The African Union (AU) celebrated its 50th anniversary in May. Macharia Munene, professor of history and international relations at the United States International University in Kenya, believes that the AU needs to rekindle the pan-African spirit and work toward the common African good. Excerpts follow:

The AU has, since it replaced the Organization of African Unity (OAU) 11 years ago, tried to foster a sense of African unity in a hostile geo-political environment. Africa needed a unifying organization and thus the OAU was founded in Addis Ababa in 1963. While the OAU legitimized colonially constructed borders and identities as a way of keeping the peace, it refused to legitimize the remaining colonial states and established a liberation committee to eliminate the remaining states of territorial colonialism. The conceptual West appeared to support colonialism while the conceptual East was anti-colonial. In return, Africans helped China to join the UN. Success came with the liberation of such countries as Angola, Zimbabwe and eventually South Africa.

With the end of apartheid, the OAU seemed exhausted. Old challenges, such as failure to remit funds, political coups, internal rejection of states and refugees, appeared to intensify as new ones arose. Dependency on extra-continental powers increased and weakened the resolve of the various states. Subsequently, every sub-region appeared to have its own cluster of conflicts. The breaking up of states became acceptable as Somalia shattered into mini-states. A divided Somalia posed serious security threats as the home of international terrorists and piracy.

These were the conditions surrounding the OAU's metamorphosis into the AU in 2002. The AU accepted that states could split, showed interest in the disasters within sister states and spoke of African "security." Libya and South Africa were the driving forces of the organization and appeared to have a lot of promise. This changed in 2011 when NATO forces ignored AU concerns and invaded Libya. In the process, the AU acquired an image problem since its resolutions could be easily ignored. At the same time, European powers used "AU" operatives to serve their own interests in places like the Ivory Coast, Zimbabwe and Kenya.

Although the AU's future in promoting African integration is bleak, it is not hopeless. There is a constant struggle between mental and intellectual liberation and compliance with European demands. The liberation side is uplifting the AU.

European insults and dismissals have emboldened Africans to search for ongoing alternatives in the conceptual East and South. Africans adopted "look east" and "look south" policies during the BRICS grouping, which deals from positions of respect and reciprocity rather than imperial paternalism. BRICS stimulates Africans by showing the primacy of political determination in setting the correct agenda and by exercising state independence in international dealings. With China and Brazil looking like very attractive cooperative partners, the success of these policies will have unifying effects.

Within Africa, Kenyans recently provided an inspirational example to other states. They rejected European pressure and elected candidates of their choice in the presidential elections. As a result, 11 African presidents and prime ministers from North, West, South and East Africa showed solidarity by attending Uhuru Kenyatta's inauguration.

The AU can unify the continent if it ditches its club image that is dependent on external resources. It has to rekindle the pan-Africanist spirit while being aware of internal and external threats to that spirit. It can encourage integration by championing the African agenda of increasing inter-African trade and free movement of goods and services. Most importantly, it will need to convince fractious rulers to subordinate their desires to the common African good of having the right to make decisions independently.