Leaders express disgust over coup resurgence

The Permanent Representatives Committee (PRC) of the African Union (AU) touched on a number of issues including the administration of the AU Commission, its alternative sources of funds and the political crisis facing African States. The PRC expressed great disappointment during its opening session at the resurgence of military coups in Africa. The AU Commissioner for peace and security reminded the diplomats that the organisation would not accept any unconstitutional changes of government in the continent. Meanwhile, following a consultative meeting of foreign Affairs ministers of the Community of Sahel-Saharan States that took place in Libya prior to the PRC ordinary session, the Senegalese Minister of State for foreign Affairs declared that his country would like to see clarity among African leaders on the formation of an African federal government at the AU summit. The government of Uganda brought to a halt a Col. Muammar Gadaffi sponsored meeting in Kampala under the umbrella ‘Forum of African Traditional Leaders’, claiming that the Colonel was using the forum to pursue his agenda of creating a United States of Africa by engaging traditional leaders in politics, which is unconstitutional.

In peace and security related news, the AU will endorse the recommendation of the Southern African Development Community aimed at resolving the current political crisis in Zimbabwe. In the proposal, the leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change is supposed to be sworn in as prime minister on 11 February and a coalition government to be formed shortly thereafter. Human Rights Watch, calling for the suspension of Zimbabwe from the continental organisation, urged the AU to put intensive pressure on President Robert Mugabe to end the longstanding political crisis, to formally take over the mediation process and ‘set basic principles, specific human rights benchmarks and timelines for resolving the crisis’. Meanwhile, the African Union-United Nations Mission in Darfur said that hundreds more troops from Egypt, South Africa, Senegal and Bangladesh, among others, would arrive in the Sudanese region of Darfur in an effort to boost the Mission’s civilian protection. In other news, Uganda, Kenya, Sudan and Ethiopia resolved to form a regional disarmament committee to disarm pastoral and nomadic communities in a move aimed at reducing arms used in cattle rustling in the region.

In other news, the Solidarity for African Women’s Rights (SOAWR) Coalition launched its book ‘Advocating for Women’s Rights: Experiences from the Solidarity for African Women’s Rights Coalition (SOAWR)’ in which the coalition shares its experiences in developing advocacy strategies for the ratification, popularisation and domestication of the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa. Finally, an analyst studies the impact of genetically modified (MG) crops on African agriculture and explores whether GM is the solution for the continent against hunger.