The African Union (AU) is to consider a two-tier system for membership payments that will comprise a lower payment floor for poorer countries, South African Foreign Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said on Saturday.
Zuma was speaking on her return from Sun City where she chaired the third extraordinary session of the AU executive council, which was attended by foreign ministers of all 53 member states.
The session was called to sort out a number of issues before the next AU summit in Maputo, Mozambique in July.
One of those issues was AU funding, which has been impeded by arrears in membership contributions.
Total arrears currently stand at $44-million, with at least 11 members under sanctions that prohibit them from speaking at AU meetings.
Zuma said on Saturday the sanctions were counter productive because the executive council, which had looked into the issue, had concluded that certain countries were expected to pay far more than their capacity.
Regarding the establishment of a common defence policy for the continent — a precursor to the establishment and of an African standby force — Zuma said ratification of the policy would take some time.
However, she said once a common defence policy was established, the standby force would probably be deployed soon afterwards since trained and experienced soldiers would be recruited.
They would already know the job, Zuma explained.
She cautioned against concluding that there was a lack of enthusiasm amongst member states to ratify the common defence policy.
”South Africa, with all our enthusiasm, has only just ratified it (the common defence policy) in the last couple of weeks because it has to go through cabinet … various departments … legal advisors … and parliament.
”So you can’t say there’s no enthusiasm it’s just that it takes long,” she said.
Other issues discussed at the meeting included recruiting members for the AU commission — a body that is to provide guidance and leadership in various fields — as well as the link between the AU and the African Diaspora.
Zuma said the continent should strengthen its ties with Africans living abroad so they could contribute to development. In this regard, the executive council had agreed on ways to engage with the African Diaspora, she said.
The ministers also met with the secretariat of the New Economic Plan for Africa’s Development (Nepad) and agreed the partnership needed to be strengthened independently of the work being done at the G8.
Zuma, for her part, cautioned against placing too much emphasis on the enthusiasm or lack thereof of the G8 group of industrialised nations, stating that ”Nepad will stand or fall on Africans and not anybody else. Others will be as enthusiastic as we are.”
Zuma and the foreign ministers who attended to meeting are to take part in Africa Day celebrations in Johannesburg on Sunday. The occasion will also mark the founding 40 years ago of the Organisation of African Unity, the forerunner of the AU. – Sapa