There have inevitably been territorial disputes, from the 1963 Kenya-Somali quarrel onward, and attempts to join states together such as the 1959 Ghana-Guinea union (joined by Mali in 1961 after the breakup of its own earlier union with Senegal).

The more radical governments represented in the 1961 Casablanca group committed themselves to support for African unification, but other countries were more lukewarm, the compromise Organisation of African Unity agreeing to promote unity and solidarity by deepening co-operation.

Article 3 of the 1963 OAU charter implicitly upheld existing frontiers by stipuliatng "Respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of each State and for its inalienable right to independent existence" (s.3), though the following principle of "Peaceful settlement of disputes by negotiation, mediation, conciliation or arbitration" (s.4) held open the possibility of mutually agreed modification.

The OAU's 1964 Cairo meeting came down more emphatically for the territorial status quo, declaring that "all Member States pledge themselves to respect the borders existing on their achievement of national independence".

There matters have generally stood, with occasional lapses such as Tanzania's 1968 recognition of the secession of Nigeria's eastern region as Biafra and the ongoing dispute over Morocco's claim to Western Sahara. The principle stands that development and integration should proceed on the basis of the inherited borders.

The issue's Africa-wide aspect is discussed in Marco Zoppi, The OAU and the question of borders, Journal of African Union Studies 2:1-2 (2013).