OAU

The Organization of African Unity (OAU) was a continental organization of African states founded in 1963 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Its stated aims were to promote unity and solidarity among African countries, accelerate the decolonization process, defend sovereignty and territorial integrity, and coordinate economic development and foreign policy. At its height, the OAU included 53 member states across the African continent.

The OAU operated through key organs such as the Assembly of Heads of State and Government, the Council of Ministers, and the Secretariat. It pursued regional and continental initiatives, including efforts to end colonial rule and apartheid, support liberation movements, and coordinate responses to regional conflicts. It also produced long-term development plans, such as the Lagos Plan of Action (1980) and related frameworks intended to guide economic growth and cooperation.

Throughout its existence, the OAU faced criticisms for limited enforcement power, slow decision-making, and a policy of non-interference in the internal affairs of member states, which sometimes hindered responses to human rights abuses and governance failures. Despite these weaknesses, the organization played a major role in the decolonization process, regional diplomacy, and the early architecture of continental cooperation.

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the OAU began transforming into a more integrated union. The Constitutive Act of the African Union (AU) was adopted in 2000, and the AU formally replaced the OAU in 2002. The AU aimed to strengthen political and security coordination, promote human rights, and pursue deeper economic integration, building on the OAU’s legacy of continental cooperation.