Arafat Calls for Int'l Support for Peace in Middle EastPalestinian leader Yasser Arafat reiterated here on Monday that Palestine would like to work together with other parties in searching for comprehensive and just peace in the Middle East.Addressing the opening session of the 37th summit of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) , Arafat said that the Palestinian Authority is committed to implementing United Nations resolutions on the Middle East and work with the international community to end conflicts in the region. He said that the Palestinian people will carry on the struggle for self-determination until their goal is realized. Explaining the sufferings by the Palestinian people under the Israeli occupation, he denounced Israel for using military means to kill the Palestinian people and occupy their land. Arafat also paid tribute to the African countries and people for launching the African Union (AU) which is expected to work more effectively in building a united and strong Africa. The ongoing summit is expected to transform the OAU into the AU, a more integrated pan-African body to include an assembly, an executive council, a pan-African parliament and a central bank. The AU, modeled on the European Union, is a brainchild of Libyan leader Muammar Ghaddafi, who initiated the plan at an extraordinary summit held in his hometown of Sirte on September 9, 1999. The African leaders are also to finalize the African Initiative, a combination of the Millennium African Recovery Plan put forward by South African President Thabo Mbeki and the Omega plan initiated by Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade, which is designed to open the African market as a whole. Among the topics the leaders are to discuss include a series of issues related to the continent's political, economic and social development, regional conflicts, the HIV/AIDS pandemic and the mountainous debt burden. |
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