Online Reporter
As most of Africa in the late 1950s and 1960s moved out of the period of intense colonialism when much of the continent had “belonged” to a half a dozen European countries, the leaders of the newly independent states recognised that they not only had a lot in common, but needed to stand together.
For some centuries preceding the formal annexation of most of Africa, there had been severely unequal trade relations at best, and more often grossly exploitative relations personified by the slave trade although some of the other trade was almost as bad.
Then had come the deliberate carving up of the continent in the late 19th century, with rules on how each country could grab its share set in a formal conference of European ministers.
The new countries recognised that just because foreign powers, weary from a pair of world wars, were now willing to grant formal independence, the main delays being where there were settler communities, there were signs that a return to the earlier systems of spheres of influence could be reinstated and multinationals were just as likely to try for the most unequal trade they could manage.
Divide and rule was a standard principle of almost all imperial powers throughout history, and the obvious ways to resist the imposition of outside power or indirect rule or the like was not to be divided, and so the Organisation of African Unity was founded in 1963 by those countries that had already achieved full independence.
The OAU had several functions, right from the beginning. First it presented a united face of Africa on the world stage, with, even in the early days, a high level of diplomatic co-ordination.
Secondly the OAU recognised that no African was truly free until all were free so there was strong support for the liberation movements, mostly in the south of the continent, and for maintaining pressure on the colonial powers to maintain their momentum in pulling out of Africa.
A third function is often overlooked, the maintenance of peace and security within Africa. The continent has been remarkably free of interstate warfare, our outbreaks of violence after the liberation wars being mainly from violent rebel movements.
Right at the very beginning of the OAU, the African leaders made strict rules.
The national borders in many cases were just lines on a small-scale map drawn by some European.
Since most had no pre-existing political meaning, any attempt to redraw them would lead to decades of war.
So instead the rule was to keep them, and even go to the World Court for arbitration when there was doubt on some colonial agreement, until the boundaries melted away as greater unification was achieved.
Since then, in this internal function, much more has been achieved, especially as the OAU grew up into the African Union and the practical treaties on expanding trade within the continent and the rules set for democratic elections backed by serious diplomacy when needed.
And within the AU, African states have continued to stress their unity and willingness and need to move forward together.
As President Mnangagwa noted in his statement on Africa Day on Sunday, while we must acknowledge the immense contributions of the founders of the OAU, and the work done since to cement their ideas into practical unity, we must also be looking at the future and seeing what sort of Africa we want to build.
Because the founders got so many things right we tend, as the decades roll past, to forget what could have happened if there had been no OAU, no AU.
Generations have grown up thinking of themselves as Africans above the nationality on their passport and where they vote. It seems so natural and yet is so different from when we were subjects of empires. We have all embraced our continent with so much of common culture.
And so the shared visions we possess are the motive power for our quest for dignity for all Africans, and the practical need for a higher quality of life for all our people, as the President noted.
At the same time, we need to be looking for African solutions for African problems, and we all know that Africa is a long way from being problem free. But we are moving forward.
These days the United Nations almost automatically defers to the combined African voice when it is asked to intervene and largely sees itself as backing AU and regional African efforts.
The voting powers within the global financial institutions still reflect an older world, although there are no insurmountable barriers to the groups modernising faster, and it is obvious that Africa needs to present a united front, even with its present low level of voting power if we do not wish to be ignored.
We also need to push harder on converting the grand intention of the African Continental Free Trade Area into a living reality that will dominate much of our trade.
When that trading bloc is more fully active our economic voice will reflect our combined economies, and so will be far more effective in those detailed negotiations that make up so much of modern trade and investment.
So the internal work we need to do as Africans to enhance our unity is also, as was seen 62 years ago, a condition of blocking any renewed attempts to impose political or, these days, economic subjection on Africa.
And as we gain our rightful say in these global institutions, that again reinforces our political and economic unity, since unlike other continents we have no “great powers” on the membership list to speak for us, and so will always have to be ready to push a united combined stance.
African unity is not some pipedream or something we can ignore in the practical world. It is one of the most practical ways forward for our continent and our peoples, to accelerate the development of Africa as well as protect the continent from external exploitation. We need to live our unity to make it work, and to make it work for us all.
