Conference of Bandung

The conference of Bandung was held of the 18 with the April 24th 1955 with Bandung, in Indonesia, joining together for the first twenty-nine time African and Asian countries of which Gamal Abdel Nasser (Egypt), Nehru (India), Soekarno (Indonesia) and Zhou Enlaï (China). This conference will mark the entry on the international scene of the Third World countries.

Context

As of the years 1930, one attends the development of nationalist movements asserting the independence of their country; they are reinforced the shortly after the Second world war. The shortly after the conference of Geneva which, in 1954, puts an end to the Guerre of Indo-China, the new Asian powers want to accelerate the process of independence.

In 1955, about thirty Asian and African countries acquired their independence. The world is then in a context of Cold war opposing the Soviet block to the Western block. Conscious of their force, these lately independent countries decide all then to implement to help the other colonies to acquire they also their independence. The Asia was the first continent to see multiplying new States having reached their sovereignty at the expense of the Western colonial powers, which explains the localization of the conference with Bandung. The large actors of this meeting are the Indian Nehru, the Egyptian Gamal Abdel Nasser, and the Chinese Zhou Enlai.

Conference of Bandung

The five inviting powers of Bandung - the India, Ceylon, the Pakistan, the Burma and the Indonesia - had met in Colombo, of the April 5th to the May 2nd 1954, to seek the means of accelerating the conclusion of peace in Indo-China. The five then give an opinion against the nuclear tests, the policy of the blocks and colonialism and decides for the admission of the Popular republic of China to the the United Nations.

A few months later, in December 1954, the five of Colombo are found with Bogor, locality close to the capital indonésienne, to decide final preparations of the conference, and, in particular, to draw up the list of the countries to be invited to take share with the creation of a peace zone based on the principles of the peaceful coexistence. Twenty-five countries, whose China and Democratic republic of Vietnam, are invited, and, among them, only the Fédération of central Africa declines the invitation. Twenty-nine countries will go to the conference: fifteen countries of Asia (Afghanistan, Burma, Kampuchea, Ceylon (current the Sri Lanka), Popular republic of China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Nepal, Pakistan, Filipino, Siam (current the Thailand), Popular republic of Vietnam, State of Vietnam), nine of the the Middle East (Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Turkey and African Yemen) and only five countries (Coast-with-the Or (current the Ghana), Ethiopia, Liberia Sudan and Libya) what reflects the fact that most of this continent is still colonized. Japan is only the Pays industrialized to be assisted with the conference.

Final resolution

The final communique of the conference of Bandung, inspired by the Nehru Indian, is marked by the neutralism and the principles of the peaceful coexistence but sorrow to determine a trunk common vis-a-vis the “Large ones”: non-aligned (India and Egypt), oppose, on a side, the pro-Westerners, the countries of the Pacte of Baghdad, NATO or OTASE (Iraq, Iran, Japan, Pakistan, Philippines and Turkey), and other, the countries having adopted the Communist regime (communist China and Popular republic of Vietnam).

In addition to the fact that the conference of Bandung marks the entry of the Tiers-monde on the international scene, the conference condemned the Colonisation and the Impérialisme in general, and in particular the Apartheid in South Africa, and France which is the first colonial power in Africa. The countries signatories call the countries still colonized to fight for their independence but the peaceful solution and the research of the negotiation must be preferred. They also point out their will not to belong to one or the other of the two blocks in full cold war opposing the United States and the Soviet block.

Consequences

The conference contributed to the acceleration of the process of Décolonisation and to the emergence of a new group of countries which will make party of the “third block” between the communist bloc and the Western block. In continuity, the conference of Belgrade which will join together some of these countries in 1961, will pose the bases of the Mouvement of non-aligned the. However the conference clarified existing divisions between the countries rather close to one of the two blocks or preferring non-alignment.

See too

Random links: