colony), representatives of the African National Congress (ANC) and the South African Indian Congress (SAIC).

Bandung conference venue

Bandung was chosen as the conference venue, a relatively small town at the time, which was still influenced by the atmosphere and architecture of the Dutch colonial era and, due to its location at around 770 meters above sea level, had a relatively moderate climate. In Bandung there were two large building complexes that were suitable as conference locations. The meeting rooms were equipped with headphones and simultaneous interpreters provided translations into English and French. Accommodation had to be provided not only for the delegates, but also for the approximately 600 press representatives from all over the world, which the organization secretariat under its chairman Ruslan Abdulgani took care of. A fleet of automobiles was also available for the conference participants for transport purposes. The majority of the conference attendees praised the organization and atmosphere of the conference as well thought out and pleasant.

Bomb attack on the Kashmir Princess

On April 11, 1955, a week before the start of the conference, a bomb explosion occurred on board the Kashmir Princess , an Air India charter flight from Bombay via Hong Kong to Jakarta. The plane crashed in the South China Sea , killing 16 of the 19 occupants. The attack was aimed at Chinese Prime Minister Zhou Enlai , who was warned and took a later flight. Chiang Kai-shek's secret service was blamed for the attack , others also suspected the CIA . Those responsible or masterminds of the attack could not be arrested.

Course of the conference

On April 18, 1955, Indonesian President Sukarno opened the conference with an address to the delegates. In the address he emphasized that the conference was "the first intercontinental conference of colored peoples in the history of mankind". The past few years have brought enormous changes. Nations and states have "woken up from a centuries-long sleep" and people are no longer passive, but actively demanded their rights. The conference participants come from different social, cultural and religious backgrounds, but are united in their rejection of colonialism and racism, and have the common goal of preserving and maintaining peace in the world. The economic and political power of the peoples of Africa and Asia is weak, but the Asiatic-African peoples have a united moral authority and can speak out for peace and tolerance in the world. After Sukarno's speech, Ali Sastroamidjojo was elected President of the Congress and 23 heads of delegation also gave short speeches (the representatives of Yemen and South Vietnam did not address, but had their speech distributed by text).

During the preparations for the conference it was decided that the agenda should not be put together by the organizers but by the conference participants. After informal discussions on April 17 and 18, 1955, the heads of the delegations agreed to summarize the agenda in five themes: (1) Economic cooperation, including the peaceful uses of nuclear energy, (2) Cultural cooperation, (3) Human rights and the right to self-determination - under this point the problem of Palestine and the problem of racism should also be discussed, (4) the problem of dependent peoples - including Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria, and (5) the promotion of international peace and global cooperation - should be discussed here also the problem of nuclear weapons of mass destruction and disarmament will be discussed.

The conference decided to delegate the questions of economic and cultural cooperation to two elected committees. The committees worked out drafts from April 19-22, 1955, which, after some discussions and modifications, were approved by the conference on April 23, 1955.

The heads of the respective delegations dealt with the other three subject areas (human rights and self-determination, the problem of dependent peoples and the promotion of world peace and cooperation) in closed meetings from April 20 to 24, 2020 and communicated the progress of the work to the others on a daily basis Conference participants known.

Final communiqué

The final plenary session took place on April 24, 1955. At this meeting, the final communiqué drawn up by the heads of delegation was accepted by the conference participants. This communiqué was divided into six sections. In the first section, the goal of increased economic cooperation was formulated. In the second section, cooperation in the cultural field was advocated, explicitly highlighting the situation in Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco, where the local culture and language are being suppressed by the French colonial powers. The third section was entitled “Human Rights and Self-Determination”. The support of the conference for the right of peoples to self-determination as formulated in the UN Charter was emphasized and racial segregation and racial discrimination in South Africa were explicitly condemned. In the fourth section, "Problems of dependent peoples", colonialism "and all its manifestations" was declared an evil and support for the independence movements in French North Africa was reaffirmed. In the fifth section, “Other Problems”, support for the rights of the Arab population of Palestine and support for Indonesia's position in the dispute over West Irian was formulated. The sixth section dealt with the promotion of world peace and global cooperation. This called for some states to join the United Nations. The conference participants were explicitly named Cambodia, Ceylon, Japan, Jordan, Libya, Nepal and a “united Vietnam”. The seventh and final section contained a "Declaration for the Promotion of World Peace". It emphasized the territorial integrity and sovereignty of all nations and rejected any interventionism or interference in the internal affairs of other states. The "equality of all races" and nations was emphasized. The conference states did not want to participate in collective defense alliances which "served the special interests of one of the great powers".

Later follow-up conferences

The later Asfro-Asian conferences no longer achieved the international media coverage and the broad impact of the Bandung conference. 43 states have already participated in the Afro-Asian Solidarity Conference in Cairo (December 26, 1957 to January 1, 1958). Most of the participants were representatives from peace organizations, political parties and trade unions, including from the Soviet Union. At this conference, there was a markedly anti-Western attitude among many participants.

The second solidarity conference in Conakry (April 11-15, 1960) decided not to allow any nuclear weapons tests on African soil and turned against the racial policy in South Africa in particular . All participating states were also asked to support the struggle of the Algerian independence movement.

The fourth conference took place from February 4 to 10, 1963 in Moshi ( Tanganyika ). Representatives from 60 countries took part in this conference. Resolutions were made

  1. against neocolonialism and against imperialism
  2. for the independence of all not yet sovereign areas
  3. Aden should be annexed to Yemen
  4. against the creation of a state of Malaysia
  5. for supporting the liberation struggle in South America in the spirit of Fidel Castro .

The Bandung states were controlled within the framework of the conference by a management committee that consisted of 27 members, supported by a permanent secretariat of 12 members. A general secretary presided over the management committee. The council met every year, the assembly was every two years in a capital of Asia or Africa. The seat of the secretariat was Cairo.

In later years, the solidarity was increasingly shaken by differences among the participating countries, so that the association no longer played a role.

The archive of the documents of the Bandung conference has been on the UNESCO list of World Document Heritage since 2015 .

literature

  • Horst Sasse: The Asian-African states at the Bandung conference (=  documents . Volume 27 ). Metzner, Frankfurt am Main a. a. 1958, chapter 5.

Individual evidence

  1. a b A. Appadorai: The Bandung Conferences . Ed .: The Indian Council of World Affairs. October 1955 (English, pdf (fragment) ).
  2. a b c d e f Asian-African Conference Bulletin No. 1. (PDF) March 1955, accessed on May 10, 2017 (English).
  3. ^ A b The Asian-African Conference. Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China, accessed May 10, 2017 .
  4. a b c d Asian-African Conference Bulletin No. 1. Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, April 1955, accessed on May 10, 2017 (English).
  5. a b c d e f Asian-African Conference Bulletin No. 4.1. (PDF) Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, April 19, 1955, accessed May 10, 2017 .
  6. Asian-African Conference Bulletin No. 4.2. (PDF) Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, April 19, 1955, accessed May 10, 2017 .
  7. a b c Asian-African Conference Bulletin No. 6.1. (PDF) Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, April 21, 1955, accessed May 10, 2017 .
  8. a b c Asian-African Conference Bulletin No. 8.1. Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, April 23, 1955, accessed May 10, 2017 .
  9. a b c d e f g Asian-African Conference Bulletin No. 5.1. Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, April 20, 1955, accessed May 10, 2017 .
  10. a b Asian-African Conference Bulletin No. 10.1. Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, April 24, 1955, accessed May 10, 2017 .
  11. a b c d Asian-African Conference Bulletin No. 7.1. Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, April 22, 1955, accessed May 10, 2017 .
  12. a b c d For Nehru and Chou, a rule awakening at Bandung . In: LIFE . tape 38 , no. May 18 , 1955 (English, google.de - article about the conference with photos of the delegates).
  13. Raza Naeem: Rebirth of hope. Frontline Volume 29 - Issue 07, April 7, 2012, accessed May 10, 2017 .
  14. a b Asian-African Conference Bulletin No. 6.2. Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, April 20, 1955, accessed May 10, 2017 .
  15. Asian-African Conference Bulletin No. 9.2. Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, April 24, 1955, accessed May 10, 2017 .
  16. a b c Asian-African Conference Bulletin No. 5.2. Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, April 21, 1955, accessed May 10, 2017 .
  17. Gürol Baba, Senem Ertan: Turkey at the Bandung Conference: A fully-aligned among the non-aligned. (pdf) 2016 ISA Conference Paper, accessed on May 10, 2017 (English).
  18. ^ Martin Evans: Algerie. France's Undeclared War. Oxford University Press, Oxford u. a. 2012, ISBN 978-0-19-966903-5 , p. 139.
  19. Mohamed Mamchaoui: "Recificatif sur la biography de Chaddly Mekki décédé le 1st Sept 1988". Letter to the editor to El Moudjahid. Undated. Archives du PPA . ( Digital copy from the Messali Hadj Foundation )
  20. ^ Asian-African Conference Bulletin No. 7-2. (pdf) March 1955, accessed on April 14, 2020 (English).
  21. ^ Asian-African Conference Bulletin No. 8-2. (pdf) March 1955, accessed on April 14, 2020 (English).
  22. a b c A. Appadorai: The Bandung Conference . In: India Quarterly . tape 11 , no. 3 , September 1955, p. 207-235 , JSTOR : 45068035 (English).
  23. ^ ASN Aircraft accident Lockheed L-749A Constellation VT-DEP Great Natuna Islands. Aviation Safety network, accessed April 14, 2020 .
  24. Anvar Alikhan: Déjà vu from 30,000 ft. The Times of India, March 30, 2015, accessed April 14, 2020 .
  25. Steve Tsang: Target Zhou Enlai: The "Kashmir Princess" Incident of 1955 . In: The China Quarterly . No. 139 , September 1994, p. 766-782 , JSTOR : 655141 (English).
  26. ^ Opening address given by Sukarno (Bandung, April 18, 1955). Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (1955), reproduced from www.cvce.eu, accessed April 13, 2020 .
  27. ^ Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (ed.): Asia-Africa speak from Bandung . Jakarta 1955, p. 161–169 (English, text reproduced at CVCE.eu, University of Luxembourg ).
  28. ^ Asian-African Conference Archives . UNESCO Memory of the World; accessed on February 9, 2016.