Human beings, including Europeans, have migrated throughout history and continue doing so. Migration is, therefore, not a problem; it is part of humanity. What is a problem is failing to understand why people migrate and using recent refugee flows from war-torn countries such as Syria, Iraq and Libya to politicise and militarise the whole issue.

Lawyers should claim their place in society by espousing Pan-African ideals. They should stop defending and colluding with corrupt African elites. A remarkable example is Henry Sylvester Williams, the Trinidadian barrister who, together with other Pan-Africanists, organised the first Pan-African conference in London in 1900.

Why do African governments seem unable to create jobs for their teeming throngs of young people, who are then forced to make dangerous journeys abroad in search of a better life? Wrong economic models. In addition, nations waste resources through corruption and investing in huge militaries and police forces often deployed against dissidents. Crooked leaders collude with the West to steal Africa’s resources to develop Europe. So, what would stop young people from following African stolen resources to the West?

Members of the Pan-African Parliament are handpicked by the executive of their country – by the same heads of state who retain the ultimate power at the African Union. And as if that is not bad enough, PAP is only a consultative organ. Efforts to change this, so that the people of Africa can have meaningful representation, continue to be resisted. African people must work hard for the transformation of this important AU organ.

March 5 marked the third anniversary of the death of the revolutionary Venezuelan leader Hugo Chávez. Revolutionaries are rare. Chávez’s socialist thought and visionary policies aimed at radically transforming his country and meeting the needs of the majority of his people have vital lessons for Africa and the rest of the Global South.

Miracles will not happen on Election Day anywhere in Africa. Important structural changes must be made before a true people’s revolution occurs at the ballot box. From the citizen’s point of view and from the perspective of concerned Africans who are working to realise honest democracy, elections must cease being events and become processes in which the citizen is fully engaged.

Post-independent African leaders have failed to realise the aspirations and hopes of self-determination and unity of the African people. There are five basic steps that AU member states need to take now to put Africans on the path to full integration

The 18th ordinary session of the African Union Summit was marked by the failure of African leaders to elect a new chairperson of the African Union Commission. Behind the scenes, complex international and regional shenanigans led to the deadlock.

While the Peoples' Republic of China is building the new headquarters of the AU, which has already cost Beijing more than US$130 million a year until its completion, other powers did not want to miss the grand ball in Addis Ababa by demonstrating their 'solidarity' to the African people, writes Yves Niyiragira.

On the eve of the upcoming upcoming fourth Ministerial Conference on Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), Yves Niyiragira argues that it is in both Africa and China’s interests that African politics and governance remain stable and predictable over long periods of time so that all the Southern powers find it attractive to invest across the continent.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has been invited as a special guest to participate at the 13th ordinary session of the assembly of heads of State and government of the African Union (AU) themed ‘Investing in agriculture for economic growth and food security’ that is scheduled to take place in Sirte, Libya, from 1 to 3 July 2009. During this summit, African leaders are expected to adopt a framework and guidelines on land policies in Africa, a document that was produced by the AU in collaboration with the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa and the African Development Bank. Relevant to the theme of the summit, the UN International Fund for Agricultural Development suggested, ahead of the three-day World Economic Forum meeting in Cape Town, South Africa, that investing in small-scale agricultural projects in developing countries would be a ‘safety net’ as the world struggles to limit the impact of the economic crisis.

Elsewhere, the chairperson of the AU Commission, Jean Ping, met with Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez and other government officials in Caracas to prepare for the Africa-South America summit scheduled to take place in Caracas, Venezuela. In addition, the AU Commission chairperson announced African countries’ interest in exploring possibilities and advantages of a closer cooperation between both regional organisations and that African Union intends on closely monitoring the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas to learn from its experiences in social and economic spheres.

The AU, expressing deep concern at the increased presence of armed groups in Somalia, condemned foreign jihadists who undermine the peace and reconciliation process in the country by helping local insurgents to fight President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed’s government and AU peacekeepers. The AU, considering the report of the mission undertaken by its peace and the security council to West Africa to evaluate the political and security situation there, has urged Guinea Bissau armed forces to refrain from any interference in political issues and to take the necessary measures to guarantee the security of the candidates and the electoral process. The Southern African Development Community has called on Madagascar’s political rivals to consider peaceful dialogue to end months of political crisis and has delegated Joaquim Chissano, former Mozambican president, to lead the country’s all-party dialogue. The chairperson of the AU, Libyan leader Mouammar Kadhafi, addressing prominent Italian women on his first visit to Italy since the Libyan revolution, called for ‘a ‘women’s revolution’ worldwide to correct the false notion of equality between men and women. On the day of the African child commemorating thousands of Black school children who were maimed and killed during the 1976 Soweto uprising, the UN Millennium Campaign called on African states, civil society organisations and the private sector to tackle child and maternal mortality and gender inequality in universal primary education among others.

In other news, finance ministers and governors of central banks of the Economic Community Of West African States (ECOWAS) approved a report of the inter-institutional working group on the ECOWAS single currency that articulates a strategy for realising a single currency for the region by 2020. The East African Community has started a series of public sessions to gage views from the private sector on issues of trade in services ahead of the signing of an Economic Partnership Agreement with the European Union. More than half of the 14 Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa free trade area members opted out of the regional economic bloc’s ceremonial customs union stating that ‘they are either not ready for it, indifferent, or not convinced by the trade creation potential of the new arrangement’, which many feel was launched prematurely.

As some countries approach the second round of reviews, analysts examine the performance of the African Peer Review Mechanism underlining the slow pace of renewing the membership of the panel of eminent persons and of its secretariat as well as the lack of transparency of both processes. In a report recently launched by the Africa Progress Panel, the panel stresses that most of the problems that Africa faces such the current global crisis and climate change are creations of the North, but that it is Africa, which is worst affected and least able to cope. The report adds, however, that the main responsibility for tackling those challenges lies with Africa’s own leaders. Moreover, the Action Group of Africa gives a critical view of ‘malpractices going on at the Pan African Parliament’ and suggests using the principle of adult suffrage to make the process of electing African legislators more transparent and democratic.

Finally, AfriMAP invites submissions of papers with proposals of implementation of the African Youth Charter, which was adopted by the assembly of heads of State and government of the AU in July 2006.

Some four years after delegates met at Bomas to discuss Kenya’s constitutional review, the country’s National Youth Convention descended upon the very same location for the purpose of discussing Kenyan youth’s role and opportunities within the Kenyan state. As in other African countries, the NYC argues, young people in Kenya constitute a majority and deserve greater scope for influencing the direction of their nation and setting the agendas it follows.

Civil society organisations (CSOs) held, from June 22 to 23, the third Citizen’s Continental Conference in Sharm El Sheikh ahead of the Eleventh African Union (AU) Summit. The Continental Conference provided space for African citizens, the Diaspora, CSOs, and other concerned parties to discuss the summit agenda including the AU audit and the peace and security situation in Zimbabwe, Darfur and Somalia, among other issues. The eleventh ordinary session of the Assembly of the AU Heads of State, convening under the theme of water and sanitation, will also consider the merger of the Court of Justice and the African Court on Human Rights of the AU, the current food crisis, the appointment of the members of the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child.

As the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) in Zimbabwe announced its pull out of the run-off election scheduled for June 27, the Pan-African Parliament (PAP) observer mission, one of only two official observer groups in the country, confirmed acts of violence perpetrated by government supporters against opposition members.

The Peace and Security Council (PSC) of the African Union (AU) expressed their deep concern over the confrontation between the armed forces of Eritrea and Djibouti that began on June 10. The PSC urged the two countries to commence dialogue to resolve the dispute and to withdraw all forces, that have been positioned since February 4, from the border. The PSC also thanked Djibouti for their cooperation with the AU mission and requested that Eritrea do so. Further, an AU team led by former Sierra Leonean President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah will be sent to Zimbabwe to observe the presidential run-off election due to be held June 27. The AU expressed concern over violence and intimidation during the electoral preparations and called for effective measures to address the situation. In addition, prominent African leaders, including former heads of state, business leaders, academics and leading campaigners, have also called for an end to violence and intimidation in Zimbabwe. They stressed the need for every citizen to be able freely express their political choice in a peaceful and transparent manner. Still in peace related news, the AU has been called to intervene in Darfur by sending between 5000 to 10000 troops instead of the 3000 present there in order to stop an apparent genocide.

The People’s Republic of China, one of Africa’s newer investors, has reiterated its stance that it has no intention of colonizing or exploiting Africa as is being speculated by western countries. According to Ms. Wang Ke, Counsellor of the African Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, China considers ‘African countries as friends and wants to build partnership based on trust, sincerity, equality, mutual support and common development’. Despite China’s energy-reliant and booming economy, the country holds under two percent of Africa’s oil. Also in economic news, the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) seeks to create a pan-African board to attract more investors in Africa but its main peers, the Nigeria Stock Exchange and Nairobi Stock Exchange have responded unenthusiastically calling the decision politically unsound.

In development news, African environmental ministers called on the AU to adopt a common position on climate change at its 13th summit in 2009, ahead of the Copenhagen climate change summit in December that year. The ministers agreed that a common strategy on climate change will help persuade developed countries to cut greenhouse gas emissions by between 25 to 40 percent by 2020. One of the consequences of climate change is the current food crisis in the world. In East Africa, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda have announced budgetary measures to alleviate some of the burden of soaring food prices on their respective populations.

African experts on slavery are meeting in Banjul, Gambia in an effort to create a common position on slavery. During the transatlantic slave trade, more than 13 million Africans were captured and enslaved and four million other killed in the transit. Also in human rights related news, a draft proposal for the merger of the African Human Rights Court and the African Court of Justice will be presented during the AU Summit in Egypt.

Finally, while welcoming partnership with Europe, Libyan president Col. Muammar Gaddafi has opposed plans for a Mediterranean Union saying that it would harm efforts towards Arab and African unity.

During the World Economic Forum on Africa that took place in South Africa, the host president expressed his confidence that Africa can overcome its challenges. His sentiments were echoed by Mr Borge Brende, WEF managing director, who noted the tremendous progress and many opportunities that Africa can capitalise on to triumph over the seemingly complex challenges it faces. Prior to the WEF, other African presidents attended the 8th Leon H.Sullivan Summit in Arusha, Tanzania. In his remarks, the Tanzanian president, Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete, underlined the need for Africa to invest adequately in infrastructure development. However, the Worldwide Fund for Nature, in its reports, warned that many African countries are running out of natural resources in the marathon of industrialisation and with the rapid growth of its population. The report says that the global average footprint of 2.2 hectares per person will need two planets by 2050.

President Kagame of Rwanda, this week, blamed corruption and unnecessary cross-border checks as frustrating development efforts. President Kagame further emphasised the need for African countries to put in place effective and speedy integration measures so as to increase trade volume within Africa and with the international community. While the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has endorsed a proposal on joint border posts expected to facilitate border crossing and enable conditions for a borderless region, an important step towards regional integration.

Further, the African Union (AU) president, President Kikwete reiterated the need for Africa and its partner to address challenges of climate change, water, sanitation and the oil and food crisis. Meanwhile, The African Development Bank (AfDB) Group and the World Bank jointly organised, in Dakar, a fourth regional consultation on their respective strategies on climate change. The main objective of the consultation was to brainstorm and seek solutions to strengthen collaboration between African institutions and development partners to address climate change. The World Bank Director of Operations in Senegal, Madani Tall, said that the AfDB-World Bank consultation proved that climate change had a real impact on the continent.

Still in development related news, the Africa Enterprise Challenge Fund (AECF) launched a 50 million U.S. dollar private sector fund to assist the continent’s rural poor, enabling the private sector to invest in new business projects in the agricultural and financial sectors that provide development opportunities for the communities in which they operate. Despite huge pledges for short-term solutions to the food crisis made during the World Food summit, world leaders did little to enhance the capacity of growers in Africa. According to a study by the US Congress research agency, today’s food crisis might have been avoided had rich countries done more to promote agricultural development in Africa and other impoverished regions. The African Development Bank (AfDB) claims that “a smallholder agricultural revolution” in Africa is required to address the food crisis and turn farming into a business, rather than a means of subsistence, for African farmers.

In peace and security news, the AU has welcomed the agreement reached by the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia and the opposition Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia. It calls on other parties to join the negotiation table and commit themselves to the peaceful and negotiated settlement of the conflict in Somalia.

Civil society representatives expressed their disappointment at the lack of funding commitments and political will to tackle HIV/AIDS during the launch of a United Nations report. Since 2000, 14 million Africans have died of AIDS and an additional 17 million have been infected with HIV, says the report, which civil society says “did not pay enough attention to gender equality and violence against women as key aspects of the pandemic”.