Non‐alignment as a foreign policy orientation of the African National Congress

ABSTRACT

This article focuses on the foreign policy orientation of the African National Congress (ANC), which adheres to all five principles of non‐alignment: peace and disarmament, independence and racial equality, universalism and multilateralism, economic equality, and cultural equality. The ANC's non‐aligned record is blemished, however, by its bias towards the Soviet Union regarding issues such as disarmament and peace.

The ANC attended the founding conferences of non‐alignment (Bandung 1955) and the Non‐Aligned Movement (Belgrade 1961), and has regularly attended subsequent meetings. It has vigorously supported the first of the founding aims of the Non‐Aligned Movement: enhancing the security and development of the less developed states. However, in promoting liberation struggles (including its own) it compromised on the second founding aim: independence from the super‐powers and their power struggle. Again itwas the ANC's strong ties with the Soviet Union which tarnished its non‐aligned record.

With the demise of the Soviet Union it is expected that the ANC, while continuing to support the development and security needs of less developed states, will no longer have to compromise its non‐aligned stance. With the East‐West divide being replaced by the North‐South debate, the ANC can play a leading role in the Non‐Aligned Movement and its struggle for the rights of states from the South.