As Africa marked the golden jubilee of African Liberation Day on May 25th, the African Union (AU) commission marked the occasion under the theme of "Meeting the Millennium Development Goals on Water and Sanitation", which will also be the theme of the AU summit to be held in Egypt this June. Concurrently, the committee of twelve African heads of states met in Tanzania to discuss the implementation of a Union government. While only five of the twelve heads of states expected to attend the meeting took part, those absent being represented by senior officials, the mini-summit approved several accelerators including the free movement of people, the establishment of financial institutions, regional infrastructure and African multi-national firms. Following the committee of twelve meeting, President Kikwete of Tanzania, current Chair of the AU, expressed shock at the xenophobic violence in South Africa but underlined that these were not government policy but “acts of vandalism”. This violence, among other events in Africa this year, are occasion for pause during this year’s Africa Day celebrations, according to Faten Aggad, who states that: “Africa Day should not only be a day to celebrate our diversity in the form of diplomatic functions and academic workshops. It should also be a day when we assess our future as a continent. For starters we should reflect on ways to create development-oriented governance systems”. He further assesses the challenges and opportunities of the African Peer Review Mechanism as a starting point for responsive and accountable African governance systems. In this regard, the AU commission will hold an East African meeting on the African Charter on Democracy, Election and Governance in Rwanda from May 29-31 aimed at promoting and encouraging ratification of the Charter. “The popularisation of the Charter and the strategies to mobilise as many signatures as possible during the ratification process are some of the main objectives of organising regional meetings”.

As the African Union prepares for the summit in June, which will take place in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt, Francis Ameyibor provides analysis of the expectations and challenges for this meeting. Noting that the summit will be an important indicator of the performance of the new leadership of the commission, he further elaborates that the summit will “confront the adoption and implementation of a more responsive and rights based social policy framework for Africa. Among them are the non-implementation of existing social continental policy standards contained in various AU Decisions and Declarations and the MDGs, poor national and inter-ministerial linkages and inadequate resources.” Further, on “the formation of the Union Government of Africa, it is expected that the Summit would come out with a definite position, and stop the foot-dragging tactics”.

In regard to aid and development, a recent report has revealed that “on current trends the European Union (EU) will have given 75 billion less in aid by 2010 than it promised” and that European governments inflate aid statistics with debt relief and refugee costs. Assessing regional integration in terms of trade and development, Dot Keet notes that “neo-liberalism really narrowed the conceptualisation of regional integration. The World Bank and the IMF were promoting the paradigm called ‘open regionalism’, for and towards ‘global integration’, and this was backed by the EU.” She further asks how Africa can forge external agreements, such as the Economic Partnership Agreements with the EU, when regional protocols on these issues are not in place or have been reinterpreted from their original intention. Also affecting African integration, the European Commission has unveiled plans for a Mediterranean Union, bringing together 44 countries, including Mauritania, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and Egypt. This Union is to have a co-presidency from the EU and a Mediterranean country lasting two years.

Lastly, the new commissioner for science and technology, Jean-Pierre Onvéhoun Ezin, plans to include education in the proposed African Science and Innovation Fund, in a move meant to avoid duplication of efforts, but which some fear will diminish resources for science.