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Union of African States

international organization

Layered newspapers, civic records and oral-history reels arranged as chronological evidence
History and societyInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 13, 2026
Entity authorityQ633609 ↗
Source-derived summary

The Union of African States (French: Union des États africains), sometimes called the Ghana–Guinea–Mali Union, was a short-lived and loose regional organization formed in 1958 linking the West African nations of Ghana and Guinea as the Union of Independent African States. Mali joined in 1961. It disbanded in 1963.

The union planned to develop a common currency and unified foreign policy amongst members; however, none of these proposals were implemented by the countries. The union was the first organization in Africa to bring together former colonies of the British and the French. Although the union was open to all independent states in Africa, no other states joined. The union had a limited impact on politics as there was never any administration or permanent meetings to support the goals of unity. Its legacy was largely limited to longstanding political relationships between Ghana and Mali.

President and Prime Minister

Kwame Nkrumah (Prime Minister of Ghana 1957–1960, then President from 1960), Ahmed Sékou Touré (President of Guinea 1958–1984), and Modibo Keïta (President of Mali 1960–1968). The union again came into the news when Nkrumah was named as the co-president of Guinea after he was deposed as President of Ghana by a military coup in 1966.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Union of African States” as international organization. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Union, African and States.

Editorial reviewA useful synthesis for locating the documentary relationships between formal authority, participants and affected communities. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1958, 1961, 1963, 1957—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1958-01-01. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Union, African and States providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Union of African States”, the useful work is to connect “international organization” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Chronology, provenance and viewpoint should be read together before a broad social or political interpretation is accepted. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 13, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q633609. VIAF identifies the subject as 147918710. The Library of Congress control number is n96900852. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1958, 1961, 1963 and 1957.

Critical limits

Institutional narratives can privilege the records that survived while minimizing voices that were never formally collected. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Compare institutional narratives with records created by participants and affected communities. Dates and formal titles are useful anchors, but not substitutes for context.

Best used for
  • Event chronology
  • Institutional context
  • Locating named record creators
Verify next

Contemporary correspondence, government or organizational records, oral histories and cited historical scholarship.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Union of African States”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Union of African States primary sources, Union of African States archive and Union research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Union of African States”?
  2. Which voices are present, absent or mediated by the institution?
  3. What chronology connects this entry to wider political or social change?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Union of African States” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.