OAU was formed in 1963, 25th March; this was when the Casablanca and Monrovia groups united at Addis Ababa to resolve their conflicts. It was independent African countries that formed it - president Herbert Maga of Dahomey suggested the name.

One of its aims was to keep peace and the discussion hereunder labours to explain how the OAU tried to diffuse the conflicts in Africa.

In 1963, Morocco with Algeria had a conflict over part of Sahara along the border between Algeria and Morocco.

Haile Selassie, the then chairman of OAU, arranged for a negotiation between king Hassan of Morocco and Ahmed been Bella, the Prime Minister of Algeria. These negotiations were to be held in Bamako (Mali) to find ways of settling the dispute peacefully.

OAU was able to settle the Tanzania National Army Mutiny in 1964. This was when Nyerere had changed his mind to calling British troops to quell down this mutiny. The Council of Ministers met in Addis Ababa to discuss Tanzania's request. They accepted to send troops to express solidarity with the Tanzania government.

In the same year (1964), the OAU temporarily settled the conflict between Ethiopia and Somalia over Ogaden region. Somalia said that Somali-speaking people inhabited Western Somalia.

Ethiopia, on the other hand, claimed that there had been no Somalia nation till 1960 and therefore, Ogaden had been part of Ethiopia. Hence, in February 1964, a Council' of Ministers met in Lagos and ordered a ceasefire immediately.

The boarder conflict between Kenya and Somalia over Juba land was put down by OAU at Lagos in February 1964. Kenya claimed that certain inhabitants of Jubaland wished to join Kenya. Somalia claimed the Northern Frontier District of Kenya some 150,000 sq miles. This was also a cause of frequent border conflict in the national region of Kenya bordering Somaliland.

OAU intervened to solve the conflict between Ghana and Upper Volta (Burkina Faso) in 1964. Upper Volta claimed that Ghana had encroached on her territory by building a school 2 km inside Upper Volta; that Ghana's policy had been harassing the civilian population. OAU sitting in Cairo encouraged the two Heads of State i.e. Nkrumah and Maurice Yemeogo to hold direct discussions and find mutual acceptable solution to their border conflict.

Gabon and Equatorial Guinea's quarrels over the Islands of Mbanje were resolved once and for all. This came up fi-om 1967-1972. Working on behalf of OAU, Presidents Mobutu of Zaire and that of Congo used their good offices to resolve the conflict.

In 1972 on 8th November, the heads of disputing states were made to sign an agreement to neutralise the disputed Islands. OAU set up a technical committee to delimit the boundaries between the two countries. This issue ceased to be brought again to OAU.

The conflict between Mali and Burkina Faso was also resolved by OAU on 26th December 1974. This conflict was over a piece of land on which farmers from both sides had traditionally grazed their cattle.

The 1964 Rwanda - Burundi conflicts was also resolved by OAU. It all started in 1963. This was when Rwanda accused Burundi of allowing the Tutsi guerillas to launch an attack from it. A Council of Ministers sitting in Lagos mediated the two sides in relation to refugees who had moved from one country to another. A 10-man fact finding committee was set up to examine all aspects of refugee problems and make appropriate recommendation.

The OAU got involved in the Congo crisis in 1964. OAU condemned the Katanga province and its move to breakaway from Congo. Even, Moise Tshombe was refused/ barred from attending the first session of Assembly of Heads of state in Cairo.

In 1966, relationship between Rwanda and Burundi strained again. This was because of the flight of about 600,000 refugees from Rwanda to Burundi. Mobutu was requested by OAU to help in mediating between these countries and in 1967, he won peace.

OAU never kept quite during the Biafra war of secession. This war started in 1967 and lasted till 1970. OAU set up Consultative Council of 6 heads of state with Haile Selassie as chairman. The head of the Nigerian federal government head, Gowon was assured of the Assembly's desire for regional integrity, unity and peace of Nigeria. This showed that OAU was against secession.

OAU intervened in the arrest of Guinea Foreign minister with his 18-man delegation. This delegation had been travelling on Pan-African Aircraft which made a stop over at Accra Airport. They were going to Addis Ababa for the 7^th ordinary session of the Council of Ministers. Selassie, Nyerere, Tubman and Keita appealed to Ankrah to release the minister. This was done immediately.

The conflict between Uganda (Amin) and Tanzania (Nyerere) was attended to with concern by OAU. Amin accused Nyerere of allowing Obote to use Tanzania as a base to destabilize Uganda. Nyerere also condemned Amin's regime and called it illegitimate; he would not recognise this regime. Nyerere also accused Amin of encroaching on his land (Kagera Strip) and claiming it to be part of Uganda.

The Chadian civil war from 1965-80 attracted the attention of OAU. This war was the first of its kind that forced OAU to move from the conference table to the battlefield with the first African peacekeeping force. This force was to be organised by Benin, Togo, Congo and Guinea. The conflict was put down and peace returned to Chad.

Ethiopia and Eritrea border question needs mention as one of the areas where OAU intervened. This was from as early as 1961 where Eritrea demanded secession supported by Sudan. This led to conflict between Ethiopia and Sudan and attracted / called upon the meditation committee to meet in Free Town in 1977 to appeal to the two sides to apply a principle of non-violation and integrity of member states.

The 1994 Liberia political strife led to the organisation of a peacekeeping force to that country. This was to be formed by Uganda and in 1996, peace returned to Liberia.

The political situation in Madagascar in 2001-2002 between Ratsiraka and Ravolamanana over who was the truly elected president of that country attracted the concern of OAU. It all started when the incumbent President wanted to stick to power even when election results showed he had lost. Therefore, for more than six months, Madagascar remained without a president. OAU refused to recognize the legitimacy of Ratsraka and called for peaceful resolution of this conflict. In June 2002, peace returned to Madagascar.