by Virginia Muwanigwa – SANF 04 no 66
Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo assumed the chair of the African Union (AU) with calls to move from ad hoc cooperation to strategic alliances.
The 3rd Annual Ordinary Session of the AU Assembly ended in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on 8 July having discussed among other issues, socio-economic development, sustainable peace, women’s rights and strategies to combat diseases especially HIV and AIDS.
The discussions were premised upon the AU Vision, Mission and Strategic Plan, seen as the continental road map for 2004 – 2007, towards socio-economic integration.
A key challenge is to strengthen the existing institutional framework so that the AU effectively delivers on its mandate. Continuing dialogue towards the harmonisation of activities between the AU and regional economic communities such as the Southern African Development Community (SADC) is one such dimension.
The incoming chairperson noted that although the vision, mission and strategic framework are meant to achieve rapid socio-economic integration on the continent, political stability, peace and security are a prerequisite.
He therefore urged support for the Peace and Security Council (PSC), tasked with steering the African agenda in conflict prevention, management and resolution.
Alpha Oumar Konare, the chairperson of the AU Commission, highlighted the need to “ensure urgent implementation of a common defence and security policy and share widely the refusal to have war and establish the will for dialogue.”
Dialogue will certainly be necessary to end the tensions and conflicts in such areas as Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Liberia, Somalia and the Sudan. The AU Summit resolved to send a 300-strong contingent of peacekeepers to Darfur, Sudan.
The consolidation of democracy symbolised by the orderly elections conducted in the Comoros, Guinea Bissau, Malawi and South Africa, in addition to the consolidation of peace in Angola and Sierra Leone, was noted by the Summit.
Obasanjo urged all AU member states to submit to the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) a homegrown initiative meant to improve economic, political and social governance through voluntary peer monitoring and evaluation by member states.
Another priority in the coming year is to ensure that Africa stays on the agenda of the G8, the European Union and other partners to accelerate sustainable development and negotiate the easing of the continent’s debt burden.
A new partnership is thus envisaged which facilitates a rule-based international order for addressing conflicts, poverty, underdevelopment and human insecurity. This partnership should transcend national interests to result in a situation where “Africa must maintain a collective position and speak with only one voice on major issues in the international arena…,” Obasanjo said.
The United Nations committed to support AU efforts to improve agriculture, health, infrastructure and education within the framework of NEPAD and the Millennium Development Goals and to ensure that development partners keep their promises including those made in the Millennium Declaration on trade, debt relief, and overseas development assistance.
An advisory panel on international support for NEPAD has thus been set up.
The statute of the Economic, Social and Cultural Council (ECOSOCC), the institutional framework within which civil society participation is envisaged, was also adopted.
Declarations from the representatives of the African private sector and civil society meeting ahead of the AU summit, committed to inclusive partnerships.
The private sector would work towards the promotion of public-private partnerships for sustainable development to reverse Africa’s marginalisation in the global economy.
They called on the AU to create a conducive environment for the promotion of trade, investment, industrialisation and effective organisation of the African private sector on the continent and in the diaspora. This would enable the private sector to mobilise resources for the implementation of the AU strategic plan.
The civil society also committed to engage the AU and regional communities as fully-fledged partners and to build a wider coalition in support of the AU principles and objectives.
The adoption of an 11-point action plan by the Summit is expected to see concerted efforts by member states to improve women’s rights on the continent.
The strategy includes ratifying the Protocol on Human and People’s Rights related to the Rights of Women by the end of 2004. Only three of the 53 AU member states have ratified the protocol, adopted at the 2003 AU Summit in Mozambique.
With Africa clear on the way forward, the main challenge remains that of resources. The strategic plan adopted by the AU Summit requires US$1.7 billion, which, in addition to member states pooling resources, necessitates what President Obasanjo calls moving from “ad hoc cooperation to long-term alliances.”
(SARDC)
