ORGANISATION OF AFRICAN UNITY.

It was established on 25th May 1963 in Addis Ababa Ethiopia.The organisation’s

purposes included 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 people of Africa,to defend their sovereignty,their territorial integrity
and independence,to eradicate all forms of colonialism from Africa and to
promote international cooperation,having due regard to the charter of United
Nations and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

However, in the pursuit of the organisation’s purposes, the member states

declared their adherence to some principles among them the sovereign
equality of member states, non-interference in interference in internal affairs
of states,respect of sovereignty and territorial integrity of each state and
peaceful settlement of disputes.

Kenya’s contribution to the Organisation of African Unity

In relation to peace and security.( Case study of the Uganda

Internal conflict of 1979 to 1985)

Kenya initiated mediations in the internal conflict in Uganda in 1985. This was a
departure from the Organisation’s approaches to conflict management. Kenya
mediated between the two Tito Okello’s Uganda National Liberation Front and
Museveni’s National Resistance Movement the two main protagonist parties.

Kenya was a heterogenous mediator as it belonged to the same system of both

the Greater Horn of Africa conflict system. Despite having succeeded in
brokering an agreement between parties, it was clear that the outcome was
unacceptable leading to it’s rejection by Ugandans who pursued a military
solution to the conflict. This was because the mediation did not involve the
entire warring parties and concentrated only on the power sharing
configuration but failed to address the root causes therefore making the re-
entry problematic. The involvement by Kenya in trying to manage Ugandan
internal conflict should have served as lesson to Organisation of African Unity
which continued to strictly adhere to article 3(2) of it’s charter and interpreting
it as non involvement.