Explaining the clash and accommodation of interests of major actors in the creation of the African Union

The rapid creation of the African Union (AU) has been described as one of the most puzzling events in interstate co-operation in contemporary Africa. While studies published so far on the subject express surprise at the AU's speedy creation, none makes any attempt to explain the clash of interests and ideas of the key actors and how they were accommodated in order to create the AU. This article attempts to fill this gap by exploring the interests and ideas that drove the AU process. It argues that the introduction at the Algiers summit in 1999 of two separate reform packages that were meant to reform the OAU in line with the foreign policy interests of Nigeria and South Africa set in motion the process that eventually led to the creation of the AU.