July 2001 Africa News Headlines

Wednesday, July 11, 2001 - Web posted at 8:03:40 AM GMT

Summit on transition to much touted African Union nears end

African leaders were Wednesday due to wrap up a historic summit on the transition of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) into a modern European-style union over the next year.

Almost 40 leaders - a record attendance - held marathon closed sessions Tuesday running overnight into Wednesday morning to define a solid foundation of the structures and operations of the much touted Africa Union (AU).

The leaders of the 53-member OAU had also worked through to early hours the previous day, casting their ballots in a marathon vote to elect the man who will oversee the transition to the African Union.

They chose former Ivorian foreign minister and seasoned diplomat Amara Essy to turn an outdated pan-African body into a modern entity during a 12-month transition period. The OAU was formed in 1963 during the continent's fight for independence from colonial powers.

It is planned that the new Union will have a parliament, court of justice and central bank.

Tuesday's talks included contributions by the various countries with some making offers of their individual roles in the proposed new bloc.

Mauritius has requested to host the court of justice, while Libya, whose leader, Moamer Kadhafi, is the chief architect of the AU, reportedly offered to host the parliament, for which a building has already been constructed in Tripoli.

The overall objectives of the AU tally with the principles of the African Initiative - a merger of two development plans - the Millenium African Recovery Plan engineered by Thabo Mbeki of South Africa and the OMEGA plan proposed by Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade.

The plan, arising out of the need to lift the continent from chronic economic hardship and poverty, is due to be discussed Wednesday, the final day of the three day OAU summit.

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has thrown his weight behind the creation of the AU and said the development plans, which he think still need further refinement, were intended to give Africa a new impetus.

However with all the hope and hype around the launch of the new body that it will address economic and social issues, political issues still remain the biggest challenge the continent has to attend to.

African conflicts take up nearly two-thirds of the UN Security Council's debate time.

"Sixty percent of the UN Security Council's agenda focuses on Africa and I don't think this is something we should be proud of," Annan said.

The 53-member, financially strapped OAU appear headed for enormous difficulties in forging the planned economic, political and legal ties on a continent amid the wars and a 334 billion dollar debt.

Nampa-Sapa-AFP

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