ADEKEYE ADEBAJO: The diamond jubilee of African unity and the quest for Pax Africana
Last month marked the institutionalisation of 60 years of African unity with the birth of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) in Addis Ababa. To avoid border conflicts, the 53-member body froze the colonially inherited map of Africa that contained 16 landlocked countries and mostly agricultural-based exporters of raw materials.
Africa’s colonially deformed microstates lacked the economies of scale to industrialise, with potential regional powers such as Nigeria, Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Algeria being racked by internal instability, while SA was trapped under a racist albinocracy. Economic development and regional integration thus proved difficult, and intra-African trade remains a paltry 14% now. ..
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