Organisation of African Unity

The Organisation of African Unity was a continental organization founded in 1963 to promote African unity, cooperation, and decolonization. It was dissolved in 2002 and succeeded by the African Union.

Addis Ababa Conference: A May 1963 meeting in Addis Ababa where independent African states established the Organisation of African Unity. Thirty-two states signed the charter that created the organization at this conference.
OAU Charter: The 1963 founding treaty that defined the Organisation of African Unity’s purposes, principles, and institutions. It made sovereign equality and non-interference central to the organization’s operation.
Anti-apartheid movement: A global campaign to end South Africa’s system of racial segregation and white minority rule. The OAU supported the struggle against apartheid and South Africa’s exclusion from continental institutions.
African Union Constitutive Act: The 2000 treaty that established the legal framework for the African Union. It prepared the transition from the OAU’s charter framework to the Union’s expanded mandate.
Kwame Nkrumah: Ghanaian independence leader and president who advocated a politically unified Africa. His call for immediate continental union shaped debates surrounding the organization’s creation.
Assembly of Heads of State and Government: The Organisation of African Unity’s principal decision-making body, composed of member states’ leaders. It set continental priorities and adopted decisions through state-level deliberation.
South African Border War: A conflict in southern Africa involving South Africa, Angola, Cuba, and Namibian independence forces from 1966 to 1990. The OAU supported Namibian independence amid the regional conflict.
African Economic Community: A proposed continent-wide economic community established by treaty in 1991 to promote African integration. The OAU pursued economic integration through this treaty, later carried forward by the African Union.
Casablanca Group: A group of African states that favored rapid political federation and stronger continental institutions. Its federalist ambitions differed from the looser cooperation ultimately adopted.
Council of Ministers of the OAU: A council of foreign ministers that prepared matters for the Organisation of African Unity’s assembly. It handled much of the organization’s coordination between leaders’ meetings.

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