CAIRO : OAU Ministers Huddle

With the United Nations stretched thin in Africa--and the United States withdrawing from U.N. peacekeeping roles--the moribund Organization of African Unity senses fresh opportunity to wield influence on the continent.

OAU foreign ministers will meet in Cairo for three days beginning Sunday to discuss Africa’s economic and social crises and the challenge facing Africans in leading their own way out of these problems. The organization was formed in 1963, in a wave of African independence, and includes 53 member states. Its permanent headquarters are in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.