Focus on the African Union's summit

African leaders are due to meet in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, on Tuesday for a summit of the African Union (AU), where they will discuss an ambitious road map in an effort to herald a new era, end years of conflict, fight poverty and combat the scourge of HIV/AIDS on the continent. During the summit, AU Chairman Alpha Oumar Konare will unveil a three-pronged plan - a vision, a mission and a strategy – for the world’s poorest continent. But the burning question facing the leaders is how to finance their grandiose schemes. Konare estimates that to launch Africa into the 21st century and make it more competitive would cost at last US $600 million. He is therefore proposing that the AU’s 53 members pledge 0.5 percent of their national budgets to the pan-African organisation. But for a body whose current annual budget is around $45 million - a tiny sum approximating members’ arrears – there is little chance that Konare’s targets will be met. Yet the AU is adamant that the continent must be seen picking up the bill for its own problems before turning to rich nations and expecting greater support. And, it stresses, without that pledge, key institutions or strategies for building a new Africa and revitalising the world’s poorest continent may face the axe. "We want to create an integrated, peaceful, prosperous Africa," Adam Thiam, Konare’s spokesman, told IRIN, saying these were part of six objectives and 25 AU-led priority programmes focusing on greater social, political and economic integration. Konare, he added, acknowledged that a round of bargaining over funding would take place, and that he might not get the 0.5 percent he wants. "He is realistic," Thiam said. "We realise we probably won’t get that. For us, $300 million would be a good compromise. The heads of state know if they don’t put up the money, we cannot reach our aims, but they are not saying they will not put the money up; they are just impressed at the amount, and that is what we must look at." Proposed institutions include a $200 million peace fund with its own standing army, a $30 million pan-African parliament, and a $3 million court of justice. Some $600 million is to be ploughed over three years into the much-heralded continent-wide anti-poverty blueprint – the New Partnership for Africa’s Development. A plan to double the number of staff at AU headquarters in Addis Ababa would also raise running costs to the region of $130 million a year, the AU said. Konare will make his appeal to an audience of 35 heads of state who are expected to attend, as well as UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and other top officials. By its sheer size – some 30 million sq km – and a population of 813 million people, the AU holds lofty ambitions in believing that the continent could become a global powerhouse. But the continent’s gross domestic product of $612,916 million is overshadowed by its combined debt - a colossal $305 billion. Bankrupt countries also face a heavy burden created by the HIV/AIDS pandemic, and wars have created millions of refugees. Another complaint already emerging is that African countries are already contributing to the UN, so paying into a second peace fund is a double tax. Other larger countries, like South Africa, Nigeria, Libya, Algeria and Egypt, which already foot most of the AU bill, are seeking a more dominant voice. One Nigerian diplomat told IRIN that between $100 and $150 million would be a more realistic figure that countries could agree to. "Even this would mean tripling contributions," the diplomat said. He noted, however, that constitutional laws would preclude any of the expected 27 heads of state from making the 0.5 percent pledge without first putting it before their own parliaments. At the heart of the AU's plans is the Peace and Security Council, to which African countries currently contribute a meagre $1.6 million a year. The AU estimates that since the 1960s, Africa has witnessed some 30 conflicts, claiming seven million lives and costing $250 billion. By 2010, the AU hopes to have its own stand-by rapid-reaction force of 15,000 men, made up of five regional brigades, to quell conflicts in Africa. "Funding so far is totally inadequate," Sam Ibok, a top AU official, said. "You have to put your money where your mouth is," he told IRIN. "The only way we can sound credible to the rest of the world is by putting something on the table. This really is a make-or-break summit for us. If you establish these institutions, then you have got to pay for it," he added. The AU was established in July 2001 to replace the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was founded as part of the African independence movement in 1963. The OAU has been criticised as having been a toothless talking shop with a policy of nonintervention, in the context of which African nations did little or nothing to prevent massive abuses. Ibok, a career diplomat, insists that the new-look AU will be taking a stronger stand. He says peacekeeping troops have been deployed to Burundi, where more than 300,000 people have been killed in the last decade, and ceasefire monitors sent to the western Sudanese region of Darfur. Conflicts and peace initiatives in Cote d’Ivoire, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Somalia, Ethiopia and Eritrea would also be on the agenda, he added. The irony of holding the summit in Ethiopia, currently embroiled in a standoff and stalled peace process with neighbouring Eritrea, was not lost on him. "Ethiopia and Eritrea is in our back yard," he said. "This is our headquarters. If we cannot resolve the problem here, which problem can we resolve? What does that tell you about our peace and security mechanisms when we have one of the most serious, and potentially most dangerous, crises in our back yard? It is embarrassing for us because we cannot afford to be quiet," he added.