The 14th ordinary session of the AU assembly begins

(AU Monitor)-- The 14th ordinary session of the heads of State and government of the African Union (AU) began today in Addis Ababa, the capital city of the Federal Republic of Ethiopia with the presence of many world leaders including Ban Ki-moon, Secretary General of the United Nations (UN) and José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, President of the Spanish Government.

In his statement, the chairperson of the AU Commission, Jean Ping, expressed the sympathy of the AU Commission and the African peoples to the peoples of Haiti and thanked all the African countries that helped Haitians in this time of distress.

Outlining the performance of the Commission over the last year, Ping recalled some of the challenges that the continent is still facing such as the conflict in Somalia, Darfur and Guinea among others, but he expressed optimism during this year. ‘2010 is the year for Africa. The year for peace and security, the year of the World Cup and the African Cup of Nations, the year of elections, the year of optimism, hope and promises’, he said.

‘Haiti’s history and culture are deeply rooted in Africa’, said Ban Ki-moon while talking about the Haiti’s catastrophe in which the UN suffered the biggest loss of lives in its history. In regards to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), Ban Ki-moon announced that he would establish an advisory group on MDGs whose members would be African eminent personalities ‘to highlight the areas of priority for Africa’ in the September 2010 meeting on MDGs in New York.

He, however, advised African leaders that sustainable development cannot be reached without peace and justice ‘peace cannot be sustained without justice…and peace leads to sustainable development’, he added.

José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, who was the guest of honour, said that Spain is a new player in the African cooperation, but that his country was committed to working with Africa as a partner. ‘The European Union and Spain know that the AU is a partner’, he said. Spain, which holds the rotating European Union presidency, has grew its multilateral and bilateral cooperation with Africa from $ 225 million in the last five years to 2.2 billion this year.

To the surprise of many delegates, the Libyan leader, Brother Muammar El Gaddafi, invited ‘the representative of African traditional leaders and African kings, queens and sultans’ to explain their role in continental integration and peace building. Indeed, the Libyan leader entered the summit hall with a huge entourage of traditional leaders from all over Africa, which attracted the attention of everyone who was present.

The heads of State and government summit is scheduled to last for three days and will discuss, among other things, about the 2010 budget of the AU Commission and the theme of the summit: ‘Information and Communication Technologies in Africa: Challenges and Prospects for Development’.

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