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African Leaders Vow to Boost Integration
African leaders on Thursday expressed their willingness to boost political and economic integration of the African continent by launching the African Union.
At the opening session of the two-day fifth extraordinary summit of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) in Libyan port city of Sirte, Togo President Gnassingbe Eyadema said on the occasion that 46 of the OAU 53 member states had signed the founding act of the union.
Libyan leader Muammar Ghaddafi, initiator of the Union, told the gathering in the opening speech that it is "a historic day for Africans that will restore their dignity in the eyes of the world."
Forty-five heads of state and government from OAU member states attended the opening session of the two-day summit, along with representatives from some non-African countries.
"There is a consensus on the creation of the African Union. Not a single nation has objected or expressed reservations on this," Ghaddafi said, declaring a "United States of Africa."
He said that African leaders at the summit support plans for a union that would create an African Central Bank, court and a single currency.
The establishment of African Union, advocated by Libyan Ghaddafi, was agreed upon by African leaders in the Declaration of Sirte at the 36th OAU summit in Lome, Togo, last July, aimed to promote political and economic integration of the African continent in the face of challenges of economic globalization.
However, under the Act, at least two thirds of the 53 OAU members are needed to ratify the document before the new African organization can officially become a reality.
Togo President Gnassingbe Eyadema said that "It is an ambitious project but within our capacities."
It is learned that the declaration of the establishment of the Pan-African parliament (PAP) is also expected to be the topic of the summit as the Protocol of PAP was approved and signed by representatives of parliaments from 53 OAU member states in Pretoria, South Africa, last November.
However it needs the approval of a special summit to be formally established. As an organ of the African Union, the PAP will comprise parliamentarians from OAU member states, with five deputies from each country, including a woman deputy.
The PAP is to be a consultative body to the OAU at the initial stage, and will eventually become a law-making body of the new African Union.
Founded on May 25, 1963, the OAU is designated to promote the unity and solidarity of the African states, defend sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence of members, coordinate and intensify the cooperation and efforts to achieve a better life for the people of Africa.
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