Title: Organisation of African Unity (OAU) | South African History Online
Headings: Organisation of African Unity (OAU)
Organisation of African Unity (OAU)
Context: The Emergence of a Pan-African Rhetoric
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Content: The divisions rendered the construction of a union government based on a consensus of structural, military and political institutions untenable. The OAU was thus founded with the intention that the organisation would proceed, incrementally, with unification until the eventual goal of a Union of African States was realised. Founding fathers of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), 1963. Source: thisisafrica
While the immediate full integration of African countries was untenable, the OAU did make significant steps towards identifying socio-economic development issues which racked the continent after independence. Thus, the OAU Charter outlined its objectives to
a) Promote unity and solidarity of the African states
b) To coordinate and intensify their cooperation and efforts to achieve a better life for the peoples of Africa,
c) To defend their sovereignty, their territorial integrity and independence,
d) To eradicate all forms of colonialism from Africa, and
e) To promote international cooperation, having due regard to the Charter of the United Nations and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This was to be achieved by calling on member states to recognise
1. The sovereign equality of member states,
2. Non-interference in the internal affairs of each state,
3. Respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of each state and its inalienable right to independent existence,
4.