IDPs wait for food at a camp in Mugunga, 15km from Goma, DR Congo, on
May 25, as the AU celebrated its 50th anniversary. The Union is divided
on how to end conflicts in Africa. Photo/AFP
By AHMED SALIM Special Correspondent
In Summary
- Instead of venting our frustrations at the AU, perhaps we should pause and realise we are just looking in the mirror?
The United States of Africa was a concept that
was first championed by Jamaican political activist Marcus Garvey in the
early 1920s.
Decades later, the concept became the late Muammar Gaddafi’s brainchild. It was an ambitious idea that was praised in public but, behind closed doors, ridiculed. Nevertheless, at the time of its conceptualisation, it was the most advanced form of regional integration and laid the groundwork for the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) that became the African Union (AU).
Summit that trumped all summits
From May 24-27, all of Africa’s who’s who and has
been were in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to commemorate the golden jubilee of
the OAU and AU. This “jamboree,” as a former OAU assistant secretary
general labelled it, was a summit that trumped all summits.
The importance of such a convening was demonstrated by the presence of President Dilma Roussef of Brazil as well as United States Secretary of State John Kerry, who was arriving on the heels of the recently announced Africa trip by President Barack Obama.
At the AU headquarters, there were many posters on the theme of “Africa Rising” to signify that 2013 is the year Africa takes ownership of its future.
“Our time is now,” a Tanzanian diplomat told me
when I asked her about the mood at the summit. “We have a real
opportunity to seize the moment and transform our countries for the
better.” This optimism was felt throughout the summit, but there was
nevertheless an obvious clash between the symbolism and the reality.
The juxtaposition of “Africa Rising” and the AU headquarters, a gift by the Chinese, seemed to say that Africa was indeed rising, but not on its own terms.
Show me the money
One aspect that directly affects the relevance and
sustainability of the AU is the issue of funding. Between 2007 and
2012, the percentage contribution of member states to the programme
budget of the AU and its organs went down from 27 per cent to 4.8 per
cent.
During the same period, external funding rose from 73 per cent to 95.2 per cent. This over-reliance on external funding is an existential threat to the AU.
At the summit, former president of Nigeria Olusegun Obasanjo, as chairperson of the High-Level Panel on Alternative Sources for Funding for the AU, presented a comprehensive report during a closed session that directly addressed this issue.
The recommendations of the report included a $2 hospitality levy per tourist stay in hotels and a $10 travel levy on flight tickets originating from Africa and going to destinations outside; or coming to Africa from outside Africa.
The expected revenues are $650 million per year via the tax on air tickets and $113 million a year from the levy on hotel accommodations for a total of $763 million per year.
This sounds good in theory, but implementation
will be a challenge. A delegate who was in the session expressed
frustration at how some of the island countries responded to the
suggestions in Obasanjo’s report: “We were talking in circles,” he said.
Sadly, one can say the same for many other discussions at the AU.
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