from the O.A.U to the African Union: 50th Anniversary

The Organisation of African Unity was formed 50 years ago, on 25 May 1963.
In 2002, it became known as the African Union.



Rooted in the ideology of Pan Afrcanism, the OAU sought African unity, and to bring together the two main fractions that had begun to emerge at that time between states. Two particular approaches to Pan Africanism led to two dominant yet opposing groupings.. One known as the Casablanca group which included Ghana, Guinea, Mali, Morocco, Algeria... this group favored a more militant approach to Pan-Africanism, and the economic development of Africa was considered to be conceivable without the involvement of former colonial (western) powers or intervention, and the other, was known as the Brazaville group ( mainly Francophone countries) such as Cameroon, Congo Brazzaville, Central African Republic, Chad, Ivory Coast, Madagascar, and Senegal. The Brazaville group preferred a more gradual approach, and felt economic development should include working with former colonial (western)powers.




Despite emergent individual differences , the OAU concentrated its efforts on ending colonial rule in countries such as Zimbabwe(1980) and south Africa (1994)

A very patriarchal affair at the time





AU report on Rwandan genocide