Africa and HIV/AIDS
The decisions of the executive council and the assembly of heads of state and government from the recently concluded African Union summit in Egypt are now available for download.
The AU Commission chairman Jean Ping has welcomed the accord between Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and the Movement for Democratic Change leader Morgan Tsvangirai to begin negotiations on power sharing. While Ping called it ‘a significant step in the efforts aimed at overcoming the crisis facing Zimbabwe and promoting national reconciliation in the country’, the US insisted that the talks should lead to new elections. Meanwhile, African civil society organisations have welcomed attempts being made by Zimbabwean political parties to end the current crisis and have called on African leaders of all levels, the Southern African Development Community and the AU to demand an end to serious human rights violations in the country and publicly denounce the violence.
African trade ministers, meeting at an annual general meeting of the African trade insurance agency, agreed to remove barriers to regional trade and work towards improving regional transport and telecommunication infrastructure to bolster trade within Africa. The AU, regional economic communities, development partners and NEPAD’s comprehensive Africa agriculture development programme have ‘kick-started initiatives aimed at staving off the high food prices’. As the third Accra High Level conference (HLF-3) on aid effectiveness approaches, it is suggested that the scope of the application of the Paris Declaration principles should be broadened beyond Official Development Assistance and should govern all aid flows. HLF-3 is expected to focus on the building of more ‘effective and inclusive partnerships through constructive engagement of new and emerging donors, private foundations, global funds and civil society’.
As Africa celebrated pan-African women’s day on July 31, African Union chairman Jean Ping conveyed his special greetings and congratulations to all women of Africa recalling the history of ‘gender consciousness’ within the institution.
The ‘Making the eHealth connection: global partnerships, local solutions’. conference began in Italy this week. Meanwhile, Aids activists from francophone African countries warned that ‘the continual and growing outbreaks of violence against members of the gay community in Africa are jeopardising efforts undertaken to combat HIV both within that group and across the population as a whole’. Further, in order to achieve an Aids-free generation, African governments will need to change the political culture and, in particular, ‘African parliaments need to play a more assertive role in exercising oversight over how state funds are expended – and in ensuring HIV/Aids funding is put to its intended use’. In addition, Africans should partner with countries such as Cuba who have expertise in tackling the pandemic and have shown solidarity in with the continent in a myriad of ways.
Lastly, the AU commission is assessing the progress made in implementing the ‘plan of action on the family in Africa’, adopted by the assembly of the heads of state in 2004. Country responses to the evaluation will be submitted to the first AU conference of ministers in charge of social development to be held in October 2008.