Organization of African Unity

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Organization of African Unity

(OAU), former international organization, established 1963 at Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, by 37 independent African nations to promote unity and development; defend the sovereignty and territorial integrity of members; eradicate all forms of colonialism; promote international cooperation; and coordinate members' economic, diplomatic, educational, health, welfare, scientific, and defense policies. The OAU was, at the time, the most significant result of Pan-AfricanismPan-Africanism,
general term for various movements in Africa that have as their common goal the unity of Africans and the elimination of colonialism and white supremacy from the continent.
..... Click the link for more information. . The organization mediated several border and internal disputes and was instrumental in bringing about majority rule and the end of apartheid in South Africa, which in 1994 became the 53d nation to be admitted to the organization.

In 1997, OAU members established the African Economic Community (AEC), envisioned as an African common market; the AEC signed an agreement with regional African economic groupings that was intended to lead to harmonization of policies of those common markets. A more radical expansion and transformation of the OAU was adopted at Lomé, Togo, in 2000, in the form of the Constitutive Act of the African UnionAfrican Union
(AU), international organization established in 2002 by the nations of the former Organization of African Unity (OAU). The AU is the successor organization to the OAU, with greater powers to promote African economic, social, and political integration, and a
..... Click the link for more information. , which replaced the OAU in 2002. The African Union has with greater powers to promote African economic, social, and political integration, and a stronger commmitment to democratic principles.

References in periodicals archive ?

Over the years, OAU and its successor the AU have made several attempts to put cultural policies and strategies in place.

The cultural agenda of the OAU/AU since 1963

We pay tribute to the pioneers of Pan-Africanism, on the continent and in the Diaspora, and to the Founders of the OAU for their wisdom and foresight to lay the foundations for the unity and solidarity of Africa', she noted.

This is Africas time, Dr. Dlamini-Zuma Says as OAU-AU Celebrates 50 Years of Existence

OAU was established in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in May 1963 on signature of the OAU Charter by representatives of 32 governments.

Ahmadinejad to Attend 50th Anniversary of OAU in Ethiopia

The establishment of the OAU was made with the fundamental objective for the organization to liberate Africa from colonialism and Apartheid.

50th anniversary of African Union

This Part considers the definitions of unconstitutional change in OAU and AU instruments and the response mechanisms that those instruments provide.

A club of incumbents? The African Union and coups d'etat

shared RECON, OAU library approach was contractor/consultant.

Retrospective conversion in two Nigerian university libraries: a comparative study of Kenneth Dike Library and Obafemi Awolowo University library

9) Among the reasons cited for this skepticism were the composition of the organization's founders, many whom lacked Pan-Africanist credentials; the lack of involvement of the African people; and the inheritance of the OAU organizational culture, incompetent staff and huge arrears.

The African Union: pitfalls and prospects for uniting Africa

It also objectively examines the limitations of the OAU and whether it can become more interventionalist.

The African Union; Pan-Africanism, peacebuilding and development

The OAU endorsed the establishment of an Early Warning Network in 1995, based on a co-ordinating facility located in the centre of the Mechanism for Conflict Prevention, Management and Resolution.

Warning intelligence and early warning with specific reference to the African context

This caused a shock wave in the international community and led to attempts to dislodge the Libyans from Chad, by dispatching a military presence from the OAU and, in the case of some countries (Egypt, Sudan and the USA), by providing military assistance to Habre.

Terry M. Mays (2002): Africa's First Peacekeeping Operation. The OAU in Chad, 1981-1982

There are quite a few other acronyms that come into play with NAFTA such as: CAGF, CARICOM, OAS, EEC, EFTA, CEFTA, ACM, OAU, APEC and ASEAN.

Scrap the FTAA: now!

The creation of the AU marks the end of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which had become discredited amid the general public in Africa and on the global level, with the organisation unable to have a significant impact on any level - largely because of the collective poverty of its member states and because the leaders of the OAU were generally corrupt despots.