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African Union (AU)


Self Description

May 2006: "The advent of the African Union (AU) can be described as an event of great magnitude in the institutional evolution of the continent. On 9.9.1999, the Heads of State and Government of the Organisation of African Unity issued a Declaration (the Sirte Declaration) calling for the establishment of an African Union, with a view, inter alia, to accelerating the process of integration in the continent to enable it play its rightful role in the global economy while addressing multifaceted social, economic and political problems compounded as they are by certain negative aspects of globalisation.

The main objectives of the OAU were, inter alia, to rid the continent of the remaining vestiges of colonization and apartheid; to promote unity and solidarity among African States; to coordinate and intensify cooperation for development; to safeguard the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Member States and to promote international cooperation within the framework of the United Nations.

Indeed, as a continental organization the OAU provided an effective forum that enabled all Member States to adopt coordinated positions on matters of common concern to the continent in international fora and defend the interests of Africa effectively."

http://www.africa-union.org/root/au/AboutAu/au_in_a_nutshell_en.htm

Third-Party Descriptions

July 2008: 'After being briefed on the prosecutor’s case on Friday, the African Union’s Peace and Security Council issued a statement expressing its “strong conviction that the search for justice should be pursued in a way that does not impede or jeopardize efforts aimed at promoting lasting peace,” and “reiterated the A.U.’s concern with the misuse of indictments against African leaders.”'

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/14/world/africa/14sudan.html

July 2008: "SHARM EL SHEIK, Egypt — The African Union on Tuesday urged the creation of a government of national unity in Zimbabwe to heal the nation’s deep political wounds after President Robert Mugabe’s triumph in a one-candidate runoff election widely condemned as a sham."

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/02/world/africa/02zimbabwe.html

December 2007: "By changing how its projects are financed, “then M.C.C. becomes like the World Bank and all the other countries using overseas development aid in stop and go fashion,” said John A. Kufuor, the president of Ghana, who heads the African Union. “The aid is spread so thin that at the end of the day the necessary difference is not made.”"

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/07/world/africa/07millennium.html

June 2007: The 7,000-strong African Union (AU) force has been unable to stop the fighting or the banditry. Last November, Khartoum agreed in principle to allowing an additional 15,000 UN peacekeepers into Sudan. But Sudanese officials have since balked at the size of the UN influx, and argued over whether the hybrid force would be under AU control or UN control. The expectation now is that the UN will handle logistics, and a joint AU/UN headquarters will command the mostly African troops out in the villages.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0611/p01s04-woaf.html

September 2006: But Sudan will allow a smaller African Union peacekeeping force of 7,000 troops to remain in Darfur until peace returns to the troubled province, Bashir said.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/19/AR2006091901427.html

Relationships

RoleNameTypeLast Updated
Status/Name Change from Organisation of African Unity Organization May 7, 2006
Organization Head/Leader (past or present) John Agyekum Kufuor Person Jan 9, 2008

Articles and Resources

Date Fairness.com Resource Read it at:
Apr 08, 2011 Why humanitarian wars can go so wrong

QUOTE: The big democracies usually stand idly by during the worst atrocities, including the Holocaust and the genocide in Rwanda… Western democratic leaders have powerful political incentives to do humanitarianism on the cheap… These governments were more worried about the safety of their own soldiers than about protecting Bosnian civilians.

 Washington Post
Jul 13, 2008 Sudanese Protest War Crimes Case Against President at Scripted Rally in Capital

QUOTE: Thousands of people took to the streets of Sudan’s tense capital on Sunday in a carefully choreographed protest against the expected request by the International Criminal Court to arrest President Omar Hassan al-Bashir on war crimes charges. Students and members of the ruling National Congress Party were bused to the center of the capital, Khartoum, where they waved banners denouncing the international court and the United Nations.

 New York Times
Jul 01, 2008 African Union Calls for Settlement in Zimbabwe

QUOTE: The union, a 53-nation body that is Africa’s most authoritative group, made the call after a two-day gathering of African leaders marked by divisions over the handling of the crisis in Zimbabwe. While President Omar Bongo of Gabon endorsed Mr. Mugabe’s presidency, Botswana urged the suspension of Zimbabwe from African forums because its participation would “give unqualified legitimacy to a process which cannot be considered legitimate.”

 New York Times
Jun 29, 2008 U.S. Backs U.N. Official in Darfur Indicted in Rwanda Deaths

QUOTE: The State Department has urged the United Nations to retain a Rwandan general as the second-highest-ranking U.N. peacekeeper in the Darfur region of Sudan, even though he has been indicted for allegedly committing war crimes in Rwanda during the mid-1990s, according to U.S. and U.N. officials.

 Washington Post
May 24, 2008 A Conflict’s Buffer Zone: Rocks, and Inches

QUOTE: The problem is, that sand happens to lie in a very strategic spot, at the mouth of the Red Sea. A war here could imperil some of the busiest shipping lanes in the world and alter the precarious balance of power in the Horn of Africa, a conflict-prone, drought-prone region that already is on the cusp of famine.

 New York Times
Dec 07, 2007 U.S. Agency’s Slow Pace Endangers Foreign Aid

QUOTE: The Millennium Challenge Corporation, a federal agency set up almost four years ago to reinvent foreign aid, has taken far longer to help poor, well-governed countries than its supporters expected or its critics say is reasonable.

 New York Times
Aug 01, 2007 U.N. Authorizes 26,000 Peacekeeping Troops for Darfur

QUOTE: The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously Tuesday to authorize a force of about 26,000 U.N. peacekeepers to help end more than four years of violence in the Darfur region of Sudan, which has left hundreds of thousands dead and forced millions from their homes.

 Washington Post
Jun 11, 2007 Darfur's aid lifeline in danger: Bandits from all factions are increasingly targeting relief convoys and aid workers in Sudan's conflict.

QUOTE: With three rebel groups splitting up into more than a dozen groups – many of them based on personal or tribal loyalties – armed groups have taken to robbing the relatively soft target of aid workers, who have many of the vehicles, money, and communications equipment that an armed movement needs.

 Christian Science Monitor
May 30, 2007 Bush tightens squeeze on Sudan: His new sanctions Tuesday seek to press the regime but not deepen the Darfur crisis.

QUOTE: Economic sanctions announced May 29 are an expansion of existing US financial restrictions and reflect US impatience with continued obstinacy on the part of Sudan's president, Lt. Gen. Omar Hassan al-Bashir, on allowing international peacekeepers into his country .... In Sudan, analysts said that the new US sanctions would be ineffective at best, and could harm further progress on solving the violence in Darfur.

 Christian Science Monitor
Apr 01, 2007 Poor Nations to Bear Brunt as World Warms

QUOTE: But despite longstanding treaty commitments to help poor countries deal with warming, these industrial powers are spending just tens of millions of dollars on ways to limit climate and coastal hazards in the world’s most vulnerable regions — most of them close to the equator and overwhelmingly poor.

 New York Times
Sep 20, 2006 Sudan Rejects Request To Allow U.N. Troops: Bush Calls for Assistance From NATO

QUOTE: Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir on Tuesday dismissed pleas from President Bush, U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan and other Western leaders to allow a force of 20,000 U.N. peacekeepers into the violence-wracked Darfur region.

 Washington Post
Aug 31, 2006 Shaky Darfur Peace at Risk as New Fighting Looms

QUOTE: Nearly four months after signing the agreement, the [Sudanese-ed.] government is preparing a fresh assault...to use 10,500 of its own troops to crush the rebellion, a move that would violate the peace agreement...bringing Darfur to the edge of a new abyss

 New York Times
May 06, 2006 Sudanese, Rebels Sign Peace Plan On Darfur: U.S. Pressured Parties; Doubts Remain on Deal

QUOTE: With a prod from the United States, the government of Sudan and the biggest Darfur rebel faction signed a complex peace plan yesterday that diplomats and experts said would require careful implementation to ensure an end to a conflict that has left as many as 450,000 people dead and 2 million homeless.

 Washington Post