TOMORROW, May 25, 2010, Zambia joins the rest of Africa in commemorating the 52nd Africa Freedom Day.

From 1963 the event has coincided with the birth of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) the forerunner of the present day African Union (AU).

Africa Freedom Day, sometimes called Africa Day or Africa Liberation Day arose out of a conference resolution to "mark each year the onward progress of the liberation movement, and to symbolise the determination and exploitation."

On April 15, 1958 in the city of Accra, Ghana African leaders and political activists gathered at the first conference of independent African States.

The Conference itself was significant as it represented the first Pan-African conference on African soil and was attended by representatives of governments of Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Liberia, Morocco, Sudan and Tunisia.

The initiative was the brainchild of Ghana's president Kwame Nkrumah who strongly believed that the continent should be united and strengthened in order to make it less vulnerable to outside influence.

At that time, a number of African countries were still under colonial rule.

Thus in the late 1950s, Dr Nkrumah started a movement which stressed the need for immediate unity of the African continent.

And on May 25, 1963, 32 independent African States, who had genuine hopes and visions for the African continent, came together in Ethiopia to create the OAU.

Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital, the venue of the conference later became the seat of the OAU headquarters.

However, while African states were unanimous about the African unity concept, there was general disagreement on how this was to be implemented, and to some extent threatened to destroy the very unity that the member states wanted to preserve.

On one hand there were those countries, which believed in the immediate unity of Africa. These countries were originally Ghana, Guinea and Mali known as the Casablanca group. Later Egypt, the Transitional Government of Algeria and Morocco joined the group.

On the other hand, the 24 member Monrovia Group conservatives which included Nigeria, Liberia, Senegal, Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Togo and many others believed in a much more gradual approach to the question of African unity.

There were fears then that the rift would become permanent and thus end the hopes and dreams of African unity.

But for some reason- though many speculate that the great respect for Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie was the cause- many independent states softened their position and agreed to merge to form the OAU in May 1963.

Nevertheless another contentious issue arose as to which country the seat of the OAU would be.

Ethiopian Foreign Minister, Ketema Yifru who had worked ever so hard to bridge the gap between the Monrovia and Casablanca blocks, argued strongly that Addis Ababa should be crowned the OAU headquarters.

In a meeting with Emperor Haile Selassie and Prime Minister Aklilu Habtewold, Yifru lobbied that the struggle would be in vain if the OAU headquarters did not end up being in the Ethiopian capital.

The young Foreign Minister did not stop at that. He embarked on a campaign sending out delegations to travel around the continent to thank the various governments for graciously accepting the invitation and for being instrumental in making the summit a success.

The delegations also lobbied many African nations to support the idea of having the OAU headquarters in Addis Ababa.

The campaign worked! And that is how Addis Ababa became the headquarters for the OAU.

The creation of the OAU was indeed a significant and historic moment for the continent of Africa because Africans were able to come together under the umbrella of their newly formed organisation.

With a concerted voice, the African continent was now able to fight the evil forces of colonialism. Through the OAU's liberation committee and the United Nations (UN), Africans were able to work collectively to bring about an end to colonialism.

The plight of the African people became known to the entire world.

Indeed, Pan Africanism, which was the driving force of the continent in the 1960s, had proved a point- that the obstacles that Africa was faced with could be solved through the unity of its people.

In the early years of its creation the OAU was able to engage in conflict resolution.

The Ethiopia-Somalia and Algeria-Morocco conflict are examples of how the OAU was able to divert potential wars by peaceful means.

At that time, it seemed that the Africans had come to a point where they had mastered the art of solving their own problems with their homegrown solutions.

Can the same be said today?

No. African leaders do not seem to be able to solve the numerous conflicts that have engulfed nearly every region.

At present there is the Spanish Sahara issue, which has persisted.

The problem in the Darfur region and the sick man of Africa, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) just to mention a few

The Pan Africanist atmosphere of the 1960s that brought an understanding that any conflict in Africa's regardless of its geographical location was an African problem and therefore should be solved by Africans has since waned.

The focus now should be more about promoting instead international cultural and language exchange.

The AU must revive the Pan African spirit of that time and come up with an African solution to the problems that face the continent.