Addis Ababa | Wednesday
MEMBER states owed $54,6-million (62,4-million euros) to the Organisation of African Unity at the end of last year, the OAU announced on Tuesday.
Some $34,6-million of the money owed is the result of payments due from years prior to 2001.
Eleven countries belonging to the 53-member body are in arrears, he said. They are: the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Comoros, Guinea-Bissau, Sao Tome and Principe, Niger, Liberia, Sierra Leone, the Seychelles, Gambia ands Somalia.
The figures were released on the eve of an OAU council of ministers in Addis Ababa.
In a report also published on Tuesday the OAU Secretary General Amara Essy deplored ”the continuous growth of overdue contributions.”
Essy added that payments which are made by member states are ”always far less than what they owe.”
The OAU said nine members had paid up their contributions: Angola, Botswana, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Namibia, Mauritius, South Africa, Swaziland and Zambia – Sapa-AFP