Is the AU relevant with increasing crises in Africa?
THE African Union (AU) is watching four wars in its backyard. Apart from its leaders calling for “African solutions to African problems,†little or nothing is done to end the conflicts.
By STEPHEN SSENKAABA and FRED WOMAKUYU
THE African Union (AU) is watching four wars in its backyard. Apart from its leaders calling for “African solutions to African problems,†little or nothing is done to end the conflicts.
In Ivory Coast, the former president Laurent Gbagbo, who lost in the presidential elections to his rival Alassane Ouattara, five months ago, had refused to vacate office. It took military intervention by rebels loyal to Ouattara, assisted by the UN and the French forces to arrest Gbagbo.
In Libya, what started as a protest in Benghazi against the detention of a civil rights activist by Col. Muammar Gadaffi’s regime, has turned into a civil war.
The Libyan rebels are fighting for democratic reforms and greater rights, which Gadaffi’s regime has been reluctant to offer since he seized power in a coup in September 1969.
In Sudan, Darfur rebels are fighting for independence. Southern Sudan has also just gained self rule from Khartoum through a referendum held after five decades of war.
In Somalia, the Al-Shabab militants are fighting against the transitional federal government.
Foreign nations role
When foreign forces took part in the assault against Gbagbo, the AU condemned this as foreign intervention. So why does the AU wait for foreigners to intervene and then complain?
When Siad Barre’s regime of Somalia fell to forces allied to the US, everyone thought Somalia would stabilise fast.
However, two decades down the road, Somalia is in a state of total chaos.
When the US was confronted by terrorism, they saw Somalia as its safe haven
America could not intervene directly because they were trapped in two wars - one in Afghanistan and another in Iraq, where they are facing criticism for interfering in the affairs of sovereign nations.
They financed the AU to intervene. While meeting in Ethiopia, the AU agreed to have an African peacekeeping force there. Despite the fact that many AU countries agreed to contribute troops towards the force, only two countries, Uganda and Burundi, are in Somalia.
Recently, the UN Security Council voted for a No - Fly Zone in Libya. Despite the fact that the AU representatives at the security body voted for it, when it came to implementation, Europe and the US took the lead. No African country sent troops or equipment or expertise for the work.
What experts say about the AU?
Some critics say one of the AU’s biggest weaknesses lies in its composition.
According to Dr. Yasin Olum, an Associate Professor at Makerere University’s department of Political Science and Public Administration, the AU assembly, which is its supreme organ, is made up of Heads of State and Governments with questionable records of their own.
Olum says the failure of the leaders to address issues of bad governance, human rights abuses and authoritarianism has weakened the moral authority of AU leaders to make any serious impact on the peace process on the continent. Some of the leaders are caught between the very conflicts they are supposed to mediate. This, Mambutysa Ndebesa, a history don at Makerere University, says often is a conflict of interest.
“In the principle of mediation, the mediator is supposed to be neutral. This cannot be the case with AU, where mediators have connections within the territories they are supposed to mediate,†he adds.
At the height of the Zimbabwean crisis, the reluctance of South Africa to intervene has been attributed to the difficult position in which Thabo Mbeki, the AU president at that time and an ally to its leader Robert Mugabe found himself in.
It is also no secret that many AU leaders are allies of the embattled Gadaffi. The enormous influence and financial muslce Gadaffi holds over the AU is also well documented. “As long as the AU keeps playing to the interests of African leaders, its ability to bring about meaningful change on the continent is limited,†Oweyegha-Afunaduula, a social critic and environmental activist says.
Perhaps, as Ndebesa observes, all these issues would have been alleviated if the AU had a concrete strict standards on democracy, transparency, accountable leadership on which membership to it should be determined. But in circumstances where the enforcers of the standards do not leave up to the required standards, this can only be a dream.
Matters have been only worsened by the inability of the AU to mobilise sufficient funds to carry out its activities. In his New Year address to AU diplomats, Jean Ping the AU commission president, said the AU was “finding it difficult to achieve its mandate because of insufficient funding from member states.â€
Critics attribute this to combination of a genuine incapacity by many member states to contribute funds to the organisations and lack of political will by some members.
According to ANSA-Africa, a social accountability network, currently, the AU relies on an annual budget of $129 million (sh309.6b), out of which the 53 member states contribute about half of $58 million (sh139.2b). The rest of the budget (about 50 to 60% of it) is funded by donors/partners who are mostly nations that the AU ironically criticises.
AU relies on external funding and this compromises its ability to take independent decisions,†Dr. Olum says. The commission president corroborates this. “This does not engender ownership of our programmes as the donors become more and more intrusive in our operations,†he said.
Background
to the AU
THE African Union is a successor of Organisation of African Unity (OAU). The OAU was formed on May 25, 1963, with the aim of promoting unity and solidarity of the African states. It was dedicated to the eradication of colonialism and ensuring self-rule by countries that were still under colonialism.
However the OAU was widely derided as a bureaucratic “talking shop†with little power. It struggled to enforce its decisions, and its lack of an armed force made intervention exceedingly difficult. Civil wars in Nigeria and Angola continued unabated for years, and the OAU did nothing to stop them.
The OAU policy of non-interference in the affairs of member states also limited its effectiveness. When human rights were violated in Uganda under Idi Amin in the 1970s, the OAU was powerless to stop it.
The OAU did little to protect the rights and liberties of African citizens from their own political leaders, often dubbing it the “dictators’ club.â€
The idea of creating the AU was started under the leadership of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. The 53 heads of state and government of OAU issued the Sirte Declaration (named after Sirte, Gaddafi’s home town in Libya) on September 9, 1999, calling for the establishment of an African Union.
Aims and objectives of the AU
As a continental organisation it focuses on promotion of peace, security and stability on the continent as a pre-requisite for implementation of development and integration agenda.
The AU is Africa’s premier institution and principal organisation for the promotion of accelerated socio-economic integration of the continent, which will lead to greater unity.
The AU also aims at building a partnership between governments and all segments of civil society, in particular women, youth and the private sector, in order to strengthen solidarity and cohesion among the Africans.
Apart from holding several conferences and writing large volumes of documents, the AU seems to be promoting impunity and lack of democracy with its non-interference policy just like was the OAU.
The OAU played a pivotal role in eradicating colonialism and minority rule in Africa. It specifically gave weapons, training and military bases to freedom fighters in Africa. Groups such as the African National Congress were aided in their endeavours by the OAU. However, the AU’s presence on the continent is very invisible.
Facts about the AU
The AU groups 53 member states and its official languages are English, French and Arabic.
The AU emerged from the Organisation of African Unity, which was founded in 1963 with a charter signed by 32 countries in Addis Ababa.
The AU aims to promote democracy, human rights and development across Africa, especially by increasing foreign investment through the New Partnership for Africa's Development Programme.
In September 1999, a special summit in Libya issued the Sirte Declaration, establishing the African Union, loosely based on the European Union model. The AU was officially launched in Durban in July 2002.
The AU’s first military intervention in a member state was the May 2003 deployment of a peacekeeping force in Burundi.
Compiled by Frederick Womakuyu and Stephen Ssenkaaba
THE African Union (AU) is watching four wars in its backyard. Apart from its leaders calling for “African solutions to African problems,†little or nothing is done to end the conflicts.
In Ivory Coast, the former president Laurent Gbagbo, who lost in the presidential elections to his rival Alassane Ouattara, five months ago, had refused to vacate office. It took military intervention by rebels loyal to Ouattara, assisted by the UN and the French forces to arrest Gbagbo.
In Libya, what started as a protest in Benghazi against the detention of a civil rights activist by Col. Muammar Gadaffi’s regime, has turned into a civil war.
The Libyan rebels are fighting for democratic reforms and greater rights, which Gadaffi’s regime has been reluctant to offer since he seized power in a coup in September 1969.
In Sudan, Darfur rebels are fighting for independence. Southern Sudan has also just gained self rule from Khartoum through a referendum held after five decades of war.
In Somalia, the Al-Shabab militants are fighting against the transitional federal government.
Foreign nations role
When foreign forces took part in the assault against Gbagbo, the AU condemned this as foreign intervention. So why does the AU wait for foreigners to intervene and then complain?
When Siad Barre’s regime of Somalia fell to forces allied to the US, everyone thought Somalia would stabilise fast.
However, two decades down the road, Somalia is in a state of total chaos.
When the US was confronted by terrorism, they saw Somalia as its safe haven
America could not intervene directly because they were trapped in two wars - one in Afghanistan and another in Iraq, where they are facing criticism for interfering in the affairs of sovereign nations.
They financed the AU to intervene. While meeting in Ethiopia, the AU agreed to have an African peacekeeping force there. Despite the fact that many AU countries agreed to contribute troops towards the force, only two countries, Uganda and Burundi, are in Somalia.
Recently, the UN Security Council voted for a No - Fly Zone in Libya. Despite the fact that the AU representatives at the security body voted for it, when it came to implementation, Europe and the US took the lead. No African country sent troops or equipment or expertise for the work.
What experts say about the AU?
Some critics say one of the AU’s biggest weaknesses lies in its composition.
According to Dr. Yasin Olum, an Associate Professor at Makerere University’s department of Political Science and Public Administration, the AU assembly, which is its supreme organ, is made up of Heads of State and Governments with questionable records of their own.
Olum says the failure of the leaders to address issues of bad governance, human rights abuses and authoritarianism has weakened the moral authority of AU leaders to make any serious impact on the peace process on the continent. Some of the leaders are caught between the very conflicts they are supposed to mediate. This, Mambutysa Ndebesa, a history don at Makerere University, says often is a conflict of interest.
“In the principle of mediation, the mediator is supposed to be neutral. This cannot be the case with AU, where mediators have connections within the territories they are supposed to mediate,†he adds.
At the height of the Zimbabwean crisis, the reluctance of South Africa to intervene has been attributed to the difficult position in which Thabo Mbeki, the AU president at that time and an ally to its leader Robert Mugabe found himself in.
It is also no secret that many AU leaders are allies of the embattled Gadaffi. The enormous influence and financial muslce Gadaffi holds over the AU is also well documented. “As long as the AU keeps playing to the interests of African leaders, its ability to bring about meaningful change on the continent is limited,†Oweyegha-Afunaduula, a social critic and environmental activist says.
Perhaps, as Ndebesa observes, all these issues would have been alleviated if the AU had a concrete strict standards on democracy, transparency, accountable leadership on which membership to it should be determined. But in circumstances where the enforcers of the standards do not leave up to the required standards, this can only be a dream.
Matters have been only worsened by the inability of the AU to mobilise sufficient funds to carry out its activities. In his New Year address to AU diplomats, Jean Ping the AU commission president, said the AU was “finding it difficult to achieve its mandate because of insufficient funding from member states.â€
Critics attribute this to combination of a genuine incapacity by many member states to contribute funds to the organisations and lack of political will by some members.
According to ANSA-Africa, a social accountability network, currently, the AU relies on an annual budget of $129 million (sh309.6b), out of which the 53 member states contribute about half of $58 million (sh139.2b). The rest of the budget (about 50 to 60% of it) is funded by donors/partners who are mostly nations that the AU ironically criticises.
AU relies on external funding and this compromises its ability to take independent decisions,†Dr. Olum says. The commission president corroborates this. “This does not engender ownership of our programmes as the donors become more and more intrusive in our operations,†he said.
Background
to the AU
THE African Union is a successor of Organisation of African Unity (OAU). The OAU was formed on May 25, 1963, with the aim of promoting unity and solidarity of the African states. It was dedicated to the eradication of colonialism and ensuring self-rule by countries that were still under colonialism.
However the OAU was widely derided as a bureaucratic “talking shop†with little power. It struggled to enforce its decisions, and its lack of an armed force made intervention exceedingly difficult. Civil wars in Nigeria and Angola continued unabated for years, and the OAU did nothing to stop them.
The OAU policy of non-interference in the affairs of member states also limited its effectiveness. When human rights were violated in Uganda under Idi Amin in the 1970s, the OAU was powerless to stop it.
The OAU did little to protect the rights and liberties of African citizens from their own political leaders, often dubbing it the “dictators’ club.â€
The idea of creating the AU was started under the leadership of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. The 53 heads of state and government of OAU issued the Sirte Declaration (named after Sirte, Gaddafi’s home town in Libya) on September 9, 1999, calling for the establishment of an African Union.
Aims and objectives of the AU
As a continental organisation it focuses on promotion of peace, security and stability on the continent as a pre-requisite for implementation of development and integration agenda.
The AU is Africa’s premier institution and principal organisation for the promotion of accelerated socio-economic integration of the continent, which will lead to greater unity.
The AU also aims at building a partnership between governments and all segments of civil society, in particular women, youth and the private sector, in order to strengthen solidarity and cohesion among the Africans.
Apart from holding several conferences and writing large volumes of documents, the AU seems to be promoting impunity and lack of democracy with its non-interference policy just like was the OAU.
The OAU played a pivotal role in eradicating colonialism and minority rule in Africa. It specifically gave weapons, training and military bases to freedom fighters in Africa. Groups such as the African National Congress were aided in their endeavours by the OAU. However, the AU’s presence on the continent is very invisible.
Facts about the AU
The AU groups 53 member states and its official languages are English, French and Arabic.
Compiled by Frederick Womakuyu and Stephen Ssenkaaba