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African Union Monitor
Need for a stronger UN mandate in the DR Congo
AU Monitor Weekly Roundup: Issue 158, 2008
2008-11-13, Issue 406
http://pambazuka.org/en/category/aumonitor/51927
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Heads of State and government of the Great Lakes peace conference met in Nairobi, Kenya in a summit organised by the UN Secretary-General and the African Union (AU) to deal with the crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and called for an immediate cessation of hostilities. The region recommended a stronger mandate for the UN troops present in the country and resolved to send a team of senior diplomats. Leaders from the 15-nation Southern African Development Community (SADC) also held an extraordinary summit in South Africa to discuss the crisis in the DRC as well as the stalemate in the power-sharing deal between President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai stalled over the allocation of key cabinet ministries. However, the summit failed to come up with a solution other than the creation of two home affairs ministries to break the deadlock, a proposition that the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) strongly rejects. Negotiations between the two parties are also meant to resolve the issue of appointments of other key official positions and the amendment of the constitution to facilitate the agreement. In a SADC communiqué, the extraordinary summit decided that the ministry of home affairs be co-managed between the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front and the MDC and resolved to endorse the statement of the heads of State of the Great Lakes region summit on the situation in the DRC. Meanwhile, the spokesperson for the AU peacekeeping mission in Somalia, mentioning that his mission learnt of attempts to undermine the Somali peace agreement, urged all Somali people to support the on-going efforts to implement the Djibouti peace accord.
At the end of the first session of the conference of ministers in charge of social development, convened by the social affairs department of the AU Commission and under the theme ‘Towards a sustainable social development agenda for Africa’, ministers adopted the social policy framework, to guide member states on the development and implementation of appropriate national strategies and programs aimed at enhancing social protection and security for all. During the official closing of the tenth session of the Pan African Parliament (PAP), Honourable Gertrude Mongella, the President of PAP, warned African states that the PAP would not tolerate ‘negotiated democracies’ where defeated leaders resort to negotiations to prolong their stay in power. She urged parliamentarians to adequately prepare for the eleventh session that would review the protocol establishing the PAP.
In development and finance related news, humanitarian experts and analysts are concerned over severe impact that the world financial crisis could have on humanitarian funding with official development assistance projected to be cut up to 30 per cent or more. Ethiopia will host the eleventh meeting of the Africa Partnership Forum that will bring together over 100 high-level representatives from Africa, G8 and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries to discuss key issues for Africa’s development and to highlight priorities for progress. In addition, German President Horst Kohler, speaking at the end of the fourth German-African forum that resolved to improve economic, political and social development in Africa; fight against poverty, climate change, migration, regional conflicts and terrorism, referred to cooperation as a key element in the partnership between Africa and Europe.
In other news, the Economic Community of West African States and the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa are jointly organising the fourth meeting of the council of ministers responsible for civil aviation in Accra to discuss aviation safety and security and agree on modalities for realising the full liberalisation of air transport markets in the two regions. Finally, the AU Commission chairman, Jean Ping, on behalf of the AU, has congratulated President-elect of the United States of America Barack Obama for his historic election.