Africa
Preparations for a Pan African Parliament in South Africa this week 

The Meeting will be attended by the Secretary-General of the OAU, Dr. Salim Ahmed Salim, Assistant Secretaries-General Djinnit and Antonio, as well as some 200 delegates from OAU member states and OAU Secretariat officials.

The Pan African Parliament is to form an organ of the African Union, which will evolve from the existing Organisation of African Unity (OAU) and the African Economic Community (AEC). The African Union is to be launched at an Extraordinary Summit in Sirte, Libya in March 2001. 

Following the OAU Algiers Summit in 1999, an OAU Extraordinary Summit was held in Sirte, Libya, on 8 - 9 September 1999, the purpose of which was to amend the OAU Charter so as to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the OAU. The theme of the Sirte Summit was "Strengthening OAU capacity to enable it to meet the challenges of the new Millennium".

The Heads of States and Governments of the OAU adopted the Sirte Declaration, which calls for an acceleration of the stages implementing the African Economic Community and the establishment of a Pan African Parliament to "provide a common platform for our peoples and their grassroots organisations to be more involved in discussions and decision making on the problems and challenges facing the African continent".

The OAU Secretariat was tasked with taking the appropriate measures to follow up on the decisions taken in the Sirte Declaration, following two meetings of Legal Experts and Parliamentarians on the Establishment of the African Union and Pan African Parliament, held in April 2000, Addis Ababa and June 2000, Tripoli.

During the OAU Heads of States and Governments Summit held in Lome, Togo (July 2000), the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma offered South Africa as a venue for the next Meeting of Legal Experts and Parliamentarians. The Protocol to the Establishment of the Pan African Parliament will be deliberated at the South African meeting.

South Africa plays lead role
- South Africa has actively participated in various multilateral summits and meetings, which have sown the seeds of the idea of a common, united African Union, the South African Department of Foreign Affairs yesterday informed. 

These seeds were first planted after the signing of the Abuja Treaty in June 1991. The Abuja Treaty, also known as the Treaty Establishing the African Economic Community, makes provision for full economic and social integration on the African continent, in a gradual process, in six stages. The final, sixth stage (in approximately the year 2025), provides for the establishment of a Pan African Parliament to ensure "that the peoples of Africa are fully involved in the economic development and integration of the continent".

The South African government states that it "wishes to affirm that the objectives of the Pan African Parliament, which include the promotion of democracy and good governance on the continent, are in keeping with our overall objectives of promoting the principles of the African Renaissance. In keeping with the spirit of the Sirte Declaration, which aimed at effectively addressing the new social, political and economic realities in Africa; eliminating the scourges of conflicts and poverty on the Continent, the South African government welcomes the opportunity to host the Pan African Parliament Meeting."

The establishment of the Pan African Parliament is a unique step and illustrates a bold, new awakening for the African continent. The Pan African Parliament is to represent the voice of the African people and the will of the African peoples in overcoming the challenges facing our continent, the South African Department of Foreign Affairs informs.

Source: South African Department of Foreign Affairs

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