Historical Background

As a reminder, I wish to define Pan-Africanism, a movement whose roots date more than a century back, from the time intellectuals of the African peoples and its diaspora became conscious of the fact that it was through their unity that they could put an end to the political, economic and cultural domination under which they were living across the world.  As you know, this domination is rooted in slavery and colonialism, which came up with a pretext to justify racial discrimination and apartheid against people of African origin.  Pan-Africanism succeeded in its combat against colonialism and apartheid by placing unity among the peoples of Africa and its diaspora at the core of its liberation strategy.  It is equally through the same unity that the continent will have the chance to develop economically and claim its rightful place in global political, economic and monetary affairs.

Nobody of good faith can deny the fact that Pan-Africanism made a significant contribution to the decolonisation of our continent and the elimination of racial discrimination in America.  It succeeded against colonialism because it made African unity the focus of its combat. 
In 1958, President Nkrumah organized a conference of African political parties within the context of what is known as the “All-African People’s Organization (AAPO)”.  On that occasion, declared that Pan-Africanism needed to go through the following four stages to attain its final goal: (a) political independence; (b) consolidation of such independence; (c) establishment of a unit and community of African countries; and (d) economic and social reconstruction of Africa.  However, Africa could not cross these stages so long as certain countries remained under the yoke of colonialism.  Hence, the need for already independent African countries to work together to free the rest of the continent.