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African Union marks 50 years
(AP) – African nations this week mark the 50th year since the founding of a continent-wide organization that spearheaded efforts to liberate Africa from colonialism. Now leaders want to map out the next 50 years of political and economic integration.
Its primary mandate was to liberate Africa from the shackles of colonialism and apartheid. The weeklong 50-year celebrations culminate Saturday in the Ethiopian capital where African leaders will be joined by foreign dignitaries including United States Secretary of State John Kerry. African leaders will also consider Agenda 2063, a blueprint they say will bring socio-economic and political transformation to the continent.
Kerry, who recently expressed concerns over China’s growing influence in Africa, is expected to be joined by Chinese President Xi Jinping’s special representative, Vice Premier Wang Yang, at the celebrations.
The 53-member African Union, which replaced the Organization of African Unity in 2002, has been quite successful as a force for stability on the continent.
One key achievement of the Organization of African Unity – now the African Union “has been to set standards and norms that we are now using at the continental level,” said Erastus Mwencha, deputy chair of the AU. “We are now talking of having norms such as a protocol on governance, on elections and so forth.”
As the African Union strives to make peaceful transfers of power across Africa the norm, it often sanctions coup leaders and suspends membership of states.
The African Union is also a long way from its founders’ dream of a united Africa. The continent sees a huge disparity in the economic and political conditions of its nations.
South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Botswana, Senegal, Tanzania, Mozambique, Rwanda and Uganda are emerging economic powers, while citizens in countries like Somalia, Sudan, D.R. Congo and Chad still suffer from warfare and poverty.
Africa now hosts nine of the world’s 15 fastest growing economies, Rwanda President Paul Kagame wrote last weekend in The Wall Street Journal, and the AU head says the continent’s future is brighter than its past.
“If you look at the last 10 years, Africa has been growing economically,” said AU chair Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma. “There has been quite a lot of development even in terms of infrastructure, not enough yet, but countries have been working hard.”
The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa says Africa’s medium-term growth prospects remain strong, at 4.8 percent in 2013 and a projected 5.1 percent in 2014.
Many African economies still depend heavily on commodity production and exports, with too little value addition and few forward and backward linkages to other sectors of the economy. The African Union is working to resolve this. Improvements are being seen in education, child and maternal mortality rates, and gender equality. As Africans leaders meet later this week, the 50-year strategic plan is expected to be high on the agenda.
Dlamini-Zuma said the decades-long quest for Africa’s political and economic integration are to be answered by the blueprint. Energizing and galvanizing the people of the continent toward an African Renaissance is the aim of the week’s celebrations, Dlamini-Zuma said over the weekend.