Key Primary Information Sources Emanating from the Organization of African Unity (OAU) and the African Union (AU): From the Lagos Plan of Action to Agenda 2063

Author(s):  
Chedza Molefe
2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 259-276 ◽  
Author(s):  
Osy Ezechukwunyere Nwebo

Abstract After more than five decades of the establishment of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) now the African Union (AU), Africa remains at a cross road in her struggle to grapple with the daunting challenges of achieving its core objectives of promoting sustainable development (SD) and economic integration, despite various earlier development initiatives and treaties in that regard. In analyzing the problem, this paper adopts the concept of law as instrument of social change and argues that at the heart of Africa’s missed development opportunities in the past lies the fundamental problem of democratic governance deficit. Indeed, weak governance and its associated political instability, insecurity and lack of peace hinder development and socio-cultural harmony. The paper further argues that there is an ineluctable linkage between democratic governance and sustainability of development and therefore presents the adoption of democratic governance method as the only sustainable way of successfully addressing Africa’s development challenges. In the final analysis, the paper concludes that the achievement SD and integration of the African continent within the framework of agenda 2063 must be predicated on the prioritization and promotion of democratic governance as its necessary adjunct.


Author(s):  
Markus Kornprobst

This chapter examines contending African interpretations of peace and change; how some of these interpretations have come to constitute continental institutions; and how these institutions, in turn, have succeeded or failed to make a difference. Its argument is threefold. First, African interpretations of peace and change converge around a nexus of five elements: liberty, unity, development, pacific settlement of disputes and democracy. Second, this nexus left a major mark on continental institutions, first the Organization of African Unity and then the African Union. Third, although Africa’s record of peaceful change is very promising when one is to apply markers for peaceful change traditionally used in international relations, the continent has experienced very pronounced and persistent obstacles to implementing the five elements of the much more demanding nexus.


2003 ◽  
Vol 97 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-37 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nsongurua J. Udombana

Pending the establishment of the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights, the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights remains the only institutional body for the implementation of the rights guaranteed in the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights. The Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the Organization of African Unity (OAU), reconstituted as the African Union (AU), established the Commission in 1987, after the entry into force of the African Charter, in 1986, and pursuant to its Article 64 (1). The Commission was established, inter alia, “to promote human and peoples' rights and ensure their protection in Africa.” That is, besides “any other tasks which may be entrusted to it” by the Assembly, the Commission performs three primary functions: it promotes and protects human and peoples' rights and interprets the provisions of the Charter.


2002 ◽  
Vol 3 (8) ◽  
Author(s):  
Holger Hestermeyer

During their inaugural meeting in Durban, South Africa, on 9 July 2002 the African heads of state replaced the 39-year-old Organization of African Unity (OAU) with the latest international organization: the African Union (AU). With the exception of Morocco that was not a member of the OAU and Madagascar, whose president is not recognized by the OAU/AU all African heads of state attended the ceremony. The AU will be headquartered in Addis Ababa in the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia.


2019 ◽  
pp. 15-21
Author(s):  
Sengulo Albert Msellemu ◽  
Hamisi Mathias Machangu

The idea of the Unification of Africa is not one that should be easily discarded. It is an idea, however, that has experienced major difficulties for those seeking to implement it. Originating in the African Diaspora, it was taken up by figures such as Kwame Nkrumah and Julius Nyerere. In its first decades, the project of African unity was institutionalised in the Organization of African Unity. The OAU passed through many vicissitudes and was always a conceptual and political battleground divided between those who wanted swift and speedy unification of African states, and those who favoured more cautious approaches. In a period where the OAU has given way to the African Union, the authors make an impassioned plea for the continuation of the unification projection into the future, even if in a more sober manner more attuned to the complexities of a diverse continent.


2015 ◽  
Vol 54 (3) ◽  
pp. 507-531
Author(s):  
Uche Ewelukwa Ofodile

On June 27, 2014, at the 23rd Ordinary Session of the Summit of the African Union held in Malobo, Equatorial Guinea, member states of the Africa Union adopted the Protocol on the Establishment of the African Monetary Fund (Fund). Plan for the Fund is not new but dates back to the 1963 Charter of the Organization of African Unity (the predecessor to the Africa Union) as well as to the 1991 Abuja Treaty—the agreement that established the African Economic Community and put in place a framework for continental integration. The Constitutive Act of the African Union (Constitutive Act) adopted in 2000 also envisaged the establishment of the Fund. Annexed to the Protocol is the Statute of the African Monetary Fund (Statute). As envisioned in the Abuja Treaty, the Fund, together with continental institutions such as the Africa Investment Bank and the African Central Bank that are still in the pipeline, are critical to efforts to create a continental economic and monetary union in Africa.


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 283-311
Author(s):  
Sharkdam Wapmuk

The paper examines the extent to which Pan-Africanism and Pan-African vision of promoting African unity, cooperation and integration has been achieved under the African Union (AU) in the 21st century. It also assesses the challenges of cooperation and integration under the AU. The paper adopted a qualitative approach, while data was gathered from secondary sources and analysed thematically. It notes that the quest for African cooperation and integration is not new, but dates back to philosophy and vision of Pan-Africanism and Pan-African movement from the 1950s and 1960s. This movement later took roots in the continent and championed the struggle of Africans and peoples of African descent for emancipation and the restoration of their dignity, against slavery, colonialism and all forms of racism and racial exploitation, and to overcome developmental challenges. After independence, the Pan-African movement found concrete expression in the establishment of the Organization of Africa Unity (OAU) in 1963, and later transformed to the African Union (AU) in 2002. These continental organisations have served at platforms for the pursuit of Africa cooperation and integration and addressing post-independence challenges with varying successes. The paper revealed that AU’s Pan-African agenda in the 21st century including the African Economic Community (AEC), AU Agenda 2063, and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), are not without challenges. Addressing these challenges holds the key to achieving the continental goal of unity and achieving the vision and goals pan-Africanism in the 21st century in Africa.


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