KMAfrica.com - African Renaissance and desired outcomes for Africa

The African Renaissance is about developing Africans and Africa. It is a call for the rebirth renewal, reinvention and repositioning of Africans and Africa in a globalizing world. Furthermore, it is a call to Africans to relearn and rediscover who they are and where they are in a global scheme of things. It is a vision bigger than the African Union, NEPAD and many other initiatives by individuals, communities, governments and multilateral organisations. It is not an effort to emulate 'world class' standards set by others but to set world standards to be followed by others. The African Renaissance is seen as the rebirth of the continent after centuries of suppression, correcting negative images. Rebirth must be through rediscovery of Africa's past, reversing the downfall into chaos. It is about planning for the future based on a new knowledge framework accommodating the ideas and philosophies that created the great empires of Ghana, Monomotapa, Songhai and Mali. (Gutto 2005).

Formal Objectives

The OAU Charter, accepted in Addis Ababa on 25 May 1963, stipulates that the Organization have the following purposes:

• To promote the unity and solidarity of the African States;

• To coordinate and intensify their cooperation and efforts to achieve a better life for the peoples of Africa;
• To defend their sovereignty, their territorial integrity and independence;
• To eradicate all forms of colonialism from Africa; and
• To promote international cooperation, with regard to the Charter of the United Nations and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights Article XIX of the Charter established the Commission of Mediation, Conciliation and Arbitration for member states to settle all disputes among themselves by peaceful means

The AU superseded the OAU when the Constitutive Act of the African Union of 11 July 2000, was accepted in Lomé, Togo. According to the 'Act' the objectives of the AU is to:

• achieve greater unity and solidarity between the African counties and the peoples of Africa;

• defend the sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence of its Member States;
• accelerate the political and socio-economic integration of the continent;
• promote and defend African common positions on issues of interest to the continent and its peoples;
• encourage international cooperation, taking due account of the Charter of the United Nations and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights;
• promote peace, security, and stability on the continent;
• promote democratic principles and institutions, popular participation and good governance;
• promote and protect human and peoples' rights in accordance with the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights and other relevant human rights instruments;
• establish the necessary conditions which enable the continent to play its rightful role in the global economy and in international negotiations;
• promote sustainable development at the economic, social and cultural levels as well as the integration of African economies;
• promote cooperation in all fields of human activity to raise the living standards of African peoples;
• coordinate and harmonize policies between existing and future Regional Economic Communities for the gradual attainment of the objectives of the Union;
• advance the development of the continent by promoting research in all fields, in particular in science and technology;
• work with relevant international partners in the eradication of preventable diseases and the promotion of good health on the continent

One of the core objectives of the African Union (AU) is the promotion of peace, security, and stability on the Continent, as spelt out in Article 3 (f) of the AU Constitutive Act. To strengthen the AU’s capacity in the prevention, management and resolution of conflicts, Member States adopted, in July 2002, in Durban, South Africa, the Protocol Relating to the Establishment of the Peace and Security Council (PSC), which entered into force in December 2003. The Protocol, in article 2 (1), defines the PSC as 'a collective security and early-warning arrangement to facilitate timely and efficient response to conflict and crisis situations in Africa'.

This work is (c)opyright to Dr Dries Velthuizen African Wisdom site and is used with permission.