MFI/Radio France Internationale (Paris)
Faycal Bouzennout
3 July 2002
analysis
Durban, South Africa — Organizing a Union For Africa - Durban 2002 (5 of 11)
A chronology of the key stages which marked the history of the Pan-African organization since its creation in 1963.
May 22 to 25, 1963, Addis-Ababa - Thirty countries were represented, 27 of them by their Heads of State, at this constituent conference which adopted the Charter of the Organization of African Unity. It was the fruit of a compromise and long behind-the-scenes negotiations between the "moderates" attached to a progressive unity of the continent, and the "revolutionaries", favouring an immediate federation. The meeting led to the creation of the first pan-African organization. The OAU Charter consists of a preamble and 33 articles that define its objectives, principles and institutions. The first resolutions to be adopted concerned the struggle against apartheid and the struggles of the liberation movements in the Portuguese colonies.
July 17 to 21, 1964, Cairo - Thirty-three delegations were present, including 29 Heads of State. It has become customary to refer to this as the first OAU summit. The first General Secretary, Guinea's Diallo Telli, was elected. The Mediation, Conciliation and Arbitration Commission and specialized commissions such as the Defense Commission created to replace the African High-Commissariat were put in place. The summit reaffirmed the principle of the intangibility of borders inherited from the colonial period. A resolution condemning apartheid was adopted, calling for the freeing of anti-apartheid leaders, including Nelson Mandela. The first border conflicts were examined, those between Ghana and Upper Volta and Togo and Ghana.
October 21 to 25, 1965, Accra - Thirty-six countries were represented, 19 of them by their Heads of State. Gambia joined the organization. The plan to set up a pan-African executive failed. A resolution was adopted asking South Africa's main economic partners to put pressure on the apartheid regime. The summit issued an appeal to Britain over Rhodesia's Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI). The OAU conference was also marked by tensions between Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire, and Ghana and Niger.
November 5 to 9, 1966, Addis-Ababa - Only 16 Heads of State took part in this summit marked by the fall of Kwame Nkruma in Ghana. In an already overheated atmosphere, words were exchanged between Guinea and Accra's new leaders. Sekou Toure boycotted the summit. The question of support for liberation movements nevertheless allowed a consensus to be restored. Upper Volta was charged with mediating between Rwanda and Burundi and the summit put pressure on Britain to settle the Rhodesian problem.
September 11, 1967, Kinshasa -- Thirty-six countries were represented and 15 Heads of State made the trip. They condemned secession attempts in Congo-Kinshasa and Nigeria and appointed a conciliation committee of six Heads of State to deal with the war in Biafra. The summit also discussed conflicts opposing Kenya and Somalia and Rwanda and Burundi and the situation inside Congo, and adopted resolutions condemning Israel. September 13 to 16, 1968, Algiers - Fourteen Heads of State took part and a new member was welcomed : Mauritius. Diallo Telli was re-elected as Secretary General. Debates were dominated by the civil war in Nigeria and the Arab-Israeli conflict. The need for Nigerian unity was reaffirmed. Finally, a recommendation on the conservation of nature and natural resources was adopted.
November 6 to 9, 1969, Addis-Ababa - Twelve Heads of State were present. They expressed concern over the continuation of the Biafra conflict and the increased number of refugees in Africa. They also condemned the Israeli raid on the Suez Canal and adopted the Lusaka Manifesto calling for a reinforced struggle against South African apartheid.
September 1 to 3, 1970, Addis-Ababa - Twenty-three Heads of State took part in the summit. The Biafra conflict having been settled militarily, the OAU sealed the reconciliation of Nigeria with countries that had recognised Biafra. The conference condemned Western countries supplying arms to South Africa and demanded Israeli withdrawal from the Occupied Territories.
June 21 to 24, 1971, Addis Ababa - The Heads of State agreed to send a conciliation mission to Angola to try to put an end to the fratricidal opposition between the MPLA and the FNLA. A resolution concerning the sovereignty of African countries and their natural resources was adopted.
June 12 to 15, 1972, Rabat - Twenty-two Heads of State attended. Nzu Ekangaki of Cameroun was elected Secretary General. Portugal, South Africa and its major partners and Israel were condemned.
May 25 to 29, 1973, Addis-Ababa - Twenty-two Heads of State participated in the conference. Committees of good offices were set up to seek solutions to the Rwanda-Burundi and Uganda-Tanzania conflicts and the Somali-Ethiopian dispute. Resolutions condemning South Africa, Portugal, Spain, Great Britain and France for their ongoing hold on colonies were adopted.
June 12 to 16, 1974, Mogadishu - Twenty Heads of State were present at this conference which hailed a new member : Guinea-Bissau. The current OAU Secretary General, tarnished by the Lonrho scandal, was forced to resign and was replaced by the Camerounian William Eteki Mboumoua. Several resolutions concerning the rights of the Palestinian and South African peoples were adopted. Rhodesia was also condemned. The problem of drought was discussed for the first time.
July 28 to August 2, 1975, Kampala - Nineteen Heads of State took part. The conference saw the admission of the former Portuguese colonies, which had just gained their independence.
January 10 to 13 1976, Addis-Ababa - Forty-six countries were represented, 15 of them by their Heads of State. It was the organization's first extraordinary summit, called because of the tragedy taking place in Angola. Attempts to find a solution failed, with 22 countries supporting the MPLA, 22 backing UNITA and the FNLA and the remaining two adopting a neutral stance. The Bureau of the conference was charged with examining the problem.
July 2 to 5, 1976, Port-Louis - Ten Heads of State were present. The conference welcomed a new member : The Seychelles. The summit severely condemned Israel for its raid on Entebbe and South Africa for the massacres in Soweto. Other themes discussed included the Western Sahara affair, the Somali-Ethiopian war and the border dispute between Somalia and Djibouti.
July 2 to 5, 1977, Libreville - Several resolutions condemning the South African "homelands" and calling for the settlement of inter-African conflicts (Chad-Libya, Kenya-Somalia and Zambia-Rhodesia) were adopted.
July 18 to 22, 1978, Khartoum - Thirty-four Heads of State and 25 ministers participated in the debates. A new General Secretary was elected : Togo's Edem Kodjo.
July 17 to 20, 1979, Monrovia - Twenty-five Heads of State were present. At this summit a meeting of experts was constituted to draw up a proposal for an African Charter of the rights of man and peoples. On the Western Sahara question, the Heads of State recommended a cease-fire and a referendum on self-determination as a way out of the crisis. Morocco rejected the proposal.
April 28 to 29, 1980, Lagos - Forty-nine countries were represented; 25 by their Heads of State. It was the organisation's second extraordinary summit and entirely devoted to a global strategy for development in the continent (the "Lagos Plan"). This plan recommended the harmonizing of development programs, sub-regional groupings and food self-sufficiency. Following the execution of the acting OAU president, William Tolbert of Liberia, Senegal's President Leopold Senghor was designated by his peers to preside over the organisation until its next summit.
July 1 to 4, 1980, Freetown - Fourteen Heads of State and eight Heads of Government participated in this ordinary summit. The Western Sahara affair was on the agenda. A Committee of Wise Men was set up to examine the question of admitting the RASD (The Saharoui Democratic Republic) into the organisation. The opposition between pro-Moroccans and pro-Polisario dominated the conference. In the end, the Moroccan point of view prevailed.
June 24 to 27, 1981, Nairobi - Thirty-five Heads of State were present, a record number. The summit set up a committee to organize a referendum on Western Sahara. Moreover, the summit recognised the Ogaden as an integral part of Ethiopia, and backed Goukouni Weddeye's GUNT (Chad). Finally, South Africa was condemned for its policies in Namibia. The African Charter for the rights of man and peoples was adopted. It went into effect in 1986.
August 5 to 8, and November 26, 1982, Tripoli - Two aborted summits : only 30 countries were represented in August though the required quorum is two-thirds of the 50 OAU member states. The massive boycott was due to the admission of the RASD as the 51st member of the organization. The summit was postponed to the month of November, when only 31 countries were present despite the "voluntary abstention" of the RASD representative. The official reason for the boycott was this time the refusal to allow Hissene Habre to represent Chad.
June 8 to 12, 1983, Addis-Ababa - Thirty-nine countries participated with 29 Heads of State making the trip. Hissene Habre was admitted to the conference. The RASD "voluntarily abstained". Unable to choose between the two candidates for the position of Secretary General, Gabon's Paul Okumba d'Okwatsegue and the Malian Alioune Blondin Beye, the organisation appointed the deputy Secretary General, Nigeria's Peter Onu, to hold the office until the next summit.
November 12 to 15, 1984, Addis-Ababa - Twenty-six Heads of State participated in the summit. Morocco, faced with the presence of the RASD, withdrew from the organisation. This divorce was unprecedented in the history of the OAU. Peter Onu was asked to stay on as interim Secretary General.
July 18 to 20, 1985, Addis-Ababa - Forty-nine delegations were present with 20 Heads of State. Nigeria's Ide Oumarou was elected the new Secretary General. The conference reaffirmed the need to find a peaceful settlement in the Western Sahara.
July 18 to 20, 1986, Addis-Ababa - Some 20 Heads of State took part. A "task force for the struggle against apartheid" was created. The continent's economic problems dominated the debates.
July 27 to 29, 1987, Addis-Ababa - Only 16 Heads of State were present. Talks centred mostly on two themes : the Chad-Libya affair and the continent's foreign debt. The OAU set up an ad-hoc committee chaired by Kenneth Kaunda to find a solution to the Aouzou Strip problem. A "solemn declaration" on the situation in the continent was adopted and the participants agreed to hold an extraordinary summit on the question of debt.
November 30 to December 1, 1987, Addis-Ababa - This third extraordinary summit was entirely devoted to the problem of the continent's foreign debt, estimated at 200 billion dollars. The meeting adopted a seven point "joint declaration", which notably requested an easing of terms, debt rescheduling and higher commodity prices.
May 26 to 28, 1988, Addis-Ababa - Twenty-nine Heads of State were present. The main issues of discussion were the debt problem and environmental problems as well as apartheid in South Africa.
July 24 to 27, 1989, Addis-Ababa - Fourteen Heads of State and a Prime Minister were present. The Tanzanian Salim Ahmed Salim was elected Secretary General. Talks focused on the Namibian independence process.
July 9 to 11, 1990, Addis-Ababa - Twenty Heads of State were present. The main theme of the summit was the social, economic and political changes in Eastern European countries and the consequences the new international situation would have for Africa. The summit adopted an important declaration recognising the need for the effective popular participation in managing public affairs.
June 3 to 5, 1991, Abuja - Thirty-one Heads of State made the trip. The summit opened in the presence of some 20 Heads of State and Government, the Secretary General of the UN as well as Nelson Mandela. It was mainly marked by the signing of a treaty establishing the African Economic Community, providing for the creation within 30 years of an African common market, a Parliament, a Central Bank, an African Monetary Fund and a Federal Court. Moreover, a resolution to provisionally maintain sanctions against South Africa - until the total dismantling of apartheid - was adopted. The summit also voiced concern over the situations in Ethiopia and Somalia.
June 29 to July 1, 1992, Dakar - Thirty Heads of State participated in the discussions. A proposal to set up a mechanism for conflict prevention was accepted in principle. They also discussed the AIDS problem and the continent's debt.
une 28 to 30, 1993, Cairo - Thirty-two Heads of State attended, and Eritrea became the 52nd member of the OAU. The summit condemned the attempted Coup d'Etat in Burundi, expressed concern over the internal consequences of conflicts and called for the lifting of sanctions against Libya. Salim Ahmed Salim was re-elected Secretary General.
June 13 to 15, 1994, Tunis - South Africa was admitted as the 53rd member of the organisation. Resolutions were adopted on Rwanda and on South-South cooperation.
June 26 to 28, 1995, Addis-Ababa - The agenda centred on the questions of the OAU budget and on finding solutions to the conflicts in the continent.
July 8 to 10, 1996, Yaounde - The summit mainly discussed the OAU's instruments for conflict resolution, the situation in Rwanda and the question of children in conflicts.
June 2 to 4, 1997, Harare - The summit covered the application of the Abuja Treaty, peacekeeping and the problem of drought. Salim Ahmed Salim was re-elected
June 8 to 10 1998, Ouagadougou - Twenty-nine Heads of State were present. The summit's agenda - economic integration and conflict prevention - was disrupted by the Ethiopian-Eritrean war, the death of Nigerian President Sani Abacha and the attempted coup in Guinea-Bissau. The Heads of State decided to unilaterally lift - albeit partially - the air embargo against Libya imposed by the UN Security Council.
July 12 to 16, 1999, Algiers - This summit, which marked the return of Algeria into the international fold, saw a record participation of 38 Heads of State, a Vice-President and six Prime Ministers. Peace accords were reached in Sierra Leone and the DRC before the summit convened. Intense efforts were made to try to resolve the border conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea. The 35th OAU summit condemned the use of force to seize power and threatened to exclude coup d'état leaders.
September 6 to 9, 1999, Syrte - At this 4th extraordinary summit the 43 Heads of State and Government present decided to establish the "African Union" in conformity with the OAU Charter and based on the Abuja Treaty signed in 1991.
July 10 to 12, 2000, Lome - Thirty-three Heads of State and Government attended the summit, boycotted by Angola, DRC and Namibia over host country Togo's relations with Angola's UNITA rebels. The debates touched upon the struggle against AIDS, foreign debt and conflicts. But the 36th summit above all focused on the African Union project defended by Libya's Moammar Gadhafi. The Constituent Act was finally adopted by 27 Heads of State. The text was far removed from the initial draft proposed by the Libyan leader, containing no binding provisions and timetable.
March 1 and 2, 2001, Syrte - Some 40 Heads of State and Government attended the OAU's 5th extraordinary summit. They met to discuss progress made in advancing the African Union and its ratification by national parliaments so that it could take effect.
July 9 to 11, 2001, Lusaka - Some 40 Heads of State and Government took part in the 37th - and theoretically the last - OAU summit, marked by the birth of the African Union. The Ivorian Amara Essy was elected as the last OAU Secretary General.
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