Editing Organisation of African Unity (section)

==History==
{{see also|Union of African States|History of the African Union}}
{{expand section|date=July 2018}}

The inception of the OAU's establishment was the '''Sanniquellie Pledge''' at the '''First West African Summit Conference''' held in [[Sanniquellie]], [[Liberia]] on 15–19 July 1959.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/10503787 |title=The First West African Summit Conference: Held at Sanniquellie, Central Province, Liberian hinterland, July 15-19, 1959 |date=1959 |publisher=The Liberian Information Service}}</ref> President [[William Tubman|Tubman]] of [[Liberia]] hosted President [[Ahmed Sékou Touré|Touré]] of [[Guinea]], and Prime Minister [[Kwame Nkrumah|Nkrumah]] of [[Ghana]], and the three pledged to work together for the formation of a "Community of Independent African States".<ref>{{cite journal |date=1962 |title=Special Conferences |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/international-organization/article/abs/special-conferences/2791709EBA89F4623CD1CC1564BD69C4 |journal=International Organization |volume=16 |issue=2 |pages=444–446 |doi=10.1017/S0020818300011218|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

The OAU was founded in May 1963<ref name="Jaynes" /> in [[Addis Ababa]], [[Ethiopia]], by 32 African states with the main aim of bringing the African nations together and resolve the issues within the continent.<ref name="Jaynes">Jaynes, Gerald D., ''Encyclopedia of African American Society, Volume 1'' (contributors: Thomson Gale (Firm), Sage Publications), (2005), p. 672, {{ISBN|978-0761927648}} [https://books.google.com/books?id=eV45DQAAQBAJ&pg=PT672] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180718234602/https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=eV45DQAAQBAJ&pg=PT672|date=18 July 2018}}</ref> Its first ever conference was held on 1 May 1963<ref name="Cham Joof" /> in Addis Ababa.<ref name="Cham Joof" /><ref name="Jaynes" /> At that conference, the late [[The Gambia|Gambian]] historian{{snd}}and one of the leading [[African nationalism#Gambia|Gambian nationalists]] and [[Pan-Africanism|Pan-Africanists]] at the time{{snd}}[[Alieu Ebrima Cham Joof]] delivered a speech in front of the member states, in which he said:<ref name="Cham Joof">[http://archive.thepoint.gm/Opinion%20-%20Talking%20Point52.htm "Message to the Founding Fathers of the OAU at their First Conference at Addis Ababa 1st May 1963 – Alhaji A E Cham-Joof"]. ''[[The Point (the Gambia)|The Point Newspaper]]'', 29 June 2006. {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111123024430/http://archive.thepoint.gm/Opinion%20-%20Talking%20Point52.htm |date=23 November 2011 |}}</ref>

:It is barely 75 years when the European Powers sat around the table in Germany each holding a dagger to carve up Africa for its own benefit.… Your success will inspire and speed up the freedom and total independence of the African continent and eradicate imperialism and colonialism from the continent and eventually neo-colonialism from the globe… Your failure, which no true African in Africa is praying for, will prolong our struggle with bitterness and disappointment. I, therefore, adjure that you ignore any suggestion outside Africa and holding that the present civilization, which some of the big powered are boasting of, sprang up from Africa, and realising that the entire world has something earthly to learn from Africa, you would endeavour your utmost to come to agreement, save Africa from the clutches of neo-colonialism and resurrect African dignity, manhood and national stability.