Sharing Responsibilities for Africa’s Total Liberation
On 12 May 1966, when the Executive Secretariat of the Organisation of African Unity’s (OAU) Standing Committee on Defence circulated a report during their meeting in Dar es Salaam, it revealed Tanzania’s hardened stance towards guerrillas, especially those belonging to Southern African national liberation movements, in its territory. According to the report, the committee was unable to advance the necessary resources for the maintenance of Kongwa camp because most OAU member states had not yet paid their contributions for the fiscal year ending 31 May 1966.
Kongwa camp was first granted by the Tanzanian government to OAU recognised national liberation movements since 1964, and it became a key site in southern Africa’s exile history. First the South West Africa People’s Organisation (SWAPO) and the Mozambican Liberation Front (FRELIMO), and later the African National Congress (ANC), the People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) and the Zimbabwe African People’s Union (ZAPU), inhabited neighbouring sites near the town of Kongwa in central Tanzania, where they trained their respective members in guerrilla tactics and prepared to infiltrate their countries of origin.
Out of an £75 000 allocation forecast for the camp, only £46 250 was paid to Tanzania, and consequently the Tanzania government informed the Committee that unless an appropriate amount is paid for the Camp and the necessary fu
