Whenever its resolve to protect democracy has been tested, the continental body has fallen short
‘It’s a purely sovereign decision of each country to join or to pull out,’ Dlamini-Zuma said.
The AU chair is on a charm offensive to woo voters to the ANC — and support for her own ambitions.
Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma has been elected to chair the African Union Commission. Here’s what you need to know about the organisation.
Unlike in sport, the key battles taking place seem to have no clear resolution — leaving us all at a loss.
A complex matrix of issues stymied Dlamini-Zuma’s bid for Africa’s top job.
Sources say the same voter tactics will be adopted as were used against Muammar Gaddafi in order to get Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma elected to the AU.
United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon on Monday expressed alarm at reports of rising violence and intimidation in Zimbabwe and said he was consulting with African leaders on how to help resolve the country’s election crisis. "I am deeply concerned at reports of rising levels of violence and intimidation" in Zimbabwe, he told reporters.
Zimbabwe’s opposition on Monday mulled whether to contest a presidential election run-off after winning the first round as President Robert Mugabe’s camp began gearing up for the ballot. "We are still putting things together and when we are ready, we will get the press informed," George Sibotshiwe, a spokesperson for opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, said.
No image available
/ 2 February 2008
African Union leaders condemned the latest unrest in Chad and Kenya on Saturday at the close of a summit overshadowed by new crises on the continent and which saw little headway achieved on older ones. The pan-African body’s summit wrapped up even as military sources said that rebels had seized control of the Chadian capital.
No image available
/ 1 February 2008
Gabon Foreign Minister Jean Ping was elected on Friday as the African Union’s top diplomat, replacing Mali’s Alpha Oumar Konare as the head of the AU Commission. ”I can’t say too much at the moment, but of course I am very happy,” Ping told a crowd of diplomats, journalists and well-wishers after winning the vote at an AU summit in Ethiopia.
No image available
/ 31 January 2008
African Union heads of state were set on Thursday to begin a three-day summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, focused on the deadly crisis in Kenya and the challenges facing the body’s peacekeeping missions. United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon was expected to address the organisation and call for a peaceful resolution of the post-poll dispute in Kenya.
No image available
/ 28 January 2008
Sudan will seek to head the African Union during the continental body’s upcoming summit at its headquarters in Addis Ababa, a Sudanese official said. Sudan’s two previous bids for the AU’s rotating presidency have been unsuccessful due to reservations over Khartoum’s rights record in the western region of Darfur.
No image available
/ 8 December 2007
Leaders of Europe and Africa opened a landmark summit on Saturday designed to forge a new partnership of equals, but with strains showing over trade and Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe’s presence. ”We are here … to write a new page in the history of Europe and Africa,” Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Socrates said in an inaugural address.
No image available
/ 17 November 2007
There was an urgent need for greater co-operation between Africa and its compatriots in foreign countries, President Thabo Mbeki said on Friday. ”This is particularly so with all of us on the continent so that we respond successfully to such challenges as the attainment of peace and stability,” he told the opening of the African Diaspora Ministerial Conference in Midrand.
No image available
/ 26 October 2007
The African Union on Friday urged all Sudanese parties involved in the Darfur conflict to take part in peace talks due to kick off in the Libyan city of Sirte. In a statement issued by the pan-African body’s headquarters in Addis Ababa, AU Commission chairperson Alpha Oumar Konare appealed to ”all the Sudanese parties to constructively participate”.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown warned on Monday that neither he nor any other senior British government minister will attend a Europe-Africa summit if Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe is there. Previously Brown had said he would boycott the December summit, but it has been unclear if Britain could be represented at a lower level.
African diplomats presented a united front on Saturday to support Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe’s presence at an upcoming European Union-Africa summit despite strong European reservations. "The African Union wants all African countries to take part" in the summit in Lisbon in December, an official from the body’s headquarters in Addis Ababa said.