Organization Of African Unity Research Articles

Rhodesia’s Unilateral Declaration of Independence in the Indian Press, 1964–1970

This article considers the ways in which three important Indian newspapers reported on Rhodesia during the early years of the Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI) crisis (1965–1970). It investigates how Indian commentators viewed the actions of not only the Rhodesian state, but also key international actors such as Britain, the Commonwealth and the Organisation of African Unity. It offers the chance to see how an important state of the Global South viewed UDI. It argues that, despite India’s limited involvement in events there, Rhodesia was of considerable interest to Indian journalists, and that they formed strong views about how the situation could be resolved.

Africa beyond Political Sovereignty

This year marks 60 years since the establishment of the first inter-state institution for Africa, the Organisation of African Unity. It was established principally to support the achievement of independence and political freedom by African colonies during a decade that is associated with the idea of winds of change. Political sovereignty through the control of the nation-state was seen as critical to the achievement of the ideals of Pan-Africanism, including African unity, African pride, cohesion, and common African prosperity.

International Conference Centre and Nile Hotel

The International Conference Centre and the adjacent Nile Hotel in Kampala were built in 1971-73 to facilitate the 12th Heads of State Summit conference of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) by architects from one of the founding countries of the Non-Aligned Movement: Tito’s Yugoslavia. Being too young to be considered historic, both buildings appear out of place and out of time, undervalued and overlooked in a city without a registry and planning control. While the conference center is in a well-maintained and original condition, the hotel’s renovation has transformed it beyond recognition. Their historical significance, particularly of the conference center, would hold value in any other context. However, in Uganda, it seems to bear no weight beyond the faint memory of past geopolitical alliances and ideals. The fact that the facility is disregarded as the venue for the upcoming Non-Aligned Movement summit reinforces this perception. This article describes these intricacies because they are rarely documented elsewhere. Consequently, it is a part of the Shared Heritage Africa project, aimed at rediscovering masterpieces of the Modern Movement.

Significance of Cooperation between Organisation of African Unity and United Nations, 1965-1975

Significance of Cooperation between Organisation of African Unity and United Nations, 1965-1975

AN APPRAISAL OF OAU AS A TOOTHLESS BULLDOG AND ITS TRANSFORMATION TO AFRICAN UNION, 1963-2002

This paper examines the Organization of African Unity (OAU) as a toothless bulldog. The genesis, charter, and achievements of the Organization also came to focus. It assesses the transformation of OAU to African Union in 2002. The data were obtained from primary and secondary sources. Oral interview constituted the primary sources while books, newspapers, journals, theses, and desertion serves as secondary sources. It was found that OAU which was established in 1963, transformed into African Union in 2002. It was also found that the non-interference of OAU in the internal affairs of member states was a serious challenge. It was demonstrated that the OAU was clearly a toothless bulldog and a talking club of African leaders. In conclusion, it was noted that the transformation of OAU to AU was a step in the right direction because of the monumental failure of OAU to deliver on its mandate.

Regional Integration: A Political Federation of the East African Countries

The aim of this paper is to explore the possibility and viability of an East African political federation project. Since the late 1800s under the then British East Africa, the countries of East Africa have been searching for ways to integrate. The search led to the establishment of the East African Community (EAC) in December 1967, which later collapsed in 1977. The argument of the paper is that it appears that among the current crop of leaders of the region there is the political will to establish the East African federation. However, it will take more than political will to bring the federation to fruition, as conditions in the region currently do not augur well for the project. Also, the leaders have not carried the people along with them on the integration journey. One main problem of attempts at integration in East Africa in particular and Africa in general, has been that they have been leader-led. Whether it was the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) or now the African Union (AU), the people at the grassroots have played no role in their establishment and consolidation. The question therefore is: Do existing conditions in the region advance the project of an East African federation?

The Peacekeeping Role of the Organization of African Unity During the Nigerian Civil War, 1967-1970

This study examines the peacekeeping activities of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) in resolving the Nigerian crisis. On May 30, 1967 the eastern part of Nigeria, the self-proclaimed Republic of Biafra, tried to secede from Nigeria. This led to a civil war that lasted from July 6, 1967 to January 15, 1970. Biafra’s army was defeated and capitulated. The reference to the history of the OAU peacekeeping experience is relevant, because it can be applied to the settlement of contemporary crises and conflicts in Africa. The author was guided by the principles of historicism, scientific objectivity and reliance on sources. The aim of the article is to clarify the nature and methods of the OAU’s peacekeeping activities, to identify internal and external factors that hindered the achievement of peace, and to assess the effectiveness of the organization’s peacekeeping efforts. The article uses for the first time information and analytical memos of Soviet diplomats found in the Foreign Policy Archive of the Russian Federation (AVP RF) on the OAU’s activities to stop the civil war in Nigeria. The author concludes that the Nigerian crisis was a unique international conflict for the Cold War period. The motives of the external actors were primarily determined by geopolitical aspirations and national interests, rather than bloc solidarity. The author identifies factors that negatively affected the OAU’s potential as a peacemaker: a split among African countries (four of which recognized Biafra’s independence) and competition from Great Britain, which vigorously promoted its own peacekeeping agenda. The OAU’s decisions were not binding on member states; it had no effective mechanism for implementing them, and it had no armed forces of its own that could be used to disengage the warring parties. The OAU succeeded in diplomatically securing overwhelming African support for Nigeria’s territorial integrity, though its mediation efforts failed to achieve peace. The Biafra leadership was not going to capitulate while there was still room for resistance and the federal government was not inclined to question the country’s territorial integrity. The results of the OAU’s peacekeeping can be assessed as positive: it prevented the legitimization of separatist Biafra, which could have had a domino effect with disastrous consequences for the entire African continent.

An Assessment of Agenda 2063’s First Ten-Year Implementation Plan and its Implication on the African Continental Free Trade Area

Trade under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) began on 1 January 2021. The AfCFTA intends to bring African countries closer in terms of economic integration and has numerous potential gains for state parties and the continent at large. However, the policies on continental integration are not new to Africa. To improve continental economic integration, the Organisation of African Unity and its successor, the African Union, adopted the Abuja Treaty, the Action Plan for Boosting Intra-African Trade, and the Tripartite Free Trade Area. These policies have not been implemented yet, which creates uncertainty regarding the implementation of AfCFTA. To achieve its objectives, the AfCFTA requires member states to implement a complementary set of measures as part of Agenda 2063’s First Ten-Year Implementation Plan ranging from 2014 to 2023, which seeks to accelerate structural transformation in Africa. The implementation will ensure that some non-tariff barriers are eliminated to facilitate intra-African trade. However, the low aggregated implementation score of 51 per cent against the 2021 targets might have negative implications for the AfCFTA. The member states and regional economic communities are far from meeting the 2023 targets. There is low progress for Aspiration 1 of Agenda 2063 with an overall score of 37 per cent against the 2021 targets. Therefore, the article analyses the implication of the implementation or lack thereof of the First Ten-Year Implementation Plan on AfCFTA.

Article III of the OAU Refugee Convention in Context: the Emergence of Subversion in the African Inter-State System

Abstract On the face of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) Convention Governing the Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa, the refugee problem in Africa is explicitly a multi-dimensional humanitarian, political, and security challenge. Linking the problem of refugees in Africa to the challenge of coexistence among then newly independent African States, Article III of the OAU Convention prohibits subversion by refugees. This study examines the evolution of this prohibition in the context of the history of post-colonial transition and authoritarianism which birthed it, and whose consequences are far from extinguished; suggesting that this context provides greater clarity to the scope and function of the prohibition as an obligation founded in a duty of friendly relations owed by African states to one another. Despite this, the language of the prohibition in the OAU Convention nevertheless lends it to sovereign self-help in a global context of rising authoritarian rule.

Contesting the Universality of the Refugee Convention: Decolonization and the Additional Protocol

AbstractRecent scholarship has insightfully explored the colonial roots of the UN Refugee Convention of 1951. In this work I seek to extend this line of argument by situating the adoption of the Additional Protocol of the Refugee Convention (1967) in relation to the transformations of international order following the Second World War. Contra the conventional account, this article shows that the Additional Protocol was created in no small part due to fears that the UN Refugee Convention would be unable to claim universal status due to competing ‘regional’ refugee conventions. Breaking down four meanings of ‘universal’ and drawing on archival documents of the Organization of African Unity (OAU), the Asian-African Legal Consultative Committee and the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, I explore efforts by newly independent African and Asian countries to find voice in an exclusionary international order. Reading the Bangkok Principles and OAU Convention as collective subaltern resistance against efforts to discipline newly independent states offers new insights into contemporary international struggles and brings refugee studies into productive dialogue with critical international relations.

Editorial

The year 2022 marked the 2oth anniversary of the African Union (AU)). The AU marked a realisation that the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) established in 1963 had fulfilled its mandate of ridding the continent of overt colonial rule and a new platform was needed to drive Africa towards full prosperity. Conceived amid the revisiting of the discourse of African Renaissance, the AU was meant to respond to both historical and contemporary imperatives. It was born to be a more agile, efficient, and effective institution. Born long after the Cold War ended, it was meant to reposition Africa strategically in global affairs.

Malcolm X, Pan-Africanism, and the Organization of African Unity: Appealing to Shepherds on Behalf of Their Lost Sheep at the 1964 OAU Summit

Malcolm X’s appeal to the African Heads of State at the 1964 Organization of African Unity (OAU) meeting was necessary to strengthen the Pan-African bonds between Africans and African-Americans during that time. Following the anti-communism push in the post-WWII United States, many Black leaders disassociated with the anti-colonial movements in Africa and began to have a more domestic focus in their pursuit of freedom. While Malcolm X had consistently viewed the struggle of African-Americans as connected to the independence struggle of continental Africans, his 1964 appeal was a high mark. Through a comparative analysis of the speeches of the African Heads of State from this OAU summit, the author explores the way those leaders addressed the African-American, South African, and Palestinian struggles differently. Based on that study, the author concludes that Malcolm’s appeal to these leaders was necessary if the African-American problem was going to gain more attention from them.

Institutional counterinsurgency frameworks in the Lake Chad Basin: the case of the Multinational Joint Task Force against Boko Haram

ABSTRACT The Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) is engaged in active combat operations against Boko Haram in the Lake Chad Basin, but the latter remains very resilient and continues to launch lethal attacks. Yet, scholarship has failed to examine the institutional circumstances that account for the lack of success by the MNJTF. This article explores the influence of the counterinsurgency frameworks of the Organization of African Unity (OAU)/African Union (AU), Economic Community of West Africa States (ECOWAS), and the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) on the operations of the MNJTF. It takes a critical look at how the MNJTF’s states’ affiliation to separate sub-regional blocs influences military and intelligence cooperation among them. The article argues that the AU, ECOWAS, and ECCAS institutional counterinsurgency frameworks severely limit military and intelligence collaboration among its member nations, therefore impeding the MNJTF’s operations.

AFRICAN UNION (AU) REGIONAL INTEGRATION AGENDA AND SOCIO-ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN WEST AFRICAN SUBREGION: A STUDY OF NIGERIA AND NIGER REPUBLIC

The Organization of African Unity (OAU) was transformed into the African Union (AU) in July year 2002, due to the resolution of African leaders to reposition the continental organization for better performance. This paper examines AU regional integration agenda and socio-economic development in West African sub-Region: a study of Nigeria and Niger Republic. The two countries share a common land boundary which covers over thousand kilometers. Historically speaking, they were both colonial creation of Britain and France respectively which was said to have born out of series of negations, treaties and conquests during the first decade of the 20thCentury. By 1960, the two countries got their political independence and have since exchange diplomatic missions and entered into various bilateral relations which border on trade, industry, culture, education and politics with a view to improving the socio-economic and political life of the citizenry. The duo established the Nigeria- Niger Joint Commission for cooperation in March, 1971 as a strategy towards promoting their socio-economic development. However, one of the perceived major problems to effective trade and integration in most Regional Economic Commissions is lack of political will. This is because most countries resist liberalization and tend toward protectionist policies to protect trade. Premised on this fact, how the AU hoped to effectively achieve its integration agenda particularly, as it affects Nigeria and Niger republic remains a serious challenge and a major concern for this paper. Methodologically, the paper adopted qualitative method that uses interview as instrument for data collection and this was supported with documents data. The findings from the results revealed that in terms of the impact of AU regional integration agenda on socio-economic development of Nigeria and Niger republic, there has been a lot of achievements. The two countries are said to be intertwined politically, religiously and socioculturally and any other forms one can think of. The findings from the results further identified major challenges confronting the AU in the integration of the two countries and Africa at large. These include; lack of political will; limited intra-African trade; funding problem; underdeveloped infrastructure etc. For better performance of the organization and the two countries, the paper recommended among others; the need for strong political will on the part of African leaders to turn policies and resolutions into actions at national levels

THE AFRICAN UNION’S AGENDA 2063 FOR AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT: POSSIBILITY OR RUSE?

When Africa emerged from the chains of colonialism, there was great hope for post-colonial African leaders to consolidate the spirit of Pan-Africanism and use Africa's vast resources to spur inclusive socioeconomic development. The Organization of African Unity also supported this vision, as did the Lagos Plan of Action and the New Partnership for Africa's Development. Great emphasis was placed on continental integration and African unity. However, post-colonialism, Africa has been engulfed by never conflict, fragmentation of governance, political instability, and unstable relations between African countries, thus defeating the need for unity and collective development. The African Union Agenda 2063 is Africa's blueprint for achieving inclusive and sustainable socioeconomic development. It seeks to ensure, amongst others, peace and economic and political stability. However, there have been questions about whether the AU can achieve this. This doubt has been driven by the plethora of socioeconomic and political problems currently consuming Africa. This paper reviews current literature to examine the practicality of AU agenda 2063. It seeks to understand whether this agenda can be a possibility or just another plan with little if no substance. The following question will guide this paper: to what extent can the AU's agenda 2063 become realizable, considering the current socioeconomic and political challenges engulfing Africa?

AFRICAN REGIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL COORDINATION: HOW COVID-19 ADVANCED INTEGRATION TRENDS AND SOUTH-SOUTH COOPERATION

Africa is one of the world's forerunners in terms of political integration. Already in the 1960s, the Organisation of African Unity had 32 states united under a common charter. Moreover, through joint projects with Latin American and Asian partners, African states have joined some of the primary experiences of South-South Cooperation, particularly in the areas of healthcare and infrastructure. Taking this historical context into account, this paper examines how the highly competitive reality of the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the continent. We argue that the constraints imposed by the new coronavirus outbreak have strengthened the African Union's role in advancing collective action and encouraged self-sufficiency. Furthermore, we analyse how South-South Cooperation offered a platform for immediate response when access to disputed medical supplies in the world market was difficult. We conclude that the COVID-19 crisis has contributed to consolidating African regional integration in the long-term, as well as its coordination with partner emerging countries, with consequences for the African Union’s priorities in terms of foreign affairs in the future.

Organizational and legal framework for the protection of environmental human rights within the African Union

The article analyzes the activities of the African Union (1963-2002 - Organization of African Unity) in the field of protection of environmental human rights – an intergovernmental organization created in 2002 to promote the unity and solidarity among African states, stimulate economic development and promote international cooperation, protect human rights, in particular in the environmental sphere. In particular, the category of environmental human rights includes the right to a healthy, safe and adequate environment, the highest attainable level of physical and mental health, an adequate standard of living, nutrition, the right to clean and safe drinking water, the right to receive information about the state of the environment etc. It was determined that due to the specificity of the African region, the complexity of its socio-economic processes and the existence of humanitarian crises, the protection of environmental human rights is not given sufficient attention, as a result of which the existing organizational and legal mechanism for the protection of such rights is imperfect.
 A number of international legal acts adopted under the auspices of the Organization of African Unity and the African Union regarding the promotion, guaranteeing and protection of such rights were analyzed, in particular: the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights of 1981, the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child of 1990, the Bamako Convention on the Ban of the Import into Africa and the Control of Transboundary Movement and Management of Hazardous Wastes within Africa of 1991, Constitutive Act of the African Union of 2000, Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (Maputo Protocol) of 2003, African Convention on the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources of 2003, Agenda 2063: The Africa we want, etc. It was determined that the basis of the institutional system for the protection of environmental human rights is the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, the Special Procedures established by the Commission, and the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights. The practice of protecting environmental human rights in the African region was characterized. In accordance with the stated problems, appropriate conclusions and recommendations were made.

The CONCP in Southern Africa and the OAU’s Liberation Committee: Settling Internal Disputes for the Independence of Angola and Mozambique

An important but surprisingly neglected player in the history of the struggle for independence in the African Portuguese colonies is the Conferência das Organizações Nacionalistas das Colónias Portuguesas (CONCP), an umbrella organisation uniting the Partido Africano da Independência da Guiné e Cabo Verde (PAIGC), for Guinea Bissau, the Movimento Popular de Libertação de Angola (MPLA), for Angola, the Frente de Libertação de Moçambique (Frelimo), for Mozambique and the Movimento de Libertação de São Tomé e Príncipe (MLSTP), for São Tomé e Príncipe. Founded in Casablanca in 1961, the CONCP was not a participant in military action, but it strengthened the movements’ ideological cohesion and international diplomacy. Its most controversial goals were perhaps the settlement of internal divisions among the nationalists of Angola and Mozambique and the endorsement of the MPLA and Frelimo as the sole legitimate liberation movements in their countries. To this end, it also established a strategic relationship with specific nationalist movements in southern Africa opposing the white minority regimes and with the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) Liberation Committee. After its second conference, held in Dar es Salaam in 1965, the CONCP intensified its pressures to secure the MPLA and Frelimo exclusive recognition and support by the OAU, but it was successful only in the second case.

THE PROMOTION AND PROTECTION OF ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS AND THE RIGHT TO DEVELOPMENT UNDER THE AFRICAN REGIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS SYSTEM

The promotion and protection of human rights in Africa is underpinned by the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (“the African Charter” or “Banjul Charter”) which was adopted by the Assembly of the Heads of State and Government of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) on 27 June 1981. Other key instruments under the African human rights system are the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (which was adopted in July 2003 and addresses a variety of civil, political, economic, cultural and social rights) and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (which was adopted in July 1990 and entered into force on 29 November 1999). The former has not yet entered into force (as of August 2005, 12 states had ratified the Protocol which requires 15 ratifications to enter into force) while the latter has its own monitoring body, the Committee on the Rights and Welfare of the Child. Consequently, discussion of these two instruments is outside the scope of this note. The Charter entered into force on 21 October 1986 and had been ratified by 53 member states of the African Union (AU) as of July 2004. The African Union is a regional inter-governmental organisation that replaced the OAU. The Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the OAU adopted the Constitutive Act that established the AU in Lome, Togo, on 11 July 2000. The AU was officially launched in Durban, South Africa, on 10 July 2002. The African Charter aims to promote and protect a comprehensive list of rights which includes both individual and collective people’s rights. While its regional counterparts – the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms 1950 and the American Convention on Human Rights 1969 - guarantee only civil and political rights, the African Charter covers civil and political rights (the so-called “first generation” rights); economic, social, and cultural rights (the so-called “second generation” rights); and collective rights of peoples (the so-called “third generation” rights). The Charter also innovatively provides for duties of the individual and the state. This paper discusses the promotion and protection of economic, socialand cultural rights under the African Charter. It does this by first outlining the substantive content of the Charter. Secondly, it provides an overview of the supervisory mechanisms established in terms of the Charter. Next, the paper discusses the methods of promotion and protection of rights under the Charter and the limitations thereto. The paper then presents an overview of the jurisprudence of the African Commission on economic, social and cultural rights. The paper concludes with some comments on the effectiveness of the African human rights system.

Political Instability and Insecurity in Africa: Implications for African Union Agenda 2063

The idea of the transformation of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) to the African Union (AU) in 1999, by African Heads of State and governments, was to accelerate the processes of regional economic integration in the continent. Thus, the AU came into being to enable the continent to play a significant role in global economic affairs, while addressing other multifaceted social, economic, and political problems that tend to hinder progress in the continent. However, after more than two decades of its transformation, and despite the adoption of Agenda 2063 which aims to accelerate economic progress in Africa, the continent remains at a crossroads in its struggle to grapple with the challenges of achieving its core objectives. Drawing data largely from secondary sources of information, the paper attempted a critical examination of the political instability and insecurity across many African states, especially as the continent strives towards achieving economic progress through the framework of Agenda 2063, and found out that political instability and insecurity are fundamental challenges standing against the actualization of the Agenda’s objectives. The paper, therefore, concluded that unless these challenges are mitigated, the Agenda 2063 will remain nothing but a document that cannot be actualized because the peace and security required to attend such an enviable feat is seriously in breach in a majority of the states of the Union. The paper recommended the entrenchment of democratic culture and constitutionalism as well as strengthening of existing institutions of governance as the first step towards achieving the desired peace and security that will ensure the economic progress of the continent.