S van der Merwe: Heads of mission on outcomes of 7th African Union
Summit

14 July 2006

Your Excellencies

Introduction

Thank you for responding to our invitation at such short notice. We felt
that given the number of requests we have received for feedback on the outcomes
of the 7th African Union Summit, it would be appropriate to convene this
meeting. This will allow us to share these decisions with you as well as have
an interactive session with you about the implications of these decisions on
our foreign policy agenda.

Generally, the Summit which was held under the theme "Rationalisation of
Regional Economic Communities and Regional Integration" reported positive
outcomes, indicating that we are moving in a positive direction in terms of
making this a truly African Century.

This generally positive trend has already been confirmed by other sources
including the World Bank, which in its 2005 Report states that "Africa's
economy grew by 4.4 percent in 2004, with virtually all countries reporting
positive growth. The region is projected to grow by 4.1 percent in 2005 as the
benefits of past reforms and a more peaceful environment continue to translate
into expanded economic activity.”

The report also agrees that "some progress toward improving human
development was made during the past year, but the challenges remain enormous."
Key among these, are the need for doubling of aid, fairer trade, and greater
debt relief.

The report is also cautious to point out that "the region [still] faces
serious challenges. More than 314 million Africans live on less than $1 a day -
nearly twice as many as in 1981. The continent is home to 34 of the world's 48
poorest countries and 24 of the 32 countries ranked lowest in human
development. The HIV and AIDS pandemic costs Africa 1 percentage point of per
capita growth a year, while malaria kills about 2 800 Africans a day."

These findings are consistent with the common positions that we as African
countries have adopted in seeking to remove the impediments to developments
whilst at the same time ensuring that we are on track to realise the Millennium
Development Goals.

We are concerned at current projections, which indicate that the Millennium
Development Goals will not be reached by many African countries, partly because
there are inadequate resources available.

It remains our belief that a better world can only come about through
improving the quality of life of all the world's people. In this regard, we
will strive for the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals, bringing an
end to poverty in particular and nurturing the conditions for economic
development.

In pursuit of this objective, we continuously strive for the related and
interconnected goals of peace, stability, democracy and development in an
African continent, which is prosperous, peaceful, democratic and united,
contributing towards a world that is just and equitable.

Pursuant to the attainment of these goals, we are committed to making a
contribution by creating platforms such as these to engage other countries in
vibrant discussion to contributing to the kind of world we envisage. We strive,
as we have always done, to do this through dialogue, within a multilateral
framework that ranges from participation in both organisations of the North and
South and through the implementation of the New Partnership for Africa's
Development (NEPAD). Indeed the challenges that face us as a country, region
and continent are far too diverse and complex for us to hope to overcome them
on our own.

Despite being such a young organisation, the AU has since its foundation
proved to be quite decisive on matters concerning the advancement of African
people. This trend has continued even during its most recent meeting in the
Gambia, wherein critical decisions as well as declarations were taken by the
Executive Council and Assembly. These, we will share with you today.

Finance and administration

From the work and decisions reached by the various organs of the AU, there
is a generally positive attitude by members to ensure that we have an
organisation that is also accountable to its people.

The issue of ownership of our development destiny was a key founding
principle of the AU and as such all Member States had from the beginning to
commit themselves to making funds available for this objective.

Therefore, in considering the Structure of the Budget and Modalities of
Funding, the Assembly decided to uphold the Executive Council's recommendation
for an integrated budget. This would mean that staff costs, operating expenses,
statutory meetings and priority programmes/projects would be financed from
assessed contribution while remaining programmes will be financed from
voluntary contributions of Member States and Partners.

Related to the above issue, is the need to use these scarce resources
prudently in order to achieve our objectives. Therefore, in line with our
commitment to the principles of good governance, accountability and
transparency, the AU has agreed to adopt a new set of Financial Rules and
Regulations.

Co-ordination around food security and poverty reduction

The theme of the Summit dealt with co-ordination at various levels and
amongst these was co-ordination around food security.

The Council recommended strengthening the capacity of the Commission, NEPAD
and the Regional Economic Communities to improve co-ordination of initiatives
in food and nutrition security and encouraged Member States to develop intra
and inter regional trade in food. It also called upon Member States to develop
early warning systems for food security and for Development Partners to provide
technical and financial support to the implementation of the Comprehensive
African Agricultural Development Programme - Sirte integrated implementation
Plan.

Since the establishment of the AU, NEPAD and the Poverty Reduction Strategy
Paper (PRSP) process, African countries have taken much more effective
ownership of their own development. Both NEPAD and the PRSP process are based
on partnerships with donors, dependable financial flows, measurable results,
empowerment of poor people, participation by civil society and local
communities, and accountability of recipient governments to their own people.
In this regard, we urge development partners to continue their support for
these initiatives.

The Commission, NEPAD and the Regional Economic Communities have been
requested to assist in advocacy and implementation of national programmes and
to monitor progress on poverty reduction. The Council also called upon Member
States to speed up the implementation of the Maputo Declaration on allocation
10% of national budgets to agriculture.

Rationalisation of Regional Economic Communities (RECs)

As you will recall, the Abuja Treaty envisages five RECs to be the building
blocks of an integrated Africa.

As such South Africa views SADC as the foundation on which it must seek to
carry her activities both in respect of the AU and NEPAD. We therefore welcome
the positive decisions of the AU to highlight the importance of RECs in
Consolidating the African Agenda.

While there is recognition of the important role that RECs can play in terms
of supporting the agenda of the AU and its programme NEPAD, the Assembly has
also taken note of the danger in proliferation of such structures.

In this regard, the Assembly accepted the recommendations of the First
Conference of African Ministers in charge of Integration and decided to suspend
the recognition of new RECs and stick with the following existing eight
RECs:

i) Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)
ii) Common Market of East and Southern Africa (COMESA)
iii) Southern African Development Community (SADC)
iv) Inter-Governmental Authority for Development (IGAD)
v) Arab Maghreb Union (AMU)
vi) Economic Community of Sahelo-Saharian States (CEN-SAD)
vii) East African Community (EAC)
viii) Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS).

The Assembly requested the RECs, Member States, development partners and the
United Nations System to collaborate closely with the Commission in conducting
the rationalisation process. RECs were also urged to co-ordinate and harmonise
their policies with a view to accelerating integration.

The challenge is to cast greater emphasis on harmonisation of policies as
well as developing a response to the motivations that Member States may have to
be members of multiple RECs and sub-RECs. We are of the view that as policies
are harmonised the reasons for multiple memberships will diminish as our
economic imperatives move towards convergence.

One of the roles of the RECs is to establish co-ordinated African
negotiating positions at global forums such as the WTO. Therefore, affected
Member States and REC Negotiating Groups were requested to actively participate
in the review of Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) negotiations and to
facilitate co-ordination by inviting the AU Commission to these negotiating
sessions with organisations such as the EU as well as submission of regular
progress reports to the Commission.

The Commission was requested, in collaboration with the Economic Commission
for Africa (ECA), to continue technical support to Member States to allow for
the formulation of informed positions. The Commission was also requested to
submit a report to the AU Trade Ministers for consideration and policy
guidance.

The Assembly also requested the African Ministers of Trade and African Trade
Negotiators to remain vigilant and steadfast in protecting the collective
interests of Africa in the remaining stages of WTO negotiations. African
negotiators were urged to reach consensus positions in support of the interests
of Africa, and those consistent with the developmental mandate of the Doha
Round. It also welcomed the technical support provided by the Commission and
ECA and requested them to continue to provide this support.

The Heads of State who will take part in the G8 Summit were requested to
seek the support and co-operation of Heads of State and main Member Countries
of the WTO for Africa's position.

The Assembly noted with appreciation efforts to strengthen co-operation
among the leading African development organisations and welcomed the
repositioning of the Economic Commission for Africa to address Africa's
development challenges. The Assembly requested the UN Secretary-General to
enhance the co-ordination role played by the ECA and its Executive Secretary to
strengthen coherence within the UN system for effective support for the African
Union and its programme, NEPAD.

Infrastructure in support of trade and development

An area that also received focus during the Summit was the development of
infrastructure to facilitate intra-continental trade and travel.

The Council welcomed the adoption of an overall Action Plan to strengthen
aviation safety by the African Ministers responsible for air transport. It
further endorsed the two Libreville resolutions on improvement of aviation
safety in African and on a Common External Air Transport Policy for Africa. It
urged African airlines to strengthen operational co-operation through
commercial agreements and harmonisation of tariffs to enhance intra-African
connectivity and to minimise the cost of intra-continental travel.

The creation of regional airlines was welcomed. The Commission and the RECs
were requested to speed up harmonisation of competition rules in the field of
air transport and for the Commission to submit periodic reports on the
implementation of these recommendations to the Executive Council.

Peace, security and post conflict reconstruction

World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz told an Africa investment forum last
week that not enough attention is being paid to African success stories. This
at a time when there is a decline in active armed conflicts on the continent
from 16 in 2002 to six today, and the fact that 15 African countries have had
medium growth rates of better than 5% over the past decade. The general
tendency when it comes to Africa is to focus on security issues and not give
enough attention to economic and social development issues, which are equally
important. We share the view that these two issues are inextricably linked.

Part of the problem with a one-sided approach is that if you deal with
security issues in isolation, there is a very likely possibility of those
countries that have just come out of conflict to slide back if the proper
support structures are not in place. The well-known adage says that peace is
therefore not merely the absence of conflict.

Indeed, the international system is not only challenged by global security
issues, but also by security issues that are critical to the South such as
poverty, underdevelopment, pandemic and communicable diseases (such as HIV and
AIDS). These issues cannot be separated from one another. There are no
safeguards of military force, geographic location or national boundaries that
can protect any country against any of these global threats.

We therefore welcome the endorsement by the Council of the Policy Framework
on Post-Conflict Reconstruction and Development as a guideline for effective
and comprehensive action to consolidate peace and promote sustainable
development. The policy is conceived as a tool to consolidate peace and prevent
a relapse of conflict, address the root causes of conflict, encourage
fast-track planning and implementation of reconstruction activities and enhance
complementarities and co-ordination among diverse actors involved in
Post-Conflict Reconstruction and Development.

The Commission was requested, in collaboration with the RECs, relevant UN
institutions and African Non-Governmental Organisations to take all the
necessary steps to effectively implement the Post-Conflict Reconstruction and
Development Policy Framework. This should include adapting the Framework at
regional and national levels, developing a database of African experts on
Post-Conflict Reconstruction and Development to be placed at the disposal of
countries emerging from conflict, and mobilising resources to enhance the
African capacity, including the use of AU volunteers.

It was decided to establish an AU standing multidimensional committee to
provide political support and mobilise resources for the implementation of the
Policy Framework. This standing committee will interface with the UN Peace
Building Commission and will be supported by the Peace and Security Department
of the Commission.

The Assembly commended the reconciliation process in the Comoros and the
positive developments registered in Mauritania with the holding of the
Constitutional Referendum of 25 June 2006. It also expressed satisfaction with
the positive developments in Burundi with the signing on 18 June of the
Dar-Es-Salaam Principles of Agreement.

With regards to Sudan it commended the signing on 5 May 2006 of the Darfur
Peace Agreement in Abuja as well as progress made in implementing the
Comprehensive Peace Agreement in Southern Sudan.

Finally, it also expressed satisfaction with progress made in Cote d'Ivoire
in spite of the delay in the implementation of the Roadmap adopted by the
Ivorian Government in February 2006.

It requested the Peace and Security Council to continue efforts focussed on
conflict prevention and the implementation of peace building initiatives on the
basis of the Framework document on Post-Conflict Reconstruction and
Development, endorsed by the Executive Council.

It requested the Peace and Security Council to ensure completion of the work
leading to the establishment of the Continental Early-Warning System, the Panel
of the Wise and the African Defence Force.

On Sudan, the mandate for AMIS (African Union Mission in Sudan) ends on 30
September 2006. The AU, however only have resources available until July 2006.
A donor conference will be held on 18 July, I believe, to supplement this
shortfall.

The UN Secretary-General called on the Executive Council to review its
decision and undertook work to secure additional resources to make an extension
of AMIS possible. Transferring AMIS to a UN operation will require at least six
months preparation.

Human rights

As I have already mentioned, economic and social development issues are
equally important in the Consolidation of the African Agenda. Therefore, for us
as African countries it is necessary that we commit ourselves jointly as
governments and as civil society to the re-affirmation of our identity as
Africans, and to ensure the entrenched protection of the human rights of all
our peoples.

While all internationally recognised human rights are deemed to be
inalienable, indivisible and interdependent, the protection by Governments of
civil and political rights can more easily be immediately realised through
appropriate political will, legislation, monitoring and policing. Second and
third generation economic, social and cultural rights are more difficult to
focus on. The protection and promotion of economic, social and cultural rights
presents us with greater challenges as these rights are based on the notion of
progressive realisation.

The Executive Council noted the report of the African Commission on Peoples
and Human Rights. In its decision, the Council stressed the need for its
strengthening as well as for closer collaboration between the Commission and
various policy organs with competence in human rights as well as with national
human rights bodies.

The Executive Council also adopted and authorised the publication of the
20th Activity Report of the African Commission on Human and People's Rights and
its annexes.

The Assembly also requested the Commission to convene a meeting of the
Ministers of Justice to consider the Draft Protocol on the Statute of the
African Court of Justice and Human Rights, including the outstanding issues,
and make appropriate recommendations to Council thereon in January 2007.

Still on the issue of human rights, you may be interested to learn the
decision of the Assembly on the Hissen Habre case. The Assembly observed that
while in its present state the African Union has no legal organ competent to
try former President of Chad, Hissen Habre, it is still of the opinion that he
must be tried by Africans.

You will recall that at its Khartoum Assembly in January, the AU decided to
establish a "Committee of Eminent African Jurists" to advise the Banjul
Assembly on how to respond to the Senegalese request. The Assembly in Banjul
accepted the recommendations of the Jurists that Habre should be tried in the
Senegalese courts, by virtue of, amongst others, it obligations as signatory
under the UN Convention Against Torture.

In his weekly letter, President Mbeki said this decision "unequivocally
demonstrates the determination of the African continent to ensure that our
peoples should never again fall victim to tyranny and the denial or violation
of their human rights."

"To emphasise this point, 11 judges of the African Court on Human and
People's Rights were sworn in during the Banjul Assembly. We are proud that one
of our Judges-President, the Hon. Bernard Ngoepe, was also chosen to serve as
one of the 11 judges."

Gender issues

As you are aware, the AU took a decision to achieve 50% gender parity and to
mainstream gender issues in all its programmes. As a country we are supportive
of this endeavour and we are encouraged by the positive direction that many
countries in the continent are taking in this regard.

The Council decided that the Commission and Member States should continue to
be closely associated with and lend support to consultations aimed at
revitalising the Pan-African Women's Organisation (PAWO). The Chairperson of
the Commission was requested to continue to strengthen the capacity of the
Commission to integrate women and gender issues into all the policies,
programmes and activities of the AU.

This decision, together with the directive for concrete action, are positive
steps in the empowerment of women to take up roles in decision making
structures.

Health issues

According to UNAIDS, Sub-Saharan Africa is estimated to have just over 10%
of the world’s population, but is home to more than 60% of all people living
with HIV - around 25.8 million. Naturally, this is a cause for great concern
for us in the region as it affects our human capital, which is essential in
ensuring that we are able to implement our country's and our continent's
development programme, as well as to meet the Millennium Development Goals by
the 2015 target.

The Assembly welcomed the Common African Position at the UN General Assembly
High Level meeting on AIDS and reaffirmed the Abuja Declaration and Plan of
Action on HIV and AIDS, Tuberculosis and Other Related Infectious Diseases. It
noted with concern again the funding gap for scaling up towards universal
access to comprehensive and sustained services to fight HIV and AIDS. It called
upon Member States to implement the commitments contained in the Common
Position through an integrated, multi-sectoral approach aimed at attaining the
targets specified in the Common Position.

Development Partners were requested to honour their pledges to make
available technical, material and financial support and for the Commission to
co-ordinate and follow-up on the implementation of the Common Position and to
report annually to the Assembly.

The Commission was requested to launch, in collaboration with the Conference
of Ministers of Health, a renewed campaign for the eradication of Malaria.

Migration in Africa

The African Common Position on Migration and Development was endorsed by the
Executive Council and will form the basis of Africa's intervention at the UN
High-Level Dialogue on International Migration and Development, scheduled for
September 2006.

The Assembly endorsed the African Common Position on Migration and
Development and urged Member States to implement the Common Position. It urged
the AU and EU to expedite dialogue towards convening the second African-EU
Summit.

The idea is to move towards a phased approach, starting with the removal of
visa requirements for Heads of State, Ministers and government officials
(diplomats), within the African continent.

A united Africa

In terms of the decision of the January 2006 Summit, the "Committee of Seven
Heads of State and Government" was requested to submit a consolidated document
with a "roadmap" for the creation of an African Union Government to the July
2006 Summit.

In accordance with this mandate a series of workshops were organised,
forming the basis of a draft document entitled a "Study on an African Union
Government". The document suggests a "road map" with particular timeframes for
the establishment of a Union Government.

The Assembly referred the matter back to the Executive Council for closer
examination, since it contains far-reaching implications and the proposals
contained therein will require processes of domestic consultation and
evaluation involving both organs of State as well as civil society.

United Nations reform

It is by now historical fact that the outcomes of the 60th session of the
United Nations General Assembly were a disappointment to many of us. We will
however, consistently assert the importance of multilateralism and the urgent
need to revitalise and reform the UN. We also consistently call for more
equitable representation of Africa and other developing regions and for the
adoption of more just and transparent rules and procedures.

The Committee of Ten Heads of State and Government were mandated at the
Khartoum Summit in January 2006 to continue consultations with the
international community to promote and support the Ezulwini Consensus and the
Sirte Declaration, held as the Common African Position on Reform of the UN. The
Banjul Summit maintained agreement on Ezulwini and the Sirte Declaration as the
basis for an African Common position.

The 10 Heads of state were requested to continue with consultations, and
report to the next Summit.

On the other hand we are encouraged that progress has been recorded in
establishing the Human Rights Council and the Peace Building Commission and the
election of members to these bodies has been concluded. Africa was allocated 13
seats in the Human Rights Council and 7 in the Peace Building Commission. In
the forthcoming months increased focus will be on the outstanding items on the
reform agenda, particularly the Security Council Reform, Management Reform,
Revitalising the General Assembly and follow-up of the 2005 World Summit
decisions and developments.

NEPAD

The Assembly noted the report presented by President Obasanjo, as Chair of
the Heads of State and Government Implementation Committee, on the progress
made in the implementation of NEPAD and the challenges facing the
programme.

The key areas that the NEPAD Steering Committee and Secretariat focused on
during the period under review included:

* Advocacy and promotion of NEPAD, both in Africa and internationally.
* The African Fertiliser Summit held in Abuja, Nigeria, on 13 June 2006,
produced a twelve-point resolution intended to make fertilisers more
accessible, affordable and effective in improving agricultural production in
Africa.
* The Investment Climate Facility was launched on 1 June 2006, in Cape
Town.
* The 6th Meeting of the Africa Partnership Forum focussed and agreed on Joint
Actions between Africa and its Partners in the areas of Agriculture and Food
Security, Infrastructure and HIV/AIDS.
* Contacts were made by the NEPAD Secretariat with the Russian 2006 G8
Presidency and the German 2007 Presidency to urge that the African development
agenda be retained as a key focus at forthcoming G8 Summits.

Regarding the Integration of NEPAD into the Structure and the Processes of
the AU, the Assembly decided:

* to take note of the Report of the Chairperson of the NEPAD Heads of State
and Government Implementation Committee
* to extend the deadline of three years set in Maputo in July 2003, to January
2007, that is, an additional period of six months
* to set up a small Committee comprising the Chairman of the Union, the
Chairperson of the African Union Commission, the Chairman of the HSGIC and
President Mbeki to:

* finalise the proposal on the integration of NEPAD into the AU structure
and processes
* conduct an evaluation of NEPAD at its current stage
* propose a realignment of NEPAD to its original objectives, mandate and
philosophy
* requested the Committee to report to the Assembly at its next ordinary
session in January 2007.

African Peer Review Mechanism

As you are aware, we recently submitted our Peer Review Report in
preparation for our own review.

The APR Forum agreed to meet and conduct in depth discussions on key issues
of common application and areas of specific support arising from the Reports of
Ghana, Rwanda and Kenya at the occasion of the NEPAD HSGIC/Brainstorming Summit
scheduled for Abuja at the end of October/early November. Participating
countries should examine how to support the reviewed countries in terms of
areas of weakness specific to the countries in question and to discuss key
issues emerging from the reviews that are of relevance to many other African
countries. As a first step in this regard, there should be a discussion around
the issue of building national unity/consensus and managing diversity in a
country.

In addition to the decisions taken by the Executive Council and Assembly,
the Summit also made the following declarations:

* The Declaration in UNCTAD (United Nations Conference on Trade and
Development) and UNIDO (United Nations Industrial Development Organisation)
which was made on the basis of recommendations emanating from the Fourth
Ministerial Meeting of African Ministers of Trade who were concerned about the
possible marginalisation of UNCTAD and UNIDO.

* The Declaration on the Situation in Somalia, which expresses great concern
that increased instability in the region would have far reaching consequences
on the peace process in that country and security and stability of the region
as a whole.

The Assembly therefore adopted a declaration confirming its full support for
the Transitional Federal Institutions of Somalia, particularly the Transitional
Federal Government (TFG) as the legitimate Government of Somalia. It appealed
to all stakeholders to follow the path of dialogue and welcomed the preliminary
agreement reached between the TFG and the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) under
the auspices of the League of Arab States.

The Declaration on the 25th Anniversary of the African Charter on Human and
People's Rights

The Summit celebrated the 25th Anniversary of the adoption of the Charter
and expressed great satisfaction at the positive contribution it has made in
promoting and protecting human rights in Africa and noting that it has
contributed to the development of human rights norms. All Member States have
ratified this Charter.

The Declaration of the 9th Ordinary Session of the Executive Council of the
African Union on the Situation in Palestine, which expresses solidarity and
support of the Palestinian people in the struggle for liberation.

World Cup - 2010

As you are aware, South Africa will be hosting the FIFA World Cup in 2010.
There has been a lot of speculation about our state of readiness. Let me assure
you that we are quite ready and the continent is behind us.

The Summit endorsed South Africa as the host for the 2010 World Cup and
declared their support for this endeavour. In this regard, next year has been
declared the Year of Football in Africa and Mr. Sepp Blatter will be invited to
address the January Summit of the AU.

In conclusion, I would like to thank you all for coming at such notice and
hope that this briefing was useful.

I will now open the floor for questions and comments and Ambassador Duarte
will assist me in responding to some of them.

Thank you.

Issued by: Department of Foreign Affairs
14 July 2006