25/05/2023
On May 25, 1963, Haile Selassie's Ethiopia was joined by 32 independent African states to form the Organization of African Unity (OAU). Gathering all of Africa's independent states into one conference room had been an ambitious effort of Ghana's since 1958, but it failed after a large number of African states achieved international sovereignty. Nevertheless, there has been a constant effort among all African leaders to regain the path to unity through a conference of independent African states (with the exception of the Union of South Africa). The great intercontinental conferences have indeed brought cruel disappointments to the African states, which were anxious not to open Africa to the disputes between USSR and China, nor to become a pawn in the struggle between East and West. Even the idea of an "African summit" that would bring together all the independent states of Africa, without any discrimination other than that of the Union of South Africa, was discussed throughout 1962. Originally planned to be held in Tunis, this conference was finally held in Addis Ababa at the instigation of Ethiopian Foreign Minister Ketema Yifru and was a kind of tribute to Ethiopia the oldest independent state in Africa. In early 1963, 33 states were eligible to participate in such a conference. In the end, 31 states were represented: Togo could not participate in the deliberations because the 31 other states had not yet agreed to recognize the Grunitzky government after the assassination of the brilliant President Sylvanus Olympio, and Morocco refused to participate in the conference because of the question of the Spanish colony of Western Sahara and mainly Mauritania, which the King of Morocco considered provinces of his kingdom. However, the OAU Charter was eventually signed later by these two countries.
Two were Two Conferences wee held in Addis Ababa: that of the foreign ministers from May 15 to 21, 1963, and that of the heads of state and government which immediately followed the first, from May 22 to 26, 1963; but the first had only a preparatory role and only the second had decision-making power. Even before the work of the Conference of Foreign Ministers began, it became apparent that two main tendencies developed shortly before would clash on the major question of the institutional structures to be given to African unity: on the one hand, the very integrationist and federalist group of Casablanca, which fought for the creation of a genuine African state structure with two chambers-one representing the states, the other the peoples-and an African continental government; on the other hand, the Monrovia group, which fought for very interstate cooperation and gradual integration and was led by Leopold Sedar Senghor of Senegal and Houphouet Boigny of the Ivory Coast, and called for the creation of a very flexible structure of cooperation that respected all the sovereignty of the states.
Emperor Haile Selassie overcame the ideological differences between the two groups and committed them to come to Addis Ababa to find a solution to the fate of the people of Africa. The emperor said: "Let Us say, first of all, that Ethiopia considers herself a member of one group only – the African group. We will join in any deliberations, we will consider any plan, we will debate any proposal anywhere, and at any time, provided that it contributes to the maintenance of world peace, the development of Africa’s human and material resources, and the protection of this continent’s legitimate interests." Ketema Yifru, the Ethiopian foreign minister, submitted a draft charter on May 17th 1963, a draft charter that included ideas from the president of Guinea, Sekou Touré, the president of Mali, Modibo Keïta, and the late president of Togo, Sylvanus Olympio, and provided for the creation of an organization to be headed by an assembly of heads of state and government, supported by a council of ministers, a general secretariat, a defense office, and specialized commissions; the charter was to ensure coordination of policies, especially on economic and military matters. The debate was concluded in committee on May 18; the conference adopted a recommendation on May 21 that it would forward to the heads of state. No charter was officially proposed, but Ketema Yifru's project was recommended as a working basis, subject to modifications that were also inspired by the Casablanca and Lagos charters; the ministers proposed that a new conference be subsequently convened to adopt it. Thus, on the most important item on the agenda, the ministers seemed to have partially failed on May 21. Although the principle of the "definitive disappearance of African groups such as those of Casablanca and Monrovia in favor of an organization on a continental scale" was accepted, the miracle did not happen, the agreement had not yet been reached. "We are not magicians," declared the Senegalese minister when presenting the recommendations to the press. So it seemed that the conference of heads of state could hardly go further. But the opposite is the case. The "miracle" did indeed occur, or at least the irrepressible will to achieve immediate positive results dominated the conference of heads of state and government
Emperor Haile Selassie locked African heads of state, governments, and revolutionary groups in Africa Hall and told them they would not leave without finding a solution for Africa. Begun on May 22 amid concerns of failure, the work experienced a sudden acceleration beginning on May 24. On May 25, the Organization of African Unity was established with a mandate to first completely rid Africa of all domination and foreign interference and then to unify it on a federal level. Africa Hall in Addis Ababa was chosen as the permanent headquarters of UNECA, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa. Emperor Haile Selassie reportedly approved this whimsical structure, a masterpiece by Arturo Mezzedimi, and paid nearly $3 million out of his own pocket to construct the building. A new Africa was born.
