.1
2
priorities and concerns, which have not always accorded with our own. No good can come of mutual recrimination. Our differing perspectives converge in a common purpose to build a secure and just future for Africa. In active collaboration there is much we can do; in contention or apart we will miss great opportunities. President Ford, the American Government and people are prepared to work with you with energy and good- will if met in the same spirit.
So it is time to put aside slogans and to seek practical solutions. It is time to find our common ground and act boldly for common ends.
Africa is a continent of hope--a modern frontier. The United States from the beginning has been a country of the frontier, built by men and women of hope. The American people know from their history the meaning of the struggle for independence, for racial equality, for economic progress, for human dignity.
I am not here to give American prescriptions for Africa's problems. Your program must be African. The basic decisions and goals must be African. But we are prepared to help.
Nor am I here to set African against African, either among your governments or among factions of liberation movements. African problems cannot be solved and your destiny cannot be fulfilled except by a united Africa. America supports African unity. We urge all other countries to do the same.
!
Here in Africa the range of mankind's challenges and potential can be seen in all its complexity and enormous promise. The massive power and grandeur of nature is before us in all its aspects--as the harsh master and as a bountiful servant of mankind. Here we can feel the rich and living cultures which have changed and invigorated art, music and thought around the world. And here, on this continent, we are tested, all of us, to see whether our future will be determined for us or by us, whether humanity will be the victim or the architect of its destiny.