4th February 2016
Newsademic.com
™
- British English edition
page
15
Almost all countries in Africa are
former colonies o f European nations
such as the UK and France. By 1963,
around two-thirds o f them had be
come independent states. One o f the
first things the OAU planned to do
was to make sure that all countries in
Africa became independent nations.
Then, countries such as Angola, M o
zambique
and Zimbabwe had yet to
be given independence. Angola and
Mozambique were Portuguese colo
nies. Zimbabwe, which was a UK
colony, was called Rhodesia.
Soon after it was set up, the OAU
made a decision on w hat’s known
as non-interference. This meant its
members
would not interfere with
what was happening in other mem
ber countries. Leaders could there
fore do what they wanted without
being criticised by the OAU.
Leaders a t the African Union sum m it
Many African leaders refused to
hold proper democratic elections.
Ruling as dictators, they stayed in
power for many years. Often these
leaders were corrupt and dishonest.
Many
became very wealthy while
most people in their countries lived
in poverty. Military coups (pro
nounced 'coos’) and civil wars in
Africa were not unusual. A coup is
when a military commander uses the
army to seize control of a country.
At first, South Africa was not
an OAU member. It had a 'whites
only’ government and a policy
o f segregation called apartheid.
Apartheid meant that the population
was separated into racial groups. In
1990 this began to change.
Nelson
Mandela
(1918
- 2013)
was freed after
spending 27 years in pris
on. In 1994 he was elected
as South Africa’s first black
president. The changes in
South Africa had an effect on many
other African countries. M ost people
living in Africa no longer wanted to
be ruled by dictators. Many African
countries began to change.
In 2002 it was decided to replace
the
OAU with a new organisation
called the African Union. As part of
the change, the old policy o f non-in
terference was dropped. Nowadays,
the AU promotes democracy in all Af
rican countries. Members can be pun
ished or suspended from the organisa
tion. Frequent summits, or meetings,
are held in Addis Ababa. During these
meetings problems that exist in mem
ber countries are discussed.
The AU has two leaders. The
organisation’s members elect both.
One is the A U ’s chairperson, or
chair. The other is the head o f the Af
rican Union Commission, or Com
mission Chair. The Commission
runs the
day-to-day management of
the AU. The Commission chair is
the more powerful o f the two. The
A U ’s chairperson does the job for
12 months whereas the Commission
chair is elected for a four-year term.
At the latest summit Idriss
Deby, the president o f Chad, was
appointed as the new AU chairper
son. Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma is
the head of the Commission. She
is from
South Africa and the first
woman to be elected as the A U ’s
Commission chair.
The AU has an emblem. It is
made up of four parts, or elements.
The green palm leaves on either
side stand for peace. The gold rep
resents Africa’s wealth. At the base
are interlocking red rings.
These are for the blood
that was shed to 'liberate’
Africa from colonial rule.
An
outline of the African
continent is in the centre. It
shows unity, as there are no
boundaries between the 54 member
countries. □
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