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March 31, 2005
African Union cites progress on conflicts
Jeremy Schwab
African Union Director of Communications Desmond Orjiako made
a bold prediction to the crowd of over 70 people gathered at Northeastern
University last week.
“I predict that by 2007, there will be no war in Africa
that will attract media headlines so that people can say, ‘Yes,
that is Africa,’” said Orjiako, a well-known public
figure in Africa.
Orjiako aims to promote a positive image for the continent and
for the fledgling African Union, the organization of 53 countries
that aims to promote peace, democracy, economic development and
expanded health care in Africa.
Orjiako, whose visit to Northeastern was sponsored by the Department
of African American Studies and other campus groups, cited progress
in some of the conflicts raging in various African countries.
In February, African Union representatives and representatives
of some West African countries successfully pressured President
Gnassingbe of Togo, who had inherited the presidency from his
father, to promise democratic elections within 60 days.
African Union representatives have also been involved in peace
negotiations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Ivory
Coast, both countries that have suffered from civil war in recent
years.
In the Sudan, the African Union has sought to play a peacekeeping
and monitoring role in the Sudan conflict. Representatives from
the AU have told the United States they want monetary support,
so that they can send African troops to calm the situation.
The approach to the Sudanese conflict, where the AU and its member
countries are seeking an African solution to an African problem,
is representative of the AU’s approach to other issues impacting
the continent.
The African Union is leading the development of a manufacturing
plant for generic drugs to fight the HIV/ AIDS epidemic. The AU
aims to reduce the cost of telecommunications by creating a more
uniform phone system. The AU’s member countries have signed
a non-aggression and self-defense pact, and the AU reviews countries’
level of democratic governance on a voluntary basis.
Founded in 2002, the AU replaced the former Organization of African
Unity. The OAU successfully fought for freedom from colonial rule,
but was less successful in providing economic growth, democracy
and internal peace.
Following the end of apartheid in South Africa, the genocide in
Rwanda and disinvestment in Africa on the part of the United States
and former Soviet Union following the Cold War, African heads
of state felt it was time for a new approach to the continent’s
problems.
The AU was born, and a chief goal of the new organization is to
unite African nations in resolving civil wars or potential civil
wars, through troop deployments or negotiations.
The disinterest among former colonial powers and the United States
in Africa may give the AU more leverage to affect conflicts diplomatically
and militarily.
“In Togo, the AU had one advantage,” said African
American Studies professor Kwamina Panford, whose connections
to the AU helped facilitate Orjiako’s visit. “Britain,
Germany, the United States and France did not interfere as they
usually do. The end of the Cold War is like a two-edged sword.
In the short term, it creates chaos. But in the long run, it will
enable Africans to determine their own destiny more.”
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