Statement by H.E. Amara Essy, Secretary-General of the OAU on the occasion of the opening of the Meeting of Permanent Representatives and Experts, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 21 January 2002

Key Organs of the African Union

Your Excellencies Ambassadors,
Your Excellencies Representatives of the
Institutions of the United Nations System,
Esteemed Experts,
Distinguished Invitees,
Ladies and Gentlemen.

Permit me first and foremost to voice my very sincere gratitude to you for responding in such large numbers to my invitation to contribute to and shed light on the texts relating to the transformation of the OAU to the African Union. Your presence here today is testimony to your unflinching and sustained commitment to eradication of the structural and chronic poverty which has been gripping our Continent since the early 80s. It is also a reflection of your high sense of duty and responsibility towards future generations of Africans.

Excellencies Ambassadors, Distinguished Invitees,

May I recall that on 10 July 2001, on the occasion of the Lusaka Summit, the Heads of State and Government invested me with the power to co-ordinate the activities of the OAU General Secretariat and to manage the transformation of the Organization to the African Union.

Since 17 September 2001 date on which I assumed office , this change has been going on slowly but surely in a climate of transparency and solidarity within the General Secretariat, and in a spirit of frank collaboration with the representatives of Member States of the Organization.

Since 17 September 2001 up to this date 21 January 2002, that is exactly 4 months and 4 days, or a total of 126 days, the General Secretariat of the OAU under my direction has, not without difficulty got down to the job of elaborating the texts relating to the key organs of the African Union, namely: the Assembly, the Executive Council, the Permanent Representatives' Committee and the Commission. And for very good reason. Just as the motion of the OAU along its take-off runway had not been an easy operation in 1963, the launching of the African Union in 2002 has also turned out to be relatively complicated. Indeed, according to the imagery borrowed from aviation professionals, take-off and to a lesser extent landing constitute a more difficult operation owing to the fact that it is dependent essentially on human manipulation. I have used this metaphor to underscore the inherent complexity of every human endeavour. In other words, the establishment of the key organs of the African Union, a task entrusted to us by the Lusaka Summit is not as simple as that, since it has to take on board the aspirations of all the peoples of Africa. A lot has been done in these 126 days. However, a lot still remains to be accomplished. The report which will form the basis of your deliberation and recommendations during this conference has been produced with the full co-operation of my collaborators and all the staff members of the General Secretariat.

Excellencies Ambassadors, Distinguished Experts,

The purpose of your meeting is to examine the report presented to you by the General Secretariat, and to polish and enrich it. There is no doubt in my mind that your contributions will offer the extra note needed to make this report one which really responds to the aspirations of the peoples of Africa. Consequently, this august gathering constitutes a critical stage in the process of implementation of the African Union.

In order to back your efforts as well as those deployed by the General Secretariat in this collective drive to build the African Union, I have decided to set up a Transition Support Team, drawing deeply from the numerous structural reforms which had taken place in large international institutions. This Support Team initially constituted in close co-operation with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) will be composed of African Experts and officials of the General Secretariat. The Team will work daily, full-time, on the objectives contained in the Lusaka Mandate. In carrying out its duties, the Team will benefit from the contribution of a high level Panel of Eminent African and Non-African personalities. These two structures will help enrich the brainstorming process underway within the General Secretariat and thereby enhance understanding of the progress of the Transition in all its aspects, including those that are medium and long-term in nature.

Excellencies Ambassadors, Distinguished Experts,

The whole of Africa expects a lot from your deliberations. Your work should constitute for the Continent, a daily stimulus in its unrelenting march towards economic and social upliftment. This point leads me to underscore a number of concerns which I would like to submit to your auspicious consideration in the course of this meeting.

Do Africans need an effective and dynamic African Union, or rather an African Union griped by apathy and lethargy as a result of the size of the structures which we will set up for it ? In other words, do we need a structurally huge African Union, but without adequate financial resources to attain its major objectives ? With unalloyed faith in the future of the Union of our peoples and their destiny, I do strongly subscribe to the view point whereby the African Union should be built on solid foundations through provision of the financial and human resources commensurate with its ambitions. Let us therefore avoid an inordinately large structure with its in-built ingredients of bottlenecks and paralysis.

Can the African Union be realised in disunity resulting from the numerous conflicts plaguing our Continent ? Can the African Union be built in poverty, and indeed in the destitution which remains the daily lot of our peoples ? Can we accomplish the African Union in an environment in which the process of democratisation is plodding on with such difficulty? Can the African Union be established within an Africa consumed internally by tribalism, ethnocentrism and inter-religious conflicts ?

All these problems summon us to effective action. We should endeavour to find answers to them in the course of our day to day reflection to realise the Unity of our Continent. This, for me, is of absolute necessity because the success we all expect of the great and historic undertaking that is the African Union is directly and in large measure related to these issues. For this reason, Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, I invite you to conduct your deliberations by incorporating the above concerns in your usual programme. Your discussions should therefore give rise to structures of an African Union, effective and dynamic, which discards the beaten track and which better fulfils the expectations of the peoples of Africa.

Africa, our Continent, can win the battle for its union. And I believe that it has the means to accomplish this feat.

I thank you for your kind attention.