By the end of the Mexican-American War in 1848, and the resulting acquisition of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California, the material credentials of the United States - in area size and population - as the dominant local power in North America were well established. For example, its population in 1850 stood at about 23 million, compared to that of Canada with less than three million, and Mexico's approximately seven million.
2.
Bassey E.- Ate, 'African Decolonization and Regional Politics: A Conceptual Approach', NigerianJournal of International Affairs (Vol. 8, No. 2, 1982), forthcoming.
3.
With the Treaty of Ghent, imperial Britain finally conceded the de facto sovereignty of the new United States; while the withdrawal of Napoleon's forces from Mexico and the execution of his puppet 'Emperor of Mexico' Maximilian removed once and for all, the last vestige of French imperial pretensions from North America. See Robert H. Farrell , American Diplomacy: A History ( New York: W.W. Norton and Company, Inc., 1975, third edition), pp. 133-41, 182-193, 272.
4.
Guy de Lusignan, French-Speaking African Since Independence (New York: Frederick A. Praeger, 1969), p. 10.
5.
Ibid., p. 147; alsoWest Africa, 12 March 1979, pp. 429-31.
6.
Oscar Ede, 'French Activities in Africa' (Lagos: Nigerian Institute of International Affairs, Mimeo).
7.
From 1960-1970, foreign contribution as a proportion of domestic investment resources (annual averages) for Togo, Senegal, Ivory Coast and Niger were: 83 per cent, 81 per cent, 76 per cent and 72 per cent respectively. Samir Amin, Neo-Colonialism in West Africa (New York: Monthly Review Press, 1973), p. 270.
8.
Jean-Baptiste Duroselle, 'Changes in French Foreign Policy since 1945', in Stanley Hoffman et. al., In Search of France (New York: Harper Torchbooks, 1963), pp. 337-9
9.
Washington Post, 13 April 1977.
10.
Guy de Lusignan, op. cit, p. 11.
11.
Stanley Hoffman, op. cit, p. 351.
12.
Quoted in Guy de Lusignan, op. cit., p. 35.
13.
Ibid., pp. 35-6.
14.
Africa Confidential (Vol. 20, No. 21, 17 October 1979), p. 8.
15.
Quoted in West Africa, 12 March 1979, p. 429.
16.
George W. Ball, The Discipline of Power (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1968), pp. 125-148; also, John Newhouse, De Gaulle and the Anglo-Saxons (New York: The Viking Press, 1970), pp. 3-27.
17.
George W. Ball, op. cit, pp. 128-130.
18.
The Financial Times (London), 2 June 1978; also Scan Gervase, 'South Africa: Under the NATO Umbrella', Africa Report (September-October 1976), pp. 12-15.
19.
During the Kennedy administration, some senior officials in the Department of State, such as G. Mennen Williams, had strongly advocated a policy of direct American involvement in Africa as a means of diluting the 'neo-colanial' influence of the European powers, which they thought would work against the long-term interest of the West.
20.
Ali Mazrui, 'The World Economy and the African/Afro-American Connection', Seminar on 'The Dynamics of the African/Afro-American Connection', University of Liberia, Monrovia, 10-15 January 1983, pp. 13-14.
21.
Throughout President Kennedy's administration, Franco-American disputes within NATO frequently manifested themselves in relation to Africa. For example, unlike Britain and Belgium, the US incessantly experienced difficulties co-ordinating a common Western policy with France. See, Ambassador Charles E. Bohlen to G. Mennen Williams, 8 November 1962. G. Mennen Williams Files, Record Group 59, National Archives, Washington, D.C.
22.
Daily Times, 19 July 1978, p. 9. Recall also that it was the Ivory Coast, Senegal, Gabon, Togo, Niger and the Central African Republic in 1971 sought to mobilise the OAU to engage in a dialogue with South Africa.
23.
The Financial Times (London), 2 June 1978.
24.
Refer to his lecture titled 'Nigeria in the Nuclear Age' (Lagos: Nigerian Institute of International Affairs), p. 23.
25.
The Military Balance 1979-1980 (London: International Institute for Strategic Studies), pp. 48-58.
26.
Ibid.
27.
M. Pierre Kalck, 'The Need for the Review of French Policy in Africa', Le Monde, 13 August 1970.
28.
Segun Osoba, Quoted in Timothy Shaw and Orobola Fasehun, 'Nigeria in the World System: Alternative Approaches, Explanations and Projections ', Journal of Modern African Studies (Vol. 18, No. 4, December 1980), p. 559.
29.
Ibid., pp. 553-55.
30.
Immanuel Wallerstein , 'The Three Stages of African Involvement in the Wortd Economy' in Peter C.W. Gutkind and Wallerstein (eds.), The Political Economy of Contemporary Africa (Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publications, 1976), p. 49.
31.
Timothy Shaw , 'Inequalities and Interdependence in Africa and Latin America', Cultures and Development (Vol. 10, No. 1, 1978), p. 29.
32.
I recognise the fact that there was an apparent lack of consensus on French policy between the position of De Gaulle and that of the French Foreign Office, which publicly expressed support for the Federal government. However, one can explain this discrepancy as a reflection of tactical differences of views regarding the more appropriate means of sustaining French objectives. In any event, what matters is the concrete policy executed by France that helped to prolong the war for another 12 months.
33.
Y. Bala Usman, New Nigerian, 29 January 1981, p. 3.
34.
West Africa, 13 March 1978, p. 529. There is an unconfirmed press report that the Nigerian Federal government plans to award a French firm contract for the construction of the country's comprehensive Air Defence System.
35.
Quoted in Nigerian Observer (Benin), 21 May 1973, pp. 8-9.
36.
Refer to his open letter to Nigerian Senators and Members of the House of Representatives, New Nigeria, 29 January 1981, p. 3.
37.
Ali Mazrui, ' Nigeria in the Nuclear Age' op. cit., p. 5.
38.
I have elsewhere argued for the necessity of a programmatic co-ordination between an African regional security framework and the Non-Aligned Movement. See, Bassey E. Ate , 'African Security and the Essense of Non-Alignment ', Review of International Affairs (Belgrade), 20 November 1982, pp. 10-12.
