Paper short abstract:

There is no doubt that conflicts have disturbed the progress of the African Union in ensuring the successful achievement of its objectives. The recent uprising in the North of Africa has made situation worse for the organization thereby making the organization vulnerable within the comity of nations.

Paper long abstract:

The sustainability of the economic objective of the African Union has been challenged by the spate of conflict ravaging the continent in the past two and half decades, with the Somalia and Sudan crises being the most daunting and protracted crises ever confronted by the organization. It is obvious that the declining capacity of the organization in ensuring compliance by the member-state is one of the factors responsible for this overwhelming challenge. However, the recent uprising in the North of Africa is an indication of the extent of identity crisis confronting the organization. This recent uprising tagged "Arab Spring" is an expression of the lost of identity of the countries involved in the crisis as regards the jurisdiction of the African Union. This explains the incapacitation of the Africa Union in engaging these countries and show its relevance in terms of conflict resolution. However, the overshadowing of the African Union by external bodies such as NATO in the case of the "Arab Spring"; the bifurcation of the country of Sudan and the unending conflict in Somalia since 1991 have clearly shown that African Union has lost its relevance and existence thus making a case for a new Organization of Africa Unity or African Union. Therefore, it is important to ask the question how did AU find itself in this mess? How can this situation be remedied? What should be the structure of the new (O)AU? These and many more questions are what this paper intends to find answers to.