African Unity: A dream deferred?

To this end, it is imperative that we heed the counsel of former South African President Thabo Mbeki that in the context of the 50th anniversary of the OAU 'We must answer some questions honestly: What progress have we made towards the achievement of the objectives set by the OAU, AU and New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD)? What shall we do in this regard?'

This should involve an appreciation of the dismal performance of the continent on the question of African unity.Accordingly, in what follows I would like to highlight the road that post-independence leaders pursued and how it led to the betrayal of the promises of liberation and hence the dream of unity as well as the catastrophic consequence of this failure of the post-independence political class. In the process, I also hope to identify the major factors that impeded substantive progress towards the dream of the unification of people of the continent.