Yesterday was Africa Liberation Day to mark 53 years since the Organisation of African Unity OAU), the predecessor of the African Union (AU), was formed. The OAU was disbanded in 2002, after 39 years of poor showing apart from helping dismantle colonialism and apartheid. Some might argue that it failed in its quest for real African unity because it was caught up in the Cold War battleground, taking sides in the ideological chessboard that pitted the East and the West. Its non-interference policy meant that it sat back as brothers tore apart each other and dictators had a field day. Africa began its long descent into poverty, underdevelopment, wars and rampant corruption. So, what is the situation today? Has the ghost of the OAU refused to abandon Addis Ababa, the seat of the AU? How can a group of African statesmen seat together and fail to come up with a solution to avert disaster and maintain peace on the continent? How can African countries fail to deal with genocidaires moving freely in their backyards but are quick to send their political opponents to The Hague? It is time Africans came out as one, with the same vision of where they want to take their continent. Otherwise, we will continue to see a county like Burundi registering a negative (-4.1 per cent in real GDP growth yet its neighbors are hovering constantly around the +5 and 7 per cent annually. Yet when it comes to celebrating “African unity”, organisers always come up with catchy phrases which become empty when it comes to implementation. For example, this year’s theme: “Pan -Africanism: Women and Youth at the forefront of African Liberation”, should act as a guiding light and cease being mere rhetoric. For as long as women and the youth are marginalised, there will be no difference between the OAU and the AU.
