Today is Africa Day. Most of us, as African citizens, celebrate this day, but do we really know what we are celebrating? Do we know the history behind what made this day worth the celebration? Here are 5 facts that you need to know about Africa Day.
1. This day annually commemorates the founding of the OAU (Organisation of African Unity) that took place on 25 May 1963.
2. Between 1958 and 1963, 17 African countries were liberated by European colonies and in 1963 they decided to come together and mark their liberation by uniting the countries as the OAU.
2. This day is written up in the history books as the day when the leaders of 30 of the 32 independent African countries came together in Addis Ababa, Ethiopa to sign the founding charter. The only two African states that didn’t sign the charter on this day were Togo and Morocco, but they signed it before the end of that year.
3. In 1985 Morocco withdrew from the OAU, after the admission of Western Sahara as a member state of the OAU. Morocco is now the only country out of the independent African states that are not a part of the OAU.
4. 21 More countries joined this organisation since then, where South Africa joined in 1994 following the new democracy.
5. The OAU was on 9 July 2002 disbanded by its last chairperson, former South African president Thabo Mbeki, and replaced by the AU (African Union). South Africa is one of the founding members of the AU.
6. The African Union was officially launched in Durban in 2002.
7. In 2012 former Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma became the first female chair of the AU’s administrative arm.
8. Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe is the current chairman of the African Union.
9. 15 April was enacted as African Freedom Day (or Africa Liberation Day), and this marked the beginning of what was later known as Africa Day.
10. The theme for 2016 is ‘Building a better Africa and a Better World’.
