The Organization of African Unity (OAU), the predecessor of African Union (AU) was established on 25th of May 1963, 60 years ago. OAU was established by the then free and liberated 32 countries of Africa in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Africa named the day as “Africa Day” and the establishment of OAU played vital role in liberating the whole of Africa. It was a day where Africans decided to stand together to combat imperialism, colonialism and apartheid in Africa.
Africans are celebrating the formation of the 60th year of this historic cooperation and the formation of the continental organization, OAU-AU by organizing different event across the continent.
During the first session of the OAU, The Ethiopian Herald was there reporting the historic sessions. The newspaper was recorded all the events and from the historic pieces, we pick speeches from the founding heads of states and governments at that time.
We stand today on the stage of world affairs, before the audience of world opinion. We have come together to assert our role in the direction of world affairs and to discharge our duty to the great continent whose two hundred and fifty million people we lead
We are determined to create a union of Africans-bending its united efforts towards the achievement of a greater and noble cause. Let’s take action now…along the course plotted out for us by destiny. We look to the vision of an Africa not merely free but united.
Memories of past injustice should not divert us from the more pressing business at hand. Our brothers in Angola, South Africa etc. cry out in anguish for our support. It would be a betrayal were we to pay lip service to the cause of their liberation.
His Majesty Emperor Hailesilassie I of Ethiopia said during the opening session
The whole continent has imposed a mandate upon us to lay the foundation of our union at this conference. It is our responsibility to execute this mandate by creating here and now the formula upon which the requisite superstructure may be created.
On this continent, it has not taken us long to discover that the struggle against colonialism does not end with the attainment of national independence. Independence is only the prelude to a new and more involved struggle for the right to conduct our own economic and social affairs, to construct our society according to our aspiration, unhampered by crushing and humiliating neo-colonialist controls and interference.
Kwame Nkrumah, President of The Republic of Ghana said during the formation of OAU
African Unity has become a profound aspiration to all our peoples. The conditions for the rapid achievement of this aim have demanded the attention and mobilized massively the energies and abilities of our various states, our parties, our trade unions, our associations of intellectualism, of women, of young people and all the organizations groupings serious-thinking me in Africa.
National independence is for that man what African Unity is for each of our nations, and what soil fertility is for a tree. Indeed, none of our nations taken in isolation could validly represent Africa or completely rehabilitate its peoples. African civilization, African culture, African humanism in a world; the contribution of Africa to the mankind, demands of all African peoples their intelligent awareness and their united action on the construction site of universal happiness.
Sekou Toure, the President of the Republic of Guinea
The Addis Ababa conference to which African leaders and governments had looked forward and to which world attention had been focused had brought together 32 heads of Sates and Governments in the historic and beautiful city of Addis Ababa to discuss and find practical solution to some of te questions that might arise from the agenda prepared by the Foreign Ministers.
The magnitude and importance of this gathering, the attention with which the preparations had been carried out and the personal attention which had been given by his Imperial Majesty and the Ethiopian Government and people deserved great commendation.
Unity is not only desirable but feasible.
H.E Wiliam V.S. Tubman, the President of Liberia
The Sudanese people have longed and worked for this historical meeting…convinced that artificial differences cannot stand against this continental surge for unity. Our problems stem from a common root and have a common answer. Unity is not only our most effective answer, but it has also for us a message.
We are gathered together today under the glow of a new dawn which marks the advent of a new era in our continent. This Africa, the cradle of mankind, where glorious civilizations have been blossomed on the shores of mighty rivers, has been for long the prey of colonizers who enslaved her sons, disdained her cultures and exploited her wealth.
We are gathered today to strive for the liberation of those parts of this dear continent where colonization wages its last desperate battle and also to encounter another challenges, that of reconstruction, of combatting vestiges of economic and social backwardness and of re-adapting foreign system of Government to suit our national temperament and traditions.
Farik Ibrahim Abboud, President of the Supreme Council and Prime Minister of The Republic of Sudan From the vicinity of the shores where the Nile ends, came here the United Arab Republic Delegation, following the course of the creative River, proceeding to one of its most important sources…here in this great country, Ethiopia.
African continent faces today the most serious phases of its struggle. If we should say that the banners of independence which have been hoisted on the continent throughout recent years are a testimony to the fact that the birth of freedom has taken place, the birth alone, even with its spectacular miracle is not enough; freedom must grow and its growth must be sound and complete, and capable of facing the responsibilities of life in our age.
Gamal Abdel Nasser, the President of the United Arab Republic of Egypt
Messages during the 60th year anniversary of OAU-AU/Africa Day
Sixty years ago on this very date, Addis Ababa was host to a historic event that would shape the course of our continent. 32 heads of State and Government of independent African nations converged in our capital to sign the Charter that would create Organization of African Unity.
Sixty years later, Africa is the second most populous continent with an estimated population upwards 1.4 billion people. It is expected that by 2050 more than half of the global population growth will occur in our continent. Paying attention to a continent that by 2050 will be home to one in four human kinds.
Today, our continent and our African Union is 55 members strong and is fast becoming a critical voice in the global arena. In an increasingly complex, dynamic and fast changing global world order, unity is no more a catchphrase but a means of survival.
Abiy Ahmed (PhD), Prime Minister of Ethiopia said on his message in connection with the 60th year anniversary of Africa Day Let us be proud of the achievements of the past six decades of our Organization, while continuing to chart, with lucidity and pragmatism, the path of our future. Between 1963 and 2002, the Organization of African Unity succeeded in achieving two major objectives in a particular historical context, by getting rid of the colonization of Africa and the end of apartheid in South Africa.
It is critical to pursue together the ambitions for unity, peace and development to succeed in creating the conditions for the free movement of goods and people in the continental space, through the establishment of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). “Let us ratify the Agreement, for those who are still hesitating, in order to make this ambition a reality, and give our continent a chance, to experience sustainable economic growth and to nourish the hope of becoming one of the largest markets in the world, in the years to come.
Azali Assoumani, President of the Union of Comoros and Chairperson of the African Union said during the 60th anniversary here in Addis Ababa.
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD SATURDAY 27 MAY 2023
