27 July 2011 NEPAD TODAY Economic Commission for Africa Every Wednesday [email protected] A service of the UN system-wide support to the and its NEPAD Programme

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Chief of Section AUC’s Deputy Chair visits refugee camp Kwabia Boateng uring a mission in the Horn of ernments of Kenya and for their Editor Yinka Adeyemi Africa from the 22nd to 24th July efforts in providing shelter to the refugees Production Assistant 2011, the Deputy Chairperson, while also taking care of their own popula- Meseret Arega DMr. Erastus Mwencha, visited Dadaab, the tions badly affected by this drought. We refugee camp situated in Kenya close to now need to step up all efforts to deal with the Somalia border, in order to assess the this crisis. Yet, we also need to view sustain- situation of the humanitarian crisis on the able solutions and create the mechanisms ground. With 400,000 people, Dadaab is that will address root causes of such calamity the biggest refugee camp in the world and is by creating resiliency systems and political currently witnessing “unprecedented influx stability,” declared the Deputy Chairperson. due to the drought in the Horn of Africa”, according to UNHCR which administers In this respect, the Deputy Chairperson the camp. met, amongst others, Mrs. Josette Sheeran, the Executive Director of the World Food “It is terrible to see people in such a state Programme, Dr. Jacques Diouf, the Direc- of weakness and very sad to hear the stories tor General of the Food and Agriculture of mothers forced to abandon children on Organisation, Mr. Bruno Le Maire, the the way because they could not make it to French minister of Agriculture represent- the camp. I would like to thank the gov- Continued on page 2 AUC meets Obasanjo: Alternative financing for the AU n what could be described as a major of the AU Commission, to present a let- boost to the Commission's quest to ter appointing former President Obasanjo secure adequate, reliable and predictable as Chairperson of the High Level Panel on Ifinancing for the activities of the African Alternative Sources of Financing the African Union, the Commissioner for Economic Union. Affairs, Dr. Maxwell M. Mkwezalamba, met with Mr. Olusegun Obasanjo, former It will be recalled that the Executive Coun- President of the Federal Republic of Ni- cil, at its Ordinary Session held in January geria, at his residence in Abeokuta, Ogun 2011, endorsed the proposal by the Com- State, , on Tuesday, 5 July 2011. mission to support the consultations on The Commissioner travelled to Nigeria as a alternative sources of funding through a special envoy of Dr. , Chairperson high level panel of eminent personalities Continued on page 2

A production of the RCM-Africa Secretariat, Economic Development and NEPAD Division (EDND), Economic Commission for Africa, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Director: Emmanuel Nnadozie email: [email protected] On the eve of the landmark decision, UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of the UNECA, Mr. Abdoulie Janneh urged the Parties to use at least 60 percent of the fast-track fund meant for financing climate change adaption and mitigation activities in developing countries to kick start the future African Green Fund. Continued on page 2

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Continued from page 1 AUC’s Deputy... raise adequate funding to address this press- ing the G20, high level representatives of ing crisis. A dedicated bank account is in the Kenyan Government, as well as local the process of being opened. To date, USD and international organizations active on 500,000 have been donated to UNHCR by the ground and the private sector. He also the AU and the PRC Sub-Committee on visited Wajir, in Kenya, witnessing the ef- the Special Emergency Assistance Fund for fects of the drought on the local pastoralists Drought and Famine. population and the resiliency systems that are in place as well as the collective efforts According to reports by international agen- put in place by the Kenyan Government and cies, 11 million people are currently affected the international organizations to reduce the by the drought in the Horn of Africa and negative impact on the local populations. are in need of food assistance. The situation is deemed critical in Somalia ,where 60% of Further to the appeal issued by the Chair- the land and over 2.2 million people cannot person to Member states, the African Union be reached because of the highly unstable is organizing a donors’ conference on the political situation in that country. 10th August in Addis Ababa, in order to Source: http://www.nepad.org/foodsecurity/news/2416/ support the collective international efforts to drought-horn-africa Continued from page 1 the Republic of Mozambique and Member AUC meets ... of United Nations Secretary General's High with a view to engaging with Member States Level Panel on Global Sustainability, and and coming up with definitive proposals for a Personal Representative of the President this long standing issue. During the recently of the Republic of Equatorial Guinea and concluded Malabo African Union Summit, Chairperson of the African Union, H.E. the Assembly reiterated the decision and Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, are also expected requested that the Panel completes its work to serve as members of the Panel. and submit a report to the next Ordinary Session of the Assembly scheduled for Janu- Following the completion of the appoint- ary 2012 in Addis Ababa. The appointment ments, the Panel is expected to hold its inau- of former President Obasanjo was one step gural briefing session in Addis Ababa during towards the fulfillment of the requirements the first week of August 2011. of the aforementioned decisions. H.E. For full story: www.nepad.org Obasanjo welcomed the appointment and Upcoming Event pledged his full support to the Union's ef- forts. • Africa Trade and Investment Expo 27 July 2011 Midrand,

The Commissioner had also met with H.E. • CAADP Country Teams Workshops: “Strength- Dr. Salim Ahmed Salim, former Secretary ening Implementation Capacities for CAADP” - General of the Organization of African Ghana (TBC) Unity, at his residence in Dar es Salaam, 27-29 July 2011, Ghana , on 23 May 2011 for the same • AU-NEPAD Agriculture Climate Change Miti- reason. H.E. Dr. Luisa Dias Diogo, former gation Framework meeting Prime Minister and Minister of Finance of 17-19 Aug 2011, Durban, South Africa

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