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Critical Reflections on the OAU’s 50th Anniversary Commemoration and the AU Agenda Towards 2063

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ISSN : ISSN 2050-4306 (Online), ISSN 2050-4292 (Print)

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The year 2013 marks the 50th anniversary celebration of the formation of the Organization of African Unity (OAU). It will also be a little more than a decade since the formation of the African Union (AU), which seeks to promote “an integrated, prosperous and peaceful Africa, driven by its own citizens and representing a dynamic force in global arena”. Consequently, the Heads of State declared the year 2013 the Year of Pan-Africanism and the African Renaissance. The 21st Ordinary Session of the Summit of the AU also took place from 19-27th May 2013 under the theme “Pan Africanism and African Renaissance”.

As declared by the AU, the anniversary is expected to facilitate and celebrate African narratives of past, present and future that will enthuse and energize the African population and use their constructive energy to accelerate a forward looking agenda of Pan-Africanism and renaissance in the 21st century. It provides a unique opportunity, and comes at a moment when Africa is on the rise, and must therefore build its confidence in its future. It is therefore an opportune time to cast a critical reflection on the organisation’s past successes and failures, its present challenges and dreams for the future as the AU commences planning for the next 50 years-towards 2063. The AU celebrated its Golden Jubilee in May 2013, viewing this auspicious occasion as a golden opportunity for the continent to reassert itself on the global stage. Various thinkers and institutions believe the next 50 years will be different. By 2063, they say, the continent will have moved close to full economic integration, with people and goods flowing (legally) over national borders that will exist largely as theoretical lines, rather than imposing fences (De Wet 2013). However, given current international constraints and challenges are the AU’s goals and highly ambitious agenda achievable? Will the AU be forced to ultimately travel the golden mean, by adopting a more measured, prudent, cautious and calculated approach in giving credence to its stated policy intentions or will it act reckless, failing to heed the many cautionary signs along the way, or revert back to its lacklustre, indifferent stance of the past and be left with fool’s gold for all its efforts? An important overarching theme this contribution attempts to explore is whether the AU truly is a continental organization whose time has come, or whether ominous signs are already emerging that reflect an organization in danger of further being marginalized in critical realms, potentially receding into the background on important debates and becoming irrelevant yet again as a force for good on the African continent.

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