Beyond the African Unification Debate: Why is Pan-African Unity Still a Distant Dream?

2019 ◽  
pp. 15-21
Author(s):  
Sengulo Albert Msellemu ◽  
Hamisi Mathias Machangu
Keyword(s):  
African Diaspora ◽  
African Union ◽  
African Unity ◽  
Kwame Nkrumah ◽  
Pan African ◽  
The Future ◽  
Organization Of African Unity

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.

Peaceful Change in Africa

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Markus Kornprobst
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
African Union ◽  
African Unity ◽  
Organization Of African Unity ◽  
Five Elements ◽  
Settlement Of Disputes

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.

The Charter of the Organization of African Unity

1965 ◽  
Vol 59 (2) ◽  
pp. 243-267 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. O. Elias
Keyword(s):  
Small Group ◽  
Sierra Leone ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
African Unity ◽  
United Arab Republic ◽  
Self Defense ◽  
Pan African ◽  
Organization Of African Unity ◽  
Independent States

Early in 1961, the President of Liberia, the Prime Minister of Nigeria, and the Prime Minister of Sierra Leone decided to act as joint sponsors of a conference of the leaders of all the independent African states for the purpose of promoting inter-African co-operation. Liberia, as the the oldest of the three sponsoring states, graciously offered to play host. The idea was that all the African states that were independent at that time were ipso facto eligible for membership of the conference. This conference would include the small group of independent African states, usually referred to as the Casablanca bloc, consisting of the United Arab Republic, Ghana, Guinea, Mali and Morocco. This group had signed the Casablanca Charter which was a brief document setting out the aims and purposes of the organization, among which were schemes of economic and social co-operation and the establishment of an African High Command for the purpose of self-defense of its members as well as for that of ridding the continent of Africa of all forms of colonialism. When, therefore, the decision was taken by the three sponsoring states to call a Pan-African conference, it was envisaged that all the then independent states in Africa, including the so-called Casablanca bloc states, would attend and take a full part in its deliberations.

The OAU and the Mozambique Revolution

1973 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-32
Author(s):  
D. Elwood Dunn
Keyword(s):  
Self Determination ◽  
Keynote Address ◽  
African Unity ◽  
Regional Organization ◽  
Kwame Nkrumah ◽  
Organization Of African Unity ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Total Agreement

One of the strongest impulses that led to the creation of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) in 1963 was the desire of free Africa to hasten independence in colonized Africa. When the leaders of independent Africa convened to inaugurate the first international regional organization of its kind in Africa, there seemed total agreement on the principle of self-determination. What Kwame Nkrumah had proclaimed six years earlier upon Ghana's accession to independence was echoed in the keynote address of the Ethiopian Emperor: “Our liberty is meaningless unless all Africans are free. Our brothers in the Rhodesias … Mozambique … cry out in anguish for our support and assistance.”

So Far, So Fair: The Local Remedies Rule in the Jurisprudence of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights

2003 ◽  
Vol 97 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-37 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nsongurua J. Udombana
Keyword(s):  
African Union ◽  
African Unity ◽  
Organization Of African Unity ◽  
African Charter ◽  
Heads Of State ◽  
African Commission

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.

African Union replaces Organization of African Unity

2002 ◽  
Vol 3 (8) ◽  
Author(s):  
Holger Hestermeyer
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Democratic Republic ◽  
Addis Ababa ◽  
International Organization ◽  
African Union ◽  
African Unity ◽  
Inaugural Meeting ◽  
Organization Of African Unity ◽  
Heads Of State

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.

The African Union Agenda 2063 and the Imperative of Democratic Governance

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 259-276 ◽  
Author(s):  
Osy Ezechukwunyere Nwebo
Keyword(s):  
Fundamental Problem ◽  
Final Analysis ◽  
Democratic Governance ◽  
African Union ◽  
African Continent ◽  
African Unity ◽  
The Past ◽  
Organization Of African Unity ◽  
The Concept Of Law ◽  
Agenda 2063

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.

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