Od Organizacji Jedności Afrykańskiej do Unii Afrykańskiej

The Organization of African Unity was created 41 years ago in the Ethiopian capital Addis-Abeba. On the 25th of May 1963, thirty one African States had signed the document that gave birth to the Pan-African Organization. On the occasion of its birthday, we wanted to analyze shortly the balance of the OAU and to have a look on the perspectives. The main objectives of the Organization of African Unity were, inter alia, to get rid of the Continent's of the remaining vestiges of colonization and apartheid; to promote unity and solidarity among African States; to coordinate and intensify cooperation for development; to safeguard the sovereignty and territorial integrity of members states and to promote international cooperation within the framework of the United Nations. The Organization of African Unity has realized important contribution in the process of decolonization and struggle against apartheid. On the contrary, the progress on the economic development does not respond to the expectations. Among the reasons that can explain this we can underline the division that took place during the organization's settlement, the lack of political will from the African leaders, military and ethnic conflicts, political instability and lack of democratic structures. Moreover, many member states didn't pay their contributions. That deprived the Organization of African Unity of fundamental financial sources. On this situation, the Libyan leader M. Kadhafi invited his African colleagues to Sirte for an extraordinary summit of the OAU on the 9th of September 1999. The Heads of State and Government of the Organization of African Unity issued a Declaration (the Sirte Declaration) calling for the establishment of an African Union, with a view, inter alia, to accelerate the process of integration in the continent to enable it play its rightful role in the global economy while addressing multifaceted social, economic and political problems compounded as they are by certain negative aspects of globalisation. The OAU Lusaka Summit (January 2001) drew the road map for the implementation of the African Union (AU). The Durban Summit (July 2002) launched the AU and conveyed the first Assem- bly of the Heads of States of the African Union. The African Union was built under the model of European Union by creating among others: the Commission, the Pan-African Parliament, the African Court of Justice. Despite the proclaimed goals, the AU has to resolve too many problems in order to avoid the trap of an OUA bis.