Organisation for African Unity

Organisation of African Unity
Organisation de l'Unité Africaine
1963–2002
Flag Emblem
Capital		n/a a
Government		Not specified
Secretary-general
•	1963–1964	Kifle Wodajo
•	1964–1972	Diallo Telli
•	1972–1974	Nzo Ekangaki
•	1974–1978	William Eteki
•	1978–1983	Edem Kodjo
•	1983–1985	Peter Onu
•	1985–1989	Ide Oumarou
•	1989–2001	Salim Ahmed Salim
•	2001–2002	Amara Essy
History
•	Charter	25 May 1963
•	Disbanded	9 July 2002
Preceded by Succeeded by Casablanca Group Monrovia Group African Union
a Headquartered in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

The Organisation of African Unity (OAU; French: Organisation de l'unité africaine (OUA)) was established on 25 May 1963 in Addis Ababa, with 32 signatory governments. It was disbanded on 9 July 2002 by its last chairperson, South African President Thabo Mbeki, and replaced by the African Union (AU).

The OAU had the following primary aims:

A Liberation Committee was established to aid independence movements and look after the interests of already-independent states. The OAU also aimed to stay neutral in terms of global politics, which would prevent them from being controlled once more by outside forces – an especial danger with the Cold War.

The OAU had other aims, too:

Soon after achieving independence, a number of African states expressed a growing desire for more unity within the continent. Not everyone was agreed on how this unity could be achieved, however, and two opinionated groups emerged in this respect:

Some of the initial discussions took place at Sanniquellie, Liberia. The dispute was eventually resolved when Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassie I invited the two groups to Addis Ababa, where the OAU and its headquarters were subsequently established. The Charter of the Organisation was signed by 32 independent African states.

At the time of the OAU's disbanding, 53 out of the 54 African states were members; Morocco left on 12 November 1984 following the admission of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic as the government of Western Sahara in 1982.

The organisation was widely derided as a bureaucratic "talking shop" with little power. It struggled to enforce its decisions, and its lack of armed force made intervention exceedingly difficult. Civil wars in Nigeria and Angola continued unabated for years, and the OAU could do nothing to stop them.

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Wikipedia