Maputo — The outgoing chairman of the African Union (AU), South Africas President Thabo Mbeki, Thursday urged AU member states urgently to ratify the African Peace and Security Council, the organ that is meant to ensure the prevention, management and resolution of armed conflict on the continent.
Meanwhile, the former president of Mali, Alpha Oumar Konare, was elected the new chairperson of the AU Commission, following the withdrawal of the candidacy of the only other applicant for the job, outgoing interim Commission chairperson, Cote dIvoires Amara Essy. Konares deputy will be Rwandan Patrick Mazimhaka, until now, a special advisor to President Paul Kagame of Rwanda,
In his final speech as AU chairman, before handing over to Mozambican President Joachim Chissano, Mbeki noted that in the 12 months since the launch of the African Union in Durban, South Africa last July, key resolutions and protocols ensuring the creation of vital continental institutions had still not been ratified.
Mbeki said it was crucial to set up the peacemaking arm of the African Union as soon as possible, because the African Peace and Security Council would become "a collective security and early-warning arrangement to facilitate timely and efficient responses to conflicts and crisis situations in Africa."
The Council, he said, would be supported by the AU Commission (secretariat), a Panel of the Wise, as well as a Standby Force that has yet to be created. "One of the things that we have to decide is that we really need to make sure that the Peace and Security Council is operational before the end of this year. I think those of us who are delaying the establishment of the Council should help so that we can proceed with its establishment."
About 15 out of the AUs 53 members have ratified the protocol setting up the Council, which needs a quorum of 26 for its creation.
Mbeki also wanted to see plans moving forward to set up a pan-African parliament by the year's end. He again urged those delaying its ratification to speed up and "please deal with that question so that we can move ahead."
He called for the ratification of the (draft) protocol to set up the African Court of Justice and said there was no reason why these goals should not be reached this year and asked all countries to cooperate with Chissano, and the AU Commission, to ensure results "and make sure that we do do those things. If we put our minds to it, we can solve our problems."
Plans for a peacekeeping mission to Liberia are up for discussion as well as the examination of ongoing peace initiatives in Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sierra Leone, Somalia and Sudan. Africa is currently battling to end civil wars or armed conflicts in more than half a dozen countries. At least three have exploded into frenzied fighting since the launch of the AU last year.
The leaders of a number of countries in conflict, including President Laurent Gbagbo of Cote dIvoire and beleaguered Liberian leader, Charles Taylor as well as President Joseph Kabila of the Democratic Republic of Congo, have not made it to the Mozambican capital for this second AU summit.
But dozens of other African leaders have flocked to Maputo to discuss ways to resolve the conflicts and tackle other problems threatening stability and security in Africa. They will also assess progress in the past year, since the transition from the Organisation of African Unity to the AU.
The three-day Maputo summit of heads of state and government is scheduled to end Saturday.
Also present in the Mozambican capital is the United Nations secretary general, Kofi Annan. In a speech to the assembled leaders at the opening ceremony, Annan again pledged UN support for peacekeeping efforts to end wars in Africa, but stressed that the continent itself must tackle several devastating conflicts.
"The UN and the international community can appoint envoys, urge negotiations and spend billions of dollars on peacekeeping mission, but none of this will solve conflicts, if the political will and capacity do not exist here, in Africa," said Annan.
But he praised developments to date, saying "Since the (African) Union came into being, it has been seized with efforts to resolve a number of conflicts and cases of instability across the continent."
Incoming AU chairman, Chissano, said: "Africa must become a peaceful continent, so that we can achieve economic and social development."
Mbeki welcomed Madagascar back into the fold, 12 months after President Marc Ravalomanana was excluded from the AU launch in Durban, because his accession to power was not considered to have taken place via democratic elections.
Other newcomers were the veteran Kenyan politician and now President Mwai Kibaki and the Burundian delegation.
Annan warned African leaders that, as well as conflict, they must fight harder against the increase of HIV/Aids on the continent, because war and disease were a double threat to the future of Africa. "Africas efforts are being systematically undermined - by a virus so cruel that it strikes young adults as they are poised to enter their most productive years and assume the mantle of leadership."
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He concluded that African leaders and citizens should make "the fight against Aids a priority second to none." Funds to combat Aids from African governments, the European Union and the United States had increased, he noted, but "twice as much is needed, this year, next year and every year, for the foreseeable future."
An estimated 30 million people in Africa are said to be infected with HIV. Echoing Annans concern, the director of UNAIDS, Peter Piot, said HIV/Aids was the biggest development challenge facing Africa, yet the raising of finances to battle the pandemic was sluggish.
"As African leaders, we agreed in 2001 to commit 15 percent of our national budgets to fighting Aids and Aids Watch Africa seeks to expand best practice in dealing with pandemic. But African has scarce resources," for awareness and prevention programmes, lamented the Nigerian leader, President Olusegun Obasanjo.
Obasanjo, who leaves Maputo on Friday morning to head back to Nigeria to host visiting U.S. President George W. Bush, is the current chair of Aids Watch Africa - a group made up of African leaders working on a continental strategy to fight Aids.
