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50th anniversary of African Union

Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Peya Mushelenga.

Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Peya Mushelenga.

As part of the preparations to celebrate the golden jubilee of the foundation of the Organisation of African Union (OAU) which later became the African Union (AU), His Excellency President Hifikepunye Pohamba officially launches the programme of events this Friday 17 May.
Founding President, Dr. Sam Nujoma, is scheduled to give a public lecture and share his recollections of the Founding of the OAU at the same occasion.
The OAU was established on 25 May 1963 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia by leaders of 32 independent African states. This followed an extensive process of consultations led by many African leaders, notably Dr. Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana, Julius Nyerere of Tanzania and many others. The founding of the OAU, followed a series of meetings of All Africa Peoples Conferences which started outside Africa led by the members of the diaspora such as Marcus Garvey, George Padmore and W.E.D. du Bois.
The establishment of the OAU was made with the fundamental objective for the organization to liberate Africa from colonialism and Apartheid. That objective was achieved with the independence of Namibia in 1990 and the dismantling of Apartheid in South Africa in 1994.
A National Preparatory Committee has already set up a programme of events to celebrate the OAU Golden Jubilee of the founding of the OAU. Namibia’s Programme of celebrations is planned to involve meaningful debates around African issues. The youth will be encouraged to provide input into the future vision of the African continent.
Scheduled activities are planned in all 13 regions of the country where national and prominent leaders will be deployed to give lectures and participate in workshops to sensitize the nation on the achievements and challenges of the OAU. “In this effort, we will also partner with our brothers and sisters from the continent, particularly who are represented by African Diplomatic Missions in Namibia,” said Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Peya Mushelenga during an announcement of the programme of events earlier this week.
Mushelenga called on the youth and students to play their rightful role in terms of influencing the future agenda of the continent and urged the public to attend the launching in numbers.

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