Date: 10th – 18th July, 2016.
Meetings:
• 10th –12th July :- 32nd Ordinary session of the permanent representatives committee (PRC).
• 13th-15th July :- 29th ordinary session of the executive council.
• 16th July :- 35th Meeting of New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) heads of state and government summit.
• 17th – 18th July :- 27th Ordinary session of the assembly of the heads of state and government of African Union.
Members: 54 member states.
Chairperson: President Idris Deby of the Republic of Chad.
MATTERS ARISING (17th – 18th July, 2016)
Elections
Financing the African Union
Africa One Passport
South Sudan
Morocco AU ambition
ELECTION
The election of a new Chairperson of the African Union Commission was postponed till next summer when candidates failed to attain a two-third majority of votes to replace the Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, former South African health minister and anti apartheid activist. The chairperson’s spokesperson, Jacob Enoh Eben hinted on his twitter account on the 18th July, 2016.
The three candidates; Bostwana foreign minister Pelonomi Venson Moitoi, Equitorial guinea former minister of foreign affairs Agapito Mba Mokuy and former Vice President of Uganda Specioza Wandira Kezibwe got 16 votes, 12 votes and 11 votes respectively as reports indicated. According to the AU rules, the winner must obtain two-third of member states’ votes and if no winner, a second round of election will be held between the first and second candidates with the highest votes.
Chairperson Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma has been in office since July 2012 and did not apply for a second round. She replaced Jean Ping from Gabon.
FINANCING THE AFRICAN UNION
The AU 2016 budget was fixed at $447million sourced from outside contributors. Thus there was the need to have an autonomous finance system in order to put an end to dependence on outside financing.
Chief Doanld Kaberuka, former finance minister of Rwanda was tasked to provide an alternative move of financing the AU. He came up with the plan of placing 0.2% levy on imports to African countries. This was projected to fully fund the functioning of AU and 75% of its programmes.
The levy will be able to generate $1.2billion which would be more than AU’s 2016 budget of $447million and 2017 budget of $782million.
In addition, each country will be asked to contribute $65million from the import levy to secure AU finance to cover 25% of peacekeeping operations in Africa.
Executive Director at the Institute of Security Studies, Anton de Pessis cautioned that AU in pursuing its new financial self-funding plan should not sideline the traditional AU donors as they will remain vital to the AU.
AFRICA ONE PASSPORT
This is considered by many as a milestone achievement of the AU summit. Earlier this year, the move to launch African passport was proposed during the January 2016 summit. It was billed to be launched in Kigali and the first beneficiaries will be the heads of state and government, foreign ministers, leaderships of the representatives of the AU and organ.
Chairperson of the AU commission Dlamini Zuma urged the heads of state to facilitate the issuance of the passport to their citizens “within their national policies and as when they are ready.”
“I am glad to be the first African citizen to hold the African passport and of course my brother Paul (Kegame).” Said president Deby.
“These are great steps we are taking. Our union has great ambitions in order to ensure economic and political integration.”
The launch of the passport will facilitate and enhance the mobility of Africans and ease trade across the continent and ultimately promoting tourism and economic ties among the member countries. It will also create a visa free Africa proposed under the aspirations 2 and 7 of agenda 2063. The agenda postulates AU view of “an integrated, prosperous and peaceful Africa driven by its own citizens and representing a dynamic force in global arena.”
SOUTH SUDAN
The recent bloodletting in the South Sudan has claimed over 300 lives and displaced more than 40,000 people when opposition forces clashed in the country’s capital, Juba.
This signifies the collapse of the internationally-arbitrated August 2015 peace agreement to end the county’s two-year civil war.
AU announced that peacekeeping forces will be deployed to South Sudan which will include troops from members of Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) (i.e Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, and Sudan) and from Rwanda. The mission will bolster and expand the UN 12,000 mission troop already operating in the South Sudan since secession from Sudan.
The UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon pledged his support for the proposal on July 16th, 2016 but not certain whether the South Sudan’s government will accept the move.
AU Commissioner for Peace and Security, Smail Chegui confirmed AU support for the IGAD and stated that there is no time frame yet for the deployment as it will depend on UN’s support for the proposal. He also acknowledged that the government of South Sudan has insisted it does not want more foreign troops in the country stating that the issue will need to be negotiated.
MOROCCO AU AMBITION
This issue was neither an agenda nor an item in the summit. In a press release in Addis Ababa Ethiopia on 25th July, 2016, Jacob Enoh Eben spokesperson of the chairperson, Bureau of Chairperson, African Union Commission stated that the kingdom of Morocco did not attend or address the 27th Assembly held on 17th-18th July, 2016 in Kigali. He stated however that President Idriss Deby of the Republic of Chad(chairperson of AU) informed the chairperson of the AU Commission H.E Nkozama Dlamini-Zuma that he received a correspondence from the king of Morocco H.M Muhammed VI, regarding morocco’s intention to join Africa Union.
The next summit will be in the summer of 2017 and we hope before that time, member nations would have ensured the circulation of a reasonable amount of the e-passport in their respective countries. Also, before that time, we hope that Morocco’s ambition to join the AU will have become a reality and to see a new chairperson.
By Aduagba Sarafadeen
Legal Practitioner & Freelance Writer for Africa
Twitter: @shaislas
Instagram: @olafrica
No comments:
Post a Comment