The 25th of May marks the annual celebration of  Africa Day, the annual commemoration of the 1963 founding of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), presently recognised as the African Union (AU). Comprised of 53 member states, it has brought together the continent of Africa to collectively addressing the challenges it has faced, such as armed conflict, climate change, and poverty.
Seventeen countries gained independence from European colonisers between 1958 and 1963, and to mark their liberation, the newly-liberated countries felt the need to express solidarity with one another, and in May 1963, 32 African countries met in Addis Ababa to form the Organisation of African Unity (OAU). Since 1963, 21 more states have joined, notably South Africa, who only became part of the organisation in 1994 following the end of a one race minority rule. The OAU became the African Union because of the increasingly economic, rather than political, nature of the challenges faced by the continent in the 1990s.
The African continent faces major challenges that require further cooperation, economic integration and coordination between the African countries, and added to our celebration of freedom, we need to annually honour this day by evaluating our milestones in achieving Peace, Prosperity & an integrated Africa.
