Soviet Afro-Asian Solidarity Committee

The Soviet Afro-Asian Solidarity Committee (Russian: Советский комитет солидарности стран Азии и Африки, abbreviated СКССАА, SKSSAA) was an organization in the Soviet Union, which mobilized solidarity efforts to national liberation movements in Africa and Asia. SKSSAA was founded in May 1956. SKSSAA was a member of the Afro-Asian People's Solidarity Organisation (AAPSO). SKSSAA functioned as a Soviet semi-official foreign policy organ. SKSSAA was funded through the Soviet Peace Fund. It worked in close coordination with the International Department of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. The discourse of SKSSAA was centered on two positions: support of the right of self-determination and anti-racism.

The SKSSAA was also one of the founders of the Patrice Lumumba University.

SKSSAA published, jointly with the Institute of Oriental Studies, the sociopolitical and scientific journal Aziia i Afrika Segodnia.

As of 1968, Mirzo Tursunzoda was the chairman of SKSSAA.Vladimir Shubin was secretary of SKSSAA at one point. Members of minority populations (such as Caucasian and Central Asian ethnic groups) were highly represented in SKSSAA. Often SKSSAA portrayed the experience of peripheric Soviet regions as models of development towards Third World countries.

A part of the SKSSAA aid to African liberation movements was channelled through the Organization for African Unity.

SKSSAA was active internationally in the struggle against apartheid in South Africa. SKSSAA provided the African National Congress in exile with material resources, such as food, clothes and vehicles. The SKSSAA and other Soviet non-governmental organizations (NGOs) received South Africans in need of medical treatment, and arranged stays for them at Soviet hospitals. The organization also coordinated activities for South African students in the Soviet Union.

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