AFRICAN UNION UNION AFRICAINE UNIÃO AFRICANA Addis Ababa, Ethiopia P. O. Box 3243 Telephone: 5517 700 Fax: 5517844 Website: www. Africa-union.org EXECUTIVE COUNCIL Fifteenth Ordinary Session 24 - 30 June 2009 Sirte, Libya EX. CL/520 (XV) REPORT OF THE CHAIRPERSON ON THE ACTIVITIES OF THE COMMISSION COVERING THE PERIOD JANUARY TO JUNE 2009 EX. CL/520 (XV) Page i Page FOREWORD I. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1 8 II. PEACE AND SECURITY III. REGIONAL INTEGRATION, DEVELOPMENT AND COOPERATION 42 III.1 Integration and Human Capital Development 42 1. Education 42 2. Science & Technology 44 3. Information Society 46 4. Health and Sanitation 46 5. Human and Social Welfare 48 6. Children, Youth and Sport 54 III.2 Integration and Development of Interconnectivity 57 1. Transport (roads, railway, air, water) 57 2. Energy (energy crisis); 60 3. Telecommunications, Posts and ICT 64 III.3 Integration and Climate Change and Sustainable Management 66 of Natural Resources 1. Impact of Climate Change and General Issues of Concern (Forest Resources Management, Water Resources 66 Management, Soils Management, Livestock) III.4 Integration and Development of Financial Market and Assets (the Financial Institutions…) 71 III.5 Integration and Development of Production Capacities 77 1. Agriculture (CAADP, Food crisis) 77 2. Industrial and Mining Development 80 EX. CL/520 (XV) Page ii III.6 Integration and Trade Capacity Building 82 1. Market Access Capacity Building 82 2. Multilateral Trade Rules and Negotiations (EPA,WTO) III.8 Partnership and Relations with the World 89 1. On-going Partnerships 89 2. Afro-Arab Cooperation 92 3. Representational Offices 94 4. Africa’s Share in Global Exchanges IV. SHARED VALUES 119 IV. 1 Democracy, Elections and Governance 119 IV. 2 Human Rights 126 IV. 3 Humanitarian Affairs, Refugees and Displaced Persons 127 IV. 4 Gender and Development 128 IV. 5 Culture 129 IV. 6 Legal Matters (Legal architecture of the Union) 130 V. STRENGTHENING THE INSTITUTIONS 136 V.1 The Commission 136 1. Follow-up on the Recommendations of the High-Level Panel on 136 the Audit of the African Union 2. Administrative and Human Resource Management 140 3. Financial Management 142 4. Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation 143 5. Conference Services 143 6. Audit Activities 145 7. Integration of NEPAD 147 VI. CONCLUSION 147 EX. CL/520 (XV) FOREWORD This report which is submitted for due consideration by the Executive Council and the Assembly of the Union is the third that I have presented to these august organs since I assumed office at the helm of the African Union Commission. It embodies the major activities undertaken by the Commission during the past six months, since January 2009. Since the last Assembly Session in January 2009, the Commission has, drawing from the rich and very positive inputs by Member States, reviewed the Strategic Plan 2009-2012 which is structured around four pillars, namely: Peace and Security; Integration, Development and Cooperation; Shared Values; and Institutional and Capacity Building. The Commission also organized with the PRC a very successful retreat in Nazareth, Ethiopia, in March 2009, to further enrich the draft Strategic Plan. This document has now been submitted to the present Session of the Council following its endorsement by the PRC, for adoption by the Assembly of the Union. Once adopted, the document will inspire all the Programmes and Action Plans of the Commission and guide their implementation. With this invaluable tool, Member States will be in a position to evaluate, in a clear, scientific and transparent manner, the activities of the Commission using precise performance indicators. The report covers all aspects of the activities deployed during the past six months. I would like, at this juncture, to draw the attention of Council and the Assembly on the most important and urgent issues relating to Africa’s current priorities. I am referring, in particular, to the efforts invested to address the global economic and financial crisis and its impact on the continent; the deteriorating situation in certain conflict areas in the continent, such as Somalia and Guinea Bissau; the phenomenon of unconstitutional changes of Government which, within a short period of time, affected three Member States that have, according to the rules, been suspended from the activities of the Union; participation in and preparations for important continental and international meetings on issues of crucial importance to the continent such as the last G20 Summit held in London, the next G8 Summit to be held in Italy, the Africa-South America Summit slated for September 2009, the Copenhagen Summit on Climate Change due to take place in December 2009, the Special Summit on Refugees scheduled to hold in Kampala, Uganda, in October 2009, the Diaspora Summit expected to convene before the end of the year and the Afro-Arab Summit also due to take place before the end of the year. All these high-level gatherings are, no doubt, of crucial importance for the continent; and so, it is best for us to look into the possibility of our leaders attending all these meetings. I take this opportunity to reaffirm the commitment of the entire Commission to deploy its utmost efforts to ensure that the objectives set forth in the Strategic Plan are achieved in accordance with the established timeframe. On this score, we count on the usual support and collaboration of all our Member States in synergy with all the stakeholders – the RECs, the civil society and other non-State players such as the private sector and our development partners. Once again, I would like to express my sincere hope that the African Union will achieve its legitimate ambitions in the coming years. Jean Ping EX. CL/520 (XV) Page 1 I. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Introduction 1. This report relates the activities carried out during the period from January to June 2009. As I indicated in my last report in January 2009, the Commission intends to promote programmes and activities oriented to concrete actions aimed at making the continent’s physical integration a reality. In accordance with the directives of the last January/February Summit, the Commission worked closely with the PRC to finalize the draft 2009-2012 Strategic Plan which is now being submitted to Council for consideration and adoption prior to adoption by the Assembly. It is with this strategic document that the Commission will henceforth map out the actions required to achieve the set objectives, through the formulation of logical and coherent annual programmes and budgets for the period covered by the Plan. In this Plan, the four strategic pillars, namely peace and security; integration, development and cooperation; shared values; and institution and capacity building, have been highlighted with clear benchmarks on the basis of which competent organs would evaluate the progress made in a regular and continuous manner. It is thus vital that this Plan receive the required support from all Member States in raising adequate resources for its implementation through prompt payment of their contributions, mobilization of extra-budgetary resources, as well as the search for alternative sources of financing. In fact, it is crucial for the Union to have predictable resources from credible and regular sources of financing in order to avoid the hazards of the recurrent phenomenon of contribution arrears which seriously hamper the effective implementation of approved programmes. 2. In the lines that follow, this report presents a general overview of the activities carried out under the four pillars of the Plan mentioned above, namely: • Peace and Security ; • Integration, Development and Cooperation; • Shared Values ; and • Institution and Capacity Building. II. PEACE AND SECURITY 3. During the past few months, the efforts of the Commission were geared more particularly towards concluding the establishment of the Continental Peace and Security Architecture, supporting conflict prevention, management and resolution efforts, monitoring the Prodi Report on modalities for support to African Union led peacekeeping operations. I am pleased to mention in that regard that the Panel of the Wise is now operational as indicated in the report on their activities submitted with that of the Peace and Security Council on the general situation of peace and security in Africa. In particular, the Group conducted in-depth brainstorming on strengthening the role of the African Union in the prevention, management and resolution of election-related crises which sometimes develop into violent conflicts. Similarly, the Continental Early Warning System recorded progress with the acquisition of appropriate tools, equipment and software which will enable the Commission in the near future to liaise with the regional EX. CL/520 (XV) Page 2 early warning systems through the VSAT system. The Ministers of Defence met from 14 to 15 May 2009 to take stock of the progress made towards achieving this objective by 2010 at the latest. 4. The Commission equally devoted effort to implement the African Union Border Programme by organizing two regional workshops for West Africa and Central Africa in April and May 2009, respectively. These activities, coupled with other initiatives, made it possible to closely monitor the efforts of Member States to conclude the process of delimiting and demarcating their borders. In that regard, resource mobilization efforts have continued in a bid to provide appropriate assistance towards this important programme of the Union. Similarly, a legal instrument on cross-border cooperation is being drafted and could be considered by the 2nd Conference of African Ministers in charge of border issues slated for Cairo, Egypt, in November 2009. 5. The Commission continued to monitor the crisis situations on the ground, with special emphasis on the highly worrying issue of unconstitutional changes of government which took place over the past few months in Mauritania, Guinea and Madagascar, and the equally disturbing situation in Guinea Bissau with the assassination of the Head of State and the preceding and ensuing violence.