OAU chief urges more action to stamp out conflict

Africa has to act more decisively in stamping out the wars that blight the continent, the head of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) said on Tuesday.

In a speech to mark the OAU's 39th anniversary, Secretary-General Amara Essy said it was imperative to find lasting solutions to conflicts across the continent. He said the new African Union - due to be launched in South Africa in July to replace the OAU - would give fresh impetus to promoting peace and security in Africa.

"We have to show greater determination and political will and mobilise more resources, means and talents to take up, in a decisive manner, the challenges of conflicts faced by the continent,” he said.

“The Constitutive Act of the African Union intends also to give a new impetus aimed at promoting peace and security which are indispensable for the economic and social progress of our continent.”

Essy said the persistent wars in Africa “summon us and remind us of the imperative need to find lasting solutions to these conflicts which afflict our continent and annihilate its efforts for socio-economic recovery.”

“Together and united, within the African Union, we shall be able to face the challenges of the eradication of poverty, the struggle against illiteracy and exclusion, the endemic diseases and instability,” he added.