As Africa's 54 leaders regrouped in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Organisation of African Unity, the dream of uniting the resource rich continent remains as remote as ever.
Here are some key milestones to the destination to come.
- 1957: Leaders of Africa's three independent republics - Liberia, Ghana and Guinea - met to discuss liberating the rest of the continent
- 1963: OAU founded
- Initially concentrated on ending colonial and white minority rule in countries such as Angola, Mozambique (1975), Zimbabwe (1980), Namibia (1990) and South Africa (1994)
- 1984: Morocco leaves OAU after OAU recognised independence of Western Sahara
- 2002: OAU became the African Union, designed to work for economic integration
- AU ended policy of non-interference in domestic affairs - it has suspended several countries after coups, while OAU had been criticised as a "dictators' club"
- AU has sent peacekeepers to Darfur and Somalia
- 2011: South Sudan becomes 54th member of AU (Morocco has not rejoined)
- 2012: Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma becomes first female head of AU commission
Credit: The BBC
