Ministers for foreign affairs to revise union government plan
The Assembly of heads of state and government of the African Union (AU) ended their 12th ordinary summit on 4 February 2009 with a decision to transform the African Union Commission (AUC) into the African Union Authority (AUA), to be launched in June 2009. The Assembly’s deliberations were extended by a day as states struggled to agree on the modalities of setting up a Union Authority and moving it to a federal government, with a mandate to coordinate cross-border issues. ‘We rejected this agreement of creating a government or an Authority without power to govern. You cannot create a government that is weak in its mandate,’ a Kenyan government official told PANA press. African leaders sought an amendment to the Constitutive Act of the AU and time to consult with their parliaments. While some blamed the Commission’s lack of preparedness for the delay in reaching a deal: ‘the commission did not work out the details of transforming the Commission into an Authority and providing details on the legal reforms’. In a bid to save the process from collapsing, foreign ministers have been charged with finalizing the outstanding issues and report to the assembly before the June 2009 summit. Meanwhile, the Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni openly disagreed with Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi over the direction of the formation of a single African government, the former calling for the strengthening of regional blocs, and the latter an immediate formation of the United States of Africa.
Though the idea of forming a united government of Africa has been on the table since the formation of the Organisation of African Unity in 1963 and that all member States accept the idea in principle as a common and desirable goal, some African policy makers question the pace of integration. ‘Libya and some 20 countries seem very much eager to see the union Government as soon as possible, while the other block of countries like Ethiopia and South Africa want to take it slow. Members of the latter block argue that it is too early for Africa to politically integrate. According to this group, Africa must first integrate economically by investing in infrastructure and the like.’ An analyst expressed his optimism that Muammar Gadaffi’s clear mission and vision to obtain a Union government will enable Africa to move forward with regional integration and to compete on equal footing with other global powers.
The secretary general of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) hailed calls for the introduction of an African single currency which would help reduce the cost of business transactions and ensure that prices of commodities are easily compared. The president of South Africa, Kgalema Motlanthe, said that his country would use its tenure as chairperson of the Southern African Development Community to fortify the institution and cement cohesion with COMESA and the East African Community.
In other news, the AUC chairperson Jean Ping has sent special envoy Amara Essy as to Madagascar to urgently seek an end to the political crisis and stand-off between President Marc Ravalomanana and opposition leader Andy Rajoelina.
Finally, a landmark workshop on legal strategies for promoting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights in Africa was held in Cape Town last week. The meeting was the ‘first-ever dialogue between lawyers who have worked on litigation related to LGBT rights and African LGBT leaders’ and allowed participants to review key pieces of litigation to document lessons learned. ‘Participants ended the meeting with a call to create a multi-faceted LGBT legal fund for Africa and a training and support network for African lawyers working on sexual rights cases.’