What are shortcomings of the OAU that prompted the decision to set up the AU?
Well, I am not going to say that the OAU is worse than the United Nations. Everywhere where you have an agglomeration of human beings you have divisions, you have oppositions, you have antagonism. Yes, we have had a lot of problems in the OAU, but it is not different from other organisations. With my predecessor [Salim Ahmed Salim] there have been problems between the various collaborators. They have issued a private letter and made it public about their problems, but what I have tried to do is [to stress that] we cannot change somebody who is more than 40 years old… But what I said is that despite our differences, despite our divergent views and backgrounds, we have to work together. The important role that we have here is to be able to contribute to the African Union. For somebody who is an African, and African diplomat, I think it will be a self-satisfactory result to say that I have contributed. Well, those who were here in 1963 feel proud. They say: We are the ones who have crea
