50 years of AU: we must walk the talk

By Stephen Asiimwe

Today, May 25, is African liberation day. It is a day that commemorates the signing of the charter establishing the Organization of African Unity (OAU) in 1963 now known as the African Union (AU).

It is that day that Africans on the continent recommit their pledge for solidarity for the liberation of Africa.

OAU received a forest of insults for “doing nothing” or being ineffective in living up to the mandate of uniting Africa and responding to various challenges facing Africa. Many of the criticisms are understandable even if not all of them were deserved.

The OAU was set up for the twin purposes of finishing the anti-colonial struggle for 1960’s and also uniting AFRICA. It was very successful on the liberation of South Africa from racist settler regimes and former Portuguese colonies of Guinea-Bissau, Angola and Mozambique.

The OAU mobilised human and material resources across Africa in support of these struggles and also diplomatic and political support internationally.

The weaknesses of the OAU now AU that everybody harps on should not cloud some of its successes, the fact that it survived up to African Union.

It is true, when African Union was launched in 2002 with its new blue print, New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD), has played an important role of peace keeping and generally reducing conflicts on the continent, as former president of Senegal, Wade said NEPAD has not even constructed a toilet an issue that requires a rethinking in the 21st century of all these good plans that are never implemented.

The Constitutive Act of African Union   that removed non-interference of the sovereign state, this article had allowed some African tyrants to kill their citizens but now African Union can be some extent intervene in a sovereign state on abuses of human rights but may be safe for Libya where imperialists were targeting Gaddaffi actually who fully facilitated the formation of African Union in 1999 in a meeting at Sirte.

The charter signed in 1963 was necessary compromise between the radical Casablanca states led by Dr. Kwame Nkurumah and Gamel Abdel Nasser of Egypt (who wanted immediate political union) and the moderate, conservative alliance represented by Monrovia  and Libreville group of states who found a credible spokesperson in Mwalimu Nyerere Kambarage of Tanzania, he was opposed to Nkurumah’s fast tracking and instead though Nyerere was not a conservative (that is economic unity before political unity).

In retrospect, the division was superfluous because the economic co-operation did not happen largely due to lack of political will it would have been a complimentary process of concrete political and economic programmes to advance a shared vision of unity.

The political compromise on the charter also included agreement that the colonial borders inherited from colonialism remain inviolate, that was actually absurd, and probably the situation on ground dictated, because of having interstate conflicts and wars, sustaining colonial borders and issue of non-interference rendered us prisoners of our liberation, it was operated by dubious understanding between the leaders that “you leave my victims to me and I leave yours to you”

The OAU emerged as the most important trade union of dictators by personal armies and Militia consequently the OAU was unable to sanction any of its members for example, Idi Amin Dada hosted OAU and became chairman and 1967 was Joseph Desire Seseko Mobutu became the chairman imagine Africa of that time because of oppression of African people by their Governments of bitter cold war and emergence of neo-colonialism in “sovereignty”

The international environment of bitter cold war and emergence of neo-colonialism in Africa also constrained the room for manoeuvre for the various groups to achieve the total unity.

In that context, what mattered most was whether regimes were pro-east or pro-west not their pan Africanists credentials, indeed most of the committed pan Africanist governments were generally on the left and pro-east.

The latter became victims of all kinds of economic and political conspirancies in the fate of Tom Mboya, Nkurumah, Madibo Keita, Abdel Nasser, Sankara Ben Bella, Samora Macheal and many others. As we celebrate 50 years of African Union and rethinking Pan Africanism, we should be able to stop lamenting about colonialism? What a shame for a whole parliament of Uganda spending two hours defining the words “Concourse” and “public meeting” in 21st century.

In Kenya pigs demonstrating against salary increase of members of parliament for sure do we deserve more Foreign AID for definitions? How can we have donors for toilets, hair and jiggers in this era?

We must get out of our box and our false exaggerated glory and claim Africa in the next 50 years. It is true western paternalism is still lingering with their imperialist arm, but with us ideologically equipped, we are capable of developing our human resource, infrastructure, energy, and other sectors that can help Africa to be part of the world but not a dumping place of all ideas and products from the so called partners, reducing talking and act.

As the Pan Africanist say Don’t Agonize, Organize one struggle many fronts, Ask your neighbor what Africans can do in the next 50 years. I cannot forget the words of Fratz Fanon every generation must out of relative obscurity discover its own destiny either betray it or full fill it. Congratulations

The writer is a pan-Africanist