The OAU helped decolonize the continent, but was often criticized for failing to address many other issues, including Africa’s growing poverty and fragile economies. For much of the past four decades, most OAU member governments were not democratically elected.

   While the OAU was in principle a political organization, the AU emphasizes economic integration as the route to political unity. It is made up of all the former OAU member states. (Morocco remains outside the AU, having withdrawn from the OAU in 1984 in protest against the admission of Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony it claims as part of its territory.)

The (African) Union expects to create 17 constituent bodies, four of which were set up at Durban: the Assembly, Commission, Executive Council and Permanent Representatives Committee.

The main decision-making organ, the Assembly of heads of state, will meet annually and President Mbeki will serve as its first chairman. Below it is the Executive Council, made up of foreign ministers. The Commission, which will oversee the day-to-day running of the AU, [sic] will comprise 10 members, and under the rules 5 must be women. Based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the commission will be chaired on an interim basis by outgoing OAU Secretary General Amara Essy. Finally, the Permanent Representatives Committee consists of ambassadors and other officials accredited to the AU. . . . "(From: Africa Recovery, September 2002, p. 25)

Action: Visit www.africarecovery.org  to learn more about the United Nations and Africa’s development.