March 8, 2002
A Consensus Statement issued at the Third African Development Forum (ADF III), which ended today, lays out a tough agenda for the continent's policymakers to follow if they are to realize the dream of African unity. The document articulates agreements reached by more than 1,000 participants after five days of deliberations, details the challenges Africa faces in its bid to integrate, and proposes a number of concrete steps that need to be taken to accelerate integration and make it more effective as an engine for Africa's development.
The Consensus will be transmitted to African Foreign Ministers meeting here Monday under the auspices of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) and thereafter to the Summit of Heads of State in Pretoria, South Africa in July that will usher in the African Union.
Among highlights of the Consensus:
* Civil society participation in the African Union should be a priority and annual meetings of civil society should be convened prior to the AU summit
* Africa must take rapid, sequenced, realistic and irreversible steps towards accelerated integration
* Countries will have to cede some sovereignty in economic policy making for collective interest
* The AU should commission an ECA report and recommendations on how to rationalize the proliferation of Regional Economic Communities (RECs)
* Countries need to put in place mechanisms to implement the Abuja commitments on HIV/AIDS
* Regional negotiation capacity needs to be strengthened to enable Africa to effectively participate in the global trading system
* The African Union should seek to accelerate the resolution of conflicts and to facilitate the establishment of capable governments that can ensure peace and security in conflict-stricken countries
* All human rights instruments adopted by the OAU and ratified by member states should be incorporated in the Constitutive Act of the African Union as integral parts of the AU.
* Africa needs to strengthen the basic principle of the Constitutive Act of the African Union, namely the suspension of governments that come to power through unconstitutional means from participation in the activities of the Union.
* The sequencing of the establishment of institutions of the AU requires careful attention
* The AU should investigate new mechanisms for financing to avoid complete dependence on the dues of Member States
If the New Economic Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) is to succeed, it is urged to establish a forum for engagement with Africa's elected representatives through the mechanism of the African Parliamentary Union.
Speaking at a press conference held jointly with Organization of African Unity (OAU) Secretary General Amara Essy shortly after the close of the Forum, ECA Executive Secretary K.Y. Amoako said that the success of ADF III would be evaluated based on the extent to which the views of the wide range of stakeholders present in Addis Ababa would be taken into account in the building of the AU.
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