Charter of the Organization of African Unity
Document
The founding treaty, where the debate of 1963 was settled: unity through cooperation among sovereign states.
The sovereign equality of all Member States. Non-interference in the internal affairs of States. Respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of each Member State and for its inalienable right to independent existence.
Put Nkrumah's speech and this entry side by side. His union government and the Charter's sovereign-equality principles were written in the same week by the same generation. The Charter is not a rejection of unity; it is unity pursued through cooperation among sovereign states rather than through Nkrumah's proposed union government. Whether that pace was wisdom or evasion is the question FedAfrica exists to reopen.
Context
The Charter is what the thirty-two gathered states actually signed. Its purposes were bold: promote unity and solidarity, defend sovereignty and territorial integrity, eradicate colonialism. Its principles were the compromise. The OAU coordinated support for the liberation of the remaining colonies and endured until 2002, when it was replaced by the African Union.