The principle of Self-determination

SPEECH (EXCERPTS) OF THE PRESIDENT ADEN ABDULLE OSMAN GIVEN AT A STATE DINNER IN HONOUR OF MR. JOMO KENYATTA OF KANU PARTY.

MOGADISHU, 28 JULY 1962.

“…The principle of self-determination, when used properly to unify and enlarge an existing state with a view towards its absorption in a federal system of government is neither balkanization nor fragmentation. It is a major contribution to unity and stability, and totally consistent with the concept of Pan-Africanism”.

“A desire for unity must be matched by a willingness to sacrifice a measure of sovereignty, and to remold the machinery of government to absorb new political and administrative methods. I say that, not to alarm or discourage, but because I think it is time that our continent of Africa took a more practical and realistic view of the problems that have been created by the after effects of colonialism and their relations to a closer political association of African States”.

There are some lessons to be learned from the short but nonetheless profitable experiences of this Republic; because we can claim with justice that we have made a unique, practical contribution to African unity by merging two independent African states into one-even against the established prejudices of interested powers. I do not have to enumerate the colonial-made problems that we have encountered in the field of fiscal, judicial, linguistic and administrative integration because they still preoccupy us and are too well known. But I would like to underline three lessons”.

“First--as a prerequisite to either a federal system or a total union of states, it is necessary to accept, as we have done in Article Six of our constitution, limitations of sovereignty on conditions of parity with other states.

“Second—we have learned that the outmoded concept of territorial integrity must vanish from our habitual thinking because its roots are embedded in colonialism, and it is incompatible with Pan-Africanism”.

“Third—we have learned of a cardinal principle underlying the effectiveness or otherwise of a political union between two independent states. It is this: the ordinary person must be able to identify himself and his interests with the new order, on economic, ethnic and cultural grounds”.

“It is this last lesson that is perhaps the hardest to learn but, if we Africans are proud to take our place as a democratic people in the comity of nations, we must do more than pay lip-service to the feelings of the ordinary man and woman in our society. We claim, many of us, to be African leaders and socialists. This implies that, through our wisdom and understanding, men will follow us, and, by the equity of our laws, our people will have equal rights and opportunities”.

“Regrettably, it is becoming commonplace in Africa today to accept the development of a privileged class of rulers, with the instincts of colonialists, as a substitute from government by the people. This is one of the after effects of colonial rule. But it is my duty to give this warning to my colleagues in Africa: it will be the unwillingness of African rulers to curb their powers and to lift their artificial colonial boundaries, that will frustrate the hopes and desires of the ordinary people of Africa to be led out of isolation and ignorance into the greater union of African States”.

“I am sorry to have had to end on a not of caution, but there is too much at stake, in the prevention of the kind of tragedies that beset our brothers in the Congo, for me to refrain from bringing unpalatable facts to your notice. Of course, I hope these forebodings will not materialize, but they exist for those who have the eyes to see and the care to understand”.

President: Aden Abdulle Osman

Source; http://www.jstor.org/pss/159750