This term of the "United States of Africa" has been first used as early as 1924 when Pan Africanist Marcus Garvey first wrote this in his poem. The term has been widely used, but it suddenly became a reality after. The first attempts to unite the countries in the African continent can date back as early 1960's. This move was first pushed by Former Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie and Former President of Ghana Kwame Nkrumah.
This push for unification started with the Union of African states which was shortly lived and then shortly after, the Organization of African Unity or otherwise known as the OAU was established. There were many goals behind this organization like: Higher quality living standards, human rights, and disbanding colonial influences etc.
"At the United Nations the OAU functions as a pressure group to further the interests of African countries and to resolve potential disputes between them. Its main initiative in the economy of the region has been the adoption in 1991 of an African Economic Community Treaty."
Source: http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?historyid=271
This economic treaty know as the "Abuja Treaty" was the second step into bringing to together a Pan-African "United States of Africa" into the world. This initiative was developed under a system of 8 regional blocs, but due to regional overlap, some countries did not stick to this for too long.
"The aim of the AEC is to promote economic, social and cultural development as well as African economic integration in order to increase self-sufficiency and indigenous development and to create a framework for development, mobilization of human resources and material. It further aims to promote co-operation and development in all aspects of human activity with a view to raising the standard of life among Africa’s people, maintaining economic stability and establishing a close and peaceful relationship among member states."
This long awaited development was beginning to see progress after the Sirte Declaration was put into place in 1999 during an assembly of African leaders held in Sirte, Libya. The Sitre Declaration was icing on the cake in order for the continent to fully establish itself in the 21st century.
The goal behind the Sitre Declaration was to "Establish an African Union, in conformity with the ultimate objectives of the Charter of our continental Organization and the provisions of the Treaty Establishing the African Economic Community.
(II) Accelerate the process of implementing the Treaty Establishing the African Economic Community, in particular:
(a) Shorten the implementation periods of the Abuja Treaty,
(b) Ensure the speedy establishment of all the institutions provided for in the Abuja Treaty, such as the African Central Bank, the African Monetary Union, the African Court of Justice and, in particular, the Pan-African Parliament."
Source: https://libyadiary.wordpress.com/2011/03/01/sirte-declaration/
With the intent to replace OAU, The African Union was then established May 26, 2001 in Ethiopia and then launched July 9, 2002 in South Africa. This union was founded by former Prime Minister of Libya Muammar Gaddafi for a greater and more prosperous Africa. But along with this mindset came with many consequences and challenges along his path for a more powerful and independent African Union which we will discuss in the next article.
In my next article I will describe his accomplishments, failures along with his death where and why it happened. We will also go into why Libya and the continent of Africa is in the position that it is in today. Thank you all for who read this article, and stay tuned for the next one!
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