Others emerged later, including the Casablanca and Monrovia groups, and parts of the journey to the Foundation promoted by Haile Selassie, Kwam Nkrumah, and Gamal Abdel Nasser, the emperor of Ethiopia at the time, and the presidents of Ghana and Egypt, respectively.
At that time, many countries were independent, and the representatives of about 30 countries, in addition to supporting the liberation of the colonies that remained, called for the promotion of the development of the countries of the Organization of African Unity (OAU).
“I hope this union conference will last a thousand years,” said Selassie, an Ethiopian who alerted Europe to the danger of fascism, the host of the event and a spokesman for legitimate aspirations.
The impulses for reform arose in 2001 from the African Union (AU), replacing the Organization of African Unity, but on May 25 they remained relevant, and today about 1.2 billion Africans celebrate Africa Day with the birth and growth of a core institution.
Since that date, that is 58 years ago, Africa has become the Organization of African Unity and the African Union and they have restored the rhythm of events in the region.
Between the end of the twentieth century and what is happening in the twenty-first century, the demolition of walls and towers, economic and cultural globalization, scientific progress and technological transformations occurred with extraordinary speed, with the vast region watching more than a hero. Amidst inequality, social and ethnic conflicts, environmental degradation and political collapse.
In the past six decades or so, the continent has been plagued by confrontations and misunderstandings of such diverse origins, characteristics and consequences that the two or three reform would simplify ancient history, with the ins and outs of their discovery or study.
The witness and the mirror to them was and is the African Union, that transformed entity, since the beginning of the fighting, without holding its breath and sincerely, any sign, blow or kick against the rules of progress in each country.
To assess it, if that were the will, it would be tedious to revisit the list of African progress in that period of nearly 60 years, which varies in all areas, but above all, it would be unfair, because the difficulties are greater than abundance.
However, it is worth noting now that the region, led by the African Union, has progressed towards harmony between its wide cultural diversity and that this force will increase further in 2021, and is characterized by the slogan “ Art, Culture and Heritage: Cranes to Build Africa We Want. ”
In addition, the Union’s transformative spirit, in search of better jobs and with the aim of making its efforts for continental security, stability and development as effective as possible, is illusory.
From the perspective of food insecurity and unemployment, to international unrest, environmental imbalances and humanitarian crises, there is a list of problems hindering African well-being, the last of which came in the form of the Coronavirus.
The African Union is looking to them with ambition to build the future that the peoples of this part of the hemisphere want, with the same hoped-for commitment to the growth of May 25, 1963, in addition to the certainty that Africa needs African solutions.
agp / jcd / raj
* The author is a correspondent for Prensa Latina in Ethiopia
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