 Ghana and the United Nations’ 1960s mission in the Congo: a Pan-African explanationCharles Asante Third World Quarterly, 2020, vol. 41, issue 3, 470-486 Abstract: This paper examines Ghana’s engagement in the United Nations (UN) mission during the Congo political crisis in the 1960s. The paper examines competing rationales behind Ghana’s decision to contribute towards the UN operation in the Congo. Ghana’s participation, to date, has been primarily understood through the lens of anti-colonial sentiment, African solidarity and regional influence. This article argues that in addition to these explanations, more attention must be paid to the value attached to pan-Africanism and the post-independence political union agenda of President Kwame Nkrumah. The article demonstrates how for Nkrumah, an operation under the aegis of the UN would prevent the powers of the Cold War (the United States and the Soviet Union) from interfering with the right of independent self-determination within Congo affairs. The UN mission, I contend, was a window of opportunity for Nkrumah’s larger pan-African ambition. Although Nkrumah’s mission failed, the article argues for the normative value of Nkrumah’s pan-African vision of promoting a regional structure to unify the African states as an important reason for Ghana’s participation in the Congo operation. Date: 2020 Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:ctwqxx:v:41:y:2020:i:3:p:470-486 Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from DOI: 10.1080/01436597.2019.1678383 Access Statistics for this article Third World Quarterly is currently edited by Shahid Qadir More articles in Third World Quarterly from Taylor & Francis Journals |
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