Leaders stop short of abolishing borders

African heads adopted 26 draft political, economic and financial decisions forwarded to them by their foreign ministers at this week’s Organisation of African Unity (OAU) Summit in Lome, Togo, but the main attraction was an initiative aimed, among other things, at forging Africa’s unity and enhancing its position in today’s globalised world. Of the 33 heads of state and government who attended the 10-12 July summit, 27 signed the draft African Union Treaty at Wednesday’s closing ceremony. “Some heads of state asked for a little more time to think,” the OAU’s deputy secretary-general, Said Djinnit, said. “But one thing is certain and that is that they will sign the constitutive treaty.” The idea of an African union is not new. As the African continent began to shrug off colonial rule in the late 1950s, leaders such as late Ghanaian President Kwame Nkrumah were strong promoters of a united Africa but the reticence of the bulk of Africa’s heads of government helped to prevent its establishment. Four decades on, Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi revived it, organising a conference in Syrte, Libya, in June 1999 at which a draft union document was worked out. “Today is a big day for Africa,” he said at the Lome Summit. The states as they now stand are just illusions, he added, because their borders are artificial. The real state, he pointed out, is Africa. However, the proposal adopted in Lome does not abolish the “artificial” borders: its guiding principles include the equality, sovereignty and independence of all member states of the proposed union - which needs ratification by two-thirds of the OAU member states to become a reality - as well as non-interference in member countries’ internal affairs. The aims of the African Union include unity and solidarity between Africa’s countries and people, achieving the continent’s political and socio-economic integration as soon as possible, promoting peace and stability in Africa, and promoting as well as supporting scientific and technological research aimed at development. Creating conditions that would enable Africa to play its role in the world economy and in international negotiations is also among the objectives of the proposed union. The new body would be headed by a conference of heads of state and government - or their representatives. The decisions of this supreme organ, which are to be adopted by two-thirds majority, would be carried out by an executive council supported by specialised technical committees. The union would also have a pan-African parliament and a court of law. Its financial organs would include a central bank, a monetary fund and an investment bank. The African leaders are scheduled to meet again in Sirte before next year’s OAU summit in Zambia to ratify the union treaty. Other issues At this year’s summit, the leaders hailed the restoration of constitutional rule in Niger and Guinea-Bissau where military regimes were replaced by elected ones. West African leaders, the executive secretary of the Economic Commission of West African States (ECOWAS) and UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan held a mini-summit on Sierra Leone at which they called on the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels to release UN peacekeepers and military observers blocked in the east of that country. An investigation into the resumption of hostilities in Sierra Leone and another on the trafficking of illegal diamonds from that country are among the proposed intitiatives approved this week in Lome. The summit also decided to impose a maritime blockade on separatists in Anjouan, one of the Comoro Islands, and to urge the international community to support the measure. Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika was asked to continue his efforts to resolve the conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea. Angola’s government received support for its efforts to restore peace, security and stability, while the National Union for the Total Liberation of Angola (UNITA) was condemned for attacking, massacring, mutilating and displacing civilians in Angola and neighbouring countries, as well as abducting and killing humanitarian workers. All member states were urged to step up a campaign to isolate UNITA and its leader Jonas Savimbi and the international community was asked to provide humanitarian aid to survivors of the conflict. The war in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) was discussed even though the absence of some of its main protagonists - the governments of the DRC, Angola and Namibia - prevented the holding of a mini-summit on the subregional conflict. The heads reaffirmed their support for the Lusaka peace accords and called on the DRC authorities to cooperate with OAU and UN missions and facilitators. Other resolutions dealt with issues such as HIV/AIDS and the continent’s crippling foreign debt. The heads pledged their commitment to a mobilisation campaign against HIV/AIDS, and while they welcomed debt relief measures, they deemed them insufficient to break the vicious cycle of indebtedness which would allow Africa to set out on the path of strong, sustainable growth.