AU Monitor: Issue 114, 2007

Wed Nov 28 13:55:26 GMT 2007

Issue 114, 2007 – Weekly Roundup

This week’s AU Monitor brings you news from the African Union where a  
meeting of the Ministerial Committee on the Union Government is  
taking place in Addis Ababa between the 27th and 28th of November.   
According to the Accra declaration adopted in June 2007, the  
committee is set up for the: “identification of the contents of the  
Union Government concept and its relations with national governments;  
identification of domains of competence and the impact of the  
establishment of the Union Government on the sovereignty of member  
states; definition of the relationship between the Union Government  
and the Regional Economic Communities (RECs); elaboration of the road  
map together with timeframes for establishing the Union Government;  
and identification of additional sources of financing the activities  
of the Union.”

In regard to regional integration, the Economic Community of West  
African States (ECOWAS) held its annual coordination meeting with  
development partners’ where the Strategic Vision for 2020 was  
presented along with ECOWAS’ key strategic plans for the attainment  
of its objective to move from an ‘ECOWAS of states’ to an ‘ECOWAS of  
peoples’.  The strategy aims at a borderless region “where people  
have access to and are able to harness its enormous resources through  
the creation of opportunities for sustainable production and  
environment”.

Whilst the Ministerial Committee meets to discuss continental  
integration, Joseph Coomson writes of the fragmentary effect of the  
Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) on Africa despite the recently  
developed policy statement created by African, Caribbean and Pacific  
Ministers touted as the most comprehensive such position thus far in  
the negotiations.  The statement not only underscores the differences  
among ACP country negotiations but outlines principles upon which the  
negotiations should be based.

Also in trade news, Xinhua reports that Sino-African trade is likely  
to grow faster than previously expected and will reach one hundred  
billion dollars before 2010.  In addition, a China Africa Development  
Fund has been established and is expected to spend between $300 and  
400 million in around twenty to thirty Chinese or Chinese-African  
joint ventures in 2008.

The AU Monitor also features an interview conducted by IPS with Dr.  
Tajudeen Abdul Raheem on the realisation of the Millennium  
Development Goals where he states that “one of the biggest scandals  
in the implementation of MDGs, and one that civil societies and the  
media really need to focus on, are the MDGs in relation to women.   
Indeed, all MDGs are about women because they are the majority, and  
therefore real development cannot take place without full  
participation and empowerment of women.”  In regard to women’s  
rights, Faiza Mohamed introduces the special issue of Pambazuka News  
on the anniversary of the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa  
while a Ministerial Council on Science and Technology meeting this  
week decided to hold a forum for African women in science and  
technology.

Also in relation to the MDGs, Mukundi Mutasa writes about the  
recently released report “Our Environment, Our Wealth”, which  
highlights the potential of African natural resources for  
development.  While the Southern African Development Community (SADC)  
is urged by United Nations Special Envoy on AIDS in Africa, Elizabeth  
Mataka, to strengthen their collective response to HIV/AIDS.

Good governance becomes the focus of the African Peer Review  
Mechanism (APRM) conference in Nigeria, where peer review was  
described as designed for and by Africans to encourage a culture of  
accountability on the Continent rather than for external  
benefactors.  Yet it is to the “external benefactors” that Mohammed  
Ibrahim, who initiated a prize for good governance in Africa,  
directed criticism at an Africa Investor Conference.  He claims that  
Western nations and businesses cannot be absolved for helping corrupt  
officials and for being conduits for stolen funds.

As the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights concludes in  
Congo Brazzaville, human rights defenders call on African States to  
prevent forced disappearances and the impunity that accompanies these  
crimes.  This follows the launch of a Pambazuka News special issue on  
human and peoples’ rights reflecting on the challenges and  
accomplishments of the Commission as it celebrates its 20th year of  
existence.

Lastly, in peace and security news, the transition from the existing  
African Union peace keeping operation in Darfur to a strengthened  
hybrid United Nations-African Union force, known as UNAMID, continues  
as Chinese and Bangladeshi troops arrive in Sudan.

UNAMID Forces Arrive in Darfur

(BuaNews)-Chinese and Bangladeshi units that will form part of the  
hybrid United Nations-African Union peacekeeping force in Darfur  
(UNAMID) have arrived in the war-torn Sudanese region to help in the  
transition from the existing AU peace operation (AMIS).

Read more: www.aumonitor.org/comments/522/

AU Committee Meeting on Union Government

(Press Release)- As a follow up to the implementation of the Accra  
Declaration on the Union Government, the Third Meeting of the African  
Union Ministerial Committee on the Union Government is scheduled to  
hold from the 27th to 28th November 2007, at the headquarters of the  
African Union Commission in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Read more: www.aumonitor.org/comments/521/

EPA Fragmenting Regional Blocks

Joseph Coomson (Ghanaian Chronicle)- Rather than promoting regional  
integration, the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) is rather  
fragmenting Africa and breaking its front as some regional blocks are  
signing the agreement without key countries.

Read more: www.aumonitor.org/comments/520/

Africa’s Prospects Concerning MDG’s

(IPS)- “A Threat To One Is A Threat To All”, Interview with Tajudeen  
Abdul-Raheem.

The past year has marked the half-way point for realisation of the  
United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The eight goals  
were agreed on by global leaders at the United Nations Millennium  
Summit in 2000, with 2015 set as the deadline for achieving the MDGs.

Read more: www.aumonitor.org/comments/519/

Sino-African Trade To Hit $100 Billion by 2010

(Xinhua)—Sino-African trade is likely to hit 100 billion U.S. dollars  
before 2010, sooner than Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao forecast last  
year, said Wei Jianguo, Deputy Minister of Commerce, on Tuesday.

Read more: www.aumonitor.org/comments/518/

Our Environment, Our Wealth

Mukundi Mutasa (SANF)—East Africa has launched the second continental  
report on Africa’s environment, Africa Environment Outlook 2: Our  
Environment, Our Wealth.

The report profiles Africa’s environmental resources as an asset for  
the development of the continent, and highlights the opportunities  
presented by the natural resources base in supporting the continent’s  
development.

Read more: www.aumonitor.org/comments/517/

SADC Must Strengthen Response to HIV/AIDS

(BuaNews)-The Southern African Development Community (SADC) must  
strengthen its regional response in the fight against HIV and AIDS,  
says United Nations Secretary General’s Special Envoy on AIDS in  
Africa, Elizabeth Mataka.

Read more: www.aumonitor.org/comments/515/

African Peer Review Harps on Good Governance

Abdullahi Tasiu Abubakar (Daily Trust)-The African Peer Review  
Mechanism is holding a two-day conference in Yola, Adamawa State  
capital, on Nigeria’s assessment report and to gather new inputs for  
the promotion of good governance in the country.

Read more: www.aumonitor.org/comments/514/

Ministerial Policy Statement on EPAs

(Third World Network)—The Ministers of the African, Caribbean and  
Pacific (ACP) group of countries have issued their most comprehensive  
policy statement on the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) at the  
end of a meeting they held in Brussels on 8-9 November.

Read more: www.aumonitor.org/comments/511/

Forced Disappearances

IRIN—Human rights activists who gathered in Brazzaville have called  
on African states to do more to prevent the enforced disappearance of  
citizens and to end the impunity that often accompanies such crimes.

Read more: www.aumonitor.org/comments/510/

Protocol on the Rights of Women

Faiza Mohamed (Equality Now) -- What gains and what challenges do we  
have two years after the entry into force of the Protocol to the  
African Charter on Human and People’s Rights on the Rights of Women  
in Africa?

Read more: www.aumonitor.org/comments/509/

Forum for African Women

Ochieng’ Ogodo (SciDev.Net)- A forum for African women in science and  
technology was amongst the resolutions agreed by the African  
Ministerial Council on Science and Technology (AMCOST) at their  
meeting in Mombasa, Kenya, last week (16 November).

Read more: www.aumonitor.org/comments/508/

Development Partners Support ECOWAS

(PANA) - ECOWAS development partners have reaffirmed their  
determination to continue supporting the organisation towards the  
realization of its vision of developing the region and improving the  
welfare of its 230 million citizens.

Read more: www.aumonitor.org/comments/507/

China-Africa Development Fund

Dominique Patton (Business Daily)-A glass factory in Ethiopia will be  
one of the first investments in Africa to benefit from the new China  
Africa Development fund, its chief has revealed.

Read more: www.aumonitor.org/comments/506/

Western Nations Aid Corruption

Ayodele Aminu (This Day)-Founder, Celtel Inter-national, Mohammed  
Ibrahim, has accused Western nations of aiding corruption in Africa.  
Ibrahim, who is also Chairman of Mo Foundation, said this yesterday  
in his presentation at the on-going Sub-Saharan Africa Investor  
Conference in London, sponsored by the Renaissance Group.

Read more: www.aumonitor.org/comments/504/

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Hakima Abbas
Policy Analyst, AU-Monitor
Fahamu - Networks for Social Justice
Email: hakima at fahamu.org
Skype: hakima_abbas
www.aumonitor.org
www.fahamu.org

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