Organization of African Unity (OAU) was formed on May
25, 1963 in Ethiopia with headquarters at Addis Ababa. Within the period of
formation, three groups existed in Africa, namely: The Casablanca group which
were the radicals that advocated pan- Africanist and super-national state for
Africa, which will take over all the sovereignty of all impendent state in
Africa. This group includes: Ghana, Guinea, Mali, Morocco, Egypt, Libya.
The second group is the Monrovia
group that consisted of Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Ethiopia, Tunisia, Togo, Somali.
They were the conservatives strongly opposed to the Casablanca group. They
wanted African countries to maintain relationship with their colonial masters
while retaining their independence. Their idea was to form a common organ where
their interests would be discussed.
The third group was the Brazzaville
group that comprise all the French speaking countries of Africa. They supported
the ideas of the Monrovia group. Hence the formation of OAU.
Organization of African Unity OAU
was formed with the following aims in mind.
1.
Promotion of the
Unity and sovereignty of the African states
2.
Promotion of
international cooperation within the framework of the UN
3.
Defence of their
sovereignty and territorial integrity.
4.
Eradication of
all forms of colonialism
5.
Collaboration of
efforts to improve the living standard of Africans.
The African Union was a replacement of the
Organization of African Unity AU was first proposed by the Libyan leader,
Moammar Ghadaffi. OAU Assembly of heads of state and government in July 1999 in
Algiers accepted an invitation from Col. Ghadaffi to the fourth extra-ordinary
summit in September in Sirte. The purpose of the extra-ordinary summit was to
amend the OAU charter to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the OAU. The theme of
the Sirte summit was “strengthening OAU capacity to enable it to meet the
challenges of the new millennium”. The summit concluded on 9 September 1999 with
the Sirte declaration aimed at;
1. Effectively
addressing the new social, political and economic realties in Africa and the
world.
2. fulfilling
the people’s aspiration for greater unity in conforming with the objectives of
OAU charter and the treaty establishing the African economic Community (AEC)
3. Revitalizing
the OAU to play a more active role in addressing the needs of the people.
4.
Eliminating
the scourge of conflicts
5.
Meeting
global challenges
6.
Hamessing the
human and material resources of the continent to improve living
conditions.
AU is not a second OAU but a replacement of it. While
OAU was meant to promote unit and solidarity among newly independent states and
also was instrumental to decolonization, the AU does not only promote unit and
international cooperation but also serves as organ of struggle against
re-colonization and imperialism in the age of globalization. Hence, in the new
AU, economic, social and human integrity of individuals as well as states are
subjects of the organization, AU takes a different dimension. The sanctity of state.
By extension, the success of sovereign independence of states is linked to the
affairs of their states and by extension the AU. Hence, in as much as other
organs in the OAU still exists in AU, the peculiar attribute of AU lies in the
provision of economic and social councils, promotion of democracy, involvement
of civil society and liberation of Africans under threat of extinction from
their governments e.g. genocide, etc.
The AU adopts the conflict prevention, management and
resolution strategies of the OAU as stipulated in the Cairo declaration. AU
also made provision for the establishment of a pan-African parliament, court of
justice and permanent representatives committee. The peace and reconciliation
committee would have to determine and act in time to prevent crimes against
humanity. Emphasis will be placed on this later.
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