July 3, 2007
Clear differences emerged on Monday
among African leaders over their
visions for the continent's system of
governance as they gathered behind
closed doors to thrash out how to
forge a closer union.
On the second day of an African Union
summit in Ghana, heads of state began
a grand debate in which they split
over whether to create a United States
of Africa or simply upgrade existing
institutions.
Libya's Moammar Gadaffi has been
leading a push to create a
confederation of states, with a union
government that would replace the
existing AU Commission and draw up
common foreign and defence policies as
well as ease trade barriers.
Other key players on the continent,
however, want the existing structure
to be given time to mature, including
South African President Thabo Mbeki,
who hosted the meeting five years ago
in Durban when the AU was formally
created.
Although Mbeki himself was not
scheduled to speak, Lesotho Prime
Minister Pakalitha Mosisili presented
the misgivings of the Southern African
Development Community (SADC), a
14-country regional bloc.
Mosisili, whose country is surrounded
by South Africa, told fellow heads of
state it was important to gradually
develop existing continent-wide
cooperation structures and emphasis
should be placed on nurturing regional
groupings such as SADC.
"We recognise that Africa's
interests would be best served through
economic and political
integration," he said, according
to a copy of the speech obtained by
Agence France-Presse (AFP).
"However, we must adopt a
bottoms-up approach, not a top-down
one ... We believe that such
integration should be gradual rather
than precipitous."
The new Nigerian leader, Umaru
Yar'Adua, struck a similarly sceptical
line, according to a delegate speaking
on condition of anonymity.
Gadaffi himself had not yet presented
his views but advocates of stronger
unity, including Senegal's President
Abdoulaye Wade and Gabon's Ondimba
Omar Bongo, both spoke forcibly for a
much tighter union.
"Today, our continent must
proceed towards an acceleration of its
process of integration. It is clear
that the time is right for the
creation of a union government,"
said Bongo.
Foreign Minister Sheikh Tidiane Gadio
said Senegal was ready to support the
immediate creation of a union
government, insisting that breaking
down of barriers could only benefit
the continent.
"We can even bypass the
discussions," Gadio told AFP
ahead of the debate. "The African
people are ready but the question is
are the African governments ready to
catch up with their people."
Ghana's host President John Kufuor and
AAU Commission chief Alpha Oumar
Konare acknowledged at the opening of
the three-day meeting that the current
executive had to be improved and its
remit was ill-defined.
Although the summit is meant to be
devoted to the prospects for closer
unity, dubbed by some as the creation
of a United States of Africa, the
continent's trouble spots continue to
loom large.
The Darfur conflict, which scuppered
Khartoum's hopes of assuming the
presidency at the last summit, also
featured high on the agenda on the
opening day as Konare called for a
United Nations resolution to hammer
out the long-promised deployment of a
hybrid United Nations-AU force to the
western Sudanese region.
Speakers, however, showed little
inclination to dwell on the problems
of Somalia. No new countries have come
forward offering troops to serve in an
AU peacekeeping mission in Mogadishu
since January's summit in Addis Ababa.
UN Deputy Secretary General Asha Rose
Migiro said the problems of Somalia
should not just be left to Africa.
"African leaders are ready to
take a role in addressing the Somalia
issue but Somalia is of international
concern, it's not an issue for Africa
alone," she told reporters.
The World Bank, meanwhile, said Africa
would benefit from economic as well as
political integration.
"We support the economic
integration ambitions of the
continent," said vice-president
Obiageli Katryn Ezekwesili, a former
Nigerian Cabinet minister.
|
