The 50th Anniversary of the African Union: Has it Lived Up to its Promise?

In an essay published by theroot.com, the President of Ghana, John Dramani Mahama, says that the African Union – a confederation of 54 African states founded in 1963 to advocate for all Africans, at home and abroad – is living up to its promise and has helped to imbue a “renewed sense of potential” to the continent.

The African Union, formerly known as the Organization of African Unity has not only concerned itself with improving the living conditions of Africans on the continent Mahama writes, but also “defending the sovereignty of newly liberated nations, as well as funding and fighting for the liberation of places still under colonial domination.”

It imposed sanctions on South Africa for its practice of apartheid and has aligned itself with individuals and groups in other parts of the world, particularly the United States, that were engaged in a struggle for the equality of African people within the diaspora.

“Perhaps the most important mission of the Organization of African Unity, implicit in its every existence, was the recognition of Africans, regardless of origin, as brothers and sisters of the same soil. We were accepting the responsibility to be each other’s keeper.”

Read President Mahama’s entire essay at the Root.