African Union Summit: 25 Jan - 2 Feb 2010

(Policy Brief)--

A- Introduction

The 14th ordinary summit of the African Union (AU) will be held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The official theme of the summit is: ‘Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in Africa: Challenges and Prospects for Development’. The summit will have a general debate on the topic and will adopt a declaration.Hamadoun Toure, Secretary General of the International Telecommunication Union and Robert Zoellick, President of the World Bank are expected to address the summit.

Even though the official theme of the upcoming AU summit is on the ICTs, other issues such as peace, security and related matters (international justice, governance, human rights) will likely dominate the discussions. Therefore, along side the official theme of the summit the heads of States will be then launching the Year for Peace and Security in Africa. In fact in August 2009, in Tripoli, Libya, the heads of State and government of the AU, declared the year 2010 to be the Year of Peace and Security on the continent. The said declaration expressly called on the African civil society to continue to play its role in promoting peace, security and stability as partners of governments and the AU.

The dates and venues of the meetings of the summit are as follow:

- Ordinary session of the Permanent Representatives Committee (ambassadors): 25-26 January 2010: African Union Commission Headquarter

- Ordinary session of the Executive Council (Ministers of Foreign Affairs): 28 – 29 January 2010: African Union Commission Headquarter

- Ordinary session of the Assembly of heads of State and government: 31 January – 2nd February 2010: UNECA

B- Key issues on the summit’s agenda beside the official theme:

1- Peace and security: Launch of the Year for Peace and Security in Africa.

In August 2009, the heads of State and government of the AU, meeting in Tripoli, Libya, declared the year 2010 to be the Year of Peace and Security on the continent. In this respect, the Chairperson of the Commission submit a programme, which would identify concrete steps that could be taken to promote peace, security and stability on the continent, and to submit it to the next ordinary session of the assembly of the Union. Beside the official theme of the summit the heads of States will be then launching the Year for Peace and Security in Africa - 2010. This is likely to open space for discussions on the ongoing conflicts in Africa but also on the various other related issues. While peace, security and stability on the continent cannot be achieved within a period of one year the aim is to create a momentum, so that by the end of the year 2010, concrete results would have materialised, in particular, creating a more enabling political and social environments. It is expected that from 2010 onward, peace efforts will be boosted, and will generate more effective results on the ground and make peace on the entire continent a reality in the near future.

Sudan

While some actors were thinking that the war in Sudan is over, recent reports including that of the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, said that fighting between the Sudanese army and rebels continues, civilians remained at risk, and peacekeepers were routinely harassed by government forces. Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) rebels are moving forces into Darfur from Chad - new forces with new equipment and, the government was preparing to counter any rebel threat. A just released report of The Enough Project’s warned that there was a risk of a new civil war and warned that nationwide elections next year and the 2011 referendum on whether the oil-rich and semi-autonomous south should secede from the Khartoum-led north would not be free and fair.

Somalia

Current ongoing fight pushes hundreds of Somali refugees to flee to Kenya. The over 5,000 AU peacekeepers, made up contingents from Uganda and Burundi in the country could not stop the continued attacks by insurgents. Somalia’s al-Shabaab insurgents haverecently captured a key town close to the border with Kenya.

Peace and security council membership:

All 15 memberships of the peace and security council will be renewed and there will be a presidential debate on the state of peace and security in the continent followed by an omnibus decision on the issue.

2- Unconstitutional change of government

The summit will be considering the issue of unconstitutional change of government following a report to be presented by the AU Commission. In addition, the peace and security council of the AU recently discussed sanctions to the unconstitutional change of government. It should be recalled that reinforcing the sanctions on the matter has been one of the key recommendation of the last Citizens’ Continental Conference organised by the Centre for Citizens;’ participation in the African Union (CCP-AU)[1]

3- Justice and accountability

In relation with the upcoming review conference of the Rome Treaty on the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the recent indictment of President Omar Bashir (Sudan), the summit will be considering a report of the ministerial meeting on Rome Treaty for the ICC and discuss the possibility of giving a criminal jurisdiction to the African Court of Human Rights and Justice. In addition, progress on the Hissen Habre case will also be discussed.

4 – Climate change: post Copenhagen discussion

The summit will consider a report of the Commission on the climate change negotiations held in Copenhagen – December 2009. The January summit will be an adequate space for African citizens to look at the post-Copenhagen perspectives. Recent research demonstrated serious impact of global climate change on armed conflict in Africa. Results suggest an urgent need to reform African governments and foreign aid donors’ policies to deal with rising temperatures.

Last year, the AU has decided to create a special unit within the AU Commission to deal with climate change and desertification control.

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