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Africa: OAU to African Union
Africa: OAU to African Union
Date distributed (ymd): 010718
Document reposted by APIC
Africa Policy Electronic Distribution List: an information
service provided by AFRICA ACTION (incorporating the Africa
Policy Information Center, The Africa Fund, and the American
Committee on Africa). Find more information for action for
Africa at http://www.africapolicy.org
+++++++++++++++++++++Document Profile+++++++++++++++++++++
Region: Continent-Wide
Issue Areas: +political/rights+ +economy/development+
+security/peace+
SUMMARY CONTENTS:
This posting contains two background analysis articles on the
meeting from July 2-11, 2001 in Lusaka, Zambia, which concluded
with official approval of the transformation of the Organization of
African Unity into a new African Union, and the choice of Amara
Essy as the new Secretary-General. While the goal of more effective
continental unity is widely shared, there is widespread skepticism
whether the new organization will be able to be significantly more
effective than its predecessor.
The articles below are reposted with permission from allAfrica.com.
Documents from the summit are available, in PDF format only, on the
OAU web site at http://www.oau-oua.org/Lusaka/Documents.htm The
documents include English and French versions of the decisions of
the meeting, and an extensive final report by OAU Secretary-General
Salim Salim.
In his sober concluding reflections the OAU Secretary-General noted
the "remarkable victory" in "holding together and even in being
able to contemplate strategies of collective self-reliance." He
noted greater political will "to pursue a Continental agenda" and
the greater acceptance of fundamental political principles such as
"popular participation, the rule of law, and respoect for human
rights." However, he added, "Many of the initiatives that require
sustainable action often remain at the level of decisions and
declarations that are not followed up."
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's address to the OAU summit can be
found at: http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2001/sgsm7884.doc.htm
+++++++++++++++++end profile++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
From OAU to AU - Whither Africa?
http://allAfrica.com
ANALYSIS
July 13, 2001
By Ofeibea Quist-Arcton
Lusaka, Zambia
"This historic effort will require leadership, courage and
willingness to depart from the ways of the past, if it is to do for
Africa what the European Union has done for Europe".
Those are the words of Kofi Annan, the secretary-general of the
United Nations, himself an African from Ghana. He was speaking
about the newly-created African Union (AU) which is to replace the
Organisation of African Unity (OAU).
Annan's address was delivered at the 37th OAU summit, which ended
in Lusaka, Zambia this week, and has prepared the ground for the
transition period into the African Union. The AU was inspired by
the European Union and styled on other global continental bodies in
Asia and America.
But will it work?
The African Union is being touted as the continental body that will
pave the way to a better life for all Africans. It is a tall order.
In less than a year, the new interim secretary-general of the OAU,
Cote d'Ivoire's former foreign minister, Amara Essy, must try to
steer the continent towards a semblance of unity and development
that will put Africa firmly on the global stage.
Analysts warn that too much faith is being placed in a document
that makes more sense in theory than in practice. They say African
leaders are rushing to create what should be a more effective
political and economic union without enough thought, thanks to
fears of being left trailing in the rapid race of globalisation.
The observers conclude that the timetable for trying to achieve
these goals is unrealistic and could backfire.
The right leadership?
Then there are those qualities cited by Annan. Does the current
continental leadership have what it takes? The answer is yes and
no. There are serving African leaders of vision and integrity, who
are competent and committed. There are others who have not lived up
to high hopes and expectations of their election and have
manifestly failed their people.
There are hawks and doves, there are movers and shakers and there
are those leaders who delight in obstructing and thwarting
progress. In short, Africa has some leaders who are a credit to the
continent and others who are a disgrace.
Kofi Annan went straight to the point when he stressed that the
resolution of the many conflicts in Africa was essential to making
the continent work. But he also pointed out that these were "in a
great measure the result of misguided leadership which is unwilling
or unable to put the people's interests first." He told a news
conference: "No one can say that 'My country has peace and
therefore conflicts in this or that country are not my
responsibility.' No one wants to invest in bad neighbourhoods, so
we need to clean up our neighbourhood."
The OAU, created in 1963, dedicated most of its resources and
energy to the fight against colonialism in Africa and backed the
Frontline states and the continent in the struggle against
apartheid in South Africa. The priorities and ambitions of the
African Union will be different.
A new plan for Africa
The African Initiative, which is a merger of the Millennium African
Recovery Programme (MAP) spearheaded by South African leader Thabo
Mbeki, and the Plan Omega proposed by Senegalese president
Abdoulaye Wade, was promoted in Lusaka as a blueprint for the
regeneration of Africa.
The Initiative calls on African leaders to consolidate democracy
and development on the continent and strive for prosperity. It
urges the richer, industrialized world to increase investment,
assistance and confidence in Africa.
The plan, one of the many challenges facing Africa, was presented
to the leaders at the Lusaka summit.
In his opening remarks, the outgoing OAU secretary-general, Salim
Ahmed Salim of Tanzania, said: "This summit must provide answers to
the questions that occupy the minds of our people, including the
form and nature of the AU that we are establishing. Is the Union
merely the OAU in a different name?" Salim asked.
Africans all over the continent are asking the same question and
hoping the AU is not. Salim, who has occupied the top post for the
past 12 years, was referring to the lack of political clout, and
perhaps more significantly money, of the OAU to achieve its aims,
including the resolution of the devastating regional wars.
Al-Gaddafi's role
Doubt also hangs over the intentions of the Libyan leader, Muammar
Al-Gaddafi, who, as the star attraction, dominated the OAU summit
in Lusaka. The Guide, as Al-Gaddafi is known in Libya, is reported
to have contributed US$1m to the fund for the transformation of the
OAU into the AU. He has been credited with making the vision of the
African Union possible and being the chief architect of the new
union.
But there were worries expressed in whispers in Lusaka about
whether the Guide of the Libyan Revolution could really be the
helmsman of the continental revolution. Questions are being asked
about Al-Gaddafi's motives. Old-timers noted the absence in
Al-Gaddafi's speeches of any mention of the founding fathers of the
Organisation of African Unity, among them Ghana's Kwame Nkrumah,
who promoted pan-Africanism more than forty years ago.
There was also no open talk of the ferocious and sometimes
murderous attacks on black Africans in Libya by local citizens,
furious with The Guide for consorting with and financing 'blacks'
at the expense of Arab-Africans in his own country. They clearly do
not share Al-Gaddafi's desire to encourage pan-Africanism.
Striking a strident note as he addressed the closing session of
probably the last OAU summit, Al-Gaddafi said of the AU: "We cannot
be neutral here. We are here for the Africans, not the Europeans.
We are here for the blacks, not for the whites."
Louis Farrakhan, the leader of the US-based Nation of Islam in
Chicago and a friend of Al-Gaddafi, sat behind The Guide during the
closing ceremony.
The Libyan leader played to the gallery, and found his way into the
hearts of a group of students in Lusaka earlier in week, when he
reminded them that, in colonial times' Europeans "treated us
(Africans) like animals in the jungle. As a matter of fact, they
hunted us in our villages and in our homes. We suffered from them.
Why should we imitate them when there is no common denominator
between us and them?" asked Al-Gaddafi.
"Wanting to mimic the US takes us back," the Libyan leader warned
his African counterparts, implying that the drafters of the AU had
drawn too much from Western models. "We want a united and
integrated Africa, that's what we require." Backwards or forwards?
Several analysts and delegates in Lusaka dismissed The Guide's
discourse and ideas as old hat, the usual attacks on the West and
harking back to a past era, at a time when Africans should be
looking forward.
Al-Gaddafi's detractors portray his recent interest and influence
in Africa as largesse which comes at a price for the rest of the
continent. They say the Libyan's tactics relegate other African
leaders to a secondary position, strips them of importance and
dignity and preys on poor African nations and their people.
An Al-Gaddafi aide told journalists that Africans "talked about
dignity. But there is not much dignity when the presidents ask him
(Gaddafi) for money. He always gives them money, but he never tries
to influence their policies." Others disagree, saying that
Al-Gaddafi has clear ideas about what he wants and how he intends
to get it. "He has built his support in the OAU to strengthen
Libya's position in international organizations," said one
delegate. African support has helped Libya's slow and chequered
return to the world fold, after years as a global pariah in
international isolation and under UN sanctions for supporting
terrorism.
Hopes for a better future
Whatever Al-Gaddafi may hope to get out of his fellow African
leaders, the people of the continent want the birth of the African
Union to herald peace, stability and increased prosperity. They
hope that the AU - as a stronger and more effective continental
organisation - will bring them those benefits.
The new chairman of the OAU, Zambian President Frederick Chiluba,
told the summit that African leaders had agreed that the new union
would form a parliament and a central bank, as well as a
continental parliament, but that the AU would initially concentrate
on creating an assembly of heads of state, a council of foreign
ministers, a secretariat and a permanent committee of ambassadors.
The union's charter also envisages a common currency and court of
justice.
Perhaps more important to a larger African audience was Chiluba's
mention of greater unity accompanied by speedy and decisive action.
"Africa does not have the luxury of time. If we hesitate, or
procrastinate in implementing the decision we have taken concerning
the establishment of the African Union, time will pass us by. We
are living in an era where change takes place in milliseconds" said
the Zambian leader.
Fine words and noble ambitions, say the skeptics, who doubt that
the African Union will bring either real change, political will or
the necessary resources to change the lives of most Africans,
especially the poor.
Amara Essy - A New Man for OAU and Africa
http://allAfrica.com
ANALYSIS
July 11, 2001
By Ofeibea Quist-Arcton
Lusaka, Zambia
Eight gruelling rounds of voting propelled the former foreign
minister of Cote d'Ivoire, Amara Essy, into Africa's top job this
week at the OAU summit.
The gracious 57 year old Ivorian diplomat, as the new interim
secretary general of the Organisation of African Union (OAU), will
be Africa's new helmsman, steering the continent's nations through
the transition to the Africa Union.
Essy's allies quietly and effectively lobbied for him to become the
OAU secretary-general at a crucial time in the organization's
history.
After hours of negotiating among African leaders, Essy saw off a
challenge from the Namibian foreign minister, Theo Ben Gurirab, and
Lansana Kouyate, a former executive secretary of the Economic
Community of West African States (Ecowas), from Guinea.
"I have been elected to build the structure of the African Union.
We will try to do our best," Essy told reporters, adding, "The main
task, I think, is clear, because the mandate of the new secretary
general is to transform the OAU into the African Union."
The Ivorian also had to defeat what observers said was a concerted
campaign spearheaded by the Libyan leader Muammar Al-Gaddafi to
extend, by one year, the contract of the outgoing Tanzanian head of
the OAU, Salim Ahmed Salim.
Big guns from Ivory Coast, including Simeon Ake who was for years
foreign minister under the late President Felix Houphouet Boigny,
were wheeled out to support Essy.
Softly-spoken, with a ready, warm smile and impeccable credentials
after 13 years steering diplomacy in Ivory Coast, Essy told
reporters after his election that the wait had been rather long,
though he looked relaxed walking the corridors of the Mulungushi
International Conference Centre in Lusaka before the announcement
was made.
The Ivorian will begin the daunting task of steering Africa's
leading continental organization into uncharted waters in
September, at the end of Salim's third four year term. "We have
many things to put in place. We will have to see what will be our
priorities," he told allAfrica.com.
Essy, who lost out to Ghana's Kofi Annan for the post of
secretary-general of the United Nations, first challenged Salim for
the leadership of the OAU in 1997, but pulled out before the summit
that year. He said he preferred not to divide Africa on the issue.
On Tuesday, Annan welcomed Essy's appointment saying he was
"particularly well-qualified to lead the organization during this
challenging period," adding, "he brings to the OAU his extensive
regional and international diplomatic experience. He facilitated
the peaceful resolution of many conflicts in Africa. These skills
will be critical in his new assignment at the OAU."
Essy was Annan's special envoy to the Central African Republic in
2000. The UN secretary-general described him as a consensus
builder, offering effective leadership.
As foreign minister of Cote d'Ivoire, first under Houphouet Boigny
and then under his successor, Henri Konan Bedie, Essy dealt first
hand with the wars in Liberia and Sierra Leone. He shuttled between
West African capitals trying to help bring peace to a region
increasingly in turmoil.
In a recent interview, he said: "In Africa, nobody can succeed
alone without others. There will be no economic recovery if we
don't resolve our security problems."
The Ivorian diplomat survived the fall of Bedie in a coup d'etat on
24 December 1999. He was abroad at the time, but returned to Ivory
Coast and emerged untainted by the scandals that came in the wake
of Bedie's departure.
Essy spent much of his diplomatic life at the United Nations in New
York, where he served in several capacities as ambassador and was
notably the president of the 49th session of the UN General
Assembly. He was also a diplomatic envoy to other countries and
international institutions.
But he began life in less illustrious circumstances. "At age 7, I
sold the bread my mother baked. Then I did the minimum number of
years at school, but my teacher encouraged me to continue and not
to stop and get a job."
Essy's studies took him far afield, via a ship from Vientiane, the
Laotian capital, and Tierra del Fuego (at the tip of Chile) and
onto further studies and to his first diplomatic post in Brazil,
where he fell in love with the music and the salsa beat.
Amara Essy is a practising Muslim, from the central city of Bouake
in Cote d'Ivoire. He is married to Lucie, a Christian, and they
have six children.
He bears a striking likeness to the Brazilian footballing legend,
Pele and was once mistaken for the soccer star after he kicked off
his diplomatic career in Brazil in 1971. "One time, I walked into
a reception and the whole room got up and started to cheer. I then
understood they had taken me for Pele."
He will need all Pele's fancy footwork, as well as his own
consummate diplomatic skills, to navigate the months ahead
This material is being reposted for wider distribution by
Africa Action (incorporating the Africa Policy Information
Center, The Africa Fund, and the American Committee on Africa).
Africa Action's information services provide accessible
information and analysis in order to promote U.S. and
international policies toward Africa that advance economic,
political and social justice and the full spectrum of human rights.
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