Audio By Carbonatix
About 10,000 Heads of State and Diplomats across the globe, including Ghana's President John Mahama, U.S. Secretary of State, John Kerry and United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki-Moon are in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to celebrate the Africa Union Day.
The occasion marks the Golden Jubilee celebrations of the continental body.
The Organisation of African Unity was established in 1963 with 30 members. It became the AU in 2002, and now consists of 54 members - every African nation with the exception of Morocco, which opted out due to the Western Sahara conflict.
Speaking to some Ghanaians in Ethiopia President Mahama said the 21st century was Africa’s century because many opportunities are opening up for the continent to enable it “play the prominent role in world affairs that it deserves”.
President Mahama said happenings on the continent shows there is a “renaissance” taking place in Africa.
AU was established to unite Africans and bring economic growth to the continent. But after fifty years of its formation, the relevance of the organisation has come under question.
Some believe it has outlived its usefulness and must be restructured to reflect the needs of modern Africa.
An author, Kina Likimani has questioned the basis for the union’s existence.
She thinks 50 years after the formation of the Union, “it is a time for [Africans] to be introspective to see whether it is a project we want to take forward, and if we are going to take it forward in what form should it take”.
Likimani believes it is wrong that the youth in Africa are “disenfranchised” from the process of rethinking the way forward for the Union.
International relations expert and pan Africanist, Dr. Vladimir Antwi Danso also believes AU must pursue integration.
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