African parliament to be launched on 18 March

The African Parliament, a consultative body comprising deputies from the legislative assemblies of the member countries of the African Union, will meet for the first time on 18 March, Alpha Oumar Konare, the chairman of the African Union said on Monday. The parliament was originally due to hold its first meeting in December in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, but Konare told reporters on arrival in Senegal that it would "see the light of day on 18 March." For the first five years of its existence, the parliament will have purely consultative role. It is then due to assume legislative powers. The African Union was established as a successor to the Organisation of African Unity at a summit of African heads of state in Durban, South Africa, in 2002. It aspires to be an organisation that will bring closer political and economic integration between all countries of the continent. Konare said another organ of the African Union, its Council of Peace and Security, would be created "by May at the latest." Konare, a former president of Mali, was visiting Senegal to discuss preparations for an African debt conference and the creation of a council of elder statesmen to debate the future of the African Union.