President Tubman didn’t undermine Kwame Nkrumah as it relates to the formation of the African Union. President Tubman’s vision ( The Monrovia’s Group) for the AU was realistic, practical and most likely to be achieved compared to that of the Kwame Nkrumah’s ( Casablanca’ Group).
Casablanca Group:
The Casablanca Group, sometimes known as the ‘Casablanca bloc’, was a short-lived, informal association of African states with a shared vision of the future of Africa and of Pan-Africanism in the early 1960s.
The group was composed of seven states led by radical, left-wing leaders largely from North Africa—Algeria, Egypt, Ghana, Guinea, Libya, Mali, and Morocco. The conflict and eventual compromise between the Casablanca Group and the Monrovia Grouplead to the establishment of the Organisation of African Unity.
History
The group first met in 1961 in the Moroccan port city of Casablanca, hence the alliance’s name. This conference brought together some of the continent’s most prominent statesmen like Gamal Abdel-Nasser of Egypt, Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana and Sékou Touré of Guinea.
What united them was a belief in the need for African political unification or federation. They believed that only significant, deep integration, as has since occurred in Europe through the European Union, would enable Africa to defeat colonialism, achieve peace, foster cultural dialogue, increase the continent’s geopolitical influence and promote economic development. In other words, they believed in the transfer of many powers from national governments to a supranational, pan-African authority. Nkrumah even argued for the establishment of a pan-African army which could be deployed to fight colonialism or white minority rule across the continent. His famous Pan-Africanist slogan was ‘Africa Must Unite!’
However, the Casablanca Group was ultimately unsuccessful. Most other African leaders did not support such radical change. The ideas of its rival, the so-called Monrovia Group—which also believed in Pan-Africanism but not at the expense of nationalism and independent statehood—prevailed. In 1963, the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) was established. All the members of both the Casablanca and Monrovia groups joined, putting their differences to one side. The OAU, now the African Union, has only achieved limited integration and unity of its member states. It is a reflection of the values of the Monrovia Group and a repudiation of the ideas of the Casablanca Group.
As well as disagreeing on the nature of African unity, the groups also took up conflicting positions on the then conflicts in Algeria and Congo. While the Casablanca Group’s members pledged to support the Front de Liberation Nationale in its efforts fighting for Algerian independence from France, the Monrovia Group backed their enemies, the French.
Monrovia Group:
The Monrovia Group, sometimes known as the Monrovia bloc, officially the Conference of Independent African States, was a short-lived, informal association of African states with a shared vision of the future of Africa and of Pan-Africanism in the early 1960s. Its members believed that Africa’s independent states should co-operate and exist in harmony, but without political federation and deep integration as supported by its main rival, the so-called Casablanca Group. In 1963, the two groups united to establish a formal, continent-wide organisation, the Organisation for African Unity.
The alliance first met on 8–12 May 1961 in Monrovia, the capital of Liberia, one of its leading countries. Other members included Nigeria, Ethiopia and most of Francophone Africa, including Senegal and Cameroon. Their approach was more moderate and less radical than that of the Casablanca Group. Its leaders stressed the importance of Africa’s newly independent states retaining their autonomy and strengthening their own bureaucracies, militaries and economies. They promoted nationalism, the creed that each nation of Africa should be self-governing, over Pan-Africanism, the belief that the whole continent should seek ever closer union and integration of their politics, society, economy and so on.
The Monrovia Group’s ideas ultimately prevailed. In 1963, states from both groups joined to create the Organisation of African Unity (OAU)in an African country called Ethiopia. Its Charter places the principles of independent statehood, non-interference and national sovereignty at its heart. The OAU’s pursuit of integration was minimal and its opposition to continental federation unequivocal. The OAU, like its successor the African Union (AU), is a reflection of the more nationalist values of the Monrovia Group and a repudiation of the more supra-national ideas of the Casablanca Group.
