The Centre for Citizens’ Participation in the African Union invites representatives from civil society organisations and non-governmental organisations to participate in the fifth ‘Citizens’ continental conference on the African Union (AU) summit’ that will be held the 5th-6th June 2009 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to reflect on the issues on the agenda of the 13th ordinary summit of the AU. However, member states of the AU are yet to decide the venue of the upcoming summit following the suspension of Madagascar, which was to host the July summit, and it is not yet clear how they will decide on a host country without an official meeting, while some speculate that Mauritius will likely be the host country. Elsewhere, the AU and the Gambian government hosted an international meeting bringing together experts on gender and related issues to analyse the reporting and implementation process of the Solemn Declaration of Gender Experts in Africa, the lessons learned, challenges and opportunities. African ministers in charge of integration met in Yaoundé, Cameroon, under the theme ‘Partnerships and integration in Africa’. At the 10th East African Community (EAC) ordinary summit, leaders agreed on a programme of harmonisation of trade agreements among member states and approved the acceleration of the process of negotiations on all outstanding integration issues. EAC education experts are also gearing up for the harmonisation of education systems in the region to increase employment opportunities as well as enhance free movement of labour in the region.

In peace and security related news, a joint Senegal/AU mission led by the Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade and the chairman of the AU Commission Jean Ping arrived in Mauritania’s capital city, Nouakchott, for discussions with the stakeholders involved in the country’s democratic crisis. The AU peace and security commissioner announced that countries have pledged additional troops following a closed-door meeting on Somalia that was reviewing the situation and strategising on ways to strengthen the African Union peacekeeping mission in Somalia. Furthermore, the AU chairperson has strongly condemned the killing of a Nigerian peacekeeper with the UN-AU mission in Darfur and stressed the need for all concerned parties ‘to facilitate the work of UN-AU mission and to fully cooperate with it in its endeavour to contribute to the restoration of lasting peace, security and stability in Darfur.’ The Libyan leader and chairman of the AU, Mouammar Gadhafi, received the UN and AU emissaries to the Democratic Republic of Congo who briefed him on the ongoing peace and reconciliation process in the country and the improvement of its relations with Rwanda.

The Southern African Development Community (SADC) election observer mission has sent its observers to Malawi to monitor the country’s presidential and parliamentary elections to be held on 19 May 2009 with a task of supporting ‘the delivery of a credible, transparent and legitimate election by the country’s electoral commission’. SADC is also pressing for the reinstatement of ousted Malagasy President Marc Ravalomanana and seeking to bring all parties together to restore constitutional order. Newly elected South African President Jacob Zuma has called for ‘the urgent strengthening of the AU to enable it deal effectively with the peace and security challenges in Africa’ and advocates tougher measures against coup plotters. Analysts propose the standardisation and harmonisation of the regional economic communities, the strengthening of election-monitoring missions and national electoral commissions as part of solutions to some of the problems of the continent. Meanwhile, the AU panel of eminent personalities welcomed the ruling by the speaker of the national assembly of Kenya, which put an end to an impasse regarding the designation of the Leader of Government Business in Parliament and the nomination of the Chairperson of the House Business Committee. The panel went on to ‘urge Kenya’s leaders and all Members of Parliament to put aside their partisan considerations and place the interests of the people first.’

In other news, the Women’s Working Group on financing for development, in a declaration emerging out of the second women’s consultation, called for structural, sustainable, gender equitable and rights based responses to the current global financial and economic crisis. Analysts of the International Food Policy Research Institute, which is working with the AU to develop guidelines on how to negotiate with foreign investors, warns of the negative impact on the continent if there are no regulations on how rich countries and firms lease or buy massive tracts of land for the production of food or biofuel. The Danish government launched an initiative that will target the private sector to rejuvenate the continent’s business and agricultural capacity by providing loans to entrepreneurs and small-scale businesses. The initiative’s committee members include heads of state, members of civil society, academia and international and regional organisations, mainly from Africa. Finally, a commentator analyses the state of democracy in Africa’s post conflict states and concludes that while ‘democracy is steadily taking root in many of these traumatised countries’ it is imperative not to ‘overlook the socio-economic component of the post-war recovery agenda’.

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For the past year, Olive Mutabeni's home in Chitungwiza, a low-income suburb 20km outside Harare, Zimbabwe’s capital, has been the makeshift centre of operations for the Life Empowerment Support Organisation (LESO). After 23 years as a nurse in the public health sector, most recently as the coordinator of prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission (PMTCT) services at Chitungwiza Central Hospital, Mutabeni quit her job and started LESO to provide the sick and elderly in her community with emotional, medical and practical support. Four other nurses soon joined her.