NAMIBIA and Mali on Monday became the first member states of the Organisation of African Union (OAU) to sign a protocol setting up a continental parliament, the OAU announced. The two countries’ ambassadors to the OAU, George Liswanso and Almaamoun Baba Lamine, signed the text at an official ceremony in Addis Ababa, where the OAU has its headquarters. The pan-African parliament is a consultative body envisaged under the African Union, which is due to come into being on May 26. Other bodies under the African Union, which is due to replace the OAU over the course of a 12-month period, include an economic community, a central bank, a court of justice and a monetary fund. – AFP