Organization for African Unity

Organization for African Unity OAU
Organization for African Unity emblem
Flag of the Organization for African Unity
Member States
English name	Organization for African Unity
Seat of the organs	Addis Ababa , Ethiopia
Member States	53
founding	May 25, 1963
dissolved on 9 July 2002 and the African Union risen

The Organization for African Unity ( English Organization of African Unity , OAU ; French Organization de l'Unité Africaine , OUA ) was an organization of almost all African countries that existed from 1963 to 2002. It is the predecessor organization of the African Union .

Development of the OAU

Egypt's President Gamal Abdel Nasser at the OAU summit in Cairo (1964)

The seat of the OAU was Addis Ababa in Ethiopia . The organization's charter has been signed by 32 independent African states. The presidency of the OAU was assumed for one year by the head of state of one of the member countries. The President was elected by the General Assembly of the OAU, which was attended by the Heads of State of the Member States.

The OAU was founded on May 25, 1963 in Addis Ababa by 30 African countries (predecessor organizations were the Casablanca Group and the Monrovia Group ). The joint positions of the founding states is summarized in a document, the OAU Charter (engl. OAU Charter ) together. On May 30, 1963, the assembled heads of state exchanged their positions on the ongoing process of further decolonization in Africa. The first goal in this context was the liberation of Angola from colonial rule. It was also decided to set up a committee for the liberation of Africa ( African Liberation Committee ), which should have its seat in Dar es Salaam and consist of representatives from 9 countries. To finance its activities, 1 percent of the budget should be made available. The assembled heads of state called for overflight rights for flights affecting Portugal and South Africa to be suspended and for the airports and seaports to be closed for the same purpose.

At the 28th meeting of the OAU government representatives from June 28 to July 2, 1992 in Dakar , the representatives of African states present decided on a new way of preventing and regulating conflicts on the continent and instructed the Secretary General of the association to work out specific regulations for Conflict prevention. For the first time, internal conflicts in individual African states should also be addressed. In accordance with the new principles, conflict management should primarily be carried out by the OAU and only in the case of significantly expanded conflicts with funds from the UN.

At the 30th meeting of their OAU government representatives from June 13 to 15, 1994 in Tunis, as a result of the end of the apartheid era in South Africa , the representatives drew hope that the organization could now develop a growing effectiveness on the African continent. South Africa took part in an OAU meeting for the first time and became the 53rd member. In this way, the country actively campaigned in favor of a treaty for a nuclear weapons-free zone in Africa ( Treaty of Pelindaba ).

With the Constitutive Act of the African Union of September 8, 2000, the end of the OAU was officially sealed. The Sirte Declaration of the OAU of September 9, 1999 pointed the way to this. It said: “Establish an African Union in conformity with the ultimate objectives of the Charter of our Continental Organization and the provisions of the Treaty establishing the African Economic Community.” (German for example: Establishment of an African Union in connection with the goals of the Charter our continental organization and the provisions of the Treaty establishing the African Economic Community.). The Libyan head of state Muammar al-Gaddafi had invited to this 4th special summit in order to improve the efficiency of the organization.

The last summit conference of the organization took place on July 11, 2001 together with representatives of the African Economic Community (AEC) in Lusaka , at which the action plan for the establishment of the African Union was approved. On July 9, 2002, the work of the OAU ended. The African Union began its regular activities the following day. Most recently, apart from Morocco , which left the OAU in 1985 to protest against the admission of Western Sahara (see: Western Sahara conflict ), all 53 African states were represented in the organization.

The aim of the organization was to promote the unity and solidarity of the African states and to act as a unified voice of the continent. It was supposed to eradicate colonialism in Africa and promote independence.

Organizations of the OAU

The following sub-organizations of the OAU existed:

• African Accounting Council,
• African Bureau for Educational Sciences,
• African Civil Aviation Commission,
• Pan-African News Agency,
• Pan-African Postal Union,
• Pan-African Railways Union,
• Pan-African Telecommunications Union,
• Supreme Council for Sports in Africa.

General Secretaries

Surname	Beginning of the term of office	Term expires	nationality
Kifle Wodajo	May 25, 1963	July 21, 1964	Ethiopia
Diallo Telli	July 21, 1964	June 15, 1972	Guinea
Nzo Ekangaki	June 15, 1972	June 16, 1974	Cameroon
William Eteki	June 16, 1974	July 21, 1978	Cameroon
Edem Kodjo	July 21, 1978	June 12, 1983	Togo
Peter Onu	June 12, 1983	July 20, 1985	Nigeria
Idé Oumarou	July 20, 1985	September 19, 1989	Niger
Salim Ahmed Salim	September 19, 1989	September 17, 2001	Tanzania
Amara Essy	September 17, 2001	July 9, 2002	Ivory Coast

Chairperson

The President of the Organization for African Unity (OAU) was the chairman of the organization for one year.

Surname	Beginning of the term of office	Term expires	nationality
Haile Selassie	May 25, 1963	17th July 1964	Ethiopia
Gamal Abdel Nasser	17th July 1964	Oct 21, 1965	Egypt
Kwame Nkrumah	Oct 21, 1965	Feb. 24, 1966	Ghana
Joseph Arthur Ankrah	Feb. 24, 1966	Nov 5, 1966	Ghana
Haile Selassie	Nov 5, 1966	Sep 11 1967	Ethiopia
Joseph-Désiré Mobutu	Sep 11 1967	13 Sep 1968	DR Congo
Houari Boumedienne	13 Sep 1968	6 Sep 1969	Algeria
Ahmadou Ahidjo	6 Sep 1969	Sep 1 1970	Cameroon
Kenneth Kaunda	Sep 1 1970	June 21, 1971	Zambia
Moktar Ould Daddah	June 21, 1971	June 12, 1972	Mauritania
Hassan II	June 12, 1972	May 27, 1973	Morocco
Yakubu Gowon	May 27, 1973	June 12, 1974	Nigeria
Siad Barre	June 12, 1974	July 28, 1975	Somalia
Idi Amin	July 28, 1975	2nd July 1976	Uganda
Seewoosagur Ramgoolam	2nd July 1976	2nd July 1977	Mauritius
Omar Bongo	2nd July 1977	July 18, 1978	Gabon
Jafar an Numairi	July 18, 1978	July 12, 1979	Sudan
William Richard Tolbert, Jr	July 12, 1979	Apr 12, 1980	Liberia
Léopold Sédar Senghor (acting)	Apr 12, 1980	July 1, 1980	Senegal
Siaka Stevens	July 1, 1980	June 24, 1981	Sierra Leone
Daniel arap Moi	June 24, 1981	June 6, 1983	Kenya
Mengistu Haile Mariam	June 6, 1983	Nov 12, 1984	Ethiopia
Julius Nyerere	Nov 12, 1984	July 18, 1985	Tanzania
Abdou Diouf	July 18, 1985	July 28, 1986	Senegal
Denis Sassou-Nguesso	July 28, 1986	July 27, 1987	Republic of the Congo
Kenneth Kaunda	July 27, 1987	May 25, 1988	Zambia
Moussa Traoré	May 25, 1988	July 24, 1989	Mali
Husni Mubarak	July 24, 1989	July 9, 1990	Egypt
Yoweri Museveni	July 9, 1990	3rd July 1991	Uganda
Ibrahim Babangida	3rd July 1991	June 29, 1992	Nigeria
Abdou Diouf	June 29, 1992	June 28, 1993	Senegal
Husni Mubarak	June 28, 1993	June 13, 1994	Egypt
Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali	June 13, 1994	June 26, 1995	Tunisia
Meles Zenawi	June 26, 1995	July 8, 1996	Ethiopia
Paul Biya	July 8, 1996	June 2, 1997	Cameroon
Robert Mugabe	June 2, 1997	June 8, 1998	Zimbabwe
Blaise Compaoré	June 8, 1998	July 12, 1999	Burkina Faso
Abd al-Aziz Bouteflika	July 12, 1999	July 10, 2000	Algeria
Gnassingbé Eyadéma	July 10, 2000	July 9, 2001	Togo
Frederick Chiluba	July 9, 2001	Jan. 2, 2002	Zambia
Levy Mwanawasa	Jan. 2, 2002	July 9, 2002	Zambia

literature

• Philip Kunig : The Organization for African Unity and the Nation Building Process. The international legal framework . In: Archiv des Völkerrechts , 20, 1982, pp. 40–57.
• Juliane Hilf: The OAU's new conflict resolution mechanism . In: Journal for Foreign Public Law and International Law . Heidelberg, Volume 54 (1994), pp. 1023-1047; zaoerv.de (PDF; 1.9 MB)

Web links

Commons : Organization for African Unity  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Description of the OUA on the information platform humanrights.ch

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Juliane Hilf: OAU, p. 1023
2. ↑ in English ( Memento of the original from February 27, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
3. ^ SAIRR : A Survey of Race Relations in South Africa 1963 . Johannesburg 1964, p. 327
4. ↑ Juliane Hilf: OAU, p. 1024, 1027-1028
5. ↑ Juliane Hilf: OAU, p. 1041
6. ↑ ^{a b} AU Documents and Speeches: Transition from the OAU to the African Union . on www.au2002.gov.za ( Memento of the original from October 4, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English) 
7. ^ ^{A b} Organization of African Unity (OAU) / African Union (AU). Website of the South African Ministry of Foreign Affairs (English)
8. ↑ Lusaka Summit , July 2001: Decision on the Implementation of the Sirte Summit Decision on the AU ( Memento of the original of March 4, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English; PDF; 286 kB) 
9. ^ Transition from the OAU to the African Union. on www.au2002.gov.za ( Memento of the original from October 4, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English)