Africa Unbound: Reflections of an African Statesman

IN 1941, at the height of World War II, Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Rooseveltagreed upon the need for an international organization--provisional, if necessary, until a permanent system of general security could be established--to bring about the disarmament and effective control of aggressive nations. This need was emphasized at a conference of foreign ministers of the United Kingdom, the United States, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, and the Republic of China, held in October, 1943, when the delegates "recognized the necessity of establishing at the earliest practicable date a general international organization, based on the principle of sovereign equality of all peace- loving states, and open to membership by all states, large and small, for the maintenance of international peace and security." Soon thereafter, in confirmation, the three Allied leaders-- Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin--agreed, at Teheran, "to seek the cooperation and active participation of all nations, large and small, whose peoples in heart and mind are dedicated, as are our peoples, to the elimination of tyranny and slavery, oppression and intolerance." Between August 20 and October 7, 1944, at Dumbarton Oaks, the proposed world organization took definite shape, and between April and June, 1945, the time of Germany's surrender, the Charter of the United Nations was established.

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