ABSTRACT
The Organisation of African Unity is the principal regional organisation for Africa and was established in May 1963 under the terms of the Charter of the Organisation of African Unity. The supreme organ is the Assembly of Heads of State and Government which meets annually or in special session; preparatory work is effected by meetings of the Council of Ministers. Membership is open to all independent sovereign African states; it is a flexible and rather loose organisation designed to promote regional co-operation and is founded on the ‘sovereign equality of all Member States’.30 In its early years, the emphasis was on decolonisation and the struggle against apartheid however the actual objectives under the Charter are very broad, including co-operation in matters of economics, health, transport and defence.31 The Organisation operates through a Secretary General and a secretariat and is based in Addis Ababa. There has been since 1964 a Protocol which established a Commission of Mediation, Conciliation and Arbitration. The basic tendency of the Organisation has been to seek to resolve interAfrican disputes within Africa although it has to be candidly admitted that the record on the Western Sahara, Chad, Ethiopia, Rwanda and Sierra Leone has been disappointing.
