The African Union (AU) is looking to the governments of the G-8 group of most developed countries (G-7 plus Russia) to provide funding for its crucial new institutions to be created under the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (Nepad), according to South African Finance Minister Alec Erwin.
Speaking to I-Net Bridge on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum (WEF)’s Africa Economic Summit in Durban on Friday, Erwin confirmed South African President Thabo Mbeki’s earlier admission that African countries currently did not have the wherewithal to fund the activities of new AU institutions such as the African Court of Justice, the Peace and Security Council and the Peer Review Mechanism.
However, he was confident funding would be forthcoming from the international community, in particularly the G-8 governments, at least for the short-term.
“We are not looking for commitments from the business sector to fund these institutions, but to the G-8, and I am confident we will receive support from them,” he said. Talks regarding this financing had already begun at the recent G-8 meeting in Evian, France.
The formation of the African Court of Justice, Peace and Security Council and Peer Review Mechanism is of crucial importance in advancing the cause of Nepad across the continent, as they will for the first time provide frameworks and mechanisms to intervene in the internal policies of AU member countries, paving the way for progress in meeting the standards of good governance, human rights, democracy, security and other principles as contained in the AU’s constitutive law.
At the WEF Summit on Thursday, President Mbeki pointed to the formation of
these institutions as being of key importance to the progress of Nepad. – I-Net Bridge