Where are the AU missions?

I would have thought that a country like Ghana would have an AU mission here. I learn instead that Nigeria does...in Lagos. I have googled incessantly to find out where the AU mission is. What I have found instead is an AU agency:

AFRICAN UNION SCIENTIFIC, TECHNICAL AND RESEARCH COMMISSION.

Even then, there is no website. I sincerely believe Lagos can do better, surely?!!

Thankfully, NAIROBI has one, which address can be found below:

African Union/Interafrican Bureau for Animal Resources
PO Box 30786 Museum Hill, Westlands Road Nairobi/Kenya
Tel: +254 20 367 4000 Fax: +254 20 367 4341
ibar.office@au-ibar.org

The AU has a New Website, Albeit in Beta

Belated Happy AU Day! Though it has been a while since I wrote in here, I have been powerfully scanning the horizon on issues of African unity.

I am glad to read on the AU website that the AU is well and truly pursuing the issue of the AU Commission being transformed into an African Union Authority(AUA). The documents in question can be found here: http://www.africa-union.org/root/ua/Actualites/2010/mai/legal%20Counsel%20meeting.doc and http://www.africa-union.org/root/ua/Conferences/2010/mai/OLC/17-21mai/NV%20Legal%20Experts%20Meeting%2017-21%20May%202010%20Eng0001.pdf.

Interestingly, too, the AU, to celebrate AU Day in its 47th year, has come out with a new website, which can be visited here: http://www.au.int/?q=home.

Africa should do well to remember that UNITY is the only option. This is not inconsistent with the pursuit of programmes that facilitate regional economic integration--as exemplified by the UNECA-mandated eight regional groupings

Africa CAN--MUST--Unite!

Fwd: ECA Press Release: CODA to study financing of regional integration in Africa

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: <ECAWEB@uneca.org>
Date: 2010/5/26
Subject: ECA Press Release: CODA to study financing of regional integration in Africa
To: ATameru@uneca.org

CODA to study financing of regional integration in Africa

ECA Press Release No. 40/2010

Abidjan 26 May 2010 (ECA) - The Coalition for Dialogue on Africa (CoDA), convened a policy forum on "Financing Regional Integration in Africa"on 25th May, Africa Day, as a side event of the 2010 Annual Meetings of the African Development Bank (AfDB) Group in Abidjan, Cote D'Ivoire.

The forum discussions focused on issues related to the financing requirements for enhancing regional integration in Africa, including regional infrastructure development, and the possibilities of establishing a new regional integration fund to drive this agenda forward. Participants included the Chair of the CoDA Board, President Festus Mogae, as well as the majority of the CoDA Board, members of the private sector and civil society, and, experts on regional integration from the African Union Commission (AUC) the AfDB and the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA).

The forum concluded with agreement that CoDA would seek to take this process forward by commissioning a detailed and comprehensive study on how the financing of regional integration could, and should, be up-scaled, in particular, through the use of innovative and wide-ranging modalities.

Advocacy to promote regional integration is one of CoDA's priority areas of focus. In that context, the CoDA Chair and Board members also participated in the official launch in Abidjan, on 24th May, of the 4th edition of "Assessing Regional Integration in Africa (ARIA IV)", a biannual report jointly prepared by ECA, AUC and AfDB. According to the latest report, entitled "Enhancing intra-African trade", over 80 percent of Africa's total exports are still destined for Europe, Asia and America while a comparable percentage of the continent's imports are obtained from the same markets. ARIA IV concludes that a focus on regional integration is critical to accelerate the transformation of fragmented economies to expand markets and widen economic space.

During the working sessions of the CoDA Board, which were also held in Abidjan, the Board adopted a resolution approving a Statute for the initiative, which transforms it into a fully independent entity, that will be supported by the private sector and civil society, as well as the AUC, AfDB, and ECA. It was announced that the search process for a full time Executive Director to head the new organization would begin shortly with the advertisement of the vacancy announcement for the position.

President Mogae also informed a press conference on Tuesday evening that the Board had agreed a programme of work for the rest of 2010. This, he said, included advocacy activities on climate change in collaboration with the AUC, AfDB and ECA (which are jointly convening the 7th African Development Forum on this theme in October 2010), advocacy on the threat of transnational crime to political stability in Africa, and the organization of a side event at the forthcoming African Union Summit in Kampala in July, 2010, highlighting the regional integration issues featured in ARIA.

The next CoDA meeting of the CoDA Board will be convened in November 2010 in Mauritius.

Ends.


Background: The Coalition for Dialogue on Africa (CoDA) is a new, independent, international, African-owned forum that identifies and discusses issues of importance to Africa's development within a global context. It is a think tank that advocates for the continent, brings together a range of stakeholders to promote dialogue and provides a platform for African voices to be heard. It is policy-oriented, and works in collaboration with other African and international organizations addressing issues of Africa's security, peace, governance and development. CoDA is sponsored by, but is not a program of, the African Union Commission, the UN Economic Commission for Africa or the African Development Bank. It is governed by a Board of eminent African and non-African personalities and receives support from the private sector.



Issued by:
ECA Information and Communication Service
P.O. Box 3001
Addis Ababa
Ethiopia

Tel: 251 11 5445098
Fax: +251-11-551 03 65
E-mail: ecainfo@uneca.org
Web: www.uneca.org

Fwd: [African Citizens] Note on Training on “Understanding the African Union’’ 7 – 9 April 2010, Kampala, Uganda

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: CCP - African Union <aucitizens@yahoo.com>
Date: 2010/4/12
Subject: [African Citizens] Note on Training on "Understanding the African Union'' 7 – 9 April 2010, Kampala, Uganda
To: africancitizens@yahoogroups.com

 

Training on "Understanding the African Union''

7 – 9 April 2010, Kampala, Uganda

On 7-9 April 2010, fifty participants from all the five geographical region of Africa attended the training on "Understanding the AU", organised by the African Union Commission in collaboration with the Pan African Movement and Oxfam International in Kampala, Uganda.

Within the different sessions, panelists drawn from the African Union Commission (Cabinet of the Chairperson, Legal Department, CIDO), ECOSOC, Oxfam International, Save The Children and the Darfur Consortium made presentations on the following issues:

 

•      Origin, growth and development of the AU system-its issues, problems and challenges

•      AU policy and decision making processes

•      Overview of the AUC- its internal reforms, vision, mission, mandate and strategic plan

•      About the Economic, Social and Cultural Council (ECOSOCC) of the AU

•      Strengthening popular participation-Guide to AU Structures and Processes and CSOs Entry Points

•      Accreditation for the Biannual Ordinary Summits and Pre-Summit

•      Advancing CSOs agenda within the AU, challenges and opportunities

 

National media widely covered the training and Certificate of participation co-signed by the AU Commission, Oxfam and the Pan Africa Movement was given to each participant.

 

It was agreed that this training would be systematically held biannually every year whereby one would be an all encompassing training on the AU structures and processes while the other would focus on a specific organ of the AU. In addition, it was also decided that a special session on the ongoing integration process will be organised.

 

Furthermore, Fahamu/AU Monitor has been commissioned to lead on the designing and the drafting of a training Manual to be used for further trainings. Also, participants from Burundi, Ethiopia, Ghana, Malawi and Nigeria, have expressed their interest in organising national activities to sensitise their respective countries and spread their knowledge of the AU and to that effect have invited organisers to support them in their endeavours. 

 

 

Happy Birthday, Ghana! Long live Nkrumah! (An Ode to Pan-African-ism)

It is always difficult to talk about Ghana's March 6 independence day without talking about Dr.Kwame Nkrumah--quintessential Pan-Africanist. I cannot wait to see what the African Union has in store to commemorate his birthday.

Even before then, I am keen to see how minds will be sensitized the necessity of whipping up support for Pan-Africanism. Many of my contemporaries who have had the opportunity to travel outside Ghana and the continent and come back regrettably are hooked onto the capitalist ideology of free-markets. So imbued are they to that and the concept of foreign investment that I suspect the mere mention of Pan-Africanism is sufficient to send most of them to a catatonic state.

But let me be more clear about my point: the AFrican Union, in my humble view, would have to be invented did Nkrumah not invest energies into it. Despite how far it has come--to the extent that we can now talk of a "Peace and Security Architecture" or APSA (http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/where/acp/regional-cooperation/peace/capacity_building/apsa_en.htm)--I sincerely believe that the communication of it remains so execrable that most Africans are unable to appreciate the quality of the experience known as the AU experience.

Not to mention how the youth have been excluded from participating in discussions and events that seek to promote, and reduce the level of abstraction that issues on the AU seems to hover around.

An understanding of the AU will never happen quickly without interested Pan-Africanists choosing to make more noise than necessary about where the AU is and where it's going!

How Quickly one Forgets Libya's Instrumentality in the AU!!

PANAF NewsAlerts 008


Editor’s Note


The 14th Summit draw much World attention, thanks in particular to Maummar al-Ghaddafi. His rebuke of the African Union should also command your awareness. While we’re at it, let’s also thank him for spearheading the creation of the AU itself. How quickly we forget Sirte, indeed his birthplace. The Sirte Declaration paved the way for the AU to be realized, and something of substance, far removed from the talk shop days of the OAU. You could actually see milk teeth appearing in new inter-governmental organization save for the usual Heads of State directing the affairs of the continent according to their own interests. Yet these gradualists, as they are called, worked diligently this past year to sideline political unity for Africa. Red Card! We all know why the AU was created, and we all know the urgency of our complete unification. To make progress at every step of the way is imperative to our survival as a people on Earth. One people, Africa! So, as we see very poignantly in Haiti, to delay aid means one’s life. We should be rushing to unify, to come to each other’s aid, especially during crisis. And so, the gradualists tighten our noose, ridiculing the creation of a continental federation of African states. How can we protect our dream? In this PANAF News Alert, I offer you an article from Speaker of the Gambian Assembly, the Honorable Elizabeth Renner, who reminds us that leaders, especially our Heads of State in Africa, are not the catalysts for change. She pleads to the masses to entrench and intertwine their lives within Pan African action. Ditto that message for the African Diaspora. In anycase, I think you’ll enjoy hearing positive developments from the Nigerian Community in Gambia. Elsewhere, I point you to


Did you know that Guinea, Madagascar, and Eritrea were recently booted from the AU? The former two were suspended due to “coups”. The latter due to an accusation that the state was sponsoring Somali militants. A quick biased judgment was made on Guinea that led to. And it is clear that the change of power was urgently necessary in Madagascar for the sake of the people and environment. Eritrea, well, let’s ask, who doesn’t have a hand in Somali affairs? If the AU will be partial to certain interests when it comes to membership within its structure then we have certainly a compromised institution. The AU can not condone political coersion and violent control on one hand, and punish a popular revolution on the other. Perhaps it was good gesture for Mr.DJ to boycott the 14th Summit. Lastly, an update on the repatriation of Haitians to Africa, and for those excited about the new direction of the AU, I’ve included an AU press release on its slick new flag and an article about the integration of NEPAD into the AU Structure.


Nkosi Sekele Afrika!

Ikeme

Handguide to the AU Launched on 27 January!

On 27th January a 70-page Hand Guide written both in English and French entitled ‘’Strengthening Popular Participation in the African Union: A Guide to AU Structures and Processes’’ will be launched here in Addis at the Hilton Hotel. It is a practical tool aiming to assist citizens and organizations to engage with African Union policies and programmes.

It describes the AU decision-making process and outlines the roles and responsibilities of the AU institutions. It also contains a sampling of the experiences of several non-governmental organizations that have interacted with the African Union in the past.

The main purpose of the publishers of this Hand Guide, Oxfam and Afrimap, is to support the African Union’s commitment to a vision of an Africa that is ‘‘integrated, prosperous, peaceful and driven by its own citizens’’.

addisababa@oxfaminternational.org or programmes@ccpau.org