The objective of this research is to investigate the causes of conflict in Africa. Further, it discusses the role played by the Organization of African Unity (OAU) in ensuring political order during its period of existence. The study employs content analysis of historical documents, academic works, internet sources and also current conflict situations in Africa as a baseline for its argument. Mainly, the study shows which major sources of tension need to be resolved to enjoy a sound, stable, peaceful, political and economic environment in the new millennium.   Auszug aus dem Text Text sample: Chapter 2.1.3, The Economic Dimension: Another major source of conflicts in Africa can be attributed to economics as evidenced in countries like Angola, Liberia, Sierra Leone and in more recent times the Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire) in what has been described as Africa's first- World War involving eight neighbouring countries. Since politics and economics are intertwined, it is inevitable that the distribution of wealth plays a major role in determining the political stability in any society. Poverty and the inequitable distribution of resources fuel discontent. In Angola, for example, the mediation of other African countries and the international community failed to stop the 30 year civil war until the death of Jonas Savimbi because what had begun as an ideological conflict between the government of Eduardo dos Santos `s MPLA and Savimbiś UNITA turned out to be an economic one. The UNITA leadership, despite the concessions made to it with regards to revenue collection from diamond mining, refused to honour its obligation in accordance with the Lusaka Peace Accord of 1994 (Adedeji 1999:46). Access to the mines, a source of economic strength, encouraged UNITA not to honour all the agreements brokered for peace in the country until the death

of its leader. In Liberia, the fourteen year old civil war might not have lasted that long had there not been diamonds to exploit and if the timber and other resources were not available to the warlords and their foreign supporters to export. The same was the situation in Sierra Leone where the United Nations and other Western countries have to impose a ban on what was called 'blood diamonds', revenue which kept the RUF under Foday Sankor fighting for a long period till the intervention of ECOWAS forces. The civil wars in Congo and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have to do respectively, with oil and diamonds, which external interest hanker after relentlessly. As long as these vital and precious resources are available, so long will the external goading and intervention continue, especially as the resources to which the warring factions have access facilitate the procurement of armaments for the sustenance of the conflicts. In the case of the DRC, what started as an internal conflict extended beyond the boundaries of the country and turned into a regional conflict, (what CNN`s Thumi Makagbo of Inside Africa fame described as Africa's first World War), not necessarily because there were ethnic interest to protect but because the neighbours stand to gain through cross -border trade which normally could have been regulated through the imposition of tariffs (Adedeji 1999:46). Congo's eastern part was virtually turned into a free trade area where Ugandan businessmen established themselves. The conflict in the DRC is one example where most of the sources of conflicts described in this sudy find their embodiment: political imbalance, ethnicity, uneven economic development and external influence.   Biographische Informationen Marvin Nii Ankrah obtained his B.A. in the major political science and the minor history from the University of Ghana in

1999. After a long period of tutoring at both private and public schools including St. Cecilia Junior High School, Mount Zion Junior High School and West Africa Secondary School in Ghana, the author moved to Germany. In 2004, he obtained his M.A. in social sciences from the University of Freiburg in partnership with the Universities of Kwazulu Natal (South Africa) and Jawaharlal Nehru (India). He is currently a PhD candidate at the University of Freiburg focusing on regionalism, conflict resolution, democracy and good governance in West Africa.