Hands off Africa!! : an overview and analysis of the ideological, political and socio-economic approaches to African unity expressed at the first All-African People's Conference held in Accra, Ghana in December 1958

Between 8 and 13 December 1958 the first All-African Peoples Conference (AAPC) was held in Accra, Ghana. Under the motto 'Forward to independence now!' more than 200 delegates from 62 delegations spent a week discussing issues relating to Africa's common future. At the end of the week the conference delegates unanimously adopted five resolutions concerning Africa's future development. This study examines to what extent there was a common political, ideological and socioeconomic approach to the attainment of political and economic independence among the delegations present at the first AAPC. An introductory chapter is followed by a day-to-day chronological review of the conference proceedings. The next chapters analyse the varying perspectives on political issues (governance, relations with the colonial powers, relations with independent countries in Africa), ideological issues (non-alignment, Pan-Africanism, Pan-Arabism, Afro-Asian solidarity, armed struggle, nationalism, socialism), and socioeconomic issues. An appendix contains the conference resolutions