Refl ections on the African Union after Decade One: Looking Back in Order to Look Forward

Abstract

This special edition of Africa Insight focuses on the African Union (AU) after a decade since its inception. The idea is to cast a critical eye over the past 10 years of the AU, successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), who will itself in 2013 commemorate 50 years since its establishment in 1963. Writing in May 2012, one of the chief architects of the AU and of Africa’s post-Cold War Continental Order, former South African president Thabo Mbeki remarked in the form of two probing questions:
As we celebrate the fi rst decade of both the AU and NEPAD, and prepare to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the OAU next year we must answer these questions honestly:
● What progress have we made towards the achievement of the objectives of the OAU, the AU and NEPAD? And,
● What shall we do in this regard?