July 2001 Africa News Headlines

Tuesday, July 10, 2001 - Web posted at 6:44:43 AM GMT

Pan-African body picks Ivorian helmsman
NICHOLAS KOTCH

LUSAKA - African leaders finally agreed early on Tuesday -- after hours of haggling -- on the man to take charge of their continental body.

Ivory Coast's veteran former foreign minister, Amara Essy, was elected interim secretary-general of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) after several rounds of voting.

Essy will play a pivotal part in the OAU's transition into the African Union (AU), an organisation modelled on the European Union and similarly powerful bodies in Asia and North America.

"I have been elected to build the structure of the African Union.

"We will try to do our best," Essy told reporters as he faced the daunting challenge of leading the construction of AU institutions almost from scratch.

With support from French-speaking African countries, Essy finally overcame Namibia's candidate, foreign minister Theo-Ben Gurirab, who was backed by Southern Africa.

Hours of negotiating to agree on a replacement for outgoing OAU chief Salim Ahmed Salim dominated the first day of the pan-African body's 37th summit, held in the Zambian capital Lusaka.

Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi was warmly acknowledged at the summit as the main architect of the AU project.

Despite his reputation in the West as a dangerous maverick, Gaddafi has built an impressive power-base in Africa as a statesman who genuinely believes in the future of the continent.

"I would like to pay tribute to leader Gaddafi for spearheading this development," U.N. secretary-general Kofi Annan said in his speech to the summit on Monday.

Horse-trading about where to site the African Union's institutions -- a parliament, a court of justice and a central bank are among them -- has yet to start in earnest.

The AU's executive commission will be based in Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa, the home of the OAU.

South Africa will seek the summit's endorsement later on Tuesday for an ambitious plan to revive Africa's fortunes across the board -- peace, economy, education, infrastructure and the environment.

But the Millennium African Recovery programme(MAP), drafted by the South Africans with Nigeria and Algeria, has had to be merged with Senegal's rival Omega Plan to avert a damaging delay. Nampa-Reuters

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