The
Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union (AU) meeting at
their 30th Ordinary Session at the AU Headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia,
elected on 28th January 2018 a new bureau to pilot the activities of the Union
for the year 2018.
In
his acceptance speech delivered in the backdrop of the theme of the year 2018:
“Winning the Fight against Corruption: A Sustainable Path to Africa’s
Transformation”, President Paul Kagame said it is a solemn honour, to accept
the call to serve as Chairperson of our Union. He expressed his gratitude to
the Heads of State for their double trust. First as the leader of the reform
process and now as the leader of the African Union
“I
promise to do this with you and do the best job I can. Obviously, I will need
your full support” he said, before acknowledging the high experience of his
predecessor, saying “President Alpha Condé is a professor, a teacher, and I can
safely say that I have learned from him. I have also seen his very big heart
for Africa. Congratulations Mr President”. He called on his peers to join him
in paying tribute to President Conde’s impeccable service to our organization.
“I have been lucky to work with his predecessor President Idriss Deby, and even
luckier, to work with both of them. I want to assure you that I had a lot of
wisdom flowing from them”, said Kagame.
President
Kagame further said the programmes, policies, and priorities of the African
Union contain the right tools for the job. “I wish to pay tribute to previous
leaders of the African Union, and to former Heads of State, for paving the way
forward”. He added that, there is tremendous value in the African Union’s
flagship initiatives, such as Agenda 2063.
H.E.
Professor Alpha Condé, outgoing Chairperson of the African Union (AU), and
President of the Republic of Guinea during his chairmanship in 2017 appointed
H.E. Nana Akufo Addo, President of the Republic of Ghana, as Champion on Gender
and Development in Africa. Promoting women to high-level positions, the
Republic of Guinea under the leadership of H.E. Pr. Alpha Condé, for the first
time since its independence welcomed the largest number women in his government
to high office, including the Ministry of Economy and Finance; several National
Directorates or Autonomous Services.
While
the Summit this year’s concentrating on tackling corruption, the presentation
outlined how the AU among many other global players is coming to recognize and
seek to harness the powerful contributions of faith and faith actors in order
to reach their goals.
H.E.
Mr. Moussa Faki Mahamat, Chairperson of the African Union Commission, in his
address boldly stated that to date, the African Union is the first
inter-governmental organization that made parity a reality at higher
decision-making levels. Applauding the
placement of women in management positions in the Commission, he accounted that
between 2013 and 2017 the gender gap reduced in strategic positions and the
increase from 29% of women to 45% currently on Director’s positions; cognizant
of the fact that yet more needs to be done.
President
Buhari congratulated the African Union for dedicating the theme of the year to
the noble cause of fighting corruption on our Continent. He thanked the African
Heads of State for entrusting him with the responsibility of serving as the
Champion of the theme of the year. He
pledged that he will do his very best to ensure that the anti-corruption agenda
will receive the attention it deserves and make the impact we all hope for,
during 2018 and beyond.
Addressing
invitees from the African Union Commission Summit, local and international
media, and global and regional development organizations, the Commissioner for
Economic Affairs of the AUC, Prof. Victor Harrison, endorsed the report, urging
African countries to adopt the recommendations for inclusive growth. “These
studies present the behaviour of African economies in the face of difficult
external conditions and announce the revival of growth with an estimated rate
of 4.1 percent in 2018. We all know that growth is not yet inclusive in Africa,
and unemployment affects more women and young people,” he told the audience.
In
another development the AU-EU-UN Task Force on the Stranded Migrants situation
in Libya on held its Second meeting of the year in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and
the Sixth since the establishment of the Task Force during the AU-EU Summit in
Abidjan in November 2017. The meeting was held under the Chairmanship of the
Special Envoy of the Chairperson, H.E. Madam Amira Elfadil, and Commissioner
for Social Affairs. It was attended by
the EU Ambassador to the AU and the IOM representative to the AU.
The
Commissioner of Social Affairs applauded the efforts of the Libyan authorities
in facilitating the voluntary evacuations, particularly in expediting the
issuance of landing rights permits and facilitating AU and other stakeholders’
missions to Libya.
The
outgoing Chairperson of the AU for 2017, H.E. Prof. Alpha Conde, President of
Guinea, appointed H.E. Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, President of Ghana, as the
African Union’s Champion for Gender and Development Issues. As part of his
vision for this important role, the President of Ghana launched the Gender and
Development Initiative for Africa (GADIA).GADIA is an unprecedented flagship
programme and implementation framework for the President’s AU Gender and
Development Championship.
Newly
Elected Chairperson of the African Union, H.E. Paul Kagame, President of Rwanda
also officially launched the first phase of the Single African Air Transport
Market (SAATM) championed by twenty-three African countries at the Headquarters
of the AU, a historic and a vital milestone towards the continental effort to
start the implementation of the 1999 Yamoussoukro Decision.
Saidina
Alieu Jarjou
Addis
Ababa, Ethiopia.
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