The Impact Of The African States On The Third Law Of The Sea Conference: Its Ramifications For The Emerging World Order

African states\u27 participation in international affairs compared with other states had been poor until colonial empires were dismantled about two decades ago. With the advent of the United Nations and the granting of independence to colonial peoples, their previous minor role in international relations has edged into a medium role. The Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea is a clear manifestation of this fact.African states have participated in this Conference through tacit coalition-making, involvement based on leadership, lobbying across a broad spectrum among the conferees, thereby influencing international rule-making process. If compared with previous Law of the Sea Conferences (1958 and 1960), African states\u27 impact on the third conference is never in doubt. Its ramification for a world in search of order need not be emphasized. For too long, there has been a gap in state-to-state relationships in terms of sharing decision-making which affects everybody. What the third law of the Sea Conference had done with regard to the impact of the African states has been to broaden international rule-making which until recently, has been entirely in favor of the advanced states