ABSTRACT
The Organization of African Unity (OAU) has used a variety of techniques to control conflict among its members. For analytical convenience, these techniques can be grouped into two categories: formal and informal. The summits of the OAU bring together authoritative decision-makers of the Organisation. The establishment of ad hoc committees comprising selected OAU Heads of State or their representatives is another distinctively African technique of conflict control. The Ethiopia-Somalia dispute involves a threat to the integrity of a state: Ethiopia, a member of the OAU. Somalia has been contesting a part of Ethiopian territory known as the Ogaden, which is inhabited by people of Somali stock. The OAU was seized with the Western Sahara problem in 1972 when the Council of Ministers expressed solidarity with the people of the territory in their struggle for independence from Spain. Many suggestions have been advanced to solve the OAU’s weakness in the realm of conflict control.
