In 1960, President Kwame Nkrumah (Ghana) and Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba (Congo, Kinshasa) signed a secret agreement to unify their countries into a Union of African States:

The president of the Republic of Ghana and the prime minister of the Republic of the Congo,

Having given serious thought to the idea of African unity, and

With the approval of the governments and peoples of their respective states,

Have decided to establish among themselves a Union of African States and agreed as follows:

That the union will have a republican constitution within a federal framework,

That the federal government will be responsible for foreign affairs, defense, a common currency, economic planning and development,

That there will be no customs barriers between any parts of the federation.

There will be a federal parliament and a federal head of state,

That the capital of the union will be Leopoldville,

That any state of territory in Africa is free to join this union, and

That the above union presupposes Ghana's abandonment of the Commonwealth.

Dated at Accra this 8th day of August 1960.