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The main objectives of the OAU were, inter alia, to rid the continent of the remaining vestiges of colonization and apartheid; to promote unity and solidarity among African States; to coordinate and intensify cooperation for development; to safeguard the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Member States and to promote international cooperation within the framework of the United Nations.
In 2002, the OAU transformed itself into the African Union (AU). The OAU, founded in 1963 on the principles of state sovereignty and noninterference, drew criticism throughout the 1990s for its lack of intervention as crises unfolded in Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Somalia. Frustration at its ineffectiveness led African leaders, spearheaded by Libyan leader Muammar el-Qaddafi, to launch the African Union, a body with a structure modeled on that of the European Union. Fifty-three countries in Africa are members of the AU (Morocco is the only African country that does not belong), which is headquartered in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
DR. BINGU WA MUTHARIKA, PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF MALAWI
CHAIRPERSON OF THE AFRICAN UNION
African Union Commission (AUC) Chairperson, H.E. Jean Ping
The key organs of the African Union:-
- The Assembly, comprised of heads of state. It meets at least once a year and is the AU’s main decision-making body. Assembly members elect an AU chairperson, who holds office for one year. The 2009 chairman is Libya’s Muammar Qaddafi.
- The Executive Council, comprised of foreign affairs ministers of individual states. The Executive Council is responsible to the Assembly.
- The Commission, ten commissioners holding individual portfolios who manage the day-to-day tasks of the AU and implement AU policies. The Commission reports to the Executive Council. The current chairperson is Jean Ping, the former foreign minister of Gabon.
- The Peace and Security Council (PSC), set up in 2004. This body can intervene in conflicts to protect the security of the continent. It has fifteen member states, elected for two or three year terms, with equal voting rights. The PSC is also overseeing the establishment of a permanent African security force, the AU Standby Force. It plans to have five or six brigades of 3,000 to 5,000 troops stationed around Africa by 2010.
- Pan-African Parliament, begun in 2004 to “ensure the full participation of African peoples in governance, development, and economic integration of the Continent.” This body debates continent-wide issues and advises AU heads of state. It currently has advisory powers only, but there are plans to grant it legislative powers in the future.
- The Economic, Social and Cultural Council (ECOSOCC). Established in 2005,ECOSOCC seeks to build partnerships between African governments and civil society. It includes African social groups, professional groups, NGOs, and cultural organizations. The 150-member General Assembly was launched in September 2008, replacing the ECOSOCC’s initial interim structure.
- The Court of Justice. In 2004, the AU agreed that the regional African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights would be merged with the Court of Justice. As of August 2009, the merger of the two courts was still in process.
- The Financial Institutions. The AU charter names three bodies: the African Central Bank, the African Monetary Fund, and the African Investment Bank. Of these, only the African Investment Bank has been established (PDF), but it is not yet functional. It will be based in Tripoli, Libya.
Gadhafi angrily leaves African Union
Big News Network.com Monday 1st February, 2010
The 53-nation African Union has a new leader after the resignation of Libyan president Moammar Gadhafi.
Mr Gadhafi has made way for Malawi’s President Bingu wa Mutarika, who will assume the rotating African Union chairmanship for the coming year.
As Mr Gadhafi vacated his chair, he told African leaders they had angered him by refusing to go along with his plan for a so-called United States of Africa.
He said he had hoped to stay in his position for a second term to see through his plan for political and economic unification.
Almost in the same breath, he said if he had known how little power the AU chairman had, he would have refused to take the position.
In an angry outburst, Mr. Gadhafi lambasted his colleagues for a lack of political will.
He said: “Frankly speaking my experience of the African Union, the political elites of our continent lack political awareness and hence the political determination.”
Mr. Gadhafi said he would continue his crusade to integrate the continent without wasting time for long-winded speeches, resolutions and declarations.
It is believed a battle for the position occurred on the weekend, when witnesses spoke of anger which nearly turned physical in discussions over the leadership.
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Qaddafi Chides African Union After Change
ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) – Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, failing in his bid to stay on as chairman of the African Union for another year, said on Sunday the pan-African grouping wasted time while failing to meet global challenges. On the first day of a summit in Addis Ababa, Malawi’s President Bingu wa Mutharika was selected to succeed Gaddafi, even though diplomats said Gaddafi was seeking another term. The Libyan leader used his farewell speech to again urge African leaders to begin the process of political unification, which was a large part of his agenda during his chairmanship. He also criticized the AU for “tiring” him with long meetings and making declarations and reports without asking him. “It was like we were building a new atomic bomb or something,” he said, referring to meetings that had lasted long into the night and that he characterized as “really useless.” “The world’s engine is turning into 7 or 10 countries and we are not aware of that,” Gaddafi said, dressed in a white robe and black fur hat. “The EU is becoming one country and we are not aware of it. We have to get united to be united. Let’s be united today.” An African unity government is a goal of the AU’s founding charter goal and Gaddafi, supported by leaders like Senegal’s Abdoulaye Wade, has been pushing for union for years, saying it is the only way Africa can develop without Western interference. But members, led by South Africa and Ethiopia, argue the plan is impractical and would infringe on sovereignty. FOOD SECURITY IS PRIORITY The Malawian leader promised to make battling hunger a top priority. “Africa is not a poor continent but the people of Africa are poor,” wa Mutharika said. “Achieving food security at the African level should be able to address the problem.” In recent years, Malawi has enjoyed bumper harvests following the introduction of a fertilizer and seed subsidy program. Although leaders fought over who would be chairman, they agreed on the need to support leaders of transitional governments in Somalia, Guinea and Sudan, and for tough action against feuding politicians ignoring AU directives in Madagascar. The chairman of the AU commission, Jean Ping, said there would be unspecified consequences for parties that go it alone in resolving Madagascar’s year-long political crisis. They have been given 15 days to respond to AU power-sharing proposals. United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon said millions of people continued to be displaced in Sudan’s Darfur region. He added the United Nations would work with the African Union to see off a crisis with grave risks for regional instability. “In Sudan, time is of the essence. The elections are three months away. The two referenda to determine the future shape of Sudan are in just under a year,” he said. Ban said the United Nations also would continue to provide financial support to AU peacekeepers in anarchic Somalia, as the conflict has a “direct bearing on global security.” An AU peacekeeping force of 5,000 — provided by Burundi and Uganda — is struggling to hold back Islamist rebels in Somalia. The AU has repeatedly asked for UN peacekeepers to bolster its efforts but has only been given funding. (Editing by Michael Roddy)
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After Losing a Post, Qaddafi Rebukes the African Union
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia — Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, the Libyan leader, delivered a rambling rebuke of fellow African heads of state Sunday after they chose to replace him as chairman of the African Union and failed to endorse his push for the creation of a United States of Africa. “I do not believe we can achieve something concrete in the coming future,” said Colonel Qaddafi, before introducing President Bingu wa Mutharika of Malawi as his successor at the African Union’s annual summit meeting, held in Addis Ababa. “The political elite of our continent lacks political awareness and political determination. The world is changing into 7 or 10 countries, and we are not even aware of it.” South Africa, Ethiopia and Nigeria were among the countries opposing Colonel Qaddafi’s attempts to form a continental government, which many view as impractical given the political and economic disparities in Africa. Colonel Qaddafi argued that individual African states are too weak to negotiate with major powers like the European Union, the United States and China. His efforts to become the first African leader to win another one-year term as chairman of the African Union were thwarted by a push for Mr. Mutharika, 75, by the 15-member Southern African Development Community. The Libyan leader also complained that such summit meetings were boring, that his colleagues were too long-winded and that he often was not informed of African Union decisions. Colonel Qaddafi did not leave the lectern before giving the microphone to an unnamed representative of a Libyan-sponsored group of African traditional leaders who had crowned him “King of Kings” in a ceremony in 2008. The representative, bearing a golden scepter and trailed by an aide fanning him with a large feather, spent much of his address praising Colonel Qaddafi. “You have the African people with you,” said the man, who spoke in French and did not identify himself. “This is what is important, not politicking. It is politicians who have destroyed us.”
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ADDIS ABABA — Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi’s handover of the African Union presidency to Malawi Sunday was greeted with hushed relief by many diplomats after a year of infighting they said harmed the body’s image.
Heads of state and government from the 53 member states elected president Bingu wa Mutharika, blocking Kadhafi’s plans to stay on for a second mandate, which would have been in breaking with rules for the presidency to rotate.
Relief was palpable in the corridors of the AU headquarters, after a year during which Kadhafi and Jean Ping, who heads the body’s executive arm, publicly expressed contradictory views on some of the continent’s main crises.
“It’s a very good decision and moreover the Guide did not walk out so at the end of the day Africa remains united,” one high-ranking AU official told AFP after the meeting that confirmed Kadhafi’s exit.
Elected to head the organisation in February 2009 the Libyan leader set the tone for his presidency when he asked his peers to refer to him as “the King of traditional kings of Africa”.
In Sunday’s opening ceremony, he did try to have his way by asking a representative of the Forum of traditional kings, sultans chiefs and princes — an organisation he created from scratch — to deliver an unscheduled speech.
The representative, whose name was not given, decked out in gold necklaces and carrying a sceptre, provoked some laughter and an equal amount of embarrassment as he went up onto the podium.
Comparing Kadhafi to the prophets “of the Bible or the Koran”, he loudly exhorted the heads of state present to “follow the Guide whio is showing us the way,” saying that he had the backing of all the peoples of Africa.
The tactic did not pay off and the Libyan leader looked disappointed and bitter, when after more than half an hour of closed-door discussions he came back to his seat and removed the card bearing the title “AU President”.
In his speech he lashed out at the AU, whose creation he had fully supported in 2000, when it took over from the Organisation of African Unity.
“The AU chairperson doesn’t have any prerogative actually,” he said, vowing nevertheless to work for the continent and the institution and continue pushing for his dream of achieving the “United States of Africa”.
“Kadhafi’s chairmanship has been very harmful to the AU’s image, notably in the handling of political crises such as Madagascar and Guinea,” an official close to Jean Ping told AFP earlier.
Shortly after being elected at the helm of the AU, Kadhafi gave his support to a military junta that toppled Mauritania’s president months earlier, essentially nullifying everything the pan-African body had previously said.
“It looks as if there are two parallel AU leaderships: on one side Jean Ping, who follows the organisation’s line on crisis management, and on the other Colonel Kadhafi, who has his own line, generally very far removed from that of the international community,” one European diplomat said on the eve of the summit.
Some continental heavyweights such as South Africa, Ethiopia and Uganda were virulently opposed to Kadhafi’s stranglehold on the AU and determined to bar any attempt to extend his tenure.
But others, notably countries in the Sahel and west Africa, are faithful to the maverick Libyan leader and his oil dollars.
“The meeting went well but Benin was dead set in keeping Kadhafi as chairman. But I think he knew the decision was going to go against him,” said one diplomat who took part in the meeting.
Copyright © 2010 AFP. All rights reserved.
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Jean Ping The Deputy Prime Minister Of Gabon Who Has A Chinese Father And A Black Gabonese Mother Wa...
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Guinea Interim Government Could Help Stabilize West Africa
Regional diplomats say Guinea’s new transitional government should keep to its timetable to organize elections within six months. That could help stabilize a region still recovering from conflict in Ivory Coast, Sierra Leone, and Liberia.
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African summit hears world ignoring Somalia crisis
Somalia’s U.N.-backed transitional government is fighting an Islamist insurgency and has been hemmed into a few streets of the capital Mogadishu.
An African Union (AU) peacekeeping force of 5,000, provided by Burundi and Uganda, is struggling to hold back the rebels. The AU has repeatedly asked for U.N. peacekeepers to bolster its efforts but has only been given funding.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon attended the AU’s annual summit in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa on Sunday and again failed to pledge peacekeepers.
“In Somalia, recent events have tragically shown that the conflict has a direct bearing on global security,” Ban told about 30 African leaders.
Later at a news briefing, Ban said the United Nations was still considering “whether conditions are right for a peacekeeping operation.”
Violence in Somalia has killed 21,000 civilians since the start of 2007 and uprooted 1.5 million people, a contributing cause of one of the world’s worst humanitarian emergencies.
PIRACY
Heavily armed pirates from the lawless Horn of Africa nation are terrorizing shipping lanes in the Indian Ocean and strategic Gulf of Aden, which links Europe to Asia.
Ramtane Lamamra, AU Commissioner for Peace and Security said Somalia was now as big a threat to global security as Afghanistan and should not be ignored.
“The international terrorism is the same and there is the link to the same mother organization, al Qaeda,” Lamamra said. “And there is also piracy.”
Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero told delegates he admired the work of the AU in Somalia but that it was not “sufficient.”
“If we do not support the transitional government more, Somalia could become a place that could destroy humanity,” Zapatero said in Spanish.
“The proper response is a strong response from the international community, led by the U.N. Somalia is suffering.”
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Al Qaeda’s Yemen-based branch became a global security priority after it said it was behind a failed December 25 attack on a U.S. airliner, and concerns have been raised about its ties to Somalia’s al Shabaab militants.
The West has said it is concerned Somalia could turn into an al Qaeda training camp and launch pad for international attacks, a role played by Afghanistan in the run-up to the September 11 attacks on the United States in 2001.
Delegates will discuss Somalia alongside the conflict in Sudan and Africa’s four coups this year at the three-day summit that ends on Tuesday.
The African Union chief says Sudan peace prospects appear unpredictable
The peace prospects in Sudan appear unpredictable ahead of the decisive Presidential and parliamentary elections in April 2010 and a political referendum in 2011, the African Union (AU) chief, Jean Ping, said here Wednesday.
The AU chief, who offered a cautiously optimistic view of the state of peace and security in the continent, said fears of resumption of conflict in Southern Sud an appeared valid as Sudan heads towards a decisive political phase in its history.
‘We do not pretend that in 2010, there would be no crisis, but Africa hopes to find African solutions to these crises,’ the AU chief told journalists in Addis Ababa on the sidelines of an AU Summit, underway in the Ethiopian capital.
‘The ultimate goal is to protect the people of Africa from fear,’ he said, referring to the launch of the International Year of Peace and Security.
Sudan is currently preparing to hold the first major multiparty elections to be followed by a referendum for the independence of the oil-rich but semi-autonomous Southern Sudan region.
Ping said it was not immediately clear if the results of the presidential elections would be acceptable to all the Sudanese political parties and warned that the political stability of Southern Sudan also depended mostly on the outcome of the referendum.
‘We still have two difficult wars, painful conflicts with very dim prospects,’ he told journalists, referring to the political situations in Sudan and Somalia.
Sudanese President Omar El-Bashir was recently quoted as saying that Khartoum would cooperate with South Sudan. The comments implied a wish to accept the independence of the South.
Recent efforts have concentrated on ‘making unity attractive’ for the Southern Sudanese, who fought a 21-year-long civil war with the North over access to political power and sharing the massive oil wealth from the Southern Sudan oil fields.
The North and the Southern Sudan leaders have reached some agreements regarding the conditions of holding the referendum.
But disagreements later ensued when Southern Sudan insisted that the Northerners living in the South should not be eligible to vote in the 2011 referendum because this would alter the results in favour of the North.
‘We are preoccupied with the process of holding the elections, how to organize it in 2010 and the question is, will war break out. The prospects are not rosy,’ Ping warned.
He said the political process in Darfur depended on the full implementation of the Thabo Mbeki plan on dealing with impunity and justice for the people of Darfur.
Addis Ababa – Pana 28/01/2010
INVITATION: THE AFRICAN UNION – AFRICAN DIASPORA SIXTH REGION (AUADS), Berlin – November 27-29, 2009
The African Union- African Diaspora Sixth Region (AUADS), European Chapter, was created by African Diasporas representation of 13 European countries to acts as a Central organization for African diasporas organizations in European countries, to coordinate intra–European related activities as well as to implement Article 3(q) (amended) of the Constitutive Act of the African Union (AU): [The Union shall] invite and encourage the full participation of the African Diaspora as an important part of our continent, in the building of the African Unioon.
The African Union – African Diaspora consist of people of African origin living outside the continent, irrespective of their citizenship and nationality and who are willing to contribute to the development of the continent, the building of a United African and its Diasporas.
The African Diaspora therefore consists of the African descendants who as a result of either voluntary and in voluntary emigration and their descendants throughout the world, to (in) places such as the Americas (including the United States , Canada, the Caribbean, Central America and South America ), Europe and Asia. Much of the African Diasporas are descended from people that were sold into slavery during the Transatlantic Slave Trade, with the largest population living in Brazil.
For further information please follow the link and see below:
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African Union to consider “land for Haitians” plan
ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) – The African Union (AU) agreed on Sunday to consider a Senegalese proposal to resettle Haiti’s earthquake homeless and possibly create a state for them in Africa.
The idea was first floated by Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade who said the history of Haitians as descendants of African slaves gave them the right to a new life on the continent.
AU chairman Jean Ping told African leaders at its annual summit in Addis Ababa that they would discuss the proposal during the three-day event. The AU had opened an account for Haiti with the African Development Bank, he said.
“It is out of a sense of duty and memory and solidarity that we can further the proposal of Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade to create in Africa the conditions for the return of Haitians who wish to return after the effect of the disaster that ravaged Haiti,” Ping said.
Wade said Senegal and other African states should naturalize any Haitians who sought new nationality, and he urged a mass adoption programme across the continent for orphans of the quake, feared to have killed as many as 200,000.
The idea for a new state is reminiscent of the 19th century creation of Liberia by freed U.S. slaves. The West African country is currently recovering from a 1999 civil war and is hoping to benefit from recent oil discoveries off its coast.
“We have attachment and links to that country,” Ping said of Haiti. “The first black republic in 1804, that carried high the flame of liberation and freedom for the black people.”
The idea was first floated by Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade who said the history of Haitians as descendants of African slaves gave them the right to a new life on the continent.
AU chairman Jean Ping told African leaders at its annual summit in Addis Ababa that they would discuss the proposal during the three-day event. The AU had opened an account for Haiti with the African Development Bank, he said.
“It is out of a sense of duty and memory and solidarity that we can further the proposal of Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade to create in Africa the conditions for the return of Haitians who wish to return after the effect of the disaster that ravaged Haiti,” Ping said.
Wade said Senegal and other African states should naturalize any Haitians who sought new nationality, and he urged a mass adoption programme across the continent for orphans of the quake, feared to have killed as many as 200,000.
The idea for a new state is reminiscent of the 19th century creation of Liberia by freed U.S. slaves. The West African country is currently recovering from a 1999 civil war and is hoping to benefit from recent oil discoveries off its coast.
“We have attachment and links to that country,” Ping said of Haiti. “The first black republic in 1804, that carried high the flame of liberation and freedom for the black people.
African politics bestowed with Chinese feng shui
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