West African Students' Union
Encyclopedia
The West African Students' Union (WASU) was an association of student
s from various West Africa
n countries who were studying in the United Kingdom
.
students, led by Ladipo Solanke
and Herbert Bankole-Bright
. Solanke had founded the Nigerian Progress Union (NPU), for London
-based students with a Nigeria
n background, the previous year. With the support of Amy Ashwood Garvey
, it had begun to campaign for improved welfare for all Africa
n students in London, and for assorted measures for progress in Britain's African colonies
.
As early as 1923, Solanke had proposed that the Union of Students of African Descent (USAD), a Christian social organisation dominated by students from the West Indies, should incorporate itself into the National Congress of British West Africa
(NCBWA). In 1925, Bankole-Bright of the NCBWA called on USAD, the NPU, the African Progress Union
and the Gold Coast Students Association to join together to form a single organisation for West African students, inspired by the Indian Students' Union. Many students joined together to form the WASU, and Solanke became the new organisations' secretary-general, while J. B. Danquah
became its first president. J. E. Casely Hayford
was the new grouping's first patron, and he used this post to promote African nationalism
.
The new organisation made opposition to the colour bar its first priority, while also including the promotion of political research, support for the NCBWA and the provision of a student hostel in its founding aims.
WASU began publication of a journal, Wasu, in March 1926. Solanke and Julius Ojo-Cole wrote the majority of articles in what was intended as a scholarly publication, circulated both in Europe and Africa.
The aim of founding a hostel was taken directly from USAD and the NPU. Many African students in Britain found that, due to racism
, it was difficult to secure satisfactory lodgings. While the Colonial Office
showed some interest in establishing such a hostel, WASU was keen to maintain control of the project, and in 1929, Solanke left for a fundraising journey through West Africa. Despite this, the Colonial Office assembled a secret committee to plan for a hostel under its control, and attempted to secure private funding for its construction.
WASU also undertook some political campaigns within Britain. In 1929, it successfully stopped plans for an African village exhibition in Newcastle
, which it felt would be exploitative. This campaign was taken up in Parliament by Communist Party of Great Britain
(CPGB) Member of Parliament
Shapurji Saklatvala
. During the 1930s, the group developed increasing links with communist groups, such as the League Against Imperialism
(LAI) and the Negro Welfare Association, in particular in its campaigns against the colour bar and against the Italian invasion of Ethiopia
.
While in Africa, Solanke founded more than twenty branches of WASU, in the Gold Coast
, Nigeria, Sierra Leone
and the Belgian Congo
. While these organisations were short-lived, they formed the initial membership of the Nigerian Youth Movement
and the Gold Coast Youth Conference.
in March 1933 named "Africa House". In addition to providing accommodation for students, the hostel also offered rooms to West African visitors to London, and it housed reference materials on West Africa. The new hostel did nothing to settle the disputes within WASU, and Solanke was accused of wasting money while in Africa, and of attempting to personally control the new lodgings. Almost all the GCSA members left WASU, and even an intervention by William Ofori Atta
was unable to settle matters.
The Colonial Office determined to open a rival hostel, at which political discussion could be monitored and discouraged. WASU opposed the scheme, and formed an "Africa House Defence Committee", including Reginald Bridgeman
of the LAI, also gaining the support of the National Council for Civil Liberties and Paul Robeson
, who was awarded the title "Babasale of the Union". Aggrey House opened in October 1934, but a WASU-led boycott
left it unfilled, until the Colonial Office finally offered WASU official recognition and financial support to run Africa House. In financial difficulties, WASU accepted the deal, and also accepted funding from organisations such as the United African Company.
In 1937, the Gold Coast Farmers Union wrote to Solanke, asking for his assistance in breaking the cocoa cartel
of Cadbury's and the UAC. With Labour Party
MPs Reginald Sorensen and Arthur Creech Jones
, WASU campaigned in support of the 1938 Gold Coast cocoa hold-up, where small farmers attempted to pressurise the companies by disrupting their supplies. The campaign also convinced most members of the GCSA to rejoin WASU.
In July 1938, with grants from various West African governments and British companies, WASU opened a new hostel, on Camden Square
. This also solved the union's financial problems, and enabled it to step up its campaigning activity. WASU became increasingly identified as an anti-colonial group, and it called for dominion status and universal suffrage
for the West African colonies. Clement Attlee
gave a speech to the union in which he suggested that the Atlantic Charter
would apply to all nations, effectively endorsing WASU's aims, but Winston Churchill
insisted that self-determination
could only apply to European nations.
personally visited Africa House to argue the British government's case.
WASU's influence in West Africa again increased, with both the Nigerian Union of Students and the Sierra Leone Students' Union affiliating. WASU also represented the Nigerian Union of Teachers within the UK. With its links to the Nigerian trade union
movement, WASU was a significant supporter of the Nigerian general strike in 1945.
In the mid-1940s, Solanke returned to West Africa to undertake further fundraising, with H. O. Davies
becoming acting Secretary-General. WASU also affiliated to the World Youth Movement, and in 1946 it held a joint conference with Kwame Nkrumah
's West African National Secretariat
. This event agreed a platform of anti-imperialism
and socialism
. Nkrumah also became Vice President of WASU. The following year, WASU called for an immediate decision on independence for the West African colonies, and criticised the Labour government for its failure to deliver this.
. However, he fell out with WASU's executive, each accusing the other of excessive expenditure, and in 1949 he stepped down from his positions in the group. In the 1951 elections to WASU's executive, he organised an anti-communist slate, which failed to take control from the largely communist leadership of Joe Appiah
and Ade Ademola. In 1952, WASU determined to close their Camden hostel, but Solanke instead took control of it.
WASU affiliated to the International Union of Students
(IUS) on its foundation, and its members regularly attended the World Festival of Youth. Although the National Union of Students of the United Kingdom left the IUS in 1952, WASU retained its membership.
In 1952, WASU began publication of WASU News Service, as an openly Marxist replacement for Wasu. Following further financial problems, it sold its hostel on the Chelsea Embankment and opened cheaper premises on Warrington Crescent in 1956. The same year, it underwent a major reorganisation and passed a motion disassociating it from all political organisations. In 1958, it joined the Committee of African Organisations and lost importance, but it remained active into the early 1960s.
was founded in 2004 to unite students' unions throughout the region. It describes itself as a formal resuscitation of the earlier organisation.
Student
A student is a learner, or someone who attends an educational institution. In some nations, the English term is reserved for those who attend university, while a schoolchild under the age of eighteen is called a pupil in English...
s from various West Africa
West Africa
West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of the African continent. Geopolitically, the UN definition of Western Africa includes the following 16 countries and an area of approximately 5 million square km:-Flags of West Africa:...
n countries who were studying in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
.
Origins
WASU was founded on 7 August 1925 by twenty-one lawLaw
Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...
students, led by Ladipo Solanke
Ladipo Solanke
Ladipo Solanke was a political activist who campaigned on West African issues.Born in Abeokuta, Nigeria, as Oladipo Felix Solanke, he studied at the Fourah Bay College in Sierra Leone before moving to study law at University College, London in 1922.In Britain, Solanke joined the Union of Students...
and Herbert Bankole-Bright
Herbert Bankole-Bright
Herbert Christian Bankole-Bright was a well-known politician in Sierra Leone.-Early life:Herbert Bankole-Bright was born in Okrika, Nigeria on August 23rd 1883. Bright was the son of Jacob 'Galba' and Letitia Bright, descendants of Sierra Leone Liberated Africans...
. Solanke had founded the Nigerian Progress Union (NPU), for London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
-based students with a Nigeria
Nigeria
Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...
n background, the previous year. With the support of Amy Ashwood Garvey
Amy Ashwood Garvey
Amy Ashwood Garvey was a Jamaican Pan-Africanist activist and the first wife of Marcus Garvey.Garvey was born in Port Antonio, Jamaica, she spent some years living in Panama. As a child, she was told by grandmother that she was of Ashanti descent...
, it had begun to campaign for improved welfare for all Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
n students in London, and for assorted measures for progress in Britain's African colonies
Colony
In politics and history, a colony is a territory under the immediate political control of a state. For colonies in antiquity, city-states would often found their own colonies. Some colonies were historically countries, while others were territories without definite statehood from their inception....
.
As early as 1923, Solanke had proposed that the Union of Students of African Descent (USAD), a Christian social organisation dominated by students from the West Indies, should incorporate itself into the National Congress of British West Africa
National Congress of British West Africa
The National Congress of British West Africa , founded in 1920, was the earliest nationalist organization in West Africa, and one of the earliest formal organizations working toward African emancipation...
(NCBWA). In 1925, Bankole-Bright of the NCBWA called on USAD, the NPU, the African Progress Union
African Progress Union
The African Progress Union was founded in London in 1918 as "an Association of Africans from various parts of Africa, the West Indies, British Guiana, Honduras and America, representing advanced African ideas in liberal education". The first president was John Archer.-References:*Killingray, David...
and the Gold Coast Students Association to join together to form a single organisation for West African students, inspired by the Indian Students' Union. Many students joined together to form the WASU, and Solanke became the new organisations' secretary-general, while J. B. Danquah
J. B. Danquah
Nana Joseph Kwame Kyeretwie Boakye Danquah was a Ghanaian statesman, pan-Africanist, scholar and historian. He played a significant role in pre and post colonial Ghana. In fact, he is credited with giving Ghana its name...
became its first president. J. E. Casely Hayford
J. E. Casely Hayford
Joseph Ephraim Casely-Hayford or Ekra-Agiman was a Fante journalist, author, lawyer, educator, and politician who supported pan-African nationalism...
was the new grouping's first patron, and he used this post to promote African nationalism
African nationalism
African nationalism is the nationalist political movement for one unified Africa, or the less significant objective of the acknowledgment of African tribes by instituting their own states, as well as the safeguarding of their indigenous customs...
.
The new organisation made opposition to the colour bar its first priority, while also including the promotion of political research, support for the NCBWA and the provision of a student hostel in its founding aims.
WASU began publication of a journal, Wasu, in March 1926. Solanke and Julius Ojo-Cole wrote the majority of articles in what was intended as a scholarly publication, circulated both in Europe and Africa.
The aim of founding a hostel was taken directly from USAD and the NPU. Many African students in Britain found that, due to racism
Racism
Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...
, it was difficult to secure satisfactory lodgings. While the Colonial Office
Colonial Office
Colonial Office is the government agency which serves to oversee and supervise their colony* Colonial Office - The British Government department* Office of Insular Affairs - the American government agency* Reichskolonialamt - the German Colonial Office...
showed some interest in establishing such a hostel, WASU was keen to maintain control of the project, and in 1929, Solanke left for a fundraising journey through West Africa. Despite this, the Colonial Office assembled a secret committee to plan for a hostel under its control, and attempted to secure private funding for its construction.
WASU also undertook some political campaigns within Britain. In 1929, it successfully stopped plans for an African village exhibition in Newcastle
Newcastle upon Tyne
Newcastle upon Tyne is a city and metropolitan borough of Tyne and Wear, in North East England. Historically a part of Northumberland, it is situated on the north bank of the River Tyne...
, which it felt would be exploitative. This campaign was taken up in Parliament by Communist Party of Great Britain
Communist Party of Great Britain
The Communist Party of Great Britain was the largest communist party in Great Britain, although it never became a mass party like those in France and Italy. It existed from 1920 to 1991.-Formation:...
(CPGB) Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
Shapurji Saklatvala
Shapurji Saklatvala
Shapurji Saklatvala was a British politician of Indian Parsi heritage. He was the third Indian Member of Parliament in the Parliament of the United Kingdom after fellow Parsis Dadabhai Naoroji and Mancherjee Bhownagree....
. During the 1930s, the group developed increasing links with communist groups, such as the League Against Imperialism
League against Imperialism
The League against Imperialism was founded in the Egmont Palace in Brussels, Belgium, on February 10, 1927, in presence of 175 delegates, among which 107 came from 37 countries under colonial rule. The Congress aimed at creating a "mass anti-imperialist movement" at a world scale, and was...
(LAI) and the Negro Welfare Association, in particular in its campaigns against the colour bar and against the Italian invasion of Ethiopia
Ethiopia
Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...
.
While in Africa, Solanke founded more than twenty branches of WASU, in the Gold Coast
Gold Coast (British colony)
The Gold Coast was a British colony on the Gulf of Guinea in west Africa that became the independent nation of Ghana in 1957.-Overview:The first Europeans to arrive at the coast were the Portuguese in 1471. They encountered a variety of African kingdoms, some of which controlled substantial...
, Nigeria, Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone , officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Guinea to the north and east, Liberia to the southeast, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west and southwest. Sierra Leone covers a total area of and has an estimated population between 5.4 and 6.4...
and the Belgian Congo
Belgian Congo
The Belgian Congo was the formal title of present-day Democratic Republic of the Congo between King Leopold II's formal relinquishment of his personal control over the state to Belgium on 15 November 1908, and Congolese independence on 30 June 1960.-Congo Free State, 1884–1908:Until the latter...
. While these organisations were short-lived, they formed the initial membership of the Nigerian Youth Movement
Nigerian Youth Movement
The Nigerian Youth Movement was Nigeria's first genuine nationalist organization, founded in Lagos in 1933 with the name of Lagos Youth Movement and renamed the Nigerian Youth Movement in 1936.-Early years:Founding members included Dr...
and the Gold Coast Youth Conference.
Activities in the 1930s
By 1932, when Solanke finally returned to Britain, Wasu had ceased to appear, and membership had fallen amid disputes between Nigerian and Gold Coast members. However, he had raised sufficient funds to open a hostel in CamdenCamden Town
-Economy:In recent years, entertainment-related businesses and a Holiday Inn have moved into the area. A number of retail and food chain outlets have replaced independent shops driven out by high rents and redevelopment. Restaurants have thrived, with the variety of culinary traditions found in...
in March 1933 named "Africa House". In addition to providing accommodation for students, the hostel also offered rooms to West African visitors to London, and it housed reference materials on West Africa. The new hostel did nothing to settle the disputes within WASU, and Solanke was accused of wasting money while in Africa, and of attempting to personally control the new lodgings. Almost all the GCSA members left WASU, and even an intervention by William Ofori Atta
William Ofori Atta
Nana William Ofori Atta was a founding member of the United Gold Coast Convention and was one of "The Big Six" detained by the British colonial government in Ghana...
was unable to settle matters.
The Colonial Office determined to open a rival hostel, at which political discussion could be monitored and discouraged. WASU opposed the scheme, and formed an "Africa House Defence Committee", including Reginald Bridgeman
Reginald Bridgeman
Reginald Francis Orlando Bridgeman CMG, MVO was a British diplomat and politician.-Background:Born in London, he was the oldest son of Brigadier Francis Charles Bridgeman, son of Orlando Bridgeman, 3rd Earl of Bradford, and his first wife Gertude Cecilia Hanbury, daughter of George Hanbury...
of the LAI, also gaining the support of the National Council for Civil Liberties and Paul Robeson
Paul Robeson
Paul Leroy Robeson was an American concert singer , recording artist, actor, athlete, scholar who was an advocate for the Civil Rights Movement in the first half of the twentieth century...
, who was awarded the title "Babasale of the Union". Aggrey House opened in October 1934, but a WASU-led boycott
Boycott
A boycott is an act of voluntarily abstaining from using, buying, or dealing with a person, organization, or country as an expression of protest, usually for political reasons...
left it unfilled, until the Colonial Office finally offered WASU official recognition and financial support to run Africa House. In financial difficulties, WASU accepted the deal, and also accepted funding from organisations such as the United African Company.
In 1937, the Gold Coast Farmers Union wrote to Solanke, asking for his assistance in breaking the cocoa cartel
Cartel
A cartel is a formal agreement among competing firms. It is a formal organization of producers and manufacturers that agree to fix prices, marketing, and production. Cartels usually occur in an oligopolistic industry, where there is a small number of sellers and usually involve homogeneous products...
of Cadbury's and the UAC. With Labour Party
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
MPs Reginald Sorensen and Arthur Creech Jones
Arthur Creech Jones
Arthur Creech Jones was a British trade union official and politician. Originally a civil servant, his imprisonment as a conscientious objector during the First World War forced him to change careers. A protégé of Ernest Bevin, he was elected to Parliament in 1935 and served in the Colonial Office...
, WASU campaigned in support of the 1938 Gold Coast cocoa hold-up, where small farmers attempted to pressurise the companies by disrupting their supplies. The campaign also convinced most members of the GCSA to rejoin WASU.
In July 1938, with grants from various West African governments and British companies, WASU opened a new hostel, on Camden Square
Camden Square
Camden Square is a rectangular town square in the London Borough of Camden running parallel to Camden Road north of central Camden. Amy Winehouse and Orlando Jewitt both lived and died on the square, and one of its houses once housed the West African Students' Union. It now has a playground and dog...
. This also solved the union's financial problems, and enabled it to step up its campaigning activity. WASU became increasingly identified as an anti-colonial group, and it called for dominion status and universal suffrage
Universal suffrage
Universal suffrage consists of the extension of the right to vote to adult citizens as a whole, though it may also mean extending said right to minors and non-citizens...
for the West African colonies. Clement Attlee
Clement Attlee
Clement Richard Attlee, 1st Earl Attlee, KG, OM, CH, PC, FRS was a British Labour politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1945 to 1951, and as the Leader of the Labour Party from 1935 to 1955...
gave a speech to the union in which he suggested that the Atlantic Charter
Atlantic Charter
The Atlantic Charter was a pivotal policy statement first issued in August 1941 that early in World War II defined the Allied goals for the post-war world. It was drafted by Britain and the United States, and later agreed to by all the Allies...
would apply to all nations, effectively endorsing WASU's aims, but Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
insisted that self-determination
Self-determination
Self-determination is the principle in international law that nations have the right to freely choose their sovereignty and international political status with no external compulsion or external interference...
could only apply to European nations.
Activities in the 1940s
In 1942, WASU organised a "West African Parliamentary Committee", chaired by Sorensen. It also published a call for the immediate internal self-government of Britain's West African colonies, to be followed by independence within five years of the end of the war. Harold MacmillanHarold Macmillan
Maurice Harold Macmillan, 1st Earl of Stockton, OM, PC was Conservative Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 10 January 1957 to 18 October 1963....
personally visited Africa House to argue the British government's case.
WASU's influence in West Africa again increased, with both the Nigerian Union of Students and the Sierra Leone Students' Union affiliating. WASU also represented the Nigerian Union of Teachers within the UK. With its links to the Nigerian trade union
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
movement, WASU was a significant supporter of the Nigerian general strike in 1945.
In the mid-1940s, Solanke returned to West Africa to undertake further fundraising, with H. O. Davies
H. O. Davies
Oloye Hezekiah Oladipo Davies was a leading Nigerian nationalist, lawyer, journalist, trade unionist, thought leader, international statesman and politician during the nation's movement towards independence in 1960 and immediately afterwards.-Family History and Early Days:Chief Davies was born in...
becoming acting Secretary-General. WASU also affiliated to the World Youth Movement, and in 1946 it held a joint conference with Kwame Nkrumah
Kwame Nkrumah
Kwame Nkrumah was the leader of Ghana and its predecessor state, the Gold Coast, from 1952 to 1966. Overseeing the nation's independence from British colonial rule in 1957, Nkrumah was the first President of Ghana and the first Prime Minister of Ghana...
's West African National Secretariat
West African National Secretariat
The West African National Secretariat was a Pan-Africanist movement founded by Kwame Nkrumah, based in Britain.Nkrumah founded WANS in December 1945, immediately following the Manchester Pan-African Congress, becoming the new organisation's Secretary-General. Other founder members included I. T. A...
. This event agreed a platform of anti-imperialism
Anti-imperialism
Anti-imperialism, strictly speaking, is a term that may be applied to a movement opposed to any form of colonialism or imperialism. Anti-imperialism includes opposition to wars of conquest, particularly of non-contiguous territory or people with a different language or culture; it also includes...
and socialism
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
. Nkrumah also became Vice President of WASU. The following year, WASU called for an immediate decision on independence for the West African colonies, and criticised the Labour government for its failure to deliver this.
Final years
Solanke returned from West Africa at the end of the decade, with sufficient funding for a new hostel to open on the Chelsea EmbankmentChelsea Embankment
Chelsea Embankment is part of the Thames Embankment, a road and walkway along the north bank of the River Thames in central London, England.The western end of Chelsea Embankment, including a stretch of Cheyne Walk, is in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea; the eastern end, including...
. However, he fell out with WASU's executive, each accusing the other of excessive expenditure, and in 1949 he stepped down from his positions in the group. In the 1951 elections to WASU's executive, he organised an anti-communist slate, which failed to take control from the largely communist leadership of Joe Appiah
Joe Appiah
Nana Joseph Emmanuel "Joe" Appiah, MP was a Ghanaian lawyer, politician and statesman. He was born in Kumasi to Nana James Appiah and Nana Adwoa Akyaa, members of the Ashanti imperial aristocracy...
and Ade Ademola. In 1952, WASU determined to close their Camden hostel, but Solanke instead took control of it.
WASU affiliated to the International Union of Students
International Union of Students
The International Union of Students is a worldwide nonpartisan association of university student organizations.The IUS is the umbrella organization for 155 such student organizations across 112 countries and territories representing approximately 25 million students.-Aim and work areas:The aims of...
(IUS) on its foundation, and its members regularly attended the World Festival of Youth. Although the National Union of Students of the United Kingdom left the IUS in 1952, WASU retained its membership.
In 1952, WASU began publication of WASU News Service, as an openly Marxist replacement for Wasu. Following further financial problems, it sold its hostel on the Chelsea Embankment and opened cheaper premises on Warrington Crescent in 1956. The same year, it underwent a major reorganisation and passed a motion disassociating it from all political organisations. In 1958, it joined the Committee of African Organisations and lost importance, but it remained active into the early 1960s.
Modern organisation
A new West African Students' Union based in GhanaGhana
Ghana , officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country located in West Africa. It is bordered by Côte d'Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east, and the Gulf of Guinea to the south...
was founded in 2004 to unite students' unions throughout the region. It describes itself as a formal resuscitation of the earlier organisation.