Gaddafi becomes AU's new chairperson

Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi was elected African Union (AU) chairperson by the Assembly of heads of state and government at their twelfth ordinary session to replace Tanzanian president Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete. The outgoing AU chairman briefed the Assembly on the achievements of the union under his tenure which included the peace process in Kenya, interventions in the Comoros, Zimbabwe and Somalia, among others. In his acceptance speech, Muammar Gaddafi pledged to reform the position of the chairperson and added that the call for a united Africa was not his own, but that of the founders of the organisation and a popular demand from African citizens. He also used the occasion to note that his long advocacy for the unity of Africa had nothing to do with what people call his ambition to lead the AU. Prior to his election, Gaddafi arrived at the summit venue accompanied by seven members of Africa’s royalty who support a quicker move towards a single government for the continent.

African heads of State and Government also during this summit decided, ‘as a compromise step toward eventually forming a continent-wide government’, to transform the AU Commission into the African Union Authority, an institution that will have ‘a bigger mandate, with bigger capacities’ and headed by a president with a vice-president and secretaries charged with portfolios.

The chairperson of the AU Commission noted that the current global financial crisis has highlighted the need and urgency for NEPAD integration into the AU structures and processes to enable the continent to face its challenges with a strong united voice. The African Development Bank, entrusted with a leading role in Africa’s infrastructure development, maintained that the acceleration of infrastructure development on the continent will play a critical role for economic growth.

In other news, only two member countries - Ethiopia and Mauritania - have ratified the African Charter on democracy, elections and governance while 26 others have neither signed nor ratified the document. Nine countries have signed the first regional agreement between Arab and African countries on combating piracy at a special meeting organised by the International Maritime Organisation. In the agreement, the nine countries that are affected by piracy would cooperate in preventing ship hijackings and apprehending suspected pirates for arrest and prosecution. “The Djibouti Code of Conduct - as the agreement is referred to - allows one signatory country to send armed forces into another signatory country's territorial waters to pursue pirates and, in some cases, to jointly conduct anti-piracy operations. The nations have also agreed on the creation of piracy information centers to be set up in Kenya, Tanzania, and Yemen, and an anti-piracy military training center to be established in Djibouti.

Lastly, the AU celebrated Miriam Makeba and Aimé Césaire as acknowledgement for their contributions to the emancipation of Africa.