Organisation of African Unity(OAU)

 

Organisation of African Unity was established on May 25,1963 in Addis Ababa(capital of Ethiopia) with 32 signatory governments

The objectives of the OAU were to:

a)    To promote the unity and solidarity of the African States;

b)    To coordinate and intensify their cooperation and efforts to achieve a better life for the peoples of Africa;

c)    To defend their sovereignty, their territorial integrity and independence;

d)    To eradicate all forms of colonialism from Africa; and

e)    To promote international cooperation, having due regard to the Charter of the United Nations and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

 

Ghana's Kwame Nkrumah (left) and Ethiopia's Emperor Haile Selassie (right) helped found the OAU in 1963

 

OAU was disbanded  by its last Chairperson South African President thabo Mbeki and replaced by the 54-Member African Union(AU)on July  09,2002

• 1957: Leaders of Africa's 3 independent republics - Liberia, Ghana and Guinea - met to discuss liberating the rest of the continent
• 1963: OAU founded
• Initially concentrated on ending colonial and white minority rule in countries such as Angola, Mozambique (1975), Zimbabwe (1980), Namibia (1990) and South Africa (1994)
• 1984: Morocco leaves OAU after OAU recognised independence of Western Sahara
• 2002: OAU became the African Unio