Prof Wangari Maathai to head new AU body

Kenyan Nobel prizewinner, Professor Wangari Maathai, is to head a new body aimed at bringing "people power" to Africans, the African Union (AU) announced on Tuesday. Speaking at the launch of the Economic, Social and Cultural Council (ECOSOCC) at the AU headquarters in Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, the AU commission chairman, Alpha Oumar Konare, said it represented an historic opportunity for African civil society. Maathai was elected president of ECOSOCC by its civil-society organisation members. The body aims to bridge the gap between African governments and institutions, and the 830 million people on the continent, by giving them a proper voice in decision-making. "This African Union is a union of African peoples," Konare asserted. "We can never build a real, genuine democracy - if we isolate ourselves from the real participation of the ordinary citizens." Along with the Pan-African Parliament and the Court of Justice, ECOSOCC is one of the new structures intended to make the 53-nation AU more transparent and accountable. "The task[s] awaiting us are Herculean," Konare warned, but stated that "neither AIDS, famine [nor] conflicts will constitute a fatality to the continent. We are convinced our continent has all the resources in order to emerge from this quagmire." "We constitute the second lung of the world," the commission chairman declared. "There will be no future without us. No citadel of wealth will exist if we are left in poverty, in hunger, in disease. "We have huge water resources, even if today water is badly and poorly managed. We have an abundance of agricultural and mineral resources." Konare added that in 20 years, one in four of the world’s population would be African – an estimated 1.9 billion people. Pointing to Africa’s 30 million sq km landmass, he said it was three times the size of China, more than three times the size of the US and six times bigger than Europe. "In 50 years’ time, we shall be the second demographic power of the world - more than Europe, more than North America, more than all of Latin America put together," he said. "When we talk of markets, we shall be the new market. But it is more than a market. The new field in 50 years’ time will be Africa."