LAST MONTH Africa’s 54 leaders celebrated the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) – it became the African Union (AU) in 2002 – which had its origins in the struggle for decolonization and against apartheid.
It was founded in 1963 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the venue chosen to mark the anniversary. Since it was founded, the AU has sought to push for peace and prosperity and to unite Africa.
But opinion is divided on the success.
It was also formed to “coordinate and intensify cooperation for development, to safeguard the sovereignty and territorial integrity of member states and to promote international cooperation within the framework of the United Nations”.
However, the profile of the AU has gradually declined over the years. This is not to say that the organization has not achieved much; it has some notable accomplishments that have promoted conflict resolution among warring states at certain times.
Unfortunately, the goal of union or unity still remains elusive.
What makes unity so elusive? It is suggested that it would have been much easier for the young African nations to unite politically in 1963 than today. At that time, individual sovereignty was still a new thing and African leaders were not wedded to it.
After some years of holding power, it became increasingly difficult for each head of state to give it up. Further, soon after independence, there were many more political idealists supporting Pan Africanism than there are today.
That, however, is not to belittle or disregard the efforts at regional integration! Most will agree that Europe under the European Union, complete with a European Parliament, has achieved much more than when it was a mere economic community.
The United States of America discovered this formula much earlier than everybody else and became a world power. The power of China also lies in the uniting of its provinces into one very powerful nation of more than a billion people.
The emerging power of India equally lies in its size and the number of people brought together by the unity of the various states.
The AU will do Africa and its diaspora a great service if it seriously and aggressively rekindles the discourse on African unity.
We do, of course, have some real problems when assessing the current leadership on the continent and its ability to inspire others the way Nkrumah, Julius Nyerere and Nelson Mandela would have done.
Nonetheless, the AU has largely achieved its primary role of liberating Africa from the chains of colonialism and apartheid. However, after 50 years the continent still lags behind its peers in developments on the political and economic fronts despite its huge potential.
