The Role of OAU on Representation of National Liberation Movements at the UN, 1963-1974

Arguably, the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) played a colossal role in the representation of national liberation movements at the United Nations (UN). The movements' representation in the UN is a significant pointer because it gave legitimacy to the liberation struggle against racism and colonialism in Africa; provided independent African states with machinery to supply the liberation movements with material and other assistance needed to wage their armed struggles; set in motion a unified African policy toward colonial and settler regimes in Africa; and enabled the regional body to solicit foreign support for the liberation efforts in southern Africa. An appropriate starting point for comprehending the OAU's role in the representation of the national liberation movements at the UN is examining the regional body's decisions on recognition of the movements. An analysis of these decisions is critical because they suggest diplomatic action against colonial powers in Africa. In addition, they suggested appropriate action by the UN and the severance of diplomatic relations. It is also a significant pointer because it reflected developments in the new international legal order of the last half of the twentieth century, in which the right of self-determination had become entrenched in the Jus cogens, the basic, fundamental, imperative, or overriding rules of international law, peremptory norms that could not be set aside by treaty or acquiescence but only by the formation of a subsequent norm of contrary effect; and legitimized the move by the UN General Assembly (GA) to secure greater information regarding developments in particular territories, thereby implicitly acknowledging a kind of superior status in respect of the national liberation movements in African territories.