Syrte, Libya | Thursday
A TWO-day summit of 16 African desert states opened on Wednesday in Libya’s eastern city of Syrte with two new members, Benin and Togo, joining the group.
Because of lack of consensus among member states a third candidate, Liberia, failed to obtain full membership rights and received instead observer status, Secretary General Mohammad al-Madani al-Azhari said.
The two countries joined Libya, Burkina Faso, the Central African Republic, Chad, Eritrea, Mali, Niger, Somalia, Sudan, Morocco, Tunisia, Senegal, Egypt, Djibouti, Gambia and Nigeria as members of the Community of Sahel-Saharan States, known as Comessa from its initials in French.
The summit is the fourth since Comessa was set up by Libyan leader Moammar Gadaffi in 1998.
Referring to the expanded group, Gadaffi said Comessa is “the base of the African pyramid and will be the base of the African Union. If the base is solid, the pyramid will endure.”
The summit is expected to discuss regional conflicts between the Central African Republic and Chad, as well as the internal conflicts in Somalia and Sudan, and economic integration.
On the economic front, Gadaffi appealed on those present to back the free movement of goods and people within among member countries.
The director general of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, Jacques Diouf, the secretary general of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference, Abdelwahad Belkeziz, and the deputy director of the World Trade Organisation, Ablasse Ouedraogo, also addressed the opening session.
Diouf insisted on the importance of a common market for agricultural produce, saying that “60% of the Comessa population is rural, while 15% does not have enough food” to meet daily needs.
This year’s summit is being attended by 13 heads of state as well as six ministers and government chiefs. – AFP