Suchergebnisse

This conference, organised jointly by the Overseas Studies Committee of Cambridge University and the United Kingdom Department of Technical Co-operation, was primarily concerned with economic planning in Commonwealth Africa. The largest delegation, made up of Ministers and civil servants, came from the Federal Government and the three regions of the Federation of Nigeria. Other delegations came from Sierra Leone, Gambia, Ghana, Uganda, Kenya, Tanganyika, Zanzibar, Northern Rhodesia, Southern Rhodesia, Basutoland, and Swaziland, the last four territories being represented primarily by British administrative officers. There were staff members of eight African universities, from Accra, Kumasi, Dar es Salaam, Makerere, Salisbury, Ibadan, Zaria, and Ife. From outside Africa there were delegates from the United Kingdom, the United States, France, Canada, India, and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development. Several participants, including the chairman of the conference, Dr R. E. Robinson, came from Cambridge University.

The postwar tempo of political change in Africa has carried the "dark continent" from the diplomatic backwaters to a central position in world affairs in but a decade. The pace is likely to accelerate rather than abate in the next few years. A crucial question is whether this swift passage from tribal and colonial societies to independent national states can be achieved in a non-violent and orderly way. The stakes for the future are considerable. A peaceful and rational accommodation of the interests and aspirations of the European metropolitan countries with those of the dependent African territories is likely to preserve and enhance vital Eurafrican economic ties to the mutual benefit of both sides of the present colonial equation.