African heads of state and governmentcurrently meeting at the African Union summit in Ethiopia's capital, AddisAbaba today will discuss ways to strengthen its AU commissions across thecontinent. The move, which would be a compromise solution, aims to overcomewhat the African Union describes as the problems of sovereignty that weaken itseffectiveness. A participant in the discussion, Professor Okey Onyejekwe, tellsreporter Peter Clottey that if adopted the African Union would be practicableand would take effect in the near future.
"Today,the compromise proposal, which would basically accommodate the so-calledgradualists who do not think that Africa is now ready to transition into a oneunion government and those who believe that it could be done immediately with adeclaration, will now debate the authentic proposal which was vigorouslyoffered by President Meles Zenawi and the other members such us PresidentYoweri Museveni to now make it an authority which would not basically take awaythe sovereign rights of nations, but would be a new body that would be able tointervene or act more decisively than previously was the case. And the chancesare quite good that this would be adopted," Professor Onyejekwe pointed out.
ProfessorOnyejekwe said there seems to be an agreement over the need to strengthen theAU's commission to make it more effective on the continent.
"Infact, those who are offering this counter proposal, short of the Uniongovernment, are offering now to transition the AU commission into anauthority. They are basically sayingthat the institution would be transformed and capacitated and even reinforcedby setting up specialized departments now headed by secretaries to deal withissues of defense, issues of foreign policy the issue of international trade.And that would strengthen the capacity of this new authority. And that would strengthenthe AU to deal decisively with these issues more effectively," ProfessorOnyejekwe noted.
Hesaid there are also discussions about an African Union standby force to ensurepeace and stability on the continent.
"Ithink one of the proposals mooted is just that and that would emerge in today'sdeliberations. There are also talks about ways to support the African standbyforce and of course, there are brigades that have been created. But they arenot capacitated in terms of being effective to address and meet this emergingcrisis," he said.
Today'sdiscussion follows yesterday's rejection by participating countries of anall-embracing proposal for union government, a body that would stretch allacross Africa and be modeled loosely after the United States of America and theEuropean Union.The AU opened its 12th summit in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa in specialsession, in a heated debate over an African Union government, designed to seekthe integration of the African continent. But due to complexities, the partiesturned down the proposal put forward by Libyan head of State Muammar Gaddafi.
On a more specific issue, Professor Onyejekwe said the African Union has sent a forcefulmessage to Madagascar rejecting a recent pretext by the opposition mayor ofAntananarivo, AndryRajoelina, for takingover the administration of President Marc Ravalomanana. Rajoelina has accused Ravalomanana ofrunning a dictatorship.
"TheAU chairman Jean Ping had already issued a statement in which he sent a signalto the mayor of Antananarivo that any attempt to take over power from theconstitutionally elected president would not be accepted by the AU. And I thinkthis is the general sentiment. And it is in keeping with the developmentrecently such as what happened in Guinea, Conakry and previous pronouncementsthat non constitutional means of acceding to power will not be accepted," hesaid.
Today's openingceremony will feature speeches by AU Chairman Ping and UN Secretary General BanKi-moon, as well as the Secretary General of the League of Arab States AmrMoussa and several African heads of state and government. Summit delegates areexpected to discuss building Africa's infrastructure during the closing twodays of the three-day meeting, with an emphasis on improving African transport,energy and investment sectors.