PROBLEMS IN THE FORMER OAU Throughout much of its history, the OAU was troubled by disputes among its member nations. In 1975 the organization’s members became divided over which side to support in the Angolan Civil War. In this conflict, rival factions fought for control of Angola, which had won independence from Portugal in 1974. One faction, the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (officially known as Movemento Popular de Libertação de Angola-Partido de Trabalho, or MPLA), was backed by Cuba and the Soviet Union. Two other factions, the National Front for the Liberation of Angola (Frente Nacional de Libertação de Angola, or FNLA) and the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (União Nacional para a Independência Total de Angola, or UNITA), were supported by the United States, its Western allies, and South Africa. In a December 1975 vote to decide which side to support, half of the nations in the OAU chose one side, and half the other. The split in the organization continued during a series of wars, including the 1977 and 1978 invasions of the Katanga Province in Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo) by Angolan-backed forces, Somalia’s invasion of Ethiopia in 1978, and the conflict between Uganda and Tanzania in 1978 and 1979. In 1981 the same nations that had supported the MPLA government in Angola also recognized the Western Sahara as an independent state and admitted it into the OAU. Morocco and other states that had supported the UNITA/FNLA side of the Angolan conflict did not approve of this move and Morocco temporarily withdrew from the OAU. The OAU’s strength was sapped further by an accelerating economic decline in Africa during the 1970s and 1980s.
Posted on: Sun, 30 Jun 2013 13:14:08 +0000
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