Addis Ababa — AU success depends on good governance and democracy, Symposium Participants say
In a 51-paragraph Consensus Statement adopted yesterday in Addis Ababa at the end of a symposium on regional integration in Africa, participants said the success of a strong African Union would depend on good governance, stakeholder participation, respect for human rights and democratization at all levels.
The symposium was the first event in a week-long series of discussions devoted to identifying the priorities for regional integration, the theme of this year's African Development Forum which opened today in the Ethiopian capital.
The participants who represented African governments, the private sector and civil society organizations also called for the coordination of the activities of the African Union (AU), the New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD) and regional economic communities in pursuit of peace and security in Africa.
They urged African governments to define their national security interests within the framework of the AU and to maintain armed forces consistent with these interests. "Special efforts should be made to restrict the illegal flow of small arms, demobilize child soldiers and prevent the use of anti-personnel landmines in accordance with the Ottawa Convention," the participants said.
The breakdown of peace and security in Africa is in part a result of the erosion of the African ethical values and philosophies, according to the Consensus Statement. Therefore, participants called for the rehabilitation and revitalization of those values and their inclusion in the education curricula in schools. They also called for special measures to assist countries emerging from conflicts. "The transitions from war to peace and from relief to development require sensitive handling and a coordinated approach combining both imaginative and generous economic initiatives with political support to the establishment of democratic reconciliation," they said in the Consensus Statement.
On the issue of broadening engagement with civil society, participants urged African governments to undertake a publicity campaign to popularize AU amongst all stakeholders and to pay special attention to the gender representation in the process of consultation and in the Union itself. "The Pan African Parliament should meet the Beijing commitment of 30 per cent representation of women and other AU institutions should endeavor to replicate this," they said.
Participants noted that past efforts at integration had failed because of the unwillingness of states to sacrifice sovereignty, poor implementation of treaty commitments, lack of knowledge of national integration initiatives and the failure to mobilize the support of key players, including civil society organizations. Therefore, participants called on African leaders "to distill experiences of integration in Africa and worldwide and share them in a systematic way."
They urged appropriate actions at "powerful factors" such as weak industrial base, dependence on raw materials, low level of intra-African trade, similarity of economic structures and unequal partnership, which, they said, stood in the way of integration.
The symposium acknowledged that NEPAD and the AU were political realities, but that there was a need to clarify the objectives and the strengths of NEPAD in support of AU. "We need to utilize NEPAD to achieve breakthroughs in critical areas of African economic integration such as infrastructural development, human resource and HIV/AIDS," the participants said.
The Consensus Statement is expected to be made available in many African languages to familiarize it with the civil society and appended to the Consensus Reports of ADF III.
