EC Session on Audit Report

(The Daily Monitor)—The Executive Council of Foreign Ministers of the African Union (AU) met on Tuesday in Rusher, Tanzania, to make appropriate recommendations regarding the political and economic integration of the continent.

The meeting considered the Report on the Audit of the AU and the comments of the commission as well as those of other organs of the Union, according to an AU diplomat following the meeting.

Ethiopian Foreign Minister Seyoum Mesfin attended the extraordinary meeting which is expected to make recommendations to Heads of State and Government regarding the outcome of the meeting. This extraordinary session follows the AU Summit held here in February 2008 that considered and took note of the Report of the Executive Council on the Audit of the AU and the Report of the Ministerial Committee on the African Union Government. Heads of State and Government of the AU then mandated Foreign Ministers to meet within three months to consider this matter with a view to prepare for a Summit of the Committee of Twelve Heads of State and Government, scheduled to take place on 22-23 May 2008 in Tanzania.

"The Commission of the African Union agrees with the bulk of the Panel’s recommendations and would wish to see them implemented as soon as possible," newly elected AU Commission Chairperson Jin Ping said in his address at the extraordinary meeting.

"In other areas, we have reservations based on experience and our own contact with the facts on the ground," he added.

Minister Seyoum Mesfin is scheduled to return to South Africa on Thursday, Foreign Affaires Ministry Spokesman Wehade Belay told The Daily Monitor by phone on Wednesday.

For the full text of Chaiperson Ping’s speech:06-07_may_2008_11_extraordinary_session_in_arusha.doc

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