New AU chair calls for support for Sudans, Somalia
By Tesfa-Alem Tekle January 27, 2013 (ADDIS ABABA) - With Sudan and South Sudan failing to agree on key border security measures, the new chair of the African Union, Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn, said on Sunday that more must be done to improve ties between the two neighbours. The new chair of the African Union, Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn | Copyright (cc-by-sa) © World Economic Forum (www.weforum.org/Photo Matthew Jordaan [email protected] “We should continue to assist Sudan and South Sudan in achieving the objectives of creating two viable states living side by side in peace and harmony”, he told the 20th African Union summit in Addis Ababa. Presidents Omer Al-Bashir and Salva Kiir failed to agree on the implementation of the security measures, including the activation of a buffer zone when they met on Saturday four months after they originally signed an agreement over the issue. The impasse over the security elements of the September 2012 border deal has meant that oil production - stopped a year ago by South Sudan over a transit fee dispute - has not resumed. Other aspects of the deal have also not been implemented and the two sides have not agreed how to resolve their contesting claims over areas such as Abyei on the largely un-demarcated border. Key to the stalemate is Khartoum’s insistence that Juba is harbouring and supporting rebels in South Kordofan and Blue Nile. South Sudan has refused to discuss the issue of their former comrades in the SPLM-N, describing the issue as an internal Sudanese affair. As well as the tense standoff between the Sudans, which begun shortly after Africa’s largest nation split in two in 2011, the AU submit is also addressing crises in Mali, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Central African Republic (CAR), and Somalia. SOMALIA Ethiopian Prime Minister, Hailemariam Desalegn, replaced the outgoing chairman of the African Union, Benin’s President Yayi Boni, on Sunday. In his acceptance speech Desalegn called on African leaders to concentrate their efforts on Africa’s crises and conflicts, noting achievements made in some areas, such as Somalia. For the first time in two decades, Desalegn said, there is a glimmer of hope for Somalia’s peace and security as Somalia’s government supported by Amisom - a joint African Union (AU) and UN force - continues to strengthen its hold over the capital and other areas of the Horn of Africa nation from al-Shabab militants, who have links with al-Qaeda. “We should therefore consolidate the recent gains that have been achieved in both politically and security fronts in Somalia”, the Ethiopian Prime Minister said. He called for continued assistance to the Somali people to rebuild the war-torn East African nation. MALI INTERVENTION On Saturday, the AU announced that it plans to create "an African Standby Force" to be deployed in Mali, where the West African nation’s army is fighting Islamist insurgents alongside French forces. So far only a small number of the nearly 5,700 troops, pledged by African states have been deployed. Ahead of a donor conference on Tuesday to finance the deployment of the African-led International Support Mission to Mali (AFISMA), the European Union has pledged $67m for the multinational force, with a further $336m for development projects. With regard to crises in Mali, the new AU chairman underscored the need for immediate actions to restore constitutional order, to safe guard the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country as well as the address humanitarian crises in collaboration with the United Nations and West African regional bloc - ECOWAS. DEMOCRACY, GOOD GOVERNANCE Dessalegn, who will serve a one year term as AU chairman also called on African leaders to promote democracy and good governance. He called on African states set for presidential and parliamentary votes this year to conduct peaceful and smooth elections. “We should consolidate the gains we have made over the past decade and deepen the roots of democratic governance so as to create propitious condition for our socio-economic endeavors” he said. The two-day continental summit is being held under the theme: “Pan-Africanism and African Renaissance” and is being attended by 36 African leaders as well as representatives from a number of international bodies. (ST) -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "South Sudan Info - The Kob" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
