Union of African States
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| Member States | Ghana , Guinea , Mali |
| founding | November 23, 1958 |
| resolution | 1962 |
The Union of African States (Union of African States / Union des Etats Africains) or Ghana-Guinea-Mali-Union was a short-term political union of the West African states of Mali , Ghana and Guinea in the 1960s as well as a permanent project of pan-Africanism . The president of the newly independent state of Ghana, Kwame Nkrumah , formulated this project in 1959:
“In Ghana we consider our independence as meaningless as long as we are not able to use the freedom that comes with it, to help other African peoples to be free and independent, to free the entire African continent from foreign rule and ultimately to establish a Union of African States. "
The actual union of the 1960s was anti - imperialist and was led alongside Kwame Nkrumah by other African revolutionaries of the decolonization period such as Sékou Touré of Guinea.
On November 23, 1958, the Union of the States of Ghana and Guinea was declared the West African Union , which was renamed the Union of African States in May 1959 . The federation of states gave itself a flag that was optically based on the flag of Ghana in the pan-African colors , but had two stars instead of a black star in the middle. The plan was to include more African states and expand the number of stars in the flag. Liberia rejected the invitation to join, but in April 1961 Mali joined the Union and the flag received a third star. On July 1, 1961, a charter of the Union was adopted. a. military assistance provided, in 1962 mutual tariff concessions were agreed. The Union of African States had little practical effect and soon disintegrated.
Subsequent organizations
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The project of a political union of all African states was pursued by Kwame Nkrumah and others even after the collapse of the Ghana-Guinea-Mali Union.
In 1961 the union was expanded to include the states of Libya , Egypt , Morocco and the Algerian Liberation Front FLN and transformed into the so-called Casablanca Group . In May 1961, the Monrovia Group was a rival organization with a similar objective. In a way, the Organization for African Unity , which was established in 1963, was also in the tradition of these confederations.