DURBAN,
South Africa, July 10 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - African
heads of state closed Wednesday, July 10, the inaugural summit of the
African Union (A.U.) in Durban, South Africa, after signing protocols
to set up key institutions, including a peacekeeping body.
“The
expectations among our people ... are very high,” declared South
African President Thabo Mbeki, the first chairman of the African Union
(A.U.), which has replaced the 39-year-old Organization of African
Unity.
“We
shall have to make sure that the decisions we have made here will be
implemented.”
Mbeki
added that “it might be difficult for us to fully comprehend the
significance of this moment.”
“I
think we have inaugurated the African Union with the necessary
enthusiasm, with the necessary vigor and with the necessary level of
commitment among ourselves to ensure that this new baby grows and
becomes a strong person,” he said.
“The
time has come to end the marginalization of Africa. We must work for
peace, security and stability,” he told a crowd of 25,000 Tuesday,
July 9, at a rugby stadium in the east coast city of Durban for the
launch, Agence France-Presse (AFP) said.
“We
must end the senseless wars and conflicts that have caused so much
pain and sufffering,” he said, singling out Africa’s 20 conflicts
as one of the new pan-African body’s top priorities.
Mbeki,
who will chair the African Union for its first year, also urged that
the new body promote democracy and good governance.
“Through
our actions, let us proclaim to the world that this is continent of
democracy.”
After
his opening remarks, it was the turn of the presidents of Kenya, Gabon
and Togo, who have all ruled for some 20 years, to welcome the new
union, before a 21-gun salute went up, Zulu warriors in animal skins
danced, and a plane flyover streaked orange fumes through the sky, AFP
reported.
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Gadhafi,
stands with former South African President Nelson Mandela at
the launch of the African Union
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The
A.U. will have as one of its first programmers the implementation of
the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), an ambitious
economic recovery plan which calls for more aid and trade from the
west in return for democracy and stable governance.
The
A.U. is the brainchild of Libyan President Moamer Kadhafi, who
proposed a new union to counter the might of the United States and the
European Union.
“Africa
is free. It has no more slavery, no more racism and no more
colonialism. Africa for the Africans! We are free! We are the masters
of our continent, the masters of our soil! Everywhere! Africa’s land
for Africans,” Kadhafi said.
The
A.U.’s four main organs, the commission, the assembly (the annual
summit), the executive council (foreign ministers) and the permanent
representatives (ambassadors), which all existed under the OAU though
under different names, were formed on Tuesday, July 9, and 13 others
will follow in the coming months.
Among
those are a Peace and Security Council, which will have the power to
intervene in wars involving crimes against humanity, a parliament,
common court of justice and central bank.
The
union groups 53 African countries - all those in Africa except for
Morocco - and it is hoped it will exert greater influence on its
members than the OAU, which stuck doggedly to its principles of
non-interference, rendering it helpless to end conflicts and political
crises.
A
Congolese politician who attended the launch, mused however that it
was a necessary step to mark the end of the immediate post-colonial
era and usher in a new one, with new problems and new leaders.
“It
is a vehicle for a new generation of African leaders, like Mbeki. It
marks the end of the time when leaders from the former French colonies
controlled Africa.”.
