Pan-African Parliament Hansard Report, Second Session of the Third Parliament
Monday, 6 May, 2013
THE PRESIDENT:Please, be seated.
COMMUNICATION FROM THE CHAIR
Your Excellencies, members of the Bureau of the Pan-African Parliament, Your Excellencies, members of the diplomatic corps, my distinguished honourable colleagues, Members of the Pan-African Parliament, our special and honoured invited guests, distinguished ladies and gentlemen, let me on behalf of the Bureau and Members of the Pan-African Parliament, welcome very warmly, each and every one of you to the official opening ceremony of the 2nd Ordinary Session of the 3rd Parliament.Your presence here today with us clearly demonstrates your commitment to the growth and continued vitality of our noble parliamentary institution, and I thank you for coming.My dear honourable colleagues, as we approach this session with renewed enthusiasm and commitment in continuing the work that we began eight years ago in Addis Ababa, when this Parliament was first opened and we, as Parliamentarians, are bestowed with the responsibility of working towards revitalising and reinvigorating our institution for the effective execution of our mandate on behalf of the people of Africa.Honourable colleagues, in this session, we have carefully identified strategic issues for our deliberation which are reflected on the substance of the topics contained in the agenda for the session and I am confident that we will, as usual, employ the same zeal and enthusiasm as has been demonstrated in the past in achieving a fruitful deliberation on issues and challenges facing our continent.The Pan-African Parliament has had to deal with many issues since our last gathering in October 2012. Tomorrow, I will highlight some of the progress we have made and report on the state of our Parliament with deep insights on activities undertaken by this Parliament since then.Without preempting my activity report for tomorrow, permit me honourable colleagues, to briefly summarise some of the critical encounters by our Parliament that I believe have moved us closer to our goal of strengthening our major objectives. We have continued to pursue with vigour, the transformation of our Parliament and the approval of our mandate protocol to endear our Parliament with additional legislative functions. We have made substantial progress through enhanced advocacy but there is still a lot more that we need to do collectively as a Parliament.Earlier this year, and in collaboration with the UNDP, we hosted the African Thematic Constitutional Governors and Post 2015 Development Agenda aimed at finding practical solutions that will redress the underlying challenges to the attainment of MDGs in our dear continent. Factors such as gender imbalance, economic development, peace, security, marginalisation and disempowerment of our youths were some of the many subjects that experts deliberated on.The goal was to seek meaningful ways of achieving sustainable development, accountability in governance and the consolidation of democracy on our continent.Honourable colleagues, I have received the report from the Clerk of Parliament and we are waiting for communication from the Speaker of the Shoura Council of the Arab Republic of Egypt stating that the Egyptian Peoples’ Council has been dissolved and for the time being, the Shoura Council is now considered as the only elected Parliament in Egypt.In this connection and in accordance with our Rules of Procedure, Rule 8 (e) of the Rules of Procedure provides that the seat of a member shall become vacant if he or she ceases to be a member of the national Parliament or the deliberative organ.And by this implication, our colleague, hon. Moustafa El Gendy, who at all material times was the Second Vice-President of the Pan-African Parliament, no longer being a member of a constitutive or legislative body in his home country, no longer can hold the Office of the Second Vice-President.Pursuant to the foregoing and in accordance with rules 85 of our Rules of Procedure, I formally declare the position of Second Vice-President of Pan-African Parliament vacant. The Clerk of Parliament will announce the order for elections for replacement.Honourable colleagues, I implore you to approach this new Parliament with renewed zeal and determination and together, we shall continue to build a parliamentary institution that we can all be proud of.At this session, we are honoured with the esteem presence of highly distinguished dignitaries; His Excellency John Dramani Mahama, the President of the Republic of Ghana, Her Excellency Dr Nkosazana Zuma, the Chairperson of the African Union Commission and in the last week, we shall also be honoured with the presence of the President of the European Parliament amongst many other high profile dignitaries, Speakers of national Parliaments and delegations from Russia, Mexico and from across the globe.Let me on behalf of members of this Parliament, warmly welcome these delegations and let you know, our honoured guest, that we are truly delighted to have you in our midst.Honourable colleagues, we will also be having for the first time in our Parliament, Members of Parliament from the Republic of Ivory Coast and the Democratic Republic of Congo. We also warmly welcome them to join our Parliament (Applause). I wish them the very best of endeavours as they join us to work for the people of Africa.Dear honourable colleagues, on this note, I hereby declare open the 2nd Ordinary Session of the 3rd Parliament of the Pan-African Parliament, I thank you. May God bless you all.(Applause)
ADMINISTRATION OF OATH
The following members were sworn in:-GhanaHon. Ebo Barton-OdroHon. Mohammed-Mubarak MuntakaHon. Juliana Azumah-MensahHon. Dominic A. B. NitiwulHon. Elizabeth AgyemanKingdom of LesothoHon. Mancholu MolemohiHon. Maliehe Prince MalieheHon. Tsepo MonethiHon. Thabang Linus KholumoHon. Thulo Tsoeu MahlakengDjiboutiHon. Mohamed Abdoulkader MohamedHon. Safia Elmi DjibrilHon. Mohamed Ali FouliehHon. Hasna Houmed BilalHon. Abdo Sikieh DiriehCote D’ivoireHon BOHUE MartinHon. Bakary OUATTARAHon. AKE Camille Epouse AKOUNHon. KONE DongonHon. TOURE DaoudaDemocratic Republic of the CongoHon. Ignace NDEBO AKANDAHon. Aubin NGONGO LUWOWOSierra LeoneHon. Bernadette LahaiRwandaHon. Jeanne d’Arc MUKAKALISASudanHon. Elamin Dafalla Gasm ElseedAlgeriaHon. Djamel BourasSahrawi RepublicHon. Sania Ahmed MarhbaZambiaHon. Levy ChabalaCape VerdeHon. Janine Tatiana Santos LélisTHE PRESIDENT:I invite Mr Abrahim Bochokco Lislake representative of the Chairperson of the Economic Social and Cultural Council of the African Union (ECOSAC).I invite Her Excellency, Mrs Catherine Oduple Chairperson of the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights.I invite Dr Issal Chiven the Secretary General and representative of the Chairperson of the Southern African Development Community Parliamentary Forum.I invite the Hon. Mike Kennedy Sebalu representative of the Speaker of the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA)I invite Hon. Uhuru Moiloa the Deputy Speaker of the Gauteng Provincial Legislature of South Africa.I invite the Hon. Simeon Obei Mesa Deputy President of the Regional Parliament of Economic Community of West African Countries(ECOWAS).I invite the Hon. Magrita Florence President of the Committee on African Affairs in the Senate of the Republic of Mexico.Honourable colleagues, it is my honour to invite into the Chamber, His Execellency Hon. James Wani lgga the Speaker of South Sudan.Honourable colleagues, it is also my honour and pleasure to invite the Hon. Fernando dias Piedade dos Santos the Speaker of the National Assembly of Angola.Honourable colleagues, today in the gallery, we have a host of dignitaries and I would like to especially welcome all our dignitaries who are here to witness today’s opening ceremony. Let me especially recognise the presence of the African diplomatic call, ambasadors and high commissioners accredited to the Republic of South Africa from various member states of the African Union in our gallery. Your excellencies, you are especially welcome.Let me also welcome other members of the diplomatic call from other countries who are present in today’s opening ceremony.Let me especially recognise the presence of the Hon. Nua eldine elsad the Vice-President of the Arab Parliament who is also present.We also have leaders of political parties in South Africa. We have His Excellency Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi leader of the Inkaza Freedom Party (IFP). You are welcome, your excellency.We also have General Bantu Holomisa, leader of the United Democratic Movement (UDM).We also have Mr Mfundisi leader of the United Christian Democratic Party (UCDP).Honourable collegues, let me also recognise the presence of my dear wife, my jewel of inesteemable value, lady Mable Amadi.Distinguished hon. Colleagues, it is now my pleasure and honour to invite His Excellency Hon. Ebrahim Ebrahim the Deputy Minister of International Relations and Cooperation of the Republic of South Africa to deliver his message.
MESSAGES OF GOODWILL
HON EBRAHIM [DEPUTY MINISTER OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND CO-OPERATION, SOUTH AFRICA]:Your Excrescency the President Hon Amadi and Honourable members of Parliament from the various Parliaments from African Union Member states presently here, Members of the Diplomatic corps, distiquished guests, Ladies and genthemen. Good morning, bonsour asalamalikun.On the behalf of South Africa Government to welcome well all to our country and wish you a successful deliberations of the Second Ordinary Session of the Third Parliament. We are later told that His Excellency The President, John Dramani, the President of Ghana as we are aware he is not new to this chamber as he was once a honourable Member of this body and contributed immensely in the work of Pan African Parliament.Mr President, as a South African government, we have followed the Debates of this house very closely and this has impacted positively in finding solutions to the problems affecting Africa. It is our hope that the Pan-African Parliament will contribute to fight for space within the African Union family. As it will present a very formidable constituency and it is bigger than an ordinary persons that can find a voice in Africa.We have followed closely the fact finding missions such as to Mali, sudan and South Sudan. As Members of Africa union, we welcomed these missions and encouraged various sub-Committees of the Pan-African Parliament to undertake more of these.Mr President and Honourable Members, South Africa continues to support the transformation of South African Parliament from the advisory to a legislative body but we also believed that the consultation process decided upon by the assembly of the African Union must indeed take place while this process of consultation continues Pan African Parliament should continue to grow and influence its advisory status.Mr President Anniversary of the UN and African Union is indeed an occasion to celebrate, we joined the other African countries in providing a tribute to our continental organization. Among envisaged national activities is the Lecture to be delivered by President Zuma at selected universities across the country under the theme "Pan Africanism and Africa renaissance" We may cease the opportunity presented by these celebrations to popularize the flag and anthem of the African Union among our people. our National Parliaments have also developed its own programmes. A special commemorative activities is scheduled for next month. These activities will involve some of our civil societies such as the Media, Ngos and Academia. On the 9th of August, South African women’s will be organized to highlight the significant roles that women play within the frame work of the golden jubilee of Pan African Women organization.Mr President the survival of our organization is also a moment of reflection of what we have travelled since our independence. One thing that is clear is the two objectives we had on the inception of the OAU fifty years ago was mainly African unity and decolonization has for the most parts been achieved.What is left for us is to consolidate our unity and to strengthened continental institutions such Pan African Parliament. As we celebrate the success of OAU /AU we should recollect that our brothers and sisters in saharare Arab Democratic Republic still suffers from occupation.Mr President, the celebration of the golden jubilee of our union is the beginning of another journey for the next fifty years unto 200063. This is the journey we our self must undertake building on the legacy which we inherited from the fore bearers of pan Africanism. We have a duty to pass to future generation a legacy as rich as that inherited from those who came before us. The success of our generation would be measured by the extent by which we overcome challenges of peace and security on the continent as well as underdevelopment, poverty, inequality and strengthen Democracy and good governance.Mr President, this is the task given to us by history a task that will define our generation. As South Africa we are ready to contribute to build up better Africa and a better world, continental and international solidarity and the transformation of building government institutions. We are grateful that our country is chosen for this organ of African Union. To this end we will continue to discharge our responsibility in this regard.In Conclusion, Mr President allow me to reiterate our government wishes for hosting your successful session and it is our hope that Honourable members will have the necessary energy and zeal to fully participate in the two weeks long activities. The African people are looking up to you to continue to fly the African union flag high towards the reinesssance of our continent.THE PRESIDENT:Thank you very much you Excellency, hon Ebrahim Ebrahim, Deputy Minister of International Relations and Co-operation of the Republic of South Africa, hon members, it is now my pleasure to invite the Head of an institution that has provided support to our Parliament over the past six years in capacity building and in funding of many our programmes.DR. FRANNIE LEAUTIER [EXECUTIVE SECRETARY OF AFRICAN CAPACITY BUILDING FOUNDATION]:His Excellency, President of the Pan-African Parliament, Hon Bethel Amadi,Hon Members of Pan-African Parliament from countries of the African Union,Members of the Diplomatic Corps,Distinguished Guests,Ladies and Gentlemen,The Pan-African Parliament is one of the organs of the African Union. It is charged with the task of representation of the African people and providing parliamentary oversight on the effective implementation of the policies and objectives of the African Union to ensure accountability and compliance with the objectives of the Treaty establishing the African Union.Indeed, this role has been exhibited by the swearing ceremony we witnessed this morning of the new Members. The Pan-African Parliament provides a platform for peoples of Africa to be engaged and participate through their representatives in the liberations and decision making on issues that affect their wellbeing.Fostering the full participation of the African peoples in the development and economic integration of the continent is a key mandate of the Pan-African Parliament. It is one of the three arms of Government at the national level. The legislature is a key player in the development architecture through the responsibilities for law-making, oversight and representative functions, more so, at the regional and continental levels where Parliaments are active players in the development and implementation of policies and laws, that directly impact the development process and by extension the ordinary citizens.Our continent, Africa, is home to a large reservoir of natural resources that are essential inputs for growth and development. However, fledgling and weak political, economic, and social environments continue to hinder effective transformation o this resource to support development. Limitations persist in the knowledge, skills and technology necessary to transform the natural resources into material resources for developing the continent.To realize the full potential of its resource-base, the continent needs to make substantial investment in building and developing appropriate capacity to champion the development process within a transparent and accountable governance environment.The mandate of the African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF) is to build human and institutional capacity for sustainable growth and poverty reduction in Africa with the key focus on building effective institutions and supporting accountable governments. The Pan-African Parliament is a key stakeholder in achieving accountable governments in the African continent. ACBF’s commitment to enhancing transparent and accountable governments extends to Pan-African Parliament and beyond Pan-African Parliament to other regional and national legislative institutions as well. And I am very happy to see the leadership from the SADC Parliamentary Forum, East African Legislative Assemblies and other regional bodies represented here.In recognition of the key role of the Pan-African Parliament to the continent’s development agenda and integration process and the need for Pan-African Parliament to be appropriately empowered to deliver on its mandate the ACBF in 2006 pioneered with the Pan-African Parliament to strengthen its intuitional capacity to enable it undertake its representation, oversight and legislative functions. Over the years, the partnership has registered significant achievement in a number of areas. Mr. President let me note a few.First, strengthening the functioning of Committees through workshops and training activities, aimed at enhancing the knowledge and skills of Committee Members and Members of Parliament, focusing on issues pertinent to the development discourse on the continent.Second, committee operations have also been enhanced through support from the research team to the Bureau of Committees.Third, enhancing the visibility of the Pan-African Parliament by supporting the communications department with media equipment to facilitate effective discharge of its duties.Fourth, the capacity of the library has also been enhanced through acquisition of library materials and development of the e-library functionality.And finally, showing experiences and ideas and generally networking with other development players. And I am very pleased to see also the Parliament of Mexico represented here and those guests who came from Parliaments of the Arab world.The achievement outlined above, notwithstanding, capacity development for the Legislature on the continent and the Pan-African Parliament in particularly has skill gaps. Legislative deliberation and the conduct of business by Parliaments on the continent still requires enhanced research and adequately resourced legislative framework and structures for effective delivery of their mandates.With the continent’s integration process gathering momentum, the role of the west in continental institutions like the African Union Commission and the Pan-African Parliament are key building blocks of the integration framework. This cannot be over emphasized. Quoting from the remarks of His Excellency, President Kagame of Rwanda, while opening the session of the East African Legislative Assembly sitting in Kigali in mid-April this year, he said:"Regional Integration will boost the continent’s ability to stand for its right and exploit its full economic potential."Institutions, like the Pan-African Parliament, are expected to play a leading role in creating and fostering and enabling environment for the integration process as well as sustainable development. The ACBF is committed and pledges unwavering support to initiatives focusing on enhancing development on the continent and pledges to continue working hand-in-hand with institutions critical to sustaining African development drive.Against this background, Mr. President, the ACBF salutes and stands in solidarity with the Pan-African Parliament in its quest to foster accountability, transparent governance and participation of citizenry in the continent’s development agenda.In conclusion, Mr. President, and I would say this in my native language. Nawashukuru sana Waheshimiwa Wabunge wa Bunge la Afrika. Nawatakia kila la kheri katika mashauri yenu. Ahsanteni sana.(Makofi)THE PRESIDENT:I thank you very much, the Executive Secretary of the ACBF, a strong partner for the Pan-African Parliament. May I now invite Mr Abraham Boichoko, the representative of the Chairperson of the Economic Social and Cultural Council of the African Union (ECOSOCC).(Applause)MR. ABRAHAM BOICHOKO DITHLAKE [ECOSSOC]:Hon. President of the Pan-African Parliament (PAP), His Excellency Bethel Amadi, hon. Members of the Bureau, hon. Members of the PAP present today, your Excellencies, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen.On behalf of the Economic, Social and Cultural Council of the African Union, it is indeed an esteemed honour for us to be here today for the Seventh Session of the Legislature of the Third Pan African Parliament. This is the year of the 50th Anniversary of the Organisation of the African Unity (OAU). It is within this sense of great humility and dissipation and hope that I stand here before you today as a representative of ECOSAC. The theme of the summit which is ‘Pan-Africanism, an African Renaissance’ cannot be more than befitting.Your Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, the very existence of this August body signifies the progress we have made on the continent since the demise of former colonialism and apartheid. Our great leaders such as Ago Amento, Ahmed Ben Bella, Julius Nyerere, Jomo Kenyatta Amilcar Cabral, Patrice Lumumba, Oliver Tambo, Nelson Mandela and many others would arguably take great pride in the existence and function of this House.These were visionary and selfless leaders, on whose shoulders we stand here today as we navigate the future of our motherland, a great continent at peace with itself and with others. A continent without hunger and poverty, a continent with dignified and proud citizens. Ladies and gentlemen, this is a dream that has remained deferred. It is a dream that African parliamentarians and all the elected representatives of our people must make sure that they achieve and make a reality. I am very certain and confident that we who are sitting here collectively appreciate this responsibility to its full extent, and we are indeed ready and have been ready for the past nearly ten years as Pan-African Parliamentarians.Ladies and gentlemen, when the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) was formed in 1963, it aimed to foster and encourage cooperation in solidarity with newly independent African countries and advance the fight against the remaining vestiges of colonialism, imperialism and apartheid. Today, one of the youngest democracies in Africa is nearly 20 years old and plays host to the Pan-African Parliament today in South Africa. This PAP is a beacon to the world which shows that the initial objective of the OAU has indeed been attained. The challenge that remains today for both the African Union (AU) and its executive leadership is to accomplish the mission bestowed on them by the visionary and selfless leadership that steered the OAU to achieve its historical objective of liberating the continent.It is almost ten years since the PAP came into being. Established in March, 2004 through Article 17 of the Constitution of the African Union. The PAP is one of the nine organs envisioned in the treaty establishing the African Economic Community which was signed in Abuja, Nigeria in 1991. It is in this context, ladies and gentlemen, that the establishment of the PAP was and remains aimed at conferring a common and united space for the people of Africa to express their desire and vision of a post-colonial Africa, to shape and harness their collective energy, capacity and aspirations towards a democratically shaped future. This vision was correctly understood to guarantee the participation of citizens and their contribution in our continental dialogue and decision making. It was understood that we would share and own our problems and challenges facing the continent. This is the dream that remains unfulfilled because our PAP remains unauthorised to fulfill its historic mandate. This mandate is that of ensuring that Africans contribute and participate through their elected representatives in the process of development of our continent. The objectives of the PAP, like all other organs of the African Union, need to be strengthened, resolved and empowered so that the PAP can play its historic and future responsibility in taking the AU to the people and making their dreams real and tangible.Esteemed ladies and gentlemen, there is a growing sense that these important institutions of our continent which have the noble vision of bringing hope to Africans remain chained and throttled. In a sense, there is consternation to the extent in which doubt is beginning is to paralyse our dream for a better AU. Our leadership must accelerate the empowerment of these institutions so that they can play their roles. Our leadership must accelerate the momentum towards resolving shared problems, challenges and finding solutions. Our leaders cannot continue on the current path. They must take citizens and their democratically elected representatives and institutions into their confidence and trust, in their patriotic commitment to the development and defense of our continent.The PAP is a very important and critical institution of our continent which is positioned to bridge the divide between the rulers and the governed. I cannot think of any other institution that is democratically attuned to link and counter balance the interests of the people of Africa, than the PAP is. Together with ECOSAC, the PAP can both represent the democratic aspirations of the citizens and collectively ensure the sustenance and protection of other significant organs of our AU in order for them to fulfill their respective mandates. It cannot be, and it should not have been, that the executive alone, remains as the jury, legislator and implementer at the same time. Our challenges, ladies and gentlemen are so many. Challenges from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to the Central African Republic and many others require the collective effort and unity of all the citizens of our continent so that we share our common budding and shape our collective future. We must share these challenges in finding the solutions. As ECOSAC, we suppose that the very reason why these organs of the OAU were formed was to precisely ensure a shared responsibility in the future of our continent. As ECOSAC, and in particular as a Deputy Presiding Officer for ECOSAC in Southern Africa, I have considered most of these challenges and because I believe in the African Union’s 2025 Agenda of the Regional Economic Community United in Action. To this extent, I believe that a parliament is a very important lever of ensuring the democratic essence of our new Africa. To this extent, the strength unity, and capacity of the regional economic communities cannot be overemphasized. Together, they can build a strong PAP which will respond to and resonate with the aspiration of the citizens of our continent.To this extent, I am of the view that we cannot extend and delay further, the ability of the PAP to be empowered to indeed take on board the needs, fears, and hopes of our citizens. To this extent, we in Southern Africa as part of ECOSAC have resolved that we will petition our leaders to ensure that there is indeed a permanent parliament on our shore precisely because we believe that the strength and capacity of the PAP depends by and large, on the strength of the regional economic community’s parliaments. We will therefore be calling for citizens of our region and our continent to support the call for a strong PAP in line with our experience of the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA).Ladies and gentlemen, our collective destiny demands action from all of us. We must transform the PAP into a fully fledged Parliament and to this extent, we must mobilize our people and citizens to ensure that we all move together. This represents the Africa we want and the Africa we need which will be enhanced and nourished by a strong Parliament on our continent.I thank you, Sir.DR CATHERINE DUPE ATOKI [CHAIRPERSON AFRICAN COMMISSION ON HUMAN AND PEOPLE’S RIGHTS]:His Excellency, the President of the Pan-African Parliament, hon Bethal Amadi, hon members of the Pan-African Parliament, Your Excellencies, Members of the Diplomatic Corps, distinguished ladies and gentlemen, allow me today to bring you greetings and best wishes from the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights, the foremost African Union organ mandated to permit and protect the rights in the continent. I want to express my appreciation to the President and other hon members of the Pan-African Parliament for inviting me to make a remark at the ceremony of this Second Ordinary Session of the Third Legislative Pan-African Parliament.This session is taking place at a very special moment where we begin the celebration of the Golden Jubilee of the African Organisation of African Unity, namely the African Union under the theme of Pan-Africanism and African Renaissance.Also not to learn from me, the Pan-African Parliament would be celebrating its third anniversary in 2014. As you may recall, the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights celebrated its 25th anniversary last year in October 2012. These celebrations demonstrate that the African Union and its organs are gradually coming of age.Your Excellencies, distinguished members, Africa, our beloved continent, has come a long way in its fight against colonialism, foreign domination and subjugation. Our founding fathers did it with utmost dedication and today we are beneficiaries of our own binding resolve to take our destinies into our own hands. Dr Kwame Nkrumah, a visionary Pan-Africanist and staunch advocate of African unity once stated and I quote:We all want a United Africa. United not only in our concept of what unity connotes, but united in our common desire to move forward together in dealing with all the problems that can best be solved only on a continental basis.Your Excellencies, distinguished ladies and gentlemen, indeed, united we are. Free from colonialism we are. But 50 years on, our continent still grapples with challenges of economic integration and social development. Gross violations of human rights resulting from conflicts, election violations, and unconstitutional change of government, and more worrisome, from actual disregard by African governments of the various provisions designed to protect the human rights of our citizens.While the endemic violations of human rights on the continent cannot be attributed to lack of appropriate legislation, there remains a number of legislative lacuna to which the Pan-African Parliament is well-situated to address, by its mandate.The Mandate of the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights includes recommendations for the amendment of local legislations by member states where necessary in ensuring the promotion and protection of human rights in the continent. The Pan-African Parliament as well as the people-centered institution of the African Union has an important and central role to play in this regard by ensuring that the African continent enacts legislature decisions that attend to the peculiar African challenges, whilst complying with international human rights standards.Your Excellencies, distinguish ladies and gentlemen, the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights therefore supports the actualization of this mandate and calls on the policy organ of the African Union to intensify the process of granting full legislative powers to the Pan-African Parliament as contemplated in its inaugural laws.The African Commission recognises that the permission and protection of human rights remain a collective responsibility. It is without regret that I welcome the collective co-operation initiated between the Pan-African Parliament, the African Commission and also other African Union organs and I hope that this relationship will be strengthened and sustained.While we recognise efforts, through policy, made by the African Union to empower the African Union organs for an effective discharge of their respective mandates, a myriad of challenges still remains that continues to affect the effectiveness of these institutions. I therefore use this opportunity to call on the African Union to ensure effective sustenance of its organs through adequate funding and political will.In conclusion, let me restate the African Commission’s steadfast commitments to working with all the other organs of the African Union, particularly the Pan-African Parliament in the promotion and defense of human rights, transparency, good governance and accountability, as we move towards the realization of the common purpose and destiny as Africans. I wish you success in your deliberation during this session and hope that the discussions will enhance the effort of the PAP in providing a platform for African People to be more involved in discussions and decision-making on the challenges and problems affecting our continent. I thank you very much for your attention. [Applause.]THE PRESIDENT:Thank you, very much, Your Excellency, may I now invite Dr Esau Chiviya, Secretary-General Reprehensive of the Chairperson of the SADC Parliamentary Forum.DR ESAU CHIVIYA [SECRETARY GENERAL, REPRESENTATIVE OF THE CHAIRPERSON OF SADC PARLIAMENTARY FORUM]:The director of ceremony, the President and Vice-Presidents of the Pan-African Parliament, hon. Members of the Pan-African Parliament, members of the diplomatic corps, the Clerk of the Pan-African Parliament, invited guests, distinguished ladies and gentlemen.I stand before you on behalf of the SADC Parliamentary Forum Chairperson, hon. Ameen Peeroo, the Speaker of the National Assembly of Mauritius to deliver his message of solidarity and good will.Due to other pressing parliamentary commitments in Mauritius that require his presence, he is unable to personally attend the opening ceremony of this 2nd Ordinary Cession of the 3rd Legislature of the Pan-African Parliament. He has therefore requested me to represent him at this opening ceremony and deliver his message of good will and solidarity. Here is a verbatim presentation of his message.I feel greatly honoured to have been invited to attend the opening ceremony of the 2nd Ordinary Session of 3rd Legislature of the Pan-African Parliament and at the same time, requested to deliver a message of good will and solidarity to this august gathering.Your Excellency, the President of PAP and distinguished guests, the SADC Parliamentary Forum is proud to be associated with the Pan-African Parliament. As a forum, we fully appreciate the important role that the Pan-African Parliament plays in ensuring popular participation in the democratic and governance process of our continent.It is in this respect that the SADC Parliamentary Forum fully supports the transformation of the Pan-African Parliament into a fully fledged continental legislative body. The transformation of the Pan-African Parliament into a legislative body will be another important step in ensuring the strengthening of institutional structures that will make it possible for the people of Africa and their elected representatives to meaningfully participate in continental, social, cultural, political and economic development for the benefit of the African continent.Your Excellency, the President of PAP, distinguished guests, looking at our continent today, one cannot help it but see the ever widening gap between the many decisions that have been made at various levels of governance structures and the agonisingly slow pace of implementation of these decisions. For instance, if one was to look at the piling number of protocols and other instruments that the African Union has passed but remain in the selves of the African Commission gathering dust without ratification, domestication and implementation by member states, it is clear that there is a yawning monitoring and follow up gap at continental level.The transformation of the Pan-African Parliament into a continental and legislative body will go a long way in responding to this gap as this would better position PAP to effectively monitor and incase of implementation of all decisions of the AU by member states through regional and national Parliaments.As clearly stated in Article 3, Section 9 establishing PAP, one of its objectives is to facilitate cooperation among regional economic communities and their parliamentary fora. Article 11 Section 7 of the same protocol further provides that one of the functions of PAP is to promote the coordination and harmonisation of policies, measures, programmes and activities of the regional economic communities in the parliamentary fora of Africa.Further, Article 18 states that the PAP shall work in close cooperation with the Parliaments of regional economic communities and the national Parliaments or other deliberative organs of member states. It is worth pointing out at this point, Your Excellency, that of the five regions of Africa, only the SADC Region does not have a regional Parliament.By creating a platform for the mutual cooperation with regional economic communities, the Pan-African Parliament in furthering popular participation in public policy formulation, implementation and debate through the involvement of Parliamentarians as the elected representatives of the people of Africa.The transformation of the Pan-African Parliament into a legislative body will full legislative powers will further entrench popular participation in the continent’s governance process thereby deepening Africa’s democracy.Allow me, Your Excellency, to say something on towards a SADC Regional Parliament. Distinguished delegates, allow me to let you know that the Pan-African Parliament is not alone in its endevour to be transformed into a legislative body. The SADC Parliamentary Forum is also working towards achieving the same objective. I am delighted to inform this high powered gathering that there is growing consensus amongst stakeholders in SADC on the aim to establish a regional Parliament.Stakeholders across the spectrum believe that a SADC Regional Parliament is the missing link in the current regional integration mix. There is convergence with regards to the effect that a SADC Regional Parliament will scale up the integration agenda by providing a parliamentary mechanism to debate and inform us as SADC on the popular views on the development and other issues affecting SADC.As the SADC Parliamentary Forum, we strongly believe that the establishment of a SADC Regional Parliament would be a great asset to both the Pan-African Parliament and indeed the SADC community. In your contacts with relevant SADC authorities and structures, a lot of support for SADC Regional Parliament would contribute towards the attainment of this goal and will be greatly appreciated.I wish you distinguished delegates fruitful deliberations.I thank you.(Applause)THE PRESIDENT:I thank you, very much.May I now invite the Hon. Mike Kennedy Sebalu, Representative of the Speaker of EALA Parliament.HON. MIKE KENNEDY SEBALU [REPRESENTATIVE OF THE SPEAKER OF THE EALA PARLIAMENT]:Mr. President of pan African Parliament, before I make my statement to this House, I wish to introduce myself. I am Mike Kennedy Sebalu and I am an African of east African origin. I am proud to be here this morning to address this distinguished House.Mr. President of Pan African Parliament, Your Excellency Bethel Amadi, Members of the Bureau, honourable Members of The Pan African Parliament, Heads of delegation, Members of Diplomatic Corps, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen. I salute all in the name of African unity and solidarity. Furthermore, I wish to extend to you fraternal greetings from the RT Honourable Speaker and Members of East African Legislative Assembly. The speaker sent his personal regards and wishes you an eventful and fruitful session.My presence, therefore, is in honour of your invitation Mr. President, which is a clear testimony of the cordial relations between your Parliament and our Legislative assembly.Mr. President and Honourable Members, I wish to state how gratified and humble I am for the hospitality and the courtesies extended to me since my arrival last evening.Mr. President allow me to take this opportunity to congratulate an alumni of this Parliament upon his election as a President of the Republic of Ghana, His Excellency John Dramani who is the guest of honour on this official opening of the second session of the 3rd Parliament. He deserves a round of Applause for his achievements.Mr. President you too belongs to the category of Pan African Parliament of high achievers. It, therefore, gives me pleasure to congratulate you and your vice-Presidents upon your elections to your various offices of this Parliament.I am here standing for the first time, my congratulations might be belated but it is well deserved.I think It needs a round of applauseI have no doubt that you will be able to steer this great institution to greater heights in fulfillment of the expectation of the Members of this House that voted you into that office.Mr. President, Honourable Members, allow me to congratulate the honourable Members of the Pan African Parliament for having been elected by their respective National Parliaments to represent them in this important continental Parliament. Your Membership to the Pan African Parliament places a great deal of responsibilities to you in terms of representing the aspirations of the entire African continent. You’re indeed the voice of the African people.Mr. President and Honourable Members, this is the third Pan- African Parliament which is preceded by first, the second Parliaments under the Leaderships of Mongella and Hon Idris Delle respectively. I wish therefore the Pan African Parliament and all regional Parliaments from the African Continent enjoying the same status for us to facilitate the integration process proper.It is against this background, therefore that I want to take this opportunity to call upon the summit of Heads of states and governments of AU to support the adoption of the review protocol to give Pan-African Parliament fully Legislative powers.Mr President the best thing we want to see happening to Pan African Parliament is its transformation from the Advisory and consultative Parliament to a continental Parliament with full Legislative powers.That will make Pan-African Parliament role relevant and enhance and its full potentials would be exploited for the benefit of African people.it is indeed in the best interest of the African continent to create a truly continental Parliament.There should not be any excuses in this regard as there is a precedent on the African continent set by the East African community that has a Assembly which is the Legislative arm of the community.Indeed this will provide the bases for Development in Africa.I thank youHON. SIMON OSEI-MENSA [4TH DEPUTY PRESIDENT OF THE REGIONAL PARLIAMENT OF ECOWAS]:Your Excellency, President of the Pan-African Parliament, Hon Bethel Nnaemeka AmadiHon Speakers here present,Members of the Diplomatic CorpsDistinguished Invited Guests,Ladies and GentlemenI bring you warm fraternal felicitations from the Speaker of the ECOWAS Parliament, who is also the Deputy Senate President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria who would have wished to be here himself, but coincidentally the opening ceremony of the 2013 First Ordinary Session of the ECOWAS Parliament is going on simultaneously in Abuja, Nigeria. It is, therefore, an honour and great pleasure for me, as his representative to address you at this all important occasion of the formal opening of the Second Ordinary Session of the Third Legislature of the Pan-African Parliament.Mr. President, the Honourable Speaker of the ECOWAS Parliament as well as the Bureau is, indeed, delighted for the invitation extended to us to attend this ceremony. We wish to thank you most sincerely for the warm reception accorded us since our arrival in this beautiful city of Midrand.Mr. President, the ECOWAS Parliament pledges its commitment towards enhanced cooperation with the Pan-African Parliament. This cooperation has numerous advantages meant for the mutual benefit of both parliamentary institutions. For, although, the Pan-African Parliament is a continental Parliament and ECOWAS Parliament, a regional Parliament, the two bodies share some common legislative issues.Mr. President, currently, both Parliaments are in consultative or advisory status. Again, Members of both Parliaments are elected from the national Parliaments. Mr. President, as a result, these Parliaments are actually not playing the fundamentals of the normal Parliament.Consequently, we believe that, continuous collaboration between our parliamentary bodies will no doubt assist us in sharing knowledge and experiences, learning from each others’ strengths and weaknesses and embarking upon common approaches to important issues that concern our people. I recall that in November 2009, the Pan-African Parliament, in collaboration with the ECOWAS Parliament held a Roundtable Meeting in Abuja. Such joint efforts and initiatives need to be further consolidated, so that together we can get our parliamentary voices heard both within the continent and even beyond.Mr. President, dear colleagues, ECOWAS Parliament since its inauguration in 2000 has not played any traditional role of a Parliament which include, among others, making legislation, oversight, budget approval and vetting of statutory appointees. Similarly, the Pan-African Parliament since its inauguration has had these challenges.During the Opening Session of your Second Legislature, President Jacob Zuma in his Keynote Address said it is time the Pan-African Parliament is given full legislative powers and its Members elected by universal suffrage. Mr. President, I sincerely, associate myself with this statement.In fact, I am of a strong conviction that the time is due, if not overdue, for our continental and regional bodies such as African Union (AU) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to build strong democratic institutions for the promotion of the rule of law, good governance and effective utilisation of resources by ensuring accountability and transparency. These ingredients of democracy are in no doubt fundamental pre-requisites for development, peace, stability as well as the wellbeing of the people we represent.Mr. President, permit me at this juncture, to appreciate your efforts at enhancing the powers of the Pan-African Parliament. We are aware that this Parliament has taken giant strides in that direction. In similar vein, the ECOWAS Parliament is also in the process of getting its powers enhanced.We have undertaken a study and have already produced a draft Supplementary Act. This Act is expected to replace the existing Supplementary Protocol relating to the ECOWAS Parliament. We have embarked on an intensive advocacy at the level of West African Heads of State and Government, Ministers in charge of Foreign Affairs and Integration issues as well as experts from Member States. We have also carried along the leadership of the ECOWAS Commission, especially the President, Vice President and Sectorial Commissioners.We are highly grateful to the Heads of State and Government, Ministers as well as the leadership of the ECOWAS Commission for the cooperation, understanding and support given to our project so far. We are highly optimistic that with the level of support we are receiving, the issue of enhancing the powers of the ECOWAS Parliament is close to being a reality.Mr. President, dear colleagues, the campaign for the enhancement of the Pan-African Parliament, the ECOWAS Parliament and other Regional Parliaments should be viewed seriously. As Members of Parliament who have the privilege of working for improvement in the status of our Parliaments, we must consider ourselves lucky that history has provided us the opportunity to spearhead this transformation. We must bear in mind that we are not the beneficiaries of the end product of the transformation process. We are merely its harbingers.Mr. President, the benefit of enhancement may, therefore, never accrue to us but to those who will come after us and ultimately the people we represent, because their voices will be heard loud and clear since they will have a stronger representation both at the AU and in ECOWAS. The main idea is to deepen the ethos of democracy whose end-result is the betterment of the living conditions of the people. We must therefore, forge ahead with even more determination and vigour so that we can arrive at the "Promised Land."It is on this note that, Mr. President, dear colleagues, I congratulate Members of the Pan-African Parliament on holding this Second Ordinary Session of the Third Legislature and wish you all fruitful and successful deliberation.Thank you.Merci!Obrigado!PRESIDENT [Amadi] Honourable Members, may I now invite the Hon. Magrita Florence, President of the Committee on African Affairs in the Senate of the Republic of Mexico.HON. MAGRITA FLORENCE [VICEPRESIDENTE DE LA CAMARA DE DIPUTADOS DE MEXICO]:-Excelentísimo señor Honorable Bethel Amadi presidente del Parlamento Pan Africano.Honorables miembros del Parlamento Pan Africano Distinguidos invitados.Me es muy grato dirigirme a ustedes en representación del honorable congreso de la unión de mi país México, con un mensaje de amistad y solidaridad en la apertura de la sesión ordinaria del tercer Parlamento Pan Africano.En nombre del presidente de la mesa directiva del senado de la Republica, el senador Ernesto Cordero Arroyo y del presidente de la mesa directiva de la Cámara de Diputados, el diputado Francisco Arroyo Villeda, agradezco la invitación que el honorable presidente Amadi extendiera a ambas cámaras.Este es un momento histórico al ser la primera ocasión en que una delegación Mexicana participa en las sesiones del Parlamento Pan Africano. Confío que sea a penas el inicio de una larga y fructífera relación entre nuestras instituciones.África experimenta una etapa llena de dinamismo y oportunidades. El mundo entero está dirigiendo sus ojos a esta región del mundo, atentos al extraordinario desempeño económico en muchos de sus países durante la última década, a la construcción de instituciones democráticas solidas, así como a sus vibrantes manifestaciones culturales y artísticas.Aplaudimos el gran esfuerzo que han realizado los países Africanos para consolidar sus instituciones regionales. Esfuerzo del que este Parlamento es una de sus más brillantes muestras.Sabemos que gracias a los intercambios que aquí se generan sobre los diferentes temas que atañan a nuestras sociedades se logra armonizar leyes y acercarles mas como pueblos hermanos en busca de mejores condiciones de bienestar mutuo.Si bien es cierto que África afronta desafíos en algunas regiones, la Unión Africana se ha convertido en un factor central para garantizar la paz y estabilidad en el continente.África es un continente rico en recursos naturales, pero sobre todo de una extraordinaria riqueza humana y diversidad cultural.Entre los países Latinoamericanos y Africanos, especialmente en México subsiste una alianza natural al enfrentarnos a retos comunes, como la búsqueda de mejores condiciones de vida, salud, educación para nuestras sociedades, la lucha contra la pobreza y la desigualdad, los retos del cambio climático y la lucha contra el hambre así como la defensa de los intereses de los países en desarrollo en el marco de las instituciones multilaterales.Nuestra participación en esta segunda sesión ordinaria es muestra del interés de México de fortalecer sus relaciones con todos los países del continente Africano. Confío que esta visita sentara las bases para una futura cooperación interparlamentaria que se transforma en acciones concretas en benéfico de nuestros pueblos. También es importante mencionar la coincidencia de que México celebra Veinte años de relaciones bilaterales con Sud África con nuestra presencia en su país en estos momentos y también un gran júbilo por la celebración reciente de su día nacional.Para nosotros, para mí como senadora de la republica es muy importante y es un honor estar compartiendo con los parlamentarios, porque yo soy presidenta de la comisión de relaciones exteriores África.En nombre del Congreso Mexicano hago votos por el éxito de sus deliberaciones y les transmito nuestros más sinceros deseos de bienestar y prosperidad para sus naciones.Muchas Gracias.THE PRESIDENT:I thank you very much Hon. Magrita Florence and the rest of the delegation from Mexico that have honoured us today with your presence.Honourable members, it is my singular honour and pleasure to invite the honourable Speaker of the Republic of South Sudan, His Excellency, James Wani lgga who is here in our midst today. Your Excellency, you have the Floor.JAMES EAGER WANI [NATIONAL SPEAKER OF THE REPUBLIC SOUTH SUDAN]:Mr. President, Honourable members of Pan African Parliament, greetings to all of you. Is a great honour for me and my delegation to have been invited to attend this sitting of the Pan African Parliament which was established when our people were in the fate of their liberation.I am further privileged to convey greetings from Our President and people of South Sudan, As I stand here before you for the first time, I would like to underline that we are also grateful to all African nations and countries and all organizations in other parts of the world Mr. President,Honourable Members in the achievement of Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) in 2005. All through the six years of transition, after the independence of 9 July 2011, we shall continue to press on, and this will inspire us to succeed in our nation building efforts.Your Excellencies, the Pan African Parliament is held at the right time for the right course and the right venue..In the first year of implementation, we were taught that if all the oceans were one what a great sea it would be. If the great Land catches the great Earth to cut down the great trees.What a great thing it will be! This emphasizes unity. Unity of the African Country and the unity of the world Brothers and sisters the newest Republic of South Sudan is here today to catch the great Earth with you.I am sure together we will make a great strive. We must congratulate ourselves on this wisdom and vision in creating this admirable Parliament.Your excellencies the President, Honourable Members, for us in South Sudan our fight for self determination was a long and bitter one. The young Republic of south Sudan seceded long after independence from Britain in 1966. It was characterized by oppression, discrimination and marginalization based on religion and wealth. There was inequality in the distribution of services and exploitation. This resulted to coups, mutiny which generated to civil unrest.This led to violation of Human rights of the marginalized regions such as Darfour, the Blue Nile and Lubber Mountains and Eastern Sudan.Your Excellencies, Honourable Members this devastation ended by signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in Kenya on the 9th July 2005.The CPA contributed to relative peace and ushered in Liberty. On the 9th January 2011, about 98% of South Sudanese voted overwhelmingly for the right to be independent from Sudan.Our Republic was declared independent in 2011, plagued by many challenges as a result of neglect and marginalization compounded by civil wars. Not only that, some of the provisions and protocols of the CPA were not honored.This included Abbey protocol and the border demarcation that were not implemented and that became a source of many quarrels between the two sister countries.Three days ago,Khartoum Militias attacked a UN convoy in Abbey killing one soldier, one prominent Leader from the area. and UN soldiers were wounded.Your Excellencies, we are grateful for the support from the Pan African Union that brought the two sisters to a new understanding in order to resolve the outstanding issues mentioned. The union attempt is largely successful which is headed by one of the prominent sons of this country, Thambo Mbeki.The peaceful co-existence of the two Nations was brought up on the 27September last year and the recent implementation matrix and historic visit of Bashir to Juba last month. The African union, UN and this remarkable Parliament have called for extra efforts on the republic of Sudan to be done according to the matrix and accept the referendum of Abbey according to the recommendation of African union panel.Your Excellency the President, we in South Sudan want maximum durable peace and there is no doubt about this. Our new nation has showed remarkable signs of peace. Internal conflicts are as a result of poverty, underdevelopment and the proliferation of small arms in the hands of civilians.To build a nation we have to address a multiple of problems facing the people of the country including providing basic social services equitably among the different communities in the country. In this context the president has agreed to establish the National reconciliation council to reconcile all groups in the country.The council will not only work to reconcile the warring communities and rebel groups, but all the grievances that occurred during the history of the war.Your Excellency Mr. President, the Republic of South Sudan is joining the community of free and independent nations. This will help to address the challenges associated with nation building. We are joining the rest of you now to learn the experiences from you and cut together to suit our new situation. We are proud and enthusiastic to be a central part of the true African block,. With energy we believe that together, in a determine effort; can make mountains tailored by this Parliament.That is why I agreed with my brother that as a Parliament we need Legislative powers. The business of this Parliament requires a tireless war against poverty. This can meaningfully raise the living standard of the African people with particular emphases on democracy. The principal challenge of Sub Sahara Africa is that economic development is not put in the epicentre of peace agenda. This agenda must start to address the problems faced by the rural areas to begin see the Light of the day that is, the Economic growth. We need to move primary products to a market of exportable secondary products.Any reasonable parliament must create a workable market within the Sub-Saharan African and beyond. Our respective Parliaments and this Parliament must vigorously fight corruption which inhibits any economic development and investment.I thank you.THE PRESIDENT:Thank you your Excellency the Honourable Speaker of the Republic of South Sudan, the youngest member of the AU. We look forward to having members of your Parliament joining us here in the PAP.Honourable members, it is my singular honour and pleasure to invite the Honourable Speaker of the National Assembly of the Republic of Angola His Excellency, Fernando Dias Piedade Dos Santos. We are honoured to have you.HON. FERNANDO DA PIEDADE DIAS DOS SANTOS [PRESIDENTE DA ASSEMBLEIA NACIONAL DE ANGOLA]:-Sua Excelencia Bethel Amad, Presidente do Parlamento Pan-AfricanoExcelentissimos Senhores Presidentes dos Parlamentos Regionais.Excelentíssimos Senhores Presidentes dos Parlamentos NacionaisExcelentíssimos Senhores Membros do Parlamento Pan-AfricanoDistintos ConvidadosMinhas Senhoras e Meus Senhores.Permitam-me que exprima em nome da Assembleia Nacional da República de Angola, a nossa enorme satisfaçao em participar nesta segunda sessao ordinària da Terceira Legislatura do Parlamento Pan-Africano conhecido como a voz dos povos do continente berço da humanidade.A Uniao Africana completa 10 anos na busca de novos rumos para África, mas a luta pela emancipaçao dos povos e contra o neo-colonialismo conduzidas sob a êgide da OUA completa a 12 de Julho 50 anos.Várias conquistas alcançadas a diversos níveis representam etapas de um longo percurso que comporta desafios de âmbito político, cultural, social, económico e tecnológico. Continuaremos firmes e unidos a trilhar este percurso com determinaçao e esperança de um futuro promissor para África. Na actualidade, a visao da Uniao Africana que vem expressa nos seus estatutos aponta três objectivos prioritários, que sao: acelerar a integraçao política e socio-económica do continente; promover a paz, a segurança e a estabilidade do continente; e promover o desenvolvimento duradouro nos planos económico, social e cultural.Nesta visao, o Parlamento Pan-Africano com atribuiçoes meramente consultivas, mas que vem se constituindo, cada vez mais, num importante foco de debates dos problemas que afligem o nosso continente. Essa sessao ordinária vai analisar temas candentes de importância estratégica para o presente e o futuro da Uniao Africana em geral, bem como para o Parlamento Pan-Africano e os Parlamentos Africanos em particular. Por essa razao, aceitamos o vosso convite, com o qual nos sentimos muito honrados.A abordagem nesta sessao do tema sobre o mecanismo de revisao dos pares e sobre o estado da Uniao Africana sao provas do empenho colectivo das instituiçoes africanas de materializar os objectivos do desenvolvimento estratégico que coloca a paz, a democracia e a boa governança política e económica no topo da agenda africana.Apraz-me reconhecer que muitos progressos foram realizados, mas o sonho de uma África totalmente livre e independente, ainda nao está concretizado. Estamos numa era de mudança para o progresso. Na década de 2000-2010, a África apresentou índices de crescimento acima da média mundial, pelo que dos dois países com maior crescimento, seis sao africanos.ExcelênciasOs objectivos do Parlamento Pan-Africano reflectidos no seu protocolo constitutivo continuam sendo actuais, passado que sao 9 anos desde a sua criado.O Estado Angolano, em particular a Assembleia Nacional de Angola, sentem-se honrados por terem contribuido no processo de criado deste importante órgao continental, quer do ponto de vista dos recursos humanos, quer financeiros. Pelo efeito, cientes de que o desenvolvimento sustentado de África e dos seus povos dependem igualmente da criado de mecanismos institucionais capazes de confrontarem os desafios comuns por si enfrentados. Com efeito, hoje, a África é chamada a reagir de forma concertada a uma variedade de desafios e oportunidades que se lhe apresentam face a um sistema internacional imprevisível.Sendo a paz e a seguranza condi^oes indispensáveis para a prosperidade das nossas populares, aliada a promodo dos direitos humanos e do estado de direito, preocupa-me sobretudo a instabilidade política reinante em alguns países, mormente na Guiné-Bissau, na Cote d'Ivoire, no Mali e na República Democrática do Congo.Estamos convencidos que a resoluto pacífica dos conflitos passa pela solu^ao das partes de que os compromissos assumidos devem ser cumpridos em respeito aos principios da convivencia pacífica, convergencia de ac^ao, solidariedade e defesa dos interesses nacionais e regionais. A vontade política nao basta. Precisamos de elevar a consciencia dos nossos povos e unirmo-nos num compromisso solene de defesa dos interesses comuns africanos, preservando o respeito pelas identidades culturais e níveis de desenvolvimento dos estados membros.ExcelenciasÉ nosso entender que os problemas de África devem ser resolvidos por africanos e no quadro das suas instituifoes. Nesta conformidade, Angola, ao assumir este mes a Presidencia do Conselho de Paz e Seguranza da Uniao Africana continuando a emprestar o seu savoir-faire para resoluto dos conflitos no acto da implementa^ao da arquitectura de paz e seguranza da Uniao Africana.Consideramos que os ideais dos fundadores do Pan-Africanismo e da Organizado da Unidade Africana permanecem cada vez mais actuais neste mundo interconectado, onde esfor^os de integrado política e económica representam uma resposta satisfatória chamado o lado escuro da globalizado. É por isso que saudamos as iniciativas tendentes a reforjar a Uniao Africana e suas instituides, incluindo a redefinido da fundo de consultoria exercida pelo Parlamento Africano.A terminar, gostaria de informar que a Assembleia Nacional de Angola iniciou a sua terceira legislatura em Setembro de 2012. Estando a desenvolver o seu processo interno de organiza^ao, ditados pelos resultados eleitorais sufragados. Reitero em nome da Assembleia Nacional de Angola, os nossos agradecimentos pela oportunidade que nos foi conferida para proferir esta mensagem, em tao augusto auditório.Muito obrigado pela Vossa ateneo.AplausosPRESIDENT:I thank you your Excellency Mr Speaker, for delivering that solidarity message.Your Excellencies, my hon. Colleagues, distinguished ladies and gentlemen, I will now suspend our sitting to allow the Bureau of Parliament to meet our guest of honour, His Excellency, John Dramani Mohama, President of the Republic of Ghana and Her Excellency, Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, Chairperson of the African Union.I thank you, Sir.HIS EXCELLENCY JOHN DRAMANI MAHAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF GHANA:Hon President of the Pan-African Parliament and my good friend, Hon Bethal Amadi, Her Excellency Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, Chairperson of the African Union Commission, the hon Fernando da Piedade dos Santos and I hope I got it right, Speaker of the National assembly of Angola, the hon James Wani Igga, Speaker of South Sudan, hon Margarita Flores, President of the Committee on African Affairs in the Mexican Senate, the hon Simon Muchemwa, for the Deputy President of the Regional Parliaments of Economic Community Of West African States, ECOWAS, hon Mike Kennedy Sealu, representative of the Speaker of the East African Legislative Assembly, EALA, Parliament, Dr Esau Chiviya, Secretary General, Representative of the Chairperson of the SADC Parliamentary Forum, Mrs Catherine Dupe Atoki, Chairperson of the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights, Mr Abraham BoiChoko Ditlhake, Representative of Chairperson of Economic, Social and Cultural Council of the African Union, Dr Frannie Leautier, Executive Secretary of the African Capacity Building Foundation, all hon members of this august Parliament, staff, invited quests, distinguished ladies and gentlemen, it is indeed a tremendous honour for me to be granted the rare privilege of being invited once again to address an opening session of this august Assembly.Mr. President, conventional wisdom says that a house is not automatically a home, but in this case and in this House, let me say that I feel very much at home. [Applause.] That is because I was a part of this House when it was inaugurated in Addis Ababa in 2004. I remained a member until 2008 when I was elected Vice-President.Even after my departure, during my tenure as Vice President, and now as President of the Republic of Ghana, I have always maintained a deep respect for this House, and a sense of fellowship with its members as they strive, quite admirably, to attain the goals and objectives of this continental Parliament.It is no coincidence that this current address follows a number of enthusiastic statements of support and solidarity read this morning on the floor of this House.I would like to add my voice to that chorus and speak to the theme of solidarity as a goal of this House, and solidarity as a necessity for Africa.In 1963 when the Organisation of African Unity was founded, one of its primary functions was to establish a home for the people of Africa.A home that was not beholden to the artificial boundaries that had kept us divided for so long, boundaries that had kept us from fully recognizing that we are one family, brothers and sisters, bound together by a shared destiny.This was a visionary undertaking: a home built not with brick and mortar, but with the desire for Pan-African solidarity and progress. It was especially visionary at that time in African history because after generations of domination, colonies were finally becoming independent and struggling to find answers to the various questions and problems of leadership and development that came with liberation.Those post-colonial years - the lost decades, as they have been called - were full of turbulence and instability. The forward motion of our continent and its young democracies was often undermined by dictatorships, coup d'états, and civil wars.This undermined the priorities and objectives of the Organisation of African Unity.The short-sightedness of that moment in Africa’s growth was necessary.It afforded each nation and its people the opportunity to find a way to start fulfilling the promise that independence offers, the promises that had been broken by corruption, mismanagement and poor leadership.Despite those difficult years, Mr. President, the Organisation of African Unity remained. Its presence, however minimal or seemingly inconsequential in the day-to-day lives of African people at the time, was in itself another promise of independence that was yet to be fulfilled.It has been said that the measure of an individual is evidenced not by the number of times he or she falls, but rather the number of times that he or she has been able to rise and stand tall after a fall. It stands to reason that the same could be said of a nation, or of a continent. The same can be said of Africa.Africans are a resilient people. We have always risen and stood again after falling, slavery, colonisation, civil wars, drought and hunger.We have watched as nations, one after the other, have transitioned from war to peace, from dictatorship to democracy, from poverty to economic stability.The world has watched as Africa has transitioned from a continent to be pitied, patronised and negatively portrayed, into a continent whose nations now command attention and respect on the international stage. In other words, Africa has transitioned itself into a force to be reckoned with.The more confident that we Africans, and the world at large, have become of our social, political and economic institutions, the more relevant that common home of ours, the Organisation of African Unity, which over the years also made its own transition into the African Union, has become to our future.Mr. President, at this crucial moment in Africa’s development, the importance of a continental legislative forum such as the Pan-African Parliament, cannot be overemphasized.There is only one word that comes to mind when I consider the consolidation of democracy that has taken place over the last decade alone, when I look at the sub-regional integration that has taken place and the steady movement toward a continent-wide integration, and that word is "inspiring."It is inspiring because it indicates that Africa’s possibilities are limitless. It is inspiring because it proves to us and to the world that Africans should not be underestimated and that Africa should never be counted out.If ever we should fall, we will, without a doubt, rise and stand taller, and stronger than before. This is an exciting time for Africa. This is an exciting time to be in Africa. It is an exciting time to be an African. [Applause.]I do not discount the challenges we still face but I believe it is surmountable. Mr. Speaker, now is the time for the Pan African Parliament to make its own transition, from that of a deliberative body to that of a legislative one. Now is the time for the Pan African Parliament to solidify the energy of solidarity and hope that is sweeping across the continent.The African Union must hasten its evolution into a union of people, and not merely a union of governments. The Pan African Parliament can contribute to that process by organising the election of its members through Universal Adult Suffrage in our member countries.[Applause.]I believe that this major step, when taken, will put an end to the delay in granting this House, full legislative powers.I have been a fervent advocate of the House being granted full legislative powers because the challenges facing our nations are increasingly becoming ones that have no regard for national boundaries. Challenges such as effectively enforcing laws to end the trafficking of drugs and the trafficking of human beings; addressing the impact of climate change, deforestation, desertification, and land degradation. It is more and more boundaries that cut across national sovereignty.We would be better able to prevent, regulate, and even reverse these situations if we handled them as one unified body as opposed to many individual countries, some with limited reach or resources.Mr. President, there are a number of other benefits to this House having full legislative powers, one of which is the complete erasure of the final vestiges of colonisation, the most pervasive of which are the artificial boundaries that still keep us divided.We must work towards achieving a system of governance in which no African, for the purpose of short-term passage, is considered a foreigner in another African country.We must enact laws that allow people, goods and services to move freely across the continent so as to establish and integrate free trade areas. This can only be of benefit to individual nations and to the continent as a whole.Mr. President, with the Pan-African Parliament having full legislative powers, we can, at last, turn the vision our founding fathers had nearly 50 years ago, on May 25th, 1963, when they established the Organisation of African Unity into a reality; the vision of Pan-African progress, of one home under whose roof our brotherhood and sisterhood are reinforced through the promotion and protection of our mutual interests.Indeed, there is strength in unity. Our founding fathers recognised this simple fact. That is why long before there was a European Union, there was the Organisation of African Unity.[Applause.]Our founding fathers knew that this would be our way forward. And Mr President, despite minor differences of opinion as to how precisely this House and the overall African Union should be empowered, we all know it as well that unity is the way to go.That is why we have assembled regularly over the years and that is why we are gathered here again today. It is because we understand that Africa’s solidarity is the key to Africa’s continued success and survival. I thank the members of this august House for your attention. God bless Africa, God bless all of us.[Applause.]THE PRESIDENT:Please be seated. Honourable colleagues, in accordance with provisions of Rule 38 (1) (h) of our Rules of Procedure, it is with pleasure that I invite into the Chamber His Excellency, the Vice-President of the Arab Parliament, hon. Noe Eldim Elsad and his colleague, hon. Ali Fatal Elbaounch, a member of the Arab Parliament. (Applause)The Pan-African Parliament and the Arab Parliament have had a long standing relationship and we have signed a memorandum of understanding and partnership. In that spirit, may I invite hon. Noe Eldim Elsad, the Vice-President of the Arab Parliament to give us a short goodwill remark.البرلمان العربييسعدني أن أكون بينكم في البرلمان االفريقي واتوجه بجزيل ال شكر الي معالي رئيس البرلمان االفريقي علي الدعوة الكريمة واتوجة لكم بتحية البرلمان العربي من رئيس البرلمان العربي ورئيسة واعضاءه نحن في البرلمان العربي 22 دولة منها 01 دول و 01 برلمانات بمعني اننا نشكل تقريبا نصف البرلمان العربي إذا ما قسمناه الي اسيا وافريقيا سعدا ان نكون بينكم لنؤكد وتضامننا وتعاوننا ورغبتنا الملحة في ان يكون هذا البرلمان رائدا بين البرلمانات الدولية وقد بدأ هذا البرلمان يثبت بجدارة مكانته وبدأت افريقيا تنهض وتؤكد حضورها في الساحة العالمية افريقيا التي تكتنز موار طبيعية كبيرة جدا غير ان هذه الموارد مع االسف الشديد لم تثتثمروما<الت افيقيا في بعض بلداننا تعاني الفقر والجوع والجهل مطلوب منا كبرلمانات وطنية او كبرلمان افريقي ان نقدم مقترحات كفيلة بالنهوض بأفريقيا وتعزيز التنمية والدفاع فعال عن حقوق االنسان االفريقي وحقوق االنسان بشكل عام علي وجه االرض والدفاع عن الحرية التي تستلب هنا وهناك والدفاع علي كرامة االنسان في بقاع االرض وخاصة في افريقيا والدعوة الي حوار الحضارات حتي ال تكون هناك هيمنة من الدول العظمي بعض االقطار في افريقيا وفي غير افيقيا تعاني من حروب اهلية يفترض منا كبرلمانيين ان نسعي بكل ما نملك من جهود وما نملك من امكانيات لتعزيز السالم الدولييين وال نترك <لك لهيئات تسيطر عليها لوبيات اتينا ان تقول لكم بانه في ديسمبر تأسس البرلمان م برلماناً 02 21م واتينا انتقالياً العربي الدائم وقد كان من< 2 1 21 الي لنطلب من السيد الرئيس ومن اعضاء البرلمان لنجتهد اليجاد صيغة للتعاون بيننا والجراء برتكول تعاون دائم الن في البرلمان االفريقي من القدرات والكفاءات ال يمكن ان يسعف البرلمان العربي في مد جسور التعاون والتأذر والتشاور علي كافة المستويات واشكركم الي امل اللقاء بكم والسالم عليكمTHE PRESIDENT:I thank you very much your Excellency, the Vice President of the Arab Parliament for delivering that solidarity message.Honourable members, in accordance with the provisions of Rule 38 (1) (d) of our rules of procedure, it is with great pleasure that I now invite the Chairperson of the African Union Commission (AUC), Her Excellency, Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma.Honourable members, we are honoured to have in our midst an illustrious and accomplished daughter of Africa whose intimidating track record of accomplishments speaks volumes, and this is why the African Union (AU) could not have made a better choice for the exalted position of Chairperson of the AUC and we welcome her to our Chamber today for the first time since her election as Chairperson of the AUC.HON. NKOSAZANA DLAMINI ZUMA [CHAIRPERSON OF AFRICAN UNION COMMISSION]:Hon Speaker, Hon. Bethal Amadi, President of the Pan-African Parliament, hon. Vice Presidents of the Pan African Parliament, hon. members of the Pan-African Parliament, hon. Vice Presidents of the Pan-African Parliament, hon. Members of the Pan-African Parliament and the hon. Speaker of the National Assembly of Angola, Fernando da Piedade Dias Dos Santos, the Vice President of the Mexican Chamber of Deputies, the representative of the President of the Mexican Chamber of Deputies, hon. Alida Alavette, the first Deputy President of the Regional Parliament of ECOWAS, hon. Simon Asuimense, the representative of the Speaker of the EALA Parliament, hon. Mike Kennedy Sebalu, the Secretary General representative of the Chairperson of SADC Parliamentary Forum DR Chiviya, Chairperson of the African Commission of Human and People’s Rights, Mrs. Dupe Atoki, representative of the Chairperson of Economics Social and Council of the African Union, Mr. Abraham Dithlake, the Executive Secretary of the African Capacity Building Foundation Dr Frannie Leautier, members of the Diplomatic Corps, the Clerk and staff of Parliament, ladies and gentlemen, hon members; It give me great pleasure to address this august organ of the African Union and interact with you as the representatives and voice of the citizens of Africa. This opportunity provides us with a platform to share reflections and exchange ideas on the state of our Union and continent.Our collective reflections are important as we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the founding of our continental organisation, the OAU/AU. It is a moment of celebration, but it also provides us with opportunities to reflect on the past, to assess the present and the to plan the route towards a prosperous and peaceful future.Hon members, the 50th anniversary is celebrated under the theme Pan Africanism and African Renaissance. The theme captures the core principles and shared values of African development: people-driven and centered, unity and solidarity, self-determination, as well as the resolve not only to rid ourselves of poverty, disease and war, but to work for a peaceful and prosperous continent that takes its rightful place in the world.One of Africa’s Nobel Peace Laureates, Nkosi Albert Luthuli urged in 1964, and I quote:Let me invite Africa to cast her eyes beyond the past and to some exten the present with their woes and tribulations, trial and failures and some successes and see herself as an emerging continent, bursting to freedom.This is Africa’s age - the dawn of her fulfillment, yes the moment she must grapple with destiny to reach the summits of sublimity.During this year, we will all participate in the discussions on the African story since independence and I know the Pan-African Parliament has scheduled a special debate on Pan Africanism and African Renaissance in the next week.Today, however, we are focusing on the present state of our Union and continent, so as to enable us to answer the question, where to go over the next fifty years.Hon members, our continent is once again infused with a sense of optimism and unimaginable opportunities, with a number of positive indicators and trends.Firstly, Africa’s dynamic demographics present a unique opportunity. There are already 52 cities in Africa with more than 1 million inhabitants. By 2025, a quarter of the population under 25 will be living in Africa, a quarter of the world’s population, 50% of Africans will be living in cities by 2030, our working age population will reach 1,1 billion by 2040 and our total population will be over 2 billion by 2050. Africa’s middle class continues to expand, currently estimated at over 350 million with more people pursuing opportunities in the cities. Young people with their energy, creativity, vitality and enthusiasm are seen as representing the most dynamic human resources available and with women representing just over half of the continent’s population. Africa’s greatest resource and potential is clearly its people - now and into the future.On the economic front the continent’s growth has now averaged 5% per year for more than a decade, higher than at any other period since the early 1970s. Africa was the second-fastest growing region in the world after Asia from 2000 to 2008.In 2010, 10 of the 15 fastest growing economies in the world were African and it is projected that seven of the 10 fastest growing economies in the world in the next five years will be African. It is projected that the continent’s combined GDP will be US S 2,5 trillion is set to double by 2020.Domestic consumer markets are growing with the private sector acting as a powerful engine for growth. Exports and markets for African products are becoming more diversified, with the potential to reduce over-reliance on North-South trading relationships, and growing significance of the South-South trade for the African continent. The value of trade with Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, BRICS, for example is reported to have moved nine-fold from $ 10 billion in 2000 to $ 160 billion in 2012.Since 2000, investment in Africa has increased from 15,9% of the GDP to over 22% in 2012. Though low in comparison to Asia, this trend is expected to continue as an increasing number of the region’s economies are able to tap into the international capital market to help address infrastructure constraints. Africa received its largest ever share of global foreign direct investment, FDI, in 2011. In 2011 FDI grew by 27%, pushing Africa’s share of the world’s investment to almost a quarter. FDI inflows stand at $80 billion and is forecast to reach $150 billion by 2015.Between 2003 and 2011 there is a reported 23% compound growth rate in intra-African investment into new FDI projects. Investments by Africans into Africa as a proportion of total number of FDI projects was reported to have more than doubled, and in 2011 it accounted for 17% of all new FDI projects. Over the period, Kenya and Nigeria investments in Africa have grown by 77,8% and 73,2%, respectively, while that of South Africa has grown by 63,8%. In addition, three of the world’s best performing stock exchanges are in Africa.With regard to infrastructure, there is no question that there are also pockets of progress. In the areas of telecommunications, whereas African telephone connectivity was just one-tenth of global average in the mid-1990s, by 2011, it was half the global average, growing at a whopping 20% per year between 2006 and 2011. Thus, in 2011, Africa became the second largest mobile market in the world after Asia, with about 620 million mobile connections.Africa’s fastest absorption of information, communication technologies has resulted in enhanced innovation in many areas such as access to health services, agriculture support, micro-finance access and improving access of rural producers and entrepreneurs to markets. Currently, the mobile phone industry represents 3,5% of Africa’s GDP and employs over 5 million people. Using mobile phone technology, Kenya’s M-Pesa provides banking services to more than 70% of the country’s adult population, becoming a global benchmark in mobile banking.As things stand, the largest of Africa’s infrastructure funding, 65%, comes from the continent’s public investment by governments, whilst the private invests only 25%. Funding from non-OECD countries, of which China is the largest, provides an additional 6% and official development assistance from multi-lateral agencies funds the remaining 4%. So, it is clear that our own governments are driving the infrastructure development. Infrastructure development over the last decade has contributed over half of African growth, and more growth can be generated if we address the continent’s infrastructure deficit. That deficit is in a number of areas that I will come to.Let us start with the biggest one in energy. Africa’s total electricity generated equals that of Spain, one country, even though we have 20 times the number of people that is, Sub-Saharan Africa. Data from 2006-2009 shows that only 28% of Africa’s population had access to electricity compared to 70% of other parts of the developing world, whilst 69% of the population had access to improved water facilities compared to 88% of other developing populations, and less that 20% of our roads were tarred in 2009.Large-scale investment in energy, including in hydro, coal, geo-thermo and solar power over the next decade will therefore be critical to Africa’s transformation - in both economic and social spheres, moving forward with the Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa, PIDA, priority projects in energy, transport, ICT and other economic and social infrastructure is therefore non-negotiable.The structural adjustment Programmes of the 1980s and 2990s have strongly reduced Africa’s manufacturing sectors, and led to de-industrialisation.Although the current continental growth rate is mainly driven by global demand for Africa’s minerals, oil and agricultural products, there is some progress in a number of countries. Several countries with manufacturing constituting at least 5% of their economies have performed well, such as Mozambique with 9% annual growth in manufacturing, followed by Tanzania, Sudan, Rwanda, Lesotho, Burkina Faso, Liberia, Uganda, Malawi and Namibia, which all recorded averages growth rates of 5% or more. In Mozambique, Tanzania, Sudan and Burkina Faso manufacturing led growth, with the sector in these countries growing faster than the economies as a whole.African countries with high shares of manufacturing in GDP, more than 15%, are Mauritius, South Africa, Cameroon, Swaziland, Lesotho, Namibia and Coite d’Ivoire.Africa has a large share of the world’s reserves in a number of critical minerals, as well as oil and gas. An amount of 60% of the world unused arable land is on the continent. Our land area is 12 times larger than India’s, with lesser number of people. Africa is also blessed with abundant water resources, including but not limited to the 63 international river basins.Africa’s renewed commitment to industrialization and the development of diversified industrial capabilities must therefore build on its key natural endowments to spur sustainable and equitable growth: addressing its infrastructure backlogs to improve regional trade and special development; revolutionising agricultural production and agro-processing, and ensuring that the exploitation of African natural resources, especially its mineral resources, result in a fair sharing of the proceeds, are saved and invested in developing productivity capacity, and that mining contribute to industrial development through backward and forward linkages.We do know that during the 1960s, at the time of the establishment of the OAU, there was high optimism that the continent would perform well given that several African countries were on par or had even higher GDP rates than their counterparts in Asia. The GDP per capita of Ghana and South Korea were exactly the same in 1960.Until 1975, the fastest growing developing country was Gabon. Botswana’s growth rate exceeded that of Hong Kong, Taiwan, Malaysia, and Thailand. Thirty years ago China was poorer than Malawi. Despite this potential, Africa was unable to complete the transformation journey which Asia has to a large degree now traversed.We must therefore ask the question, how does our continent compare with economic development in other developing regions of the world today? A few comparative trends are worth mentioning.Firstly, whilst African GDP matched that of Asia between 2000 and 2011 at 4,4% per annum, African income per capita in the decade since 2000, has become $1100 and remains far below other developing regions which are at around $3091, and less than a quarter of Latin America, $4964.Secondly, manufacturing in Asia over the same period grew at 6%, whilst African manufacturing grew at 3,3%, though faring better than Latin America whose manufacturing during the same period grew at 2,1%. Africa manufacturing sector’s contribution to GDP at 10, 2 % in 2010 is also much lower that other developing regions, with Asian manufacturing at 25% of GD and Latin America at 15,3% during the same year.Thirdly, African exports as a proportion of GDP, though largely still unprocessed minerals and agricultural products, also caught up with Asia, reaching 29,7% of GDP in 2010, as against 30,% for Asia and 17,7% for Latin America.Latest figures from the ECA indicate that intra-Africa trade may reach 13% this year, compared to 52% for Asian countries, and 20% for South Africa.Finally, Gross Fixed Capital Formation, in Africa during the period 2000-11 has averaged at just above 18% per year as a percentage of GDP, closer to Latin America at 19%, but way below Asia, whose investment in productive assets and economic infrastructure as percentage of GDP averaged at 26,9%.These figures are important indicators as to how the Asian region managed their economic and development turnaround. It indicates to us that it is indeed possible to eradicate poverty and achieve prosperity within less than five decades. So it is possible for us to be prosperous and peaceful in 50 years or even less.Despite the progress on the economic front, human development remains a challenge to Africa. Across all dimensions, Africa still has the lowest human development indicators of any region. Africa’s regional Human Development Index, HDI, indicators in 2011 were: Life Expectancy at Birth, 54,4 years; mean years of schooling, 4,5 years; expected years of schooling, 9,2 years; and gross national income per capita, $1,966. UNDP HDI rankings for 2011 shows no African country in the very high category, two countries, Seychelles and Mauritius, in the high category and 11 countries in medium category, Gabon, Egypt, Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, Morocco, Cape Verde, Ghana, Equatorial Guinea, Congo and Swaziland. Of the 45 countries worldwide in the low category, 34 are from Africa, with all the bottom 15 countries being African.However, African countries have also been among the top 10 HDI movers between 2000 and 2010. The main upward drivers of HDI for Africa are education, whilst HIV/AIDS is still responsible for slow progress. Africa continues to make good progress in improving access to education and in promoting girls education, with performance closely matching that of India. Overall, in spite of the scourge of HIV/AIDS, human development in Africa is undergoing steady improvements.We have often said that there can be no development without peace, and on peace without development. The continent is registering increasing levels of peace and security and progress continues to be made. The last two decades have seen substantial reduction in the number of conflicts, with close to 90% of African countries at peace for at least the last decade. And, whereas in the 1990s there were fifteen countries engulfed in conflicts, this number reduced to five by 2010.The comparative Africa peace and security architecture has greatly enhanced our ability to address conflict and crisis situations on the ground, and to find African solutions to our problems. Conflict solution efforts have yielded encouraging results in many parts of the continent, as shown by the tremendous progress recorded in Somalia, the agreements reached between Sudan and South Sudan in their post secession relations and the ongoing initiatives to promote good neighborliness and co-operation for a shared prosperity in the Great Lakes region. However, as the remaining conflict and recent crises in Mali and Central African Republic suggest, there is no room for complacency, and we must resolutely tackle the root causes of conflicts and instability, so as to ensure lasting peace.Thus, as Africa prepares itself to celebrate the OAU/AU Golden Jubilee, we must redouble our efforts. More is required in terms of conflict prevention, notably through the effective implementation of AU instruments relating to participatory democracy, inclusive governance and human rights. Renewed efforts should be made to resolve existing conflicts, some of which, such as the dispute over Western Saharawi, have, so far, defied all attempts at peacemaking. We have to consolidate peace where it has been achieved, to avoid relapse into violence. Taking greater ownership of peace efforts on the continent also requires that member states contribute in a much significant manner of funding of AU initiatives.In the past two decades, the policy organs of our Organisation have adopted a number of instruments relating to governance, democracy and human rights, thus providing a solid foundation for peace and security by emphasizing political inclusiveness, people-centered and inclusive governance and respect for human rights and dignity of all.Encouraging efforts are made to deepen democratic governance and public participation in member states, especially through the regular elections of public representatives. Just this year, thirteen elections are scheduled in Africa, with three already been held, and ten still remaining. Some of these will take place in countries still on the agenda of the Peace Security Council and Regional bodies, indicating that these countries still face challenges.It is therefore important that all AU organs responsible for the monitoring of these elections, especially our hon continental representatives in PAP, remain vigilant and plan and work together, so that we can assist these member states to deliver credible elections that help consolidating their democracies and build inclusive societies.Accordingly, we must once again take this opportunity to congratulate the people of Kenya on the exemplary manner in which they conducted and participated in their electoral processes in April this year [applause.]. They are a shining example of being resilient and single-minded to achieve peace for their country and thus setting Kenya on a path towards enduring peace, justice and socio-economic development. We must accompany them on this path they have chosen for themselves.There are 33 countries which are participating in the African Peer Review Mechanism and its rigorous processes, and the APRM continues to aim to achieve participation by all our member states.We have said before that our people are our main resource. Investment in, and the empowerment of women, who make up half of our population, therefore, remains a priority. Our Solemn Declaration on Gender of 2002 committed all our countries and our Union to gender equality and gender parity. And yet, only 10 countries have either reached or are close to reaching the target of 30% of women in their Parliaments and Cabinets. We must and can do better, not only in the public sector, but in all institutions in our societies.We have often said that peace and security, and sustainable development constitute an interlocking nexus requiring consistent and coherent approaches.As we seek to achieve peace and stability across the continent, our guiding beacon should be to establish conditions to ensure we end hunger, poverty, underdevelopment, insecurity and exclusion. I think as Africans we should aim at eradicating poverty and not be part of this agenda of just dealing with extreme poverty. We cannot say that it is ok to be poor as long as it is not extreme and say that we must just deal with poverty.[Applause]I strongly believe that the vision of the African Union can only be realized with the full participation of is people. It is the people who give legitimacy to governments, to the institutions as well as the vision of the future that Africa aspires to attain, hence the important role of the Pan-African Parliament. To play its rightful role, the PAP must be stronger, offering a greater voice to the people of Africa through universal suffrage, capable of promoting the enactment of relevant and specific policies and laws necessary for growth and development both at the national and continental levels and play a degree oversight role.Allow me at this juncture to point to some of the areas where I believe the Pan- African Parliament can support the deepening of our commonly shared values on the continent:The first is the area of elections, democratization and inclusive governance. As we all know, every year several elections are held on the continent. While some of these elections meet acceptable standards, others fall short. The effect the latter is the post-electoral deputes that sometimes end in violence, thus creating political instability and insecurity. Needless to say, these draw the continent back in terms of democratization and unrealized development aspirations. There is, therefore, an immediate task for this august body and its members to help in promoting the integrity of electoral processes in Africa to avoid post-elections violence and instability.Secondly, there are still challenges to governance on the continent through unconstitutional changes of government, manifesting itself in several ways, including coup d’état, prolonged stay in power, vote rigging or holding less than credible elections, as well as rebellions which often suspend democratic elected institutions, including Parliaments. In effect, this threatens democracy, hence nullifying the voice of the people. We cannot have a strong Pan-African Parliament if democracy is truncated and democratically elected governments are removed through unconstitutional means. It is, therefore, incumbent on members of the Pan-African Parliament to ensure that the fundamental causes of unconstitutional changes of government are addressed on the continent by promoting the rule of law, human rights and inclusive governance in our respective countries.This, as of necessity, means that we should examine ways of empowering this august institution to enable it to discharge the responsibility entrusted to it. Where there are challenges, let us also together find ways of addressing them, and equally sustain and build on our achievements. Let me assure this House that the African Union Commission will support any initiative that is aimed at making this institution an effective organ of the African Union.Standing shoulder to shoulder, we shall make this institution more functional, effective and potent to help achieve a people-centered African Union, capable of addressing its own challenges. [Applause] This is why, in my opinion, the extent to which the House will be able to play its role in accordance with its mandate ought to be rigorously discussed, so that this organ can take its proper place on the continent.These discussions are not limited to PAP, but to all AU organs and institutions, including the Nepad, Ecossoc, the African Commission on Human and People’s rights, the African Court on Human and People’s Rights, APRM, the Regional Economic Communities and the AU Commission itself.As we celebrate our Jubilee year, we must boldly repeat that "this is Africa’s age - the dawn of her fulfillment, the moment she must grapple with destiny to reach the summits of sublimity..."During the yearlong celebration of our 50th anniversary, we will reflect on the lessons from our past and our current state, in order to grapple with our destiny.Each generation must, according to Fanon, define it s mission, which it must define its mission which it must either fulfill or betray. We have a unique opportunity to define the mission of current generations, and the future we want to bequeath to our children and grandchildren over the next 50 years.In this regard, the AU has started a process of consultations with all sectors of society, culminating in the Summit in January 2014, to develop an African-wide Agenda, now called Agenda 2063.The Pan-African Parliament has an important role to play to ensure that as representatives of the people from all countries, we solicit the inputs of the citizenry and all sectors of society in our respective countries, on this Agenda 2063.It is an opportunity for the people of the continent to define our dream, and the role that must be played by governments, non-state actors, youth, children and the elderly, men and women, rural folks and urban dwellers, the private sector and entrepreneurs, intellectuals, artists and our religious communities in realizing this dream.The deadline for all these submissions and inputs are November this year, and based on your and other other inputs a framework will be presented to the AU Summit in January 2014. So, we will be expecting inputs form this Parliament that should tell us where you want to be in 2063 and what steps need to be taken to get there.The UA Commission has as its core mandate, the implementation of the vision of our Union of an integrated, people-centered and prosperous Africa, at peace with itself.The Commission has therefore recommended its Third Strategic Plan for 2014-2017 to the policy organs, based on the following eight clusters of priorities and our assessment of the state of the continent. These clusters are:Building Africa’s human capacity through the prioritization of primary health care and prevention; education, skills development and investment in Science, Research and innovation, access to clean water and sanitation with the inclusion of the vulnerable groups;Expanding agricultural production, developing the agro-processing and businesses sectors, increasing market access and attaining Africa’s collective food security and nutrition through sound environmental and natural resources management, including climate change;Promoting inclusive economic development and industrialization through the acceleration of infrastructure development projects that will aid economic integration, achieve targets of Intra-Africa trade and global market access, tourism, value addition, enhanced public, private sector partnership, effective and sustainable utilization of the continent’s mineral and other natural resources;Promoting peace and stability, democracy and human rights;Mainstream the participation of women and the youth in all priorities and activities of the Union and the continent;Implement strategies of resource mobilization, including alternative source of funding, and or additional funding to enable Africa to finance its programmes and development;Build a people-centered Union through active communication of the programmes of the African Un ions, the branding of the Union and participation of member states and other stakeholders in defining and implementing the African agenda, and;Strengthen the institutional capacity of the AUC, the RECs and other organs of our Union and its relations with strategic and other partners.The resolute implementation of these priorities by all member states, RECs and organs of our Union, will help to move us closer towards prosperity and peace we all yearn for. As we receive inputs and finalize our Agenda 2063, these priorities will be adapted to reflect the consensus of the continent on its roadmap and milestones for the future.As representatives of the people from all over the continent, we want to solicit the support of the Pan-African Parliament in ensuring that the year-long celebration of the 50th anniversary of African unity is memorable, leaves a lasting legacy and is continent-wide.As we celebrate the 50th anniversary of our African unity, it is important for the Pan-African Parliament to position itself on the continent to lead on issues of policy making, democratization, and governance by giving greater voice to the African people, as we work towards an integrated, prosperous and peaceful Africa.Je vous merci remercier.I thank you for your attention and look forward to the debate.[Applause]THE PRESIDENT:Hon Members, let me on your behalf, thank Her Excellency, the Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma for that very detailed and wonderful presentation.[Applause.]I have a list of speakers, 30 speakers, who have indicated an interest in talking and I, therefore, give each speaker three minutes because of our time constraints. Three minutes for each speaker and I ask our colleagues to please stay within those three minutes. Therefore, I give the floor to the first speaker on my list, the Hon Saleh Kebzabo from Chad.HON. SALEH KEBZABO [TCHAD]:Je vous remercie, Monsieur le Président.Nous n’avons pas le temps de rester dans les généralités. Mais, je veux néanmoins, à la suite de vos propos, apporter tout notre soutien à Madame la Présidente de la Commission pour tout ce travail qu’elle doit mener; une mission exaltante; mais nous savons qu’elle en a les capacités et nous l’accompagnerons tant que nous le pourrons.Madame la Présidente,Quand vous avez brossé votre tableau, dans la première partie de votre exercice, je me suis demandé de quel pays, de quel continent vous parlez. Est-ce tous ces deux chiffres-là concernent l’Afrique? J’en doute! Je voudrais respectueusement vous contredire, pour vous dire que c’est précisément parce qu’on se complaît dans des chiffres de ce genre que notre continent n’avance pas. On n’a pas de possibilité de contradiction; ce sont les statistiques officielles fausses qui sont toujours mises en avant et qui font qu’on croit que l’Afrique progresse. Elle ne progresse pas beaucoup, Madame.Je prends l’exemple de l’électricité seulement, quand vous dites qu’il y a une couverture d’électricité de 28 %, je ne sais pas de quel pays vous parlez. Il y en a peut-être deux, trois, quatre ou cinq, tout au plus, qui ont cette couverture. Mais, la plupart des pays africains n’ont même pas 5 % de couverture électrique.Mais enfin, tout cela, Madame, pour vous dire que les chiffres ont beau être ce qu’ils sont, la réalité est ce qu’elle est. La réalité est ce que vous avez dit dans la deuxième partie de votre exposé, à savoir que la misère, la pauvreté s’installent de plus en plus en Afrique.C’est dire donc que les chiffres que vous avez donnés ne sont pas justes. En effet, notre continent n’avance pas. Les Africains de base meurent de faim tous les jours. Ils n’arrivent pas à vivre correctement. Ils ne mangent pas correctement. Leurs enfants ne vont pas dans des écoles avec un système éducatif qui est performant. Il est plutôt en délabrement. Notre système de santé aussi est en délabrement avancé. Comment, dans ces conditions, peut-on parler d’un progrès quelconque? C’est là le gros débat que nous avons à l’aube du cinquantenaire de l’Union africaine, de notre unité, de notre continent.Vous comprendrez bien, Madame, que je sois de ceux qui sont sceptiques par rapport à cette unité du continent, puisque précisément les gouvernants que nous avons se forment en syndicat et refusent le progrès de l’Afrique, refusent la démocratie en Afrique et sont là uniquement pour vous amener à vous manifester, quand il y a une situation qui se crée quelque part en Afrique et l’Union africaine est absente. Elle est totalement absente. Elle est absente des crises. Elle arrive après, lorsque les dégâts sont déjà commis.Je dis que le syndicat des chefs d’États africains est un syndicat qui est mauvais pour notre avenir, parce que c’est cela qui va plomber votre action, Madame.Vous ne pourrez pas avoir la liberté d’action que vous devriez avoir, parce que vous avez affaire à certains qui s’organisent en syndicat pour qu’on ne progresse pas.HON. AWAD HAG ALI AHMED [SUDAN]:السيد الرئيس اوال نشكر المفوضية علي هذا التقرير العلمي الدقيق ً شكرا ونشكرها علي دعمها للبرلمان االفريقي ليقوم بوره المناط به كمؤسسة ي قدم حلوالً تشريعية فاعلة وعبرها نشكر االتحاد االفريقي ال< علمية ودقيقة لمشاكل افريقية واهمها مشكلة السودان ومشكلة دارفور ومشكلة مناطق اخري بالسودان الن مشكلة السودان لم تكن مشكلة عرقية وال دينية كما يوهم الكثيرون بل هي مشكلة تنمية خلقها المستعمر عندما ركز التنمية في وسط السودان االطراف في دارفور وفي شرق السودان وفي جنوب السودان وذلك أتي اليوم االتحاد االفريقي ليقدم لنا النموذج الجيد في الحوكمة الرشيدة العادلة التي يجب ان تعدل بين كل المناطق في التنمية وكذلك في الديمقراطية التي تجعل السلطة عادلة بين كل المناطق وكذلك في المحافظة علي حقوق االنسان. إن ماقام به االتحاد االفريقي في السالم في دولة السودان والجنوب وفي الصومال وفي كثير من الدول االفريقية يؤكد لنا أن االفارقة قادرون علي معالجة مشاكلهم وأن دخول الغرباء علي افريقيا يعقد هذه المشكل لما لديهم من اجندة في استقالل المشاكل والحروبات بين األفارقة والستخدام مصادر افريقيا لمصلحتهم ان التقدم الذي حدث في التمنية األلفية وكذلك في التمية البشرية وفي البنية التحتية وأن معدل النمو العالي في افريقيا لوال االتحاد االفريقي لما تم كل ذك ولذلك البد نحن كبرلمانيين ان نسند علي االتحتاد االفريقي ونشد علي المفوضية وشكراَجزياHON. BERNADETTE LAHAI [SIERRA LEONE]:I thank you, Mr President.May I congratulate Her Excellency on her election and also on a speech well delivered. May I also wish the African Union a happy birthday on attaining the age of 50. If it were a human being, we would say that that human being has reached middle adult age.One would like to ask: is there anything to celebrate? Being a positive and optimistic person, I will say that we have every reason to celebrate the African Union on its 50th anniversary. Yes, Africa may have its own challenges, but we have come a long way. The celebration should not be one of a carnival or one of jamboree, but serious reflection on the road we have travelled 50 years ago and where we are now - what are the achievements and the road we hope to travel for another years. In 2063, many of us in this room or very few of us will be alive but we are sure that maybe our grandchildren or great grandchildren will be alive, and we want to leave something as a legacy for them. So, these 50 years of celebrations is very important.I agree with Her Excellency that we have made a lot of strides when it comes to economic growth, but what is even most important is the human resource factor because the economic growth that does not reflect in the lives of Africa’s people is questionable.Economic growth that does not ensure that Africa’s children have access to water, light, energy, good health, education is questionable. So, as we reflect on the 50 years, we should be asking ourselves a lot of questions particularly with regard to Africa’s three most valued human resources which are women, youth and the children.How will the next 50 years be for Africa’s women? Of course we have made a lot of strides within the shortest possible time compared to Europe and America. But is this where we want to see ourselves? We must look at where the women are and where we want to be because as the World Bank President once said, when he was asked if they were to invest all the money in the World Bank, where would they invest. He did not even mince his words. He just said that he would invest in the education of women and girls because investing in the education of women and girls; you have a very high payoff compared to the education of men. It’s not that they do not want to invest in men, but it’s because when you educate women and girls, a lot of the things that we are struggling with today - (Member timed out)(Applause)HON. ELISE NDOADOUMNGUE NELOUMSEI LOUM [TCHAD]:Merci Monsieur le Président,Je voudrais tout d’abord saluer la clarté de l’intervention de Son Excellence Madame Zuma, qui est une sorte de tableau descriptif des états de lieu de l’Afrique de 2023 et qui couvre un certain nombre d’aspects en chiffres - et un de mes prédécesseurs l’a relevé - elle a mis beaucoup plus l’accent sur les tendances actuelles comparatives avec des chiffres. Ce qui peut être positivé.Madame la Présidente de la Commission,Vous avez pris fonction à un moment où de nombreux défis s’imposent à notre continent. Vous l’avez bien dit dans votre intervention, ce sont des défis de pauvreté, des défis de sécurité alimentaire, des défis humanitaires, des défis d’émergence et des défis d’éducation.J’avais pensé que vous alliez vous atteler beaucoup plus à un défi que je considère fondamental et qui est d’ailleurs très déterminant aux autres défis, c’est le défi de paix, de sécurité et de stabilité. Vous l’avez évoqué avec des chiffres en disant qu’en 90 il y avait eu 25 pays qui étaient en conflit. Aujourd’hui, cela s’est limité, il est réduit à 5. Je veux bien y croire, mais, Madame la Présidente, je l’ai dit, vous prenez fonction à un moment très crucial.Vous avez évoqué très rapidement un certain nombre de causes de conflits. Mais, aujourd’hui, il y a également une autre nature de conflits qui s’impose à nous, qui était tantôt désignée comme des saisons, je voudrais parler du printemps Arabe dans le Nord. Il y a eu également très récemment ce qui s’est passé dans un pays du continent, le Mali, et qui attire toute l’attention de l’extérieur et même de l’intérieur du continent.Je voudrais juste, à ce sujet, vous demander quelle est l’évolution de cette situation et comment l’expliquezvous vous-même? Là, je voudrais parler de la timidité ou du déficit de solidarité puisque le Président Ghanéen, ce matin, a évoqué longuement la question de solidarité africaine en faisant l’historique de l’OUA. Qu’est-ce qui fait que nous sommes très froids à réagir face à une situation qui se pose, qui est au cœur dans un pays alors que notre Institution que vous dirigez est là et qui pourrait très bien réagir face à de telles situations? Qu’est-ce qui s’est passé au niveau de la Commission de l’Union africaine par rapport au Mali, Madame? Je vous en prie.Merci beaucoup.HON. ISAAC STEPHEN MABILETSA [BOTSWANA]:Mr. President, the chairperson of AU has already been congratulated by yourself and other Members on our behalf. So, I will not belabor the point of congratulating Her Excellency. She has delivered a very brilliant speech which is all encompassing. I have spent three years with the Pan African Parliament, but I have not seen or heard such a good state of union address as the one that was delivered by Her Excellency the Chairperson of the African Union.To me this signifies that she takes this Parliament seriously. She is not like her predecessors who had to be forced to come and address us. Most times their addresses are way off mark. Congratulations are in order on her well articulated speech.Mr. President having said that, she has made suggestions for change, giving reasons why African could be a good continent to leave in.She has enlisted the number of resources Africa has such as minerals. She also made a comparison of Africa with Asian countries, which were at the same level but have since surpassed Africa. What and who is responsible for this? What I see personally is lots of powerful presidents in Africa; powerful Leaders without powerful institutions. When Leaders attain power they become richer than the people they rule over, especially at the end of their term, particularly those who are lucky to have their term ended while they are still alive. Those are the situations we have in Africa.The case in point is that the rulers that were recently deposed have wealth more than all the African states.Reports indicate that Africa is high in Man power and natural resources, but why are we so lagging behind?HON. JOSEPH MBAH-NDAM [CAMEROON]:Thank you Mr. President for recognising me. The Chairperson of the African Union Commission has given a comprehensive report of the state of affairs of our continent. However, I want to place before her, issues which I wish fervently, that she should resolve during her tenure of office.I am thinking of one issue here, which is the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights actually assuming its functions as the African Court on Human and People’s Rights. These are the issues that have plagued us here for quite a while.Secondly, I want to rule that the debate will be focused on the state of the union address in terms of bringing to fruition the United States of Africa, which is one of the issues we have debated here over the years.HON. VINCENT DABILGOU [BURKINA FASO]:Je voudrais, à mon tour, féliciter Madame la Présidente Zuma pour la qualité de sa déclaration.J’avoue que, comme l’ont dit certains de nos collègues ici, le discours est bien fourni; et nous avons des chiffres pour montrer que notre Afrique avance. C’est difficile mais l’Afrique avance.Je voudrais tout simplement revenir sur une ancienne ou plutôt une vieille question mais qui reste une question épineuse. C’est la question de la dette africaine. C’est vrai, Madame Zuma, vous l’avez abordée. Mais je voudrais dire que quand un enfant naît en Afrique, il naît avec une facture à payer, toujours et aujourd’hui encore! Alors, c’est une dette et on a tous les arguments pour l’aborder, pour la justifier. Mais le fardeau de la dette fait que notre continent est un otage de nos créances.Je voudrais avoir votre commentaire, Madame la Présidente, sur cette grande question.La deuxième question que je voudrais poser, c’est la question des grands investissements en communauté, en termes d’Union Africaine, les grands projets. Quand je parle de grands projets, je parle, par exemple, des rails, du chemin de fer; je veux parler de l’agriculture en commun, des transports en commun. Mais je veux aussi parler de l’énergie en commun parce que nous avons de l’eau. Vous avez dit que nous avons des terres et c’est parce que ce sont ces grands projets-là qui portent la croissance. Ce sont ces grands projets aussi qui intègrent les populations à la base.Alors, je ne l’ai pas très bien perçu parce que cela fait cinquante ans que nous avions eu les indépendances et je voudrais voir naître ces grands projets-là au sein de l’Union Africaine.Je vous remercie, Madame la Présidente.M. LE PRÉSIDENT:Merci cher Collègue.La parole est à présent à l’Honorable Kadidiatou Coulibaly Samaké du Mali.HON. KADIDIATOU COULIBALY SAMAKE [MALI]:Je vous remercie, Monsieur le Président.Monsieur le Président,Je voudrais demander votre clémence pour le temps de parole, étant d’un pays en crise et cela fait longtemps qu’on ne venait pas au Parlement.Monsieur le Président,À l’entame de mes propos, je voudrais exprimer la reconnaissance du peuple malien à tous les soldats africains tombés sur le sol malien pour la défense de l’intégrité de notre territoire. Prions tous pour le repos de leur âme.Monsieur le Président,Madame la Présidente de la Commission de l’Union africaine,Je crois en notre slogan: « One Africa, one Voice ».L’Afrique entière s’est levée d’une voix pour condamner le coup d’État au Mali, d’abord à travers la CEDEAO, par sa solidarité et le leadership de ses chefs d’État. Elle a pu imposer à la junte la signature d’un Accord pour le rétablissement des institutions de la République, permettant ainsi au Président de l’Assemblée nationale d’assurer l’intérim du Président de la République, comme prévu par la Constitution.L’Afrique a parlé d’une voix au niveau de l’Union africaine et a apporté sa solidarité. Elle a pris des résolutions importantes, amenant toute la communauté internationale à s’engager pour soutenir les forces africaines de la CEDEAO et du Tchad, qui bien que n’étant pas membre de la CEDEAO s’est engagé par solidarité auprès des troupes de la CEDEAO.Les troupes de la CEDEAO, la MISMA, seront bientôt renforcées par les Casques bleus. Une Commission de dialogue et réconciliation a été mise en place avec l’implication de toutes les communautés.Bientôt, ce sera les élections présidentielles prévues pour le mois de juillet. Des mesures sont prises pour le retour de l’administration et des réfugiés afin que ces élections soient crédibles, justes et transparentes.Il est important que la Commission de l’Union africaine, le Parlement africain et la Communauté internationale veillent au bon déroulement de ces élections en neutralisant la junte toujours à l’affût et nous éviter une autre crise.Madame la Présidente de la Commission de l’Union africaine,Honorables membres du PAP,Tous les pays d’Afrique doivent tirer les leçons de la crise malienne, à la fois sécuritaire et institutionnelle. Nous devons mener des réflexions sur la question suivante: « Quel est le rôle de l’armée dans un système républicain? »Nous devons renforcer les capacités de notre armée, la moderniser. Nous avons remarqué que la plupart de nos armées ont besoin de refondation. Pensez à mettre en place une armée africaine sous-régionale! Nous avons vu que les pays africains de la CEDEAO avaient la volonté de venir au Mali. Cependant [...].M. LE PRÉSIDENT:Merci chère collègue,La parole est à l’Honorable Mear Ali SIRRO de l’Éthiopie.HON. MEAR ALI SIRRO [ETHIOPIA];شكرا سيد الرئيسهنئ شعوب أفريقا ً وأود أن أشكر المفوضية بهذا العرض الممتاز وايضا لالحتفال بالعيد الخمسين وهناك انجازات كثيرة عملت في افريقيا من قبل االتحاد االفريقي كما قالت المفوضية ان افريقيا تتقدم ولكن ببطئ. سيد الرئيس كما نعرف ان قارتنا غنية بالثروات الطبيعية المتعددة ولكن لم تثتثمر الجل المواطنين فلهذا هناك مطالب شعوب افريقيا للتغيير والتطور واالزدهار ولحياة افضل اطلب من القادة االفارقة ان يتوحدو كمثل دول شرق افريقيا ونطور قارتنا حتي يصلو الي مرحلة نمور شرق اسيا. سيد الرئيس هناك عوائق جمة في قارتنا كمثل التصادم بين الدول االفريقية كمشكلة الحدود التي زرعها االستعمار وهناك مشكلة تغيير االنظمة بقوة السالح خارج صناديق االقتراع والفقر والفساد وعدم الحكم الرشيد وعدم احترام القوانين وهناك ايضا ابواب الدول االفريقية مقلقة علي نفسها ليس هناك حركة للتجارة وتنقل االفراد كلها مقيدة فهناك سؤال وجيه إذا قول افريقيا واحدة صوت واحد وهناك صوت ً كيف لنا ان ن اخر من جماهير افريقيا؟و هل قادة افريقيا يعملون الجل شعوبهم ام الجل جيوبهم والبد ان يكون هناك جواب لهذه المسائل والبد ان نعمل لتطويرقارتنا وان نستفيد من الموارد الطبيعية لغد افضل وشكراM. LE PRÉSIDENT:Merci cher Collègue.La parole est à présent à l’Honorable Jean MINANI du Burundi.HON. JEAN MINANI [BURUNDI]:Merci Monsieur le Président, de me passer la parole.C’est à mon tour de féliciter Madame la Présidente de la Commission de l’Union Africaine pour son exposé. Je dois dire aussi que j’ai été très impressionné, d’abord parce que c’est la première fois que j’écoute un discours aussi détaillé d’un Haut responsable de la Commission. On n’avait pas cette habitude. Je suis aussi heureux du discours optimiste sur la vision de l’Afrique parce qu’il faut être optimiste; il ne faut pas être pessimiste sinon on risque de se décourager.Madame la Présidente,Vous avez un grand rôle, mais dans votre grand rôle, j’ai l’impression que la confiance des chefs d’États, de temps en temps, ne vous donne pas d’instruments pour pouvoir agir parce que souvent nous assistons toujours à des conférences très grandioses où les chefs d’États prennent beaucoup de décisions, mais qu’ils n’arrivent pas à faire appliquer.Je vous donne un exemple - comme l’a signalé un de mes collègues - la Charte africaine pour la bonne gouvernance, la démocratie et les élections. Les chefs d’États l’ont acceptée, l’ont annoncée, il y en a même qui l’ont signé, mais arrivés dans leurs pays, il n’y a pas de ratification. Qu’est-ce qui se passe? Est-ce qu’ils y croient ou n’y croient pas? Est-ce qu’ils prennent des décisions auxquelles ils croient ou prennentils des décisions, juste, pour nous contenter, pour contenter le monde entier pour dire qu’ils sont sur la bonne voie.Je pense que pour les questions que vous avez signalées, comme les changements inconstitutionnels, comme les prolongations de mandats, comme le changement de constitution, trouvaient des réponses réelles dans cette Charte, s’il y avait une volonté de les mettre en application. Il y a tant d’autres décisions aussi qui ont été prises et qui n’ont pas été mises en application.Le Parlement panafricain joue ce rôle, mais est-ce qu’ils vont lui donner ce rôle, s’ils ne le veulent pas, s’ils prennent des décisions auxquelles ils ne croient pas.Voilà la question, Madame la présidente.Je m’en arrête là.Veuillez plaider pour ma collègue du Mali pour qu’elle continue, parce que ce qu’elle nous disait, était vraiment dans un bon sens, était enrichissant.Je vous remercie, puisque vous risquez de me couper la parole.HON. MOHAMMED-MUBARAK MUNTAKA [GHANA]:Thank you very much, Mr. President.Mr. President, I equally take the opportunity to congratulate madam on such a brilliant delivery, and want to say that in her own words, Africa is full of optimism. Yes, I agree. We are better-off than we were 50 years ago. But what I equally agree is that we can be better than we are today.Mr. President, it is said that if one cannot measure, one cannot achieve. If one does not know where one is going, every road will lead one there. What do we want to achieve as Africans? What kind of infrastructure should we have? Do we have a single route hat can move from south of Africa to the north of Africa with a rail line? Do we have a single rail line that can run from the east of Africa to the west of Africa? How long do we want this take us? What kind of governments do we want to have? Do we want to have the kind of governments that will be so disappointing like what Malians saw when in the most critical state, they could not get even the African countries leading but rather France led? Why will they pay more allegiance to France than to Africa? What kind of movement do we want to see our people have?Fifty years now, madam, in her own presentation said we are now going through de-industrialization. We are virtually de-industrializing. What it means is that our manufacturing industry is not doing well. I am sorry to say this. I have said it on the floor of this House before and I am repeating it. I know diplomatically it may be wrong. Take our mothers out of this Chamber and take the picture of this Chamber with that of our American Parliament or the European Parliament and tell me whether there will be difference. When we look at the mirror what do we see? We see ourselves dressed in European attire. We see ourselves patronizing European uniform. How can we create jobs? For every single tie that one wears, one promotes not less than three dollars going to Europe or America. Are we thinking about that?Our mothers - when one looks in this Chamber, almost 100 per cent of them are looking like true Africans. And madam, I am proud of you, you are looking like an African. Can we say same of all of us? I am sorry, it may look undiplomatic but truth has to be said. As long as we do not consume [what we produce] internally, we do not appreciate our culture, we will continue sending the foreign investment outside. We will be creating more jobs outside and Africa will remain poor and poor no matter how long we talk.[Applause]Leaders of Africa must wake up - 2063 is too far. None of us would want to be alive in 2063 - [Laughter] - Yes, I can say that for certain. What it means is that we need to be planning for five years and ten years and I think we will be able to make it.Thank you, very much.HON. MASTER GOYA [BOTSWANA]:I thank you, Mr President for giving me this opportunity. Allow me to also thank the AUC Chairperson for giving us a synopsis of the state of the nation of the African Union. She has indeed said a mouthful. Her report is very detailed and I hope we will be given copies of this report for future reference, Mr President.Mr President, the African continent has many issues to contend with. Issues ranging from conflict resolution, poverty, high unemployment rates - these are the many problems that we are facing as a continent and all these issues have tortured our people, undermined our continent and I think that time is now that we should change the approach that we have been using to tackle all these issues. I am saying this because we now have a lady - a woman as the AUC Chairperson. I believe that it is important and I count on her to make sure that all the approaches that have been used in the past by her predecessors should not be the same approach that she should use to tackle the issues that are afflicting this continent. She should adopt a completely new strategy of approaching issues that are affecting this continent.Mr President, we still have governments in exile. For instance like the Saharawi Republic, what is happening there? We still have conflicts in Somalia. People are dying every day. Just yesterday, we got a report that there was a bomb explosion there and people lost their lives. What are we doing about all these things? I am saying that I am counting on you Madam Chairperson that you, being a lady, please adopt a different approach to all issues that have been afflicting this continent.I want to suggest to you, Madam Chairperson, that as the Pan-African Parliament - you can use us on issues like conflict resolution. But the thing is that if we do not have the powers, how are we going to play our role as a Parliament? I am counting on you to make sure that you talk to the Heads of State; the leadership in this continent to give us the powers so that we can also play a role in all the problems that are affecting this continent. In my culture - (Member timed out_)THE PRESIDENT:Thank you very much honourable. We thank you for that contribution.HON. GOYA:I thank you.HON. CECILIA ATIM-OGWAL [UGANDA]:Your Excellency, I have always looked forward to an opportunity where somebody at the head of the African Union would come on duty and check on what is happening in Pan African Parliament, and not just come to make a courtesy call.I am extremely proud of Her Excellency, Madam Zuma, for her excellent performance within such a short time. What you have told us today shows that you have within a short time understood where Africa has come from, where it is right now and where it is going. It is only a mother who can have that clear vision of what is to be done. I need to congratulate you. May God preserve you?[Applause]Mr. President, traditionally it is believed that if you are looking for a good talker, look for a man, but if you are looking for someone to execute a job meticulously well, look for a woman. [Applause] At this particular time when we have been talking and searching how to move Pan-African Parliament to the next level of being a full legislature, we call upon member states to be accountable for what they are supposed to do to move our people out of poverty and give our people hope for liberty. We have found it difficult to move from where we are. We have been talking in a circle. I believe by faith that now that we have a mother as the head of AU, the issue of Pan-African Parliament becoming a full legislature will be achieved within the shortest possible time, because there is a woman.[Applause]I want to say that the issue of gender equality should not just be an issue of tokenism where out of five members who come to Pan African Parliament, you bring one or two women. It must be a serious agenda and Africa must understand that unless you put a woman at the forefront and we move side-by-side, we will never move from where we are. I think we must change our paradigm and our mindset towards the women.Finally, I want to share with my fellow women that right now what is ruining Africa is the fact that Africa constitute 12% of the population, but 50% of the affected persons with HIV are from Africa, our continent. You will find that 50% of the women and children dying... [Time has expired.]HON. MOUSTAPHA OULD BEDREDDINE [MAURITANIA];شكرا سيدي الرئيسفي الحقيقة استمتعت بتتبع خطاب المفوضة ولم تخيب ظني فيها فقط سأقدم ثالث او اربع مالحظات المالحظة االولي هي ان هناك بلد وحيد ما يزال يعيش تحت االستعمار وهو الجمهورية العربية الصحراوية وال يمكننا ان نستمتع بالقضاء علي االستعمار مادام هناك بلد يعيش تحت االستعمار اشكر المفوضة لكونها تطرقت له<ا البلد واطلب منها وهي المناضلة من حزب مانديال ولها تجربة في مناهضة االستعمار اطلب منها ان تعطي اولوية لتلك القضية والمالحظة الثانية االحظ تحول البرلمان االفريقي من وضعية االستشارية الي الوضعية التشريعية كيف توضح لنا في تلك المسألة المالحظه الثالثة هي عدم التناسب بين القدر ال<ي تحثت عنه في اقتصاداتنا االفريقية والحالة البائسة التي يعيشها فقراؤنا في الريف والمدن اريد توضيحا <لك كما االحظ ايضا ان اعداد ً ل ً وان البطالة الفقراء ال تشهد نفصا تزداد كيف نفس كل ً وتزداد ارتفاعا ه<ه الظواهر مع تطور النمو والمالحظة الرابعة هي ان هناك امراض خطيرة لم تتكلم عنها هي انشار الفساد في االنظمة االفريقية وانتشار المخدرات والرهاب وغسيل االموال ماهو ردكم عن مكافحتكم لها.PETER KATJAVIVI [NAMIBIA]:Thank you Mr President. I wish to thank Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma the Chairperson of the AUC for her forthright statement to this House. Yes, in this Parliament, we look forward to working closely with you in order to champion the cause that will better the lives and welfare of our citizens on the African continent. Continental institutions including the PAP must be assisted so that they can function in the most efficient way possible.Our oversight responsibility is essential and we must ensure that we are walking the talk. We should do what we preach. We believe that the factors that will better the welfare of our people include the betterment of household incomes through job creation, food security and investment for the future. The best way to ensure that this is done is to industrialise Africa through value addition to our national resources. Indeed, we need to speak with one voice in negotiating for better deals from our development partners.Obviously, we are individual sovereign states but there comes a time when our common African interests come together and as such, we should pull our resources together in order to achieve our common objectives. In this case, matters relating to Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAS) have continuously rattled the European Union (EU) and Africa Relations and they are becoming a divisive issue. Therefore, let me urge you, honourable Chairperson of the AUC to take note of the forth coming Africa-EU meeting in Brussels in April 2014, which might present an opportunity for the African continent to present a united voice on matters pertinent to this continent and particularly those issues relating to EPAS.Madam Chairperson, I am making this single plea in favour of the need for us to collectively work together through continental institutions in order to ensure that we continue moving towards our common development endeavours in Africa.I thank you, Sir.HON. MOHAMMED ALI ALMARDI [SUDAN]:Mr. President, it gives us real pleasure to notice and realise the efforts that are being exerted by the African Union in preserving peace and security in the continent, resolving disputes, enhancing projects for the services of the citizens and monitoring elections and sending factfinding missions. These are part of the real activities which are being done by the African Union and we commend this.On our part in Sudan, we have gone all the way in the quest for peace. The last agreement that was reached for co-operation between Sudan and Southern Sudan should have been commended by the speaker of the Parliament of Southern Sudan. Instead, he started bombarding Sudan by frivolous and groundless accusations of maltreatment of the citizens, and with all other accusations which is an example of bad faith. This bad faith was even demonstrated when the microphone was temporary disconnected for seconds and he just jumped to conclusions that it was intended.We need good faith by all of us in Africa. We need to be co-operating with each other and need to do everything that will help Africa to stand strongly and firmly on its feet for its citizens.HON. JACQUELINE AMONGIN [UGANDA]:I want to say that it is not by mistake in Africa that we believed that the mother is the brain of the family because without the brain the family cannot move properly. It is not by miracle that today the Chairperson of the African union, Madam Zuma has achieved a lot in a short time because the brain is at work.Thank you very much.Madam Chairperson, I have key issues to raise; but I want to quote from where you quoted. Our great for fathers said that every generation must out of reality discover its history mission and either fulfill it or betray.Today we are celebrating the 50 years of the African Union; at 50 where are we?I am so impressed that when you were giving your speech, you gave figures and that left me satisfied.You also said that a quarter of the population under 25 years in the next 50 Years will be leaving Africa; that means the young generation of the continent of Africa. What do we have for the young people? These are the people who are going to be in charge of the continent in the 50 years to come starting from right now.Therefore, Madam Chairperson, as the African union you spoke of Mandela of South Africa and Julius Nyerere because of the important roles they played in transforming Africa from where it used to be.What will the young people talk of Africa in 50 years to come? That drives me to the next issue; what has the AU, the African continent for the young people because the biggest challenge for the people of Africa today is unemployment. If you look at the figures it will affect those below 45years and that is the young generation.Today we are saying Africa lacks the man power because the skills power base, who are the young people have gone to other continent s where they are well catered for and are well paid.HON. ASSOUMANA MALAM ISSA [NIGER]:Merci, Monsieur le Président!Monsieur le Président,Je partage les éloges justifiés qui sont faits à la Présidente et je relève particulièrement qu’en moins d’un an, elle se présente deux fois devant notre Parlement. Cela justifie de la respectabilité qu’elle veut attribuer à notre Parlement. Merci, Madame la Présidente!Madame la Présidente,L’OUA fête ses cinquante ans, pour ne pas dire l’Union Africaine, et chez les hommes, cinquante ans, c’est l’âge où toute la sagesse est acquise. C’est l’âge où on consacre sa vie aux autres, son énergie, son intelligence et son expérience qui est forgée à l’épreuve de la vie. Alors, est-ce à dire qu’après cinquante ans, l’Union que vous dirigez avec un nouveau leadership, va porter le développement de l’Afrique? Est-ce à dire que vous allez relever le défi du développement, le défi de l’industrialisation, de la solidarité nécessaires pour développer l’Afrique?Je voudrais, par rapport à toutes ces questions, soulever trois préoccupations:La première, est-ce qu’on doit se dire que l’Afrique joue son leadership dans un domaine aussi crucial que la prévention et la gestion des conflits? J’ai peur qu’on me réponde par l’affirmative, Madame la Présidente, parce qu’au vu de ce que l’Afrique a eu comportement attentiste au Mali où elle s’est vue supplantée par l’ONU par rapport à la gestion de la crise malienne, on se demande si l’Union Africaine est prête à gérer convenablement les conflits qui assaillent l’Afrique. Pourquoi, malgré toute la volonté du Tchad, du Niger, du Bénin, du Sénégal, de tous les autres pays, on n’est pas arrivé à avoir une MISMA permanente qui gère le conflit au Mali? Dites-nous concrètement, Madame la Présidente, que s’est-il réellement passé?La deuxième préoccupation est relative à notre Parlement. Tous les discours que nous entendons, nous font croire qu’on va donner demain le pouvoir législatif au PAP, alors que nous sommes en train de nous leurrer. On est en train de se rendre compte que ce n’est pas demain la veille. Dites-nous concrètement, est-ce qu’au sommet de demain où les Chefs d’État seront avec vous à l’occasion de ce cinquantième anniversaire, vous allez, enfin, accepter de nous donner le pouvoir législatif pour qu’on contribue efficacement et concrètement au développement de l’Afrique?La troisième question, Madame la Présidente, c’est celle de l’industrialisation de l’Afrique. Pourquoi, malgré toutes les performances que vous avez citées au début de votre présentation, malgré toutes les richesses potentielles, malgré les hommes de l’Afrique, on est encore sous-industrialisé? Je suis d’accord avec vous, Muntaka. Je suis en cravate, en costume parce que je suis contraint de l’être. Si le tissu vient du Burkina ou du Ghana, les équipements viennent de l’autre côté du monde. Pourquoi on ne peut pas avoir une industrialisation intégrale où on peut s’habiller comme l’on veut, où on peut manger comme on veut ce qu’on peut manger en Afrique? Madame la Présidente, c’est cela le défi que vous devez relever. Et nous serons là avec vous.Je vous remercie.(Applaudissements)HON. ELAMIN DAFALLA GASM ELSEED [SUDAN]:أخي الرئيس علي هذه الفرصة وأقول الشكر موصول شكرا جزيالً للمفوضية االفريقية علي هذا التقرير الضافي أود ان اؤمن علي هذا التقريرالذي تضمن امكانية افريقيا الكبيرة الكثيرة ولكن بالرقم من تلك االمكانات الكبيرة تطرق التقرير ايضا الي االشكاالت المعيشية والفقر انا اقول ان هذا الذي يحدث ً والبطالة والمشاكل الصحية في افريقيا عموما هو لم يحدث من فراغ و هذه االمكانا المميزة لدي افريقيا قد ادخلت علينا عنصرا خارجيا يريد االستفادة من هذه االمكانت ليس فقط باالستفادة المادية ولكن بخلق عدم االستقرار حتي يستطيع ان يجعل االنسان ُ من اجل ذلك حدث التدخل في اقطار بعينها االفريقي يعتمد عليه كليا ونحن االن في السودان ماذلنا حتي هذه اللحظة نعاني من هذا التخل الذي يحدث في دارفور نتيجة االمكانات الضخمة الموجودة في دارفور رغم عن انفصال الجنوب وبالتالي اريد القول ماهي الخطوات االقتصادية الملموسة التي اتخذتها المفوضية مع االتحاد االفريقي لالستفادة القصوي من هذه االمكانيات المادية الزراعية والحيوانية والمعدنية والمياه حتي نستطيع ان نخلق سوق كما السوق االوربية المشتركة حتي نقضي علي هذه الضائقة التي تمر بنا واؤمن علي ان هناك اشراقات قد حدثت فيما يلي السلم واالمن االفريقي والتخل االيجابي من مفوضية االتحاد االفريقي لحسم النزاعات كما يحدث في كثير من المناطق ولكن بالرغم من ذلك نجد ان هناك دول قد تدخلت في اقطار افرقية بحجة انقاذ المواطن ولكن الهدف من ذلك لفرض سيطرتها وايجاد حكومات مواليه لها حتي تستطيع ان تنفذ السياسات االستعمارية التي تركت في افريقيا عقب ذهاب ً هناك ايجابية حدث في التحسن الذي طرق في االستعمار ونقول ايضا قبول التحول الديمقراطي والتنافس الحر في االنتخابات وهذا ال يكفي ولكن نود القول ماهي السياسة الموضوعة من قبل مفوضية االتحاد االفريقي حتي نستطيع القول اننا بعد العام 52 21 م استطعنا ان نخلق انسان افريقي يعتمد علي نفسة دون االعتماد علي االخروماذا قدمنا النسان افريقيا حتي نستطيع ان نكافح االمراض. ً وشكراHON. DIKGANG PHILLIP MAKGALEMELE [BOTSWANA]:Thank you Mr President. Just like other colleagues have done, I want to thank Dr Zuma for a very comprehensive update. Although she is a soft speaking person, I could hear and I read hope in her speech. I also read boldness in her speech. Mr President, it is said that if you are bold, you may fail, if you are not bold, you shall fail. Therefore, I am confident that because the AUC Chairperson has demonstrated boldness, she shall certainly succeed.Mr President, I agree with her that we need to push the intra-Africa trade agenda. I happen to chair the Committee on Trade, Customs and Immigration of the PAP and I want to assure you of our support, Madam Chairperson. There is a lot that can be done amongst African countries and therefore, trade has to be promoted at all cost.Mr President, I want us to also look at agriculture which has huge potential but it remains untapped. For example, despite the fact that the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) dictates that all countries must contribute 10 per cent of their budget to agriculture development, that is still not being done by most countries. I think we need to convince our various governments and Heads of State that we really have to achieve this objective.Mr President, I also agree with the Chairperson that poverty can be eradicated within 50 years. I strongly believe that it can be eradicated in less time. Therefore, I want to propose that at the PAP level, poverty eradication should be a topic for every session and poverty eradication strategies should be debated and agreed upon.Mr President, at AU level, I want to propose that as part of celebrating 50 years of the OAU, we should publish a book on positive poverty eradication strategies that will serve as a reminder in terms of what other countries have done in the fight against poverty.Mr President, finally, I want to talk about the issue of separation of powers. I humbly request Dr Zuma to look at the issue of separation of powers within the AU family.HON. GABRIEL TCHOCODO [BÉNIN]:Merci Monsieur le Président!Monsieur le Président,Je voudrais, d’abord, féliciter Madame la Présidente pour sa brillante élection au poste de Président de l’UA.Madame la Présidente,En dépit des progrès enregistrés dans le domaine économique, l’Afrique reste confrontée à de multiples défis.Que comptez-vous faire, Madame la Présidente, pour accélérer, par exemple, le processus de l’intégration africaine, gage du développement socioéconomique de notre continent?Monsieur le Président,Madame la Présidente,L’UA doit devenir une institution forte afin d’être à même de promouvoir la démocratie en Afrique. Mais comment l’UA pourra-t-elle devenir une institution forte si ses pays membres continuent de peiner à libérer leurs cotisations statutaires? Comment pourra-t-elle devenir une puissance forte si les pays africains continuent de tendre la main aux partenaires techniques et financiers, même pour des questions de souveraineté nationale telles que les questions électorales, par exemple?Monsieur le Président,Il faut aujourd’hui aux dirigeants africains une volonté politique forte et une ferme détermination à faire face courageusement aux différents défis auxquels l’Afrique est confrontée. Sans la paix et la sécurité, il n’y aura pas de développement durable pour les peuples africains; d’où l’impérieuse nécessité, pour l’UA, de renforcer les actions de prévention des conflits en amenant, par exemple, les dirigeants africains à éviter les tripatouillages des lois constitutionnelles de leur pays pour s’éterniser au pouvoir.Enfin, je voudrais, Monsieur le Président, compter sur le dynamisme de Madame la Présidente afin que l’Union africaine cesse d’être une puissance impuissante.Monsieur le Président, je vous remercie.(Applaudissements)HON. PATRICK MWALULA MUCHELEKA [ZAMBIA]:Thank you, Mr. President, for the opportunity.Let me also take this opportunity to thank the African Chairperson for the wonderful speech she has made which is evidence-based. And she has given us figures with regard to the situation in Africa and the progress that has been made.However, I want to agree with her that 50 years after the formation of the African Union, poverty level, unemployment, and inequalities still remain very high in Africa. And as we approach 2015, most of the Africa countries in sub-Saharan Africa will not be able to attain the Millennium Development Goals.She also talked about the Human Development Indicators which are quite depressing. However, what we must admit, Mr. President is that to a large extent, we are where we are today, because of poor governance. It is true that we have very strong Presidents, with very weak institutions - Presidents who do not want to share power with anybody; Presidents who do not want to be held to account - and, therefore, even as we talk about legislative powers for the African Parliament, we have noticed that there has been some kind of procrastination by sitting Heads of State. We are still at 50. This is the time to give the African people a President, through the peoples’ representative by giving us legislative powers. And we want to assure the Presidents that we do not intend to abuse that power but use it for the interests of the African people.As the President of Ghana said this morning, we are not talking about unions of African Presidents; we are talking about the union of the African people. We want to say that we shall be able to exercise our legislative powers with responsibility to the extent where we add value to issues of governance so that we can double the progress that has been made. Had we invested so much in good governance, I want to understand and believe that progress, perhaps, would have been much better than it is today.Mr. President, I also want to thank you and the African Union Chairperson and reiterate that where you have the man as the head of the African Parliament, and then you have a mother as the Chairperson of the African Union; it means that we have the two of you who will work very well together. I hope that we shall make progress regarding legislative powers for the Pan-African Parliament.I thank you.[Applause]HON. LIVIO FERNANDOS LOPES [CABO VERDE]:-Muito obrigado Senhor Presidente.Senhor Presidente, permita-me, em primeiro lugar, congratular-me com a presenta da Presidente da Comissao da Uniao Africana e do seu relatório apresentado aqui ao Plenário do Parlamento Pan-Africano. Particularmente porque, para mim, o debate que fizemos em Maio do ano passado foi uma grande frustra^ao com a ausencia do ex-presidente da Comissao da Uniao Africana, num momento em que grandes problemas africanos mereciam uma reflexao conjunta, para resolvemos e encontramos solu^oes para essas questoes. Mas digo isso porque, também, para mim, a articulado institucional é um grande triunfo em termos de resoluto dos problemas no quadro institucional da Uniao Africana. Nao é só uma questao de sinergias em termos institucionais, mas é também, porque na minha perspectiva, as solu^oes em termos de transformado do parlamento Pan-Africano de um Parlamento consultivo para um parlamento deliberativo passará, necessariamente, por essa articulaçao e por ultrapassarmos algumas resistências internas no quadro institucional da Uniao Africana.Quería focalizar rapidamente nas questoes que a Presidente Zuma levantou em relaçao a contribuiçao que o PAP pode dar no quadro institucional da Uniao Africana e, particularmente, na questao da democraticizaçao das eleiçoes em África, da questao das alteraçoes anti-constitucionais dos governos em África, que para mim é uma coisa ridícula, e a questao da defesa dos direitos humanos. Em particular, em relaçao à democraticizaçao das eleiçoes em África, julgo que devemos manter esta articulaçao, como fizemos a tempos em Addis-Abeba, em relaçao às reunioes das Comissoes permanentes com a Comissao da Uniao Africana e termos em maos a avaliaçao dos relatórios que sao feitos em cada observaçao eleitoral, e tirarmos as conclusoes para que o próximo processo seja um upgrade em relaçao ao anterior. Falo isso, pensando logo na questao da Guiné-Bissau que deve ter uma eleiçao em Novembro, e tivemos uma primeira fase de observaçao eleitoral com grandes pontos críticos que devem ser ultrapassados agora no novo processo eleitoral.Deixo aqui essa contribuiçao, na certeza de que teremos uma articulaçao maior com a Comissao da Uniao Africana em relaçao às questoes eleitorais em África. Obrigado.HON. OULÉYMATOU ASCOFARÉ TAMBOURA [MALI]:Merci, Monsieur le Président.Depuis ce matin, nous parlons de solidarité. Je voudrais dire que ce qui se passe dans mon pays, le Mali, est une manifestation concrète de cette solidarité qui est à saluer même s’il existe quelques failles à corriger pour plus de performance.Comme vous le savez, depuis bientôt quatre mois, toute l’Afrique, la communauté internationale sont au chevet du Mali malade et avec succès, aujourd’hui, je dois dire; car, même si les narcotrafiquants, terroristes, djihadistes, islamistes n’ont pas été complètement anéantis, leur capacité de nuisance a été fortement réduite.C’est le lieu de renouveler les remerciements de l’ensemble du peuple malien aux peuples d’Afrique, de France et d’Europe et du monde, pour leur soutien.Merci à Madame ZUMA, pour la levée de la suspension du Mali en octobre 2012. Cela a permis au peuple malien de renouer avec le reste du monde pour mieux faire entendre sa voix et bénéficier de plus de solidarité.Merci, pour votre contribution également lors de l’adoption de la récente Résolution en faveur du Mali, sous le chapitre 7, puisqu’il y avait une grande inquiétude au Mali pour l’arrivée des Casques bleus, qui pouvait, peut-être, davantage compliquer la situation.Je voudrais déjà qu’à cette étape, on puisse tirer quelques leçons de ce qui se passe chez moi, au Mali. La qualité des Forces armées de nos pays, en Afrique d’une manière générale, laisse à désirer. Il est urgent de créer des Forces armées fortes dans nos pays respectifs, des hommes bien formés, bien équipés. Il y va de notre survie en tant que nations, en tant que continent.La construction d’une démocratie forte n’est pas antinomique d’existence d’armées fortes, bien au contraire. De la même manière qu’on dit qu’il n’y a pas de développement sans paix, il ne saurait y avoir de paix sans [...] si on ne prépare pas la guerre.À mes collègues députés, je voudrais dire ceci: soyez très attentifs aux budgets de vos Forces armées! Parce que très souvent, ce qu’on vous oppose c’est le secretdéfense et çà ce n’est que la poudre aux yeux pour vous permettre de ne pas aller au fond de vos contrôles. Cela est extrêmement important.Au-delà des armées étatiques, il faut une vraie force d’intervention au niveau africain. Cela n’est pas audessus de nos moyens et cela est nécessaire. Une force en attente aujourd’hui prête à intervenir à chaque moment, à n’importe quel moment, il y va de notre crédibilité en tant que continent. Grâce à l’aide de l’Afrique et de la communauté internationale, l’intervention décisive est extrêmement efficace de l’armée tchadienne, qu’il faut saluer ici au passage, sur le terrain, nous pouvons affirmer, ce jour, que les trois régions du nord du Mali sont débarrassées des bandits, des trafiquants, des terroristes-djihadistes [...].(Applaudissements)Est-ce que je peux poser deux questions?Je voudrais demander à Madame ZUMA, comment elle explique l’état des déliquescences des Forces armées dans nos pays respectifs et ce que l’Union africaine peut faire pour y remédier à l’image de ce que l’Union fait pour le développement économique? Et la Force armée en attente du continent dont il a toujours été question, à quand cette force d’attente?Je vous remercie.HON. CHIEF FORTUNE CHARUMBIRA [ZIMBABWE]:Mr. President, may I also join my fellow parliamentarians in congratulating Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma on her election to the office of Chairperson of the African Union Commission, AUC. Mr. President, her presence and address to this Chamber today, gives me a lot of hope in claiming respect.Firstly, it is rare for a person at that level, in such a senior office on the continent to come to this Parliament and to spend time with us genuinely, this morning; in fact the whole day. It is unprecedented. Most leaders come out of obligation, and behave like visitors. Please, go with this message that you have demonstrated unprecedented conduct. They don’t come anyway, not even if they are junior to you, at the AUC. The commissioners and even the junior staff always pretend to be very busy and they have no time to come here. And we have been crying for years for you to come and spend all this time with us. It is good that you done so. If the juniors come, they are dressed horribly and they will be saying that the plane is leaving at 3 pm and that they have to leave immediately. They rarely sit and listen to all these debates.Again, this is very rare. You have some impeccable, rare leadership skills and you showed us that you are prepared to listen. I think that gives me a lot of hope that we might have a better leader in this office. This should be good news for the continent.The other problem which I think you seem to be confronting; especially when it comes to problem-solving is the whole issue of African leaders not believing in Africa itself. They are African leaders, but the way they think, what they eat, how they dress, the way they breathe is western. But they want and claim to be African leaders. That is the problem. However, if we look at the way you are dressed and talk, you are a typical African mother and leader. That leaves me with the hope that we are headed for better times on the continent.Lastly, we must confront the issue of why Africa is poor despite her abundant resources. It is about ownership of resources. Who owns this? Who owns the resources on the continent? They are exploiting them. They are getting finished. Maybe the AU is shy to share the truth. We need to own the resources ourselves. Otherwise, we will not get anywhere. Thank you very much.[Applause]HON. SAM OTADA AMOOTI [UGANDA]:I thank you, Mr President. Just to weigh in, I want to thank the Madam Chairperson and to emphasise the fact that you are up to the job. I mean, your coming here is a manifestation that you know what you are up to. For those who did not do it, it is also a clear manifestation that probably, they did not know what they were up to.Mr President, I want to say that from the Chairperson’s address, you can see that there was a disconnection between the three arms of the AU. She made a very clear and precise exposure of what is going on at the AUC. But at the legislative level or arm of the PAP, it was clear that actually she was not up to grip with PAP matters.For example, this Parliament wants to hear from you, Madam Chairperson, a passionate appeal for ratification of treaties, for enforcement of protocols that have been signed and deposited, which ones are those? We would have loved to hear from you about which treaties/protocols and what appeal are you making to us to go and make sure that in our respective member states, we have these things done and done properly. Which protocols or treaties do you have in the offing? We would have loved to hear that.I also wanted to hear about the legislative arm which is now the third arm of the AUC. What is going on in our respective courts? So in your State of the union address, I would have liked to hear something about the judicial arm as well and the slope that is coming up at the UN Security Council which is giving favour to Africa. What is the strategy at the AUC and how do we make sure that we take the Chair of the UN Security Council because the wave there is favouring Africa?I want to conclude by saying the following; of course we are talking about 54 African states but Mr President, not all 54 states are at play in as far as AUC matters are concerned. What is happening to Madagascar? Seychelles? Eritrea? You know I wanted to hear a status report about what is going on in these countries which are members of the African Union but are really not at table.Finally, I wanted to hear the challenges that the Madam Chairperson has found in office in as far as the few months that she has been in office are concerned. What are the challenges? Are all the member states paying their dues? I mean what are the challenges that you have and what do you want this Parliament to do for you? Mr President, these are the issues that I thought were lacking.HON. NKODO DANG ROGER [CAMEROUN]:Monsieur le Président,Je vous remercie de me donner la parole.Monsieur le Président,J’ai bien suivi la Présidente de la Commission dans son exposé. Je voudrais faire deux petites remarques avant de poser mes questions.La première remarque a trait à ce que Madame la Présidente - je voudrais l’appuyer de prendre du temps pour venir exposer dans cette Assemblée quelles sont les règles de fonctionnement à l’Union Africaine - parce que tant que nous ne saurons pas comment l’Union africaine fonctionne, nous allons changer tous les présidents qu’on veut à la tête de la Commission, rien ne va changer. L’Union africaine, ce sont les chefs d’États africains qui décident. La preuve en est que les décisions sont intitulées, la conférence décide et demande à la Présidente de faire telle chose.Voilà comment on prend les décisions à l’Union Africaine. J’ai pris la peine d’en savoir plus. J’ai causé avec l’ancien Secrétaire Général de l’Organisation de l’Unité Africaine qui est de chez moi. Je lui ai posé la question: « Monsieur le Secrétaire Général, qu’est-ce qui a fondamentalement changé entre l’Organisation de l’Unité Africaine et l’Union Africaine en termes de fonctionnement? »Il m’a dit: « Petit, laisse cette affaire! »L’Union Africaine ou l’Organisation de l’Unité Africaine, c’est l’association des chefs d’États africains qui tiennent à leurs pouvoirs. Aucune décision, ils ne reçoivent même pas de conseil. Et la preuve est que lorsque vous allez au_COREP, les gens ne vous laissent même pas le temps de parler en tant qu’organe. Au Conseil Exécutif, vous n’avez pas droit à la parole, même la Présidente de la Commission.Donc, je crois que nous avons des problèmes, mais nous ne nous attaquons pas aux problèmes, nous saupoudrons pour dire qu’il faut la dame, la dame c’est bien beau qu’elle soit là. Mais est-ce que, Madame la Présidente, vous pouvez nous dire que les règles de fonctionnement de l’Union africaine ont changé depuis que vous êtes là? Si ce sont les mêmes règles, nous allons nous leurrer. C’est ma première question.Ma deuxième question, Madame la Présidente, lorsque vous avez été élue, je me suis réjoui du fait que lorsque je présentais l’amendement au Protocole, l’opposition farouche que j’avais rencontrée, c’était les pays de l’Afrique Australe. Votre élection m’a donné un réconfort pour dire qu’avec votre arrivée, le Protocole sera enfin révisé. Est-ce que vous avez fait des efforts dans ce sens pour amener les pays d’Afrique Australe de nous aider, d’aider l’Afrique à amender le Protocole pour que nous puissions avoir les pouvoirs législatifs que nous demandons?Madame la Présidente,Cinquante ans après la création de l’Organisation de l’Unité Africaine, aujourd’hui l’Union Africaine, les discours nous en avons entendus et nous voulons que nous passons dans les actes et ces actes c’est ce que vous venez de décliner. Est-ce que vous aurez les mains libres d’expérimenter ou d’appliquer ce que vous venez de nous décliner ici, Madame la Présidente?Voilà autant d’interrogations qui se posent en Afrique et aujourd’hui lorsqu’on regarde le fonctionnement de nos chefs d’États, tous tiennent à leurs pouvoirs, tous tiennent à la souveraineté des États. Et ils ne veulent rien savoir de ce que nous souffrons ici. Nos États paient, mais est-ce que cela les intéressent vraiment pour qu’on puisse avancer, comment vous allez arriver, avec votre dynamisme, à convaincre les chefs d’États africains pour qu’ils changent leur mode de fonctionnement dans leur association, parce que l’Union Africaine c’est l’association des chefs d’États africains où tous se soutiennent, ils se soutiennent. Vous voulez prendre une décision contre moi, les autres me soutiennent. Demain si on prend une décision contre tel pays, l’autre pays aussi va avoir les mêmes problèmes et tout est gelé. C’est pour cela que je pense, Madame la Présidente, qu’il serait loisible de nous expliquer si au haut niveau, depuis que vous êtes là, les règles de fonctionnement de l’Union africaine ont changé, est-ce qu’aujourd’hui vous aurez les marges de manœuvre suffisantes pour fléchir nos chefs d’États afin que nous puissions rêver d’une Afrique nouvelle?Pour terminer, Monsieur le Président - je ne voudrais pas abuser de votre confiance - je voudrais dire que l’égard nous avons en Afrique, aujourd’hui, nous le connaissons.Si dans certains pays, la plupart des conflits que nous avons, ce sont des conflits postélectoraux, ce sont les conflits de gouvernance, la situation du Mali, ce n’est pas le coup d’État qui a créé la crise, mais c’est la crise qui a provoqué le coup d’État et cette crise était consécutive aux problèmes de gouvernance, aux problèmes des élections. Nous venons d’être chargés d’aller dans les pays africains, demander aux États de ratifier la Charte Africaine de la démocratie. Grande a été notre surprise! Ces États ont signé librement, mais lorsqu’on vient maintenant chacun dit: « On va voir, il y a un calendrier interne que nous devons d’abord voir. » Mais pourquoi, vous pouvez penser donc que les gens qui prennent librement des engagements, n’arrivent plus, une fois rentrés chez eux, à les respecter.Donc, Madame la Présidente, votre travail, je trouve que ce sera un travail exaltant et je vous souhaite beaucoup de succès, beaucoup de chance pour pouvoir affronter nos dirigeants et les faire changer des décisions un tant soit peu que vous voulez travailler pour l’intérêt de l’Afrique. Le premier challenge étant celui du Parlement panafricain qui, aujourd’hui, incombe à une poignée des chefs d’États qui ont décidé - et il y a même un pays de l’Afrique Australe qui s’était fait passer pour un inquisiteur. Dès qu’on prononçait le Parlement panafricain, c’était grave, c’était le tollé dans la salle. Je crois que vous avez été au courant de cette situation. Aidez-nous à résoudre d’abord ce problème! Le reste nous allons voir, parce que nous sommes tous qui sommes ici, personne ne sera plus en vie en 2063. Nous voulons bâtir le futur, mais je crois qu’il faut d’abord commencer à résoudre le présentement vécu, c’est ce que nous trimons ici et que vous avez la capacité de le faire.Je vous remercie, Monsieur le Président pour votre indulgence.Madame la Présidente, bon courage, mais je vous sais très, très confrontée à des difficultés de notre pays.Je vous remercie.THE PRESIDENT:Thank very much Vice President for that contribution. We thank the hon members who have contributed to these debates. Let me, on behalf of the Pan-African Parliament, extend our apology to the speaker of South Sudan whose message of solidarity was referred to, in a contribution by an hon, when his speech was not the subject of debate. He has no right of reply. Let me; therefore, invite her Excellency, the Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Her Excellency Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma.H.E. DR. NKOSAZANA DLAMINI ZUMA [CHAIRPERSON OF AUC]:I thank you very much President and honourable members. Let me thank all of you for being here and for taking part in the debates. I also thank those who have spoken in the debate. I think it has been quite an interesting debate for me because it is the first one I have attended here.I would like to thank all of you for all the kind words you said. I will not be able to answer every question but I will try and speak about some issues. Let me just start from towards the end of what the honourable member from Uganda said. I think you are absolutely right. I did not touch on everything. I did not know how much time I had and so I did not know how much long I had to speak. Therefore, I took a chance and just prioritized what I thought, was priority. I accept that I did not talk about all the things you mentioned. Maybe, for some of those issues like some of the protocols that have not been ratified and so on, I can either send a list or I can send somebody in later sessions to come and talk about them. I could send a person in charge of legal issues or somebody like that. I accept that that is an important aspect.I deliberately did not talk about the challenges I am facing because I thought that because I am speaking to you for the first time, I must not come and lament. Maybe down the line, I will lament but I thought it would not be right to come and give you the various challenges I am facing but they are there. I will talk about them later.Let me say something on the issues raised by the honourable member from Zimbabwe. Yes, I do like to listen and sometimes I do not have enough time, but I try and I will continue trying and I am happy that you appreciate that. I also think that you are right. It is very important that we think African. And somebody else from Ghana also said that. I think that it is important to think African because it shifts how you carry yourself, how you dress, your actions, thoughts and so on. It is also about being proud of being an African. I think we should all be proud and I am happy that the President of Ghana said this earlier. The President of Ghana said that we should be proud to be living at this time and we should be proud to be Africans.On the issue of resources, I think you are right. What is important for me, without getting into the debate of whether we should nationalise or not nationalise our industries - nationalisation should not be an end in itself, it should be a means of making sure that those resources benefit our people. We should all think about how we can make these resources benefit our people which ever method we use as long as it benefits our people. The problem that we have is that sometimes the people expect those resources to benefit them much more, therefore, it looks like the resources are geographically located where we are but they are not really owned by us. Beyond this, we should make the companies that exploit the resources account for these resources. Why should a rock driller in South Africa earn less than a rock driller in Australia working for the same company and drilling the same rocks and getting the same product? Is it because Africans should not be extremely poor but it is fine to be poor. We should look at the whole basket of things around our resources and how we add value to our resources.There are also colleagues and members who have said that poverty is increasing in Africa and that, things are getting worse. Actually, things are not getting worse. I think there are enormous challenges on our continent, however, we also have made some progress on our continent. The problem is that we have not been crafting our own narration. The narration has been coming from somewhere else and the somewhere else is always putting us down even when things are ok. The only thing they are not able to hide now is the fact that countries in Africa are developing, when economic growth in the rest of the world is slow and the rest of the world has a crises, especially Western Europe.It is high time we crafted our own narration and part of crafting our own narration is having our own statistics. We must look at what is happening, research and have our own statistics and then craft our narration. Frankly, we should state the areas where we are doing better and areas where we are not doing well. However, I do not think that we can have everything not going well or going bad, that really is not the case. I would like to make a general statement that there are areas where we are doing much better. I live in Ethiopia. It is my home and it is going to be my home for four years. The first time I went to Addis Abba, I was a young student in 1976 to be part of the summit and address the summit on what was going on in South Africa. It was an extra ordinary summit in solidarity with what was going on in South Africa. The Addis Abba I saw in 1976 no longer exists today. It is a totally different Addis Abba, it is a much better place. The development is very visible.In Angola during the war, there were problems but now the skyline of Luanda is just so different, you can see the development there. You do not even need to know that Angola’s economy is developing at 22 per cent because you can see it from the infrastructure. I can name many other African countries but there is change and development in all of them. It might not be as fast as we want it, it might not be taking us exactly where we want to be yet, but I think it is quite visible. I was just telling a story about this.Three weeks ago, I was in Sweden, I was invited to meet people there and to open an exhibition about Africa. The only reason I agreed to go and open that exhibition was because it was not an exhibition of Africa showing us thin, and flies on the face of our children, it was an exhibition showing what is going on in Africa on a day to day basis and the exhibition was looking at a number of countries and what is happening there in terms of infrastructure development and so on. It gave the Swiss the reality of what is going on in Africa. There are challenges but there is progress also.There was a question about what I am doing on poverty alleviation strategies. I am glad that there was a suggestion that this Parliament at every session must look at poverty eradication strategies. You can invite some of us sometimes or the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) to be part of these debates from time to time. It may not be myself to come but commissioners and so on may come. We would like to be part of the session. I encourage you to do that and I am happy that we can participate because it is possible to eradicate poverty in Africa, not extreme poverty but poverty only. It is possible and we must just work at it painstakingly. I agree that this can happen even before 50 years if we set our minds to it. It might happen in 30 years but it is possible and we must just work on it and we will be happy to participate in those discussions.There was an issue about what we are doing to ensure that this House becomes a legislative House and not just a place to talk. Well, I think the process to do this is on. It had to be a consultative parliament for the first five years, that is what the protocol said and so it could not be otherwise. Now the protocol is being revised and so we must work together. If it was up to the AUC, the protocol would have been passed by now but it is not necessarily up to us. It is up to yourselves, or your member states. We have to work together to convince the member heads of states. The heads of state said that they did not reject this idea, they said there must be further consultation.I think that that is what we should concentrate on. Sometimes, it is not because people do not want to do it, it is just that maybe there is a misunderstanding. Let us be patient and talk. We have less than a year to the January summit next year. Let us see how many of the heads of state we can convince in the mean time so that when we are at the summit in January next year, we might get a better result. It is not necessarily up to the AUC but we will work with you to explain as much as we can that what we are suggesting has more benefits than dangers to the states.In terms of what we are doing for the defense forces and so on, I think it is true that we need to strengthen our defense forces. However, strengthening them also means re-orientating them so that they know that they are there to defend the constitution and not to suspend it. The training and everything else must go hand in hand with that. Somebody asked about a ‘stand by’ force. We as the EUC are trying to convince member states to either accelerate the operationalisation of the stand by force because it is not yet operational, or to have an interim arrangement before we can fully operationalise it. However, it is clear that we need some rapid response capacity as a continent. I think that at the coming summit, that is a matter that maybe on the agenda to be discussed and we will see where the heads of state take it. However, as AUC, we feel that that capacity is absolutely critical not only for peace keeping but it is also important for us to be able to stop some of these coups before they happen because some of them evolve over time and it is not that they happen overnight. You can see some of them coming but we have no capacity to stop them.As for the Charter on democracy, elections and so on, I think that we must work together again with our member states because this is a very good Charter. If implemented, it will resolve some of the issues. What is important also, is maybe not to look for a one size fits all solution but ensure that the democracy model that countries adopt is participatory, inclusive and has all these elements of respect, dignity, and rights of individuals. There could be variations but these major principles should be there.On the question about what we are doing for the future of the youth, a matter which a number of members raised; from the AUC side, we have been discussing this issue and that is why we have made it a priority. We would also like to involve the youth themselves in working through this problem. The youths themselves must define what their role is. The AUC together with the member states must make sure that we provide the environment needed for them to be able to acquire the necessary skills to get the necessary jobs. They must also be part of defining the mission of this generation. They are part of this generation.In fact, the President of this House was discussing the idea whether it is possible once a year to have a youth parliament were the youth can come here and discuss issues and work with you as the PAP. It is something that we are discussing and during the margin of the summit, we will also have a youth session on the 24th with a few former and current heads of state to talk in an inter-generational fashion so that this generation of heads of state can know what the youth think and what everybody else thinks. Youths can also know where we came from and that is why we want former heads of states if it is possible, to be there, to interact with the youths so that the youth can be part of the celebrations that will be on the 24th. In the afternoon on the same day, we will also have a people’s parliament were different sectors of our society who want to make statements on this occasion of the 50th anniversary will do so because not everybody can speak on the 25th, not even all our heads of state can speak on the 25th.Going forward, what is going to be important is obviously health, education and skills development for this huge young population that we are going to have. There was an issue about people refusing democracy and so on, I did not quite understand that very well but I think it is up to us as members of parliament, AUC and everyone else to explain what democracy is. I do not know whether I got lost in the translation. We need to encourage people to embrace democracy.The other thing I really want to stress is that we must all work towards the road map that we would like to be presented to the heads of state. It should not only be about where we want to be in 50 years, but what steps we need to take to get there. Obviously, you cannot have a road map that just says year 0 and year 50. It should for instance say what the bench marks for year 10, 20, 25 and so on will be. I agree with the honourable member that we need to work in shorter periods but we must have a long view, and targets that are short because if we do not have a long view, then as one member said, every route will take us somewhere, and every detour will end up being the journey. If you know the route of your journey and you need to take a detour, you will take a detour and come back, but if you do not have a route, the detour might end up being the journey.I think that on some of the issues that are specific, that you may want more elaboration from me, I think we can discuss them later. Issues about the Human Rights Commission, the Courts and the United States of Africa need to occupy us as we move towards the next 50 years. How do we strengthen these institutions and where do we want to end? That is why we must say where we want to be. Do we want to be in a United States of Africa in 50 years? if we do, how do we get there? These are the issues that do not necessarily have to be answered by the AUC, but we should engage each other all the time.I also just want to say that let us not be prisoners of our past and not even our present, but let us be the architects of our future. The past has happened and it has gone forever, there is nothing you can do about it except reflect on it. That is why even when we drive cars, we can only just reflect for one moment in the rear view mirror and then move forward. I think reflection of the past is good because we learn lessons and so on. Sometimes, we become prisoners of our past or present situations and then we do not think that it is possible to go and fly high because we are looking at where we have come from and where we are now. One leader once said that sometimes we behave like a bird that suddenly finds itself surrounded by a snake and it is so petrified by this snake that it forgets that it can fly away from the snake and I think that we should remember that we can fly away from the snake and our present situation.On the issues of gender, I completely agree on what was said because a mother is a mother for all. So, if we empower the mother in the family, we will have empowered the family. We can never reach our full potential unless all the talent in Africa is used, that is, talent from the young, the women and so on. As I said earlier, I did not want to go issue by issue, I just thought that I should take a few issues. We will still be together for the next four years and there will be another time to discuss some more issues.I thank you.THE PRESIDENT:Thank you very much your Excellency, the Chair of the African Union Commission for those responses.Honourable Members you can see from her message and delivery that there is hope for our continent. A message that implores us not to be prisoners of our past history but our present position is the hope of our future clearly shows us that if as people we harness our human and natural resources that are bound in our continent would have a brighter future.Honourable colleagues, Her Excellency Zuma once served as a Minister of International Relations and Co-operation in her native Republic of South Africa and she supported and helped the transformation of Pan African Parliament. She remained that period a key ally and supporter of this institution.Today, as chair of the African Union Commission, and many Members have spoken to that today, we are convinced that she has a pivotal role to play in the continued development and roles of our continental Parliament. We look forward to partnering with her in our challenging task of transforming our Parliament from Advisory and Consultative body to Legislative and oversight Roles.Honourable Colleagues, on your behalf, I request our guest to step forward so that we can present a gift to her from this Parliament in appreciation of her visit to our Parliament.I thank youADJOURNMENT [17:43:48]
Tuesday, 7 May, 2013
THE PRESIDENT:Please, be seated.My distinguished honourable colleagues, I will now call on the Clerk to read the First Order of the day.THE CLERK:Presentation and debate on the -M. LE PRÉSIDENT:Début du programme de la journée!Monsieur le Secrétaire général, veuillez donner lecture du premier point de l’ordre du jour.Monsieur le Secrétaire général, vous avez la parole.THE CLERK:Presentation and debate on the Activity Report of the Pan-African Parliament.M. LE PRÉSIDENT:J’invite l’Honorable Bethel NNAEMEKA AMADI, Président du Parlement Panafricain à faire sa présentation.Honorable Président, vous avez la parole.THE PRESIDENT:Honourable members, a very warm good morning to you all. On behalf of the Bureau of the Pan-African Parliament, it is my honourable pleasure to present this report on the activities of the Pan-African Parliament from October 2012 to May 2013.Honourable colleagues, this report highlights some of the important actvities of our Parliament between October 2012 and May 2013 and the challenges encountered along the line.The report covers the areas of our legislative business, administration, emerging issues in execution of our statutory mandate, our relationship with the African Union, our sister organs and partners since the period under review.
2. – AMENDMENT OF THE PAP PROTOCOL
My dear Colleagues, I am mindful of the fact that the issue of the proposed amendment of our protocol has remained in the front burner and is one that is of great interest and concern to us all as parliamentarians. The present Bureau remains committed and is unrelenting in its pursuit of this course.In this connection, you will recall that at the last session, while reporting to you on the issues regarding the proposed amendment of the PAP Protocol and following your unanimous support, we agreed on the need to embark on intensive advocacy missions in order to address the concerns of some member States who have expressed the view that a transformed Pan-African Parliament with legislative powers may erode or detract from the sovereignty of member States.Secondly, in the view of the member States, it is not yet ripe to give legislative powers to a continental Parliament without continental executive government which according to them, can only be possible after the full integration of Africa.However, at the 20th Ordinary Session of the African Union from 27th to 28th January 2013, the Assembly of the Union after a very exhaustive debate by Heads of States for and against the draft protocol took note of the recommendation of the Executive Council contained in its Decision Executive Council Decision 707(XXI) on the protocol and decided that more in-depth consultations should be undertaken on the draft protocol, with respect to articles 8.1(a) and 8.2 on legislative and oversight powers.The Assembly, therefore, decided to defer consideration of a draft protocol to the next Ordinary Session in May 2013. This decision strengthened the need for a more aggressive advocacy missions on the issue.While this is not contained in your report, my honourable colleagues, the May Ordinary Session which is the 50th Anniversary of the formation of the African Union, we have been requested that no legal instruments will be considered during the May session and as such, all consideration of legal instruments will be deferred to the January 2014 Ordinary Summit.Honourable colleagues, against the above background, the Pan-African Parliament embarked on a number of advocacy missions to some countries and explained to major stakeholders including Heads of States, Foreign Ministers and Presidents of National Assemblies the necessity for the amendment of the protocol, the limit of the powers of Parliament and allayed their fears and concerns about the proposed amendment.The advocacy teams visited the following countries: Ghana, Benin, Congo Brazzaville, Nigeria, Democratic Republic of Congo, Cameroon, Chad, South Africa and Gabon. The following embassies of AU member states in Ethiopia were also visited: Botswana, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Zambia as well as the Dean of the African Diplomatic Corp in South Africa, the Ambassador of the Democratic Republic of Congo.The draft protocol only gave the PAP legislative functions and not legislative powers as understood in the sense of the powers of National Parliaments. Thus, the PAP with legislative functions will not possess the legal capacity to make laws binding member States without specific adoption by the Assembly of Heads of States and subsequent ratification and domestication by National Governments. In fact, Article 8 (1) (a) clearly states that the Assembly of Heads of States shall have the power to determine the subject areas on which the PAP may legislate or propose model laws and such draft model laws shall be submitted to the Assembly of Heads of States for its consideration and approval. This means that the PAP cannot even embark on any legislative process without the approval of the Assembly of Heads of States.With regard to the oversight functions provided for in Article 8 (2) of the draft protocol, it is our humble submission that these oversight roles are already provided for in the existing Protocol of the Pan-African Parliament in articles 11(1), (2) and (5) and were merely carried over to the draft amended protocol. We are therefore convinced that the time has come for the Pan-African Parliament to begin the gradual and phased acquisition of legislative functions in clearly defined areas by the Assembly of Heads of States.Furthermore, that we are convinced that a transformed Pan-African Parliament with legislative functions is strategically needed as a catalyst for the achievement of the much desired continental integration agenda and deserves to be endowed with the capacity to develop the necessary legislative framework for the integration process.On the other hand, a transformed Pan-African Parliament is needed to provide the African Union governance architecture with an organ that has sufficient capacity to facilitate the implementation of the decisions of the Assembly of Heads of Government.We hope to intensify the advocacy on the issue which will now be considered by the Assembly in the January 2014 Session because the AUC has informed us that due to the 50th Anniversary celebrations in may 2013 all legal instruments for consideration have been deferred to January 2013 as scheduled. The continued support of all stakeholders is still required.Let me just mention honourable colleagues that the Bureau has also decided to provide each national delegation with adequate documentation before we depart from this session to enable you canvass both at your national parliaments, foreign ministries and if possible, Prime Ministers and Head of State on the issue of the amendment of our protocol.
3. – PROGRESS REPORT ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE PAP APPROVED STRUCTURE
My dear colleagues, you will recall that while presenting the activity report for the Bureau covering the period May to October, 2012, I informed you of the approval of an organisational structure for the Applause Parliament, which if implemented, will reinvigorate and strengthen the administrative structure for better service delivery.I did also inform you of the recommended implementation process which I said had far reaching implications, requiring the Bureau to make some very tough decisions. I, however, assured you that the Bureau will approach the process with unwavering commitment to ensure our institutional credibility, integrity and fairness. As very critical stakeholders on this issue, I believe you deserve to be properly briefed on the progress so far.Dear colleagues, in keeping with the above assurance, the Bureau immediately launched the implementation programme with a series of meetings held with the staff of the Pan-African Parliament to ensure effective participation in the process.The latest of the several general staff briefings was held on 1st of March, 2013 at which the I and the Bureau presented and explained in detail to the staff, the approved structure and responded to the questions and clarifications sought, regarding the application of the recommended implementation methodologies and to what extent the existing staff interest would be protected.The staff briefing session was immediately followed by the setting up of an eight member PAP Structure Implementation Plan Committee by the President of the Pan-African Parliament, which drew representation from all categories of staff. The staff association also appointed members to this committee.Guided by clear terms of reference and Rules of Procedure, the PAP Structure Implementation Plan Committee held intensive deliberations over the period from 7th to 20th March, 2013 and submitted a report to the President. The report presented recommendations on the following:a.Principles and guidelines in the implementation of the approved structure;b.Processes in the implementation of the structure;c.Procedures in the filling of the approved structure positions;d.Need for an independent management consulting firm to aid the process;e.Prioritisation and sequencing of filling of approved positions;f.Financial implications of the prioritised positions for 2012 and 2013 recruitment plans; andg.Draft implementation plan.Guided by proposals and an implementation plan put forward by the PSIP Committee and endorsed by the President after appropriate adjustments, PAP is now on a systematic and participatory process in the launch of the implementation of the approved organisational structure. Thus far, it has made the following progress:(i)We have prioritised 48 positions which will be competitively filled in the structure.(ii)Through an invitation to bid, PAP is processing the appointment of an independent firm of management consultancy with outstanding global reputation in human resource management and recruitment to work with the Office of the President in the process of selecting and recruiting candidates to fill the 48 positions for the 2012 and 2013 recruitment plans. Out of the internationally reputable firms, three firms that have topped the list, namely, Ernst & Young, KPMG and Deloitte. At the end of the process, Deloitte was appointed as the managing consultant to support this process.(iii)A service delivery contract will be signed between PAP and the firm by the end of April 2013 and the assignment delivery schedule finalised in the first week of May 2013. PAP has succeeded in securing financing support from GIZ to pay for these consultancy services.(iv)PAP has already developed standard job profiles for all 48 positions and fully aligned them with identical positions at the AUC and reputable international regional organisations with similar mandates.(v)Vacancies announcement have been prepared for the 48 positions.(vi)PAP will be contacting AUC shortly for appointment of resource persons at very senior levels who will join us to sit on the interview panels for the positions of Clerk of Parliament, Deputy Clerks and Heads of Divisions (D1, P6 and P5-level positions) as well as Principal and Senior Officers who will represent the AUC on the interview panels for candidates from P4-GS category positions.(vii)Vacancies announcement would be placed on PAP website for internal and external candidates from AU Member States to respond to. In line with AU guidelines, the positions will be advertised over a period of two months.(viii)Interview panels comprising the African Union Commission, the independent management consulting firm, Office of the President of PAP and Bureau would be constituted and the interviews are expected to have been concluded by August, 2013.While I continue to assure you of our commitments, we need your continued support and co-operation to ensure a successful implementation of the approved structure and we expect members to assist us by ensuring that qualified candidates from the various member states are encouraged to apply.Honourable colleagues, we have prepared dossiers t6his morning for all members. The dossiers include the approval from the African Union of the structure including the 74 positions approved. It will include methodologies approved for implementation of the new structure. We have also included the PAP implementation plan for the structure and we have included the advertisements for the vacancies for the 48 positions that we have prioritised under the budget available to us for 2013.The approval from the African Union required us to do this recruitment over a five year period and from the funding available, we have prioritised 48 positions that we think are critical for the running of our institution. So those jobs will be available for all members like we had said earlier in the report, we urge you to take it home and ensure that qualified candidates from member states do apply.We have also been instructed under the approved structure to ensure that geographical and regional spread and balance are achieved in the process of the recruitment and that is why we want you to ensure that we have people from all over Africa participant in this process.
4. – COMMITTEES
4.1 – Alignment of the PAP Committees with
Departments of the African Union Commission (AUC).Honourable colleagues, by the provisions of Article 25 (2) of our Rules of Procedure, the Pan-African Parliament Permanent Committees shall handle business that is ordinarily handled by the corresponding Specialised Technical Committee responsible to the Executive Council in accordance with Article 14 of the Constitutive Act.In compliance with the above mentioned provision, this Parliament adopted, in the First Ordinary Session of its Third Parliament, a Resolution PAP/P (3)/RES/03(I) related to the alignment of its Permanent Committees to the Departments of the African Union Commission.It was then decided that the Pan-African Parliament organise its Permanent Committees Statutory meeting at the African Union Commission Headquarters in Addis-Ababa, Ethiopia on March 11-15, 2013. Thus, the PAP Permanent Committees held joint meetings with their AUC counterpart commissions and departments.The objective of the meeting was to identify the areas of collaboration and mechanisms of engagement between the Pan-African Parliament Committees and the AUC commissions and departments. This will also help to create a synergy between the PAP Committees and the relevant AUC Departments. I am happy to report to you that the meetings were a huge success and the PAP enjoyed the full co-operation of the Commission. A follow-up retreat between African Union Commission and the bureaux of committees of PAP is being scheduled for August 2013. Honourable colleagues, part of the outcome of our committee meetings in March in Addis-Ababa was the visit yesterday of the Chairperson of the African Union Commission and we are engaging that commission actively to ensure the role of PAP is advanced.
4.2 – Committees Participation in Regional and International meetings
I.The Permanent Committee on Cooperation, International Relations and Conflicts Resolution held a meeting with the African Union Peace and Security Council on 27 November, 2012 in Addis-Ababa. The objective of the meeting was to consider and adopt the memorandum of understanding on the collaboration and coordination between the PAP (Committee on Cooperation, International Relations and Conflict Resolution) and the African Union (Peace and Security Council) in order to put in place a framework for collaboration and coordination between the two entities for closer working relationships in their mandate of promoting peace and security in Africa.II.The objective of the meeting was not achieved because the PSC Members had not considered the before the meeting day. The PSC Members requested the Committee to give them more time to consider the document internally and organise a retreat with the PAP before having a validation workshop.III.The Committee on Finance and Monetary Affairs of the Pan-African Parliament held a non statuary meeting on 18 - 22 February, 2013 to consider the PAP budget for 2014.IV.Five members of the PAP committee on Agriculture participated in the 9th CAADP meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The objectives of the meeting were to consider the progress in CAADP implementation over the last decade and to share country based experiences and lessons on agriculture.V.On 15 and 16 March, 2013, the PAP in collaboration with UNAIDS organised a Parliamentary Dialogue on, ’Strengthening the AIDS response’ for Members of the PAP in Africa in Addis-Ababa, Ethiopia. The PAP was represented by Members from mainly the committees on Trade, Justice, Health, Gender and Finance. The main objective of the forum was to facilitate exchange of experiences, sensitise and engage Pan-African Parliamentarians in the AIDS response at the continental, regional, national and sub-national levels and develop a common agenda by which the Pan-African Parliament members could strengthen the AIDS response.VI.The PAP Committee on Agriculture in collaboration with Water Aid on March 15-16, 2013 at Intercontinental Hotel in Addis-Ababa had workshop the objectives of which were to sensitise PAP members on water and sanitation related issues.VII.The honourable Chairperson of the Committee on Justice and Human Rights, hon. Onyango Kakoba, represented the Pan-African Parliament in a consultative meeting on the role of national human rights institution in enhancing a human right culture in Africa, in Banjul, The Gambia on 7-9 April, 2013.VIII.Nine Members of Committee on Agriculture participated in a seminar on "Making Agricultural Investment Work for Africa: A Parliamentarian’s Response to the Land Rush" on 26 - 27 April, 2013 at Lemigo Hotel in Kigali, Rwanda.IX.I am also happy to report that following the resolution of this House during the last plenary, the Justice Committee actively participated in a workshop organised by the International Red Cross in Pretoria, South Africa.
5. – INSTITUTIONAL ACTIVITIES
The Pan-African Parliament is cognisant of the need to fulfil its mandate stated in Article 3.1 of the Protocol to the Treaty establishing the African Economic Community relating to the Pan-African Parliament which is to "facilitate the effective implementation of the policies and objectives of the African Union".The decisions of the African Union, particularly those taken during the Assembly of Heads of State and Government at Sharm el Sheikh as well as the Executive Council’s Decision EX.CL1DEC. 526(XVI), calls on the Pan-African Parliament to assist in advocacy and in sensitisation of member states so as to accelerate the process of signing/ratification/accession to the OAU/AU Treaties.Honourable colleagues, as part of its mandate, the PAP is requested to promote and coordinate the ratification, domestication and popularisation of the AU instruments such as the African Charter on Values and Principles of Public Service and Administration and the African Union Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption which are the keys instruments to support of the African Governance Architecture.HON. MEMBERS:Translation.THE PRESEIDENT:Translation. Is it working now well?In strengthening the African Governance Architecture, the 16th conference of Heads of States affirmed the importance of establishing an African Governance Platform as an arm and a basis for facilitating harmonisation of instruments and coordination of initiatives in governance and democracy. The PAP is a member of the African Governance Architecture and a key stakeholder of the African Governance Platform.Honourable colleagues, in carrying out its role, in the popularisation and sensitisation of the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance, the Pan-African Parliament has participated in the following activities:(i)The Regional Parliamentary Meeting on African Governance Platform and Promotion of African Union Legal Instruments held under the theme, ‘Promoting Good Governance in Africa’, was held at Rivers State House of Assembly, Port Harcourt, Federal Republic of Nigeria on December 05 and 06, 2012.The objectives of the meeting were to:a)Raise awareness and build capacity amongst parliamentarians in the West African Region on the need to ratify and domesticate the instruments that form the basis of the African Governance Architecture namely: the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance; the African Union Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption and the African Charter on Values and Principles of Public Service and Administration.b)Increase the number of Parliaments to ratify and/or domesticate African Union instruments on African Governance Architecture.c)Build parliamentary capacity in the ratification and domestication of AU instruments; andd)Build the capacity of PAP Committees in their oversight function of AU instruments.The meeting which was hosted by the Rivers State House of Assembly, was attended by PAP Members from the West Africa Region as well as parliamentarians from other regions which included PAP Bureau Members, Bureau of PAP committees and caucuses, representatives of Regional Parliamentary Assemblies, the African Union organs and partners such as United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Electoral Institute for Sustainable Democracy (EISA),Conference of African Ministers of Public Service (CAMPS), members of the media and other distinguished invited guests.(ii)High level consultation on governance and democracy in Africa in Dakar, Senegal from November 28th - 30th, 2012.The Fourth Vice-President of the Pan-African Parliament attended the High Level Consultative Meeting to deliberate on issues relating to trends, challenges and prospects of governance and democracy in Africa which was held from November 28 to 30, 2012 that was preceded by an expert meeting held from November 26 to 27, 2012. The event was attended by senior leadership of the AU organs, governance, democracy, peace and security experts from the African Union Commission, academia, think tanks, CSOs and development partners from across Africa.The consultative meetings aimed primarily to explore and examine Africa’s evolving governance and democracy challenges, threats and the capacity of the African Union to facilitate the emergence of a condusive environment amongst member states for democracy building and consolidation. The focus of the consultation had been on issues relevant to democracy building and consolidation.(iii)Consultation on the Implementation, Monitoring and Evaluation of The African Charter On Democracy, Elections And Governance from February 14 to 16, 2013 in King Fahd Hotel, Dakar, Senegal.The general purpose of this consultation is to achieve the effective and efficient implementation of the Charter in order to positively influence the lives of Africans on participatory, accountable and inclusive democracy issues.The sessions focused on the substantive content of the Charter, the role of AU organs, institutions and other stakeholders on the implementation of the charter. It was particularly noted that it is imperative that that there is a positive consideration of the role of National Parliaments and the Pan-African Parliament as oversight bodies on the implementation of the Charter together with other stakeholders like civil society, media and think tanks.(iv)Advocacy missions for ratification of the african charter on democracy, elections and governance in order to increase adherence to the charterThe objective of the Joint Advocacy Missions is to meet concerned players (Parliament, government, civil Society). The Joint Advocacy Missions are composed of the Department of Political Affairs in African Union Commission, the Pan-African Parliament, regional economic communities and CSOs.A joint team of the African Union Commission, the Pan-African Parliament and the regional economic communities led by the First Vice-President of the Pan-African Parliament, the Rt. Hon. Roger Nkodo Dang went on an advocacy mission with the highest authorities of the republics of Gabon and the Central African Republic from 27 February to 8 March 2013, for the ratification and domestication of the Charter.(v)The Inter-Organ Meeting Between the PAP, ECOSOCC, African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights and the African Court of Justice on 4th December, 2012Honourable colleagues, an inter-organ meeting of some organs of the African Union was held in Port Harcourt, Nigeria at the sidelines of the regional parliamentary meeting. The meeting was organised by the Pan-African Parliament and sought to discuss ways and means of how the different African Union organs with people centred mandates can work together to achieve their respective mandates more effectively.The initiative of Pan-African Parliament in organising this was based on the recommendations of the African Union Institutional Audit of 2008. At the heart of this initiative is the realisation that the peoples of Africa strongly desire and expect that the African Union should achieve its vision of becoming "people-centered and people driven". The mandate of the Pan-African Parliament, ECOSOCC, the African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights and the African Court of Justice are people-centred, therefore these organs need to synergise and present a common front on issues of common interest before the African Union for example in the areas of budgeting, funding and relationship with the African Union Commission. The meeting finally resolved to prepare and sign a memorandum of understanding defining the areas of co-operation and the operational roadmap.The Port Harcourt meeting was followed by another meeting which was held at the African Union Commission Secretariat in Addis-Ababa on 26 of January 2013. This meeting resolved that:There was the need for the consultative meeting of all the people centered organs which should be formalised through a memorandum of understanding showing the roadmap of its operation;Each organ will go home with the draft to be studied, discussed and to come up with suggestions or inputs for consideration at the next Inter-Organ meeting; andThere was the need for a meeting with the leadership of the African Union Commission in connection with the Inter-Organ meeting.I also want to inform you, honourable colleagues that yesterday during the bi-lateral meetings with the Chairperson of the African Union Commission, she has agreed that meeting between the AUC and the Inter-Organ meeting be held in August.(vi)PAP/UN Global Dialogue -February 27 and 28 February, 2013The main global dialogue meeting took place on February 27 and 28 February, 2013. The Pan-African Parliament had a series of high level panel discussions on governance post 2015 on February 26, 2013 as a precursor to the main event to reflect on matters pertaining to governance, peace and security; given the fact that the PAP is mandated by the protocol establishing the PAP to "encourage good governance, transparency and accountability in Member States".(vii)The Commemoration of the IPPF’s 60th AnniversaryI am glad to report to honourable colleagues that on 29 November, the Pan-African Parliament was honoured to host the Commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the International Planned Parenthood Federations (IPPF). The celebration which was attended by high level partners and NGOs from all over the world deliberated on the role of critical stakeholders including parliamentarians on the goal of advocacy for progressive changes in global sexual and reproductive health and rights.
6. – STAFF MATTERS
The staff members continue to render support services to the Parliament with notable constraints in capacity. However, as I have indicated earlier, the Bureau is addressing the capacity challenges in the short run and ultimately in the long run upon the implementation process of the Approved Organisational Structure.During the period under review, Mr Morad Boularaf, the Deputy Clerk in charge of Finance, Administration and International Relations resigned his position and one project staff member, Mr Livingstone Tamani fell terminally ill and the PAP had to evacuate him on humanitarian grounds to a hospital in Blantyre, Malawi on the recommendation of the medical experts handling the staff member as a patient. Regrettable, the former staff member has since passed on with his family by his side. The PAP mourns with the family and prays that his soul rests in perfect peace.
7. – INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
The PAP has continued to develop and consolidate good working relationship with other international institutions and partners in pursuit of its mandate and institutional interests. Notable amongst these include the following: Organs of the union, regional bodies in the continent (CEMAC, ECOWAS, EAC, IGAD, SADC); the RECS, UN organisation bodies (UNDP, UNAIDS); the IPU, European Parliament under the aegis of the Africa - Europe Strategy co-operation driven by the African Union; the Arab Parliament; Parliamentary Assembly of the Orthodoxy; the IPPF; the GIZ; ACBF; JICA and many others.
8. – ELECTION OBSERVER MISSION
In conformity with some of the objectives of the Pan-African Parliament which among others, are to:Promote the principles of human rights and democracy in Africa;Encourage good governance, transparency and accountability in member states;Promote peace, security and stability;Strengthen continental solidarity and build a sense of common destiny among the peoples of Africa;The Pan-African Parliament participated in Election Observer Missions in a number of the AU Member States in conformity with the Executive Council Decision No EX.Cl/Dec.534 (XVI) that election observation by all the organs of the African Union must be conducted under a centralised budget. Therefore, the Parliament contributes 40 percent of Observers to the African Union Election Observer Missions.Thus, the PAP participated in election observation missions in the following countries: Senegal nine members attended, Gambia seven members, Congo six members, Libya 10 members, Burkina Faso eight members, Sierra Leone nine members, Ghana nine members, Djibouti seven members and Kenya 15 members and most recently, some members attended in Cameroun.You may recall that in my last October activity report, I did highlight some of the challenges being faced by the honourable members of the PAP while partaking in the joint election observation missions with the African Union Commission. These challenges are being taken up with the AUC to ensure convenient and effective participation and I would like to use this opportunity to appeal to members nominated for Election Observer Missions to endeavour to attend as our participation remains low.Honourable colleagues, yesterday, during my bi-lateral meetings with the Chairperson of the African Union Commission, we agreed that these very topical issue be the agenda for a meeting between the Pan-African Parliament leadership and the AUC leadership due on the sidelines of the main summit later this month. The issues to be raised are the issues that we have all agreed on. The class of travel for PAP members, the participation of PAP in the leadership of that delegation, a deputy chair position to be reserved for the PAP of all the delegations and the headship of the smaller units that go to different cities should be headed by MPs and not by members from NGOs.
9. – IMPLEMENTATION STATUS OF THE RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE CAFE COMMITTEE ON THE INSTITUTIONAL AUDIT OF THE PAN-AFRICAN PARLIAMENT
Honourable colleagues, you will recall that this Bureau in keeping with its promise to ensure efficiency, transparency and accountability in the management and administration of the Pan-African Parliament, did not hesitate to blow the whistle following the report of the 2012 Ernst & Young institutional assessment of the PAP which indicated gross inefficiencies and irregularities.After the joint meeting of the Bureau and the Bureauxes, we referred the matter to the Committee on Administration and Financial Evaluation (CAFE) to further investigate the findings of the Ernst & Young and recommend remedial measures in order prevent recurrence.From the interim report which was presented to this honourable House at our last session by the CAFE Committee, it was disclosed that several issues emerged in the course of their investigation which confirmed the findings in the audit reports and even highlighted deeper issues relating to the operation of the Parliament. The issues reflected challenges relating to human resources, recruitment process, procurement process and confirmed significant weaknesses particularly in terms of competences, internal controls, leadership and other issues.The CAFE Committee recommended some remedial actions that the management and administration of the Pan-African Parliament should undertake to address the concerns emanating from those reports.I am glad to report that the Bureau has since then taken necessary steps to address the issues with positive results, particularly in the clearly defined quick wins proposed by the CAFE as milestones to be achieved.However, to be honest with you, we are not yet there, particularly in the area of the efficient management of our finances where the Bureau recently approved the appointment of four professional accountants including one auditor on a short term contract for a few months through funding supported by the European Commission. Thus, we will gradually but surely get there, particularly with the structural transformation process in progress.Dear colleagues, may I at this juncture express the deep appreciation of the Bureau for your usual understanding, patience and support in the face of these challenges by allowing us adequate time to manage and remedy the difficult situation that we have found ourselves in.
10. – FINANCE AND RESOURCE MOBILISATION
The Pan-African Parliament has been plagued with inadequate financial base especially to undertake its projects and programmes as the AU Financial Budget Allocation has mainly been for staff salaries and operational purposes.However, following the withdrawal of some donors from supporting the PAP due to perceived financial irregularities, strong efforts have been undertaken, including jointly with the African Union Commission, to solicit donor support to carry out our planned projects and programmes in line with our strategic plan. In this regard honourable colleagues, I am happy to report that the sustained effort by this Bureau to mobilise funds for the restructuring and improvement in the management of the Pan-African Parliament and in the execution of our programmes has encouraged our traditional partners ACBF, GIZ, EC and UNDP to extend their kind support to the PAP for the period under review and I will highlight some of those reports.ACBFACBF, whose Executive Secretary, for the first time attended our opening session yesterday, has first phase of support to the PAP covered four key areas The first phase started in 2006 and is ending this year. It covered areas of training, outreach and communication to citizens, building parliamentary research capacity and institutional capacity was to end in March 2013. They kindly granted the PAP an extension of six months commencing on April and ending in September 2013 to enable adequate time to complete and wind up the support programme. ACBF has given their indication to the PAP of their willingness to continue to work with us and we are in the process of submitting a new proposal for a new six year funding programme.GIZThe co-operation between the PAP and the GIZ has been designed to contribute to the attainment of the PAP’s overall objective as enshrined in the protocol establishing the PAP. The GIZ have consistently worked with the PAP to enhance its technical and institutional capacity with a view to strengthening the secretariat to ensure efficient functioning. The support further aims at strengthening the communication and advocacy function of the PAP to increase visibility, and strengthening the role of the PAP in promoting good governance and democracy on the continent and PAPs inter-organ relations.For 2013, a total of Euro 360,000 is approved to support the PAP of which Euro 155,000 is earmarked to implement activities related to Human Rights and Democratic Governance and Euro 205,000 for Institutional Capacity Development, which includes the implementation of the new PAP organisational structure as approved by the African Union Executive Council in July 2012.The current GIZ Support to the Pan-African Parliament programmes will come to an end in December 2013. The planning for the next phase of the GIZ support from 2014-2016 is underway and to this effect, the Pan-African Parliament and the GIZ organised a planning retreat on 30 April, 2013 to, among others, discuss the Project Progress Report (PPR), the German Government priorities for the next phase, and PAP’s strategic needs and areas of focus in line with the new Strategic Plan 2014-2018. The meeting which was quite successful and there was an agreement on our major priority areas.
The European Commission
The PAP is a beneficiary of the European Commission support under the Africa Union Support Programme and within the framework of the Euro 55 million (9th EDF). The European Commission supports focuses on strengthening Pan-African Parliament’s institutional capacity, which subscribed to the attainment of priorities jointly agreed between the Pan-African Parliament and the European Commission and in line with the recommendations emanating from the institutional assessment and financial audits. The support is mainly geared towards meeting staff salaries for the following: staff working in the finance department, procurement, human resource, monitoring and evaluation.For 2013, the European Commission approved a maximum ant of US$ 963,000 for the PAP Annual Work Plan (AWP). These funds are earmarked to support the recruitment of requisite staff to enhance PAP effectiveness and efficiency. However, the European Commission is committed to further support the PAP to implement strategic programmatic activities relating to domestication of key AU decisions and communication for which the PAP is keen to pursue.December 2013 marks the end of the current Africa Union Support Programme under the 9th EDF but plans are underway to formulate the successive African Union Support Programme under the 10th EDF. The PAP has been instrumental during the consultation process in defining the next three-year programme of support of the European Commission.UNDPThe UNDP is one of the traditional partners of the strengthening Pan-African Parliament. However, the development of a new programme of support to the PAP for 2013 is currently underway. UNDP has rendered tremendous support to the PAP for the implementation of the recently concluded post 2015 MDG PAP/UNDP Global Dialogue Forum as well as the Post 2015 High Level Panel interaction with parliamentarians.We remain indebted to these our partners and promise to live up to expectation in terms of transparency, accountability and effectiveness in the utilisation of donor funds.
12. – SECOND ORDINARY SESSION OF THE THIRD PARLIAMENT-MAY 6 TO 17, 2013
Dear colleagues, the Second Ordinary Session of the Third Parliament has already commenced since yesterday May 6 and we end on May 17, 2013.The agenda for the session is already before you with very topical and challenging issues for deliberation. You will agree with me that the Official Opening Ceremony, with high level participation of His Excellency John Dramani Mahama, the President of the Republic of Ghana was exciting. Equally exciting was the presence of the Chairperson of the African Union, Dr Dlamini Zuma who dutifully and lucidly addressed Parliament on the State of the African Union.We were also encouraged by the presence of other high profile guests from various parts of the world who delivered goodwill messages. I urge you to maintain the tempo with your usual co-operation to ensure fruitful deliberations.
CONCLUSION
Finally honourable colleagues, the foregoing, in a nutshell represents our activities from October to May 2013. Though the challenges no doubt remain daunting, particularly having regard to our obligation to implement our transformation agenda, nevertheless the commitment and determination of this Bureau to continue to serve you with tenacity of purpose and even greater vigour remains unwavering. I must however continue to solicit, dear colleagues, for your continued support, your guidance and encouragement as we approach the months ahead, with renewed optimism.I thank you on behalf of my colleagues, Members of the Bureau.Thank you and God bless you.(Applause)M. LE PRÉSIDENT:Merci Monsieur le Président, pour ce rapport riche en informations. Merci également pour votre conclusion qui invite nos collègues à continuer à soutenir les efforts du Bureau et à donner leurs conseils.Maintenant, la discussion générale est ouverte. J’ai devant moi une liste de 45 intervenants. Compte tenu du délai, je voudrais inviter mes collègues à observer deux minutes de temps de parole. C’est ma première proposition.Deuxième proposition, je propose trois minutes de temps de parole. Ça fait 150 minutes.Il est, dans ma montre, 10.00 heures. Si on accorde 3 minutes à chaque intervenant, cela fera 150 minutes et nous allons nous retrouver à 12.30 heures. Donc, chers collègues, utilisez vos 3 minutes à bon escient et essayez d’aller droit au but. Le Président vous a invité à accorder l’appui, à accorder des propositions pour que le travail s’améliore davantage. Tout autre commentaire ne trouvera pas son importance ici et tant attendu que nous voulons tous travailler.Donc, le premier intervenant dans ma liste est l’honorable Bernadette Lahai de Sierra Leone.Madame, vous avez la parole.HON. BERNADETTE LAHAI [SIERRA LEONE]:Thank you, Mr President. I want to appreciate the Report and many activities that have been undertaken during the period under review.With regards to the amendments of the PAP protocol, I want to register the many efforts that have been made particularly on the country to country bases. I however, want to encourage the Bureau to continue with this personal contact. In particular we want to invite the Bureau to Sierra Leone so that there is a tete -a-tete meeting with our President who himself was a member of Parliament and also ECOWAS member of Parliament, and is very sympathetic to our business.With regard to the implementation of the Approved structure, for staff selection and recruitment, I want to applaud the Bureau for all the actions they have taken. However, in the recruitment and selection I want us to pay special attention to regional and gender consideration so that the PAP itself is reflective of the entire continent both in terms of who works here and who does not work here.Mr. President, with regard to election observation, again we have participated in many but I want this PAP to monitor the attendance so that some regions or individuals are not over subscribed to the disadvantage of other Members and countries. Concerning the alignment of PAP Committee work, I want to recommend that you look at more intracommittee collaboration and cooperation especially in cross cutting issues such as energy, ICT, and environment which may have little financial implications.Mr. President, regarding funding, we want to thank our donors for continuing to fund the activities of PAP. However, we must also look for other partners particularly the Parliamentarians for Global Action and the Climate Change Parliament of which I am a Member. These two organizations work with Parliaments and on behalf of Parliaments, and have expressed the need for more collaboration with Parliamentarians in this Parliament, and for this, they are ready to provide financial assistance.I thank you very much.HON. GABRIEL TCHOCODO [BÉNIN]:Merci Monsieur le Président!Monsieur le Président,J’ai lu avec plaisir le rapport d’activités pour la période sous revue. Entre autres préoccupations, j’ai lu dans ce rapport que, dans le cadre de la transformation du PAP, des équipes de sensibilisation ont été mises en place. Nous aurions souhaité, Monsieur le Président, connaître la composition de ces équipes de sensibilisation.Il a été mentionné également que, dans le cadre du recrutement de personnel en vue de pourvoir aux 48 postes, le rapport a mentionné qu’un contrat de prestation de service allait être signé entre le PAP et le cabinet ad hoc au plus tard à la fin du mois d’avril 2023 et que le programme d’exécution de la mission allait être finalisé dans la première semaine du mois de mai 2013.Monsieur le Président,Fin avril et première semaine de mai 2013, nous y sommes et nous aurions souhaité que ce qui a été fait concrètement, puisse nous être communiqué.En tout état de cause, Monsieur le Président, nous invitons le Président et le Bureau à ne pas traîner les pas dans le cadre de la mise en œuvre des recommandations.Monsieur le Président,Le rapport a annoncé également la démission de Monsieur Mourad, le Secrétaire Général Adjoint.Je voudrais rappeler ici, Monsieur le Président, que Monsieur Mourad est chargé des affaires financières, administratives ainsi que des relations internationales du PAP. Nous aurions souhaité connaître, au regard de l’importance de ce poste, les raisons de cette démission.Enfin, un problème récurrent sur lequel je voudrais revenir pour terminer, Monsieur le Président, c’est la traduction en français des différents documents qui nous sont fournis par le PAP. C’est regrettable. Nous qui sommes de la zone francophone, nous avons des difficultés.Si je prends l’exemple de ce rapport d’activités, la traduction qui en est faite, lorsque vous lisez [...] mais on est allé à l’école, c’est à peine qu’on comprend le contenu. Des fois, on est obligé de faire des devinettes pour pouvoir comprendre ce qui est écrit et ce que l’on veut dire. C’est pour cela que je voudrais profiter pour inviter respectueusement le Président et son Bureau à en tenir compte dans le cadre des futurs recrutements pour faire en sorte que nous puissions avoir des bilingues qualifiés qui pourraient nous faire, n’est-ce pas, de très bonnes traductions. Parce que nous, les francophones, nous n’allons pas contribuer à ce qu’on continue de saquer la langue française.Monsieur le Président, je vous remercie.(Applaudissements)M. LE PRÉSIDENT:Merci cher Collègue.La parole est à présent à l’Honorable Elise LOUM du Tchad.HON. ELISE NDOADOUMNGUE NELOUMSEI LOUM [TCHAD]:Merci Monsieur le Président.Je voudrais tout d’abord féliciter Monsieur le Président et à travers lui tout le Bureau, et saluer surtout la clarté du dense rapport qui vient de nous être présenté. Ce rapport fait 30 pages, je suggère à l’avenir, si vous n’y voyez pas d’inconvénient, que le Président ne présente que la synthèse de ce rapport. Je ne voudrais pas revenir, Monsieur le Président, sur la qualité du rapport en français, il y a trop de répétitions, il y a des choses qu’il faut absolument nettoyer afin que cela soit consommable par l’extérieur également.Monsieur le Président,Ceci étant dit, je n’ai que deux petites questions de compréhension à soulever. La première est relative à la mise en œuvre de l’organigramme du PAP. Et, c’est en tenant compte du contenu de ce rapport que je vais soulever la question, parce que c’est parler avec trop de conditionnalités, est-ce que c’est la traduction ou bien c’est moi qui lis mal le français ici? Qu’est-ce qui bloque la mise en œuvre de l’organigramme jusqu’à ce jour, alors qu’il y a déjà une feuille de route qui est établie?Et, justement ma deuxième petite question, c’est la préoccupation relative à ce plan de recrutement. Il y a donc un plan de recrutement que je viens de découvrir, qui est mis à notre disposition et qui ouvre tous les postes vacants. Il y a, pour la première étape, 48 postes et ces 48 postes sont déjà des postes existants.Monsieur le Président,Je ne suis pas experte en gestion de ressources humaines, mais afin d’éviter une certaine remise en cause de ce que fait déjà le Bureau si bien, est-ce que cela ne serait pas utile et nécessaire de séparer les avis des postes internes des nouveaux postes à pourvoir. Je ne voudrais pas rentrer dans les détails, mais en lisant ce document que nous venons de prendre et qui est appelé rapport d’étape adressé au Président de la Commission, je pense qu’il y a beaucoup de choses qui pourraient susciter des réactions à ce niveau.Donc, voilà mes deux petites questions de compréhension, Monsieur le Président, pour lesquelles je voudrais avoir de bonnes réponses à cet effet.Merci.M. LE PRÉSIDENT;Merci chère Collègue.La parole est à Livio Fernandoes Lopes du Cap-Vert.HON. LIVIO FERNANDOS LOPES [CABO VERDE]:-Bom dia. Muito obrigado Senhor Presidente. Queria saudar ao Presidente do Parlamento Pan-Africano e parabeniza-lo pelo conteùdo deste relatorio, que acho extremamente importante naquilo que é o esforço de articulaçao a nivel institucional africano, nao so interno no quadro da Uniao Africana, mas ao nivel de varios organismos importantes para a melhoria do processo do desenvolvimento Africano. Mas, também, pelo aspecto que eu acho importante, que tem a ver com as recomendaçoes em relaçao a reforma de estrutura orgânica do PAP. E acho que os avanços aqui registados e a implementar sao enormes.Eu gostaria de assinalar dois aspectos fundamentais que acho muito importantes, que é o caso dos mandatos, o ponto 4.2, que fala dos mandatos de promo^ao de paz e seguranza ao nivel das comissoes permanentes. Acho que as razoes avanzadas aqui para o insucesso da reuniao que se previa, de articulado entre o Conselho de Paz e Seguranza da Uniao Africana e a Comissao de Cooperado, as razoes nao sao aceitáveis. Nao se pode aceitar que uma reuniao importante dessas nao se possa realizar por nao haver consulta, ou conhecimento suficiente do relatório, do memorando prévio que devia ser o elemento de análise.Outra questao tem a ver com as observares eleitorais, faz-se aqui no relatório um apelo aos Deputados designados para abrir as missoes. Acho que aqui, também era importante termos em conta o papel da Comissao da Justina e Direitos Humanos, e termos sempre um elemento que possa garantir a memória escrita destas missoes e o monitoramento a seguir de todo esse processo. Portanto, devo deixar aqui esse apelo à direcdo do pròprio Parlamento para que possamos ter em conta isso no futuro.Muito obrigado.HON. PETER HITJITEVI KATJAVIVI [NAMIBIA]:While this process of consultation continues, the PAP should continue to grow and influence all the interests of its advisory status.Mr President, the 50th Anniversary of the OAU and the AU is indeed an occasion to celebrate. We will join other African countries in providing a fitting tribute to our continental organisation. Among the envisaged national activities is a series of lectures to be delivered by President Zuma at selected universities across the country under the theme ‘Pan Africanism, an African Renaissance’. We will seize the opportunity presented by these celebrations to popularise the flag and anthem of the AU among our people. Our national Parliament has also developed its own programme. A special commemorative joint sitting of Parliament is scheduled for early next month.HON. MOHAMMED ALI ALMARDI [SUDAN];بسم هللا الرحمن الرحيمشكرا سيدي الرئيسوال يسعنا اال أن نشيد بحرارة بالجهد المضي الذي بذل من البرلمان االفريقي خالل الست اشهر المنصرمة والذي غطي مساحات جغرافية واسعة وتطرق الي موضوعات كبيرة وهامة ومعقدة ووضح فيها أن الجهد المبذول هو جهد لتطوير عمل البرلمان االفريقي ولجعله عمالً فيه فائدة محسوسة ألفريقيا وفيه معاجة لكثير من المشاكل وهذا ومع الجهد المضني يتعرض البرلمان الي صعوبة بالغة في الوضع المالي لقد ظللنا سيد الرئيس خالل السنوات الماضية نتحدث عن هذا االمر بتكرار دون ان نجد له العالج الناجع وأنا أقترح علي االخوة ان يرسلو مناشدة جماعية لإلتحاد االفريقي ألن تزداد ميزانية البرلمان االفريقي الي 22 %إضافيه عل ان يكون في ذلك بعض المساعدة للبرلمان الداء دوره وإذا لم يتوفر ً ذلك نحن نتوقع ان يتعطل عمل البرلمان او علي األقل أن يكون قاصرا علي أن يفي بهذه االلتزامات وفي نهايه حديثي اطلب من االخوة االعضاء ان يجيزو هذا التقرير مع االشادة بهشكرا سيدي الرئيسHON. ISAAC STEPHEN MABILETSA [BOTSWANA]:Thank you, Mr Chair for the opportunity. Let me start also by commending the Bureau for the job well done. I think that the report is all encompassing and covers a wide range of areas that have been topical in this Chamber and I must say that I do not regret my election of this Bureau because upon their election, they have hit the ground running and not getting delayed with celebrating their newly acquired positions. Thank you very much for the job well done. This report really reflects that.Furthermore, when it comes to aspects of staff recruitment, engaging a private human resource firm is, I think, the right way to go. For a political institution such as this one, we have to support you for the decisions that you have reached because they have been professionally arrived at. If staff is going to be politically appointed, they raise levels of suspicion and stuff like that. But these are professionals without any conflict of interest in what we want the Parliament to achieve. You have engaged them, and that is the right way to go because that is what transparency is all about. I wish you could keep up the good work.We are in the struggle to attain our full right to legislate. It is not an easy task. I am also content that you are on the right path. You are engaging everybody in that regard and the message to member states that you have undertaken are good efforts that will ultimately see this Parliament attain its full legislative power.Whether we delay it by one or two years, it will definitely come. The light is there at the end of the tunnel. Together we are going to overcome all the hurdles and challenges.Mr President and your Bureau, we support you for all the good work that you are doing. This is a very good report, very rich in content similar to the State of Union addressed by the head of AUC Chairperson yesterday. This is really now our own of state of nation address that covers the issues that we are all faced with. I thank you very much. May God help you in your endeavours.HON. MOHAMMED-MUBARAK MUNTAKA [GHANA]:Thank you, Mr. First Vice President.Let me equally take the opportunity to congratulate the Bureau under the leadership of the President on a job well done.Mr. First Vice President, let me say, we in Africa have been hammering for accountability and trying to hold others accountable. It is only good that we start this process by holding ourselves accountable. And I am happy to be part of those who proudly participated in the election of this Bureau. This is because one can see clearly in the presentation of the Report that most of the issues that came up in the last committee Report of the CAFÉ calling on the Bureau to address some of the challenges that are confronting us, serious steps have been taken to address these issues.Let me also thank the President for his humility of accepting that yes, there was so much that was recommended in the CAFÉ Report. While some steps have started, admitting that we are not yet there is a good and humble approach. I believe that this humility will strengthen the Bureau to continue to work very hard to ensure that we get there and get there very soon.Mr. First Vice President, in our effort to do the recruitment, like the Report mentioned, I just want to caution that it is good for us to have regional balance; it is good to have gender balance, but we should not forget one thing, that in all these balances, we must have at the back of our mind the issue of competence. We should also have at the back of our mind, the issue of institutional memory. We should know that others have served in some of those positions for a very long period of time and have a very good institutional memory. I am not saying that simply because one has institutional memory and is inefficient one should be maintained. But in the recruitment process, we should have it at the back of our mind that we want the very best for this institution and therefore we need to adopt all the strategies that will help us to have the very best.I congratulate the Bureau once again, and wish ourselves well.Thank you, very much for the Report.HON. MOUSTAPHA OULD BEDREDDINE [MAURITANIA]:شكراً سيدي الرئيساهنئ السيد الرئيس علي العرض الوافي الذي تقدم به كما اهنئه علي االفتتاح باالمس الذي أكد أن البرلمان يحظي بإحترام كبير من طرف ً الوفود االفريقية في الخارج ولكن أالحظ ان برلماننا غير مرئي كثيرا بالرغم من النشاطات الكثيرة التي يقوم بها ويجب أن تساعدوني علي معرفة االسباب وانا اعتقد أن من ضمن االسباب هو عدم عنايتنا بوسائل االعالم واالعالم هو الذي يجعلنا نكون مرئيين ويمكن ان يجعلنا غير مرئيين المسألة الثانية التي أريد التطرق إليها هي مسألة التأمينات االجتماعية نحن في برلمان سمعنا ان هناك تأمينات اجتماعية وصحية للبرلمانيين لكن نالحظ في بعض الوقت ان هذه التأمينات لم تعد واضحة وموجودة بما فيه الكفاية نريد من السيد الرئيس ان يحدثنا عن هذه المسألة التأمينات الصحية واالجتماعية والمعاشات المسألة الثالثة مسألة مراد بلعرص سمعت انه لم يستقل من تلقاء نفسه ولكنه دفع الي ذلك نرجو توضيح هذه المسألة وعلي كل حال أدعو االخوة البرلمانيين تهنئته في فترته التي كان فيها والمسألة االخري هي مسألة االكتيتاب هناك لجنة لإلكتتاب ال تجتمع لمذا نحن بصدد بحث مسألة االكتيتاب ايضا نريد ان يكلمنا السيد الرئيس عن المعايير التي ستتبع فيها هذه المسألة أشكركمHON. SAM OTADA AMOOTI [UGANDA]:Mr. President, may l also join my colleagues in thanking the President of the Bureau for this report of substance.Firstly, I would like to allude to the fact that most budgets in Africa are basically wage budgets. We don’t get to see non-wage budgets taking the forefront - wage budgets in the sense that we budgets for salaries, for workshops and all these theoretical and practical things. For example, imagine if for all those workshops that are being held, we had lobbied and actually ensured that these workshops take place in our respective member states to bring on board members of Parliament in our countries, to get them to understand firstly, what the African Union and Pan-African Parliament is all about and secondly, the whole important need for them to rectify protocols and the whole important need for them to make the legislative agenda of AU treaties take centre stage.I want to believe that one of the biggest challenges that all of us, across the board here have, are to get our colleagues back in the House at home to understand their bit of participation in the process that they are grappling with. So my way on this matter is to effect that if we could, as PAP, lobby for support for funding for all these workshops to take place in our member state countries, so that we can bring our colleagues on board to help us do the job. Our coming here and talking, for me, is not enough. Obviously, we all know that.Secondly, benchmarking with the AUC is a good thing, but also what your report says is that there is low attendance with regard to members going to Addis Ababa. I want to tell you without any fear of contradiction here, I want the AUC organisers to be a little smarter than what we see when we get to Addis. For example, we had a very excruciating experience with the former President, His Excellency, Idriss Deby. When he was there, he was treated with no respect at all and hon. Oleum beares witness. That was quite humiliating and I was totally disappointed. I think when you see a low attendance of members in Addis; you must know that that is one of the issues.Thirdly, on election observer mission Mr. President; going for election observer mission requires courage and strength. I went to Ghana myself; and traveling for 10 hours by road, is very disappointing. In fact, you also alluded to the fact that there is a low participation of members in the observer missions...[Time has expired.]HON. HAMAD M. Y. MASAUNI [TANZANIA]:Mheshimiwa Makamu wa Rais, nashukuru.Mheshimiwa Makamu wa Rais, mimi leo mchango wangu utajikita zaidi katika malalamiko na malalamiko yangu zaidi ni kutokana na dharau ambazo zime...VICE PRESIDENT:Translation please!HON. HAMAD M.Y. MASAUNI [TANZANIA]:Mheshimiwa Makamu wa Rais, naomba dakika zangu zilindwe.VICE PRESIDENT:No Swahili translation, what are we going to do President?PRESIDENT:Speak English!HON. HAMAD M.Y. MASAUNI [TANZANIA]:I would like to use Kiswahili; I do not want to use English.HON. SAID M. MTANDA [TANZANIA]:No English.HON. HAMAD M.Y. MASAUNI [TANZANIA]:And that actually is my number one concern.HON. SAID M. MTANDA [TANZANIA]:Yes! And we have interpreters of all other languages, why Swahili?HON. HAMAD M.Y. MASAUNI [TANZANIA]:There should be an English and Swahili interpreter.HON. MEMBER:Yes, I agree with you.HON. SAID M. MTANDA [TANZANIA]:If there is no translator.HON. HAMAD M.Y. MASAUNI [TANZANIA]:Mheshimiwa Makamu wa Rais.VICE PRESIDENT:Dear colleagues, please today speak English next time will solve the problem.HON. SAID M. MTANDA [TANZANIA]:No, No!HON. HAMAD M.Y. MASAUNI [TANZANIA]:No! Mheshimiwa Makamu wa Rais, naomba interpreter wa Kiswahili awepo, hakuna sababu kwa nini asiwepo. There is no reason why Kiswahili interpreter.HON. SAID M. MTANDA [TANZANIA]:Are not here!HON. HAMAD M.Y. MASAUNI [TANZANIA]:Are not available.HON. SAID M. MTANDA [TANZANIA]:Because we have so many.HON. HAMAD M.Y. MASAUNI [TANZANIA]:He or she should be here.VICE PRESIDENT:Translator is on now, please.HON. HAMAD M.Y. MASAUNI [TANZANIA]:Okay, naendelea. Yupo interpreter?HON. SAID M. MTANDA [TANZANIA]:Wewe endelea.VICE PRESIDENT:Yah!HON. HAMAD M.Y. MASAUNI [TANZANIA]:Ameshafika?VICE PRESIDENT:Yah!HON. HAMAD M.Y. MASAUNI [TANZANIA]:Ameshafika, ahsante. Mheshimiwa Makamu wa Rais, naomba dakika zangu zilindwe, ndio naanza sasa.Mheshimiwa Makamu wa Rais, dharau. Viongozi wetu waasisi.VICE PRESIDENT:Translation please! Please dear colleague use English language, please, please!HON. HAMAD M.Y. MASAUNI [TANZANIA]:Can you please look for a Kiswahili interpreter; I can wait, for the time being probably if you can allow another speaker to proceed while waiting for the Kiswahili interpreter.HON. SAID M. MTANDA [TANZANIA]:Yes.HON. HAMAD M.Y. MASAUNI [TANZANIA]:Thank you.HON. SAID M. MTANDA [TANZANIA]:Thank you very much. (Applause)HON. MEMBER:Go on now.HON. HAMAD M.Y. MASAUNI [TANZANIA]:Ahsante sana.Mheshimiwa Makamu wa Rais, nataka nianze kuzungumzia hili la Kiswahili. Dharau ya kwanza tunayoiona, ni dhamira ambayo inaonekana wazi kwamba Kiswahili sasa katika Bunge letu hili na huu ni ushahidi wazi...VICE PRESIDENT:It is not coming through.HON. SAID M. MTANDA [TANZANIA]:Only Swahili today, otherwise you should teach me how to speak French.HON. HAMAD M.Y. MASAUNI [TANZANIA]:Is translation on? Okay, can I proceed? Ahsante.UN HONORABLE MEMBRE:Procédure, Monsieur le Président!Motion de procédure!M. LE PRÉSIDENT:Motion de procédure!UN HONORABLE MEMBRE:Oui, Monsieur le Président,En attendant, qu’on ait le traducteur en Swahili, on peut donner la parole aux autres. Mais, je remarque quand même que, du moment où le traducteur n’est pas là, il n’y a pas de problème qu’il parle pour une fois en Anglais.Donc, je propose [...].VICE PRESIDENT:No translation, no translation.HON. MEMBER:I proposed that before we get the translator in Swahili to give the floor to the next in the list. Thank you.UN HONORABLE MEMBRE:Je propose, en attendant qu’on ait le traducteur en Swahili, de donner la parole à celui qui est sur la liste, le suivant.M. LE PRÉSIDENT:Merci beaucoup!Merci, cher collègue, de pouvoir avoir la patience d’attendre.Maintenant, je donne la parole à Jerry Dimotana THIBEDI de l’Afrique du Sud.HON. JERRY DIMOTANA THIBEDI [SOUTH AFRICA]:Thank you Mr Vice-President. Let me start by thanking the President and the bureau for the informative, comprehensive and quality report they have presented before this August House. This report epitomises the hard work and visionary leadership of the bureau and for that, I want to extend my thanks to you. I also want to thank you Mr President for your timely and swift implementation of the PAP peer revision No (3) relating to the alignment of the PAP Permanent Committees to the Department of the AUC. The meeting that we had with the AUC department on 11th March to 15th, 2013 is already bearing fruits. The presence of the Chairperson of the AUC Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma and the quality of the presentation on the state of the AU bears testimony on the constructive and warm relationship that has been established between the PAP and the AUC.Mr President, I thank the bureau for its extra ordinary effort in embarking on advocacy missions to a number of countries to solicit support and to allay fears and reservations that some countries might have about the transformed role the PAP might play in future. It was also fulfilling to hear the Chairperson of the AUC yesterday, say that the AUC is willing to work with the PAP in conducting these advocacy missions to lobby heads of state and government support in the transformation of the PAP. In this regard, I humbly request you, and your bureau Mr President, through your leadership to devise strategies on how we can coordinate our activities with the AUC in conducting these advocacy missions.In addition to this support, honourable members, in case you forget, we already have the support of His Excellency, President Idriss Deby of Chad, His Excellency, President Thomas Boni Yayi of Benin and His Excellency President John Dramani Mahama of Ghana. Accordingly honourable members, we have to seize this foundation and take this matter forward and succeed. We need to move fast before the next summit in January, 2014.Mr President, I also want to say that we must strengthen our propaganda arm as a Parliament. Our voices are not being heard, we do not communicate. As much as the media is playing its role, I think it is important that we also have a budget to create an office where we can have people who can be spokespersons for our Parliament.HON. KEBZABO SALEH [TCHAD]:Monsieur le Président, comme l’ont fait mes prédécesseurs, je voudrais féliciter le Président du PAP et toute son équipe, les vice-présidents d’avoir fait ce bon travail qui nous est soumis et, en même temps, féliciter aussi le personnel qui, par sa compétence, vous a souvent accompagné dans ce travail.Je voulais soulever trois points, Monsieur le Président.Le premier point porte précisément sur le personnel. Je voudrais des éclaircissements sur ce qui va se passer parce que le rapport est assez vague là-dessus. Est-ce que les membres actuels du personnel, à tous les niveaux, sont concernés par le nouveau recrutement qui va avoir lieu puisqu’on nous dit qu’ils doivent aussi postuler. Et dans ce cas-là est-ce qu’on peut les considérer comme des gens qui sont déjà licenciés, auquel cas il faut leur payer leurs droits pour qu’ils postulent parce que s’ils postulent, ils peuvent réussir comme ils peuvent échouer? Quand on postule à un poste qu’on occupe et qu’on échoue, c’est à ce moment-là qu’on est renvoyé ou on devait l’être avant? Il y a là une question de droit assez complexe sur laquelle il faudrait nous éclairer. En tout cas, des explications que j’ai reçues jusqu’ici ne m’ont pas entièrement satisfait.On constate tout simplement que depuis quelques années, l’équipe du personnel, du staff, est totalement déstabilisée et ça se ressent parfois. Et d’ailleurs, j’aurais dû commencer comme l’a fait notre ami du Bénin sur la traduction du rapport du Président qui est totalement scandaleuse. Un document comme celui-là est une honte pour le PAP. J’espère qu’il ne va pas circuler à l’extérieur.Le deuxième point concerne, Monsieur le Président, les anciens le savent, on a connu ici il y a quelques années, tout un grave problème sur le Trust Fund qui a été très mal géré; il y a eu des malversations très graves qui ont été commises et on nous a annoncé même que - il y a deux ans je crois - des poursuites judiciaires allaient être lancées contre ceux qui ont détourné cet argent. Où en est-on puisqu’on n’a pas encore abordé cette question pour éclairer l’opinion des membres de notre Parlement.Enfin la troisième question est relative à l’observation des élections. Je crois, Monsieur le Président, qu’il faut continuer des discussions avec l’Union Africaine pour qu’on comprenne qu’on ne peut pas mettre des hommes politiques et des fonctionnaires pour faire la même observation électorale. Nous ne pouvons pas être dans l’équipe de l’Union Africaine. C’est impossible! Parce que, eux ils sont des fonctionnaires, eux ils sont de l’Exécutif; nous, nous sommes des parlementaires. Nous ne pouvons pas avoir la même vision des problèmes. Quand on va observer une élection et qu’un seul rapport est fourni, ce rapport-là ne peut pas donner exactement la situation de ce que nous avons vécu sur les lieux. Donc, c’est cette question-là qui reste pour moi essentielle encore, l’observation des élections par le Parlement panafricain en tant qu’organe indépendant et autonome.Je vous remercie.M. LE PRÉSIDENT:Merci cher Collègue.HON. AGBESSI THEOPHILE ADJAMGBA [TOGO]:Je vous remercie, Monsieur le Président.Je crois que je vais être très bref, puis économiser un peu le temps.Mes préoccupations sont déjà prises en compte par mes collègues. Toutefois, j’adresse mes félicitations à notre très cher Président, Honorable AMADI Bethel, et pour son rapport très précis. Néanmoins et comme le disent nos frères ivoiriens, ils ont l’habitude de dire et je devais que le répéter: « Le Président AMADI est un grand garçon ».Je crois qu’il va le comprendre et il fera de son mieux.Merci.MASTER GOYA [BOTSWANA]:Thank you, Mr. President for given me this opportunity to say a word or two on the PAP activity report.Yesterday Mr. President, we got the presentation on the state of African Union by the AUC Chairperson. Likewise, the activity report of the Pan African Parliament gives us the state of the PAP, even though this was a short period from October 2012 - May 2013. But it gives us the state of Pan-African Parliament and also gives us the opportunity as Members of Parliament to air our views on how we perceive the state of this Parliament.Mr. President, I would like to make a few observations on this report. Firstly, I would like to thank the President for having availed the report to us well on time to enable us to read the report on our own and to cross check facts and this report was read yesterday evening.I want to talk about the idea of holding synergy meetings between PAP Committees and AUC Departments. I think Mr. President this is a noble idea, but I want the secretariat of PAP to inform our National Parliaments so as to readjust their budgets because recently our country, Botswana, was not able to send us to attend the meetings in Addis Ababa because we were short of funds. The funds that were available were only enough to take us across the border to Midrand, but for the Meeting in Addis Ababa, we could not attend because we did not have enough funds.Mr. President, I would like you to explain the importance of establishing the African Governance Platform whose mandate to me is more or less similar to APRM. Why do we keep crafting new institutions when we have not yet derived benefits from the existing ones? Mr. President I want to underscore my point by actually quoting from your document on page 12. It is mentioned that the importance of establishing an African Governance platform as an arm and a basis for facilitating of harmonization of instruments and coordination of initiatives in governance and democracy is similar to APRM mandate.Mr. President APRM mandate is similar, so what is the benefit of creating another institution when we have not realized the benefit from APRM?(end)M. LE PRÉSIDENT:Je voudrais donner la parole à l’Honorable Hugues Alexandre Barro Chambrier du Gabon.HON. HUGUES ALEXANDRE BARRO CHAMBRIER [GABON]:Merci, Monsieur le Président.Je voudrais vous donner mes encouragements pour la manière dont vous avez parfaitement reçu le Président du Ghana et je pense que c’est un point fort et nous apprécions votre capacité d’écoute et votre humilité et je voudrais vous encourager dans ce sens.Pour autant, Monsieur le Président, vous serez jugé sur l’efficacité et les résultats et je pense qu’aussi bien pour l’amendement du Protocole que pour les retards dans l’amendement de la Charte africaine pour la Démocratie, la Gouvernance et les Élections, nous pourrions avoir, peut-être, une stratégie plus fine pour nous donner les chances de réussite.Je vous encourage à recevoir de petits groupes informels, au petit déjeuner ou au déjeuner parmi les députés ici présents; vous pourriez les recevoir et recueillir leurs avis et leurs suggestions pour plus d’efficacité pour aboutir à l’amendement du Protocole. Mais que va-t-il se passer si en janvier 2014, le Protocole n’est pas amendé? Voyez, nous pouvons avoir la bonne volonté mais, ces problèmes dépassent parfois les efforts personnels des uns et des autres, surtout s’il y a des blocages au niveau des chefs d’États.Donc, je voudrais que nous ayons un plan b avec clairement deux ou trois priorités à mettre en œuvre. La question du PAP est de se différencier déjà, rien qu’à partir des textes qui existent pour qu’on puisse avoir une valeur ajoutée et que ceux qui nous observent et nous jugent, puissent apprécier notre apport.Vous voyez, par exemple, la réunion que nous avons eue hier avec la Présidente de la Commission, nous aurions pu avoir trente minutes ou une heure pour la préparer et cela nous aurait permis d’orienter les débats, au lieu que 30 personnes parlent. On aurait pu en avoir 10 ou 15 mais plus focalisés vraiment sur des questions prioritaires pour nous.Nous avons entendu parfois des remarques, je m’excuse, mais nous sommes un Parlement, il faut que lorsque que nous nous exprimons que nous soyons respectés. Il y a eu notamment des aspects qui n’étaient pas très aimables vis-à-vis du prédécesseur de Madame ZUMA, mais qui étaient vraiment inutiles. À ce niveau, je crois qu’on devrait éviter cela.L’organigramme du PAP, je crois que je vous encourage dans le processus et vous devez tenir compte aussi du personnel existant, parce que je sais que dans cette maison, il y a des personnes compétentes qui travaillent dans des conditions difficiles. À ce propos, si nous voulons attirer les meilleurs dans cette maison, il faudra là aussi proposer des rémunérations et un cadre de travail attractif.Voilà, Monsieur le Président, ce que je pouvais dire à ce stade.Je vous remercie.M. LE PRÉSIDENT:Je vous remercie cher Collègue.Je donne, à présent, la parole à l’Honorable IZOUNGOU MASSANGA ZELLY PIERRE du Gabon.HON. IZOUNGOU MASSANGA ZELLY PIERRE [CONGO]:Du Congo!Ce n’est pas grave. C’est la même chose, Monsieur le Président!Monsieur le Président,Je voudrais joindre ma voix à celles, très nombreuses, des autres qui m’ont précédé pour vous féliciter pour la qualité du rapport que vous avez présenté et qui reflète, par ailleurs, l’immense activité que notre Bureau a déployée pendant la période d’intersession.J’aimerais, Monsieur le Président, malgré tout, recevoir un complément d’informations sur quelques aspects de votre rapport.1.Au sujet du personnel:Vous avez annoncé la démission de Monsieur Mourad Boularaf, Secrétaire Général Adjoint chargé des Finances. Je voudrais en connaître les motivations.Monsieur le Président,Pourquoi un fonctionnaire de si haut niveau décide-t-il de démissionner au moment où son contrat arrive à son terme et qu’il attend d’être renouvelé, mais aussi au moment où le processus de mise en œuvre de la nouvelle structure, dont il a été par ailleurs l’un des architectes, est engagé?Est-ce que vous avez donné suite à cette démission, Monsieur le Président?2.Au moment où vous lancez le processus de mise en œuvre de la nouvelle structure, que faites-vous du personnel dont les contrats sont arrivés à terme? L’honorable Saleh KEBZABO qui m’a précédé, a abondamment parlé de la question. Je n’y insiste pas.Les postes étant ouverts au recrutement, que ferez-vous des candidats membres du personnel actuel dont certains ont une inscription sur leur dossier du genre « blâme, avertissement, etc. »?Est-ce que ces candidatures seront acceptées nonobstant le fait qu’ils ont déjà été sanctionnés par le Parlement actuel?À la dernière session, Monsieur le Président, il y avait dans l’opinion, ici, la situation d’un agent, en l’occurrence Madame Liliane, je crois, du Cameroun, comment avez-vous résolu cette situation, Monsieur le Président, parce qu’elle avait miné un peu l’opinion pendant la session dernière?Dans ses décisions de juillet 2012, le Conseil exécutif, prescrit, entre autres, que le recrutement à tous les postes professionnels de B1 à P1 du PAP, doit être régi par le principe de répartition de quotas, prenant en compte la répartition régionale et l’équilibre homme/femme. Avez-vous tenu compte de cette directive dans le recrutement des quatre comptables que vous venez d’approuver récemment tel que dit à la page 27 du rapport?La même décision du Conseil Exécutif stipule, en son alinéa f, que la Commission de l’Union Africaine doit superviser le processus de recrutement pour en assurer la conformité avec le statut et le règlement du personnel de l’Union Africaine.Concrètement, comment se fait cette supervision, alors que le processus est engagé par le Parlement Panafricain?Voilà mes préoccupations, Monsieur le Président, je vous remercie.M. LE PRÉSIDENT:Merci cher Collègue.Je donne la parole à l’Honorable Gallican NIYONGANA du Rwanda.HON. GALLICAN NIYONGANA [RWANDA]:Monsieur le Président,Je voudrais, à mon tour, apprécier le rapport et par la même occasion féliciter votre équipe pour votre détermination dont les résultats sont palpables.Ceci dit, Monsieur le Président, je voudrais faire deux commentaires. Premièrement, je me demande comment peut-on, au niveau du PAP, établir un contact permanent entre le Secrétariat Général du PAP et les parlements nationaux pour que prochainement le rapport du PAP puisse refléter et intégrer - pourquoi pas - certaines réalisations au niveau national allant dans le sens de la mission du PAP?Deuxièmement, je voudrais suggérer que le PAP puisse susciter et encourager le partenariat entre les parlements nationaux par le biais des groupes d’amitié entre parlementaires en vue d’établir un échange permanent entre mon peuple, lequel partenariat peut même accélérer le processus d’intégration.Au Rwanda nous avons initié ce processus et voudrions le voir renforcé dans tous les sens et envers tous les pays, tous les pays africains au moins.Jusque-là nous saluons chaleureusement les réponses favorables qui ont été données par certains parlements, entre autres la Zambie, l’Uganda, le Burundi, la RDC pour ne citer que ceux-là.Le PAP, à travers ces 5 membres dans chaque pays, peut jouer un rôle clé, mais d’emblée, chers collègues, le parlement Rwandais vous tend la main et voudrait vous demander de servir de tremplin pour que ce partenariat soit traduit en réalité.Merci, Monsieur le Président.M. LE PRÉSIDENT:Merci cher Collègue.Je donne à présent la parole à l’Honorable Mohamed Guidji de l’Algérie.HON. M. MOHAMED GUIDJI [ALGERIA]:شكرا سيدي الرئيسبسم هللا الرحمن الرحيممن خالل هذا التقرير الذي قدم لنا وانا أشكر السيد الرئيس علي هذا العرض والتقرير الذي قدمه لنا ،، سجلت ثالث مالحظات وإستفسار واحد المالحظة االولي هي نقص الميزانية مما جري عنها عدم تنفيذ البرامج التي سطرت من لجان البرلمان االفريقي وعليه ليست فقط لجان البرلمان االفريقي هي التي لم تنجذ البرامج وربما حتي علي مستوي المكتب هناك عدة برامحج لم تنجز وعليه يجب التفكير في ألية جديدة والبحث عن شركاء أخرين من أجل تعزيز هذه الميزانية ،، المالحظة الثانية ال يزال البرلمان االفريقي هيئة إستشارية قراراته غير ملزمة ألي أحد رغم أن المادة الثانية من برتكول االنشاء تنص علي أنه بعد خمس سنوات يصبح فأنا أطلب من السيد الرئيس ومكتب البرلمان وبمعيه كل ً تشريعيا ً برلمانا أعضا البرلمان أليجاد صيغة أخري لمناقشة هذه المسألة حتي يصبح ً الب تلزم قراراته كل الدول وكل البرلمانات تشريعيا ً رلمان االفريقي برلمانا الوطنية ،، المالحظه الثالثة وهي تتعلق بمراقبة ومالحظة االنتخابات علي مستوي القارة االفريقية وعلي مستوي القارات االخري وأقترح السيد الرئيس أن تكون هناك بعثات خاصة بالبرلمان االفريقي وال تكون في االتحاد االفريقي وقد شاركنا للمرة الواحدة في هذه البعثة لكن أجد انفسنا غير مسؤليين إن سمح لي التعبير ألن االتحاد االفريقي هو الذي يقوم بكل شئ فأنا أقترح أن تكون هناك بعثات خاصة بالبرلمان االفريقي حتي يستطيع أن يعزز وأن يسوق دور هذا ونكون في مستوي طموحات شعوب هذه القارة ولدي سؤال أخير سيد الرئيس أطلب منكم االجابة بكل وضوح لماذا قدم السيد مراد بلعراف إستقالته.M. LE PRÉSIDENT:Merci cher Collègue.À présent, je donne la parole à l’Honorable Nourenou ATCHADÉ du Bénin.HON. NOURENOU ATCHADÉ [BÉNIN]:Merci Monsieur le Président.Monsieur le Président,À mon tour, je félicite le Président et les autres membres du Bureau. Le rapport rend compte du travail important que vous et votre équipe aviez abattu depuis octobre 2012.Notre contribution, Monsieur le Président, a pour ambition de vous aider à faire davantage, comme vous l’aviez demandé en conclusion de votre rapport.Monsieur le Président,Mon intervention porte sur trois points. Pour le premier point, je me permets de répéter mon collègue du Bénin, qui a fustigé la discrimination négative dans la traduction en langue française des documents.Monsieur le Président,J’ajoute que depuis octobre, les différents experts qui sont invités dans cette salle sont pour la plupart des anglophones. Vous me direz, peut-être, que c’est une langue étrangère, mais je voudrais vous rappeler que c’est une langue de travail et chacun de nous se reconnaît à travers la langue qu’il utilise pour le travail.Donc, je voudrais suggérer, Monsieur le Président, que cette discrimination soit corrigée.Monsieur le Président,Vous avez dit également, dans le rapport, que nos partenaires financiers se retirent en raison de la mal gouvernance qui caractérise la gestion au Parlement panafricain. Je voudrais souhaiter que vous leur donniez un signal fort, Monsieur le Président; un signal fort, en exécutant les recommandations de la Commission CAFE, ou en allant même au-delà des recommandations, Monsieur le Président, parce que je sais que vous en êtes capable.Vous devez appliquer les sanctions, Monsieur le Président, pour dire que vous, vous ne vous inscrivez pas dans la logique de la mal gouvernance.Monsieur le Président,Je voudrais également vous féliciter pour votre intervention au niveau de l’Union Africaine par rapport à la mission d’observation des élections. J’ai une fois participé à cette mission au Burkina Faso, je vous assure, Monsieur le Président, c’est un calvaire pour nous députés. C’est un calvaire!Nous sommes humiliés, ce n’est pas une mission honorable pour nous, parce que ce qui s’y passe n’est pas du tout du rang des députés.Merci, Monsieur le Président.M. LE PRÉSIDENT:Merci cher Collègue.Maintenant, je donne la parole à l’Honorable Dikgang Phillip MAKGALEMELE du Botswana.HON. DIKGANG PHILLIP MAKGALEMELE [BOTSWANA]:Mr. President, I want to begin by thanking the Bureau for a rather comprehensive report which has touched on all important components of the work carried out during the period.Firstly, I want to comment on the amendment of the PAP protocol. I want to indicate that whilst I appreciate efforts which have been made, I also want to call on members of Parliament within our respective Parliaments to ensure that as the advocacy is going on, which is spearheaded by our Bureau, we should also conduct our own advocacy at our respective Parliaments. I think five members of our Parliament with one solid voice in a particular Parliament can go a long way in terms of convincing our respective countries’ buy-in on this PAP protocol.Secondly, Mr. President, I want to comment on staff matters, and I do acknowledge the professional steps which you intend to undertake, that in the course of recruitment you will take into consideration regional representation. I just want to appeal that regional representation should not in any way compromise the quality of staff which must serve within PAP. As we always say, we are one Africa and therefore, we should stop categorising ourselves in terms of regions. We must also ensure that when it comes to staff positions that all regions are represented, regardless of their expertise.Finally, I just want to appeal to you that in the course of your leadership, the issue of unity must be a topic of priority. I think one still feels that we are divided amongst languages and these are languages which do not belong to Africa. They are foreign languages - French and English. I think we should do everything possible in the long term, to advocate one African language so that we stop being divided by foreign languages. I thank you.HON. SAID MTANDA [TANZANIA]:Mheshimiwa Makamu wa Rais, kwanza, nianze pale ambapo ameishia mwenzangu, Mheshimiwa Mbunge kutoka Botswana. Nianze kwa kunukuu Kanuni ya 39(1) inayosema: "lugha zitakazotumika katika Bunge zitakuwa ni lugha zinazotambulika na kutumika na Umoja" na Umoja hapa maana yake ni Umoja wa Afrika.Mheshimiwa Makamu wa Rais, nasema hili kwa sababu mara kadhaa tumekuwa na mjadala na hasa sisi ambao tunakuja hapa na kutumia lugha ya Kiswahili, tumekuwa tunaona kama hatutendewi haki kwa sababu mara zote tunaambiwa hakuna wakalimani, hakuna hili, hakuna hili. Mimi ninao ushahidi kwamba tunao wakalimani wa kutosha maana Tanzania hapa ina watu watatu wanaokuja kufanya kazi hii ya kufasili, ndugu zetu wa Kenya wako hapa zaidi ya watu watatu, kwa hiyo, hili si jambo la kuendelea nalo.Mheshimiwa Makamu wa Rais, nitakubaliana tu na Uongozi endapo tutasema kwamba wakati mwingine vifaa hivi vya kutafsiri vina matatizo au vinaleta shida, lakini suala la wakalimani au watafsiri wa lugha hizi kuwepo au kutokuwepo si suala la hiari kwa sababu Kanuni inatuelekeza wazi kwamba lugha hii ni miongoni mwa lugha ambazo zitatumika ndani ya kikao hiki. Tumekuwa tukitumia lugha nyingine kama Kiingereza, kwa mfano, sisi ambao tunatoka Tanzania, tunaweza kutumia Kiingereza tunapokuwa katika Kamati kwa sababu tunafahamu uchache wa wakalimani lakini ndani ya Bunge hili tunayo haki ya kuendelea kutumia lugha yetu hiyo.Mheshimiwa Makamu wa Rais, nitumie fursa hii pia kuipongeza Serikali ya Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania, kwa uamuzi wa busara wa kupeleka Jeshi la Wananchi wa Tanzania kwa kushirikiana na nchi nyingine za Afrika kwenda kulinda amani katika nchi ya Jamhuri ya Kidemokrasia ya Kongo. Naamini kabisa uamuzi huo utawasaidia Waafrika wenzetu walioko Kongo ili kuweza kurejesha hali ya usalama katika eneo lao na hivyo kupiga hatua katika maendeleo.Mheshimiwa Makamu wa Rais, nikirudi katika mada ambayo umewasilisha leo hapa, nina mambo mawili ya kuzungumza. Jambo la kwanza, ni kuhusu maslahi ya wafanyakazi ambao wanafanya kazi katika Bunge hili la Afrika wakitoka maeneo mbalimbali ya nchi za Afrika. Tunazo kesi na malalamiko mengi ambayo tunayasikia mfano wafanyakazi kutotendewa haki, wengine wanapomaliza mikataba yao kutopewa haki zao za kimsingi na tunayo kesi ya...VICE PRESIDENT:Ahsante sana.HON. HAMAD M. Y. MASAUNI [TANZANIA]:Mheshimiwa Makamu wa Rais, nashukuru kuona sasa mkalimani amepatikana.Mheshimiwa Makamu wa Rais, nami napenda nianze kama ambavyo ameanza mwenzangu. Ni kwa masikitiko makubwa sana kunaonekana kwamba kuna jitihada sijui niseme za dhahiri ama sio za dhahiri, za kuondoa Kiswahili katika Bunge hili, jambo ambalo hatuwezi kukubaliana nalo. Hiki kilichotokea leo ni moja kati ya ushahidi huo.Mheshimiwa Makamu wa Rais, ni kwa sababu gani nasema hivyo? Labda nitoe mifano miwili au mitatu. Ukiangalia hizi nyaraka ambazo zinaandaliwa, logo zake chini, haziendi sambamba na logo ambayo inatakiwa itumike katika Bunge hili. Ukiangalia logo pale juu, kuna neno limeandikiwa chini kwa lugha ya Kiswahili ambalo halionekani katika karatasi hizi zetu tunazopewa. Sasa kama tatizo ni nafasi, basi haya maandishi ya Kiswahili yawekwe juu badala ya kuwekwa chini ili kutojaribu kuyaficha kwa kisingizio kingine chochote.Mheshimiwa Makamu wa Rais, lakini mimi sikubaliani pia na hoja kwamba katika Kamati hakuna wakalimani kwa sababu ya upungufu wa wakalimani. Kama Kiswahili kimekubalika ni lugha ya matumizi katika Bunge hili basi kama ilivyo lugha nyingine zote kipewe nafasi sawa, iwe katika Kamati au katika Bunge na katika makabrasha haya ambayo tunapatiwa.Mheshimiwa Makamu wa Rais, lugha ya Kiswahili ni lugha pekee katika Bara hili la Afrika ambayo imetokana na Waafrika wenyewe. Hizi lugha nyingine zote tunazozungumza hizi, leo hii tunagawanywa kwa sababu ya lugha, kuna watu wanaambiwa sijui Afrophone au Anglophone, hizo sio lugha zetu. Kiswahili ndio lugha pekee ambayo imeanzia Afrika na inazungumzwa na nchi nyingi za Afrika, kwa hiyo, ipewe heshima inayostahili.Mheshimiwa Makamu wa Rais, nikija katika lalamiko langu lingine, nazungumzia pia kuhusiana na suala hili la ushirikiano kati ya Jumuiya ya Afrika pamoja na Bunge letu. Nipongeze sana maamuzi mazuri ya kuweza kuanzisha vikao hivi ambapo kikao kilichopita tulikuwa kule Addis Ababa na tukaweza kushirikiana na wenzetu.Mheshimiwa Makamu wa Rais, jambo la kusikitisha, hayahaya mambo ya dharau ambayo waasisi wetu wamepigana tuweze kujikomboa kutokana na dharau, leo hii tunadharauliana wenyewe kwa wenyewe. Tunadharauliana katika lugha na sasa hivi tunadharauliana katika mambo mengine mbalimbali. Inashangaza tunakubaliana mambo ya msingi ya kutekeleza kama tulivyofanya katika Kamati yetu lakini hakuna utekelezaji. Mimi nina mfano mmoja. Nimepewa jukumu la kusimamia Kitengo cha Nishati katika Kamati yetu ya Usafiri, nimejaribu kufanya mawasiliano mara kadhaa na wahusika katika Bunge la Afrika, kama ambavyo tulikubaliana katika kikao kile lakini hakuna majibu yoyote. Hili jambo halikubaliki, tutaweza kufanya vikao, tutazungumza lakini kama hakuna utekelezaji na dhamira ya dhati, basi hakuna hatua ambayo tutapiga na hakuna mafanikio ambayo tutalipatia Bara letu la Afrika.Mheshimiwa Makamu wa Rais, suala lingine ambalo wenzangu wamelizungumza sana ni hili la...VICE PRESIDENT:Ahsante.MARWICK KHUMALO [SWAZILAND]:Thank you Mr Vice-President. Let me from the onset, pay tribute to the excellent leadership provided by the President and the bureau and also affirm that it is my considered view that as the captain of the ship of the AU, the radar is still focused and he has not lost the nautical bearings.Mr President, let me applaud you for the fact that you have demonstrated accountability and transparency in your administration. Because of this mode of operation, gradually, you are raising the confidence and faith of the donor community and the international partners, and I commend you for that.Mr President, I assume that the missions that you led to some of these African states sought to engage the leadership of those countries. This is my assumption, but clearly, you and I as well as everybody else who is informed know that there was major resistance at the last summit of the AU that you attended on the topic of transformation of the PAP. Actually, this was from the Southern African region which is my region. From what I have read here, those countries that provided the resistance have not been visited. Are you considering visiting these countries? Seeing their ambassadors at their embassies is not good enough. You know that these countries provided the major resistance to the transformation of the PAP.Mr President, I was going through the agreement between the PAP and the South African Government. It turns out that the diplomatic identities for the parliamentarians have been stopped. The issuance of these diplomatic identities has been stopped, yet they form part of the agreement of the establishment of this PAP. Last year, we were told that those diplomatic identities which are supposed to be officially issued to every parliamentarian have been stopped and as we stand right now, the only thing that will actually save you is the passport but that is not good enough. We need the diplomatic identities to be re-issued to our parliamentarians as per the agreement.Mr President, just explain to me if paragraph 3 Sub Section (3) of your report has happened because you said that it is still going to happen, yet is supposed to have happened when I look at the dates.Finally, Mr President, I am aware that. „M. LE PRÉSIDENT:Merci cher Collègue.Je donne, à présent, la parole à l’Honorable Assoumana Malam Issa du Niger.HON. ASSOUMANA MALAM ISSA [NIGER]:Merci, Monsieur le Président.À l’instar de mes collègues, Monsieur le Président, je voudrais féliciter le Bureau du PAP dirigé par le Président Amadi qui vient de nous présenter un rapport très exhaustif, un rapport très riche en termes d’activités. C’est donc avec plaisir que je me soumets à cet exercice de l’apprécier.D’abord, sur la forme, les francophones disent que la répétition est pédagogique. C’est pour cela que je vais soutenir mes collègues qui m’ont précédé et qui ont fustigé la mauvaise qualité de la traduction des documents au niveau du PAP.Monsieur le Président,Si nous parlons de cela, ce n’est pas pour nous francophones. Quelle que soit la mauvaise qualité d’un document, on saura le lire et le comprendre. Mais c’est que les documents que le PAP produit, sont des documents qui vont sortir, qui vont aller dans les institutions internationales et donc, qui véhiculent l’image du PAP.Pour cela, Monsieur le Président, je pense que vous allez inscrire parmi vos priorités, dans le recrutement, cette question pour qu’elle soit effectivement prise en charge.Sur le fond, je crois que par rapport à la première question, on s’est exprimé à l’occasion de la présentation de Madame la Présidente de la Commission. Il va être un peu difficile pour le PAP d’obtenir très rapidement le statut de parlement à pouvoir législatif plein, parce que simplement, même le simple pouvoir consultatif, on l’a constaté avec regret à Addis-Abeba la dernière fois, on ne le joue pas pleinement. C’est après coup que le Parlement est consulté par rapport à des actions sur lesquelles il devrait être impliqué.Donc, si on n’a pas ce pouvoir consultatif, comment peut-on espérer de sitôt le pouvoir législatif? Ça c’est un!Deuxièmement, on dit qu’il y a des pays pour et des pays contre. Il faut d’abord qu’on connaisse ces pays. C’est pour cela, Monsieur le Président, que je veux que vous nous disiez qui sont ces pays qui sont contre pour que le PAP ait un pouvoir législatif plein. Et on va définir une stratégie de lobbying à partir de la connaissance de ces pays. On va d’abord sensibiliser les députés issus de ces pays et leur donner les moyens d’aller vers les décideurs et de faire en sorte que nous puissions les convaincre à accepter ce pouvoir.Ensuite, Monsieur le Président, sur la gestion, je crois que beaucoup d’efforts sont en train d’être faits sur le plan institutionnel. Le recrutement de quatre comptables, d’un évaluateur, ce sont de bonnes choses. Mais, du point de la gestion du personnel, je crois, Monsieur le Président, les problèmes sont énormes.Monsieur Saleh l’a dit, le personnel est démobilisé du fait même qu’il y a des recrutements en perspective. On le sent même dans l’organisation de cette session. On a renouvelé tous les interprètes. On ne sait même pas pourquoi. Ceux qui constituaient la mémoire du PAP ne sont pas là. On a renouvelé les chauffeurs. Un chauffeur qui ne peut même pas t’amener du Mercure ici au PAP. On a eu deux ou trois fois des chauffeurs qui se trompent. Pourquoi on renouvelle toutes ces choses-là? Je crois qu’il faut qu’on fasse beaucoup attention, Monsieur le Président, pour que la qualité des sessions ne soit pas impactée par la qualité de l’organisation.Enfin, Monsieur le Président, il est ressorti de votre rapport que la plupart des fonds viennent de l’extérieur [...].M. LE PRÉSIDENT:Merci beaucoup, cher Collègue.À présent, la parole est à l’Honorable Joseph NJOBVUYALEMA de Malawi.HON. JOSEPH NJOBVUYALEMA [MALAWI]:Thank you, very much, for giving me the opportunity.Let me quickly thank the President for ably presenting this Report and indeed, it is a very comprehensive Report. But before I touch on the Report, let me thank the President, the Bureau, members of staff of Pan-African Parliament for rendering support to our colleague, Mr. Tamani who was sick - who was a noble member of staff from Malawi. We thank you so much for the support you rendered to him.We are aware that you accorded him the necessary medication here in South Africa, you helped in evacuating him to Malawi when the need was there, and that you made arrangements that somebody should represent Pan-African Parliament during the funeral ceremony. We want to thank you very much for that. On behalf of Malawi, we say you should continue rendering such support to others as you have done to us. Thank you. Indeed, may God bless you.[Applause]Very quickly - Indeed, let me talk on the service delivery contract between Delloite and the Pan-African Parliament. Is it signed now? This is because they are saying it is going to be signed by end of April and we are already in May, 2013. Is it done now? And you were saying that the process should be transparent, equitable, gender-balanced and that also it will be responsive to country quotas. What does that mean - country quota? I am aware that a quota is a proportionate share. Are you saying that countries have shares in terms of staff here at Pan-African Parliament? And if that is the situation, how do you think it will work out? The way I am convinced is that the positions will be advertised to all countries in Africa. Those who qualify will apply. And those who have qualified will be shortlisted and they will be interviewed. Those who will be successful will be successful based on merit not necessarily from the country that they are coming. So, what are we saying here about country quotas? Are you saying you are going to reserve some positions especially for Malawi? If that is the case, do you mean only Malawians will compete and make sure that, we staff these positions with Malawians only? Is that what you mean? It is very important that we regulate this properly here because we are setting a very bad precedence.The other point I want to talk about is on the elects.HON. AWAD HAG ALI AHMED [SUDAN]:Thank you, Mr. President, I would like to follow my colleagues in commending the comprehensiveness and quality of the report made by the President. We also appreciate the efforts made in the issue of amending PAP protocol, including the PAP administration and getting the financial assistance to support those activities.Mr. President, the issue of protocol amendments is an advocacy issue and we as Members of PAP must understand that and be able to explain to our Leaders so that we can convince them to support the call to transform PAP.Mr. President, the issue of Human Rights, democracy and Good governance is what PAP must embark on. My message is that every country must give a country report on the issue of Human Rights, Democracy and good governance to PAP.Mr. President, on the work of the Bureau, we fully support the suggestions already made. However, I have a question on the issue of financial support; are we getting financial support from any other African organizations for PAP?M. LE PRÉSIDENT:Merci beaucoup cher Collègue.Je donne la parole à l’Honorable TCHASSÉ Awedeou du Togo.HON. TCHASSÉ AWEDEOU [TOGO]:Merci Monsieur le Président.Tout en joignant ma voix à celles de ceux qui m’ont précédé, je voudrais féliciter le Bureau et le Président pour son rapport. Beaucoup d’intervenants ont déjà dit ce que je pensais; néanmoins, je vais faire quelques remarques, une observation et poser une question.Je voudrais dire que Voltaire disait qu’il y a quatre manières de perdre son temps:1.« Le mal faire »: on vient de dire, si je prends l’exemple des traducteurs, quand on doit les prendre, il faut les inviter, les faire loger, les payer pour qu’ils fassent un mauvais travail, c’est une perte de temps; et ici, en plus du temps, on perd l’énergie et les ressources.2.Il disait que « le faire à contre temps, c’est une perte de temps ». Nous savions que le contrat de plusieurs des fonctionnaires devait donc prendre fin en ce mois de mai.Pourquoi avoir attendu que tout cela arrive avant qu’on ne commence par lancer le processus?Je voudrais rappeler que, par rapport à ce que venait de dire un de mes collègues, ici, la Commission qui est allée à Addis-Abeba pour soutenir et sensibiliser sur la transformation du PAP, je me souviens que le 1er Viceprésident nous a cité les pays qui étaient contre ce processus. Mais, je suis au regret de constater qu’un comité a été mis en place pour passer de pays en pays mais, les pays qui nous ont été cités, malheureusement, on s’est contenter d’aller rencontrer plutôt leurs ambassadeurs. Çà, c’est ne pas faire ce qu’on doit et c’est aussi une perte de temps.Je voudrais dire également que dans le rapport, le Président a fait remarquer que c’est le cabinet d’audit Ernst et Young qui a pu, dans son audit, révéler les difficultés que nous avons dans la maison. Mais, pour que le processus de recrutement actuel se fasse, on a trouvé plutôt mieux de prendre un autre cabinet. Chez moi, on dit que l’œil qui voit la fumée, c’est l’œil-là qui va chercher le feu. Je regrette que cela ne soit pas le même cabinet et qu’on trouve autre chose. Certainement que vous me direz les raisons pour lesquelles cela a été fait.Je voudrais observer qu’il ne serait pas aussi bien que des jours, on nous fasse [...].M. LE PRÉSIDENT:Merci cher Collègue.La parole est à l’Honorable AZIZOU ELHADJ ISSA du Bénin.HON. AZIZOU ELHADJ ISSA [BÉNIN]:Merci, Monsieur le Vice-président.Je voudrais solliciter votre indulgence parce que je vais commencer par une page noire. Je venais hier ou avanthier d’apprendre que deux de nos collègues femmes ont perdu leur époux. Je crois que le Bureau et le Président en seraient informés. Je ne sais pas comment vous allez gérer la situation. Nous, nous avons une collègue du Ghana qui vient de repartir ce matin. Elle n’est plus avec nous. Donc, c’était la première information malheureuse.Cependant, Monsieur le Président, je voudrais vous féliciter et le Bureau pour la journée fantastique qu’on a eue hier. Chez moi, on dit que lorsque votre vie va être heureuse, c’est depuis votre naissance que cela se constate. Je crois qu’au vu des idées qui vous ont amené à prendre les décisions pour l’organisation de la journée d’hier, vous devez toujours aller chercher dans ce même panier les idées pour la gestion du PAP. On va s’en sortir.Aussi, Monsieur le Président, les collègues sont-ils revenus sur la traduction des documents. Cela prouve que le PAP traverse une période difficile.Certains collègues ont suggéré que vous ayez de petits groupes. Comme vous l’avez déjà commencé, les caucus sont là; leurs bureaux sont là. Je crois qu’en attendant de mettre en œuvre ce qu’on vous propose, vous pouvez vous appuyer sur nous. Les Bureaux des caucus sont disposés à vous aider, vous et votre Bureau à réussir votre mission. On est là pour ça.Dernière préoccupation, Monsieur le Président, je voudrais comprendre un fait sur les membres du Bureau que vous êtes. Selon les textes, parait-il que vous devez séjourner, je ne sais pas, dix jours ou deux semaines pendant la période intersaison. Est-ce que cela a déjà débuté? Sinon qu’elles sont les difficultés et quand estce que vous comptez faire en sorte que vous, en tant que nos dirigeants, vous soyez en permanence ici au PAP pour que, nous, dans nos parlements nationaux, qu’on soit à l’aise, qu’on sache que ceux qu’on a mis devant, sont en train de faire le travail de façon continue.Merci Monsieur le Président.M. LE PRÉSIDENT:Merci cher Collègue.HON. KHALIFA SULEIMAN KHALIFA [TANZANIA]:Mheshimiwa Makamu wa Rais, nami nashukuru kwa kunipa nafasi. Niungane na wenzangu kumpongeza mtoa mada, Mheshimiwa Rais wa Bunge la Afrika kwa hotuba yake nzuri ambayo imejaa mambo mengi.Mheshimiwa Makamu wa Rais, kimsingi, mimi napongeza sana juhudi zilizochukuliwa na Bureau pamoja na Rais mwenyewe na inaonyesha dhahiri kuwa kuna mkakati wa makusudi wa kuleta mabadiliko katika Bunge letu na mimi naamini penye nia pana njia.Mheshimiwa Makamu wa Rais, baada ya hayo, naomba nizungumzie hoja ambayo imeelezewa na Mheshimiwa Rais, kuhusu hofu ya baadhi ya nchi kuwa kama Bunge hili likipewa fursa ya kutunga sheria, eti itaondoa uwezo au kupunguza mamlaka ya nchi hizo. Nitoe mfano wa Afrika Mashariki, sasa hivi tuna ushirikiano wa Afrika Mashariki na tuna Bunge la EALA ambapo jana hapa walitoa salamu zao. Bunge lile linatunga sheria na halijaweza kabisa kupunguza nguvu za mamlaka ya Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda au Burundi. Kwa hiyo, hii ni hofu isiyokuwa na msingi ambayo lengo lake ni kuharibu uwezo wa Bunge hili. Naomba jambo hili tusikubaliane nalo.Mheshimiwa Makamu wa Rais, pili, nataka kuzungumzia hoja ambayo wenzangu wameisemea sana na hapa naomba kutoa ushauri, ni hoja ya wafanyakazi. Inaonyesha dhahiri kuwa kuna wafanyakazi hapa wameshatumikia Bunge hili kwa muda mrefu. Mimi napenda nishauri Bunge hili, kama imeonekana wametumikia kwa muda mrefu na sasa imetosha, basi wapewe haki zao, warudishwe makwao au kama wanaaminika kuwa bado wanaweza kufanya kazi, basi wathaminiwe kwa utendaji wao wa kazi na kwa ngazi walizofikia. Haiwezekani hata kidogo mtu aliyetumikia Bunge hili kwa miaka minane au kumi, leo unakwenda kumwambia aombe upya kazi, hivi kama ni sisi tungekubali hali hiyo? Haiwezekani hata kidogo.Mheshimiwa Makamu wa Rais, lakini mimi nina wasiwasi kuna watu walioko AU kule Addis Ababa, wanaona labda maisha ya Afrika ya Kusini ni mazuri, wanajenga sura au mwanya wa kutaka kuja wao kufanya kazi na wawaondoe hawa waliopo. Jambo hili tusilikubali kwa sababu mwisho wa siku litaangusha hadhi ya Bunge letu.Mheshimiwa Makamu wa Rais, nakushukuru.VICE PRESIDENT:Ahsante.M. LE PRÉSIDENT:Je donne la parole à l’Honorable Delwa Kassire Coumakoye Nouradine du Tchad.HON. DELWA KASSIRE COUMAKOYE NOURADINE [TCHAD]:Monsieur le Président,Je n’ai pas la chance d’avoir un langage moelleux. Et vous allez m’excuser d’avance.Je vous ai suivi. Je reviens, pour l’essentiel, sur l’amendement du Protocole du PAP.En lisant votre rapport, tout est fait. Il n’y a pas la possibilité que le PAP ait son pouvoir législatif. Quand vous avez rencontré les Chefs d’État ou leurs représentants, quelques-uns vous ont dit que le gouvernement n’est pas encore formé pour l’Afrique. Comment peut-on avoir son Parlement? Ils ont raison. D’autres vous disent: « Écoutez! Nous, notre souveraineté, on ne veut pas qu’on y touche. Gare à celui qui veut y toucher parce que c’est au prix de notre vie qu’on a pris le pouvoir. Nous ne pouvons pas vous le redonner ». C’est la même chose que la première formule. Ce qui veut dire qu’il n’y a aucun État africain qui, à ce moment précis, est prêt pour que le Parlement soit digne de ce nom. Quand une institution n’adopte pas des lois, ne contrôle pas l’Exécutif, on ne l’appelle pas Parlement. C’est par complaisance que nous nous appelons Parlement. En toute sincérité. Quand on vous dit que le pouvoir parlementaire est différent de la fonction législative, mais c’est la même chose. Il faut avoir le pouvoir législatif pour légiférer. Donc, on vous tourne en bourrique. Je vous encourage de continuer mais je ne pense pas que dans l’immédiat, nous croyions avoir un Parlement africain, moins encore, un gouvernement africain. Je vous souhaite beaucoup de courage, mais je n’y crois pas.La deuxième question, c’est la dimension administrative et de gestion. Vous savez, avant que moi, j’arrive ici, j’ai déjà appris à N’djamena qu’il y a une grande magouille qui s’organise au niveau de la direction du Parlement. Chacun cherche ses parents, ses frères. Tous ceux qui n’avaient pas de parents, de frères ici sont renvoyés parce que nous revenons au village: le tribalisme, le clanisme. De grâce, si c’est vrai, votre processus-là, arrêtez-le. Arrêtez ce processus. Faites comme les pères fondateurs de l’Union africaine. Faites la géopolitique, sinon, la géo-État. Puisqu’on l’a fait pour la Commission, pourquoi on ne peut pas la faire [...].(Applaudissements)M. LE PRÉSIDENT:Merci!Merci, Monsieur le Premier Ministre.Je donne à présent la parole à l’Honorable BOHUE Martin de Côte d’Ivoire.HON. BOHUE MARTIN [CÔTE D’IVOIRE]:Merci Monsieur le Président.Je voudrais que mes collègues députés ivoiriens se lèvent.Je prends la parole au nom de la délégation ivoirienne pour dire de vive voix au Bureau, à vous-même, Monsieur le Président et à tout le Parlement panafricain, nos sincères remerciements pour avoir accepté d’intégrer les représentants du parlement ivoirien à cette illustre organisation continentale.Notre présence ici à cette session est le témoignage éloquent du retour de la Côte d’Ivoire sur la scène internationale après la grave crise sociopolitique qu’elle a connue. Comme le disent nos amis anglais, la Côte d’Ivoire is back.Nous profitons de cette tribune pour remercier toutes les organisations internationales, la communauté internationale, l’Union africaine, et bien entendu le Parlement panafricain, pour le soutien multidimensionnel dont notre pays a bénéficié.Monsieur le Président,Pour notre première participation pleine et entière à une séance du Parlement panafricain, nous ne voudrions pas risquer une intervention de fond, n’ayant pas encore pris toute la mesure des questions à débattre. Nous remarquons toutefois que le rapport que vous avez présenté ne pouvait être que dense, fouillé et détaillé. Il est à la mesure de l’immensité du travail à faire. C’est pourquoi, pour amplifier ce qui a été dit par ailleurs, nous suggérons que le rapport rédigé soit mis à la disposition des parlementaires la veille de la présentation de l’exposé en plénière, et que surtout le Président, en séance plénière, ne présente que la synthèse du rapport.Dans l’ensemble, Monsieur le Président, nous vous félicitons et nous vous disons: Bon vent! Félicitations!Merci.(Applaudissements)M. LE PRÉSIDENT:Merci beaucoup.Je donne la parole à l’Honorable LASKRI Mohamed Tayeb de l’Algérie.HON. MOHAMED TAYEB LASKRI [ALGÉRIE]:Merci Monsieur le Président.Moi aussi, je note, avec beaucoup de satisfaction, la richesse du contenu du rapport émis par le Bureau et à leur tête, donc, Monsieur le Président du PAP. Mais, seulement un rapport bilan doit comporter aussi ce qui n’allait pas, les choses qui ne fonctionnaient pas bien.Donc, je vais émettre quelques points que je trouve négatifs, non pas pour soulever des choses négatives mais, c’est pour améliorer les choses pour que cela ne se reproduise pas.D’abord, je voudrais revenir, et je me joins à mes collègues qui ont émis le vœu de savoir les raisons exactes de la démission du Secrétaire Général adjoint chargé des Finances, en l’occurrence Monsieur Morad Boularaf.Et, je mentionne aussi que la Commission CAFE, dans son bon rapport a souligné l’atmosphère et je cite « toxique et invivable au sein du staff, au sein du personnel administratif ». La question fondamentale: est-ce que cette atmosphère est toujours la même? Estce qu’elle a évolué?Le deuxième point que je voudrais mentionner concerne une activité qui est annulée par erreur administrative, de l’administration du PAP, en l’occurrence, un atelier qui devait se tenir conjointement par la Commission permanente Transports et la Commission en charge de l’Énergie du Parlement Sud Africain. Cela a été reporté à plusieurs reprises et la dernière fois où cet atelier devait se tenir, il y a eu une annulation suite à une erreur administrative.En effet, Madame la Secrétaire générale adjointe chargée des Affaires législatives a informé le Président, à la dernière minute, que l’atelier est annulé alors, qu’il s’agissait d’un autre atelier; et notre atelier n’a pas été réalisé. Nous voulons normaliser nos relations avec cette Commission Énergie, c’est très important.Le troisième point concerne un petit peu le Bureau du PAP, qui doit donner l’exemple dans l’application de la réglementation. Je reviens un peu en arrière concernant les élections au niveau des Commissions.Au niveau du Règlement intérieur, il est stipulé clairement que le Bureau veille à la représentativité des régions au sein des Commissions. Actuellement, aucune Commission n’est présidée par un membre de l’Afrique du Nord. Aucune!(Silence)Je peux? Si, je peux!Le quatrième point, je reviens à l’amendement du Protocole. C’est vrai que beaucoup de choses ont été faites, des démarches mais, nous avons retenu lors de l’atelier de formation à Addis-Abeba qu’il y a des pouvoirs mentionnés dans le Protocole actuel qu’il faut savoir utiliser en attendant la transformation du pouvoir consultatif en pouvoir législatif, notamment l’article 22 du Protocole actuel. Qu’est-ce que nous attendons pour l’utiliser, à savoir par exemple, l’étude et l’examen du budget de l’Union africaine?Merci.M. LE PRÉSIDENT:Merci cher collègue.La parole est à l’Honorable Mohamed ABDOULKADER Mohamed de Djibouti.HON. MOHAMED ABDOULKADER MOHAMED [DJIBOUTI]:Merci, Monsieur le Président.Je voudrais, tout d’abord, saisir cette occasion pour féliciter le Président et les membres du Bureau pour le rapport d’activités clair et riche en informations couvrant l’ensemble des domaines d’activités du PAP.Par la suite, mon intervention portera sur deux préoccupations.La première concerne l’amendement du Protocole. Je voudrais, tout d’abord, saluer les efforts et le travail effectués par le Bureau pour faire aboutir ce projet et le rassurer de tout notre soutien en vue d’accomplir cette mission à laquelle nous sommes très attachés.Cela dit, nous constatons, à la lecture de ce rapport, que la partie n’est pas encore facile à gagner et que les obstacles sont nombreux avant de parvenir à cette fin, car du COREP à la Conférence, en passant par le Conseil Exécutif, chacun y met du sien pour ralentir l’aboutissement de ce projet. Il nous revient à nous, parlementaires, de soutenir le Bureau dans ses actions pour poursuivre le combat engagé. Chacun d’entre nous doit interpeller le gouvernement de son pays pour qu’il adhère à ce projet d’amendement.Le Bureau doit également continuer à faire le travail de lobbying, notamment auprès des États encore réticents en envoyant, si nécessaire, des missions de sensibilisation.L’autre point que je voudrais aborder, concerne l’organisation administrative du PAP. Je suis heureux de constater que le Bureau a mis en place le processus de mise en œuvre du programme de la réorganisation de l’administration du PAP. L’on sait, Monsieur le Président, que le PAP ne peut mener à bien ces tâches sans une administration efficace et efficiente. C’est pourquoi, il est indispensable de finaliser, dans les meilleurs délais, le recrutement du personnel nécessaire au fonctionnement de notre administration.Enfin, j’attire votre attention sur le fait qu’il y a nécessité de concilier compétence, ancienneté, parce qu’il y a des gens qui ont travaillé, qui ont des compétences déjà et équilibres régionaux.Merci de votre attention!M. LE PRÉSIDENT:Merci, Cher Collègue.HON. CHIEF FORTUNE CHARUMBIRA [ZIMBABWE]:I thank you, Mr President. I would like to associate myself with the highly complimentary remarks made by previous speakers in respect of the good content of the report presented by the President of PAP, hon. Amadi. Of course, I would also want to compliment the Bureau and the staff that worked on the report. Indeed, it is a good and robust report.Mr President, I know that not everything could have been covered in the report but it would have been good to include the work that is being done by the NDP on the Millennium Development Goals review in the post- 2015 development agenda because that is one of our core businesses if we are to eradicate poverty. I think we needed a paragraph on that good work.The other issue, Mr President, is the need to cut the disconnection between Members of Parliament and PAP. During and between sessions for instance, when we leave on the 17th, 18th or 19th, sometimes it is so quiet that you wonder whether PAP still exists and then if there is something going on, you may get some email which says that you are required to go on this observer mission. Sometimes nothing happens until you come again in August.So it is like the Parliament wakes up during session and goes into slumber for six months and wakes up maybe for only two weeks. I think we need to work on that issue. It would have been good to have a monthly one page bulletin on these activities - just a paragraph with two sentences on each; "There is a meeting in this place and the President and this delegation are attending on this subject." This is so that we keep appraised of the activities of PAP from time to time so that we do not forget about our membership with PAP.The other issue, Mr President, is the declining attendance in this Chamber. I have been a member here for more than eight years, and I can see that the numbers are going down in terms of attendance. Usually in the first week, this Chamber will be full. The numbers decline in the second week but now this is only the second day and we are probably around 60 percent if not 55 percent. I think that this is a serious issue and something should be done. People seem to be losing interest or maybe the countries are becoming poorer and they cannot afford sending MPs. We need to get to the bottom of that, and that should be linked the budget issue.HON. LAURENT SEDEGO [BURKINA FASO]:Merci, Monsieur le Président.Bien que tout nouveau membre de notre auguste Assemblée, c’est avec beaucoup d’intérêt que j’ai pris connaissance du rapport du Président et je voudrais le féliciter ainsi que tout le Bureau pour la pertinence des points qui ont été évoqués même si, comme certains collègues l’ont souligné, la qualité de la version française mérite encore toute votre attention.Deux points ont retenu mon attention. Le premier point c’est relatif donc à l’amendement au Protocole et je vois un peu toutes les difficultés que Monsieur le Président et le Bureau, vous avez à conduire le processus. Je note que vous avez pris l’initiative de faire des plaidoyers par des équipes. Je voudrais, pour ma part, suggérer qu’au-delà de ces équipes, vous fassiez en sorte que chacun des membres de cette Assemblée, ici présent, se sente vraiment pleinement et entièrement responsabilisé. Je me demande s’il y a une région - vous avez dit - j’ai cru entendre que c’est l’Afrique Australe qui, dans la majorité, a encore des réticences, mais il y a des parlementaires de ces régions. Que fontils? Quelle est leur position et comment s’organisentils pour aider le Bureau et la Présidence afin donc de faire le plaidoyer parce que je me dis que chaque structure dans leur pays, les présidents de leurs parlements nationaux, les ministres des affaires étrangères, les ministres en charge des droits humains, de la justice, chacun d’eux est pleinement responsabilisé. Cela peut contribuer également à faire pencher la balance de notre côté.Deuxièmement, je ne vois pas également l’articulation qu’il y a avec les parlements régionaux. Je me dis que peut-être si vous trouvez une possibilité d’en discuter avec les parlements régionaux, peut-être qu’également, je pense que cela va contribuer, parce que nous parlons évidemment d’un parlement des peuples.Le deuxième point, Monsieur le Président, nous sommes des parlementaires, nous sommes très regardants sur les questions de bonne gouvernance et de contrôle. Je souhaite que la question que vous avez soulevée au point 9, Monsieur le Président, que vous en fassiez véritablement un des points essentiels de votre mandat. Nous ne devrions pas dans le Parlement panafricain parler de problème de gestion interne, de gouvernement interne parce que nous devons être la boussole, nous devons être le phare en matière de gouvernance et en matière de bonne gestion. Et on dit qu’il faut d’abord commencer par balayer devant sa porte avant donc d’aller au-delà.Enfin, Monsieur le Président, je voudrais suggérer simplement que vous puissiez améliorer un tant soit peu la qualité du service. Hier, nous avons été agréablement surpris d’être invités à un déjeuner. Malheureusement, en allant au restaurant, je me demandais si je devais m’asseoir par terre et vraiment j’étais quand même très [...].M. LE PRÉSIDENT:Merci beaucoup cher collègue.HON. ELSAYED MOUSSA HAZEN [EGYPT]:شكراً سيادة الرئيسأنا أريد أن أزكر السيد رئيس البرلمان ومكتب المجلس بالخلوة التي تمت العام الماضي مع مكاتب البرلمان وكنت أقترحت ان يكون هناك إتصال مباشر مع مابين البرلمان والبرلمانات الوطنية وقلت ان ذلك سيساعدنا في ً هو يساعد النواب كثير من المشاكل مثل موضوع البرتكول وغيره أيضا ،، والعدد الغير موجود اآلن ناتج من أن هذه البرلمانات وهي ال تعتقد بأهمية البرلمان االفريقي فال تجعل االعضاء يأتون إلي هنا ويقولون هي نفقات تكون في غير موضعها،، االمر الثاني كنا نأتي هنا حوالي 21 ً عن البرلمان وأوصينا أن يكون هناك في السنة ونحن ننقطع تماما ً يوما إ ً تصال لم يتم منذ سنة ،، وأخذنا توصية لم تتم لذلك أرجو أن يكون ملحقا بمكتبك أنت سيادة الرئيس مسؤل عن تنفيذ التوصيات والقرارات ويالحقها ويري ماذا قدمت ،، واالمر الثاني البد من اتصال كما قلت بالبرلمانات الوطنيه في موضوع الوظائف ولماذا ال تذهب وثيقة لكل البرلمانات تحثهم علي تقديم الكفاءات التي لديهم لشقل هذه الوظائف ،، وهذا التقرير لالسف نحن لم نره إال اليوم وكذلك برلماتنا ال تعرف عنه شئ لكن لو كان هناك إتصال لعلمت البرلمانات الوطنية أن البرلمان االفريقي مهم وينفقون من أجله ويرسلون النواب لحضور هذا البرلمان. وأشكركم سيادة الرئيسHON. EBO BARTON-ODRO [GHANA]:Mr. President, to say that we have received a comprehensive and impressive report would be an understatement. I wish to congratulate the Bureau on the good job done.I have two issues. Firstly, I am encouraged by the collaboration that had started between this Parliament and the African court. It is very important because whilst we fight for a legislative status, when these laws are enacted, it is this court that would help us to deal with noncompliance and enforcement. I want to encourage you to go ahead and do everything possible to get this done because apart from everything else, if we have the necessary systems in place, we will help prevent small magistrate courts in the European countries from making orders that our Heads of State should be sent to the International Court of Justice and so forth.The Heads of State should realise that we are fighting their cause. It is not to say that in the course we are going to compromise, but if we do the right thing, it will be respected and we will have the right to enforce our own human rights.Finally, on the issue of financial malpractices, I would want to suggest that we ensure that those culprits are brought to book. Criminals should be dealt with by the criminal courts so that it serves as a warning to others. It will send a message to our donor partners to rethink their decision not to further assist us with financial resources. Thank you.HON. MOHAMED YOUSIF ABDULLAH [SUDAN]:شكراً سيدي الرئيسوأشيد أوالً بالجهود التي بذلت من قبل الرئاسة وأعضاء المكتب وهناك تقدم أحرز في أكتر من مجال وتقدم في السعي علي الحصول علي سلطات تشريعية لهذا البرلمان وتنسيق انشطة اللجان الدائمة لهذا البرلمان مع مفوضيات االتحاد االفريقي وعقد ورش مع المنظمات االفريقية لالتحاد االفريقي لتنسيق المواقف ومراقبة االنتخابات تحسين االدا االداري لهذا البرلمان ،، فهناك صعوبات جمة واجهتة البرلمان وأعضاء المكتب والسيد الرئيس أنا أقول أن العمل في هذا البرلمان يتقدم وال يتأخر وأقول أننا ال نحاسب الرئيس ولكننا ننصحه وفي هذا السعي نقول أن العمل في البرلمان يجب أن يكون عمل سياسي ولذلك نحن نتضامن ونتشارك مع قيادة البرلمان لالداء االفضل والتقدم االفضل ولذلك نقول أننا تعمل في إطار أن تتقدم القارة والدول وبالتالي النصيحة االولي التي أقدمها أن نطرح أنفسنا برلماناً ليس خصماً علي الحكومات ولكننا نعين الحكومات ونعين الدول ونعين البرلمانات هذا هو التوجه الذي يجب أن نسير فيه في هذا االقتراح هناك قضايا عاجلة ال تتأخر القضايا العاجلة مثل قضايا تعزيز التجارة البينية في افريقيا هذه قضية يجب أن نحصل فيها علي سلطات تشريعية وال تتأخر وتطبيق التشريعات االقيمية ذات الصلة بالجوانب الصحية هذه قضية يجب أن تتقدم أيضاً والعمل علي تحقيق خفض الفقر هذه قضية عامة بالتالي البد من عقد ورشة في اقرب وقت ونحدد الموضوعات التي يجب أن نتقدم بها لدولنا وبرلماناتنا للموافقة علي التشريعات هذا أمرمهم جداً وهناك جوانب وتشريعات دولية وقعنا عليها وإتفاقيات وصكوك ومعاهدات يجب أن تراجع هذا الصكوك والمعاهدات التي وقعت عليها الدول وضرورة رصدها ومن عبرها نتمكن من الحصول علي موافقات من دولنا ،، انا اعتقد أن هذا البرلمان يجب ان يتقدم وال يتأخر ويجب أن نتضامن ككتلة واحدة ونتحرك كسياسيين هذا هو الذي يعيننا االخ الرئيس ونحن معك في السعي ونتقدم تشاء هللا خطوات الي األمام وشكراُ جزيالُ.HON. TSHELANG W. MASISI [BOTSWANA]:Merci Mr President. I would like to join my fellow colleagues in thanking the honourable President Amadi and his bureau and the staff of this PAP for this comprehensive, informative and wonderful report. Within six months, they gave us the green light of this PAP on how we are going and what we are planning to do.Moreover, I want to thank them for inviting His Excellency, the President of Ghana who is an experienced Member of Parliament for this organisation including Madam Dlamini Zuma who is the head of the AU to give us the update of her duties. It is quite important for us to engage with these Heads of State and encourage PAP to continue inviting Presidents of this continent to come and address and understand us and know what exactly we are looking for. We will be in a position to assist you Mr President in trying to lobby for this organisation. Quite a number of Presidents on this continent do not really agree with our idea or they do not want to take it.However, gradually, we have a tough time to build and motivate them to understand exactly what we really want to do for the continent. I know that it is so difficult to implement the transformation because of what we have already observed. I think we should try hard to apply some mechanism on how we can take this Parliament to the people, the constituents on the ground and assist various Members of Parliament who come from all these countries. We should have a budget from this organisation on how we can try to advertise our Parliament to make our people on the ground understand exactly what we mean by this type of Parliament and what type of laws we really want to implement on this continent.Mr President, I will make a terrible mistake if I do not congratulate you on your m effort to collaborate with the AU organs so that we understand each other. „HON. OULÉYMATOU ASCOFARE TAMBOURA [MALI]:Merci Monsieur le Président.Je voudrais également, à mon tour, féliciter le Bureau et le Président pour le travail accompli et surtout pour la continuation du processus d’amélioration des rapports de l’Institution avec l’Union africaine et les encourager à redoubler d’ardeur pour plus de rayonnement de notre Parlement.Concernant l’amendement au Protocole, pour l’obtention du pouvoir législatif, je suggère que l’on associe les parlements régionaux à notre combat pour plus de synergie, puisqu’ils ont les mêmes difficultés que nous. Je pense que, ensemble, on peut, peut-être, trouver la solution.La gestion des ressources humaines constituent un grand défi à relever au sein de notre Parlement. Je souhaite un processus de recrutement transparent et équilibré; et, il ne faut pas se limiter à faire la diffusion sur internet uniquement. Je pense qu’il faut approcher les parlements nationaux pour qu’eux aussi, à leur tour, ils diffusent les avis de recrutement parce que, par le passé, certains avis sont passés inaperçus dans certaines régions.L’amélioration de la gouvernance est fondamentale pour la paix et la stabilité. À cet égard, je suggère que le Parlement développe un partenariat pour obtenir des ressources afin de continuer la sensibilisation dans ce domaine, pour que la mise en œuvre de la Charte sur la démocratie, les élections et la bonne gouvernance soit effective.Nous avons gagné la bataille de l’entrée en vigueur de la Charte, c’était en 2020, avec l’activité de plaidoyer qui fut bien aimée sous l’égide de l’équipe sortante dirigé par le Président Idriss Ndele Moussa. Il nous faut maintenant gagner la bataille de la mise en œuvre de cette Charte qui est fondamentale pour la paix et la stabilité en Afrique.Au Mali, nous venons de ratifier la Charte en question et j’invite nos collègues à faire de même pour les pays qui ne l’ont pas encore fait et je leur suggère de faire un plaidoyer. C’est ce que nous, nous avons fait. Nous avons organisé des activités de plaidoyer à l’endroit du Gouvernement pour les pousser à déposer la Charte à l’Assemblée nationale, pour la ratification.Sur le chantier de la défense des droits de l’Homme, je voudrais suggérer au Parlement panafricain de s’impliquer dans le processus de dialogue et de réconciliation qui vient d’être enclenché au Mali, afin que le Parlement s’assure que la justice sera dite, que l’impunité ne sera pas de rigueur, que les coupables de viols, de crimes qui ont été perpétrés n’échapperont pas; qu’ils seront effectivement punis. Je pense que le PAP dans son rôle est à ce niveau. C’est un processus complexe, nous avons besoin des expériences des autres pays en la matière. Je pense que ces sommes d’expériences sont réunies ici au niveau du Parlement.Je vous remercie.HON. JAIME BESSA AUGUSTO NETO [MOZAMBIQUE]:-Muito obrigado SenhorPresidente. Primeiro, quero felicitar a Mesa pela apresentado deste relatório que eu o considero de grande substancia, particularmente por cobrir urna vasta gama de questoes que inquietam a cada um dos membros desta camara, que representam os povos africanos. Particularmente, quero felicitar ao Presidente do Parlamento Pan-Africano pelos contactos e advocacia que está a desenvolver nos diferentes estados membros da Uniao Africana, como forma de persuadir os Chefes de Estados para considerarem a aprova^ao das emendas do nosso protocolo. Até ao presente momento, os países visitados sao poucos. Gostaria, no entanto, que essas visitas aos chefes de Estados continuassem e no mesmo nível, particularmente, quanto ao envolvimento dos outros deputados nessas missoes de advocacia. A visita a nossa regiao, como se referiram alguns colegas, é pertinente.Caros Deputados.É chegado o momento para que o nosso Parlamento se transforme para corresponder a evolu^ao que tem estado a demonstrar. Por isso, o diálogo com Chefes de Estados é muito importante, senhor Presidente, para poder acelerar este processo de transformado deste nosso Parlamento.Senhor PresidentePara terminar, gostaria que no quadro da representatividade e equidade regional dos funcionários do Parlamento Pan-Africano, sem descurar a competencia e meritocracia, também se olhasse para a representatividade linguística, para permitir melhor coordenado das actividades, particularmente nas comissoes onde a coordenado é feita por membros de expressao portuguesa ou outra língua que nao é largamente utilizada no Parlamento Pan-Africano. Sendo assim, senhor Presidente, subscrevo as contribuides dos outros colegas, e muito obrigado.HON. SHEKU B.B DUMBUYA [SIERRA LEONE]:Thank you very much Mr. President. I would like to begin from a note of correction or clarifications.Mr. President, incidentally the presenter of the report is the substantive President of PAP, Betheil Amadi, but people have been referring to you as the Vice President. The conventional provision is that there are four Vice Presidents. Whoever occupies that Chair should be referred to as the President. That is conventional and that is international.Mr. President, all of us have been agitating over the years for the transformation of PAP into a Legislative body. In fact, it has become something of an obsession. But Mr. President, let me tell you this and I am very pessimistic here. There are certain Leaders whose very doubtful democratic credentials will certainly oppose this idea. We have a very huge task of talking to them. Mr. President on this Election Monitoring observation Mission, I feel we should go back where we used to be.Let there be an exclusive PAP observation mission.Whenever we are together with AU they think they are superior. There are not and let me say here that members of Parliament of PAP, because they are members of Parliament of their respective countries they are even better equipped to this job than the officials of AU.Mr. President, Chief Charumbira was making a very good point about the steady decline in attendance. Let us try to copy what is operational at ECOWAS Parliament, and incidentally Mr. President the President of PAP, Bethel Amadi comes from Nigeria. He is a Nigerian and ECOWAS is located in Nigeria. Let him find what is happening. They are funding their Members and doing more work than us, and countries are very much aware of funding and, therefore, countries are finding it difficult to fund their Members.Mr. President, on the question of funding, the AU should help but I have a feeling that the AU does not want to fund PAP because it does not want PAP to become a fully fledged Legislative body. If you talk about Parliament, the other word for a Parliament is a Legislative body, and to have a Parliament that does legislate is laughable.Mr. President, I must congratulate you on this report from October 2022 to May 2023. That’s about six months, a relatively short period, but so much has been done.That is quite a commendable effort.I congratulate you I also congratulate Mr. President on inviting the Chairperson of AU (end)HON. LABELLE MARIE NOËLLE FRANÇOISE [MAURTIUS]:Merci, Hon Président.Honourable Chair, may I first of all congratulate honourable President on his comprehensive Report. My congratulations go also to all Members of the Bureau.I am of the opinion, Mr. Chair, that this Assembly recognizes the effort of the President and the Bureau to keep Members of this House informed of what is happening between two sessions. At times it is difficult to know what is going on and this Report comes and informs Members of what is going on.Mr. Chair, we have taken note of what is going on regarding the staffing. I sincerely hope that the Bureau will be able to fill the 48 positions as scheduled.I have also taken note, Mr. President, of the passing on of Mr Tamani and the way that Pan-African Parliament has dealt with this sad event. I really want to congratulate the Bureau on the way this issue has been taken care of. I have known Mr Tamani who was fighting very courageously against his illness. May his soul rest in peace.I have also taken note of the resignation of Mr. Morad. I know Hon Members will miss Mr Morad for all the work he has done for nearly seven years in this Parliament.Mr Chair, I know Parliament will be celebrating its tenth anniversary next year. And I think we have to start preparing for this event. And when we shall be celebrating the tenth anniversary, I hope that by that time, the position of the Protocol would have been attained. It will ease many of the difficulties that we will be facing. But I am confident that the Bureau will successfully take up the challenges, be it, the position of the Protocol, or the implementation of the new structure.I wish the honourable President and Members of the Bureau well in their endeavours.Thank you.[Applause]M. LE PRÉSIDENT:Merci beaucoup.Je suis arrivé au terme de ma liste, mais je voudrais, avant de passer la parole à l’Honorable Président, pour répondre aux pertinentes questions qui ont été adressées au Bureau, faire deux remarques.La première remarque a trait à la traduction des documents. Francophile de mon état, je suis autant soucieux que vous tous, ici, de la qualité des documents qu’on nous présente. Le Bureau en a pris conscience de cet état de choses. C’est pour cela que nous demandons votre indulgence. Parce que j’ai appris Molière, j’ai appris Senghor, Césaire^ Quand je lis un document en français, cela me fait mal. Vraiment, chers collègues, que ce soit la traduction dans d’autres langues, ces traductions vont aller s’améliorant dans les prochains jours.Je vous présente toutes les excuses du Bureau, car ce que vous soulevez comme problème, qui est comptable de cela? C’est d’abord le Bureau.La qualité du Bureau se voit dans la qualité des documents qui sortent du Parlement et par ricochet, votre responsabilité est engagée. Donc, je voulais vous présenter mes excuses pour cela.La deuxième remarque, c’est que le collègue du Tchad, Monsieur KASSIRE et l’Honorable BARRO CHAMBRIER sont intervenus. Nous sommes dans une institution diplomatique.Et je souhaite vraiment que nous comprenions cela comme tel et que nous essayions de comprendre un certain nombre de choses et que nous soyons mesurés dans ce que nous faisons.Maintenant, je vais donner la parole au Président pour qu’il réponde aux questions de fond qui ont été soulevées.THE PRESIDENT:My distinguished honourable colleagues, I thank you so much for your contributions to the reports considering that we had almost 50 speakers. We have taken note of the comments and I will respond to some and not all of them. I promise that we have taken note of most of those issues that have been raised by our colleagues. I thank you for these very useful comments, advice, suggestions and opinions that I believe will help our Parliament to move from strength to strength.Honourable colleagues, I will start with the issue of protocol amendments. As you are aware, we have had several advocacy missions that have tried to enhance the understanding of member states of the actual status and content of the protocol. Honourable colleagues should realise that under the leadership of His Excellency Dr Idriss Mousa Ndele, the past President of this Parliament, we had made our contributions to the process of the amended protocol.The final document that came out was not exactly what we had proposed, but we decided to go ahead and accept it as a step forward for our Parliament to have slightly enhanced powers. Since then, we have had to battle with all the difficulties we have had. I believe that the process of advocacy has paid us. If you had been at the summit last year in July when our protocol was discussed, clearly you would have seen that there was very vehement opposition at the Executive Council and no support. Even those who ordinarily were supposed to be supporting this protocol were silent.In January, with the advocacy that we had done, we now had heads of state who were vehemently in support of the protocol and took the Floor two to three times to reinforce their support for us and you would have seen that were from countries we have visited so far. We had an opportunity to sit with them and explain the situation.The Presidents of the republics of Benin, Nigeria, Chad, Ghana and a minister from Niger who was our colleague here also had an opportunity to support us.We have difficulties from the southern region. Most of the countries that were vocally against this were from the southern region and their reasons are quite historical and we must come to terms with that and begin to work on it. They made comments such as ‘we do not want another SADC tribunal’. And of course if you know the history of the SADC tribunal in the southern region you will understand. You will also notice that in the southern region, SADC parliamentary forum...[Inaudible] have a parliamentary body, so you can see that the resistance of parliamentary participation and process is not just peculiar to PAP but there is also a regional issue.We have tried to address it. I know some people said, ‘where are we going to embassies?’ Well. We have to start from somewhere. We started with the embassies. We have written to many of the Heads of Government for us to come and visit them but we have received no response and I know the President of Botswana had even at a stage in the process of communication said he would come to visit PAP but two weeks ago, he wrote that he would be unable to come and that he will come at another time. So, we intend to follow up on them.I visited the President of the Republic of South Africa a month ago, and we had discussions on the way forward. We believe that South Africa, being our host country, has been a bit silent on their position as far as the PAP issue is concerned and that silence as far as I am concerned does not help our situation and cause. So the President has promised that he will talk with his colleagues so that we can begin a process to engage them and make them understand that the Pan-African Parliament with legislative functions will not in any way detract from the national Parliaments. We are talking about making ceremonial laws for the continent and these are not legislations that would, once we make it here, become law. No. It is a way of ensuring that legislative process currently - what has happened to us is that when the Pan-African Parliament was formed in 2004, it became part of the African Union that already was making legislative instruments. The Parliamentary functions were already being performed by two key bodies in the African Union Governance Architecture.The Office of the Legal Counsel would draft the legal instruments and take it to the Assembly and when those legal instruments have been passed and adopted by the Assembly, it is now sent to member states for ratification. They were saying to them that these legal instruments should come to Parliament and Parliament must make an input to these legal instruments so that they can be people centered and that way, it would be easier to achieve ratification.It is easier to achieve implementation or domestication where we have a situation where Members of Parliament make an input through a legal instrument, having input from the regional parliaments, have input from members from national parliaments and at the end of the day, you will have ownership of these instruments. Today, a lot of these instruments - African Union instruments are lying in various shelves gathering dust without being implemented because they have not been people centered. The input of Parliament is not present.Another organ, the Permanent Representative Committee, we believe carries out the over sight function on budget which should be a parliamentary function and many of them are now willing to share that space. So the resistance is all around and there is need for us as parliamentarians to begin to come up with ideas on how we can begin to engage them. I was a member of the last Bureau under the leadership of His Excellency Dr Idriss Mousa Ndele and we have from the time of the last Bureau improved relationships with PRC. We are pushing so that the PRC would begin to see us as partners in progress in the work for the African people.So, as far as we are concerned, we will continue this advocacy. We urge our colleagues from the various national delegations to also form teams that can move around the various national parliaments and speak to the Speakers of their parliaments, speak to your prime ministers and even Heads of State about the issue. We will equip them with required information and documentation explaining the need for the Pan-African Parliament to be endowed with legislative powers and clearly defined areas as this will help in no small way to enhance the presence of integration. There was no legislative framework for integration.Critical areas of integration like free trade, like free movement of goods and services across our continent are being hampered by the multiplicity of customs tariffs, immigration regulations, visa requirements have small traders not able to move across the continent to interact. How do you integrate the people when those people when those people cannot move across freely and meet with themselves? The process of integration must start with the people and through commerce and trade and that way, we can enhance the process.We are thinking about building infrastructure on our continent. There are dreams about a highway that goes from Lagos to Algiers or a railway that goes from Cape Town top Cairo. This will require going through cross national borders, to have legislative framework for this kind of things to be done. There is need to harmonise the legislation across the continent to enhance integrations and that role is a key law that the Pan-African Parliaments can play. We need to be able to convince our members states on the need to give Pan-African Parliament those legislative functions to enhance the process of integration and hopefully, we believe that this struggle is one that we are all committed to and we will continue to push it and we will continue to do the work we need to do to enhance the capacity of our Parliament to play the role we need to play for the betterment, growth and development of our continent.Hon. Members, we also had the issue raised by many members concerning the staff structure. It is a difficult and tough process like I said in report and we had a lot of difficulties trying to determine how to go further on this. You will agree with me that the process of a structure approved by the African Union of the Pan-African Parliament started many years ago by a decision of the Assembly that the Pan-African Parliament must send its structure for approval by the AU.We had a structure in place from the time of our first President who had gone ahead to recruit based on different things that happened - I was even a Member of Parliament then and so - but the historical information that we have is that there were funds provided by the AU and the AUC people participated in the process in the process of recruitment of our staff here today and the decision was that we must still present a structure. A structure was developed and was called Blue Book. The Blue Book never got approved.Finally, the negotiations went on and after I became President, I attended one of the negotiations in June last year and we had gone with a list requesting for about 94 positions. We got 74 approved and after the approval and negotiations, they gave us a final decision Executive Council Decision 720 a month ago says that, "In line with Regulation 6.2 of the African Union Staff Regulations and Rules, the recruitment process for these approved positions shall be competitive and conducted transparently without any form of discrimination. All professional positions D1 to P1 and General Service Category eight positions GSA-6, GSA-5 and GSA-4 shall be opened to international competition by all citizens of the African Union member states.2.All existing staff of the Pan-African Parliament of all grades shall compete with both internal and external candidates of African Union member states for the structured and budgeted positions in full transparency, equity and fairness and the PAP shall submit an annual recruitment report to the PRC during budget consideration;3.Recruitment for all professional positions D1 to P1 should be governed by quota distribution of the African Union taking into account the regional distribution and gender balance;4.The recruitment process of the PAP shall be supervised by the African Union Commission with the view to ensure compliance of the recruitment process with the AU Staff Rules and Regulations.These are the conditions that were attached to the approved staff structure. The difficulty here is that we have a situation where we already have members of staff in an existing and ongoing institution. The first leadership of this Parliament had gone ahead to issue regular/irregular contracts to some of the staff in the Parliament. We have on the average about three or four categories of staff. We have the regular staffs that have been issued regular contracts which will give them three years as the first time, two years renewable and thereafter as it is in the African Union.We have the shorter staff who are given short term contracts of six months or one year and renewable thereafter depending on their level. We also have the project staff who are also given short term contracts that are funded by our partners like EC, ACBF, GIZ and so forth. We also have three special appointees who are appointed by the President who will leave whenever the President leaves office.Honourable colleagues, we are caught in a situation where the African Union had decided by this decision that the regular contracts that we are giving our staff were not recognised by them in the sense that they had not approved our structure. And on the approval of the structure, they are now insisting that we begin the process all over again. This leaves us with a difficulty as to the acquired rights of our existing staff. We laboured with this and the beginning, I had meetings with the deputy chair of the African Union Commission who is in charge of administration and he was of the opinion that we must implement the AU decision and that he would support the process and that at the process of implementing, we can find situations where we can support our staff in the process to ensure that they fully participate in the process so that the process is open and transparent.So, what we have resolved the report - we have sent copies of the implementation plan for MPs to have a look at. This report is to ensure that members of staff who are occupying positions presently and who are apply for those positions, we guarantee them that they will be shortlisted for interview but they will still have to compete with people who will also be shortlisted from outside our Parliament and who are citizens of member states and who have qualified and are competent.We could not find the funding to implement it within our resources and so we approached GIZ. GIZ, as of today, is supporting this process. When our structure was approved, a structure was also approved for NEPAD, our sister organ also based here in Midrand. NEPAD moved ahead to also seek support from GIZ and when I spoke with the Head of NEPAD, he said that we can also approach the same institution that is supporting him and we did and happily GIZ agreed to fund us to go through this process. They agreed to pay for the independent advisor and so we launched a process to select different international organisations that seem to have expertise in dealing with matters of restructure and we settled for Deloitte. I know somebody asked if that agreement has been signed. The agreement is between Deloitte and GIZ to carry out a service for PAP. The money is not coming to us but is being handled by GIZ and also in that process of securing the international body that will do it.There are those who raised that Ernst & Young saw the smoke and should be the one to put out the fire. Ernst & Young declined to participate in the bid process and that is why Deloitte was finally chosen and we believe that this process will be transparent. The adverts have been placed on the Pan-African Parliament website over the last two months. We will also make available in folders for members, copies of the positions that have been advertised. We would like you to find time to go through it. We will also send it to national parliaments as has been recommended by some members here. Yes, we talked about it and it is important that all national parliaments will receive copies of those adverts/vacancies and we will be depending on you to help us to popularise it and move it forward.The positions of our existing staff have been raised by many. Yes, we have that difficulty but, like I said to you, we need to implement the decision that has been taken by the African Union. We are an organ of the AU and we must follow the rules and regulations. What has been the problem of the Pan-African Parliament over the years is our inability to follow financial regulations. It is not really that there has been fraud or misappropriation, but it is just simply that we have not followed the procurement processes and the financial regulations. Let us say that there is now a decision now to procure a book. The AU says that we must, to procure this book, put out a tender. We must have at least three or four tenders coming and we must give it seven days before we take a decision. The process outlines how we could procure and then we suddenly have this urgent need and we go ahead and procure without following those tender rules. In the end, you will have all the audit queries that come with not following the regulations.So, for use, we believe that we follow the recruitment process according to the rules set by the African Union. We would try and partner with them to ensure that they send us the technical people to oversee the process. We have sent our proposed implementation plan to the chairperson as requested by this decision and we are with the other team that we sent to the AUC to be part and parcel of this process. We believe that if somebody is coming to compete for a job that I have done for eight years, I will definitely have more advantage in an interview if I know my area.We think that our present staff will do well in those interviews and we see a possibility that we will retain as many as we need to and also, it will be an opportunity to bring in fresh blood and ideas into the process which will be a very good mix. We will do the best we can to ensure that there is equity.Somebody talked about the quota. Yes, the African Union has a quarter and a manner in which their quarter is distributed. I am not an expert in this field and so I cannot advise. But I do know that there is a quota system which the African Union applies and ensures that all member states are represented in the staff structure. At the same time, of course for you to even be considered, you would be qualified and you have the required qualifications for that office in the first place. So the process will be transparent and will be handled independently by experts and then we will be able to have a secretariat that will be endowed for the Parliament to have the work that needs to be done here.If there are current staff who unable to succeed in this process, of course they will be paid their full entitlements for having worked in the institution. We are hopeful that we can retain as much institutional memory as possible.There was another issue that was raised by many members. It was on the resignation of the Deputy Clerk, FAIR. I will say that as you are aware, we are not resident here. We are all leaving here on the 17th and when members are leaving, the President will also leave. So I was informed by email a few days to a scheduled Bureau meeting that Mr Morad had tendered his resignation and it was a voluntary process and he took a voluntary and wilful decision to do so and when we came for the Bureau meeting, a week after, I had an interaction with him and I asked him if he actually wrote the letter of resignation himself and he said that he did. So, I said fine. So if a man decides that he no longer wants to work for an institution after so many years, then I believe that he must have his personal reasons doing so.As you are aware, we have had this issue of the staff administration before, and we dealt with it during our October session on this Floor. There is a lot of push and pressure for us to change the administration. We as the Bureau pleaded with members to give us time to have a structured process so that we do not have a vacuum and difficulty is managing our process. Let us be given time to work with them, clean up the process, to make sure that our administrative and financial regulations are in order. We have tried to do this over time to work with them. My brother, the honourable member mentioned the report of CAFE and the toxic situation.Yes, I took time to call the senior management staff and talk to them on the need for all of us to work together to ensure that this institution which is bigger than all of used is able to give the service that it deserves. It is sad that today, almost every member who spoke was not happy with the quality of translation and documentation that was done and this is something that we have worked on over and over again to ensure that the standards are improved and we apologise but we are hopeful that these standards will be improved over time.So, like I said honourable colleagues, the process of difficulties in our administration exists. We have continued to make sure that we, as a Bureau, work with the management and senior management to ensure that the standards of work delivered fro members has improved and that instructions that we have left behind get better. I would say that we have made some progress because it used to take us six months to one year to get a financial report but amazingly of recent, we can now have a quarterly report for the first quarter of this year. Even though it is not exactly accurate, we have had some problems with it but then these reports are needed at the African Union to enable us get the funding and releases that we need. So, there is some improvement although a lot more needs to be done. We will keep working on it and we hope that we are able to make additional progress.Let me just quickly while I am on the issue of administration talk about the budget of the Pan-African Parliament. On the average, we receive an annual budget - for this year 2013 comes to about US$ 10,372,000 funded by the African Union. Out of this amount, over half of it - more than 5.5 million of that money goes to staff salaries and staff related matters. If we look at staff salaries and wages, you have a total of 2.5 million. You look at the issue of common staff costs you have another 2.7 million, look at the secretariat cost - maintenance of vehicles and equipment and things like that, you find that close to 6 million of the 10.3 million budgeted for PAP is spend on direct staff related matters.Another major expense item is our meetings. 3.5 million goes to our sessions; the two sessions we have of plenary and the two committee sessions that we have. So that leaves very little money if any at all for programmes. You will see that in this year, we only have US$ 120,000 for AU contribution for programmes and so the rest of our programmes are funded by donor partners. When you look at how this 3.7 million for sessions is spent, you will realise that there is need for us to begin to look at how we actually run our institution. This session is estimated by budget to cost the PAP US$1.3 million. Actually US$1.3 million for this session, 764,000 is for interpretation - more than half. I have heard the arguments by our colleagues about the number of languages that we need to do interpretation. The African Union itself has four working languages and not six. We are the only African institution in the union using six languages and each language means additional costs for interpretation. And then what I just said to you is the cost of interpretation.And then translators cost us 133,000. Put together, you would have US$900,000 of the 1.38 million that we use for our session to deal with interpretation and translation. So, you will find that there is need for us as MPs and leadership at the Bureau to at some point, take a look at how even though we are underfunded what we do get, what do we apply it to? These are issues that we have tried to deal with to ensure that we get some additional success in what we are doing.Another MP had mentioned the issue of the medical cover. Yes, we have taken a decision and I do here have a short report because we must follow the procurement process. We have launched the procurement process to provide MPs with medical cover. It will cover specific referral hospitals in Johannesburg and Pretoria. It will be full medical cover for the MPs. Their families are not included and do not include admissions. Admissions will be covered in the travel tickets that will be issued and this bid has gone out since and a tender evaluation committee has been scheduled for the 8 May, 2013. The evaluation committee will report to the selection committee and so on and so forth, and hopefully, the contract will take effect from 1 June following the due process for procurement of that process. So, we are hopeful that we can be able to provide our MPs with medical cover while at Midrand during our sessions.Honourable colleagues, there is also the issue the equitable balance in the committee bureaux and our rules require that we should try and show equitable balance in the membership of the bureaux of committees. But the same rules also require us to elect members of the committees. I know that during the May session when the committee memberships were being elected, we tried to get the caucus chairman to meet and try to see if they can get some harmony in ensuring that there is balance amongst the regions in committee representation. But then, we are a political institution and as much as possible, we will try and create balance but the realities on the ground also require that some regions, members are newer than others and in committees, committee members are very passionate about electing those whom they have worked with and not people who are new. So, you have that difficulty in getting them to elect new members to be able to cover all the regions. We will keep working on it as it is an issue of understanding, cooperation and negotiation.I have had meetings recently with the chairs of the various caucuses to see how the current vacancies that are existing in the committees can be managed to create some balance and improve the level of equity. I would say quite clearly that it is a process. Laws are made for man and not man for laws and such being a political institution, it will be a negotiated process and we are working on it and we are hopeful that our brothers from the Northern Region will understand and continue to all work together to ensure that we can create this balance.But as you know, there is an issue of numbers and most of the member states are not currently having Parliaments and so the numbers are not currently equitable. But like I said, we have as a Bureau engaged in this process ourselves and we will continue to engage in it to ensure that we have more equitable spread.I will appeal to MPs to also consider our colleagues who come from other regions because even though they not have PAP experience, they come with a wealth of parliamentary affairs from their various member states and they can make meaningful contributions to the work that we do in our committees.Honourable colleagues, we have continued to battle with the problem of inadequate funding from the AU. We have continued to see how we can improve this funding through the support of our donor partners. A lot of committees have done very well in this area. Many committees have been able to find quality donors who support the work of their committees and where this has been brought to our notice, we have helped them to show that they meet the African Union financial regulations in receiving this support and ensuring that the work of their committees are going on.So, we urge other committees that have information and access on competent and reliable donors who will not impose their ideas on us because it is one thing to receive money and the other is to receive instructions that come with the money. We are not willing to take instructions from anybody. We insist that if you want to fund a programme, it will be our programme and you will be supporting our programme the way we want to carry it out. So, on those issues, we welcome all those who want to support the work we doing and ensure that this Parliament has improved from where it is to where it should be.Honourable colleagues, we also had an issue of attendance. Attendance is a major problem because I know that many national Parliaments are unable to fund members to stay for as long our session require and that has been a problem. But I also know that there is a problem of members who come and they do not come to these Chambers. That problem is something that we need to deal with ourselves. We need to be able to tell ourselves about the need for us to be here and be part of this process is very important.If you ask me, I looked at the attendance fro yesterday. We had 131 members attend our opening, today we have 135. So there are more members coming in. So what some do is come and register and go which we think is not in the best interest of the work that we have come here to do. Because of that, we as a body had agreed that from this session, we will send attendance to our member states and so if you have come with funding from a member state and you do not attend our sessions and register attendance, then you will blame us when your name does not go back to your Parliament or showing that you only attended two days when they paid for 10 days. So please let us be also responsible because we work for a continent of poor people and it is important that when they give us resources to come here, we make the best use of it by participating in the process.We believe that the issue raised by the hon. Members about AU direct funding is something that has to do with our protocol. It was already decided that member states should fund. You will need to amend the protocol to change that. ECOWAS is different. The ECOWAS commission is well funded and as you know the funding the mechanism for the ECOWAS Region is direct. They collect their money from 3 percent customs duty payment in every ECOWAS member state. So every shipment that comes from every ECOWAS member state has a 3 percent ECOWAS charge on the customs duty and it is from here that ECOWAS is directly funded. So member states do not pay money to ECOWAS as subvention or contributions. They collect their money from the ports in all ECOWAS states where they take 3 percent customs duty levy and that way, the commission is able to fund its activities and the Parliament and MPs to attend their sessions.So the situation is clearly very different from ours and we believe that the process of fining alternative funding sources for the African Union is being discussed. I know that they have appointed a panel that has been working since last year. They are coming up with different ideas and maybe they can take it out of the telecommunications or some other soft charge to ensure that the African Union is better funded than it is today which will help in the funding of the various unions.There was some response on the issue of our relationship with the member states and regional Parliaments. We will continue to work to improve our relations with national Parliaments. I never visit any country without visiting national Parliament and so do my colleagues, members of the Bureau. Whenever they go on any mission, we make it a point of duty to ensure that we visit the national Parliament and see the Speaker or President of the Senate to have interactions as required.We also, as you know, during the tenure of my predecessor, His Excellency Dr Idriss Mousa Ndele, he started the African Speakers Conference that we have continued to have and which we will again have in August where we invite the Speakers of our national Parliaments for interaction with the leadership of the Pan-African Parliament. We also invite the Speakers of our regional Parliaments as you saw yesterday; all the regional Parliaments where represented at our opening ceremony and some national Parliaments were also represented in furtherance of our belief that this interaction would help the viability of our Parliament.Honourable members, we also want to - our colleague, the honourable members from Uganda had mentioned that we did not talk about the women’s conference in August. Well, we did in our October report. This report is for October to now and so we could not capture it but we did capture the issue on the AIDS meeting in Addis which is a major issue. We look forward to organising a better women’s conference. We have made a commitment as a Bureau that the women’s conference this year will be far better organised than the one of last year. Issues that concern our women are paramount on our minds because we are a continent made of very highly important people who constitute 50 percent of our population - in fact more than 50 percent of our population. Women constitute more than 50 percent of our population and they give birth to the rest. So they are a very important part of our process and we believe that if we empower our women, we empower our continent and our families.(Applause)The Pan-African Parliament, in recognition of that has continued to ensure a balance in the Bureau of the Pan-African Parliament where women are well represented and we still welcome more women as the process continues.Honourable colleagues, on the issue of Election Observation Missions; Election Observation Missions have problematic rows. I have heard the argument for independent Election Observation Missions which is what we had in the past. But a few years ago, the African Union took a decision that all election observation resolutions must be one. It was us they were targeting and what they did was simple; they cut off our budget line for election observation and zeroed. So we cannot really find the m9oney to do independent election observations even if we wanted to. They decided that the African Union Commission will issue one report. Of course, you know the historical basis for that. They do not want a situation where the Pan-African Parliament will issue a different report from the one that has been issued by the African Union. So that is where we stuck in today and so all we are trying to do as a Bureau is to enhance our participation in the current difficult situation while looking for alternative ways of having our independent Election Observation Missions.How do we do this? We started the negotiation process where it was agreed that the 40 percent of the delegation of the African Union Election Observation Mission would be made up of MPs from the Pan-African Parliament. At first, the AUC would on their own sit there and decide which MPs to invite. However, they did not even know which MPs which were still here or which ones were no longer here. So, we stopped that and said ‘no, you cannot sit there and tell us which MPs will participate. We will nominate our MPs’. And so we started this business of having the various regions nominate MPs who will go on election observation missions.Now we are dealing with the issue of leadership. I insisted that we understood that election observation sometimes is not just especially in Africa, an observation mission. Sometimes it is peacemaking, sometimes it is political management and sometimes it is not just about the votes alone as sometimes it is about the peace building effort to ensure stability in our member states. Because of that, we would cede the chairmanship of those election observation missions because the AUC will appoint the chair and a lot of times they appoint former Heads of State and Government to lead these delegations. We have had the opportunity also twice to have MPs appointed to lead those delegations. But we are insisting that the Deputy Chair position be reserved for the Pan-African Parliament in those delegations. That will give us a seat on the table and I will make sure that during those missions we have an input in these decisions. We will also give our delegation some focus, vision and direction and that will help to make sure that members who are going have a focal person amongst them who will help manage their situation.We also have the difficulties that members have encountered where members have been made to travel economy to attend these lections observations missions. So in part of the negotiations, we are going to have in May with the AUC leadership on how we manage that process.We also have a situation when members arrive in those countries where the election is being held, they are sent to some rural villages as part of a delegation lead by other people who are not even MPs. These are people from the AU delegations because the AU chooses ambassadors, NGOs and all kinds that are representing the 60 percent AU delegation and so they are still made to have the small units of four or five people that go to those regions and we think that that is wrong. As MPs, it is our critical role to be able to be part effectively of this Election Observation Missions and ensure that these issues are properly dealt with so that we also look at, when we meet with the African Union Commission leadership to ensure that the status of members of our Parliament who participate in the election observation missions meets the required standards.One of our colleagues has raised the issue of the diplomatic IDs issued to all MPs by the host country. We have a peculiar situation and in fact I raised the issue with the Chair of the African Union Commission. Our host country agreement that was signed between the African Union Commission and the Republic of South Africa expired some years ago and we have since been negotiating since our Bureau took over to renew that process. That negotiation has taken us to different levels and I have had the opportunity to raise it at the highest levels in the Republic. We have had meetings between our Secretariat and the department that is in charge. That meeting is ongoing although it is a bit slow and painful for us. We realise that after almost 10 years of being in place here, a lot of the equipment that is provided for under the Host Country Agreement have long become obsolete. Many have become redundant and there is need for us to renew that process. So that negotiation is ongoing and we are hopeful that issues like this that you have raised will also be dealt with in that new Host Country Agreement. We have appealed to the AUC because they signed the first agreement because PAP was not in existence when the agreement was signed. It was signed directly between the AUC and the Republic. Now that we in the process of negotiations, we have requested AUC to also participate in that process and ensure that what we have agreed on in the Host Country Agreement will be implemented as required.Honourable colleagues, somebody also raised the issue as to why we did not get any support from member states directly. Well, we are open and we will be happy to receive support from member states. If any national delegation has a possibility to give us support either directly or indirectly, we will be happy. We have had opportunities within our various regional consultative dialogues to get support from national parliaments when we come; probably to be hosted in those countries for our regional dialogues and they will sometimes provide transportation and accommodation. We are hopeful and we will be happy if any national delegation is willing to invite our regional caucuses to hold our consultative forums in their various countries and be able to provide us with some support in the process. We will be happy to receive any such information from the various national delegations. We think that this Parliament is a Parliament for all African people who can also support the work we are doing in the interest of our continent.Honourable colleagues, I think that I have touched some of the critical issues and if I have not been able to fully respond to any issue that you have raised, I am sure that I can still be reached at some point in my office to give further explanation and clarification.We want to reassure our colleagues that apart from the time constraints, we have also been members of our national parliaments. As you know, members of the Bureau of PAP never win elections after serving on the Bureau because they spent a lot of time here and less time at home and when it comes to elections, PAP does not count in my constituency. (Laughter). So, we also have that time constraint of running back and forth to ensure that we also able to take care of our home base and ensure our re-election as the case maybe.But apart from that, we want to reassure you that when the issues come to our knowledge, we will continue to be fair, just, defend and uphold the best values that you can be proud of. We are convinced that the leadership that you have put into place - the trust that you have put in us is trust that we have promised to hold very dear. We are committed as a Bureau to ensure that we do not let you down. We do not have all the knowledge, the information and ideas but we are open to suggestions and advice.We think that one of the major problems we have also is that MPs, because they are not all of the time, when they come, they have a tendency to listen to the whispering campaigns that go on in the corridors by members of staff from their regions and countries and before they come to the Floor, they have been told a million things of what has been done. We are available to answer you and I run an open door policy. I sit in my office in the evenings after sessions and any member who has any issues should feel free to come and raise those issues and if it a mistake we have made, we will address it and if it is something that we need to do, we will get it done.So, please, let us operate at our level as MPs and let us not allow others to influence our decision making process. There is a lot of misinformation that goes on and that is one of the biggest problems we have had to encounter in this Parliament. I think that as MPs, we had promised at the beginning that we shall speak one language.The language of Pan-Africanism; we cannot be divided into Anglophone, Francophone or whatever other ‘phone’ there is. We should be able to work together as one group of MPs fighting for the interests of our continent with highly impoverished citizens of Africa who are wallowing in abject poverty, suffering, hunger and disease.There is a lot of work for us to do and I thank you for your support and everything that you put forward. God bless you all. One Africa. One Voice.(Applause)THE CLERK:Thank you Honourable President. I would like to make the following announcements. It is quite a list, so I will try to go through it fast. The first group of annoucements relates to caucases. I will indicate the name of the caucus, the time and the room. Sorry honourable members. Regional Caucuses:Western African Caucus will be at 14:30 in room number 1.Eastern Caucus will be at 14:30 in room number 2.Southern Caucus will be at 14:30 in room number 3.Central Caucus will be at 14:30 in room number 4.Northern Caucus will be at 14:30 in room number 5.The Committee on International Relations and Cooperation will be at 14:30 in room number 1 tomorrow.The Committee on Health, Labour and Social Affaires will be tomorrow at 14:30 in room number 2.The Committee on Rural Economy, Agriculture, Natural Resources and Environment will be at 14:30 in room number 3 tomorrow.The Committee on Justice and Human Rights will be at 14:30 in room number 4 tomorrow.The Committee on Communication, Energy, Technology, Transport and Industry will be at 14:30 in room number 5 tomorrow.I thank you.ADJOURNEMENT [13:15:43]
Wednesday, 8 May, 2013
THE PRESIDENT:Please be seated.Honourable Members in accordance with Rule 38(1) H, it is a great pleasure to now invite His Excellency professor Amos Sawyer-Chair Person APRM panel of the eminent persons along side with His Excellency Ambassador Owshir Rashir Member of APRM to enter the chamber.Honourable Members also in accordance with the provision of Rule 38(1)H, it is a great pleasure to invite His Excellency Arenzo Maria do Nascimento The Chairperson of the African Union Peace and Security Council and Ambassador of the Republic of Angola to Ethiopia and the African union to enter the chamber.Honourable Members, I now call on the Clerk to read the first order of the dayTHE CLERK:Thank you Mr. President now is the presentation and debates on the APRMTHE PRESIDENT:Honourable Members on your behalf and the behalf of our Parliament, it is my honour and pleasure to call his Excellency Professor Amos Sawyer, Chairperson of APRM panel of eminent persons to make his presentation.His Excellency.H.E. PROFESSOR AMOS SAWYER [CHAIRPERSON OF THE APRM]:Your Excellency, the Honourable Bethel Amadi, President of the Pan-African Parliament,Honourable Members of the Pan-African Parliament,Your Excellencies,Ladies and GentlemenIt is indeed, a privilege to address this Ordinary Session of the Third Legislature of the Pan-African Parliament. I wish to convey to you, Honourable Members, the warmest greetings and felicitations from the Panel of Eminent Persons of the African Peer Review Mechanism, and express my sincere appreciation for the invitation I received from President Amadi to make a presentation on the activities of APRM.May I seize this occasion to thank you also for the opportunity you accorded last October to my colleague, Panel Member, Ambassador Ashraf Rashed, who is here with me today, to address the First Session of your august Assembly, on behalf of the Panel.We are grateful, Mr. President, for your continued support and keen interest to strengthen the engagement of the Pan-African Parliament with the African Peer Review Mechanism.As you are aware, the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) was established on 9th March, 2003 by the Heads of State and Government Implementation Committee (HSGIC) of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) as an instrument for monitoring performance in governance in four important areas of governance: Democracy and Political Governance, Economic Governance and Management, Corporate Governance and Socio-Economic Development.The primary purpose of the APRM is to foster the adoption and implementation of policies, standards, codes and practices that lead to political stability, high economic growth, sustainable development and accelerated sub-regional and regional economic cooperation. The uniqueness of this instrument is that it produces an all-inclusive, participatory self-assessment process within African countries and provides opportunities to identity deficiencies and capacity gaps that need to be addressed. Being a peer review process, the African Peer Review Mechanism fosters the sharing of experiences and adaptation and reinforcement of best practices among member States.Since its inception, the APRM remains a clear manifestation of the will of the peoples and leaders of Africa towards achieving our common goals to uphold the rule of law, respect of human rights, equality, accountability and transparency. Indeed, these same principles are the heart of the mission and vision of the Pan-African Parliament and other related sub-regional bodies.Honourable President, Distinguished Members, Ladies and Gentlemen, the APRM has made significant progress in terms of the number of countries that have acceded, the undertaking of the review exercises, the deepening of the review process, as well as the level of participation and engagement of stakeholders.In January, 2013, the African Peer Review Mechanism was joined by two additional member States, namely Chad and Tunisia, bringing the current membership to 33 countries of the African Union. They include Algeria, Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Djibouti, Egypt, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Sao Tomé and Principe, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda and Zambia.Seventeen (17) of these States have successfully completed the Self-Assessment Process and have been Peer Reviewed. They are: Ghana, Rwanda, Kenya, South Africa, Algeria, Benin, Uganda, Nigeria, Burkina-Faso, Mali, Mozambique, Lesotho, Mauritius, Ethiopia, Sierra Leone, Zambia and Tanzania. Some are already embarking on preparing the second country review report.The APRM’s achievements cannot be overstated. The APRM process has opened up political space for citizens’ participation in policy debates, fostered national dialogue, induced institutional and policy innovations, demystified and clarified complicated issues of governance, increased advocacy for good governance and better service delivery and constituted a centre-piece in the AU’s governance architecture. In some countries, its findings have warned of impending crises.The implementation of the APRM National Programme of Action is central to the APRM process. Countries that have been peer-reviewed have implemented, albeit, at various degrees the recommendations of the National Programme of Action. The APRM has not only identified good practices in various countries, which have been shared among APRM members but also indentified overarching issues and themes which should be addressed in relevant African fora.You would recall that the APRM launched its 10th Anniversary commemoration in January, 2013 during the AU’s Summit meeting in Addis Ababa. It took the form of a High Level Roundtable discussion of Heads of State and Government focusing on the major issues of the APRM. The anniversary is also witnessing a series of events in the member countries started on 9th March and will extend through the end of the year. On 22nd and 23rd of May, the APRM Colloquium is being organized to take place in Addis Ababa immediately before the Summit. The theme of the commemoration is: "APRM Working for the Peoples of Africa: A Decade of Self-Assessment."Mr. President, our aim is to utilize the occasion of the 10th Anniversary to increase the awareness of APRM and the importance of its work among African citizens and the international community and to reflect on the progress and achievements made and the challenges faced. We hope that the commemoration will enhance African ownership and re-engage the international community with a view to revitalisation of the processes and ensure development partners’ support for the implementation of the APRM International Programmes of Action in the various development assistances.Honourable President, Distinguished Members of the African Parliament, as you were informed by my colleague, Ambassador Rashed, last October, the APRM Base Document provides that six months after the Country-Review Report has been considered by the Heads of State and Government of the participating countries, the Report must be formally and publicly tabled in key regional and sub-regional structures. Foremost among those are the Pan-African Parliament, the African Commission for Human and People’s Right, ECOSSOC and other sister organizations.May I, humbly, reiterate our request to the Honourable President to consider granting the APRM the opportunity to table its Country-Review Report before your Assembly according to modalities and dates to be agreed between the Pan-African Parliament and the APRM Panel of Eminent Persons.Today, we made available to the Honourable Members copies of the APRM Reports, which have been reviewed. We are confident that you will accord the Reports the attention and consideration they deserve.Suffice it to say, distinguished ladies and gentlemen, we highly regard African Parliaments as major stakeholders to undertake your vital role in the APRM process, fostering the culture of domestic accountability in order to achieve the objective of democracy, good political governance and socio-economic development.Emanating from your dual capacity as Members of the Pan-African Parliament and Members of national Parliaments in your respective countries, I am confident of your strong commitment at the continental and national levels in ensuring the success of the APRM. We rely on your ability to influence governments’ decisions and policies by passing legislation and mobilizing support for the APRM process as well as participating in sensitization on the APRM.On the country level, parliamentarians can require National Governance Councils of the APRM to submit regular reports on its activities.With regard to countries that are yet to join the APRM, Parliaments can encourage their countries to accede to the APRM.Continentally, we encourage trans-national peer learning about the APRM across the continent and recommend that this honourable body will consider establishing a parliamentary committee to monitor the implementation of the National Programme of Action in the participating countries of the APRM as well as enhancing the engagement with the APRM.Honourable President, distinguished Members of the Pan-African Parliament, permit me to conclude by stressing that we share your objectives to promote the welfare and wellbeing of the people of our great continent and to protect the fundamental rights and equal opportunities and showing the respect for the rule o law and to create a conducive environment to forestall their legitimate aspirations, for stability, sustainable economic and social development based on good governance. We are confident that with your support and hard work and your active participation, Africa and Members of the APRM, in particular, will remain steadfast in the pursuit of these objectives.I thank you.[Applause]THE PRESIDENT:I thank you very much, Your Excellency, for the presentation. I will now give the Floor to honourable members who are the members on my list of speakers to intervene.Honourable colleagues, the first speaker on my list is hon. Sam Otada Amooti from Uganda. I will give the Floor now to hon. Isaac Stephen Mabiletsa from Botswana.HON.ISAAC STEPHEN MABILETSA [BOTSWANA]:Mr. President, let me thank the presenter for a good presentation on the African Peer Review Mechanism, APRM. Three years ago I was fortunate to be selected by this Parliament on behalf of the Co-operation Committee to represent Addis Ababa Workshop in Ghana that was establishing an information centre for APRM. I learned a lot from that workshop and I presented the report to the Committee.Of utmost importance and what struck me the most was that the Chairman of the Ghana APRM Committee asked me why my country, Botswana, has not exceeded to the APRM when there is so much that Botswana has achieved in terms of institutions of good governance and standards of governance. As a result of that my colleagues and I who were the delegation of PAP, on our return home, engaged our government through the Minister of International Relations and Foreign Co-operation to ask them why we are not exceeding. Botswana was not opposed, but they didn’t have a clear-cut position as to why they are joining.I remember a year ago ambassador Ashrawi was here and I engaged him and he was actually going to visit my country. I crave a response from him through either the Chair as to what the position is, because our country has been referred to as a shining example of democracy for so many years. I believe we have got homegrown governance, in a patency, that we should be sharing with Africa so that Africa can learn something from us and we can also learn something from them. I have read reports of some of the resumed countries and I can tell you that by exceeding to the APRM, the member state has a lot to gain, individually as a state and also even by sharing experiences with other African countries.I am always ashamed when I read stories about some African countries where governance issues are not the norm, but are just something that is cast aside. I believe the APRM has a most important role to play in terms of promoting governance in all African countries. When we talk of bad governance in the world, I think Africa is in the lead.We should actually, as Africa and as members of PAP, try to promote our countries, in particular, to adhere to standards of good governance so that Africa could also become an envy of the world which we all crave for. When there are no good standards of governance that are properly in place, the end results are corruption, hunger, disease, bad economic management and stuff like that. I don’t think that Africa wants to see herself categorized like that. I believe that this institution of the APRM is the right way to go. Personally, coming from the opposition in my country, I really subscribe to the ideals and ideas of the APRM.I thank you.HON. JOSEPH NJOBVUYALEMA [MALAWI]:Thank you Mr President for giving me this opportunity. I also want to thank the presenter of the report which is very comprehensive and indeed, it was very necessary for this House. In view of the fact that I only have three minutes, I will quickly go to my points. The first point is that I am wondering what the Africa Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) is doing for the countries which have not yet submitted their reports. The other point is that the approach to monitoring areas which have been covered is that countries should conduct self assessment.However, I think that if we let countries assess themselves and compile a report, not many will be forthcoming. My suggestion is that the APRM should come up with what I will call a democracy index, which will cover the four areas which the APRM puts emphasis on. Some institutions have done that. They produce such indexes. Institutions such as Democratic Audit and Liverpool University, the Economic Intelligence Unit as well as the Arab Reform Initiative produce indexes.This index will be important because countries would address the AU through the APRM on the progress being made in their member states on matters of democracy, economic governance and so forth. This will give an opportunity for other states which are not coping in these four areas of politics to copy from others. Countries in Africa are not conducting themselves in the same manner, yet they are under the umbrella of one continent. My suggestion to the APRM is that instead of leaving the report writing and self assessment to countries, it will be appropriate for the APRM to come up with a mechanism or index to allow countries address their problems during an annual summit of the AU. Those are the few comments I had, honourable President.I thank you, Sir.HON. JULIANA AZUMAH-MENSAH [GHANA]:Thank you very much Mr. President I like to take this opportunity to thank the professor for his presentation.Mr. President as you can see, the concept of APRM is all about our African Governments and the Leaders opening theirs eyes to self critique and learning from each other to address the four Thematic areas the professor has told us about setting our targets, standards and practices to really move towards good governance.Mr. President this idea is very laudable and as the professor said we have celebrated Ten Years. We need a lot more. I believe most of our National Parliaments need to know a lot more about the process of the APRM.What is going on? If there are any challenges, then the National Parliaments as well as AUC and PAP would help to try to support the APRM process and its implementation. I think we need to do a little more.We all need to put our hands together to make sure other countries which are not part of the process come on board so that we all work towards good governance.I commend Mr. President and the Bureau for inviting the professor to brief us on what is happening. This is something we need to do a lot more with PAP as well as our National Parliaments.I thank you Mr. PresidentHON. WONDIMU GEBREMICHAEL [ETHIOPIA]:Thank you, very much, Mr. President.I also thank the presenter for his short presentation. I also thank the AU member states for their commitment to assisting APRM countries. And after assessment, in the case of Ethiopia, the document was presented to stakeholders who gave their views on the country. This APRM helps member states share experiences among each other. Mostly, Africans want to share experiences with Europe or other continents. In my view, that is good but the best would be for us to share with Africans because we learn among each other.The second issue is that it helps to improve the country’s good governance and human rights activities. So, it is very important.My question is that only the first review was assessed by State members. Will it continue to assess the progress? What is happening after the APRM’s assessment? Will you continue to assess the improvements of the countries.Thank you.HON. KHALIFA SULEIMAN KHALIFA [TANZANIA]:Mheshimiwa Rais, ahsante.Mheshimiwa Rais, nami niungane na wenzangu katika kupongeza kazi nzuri inayofanywa na chombo hiki ambacho kimsingi lengo lake ni kuwawezesha wananchi wa Afrika kujitathmini katika masuala mazima ya utawala bora katika nchi zao.Mheshimiwa Rais, inasikitisha kuona katika nchi zote hizi za Kiafrika kama alivyoeleza mtoa mada asubuhi hii, ni nchi 17 tu ndizo ambazo mpaka sasa zimeweza kujitathmini au kutathminiwa. Bara letu lina nchi nyingi, watu wetu wana matatizo mengi na kimsingi yanasababishwa na tawala za nchi zetu.Mheshimiwa Rais, hata hizo nchi ambazo tayari zimefanyiwa tathmini, bado kuna malalamiko makubwa ya matumizi mabaya ya vyombo vya dola, kwa mfano Polisi na vyombo vingine na pia Mahakama zinalalamikiwa hazitoi haki ipasavyo. Hali kama hizi haionyeshi nia nzuri ya kuwasaidia Waafrika kuwa na amani katika maeneo yao kwa sababu ili binadamu awe salama lazima ahakikishe kuwa ana amani na amani inapatikana kwa utawala bora.Mheshimiwa Rais, kwa mfano, watu wengi wanakosa haki katika Mataifa yetu kwa sababu ya rushwa. Haki ni yako lakini kwa sababu huna fedha, unashindwa kuipata. Sasa vitu vyote hivi ni wajibu wetu sisi kama Wabunge hapa, tunaporudi kwenye maeneo yetu, kuona ni namna gani Mabunge ya nchi zetu yanasukuma mbele masuala haya.Mheshimiwa Rais, lingine, hata haya Mabaraza ambayo yanasimamia masuala ya utawala bora ya nchi mbalimbali, hayawezishwi ipasavyo. Mengi yanalalamikia fedha na mambo mbalimbali. Sasa ni wajibu wetu kama Wabunge, kuyaomba Mabunge yetu yatenge fedha za kutosha kwa ajili ya Mabaraza haya ili yaweze kufanya kazi zake kama inavyotakiwa.Mheshimiwa Rais, lingine, niombe sasa kwa viongozi hawa, watu mashuhuri kama Profesa na wenzake, wangekuwa na utaratibu basi angalau wa kufanya ziara katika nchi mbalimbali ambazo zimesharidhia na zimeshaweza kujitathmini, wakapata maelezo ya kina juu ya namna gani suala la utawala bora na mambo mengine yanafanyika katika nchi hizo kwa sababu inawezekana ripoti inapelekwa lakini ukienda katika hali halisi, ukakuta vitu ni tofauti sana. Sasa mimi naona kazi wanayoifanya ni nzuri lakini wanahitaji pia kuendeleza usimamizi wao kwa faida yetu na kwa faida ya viongozi wa nchi zetu.Mheshimiwa Rais, ahsante.HON. SHEKU B. B. DUMBUYA [SIERRA LEONE]:I thank you very much, Mr President. I would like to thank Prof. Amos Sawyer for a very good presentation.Mr President, for those of us who know, Prof. Amos Sawyer has been and is undoubtedly an eminent national of Liberia and by his remarkable exploits in the continent, he is fast becoming a continental celebrity. I commend him for what he has been doing on the continent of Africa.The APRM is a very good thing for Africa. For long, we were being told by those who think that they are superior or that they know how to tell us what to do. What APRM is seeking is that we too, as Africans, we too as a continent, have the capability and capacity to assess ourselves. It is a process of self examination and it is very good. From the inception of the process, we have realised that so much is being done and so much has been done in the areas of good governance, democracy and the rule of law.Mr President, I will only want to ask the other countries that have not so far acceded to the ARPM process to please try and do so, otherwise they leave us with the impression that they have something to hide. I will call on all those countries that have still not subscribed to the process to please try and identify themselves.The suggestion made by the professor that there has to be a parliamentary Committee for the monitoring and evaluation of the activity of the APRM is a very good one. I subscribe to that and I hope, Mr President, you will take note of that.Mr President, you recall yesterday that he did say among other things, that some of these people that have been found in the Pan-African Parliament have been withdrawing their funding and they say that they are not satisfied with the way things are going. And what did you say? You said that we do not want people to tell us how to spend our money. So precisely, it is the same thing.We do not want the so called powers to prescribe what the ingredients of democracy, good governance and rule of law are. We too know them. We too should be trying to do them and by this APRM process, we are sure that other countries will - (Member timed out_)HON. HENRI YAWOVI HONAM GBONE [TOGO]:Merci, Monsieur le Président.Mais, Monsieur le Président, je passe!HON. MASTER GOYA [BOTSWANA]:Mr. President, the hon. Members who spoke before me took turns to thank the presenter for his report and likewise I thank him for his eloquent delivery. It is now a decade since the African Peer Review Mechanism, APRM, was launched. I think we all need to pay homage to the person or persons who conceptualised the APRM. The person or persons had all the good intentions about Africa as a continent, but their efforts have been frustrated by our Heads of State.Our Heads of State, when they are all together attending summits, they seem to like Africa. They talk good things about our continent, but the moment they go back to their respective nations, with all due respect, they change colours like chameleons. I don’t know why.Although the APRM was initially acceded to by many African states, it still boggles my mind why a good number of our nations have not joined the APRM. They are not party to the system which is good for our continent. I want to find out from the presenter whether they have made any efforts to find out from all the individual member states that have not acceded to APRM what their problem is. We need to know about this.In the same context, he earlier on mentioned the countries that have acceded to the APRM; we should also know the reasons why others have not joined the APRM. I think that it is very important for us to know. I think the same rigor and tenacity that we implored when we advocated for the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance should be extended to the APRM as well.As members of Parliament we must make sure that we help this instrument to be popularised amongst African nations and African people. With those few remarks, I thank you.HON. MANCHOLU MOLEMOHI [LESOTHO]:Thank you Mr President and the bureau for this opportunity for me to speak. I also thank the Professor for that comprehensive report. I would like to know how the PAP will achieve its objective of making agriculture investment work for Africa. The mechanism which the PAP will implement for developing a liberalised and diversified market environment that would boost the performance of the agriculture and food sector and contribute to reducing poverty. Countries that are mostly relying on agriculture and tourism run into problems as the 10 per cent from national budgets is not enough for this.However, what are the follow up programmes for monitoring and evaluation of member states? Moreover, when will the PAP establish the fund to disburse to member states to overcome the problem of insufficient funding to small and medium entrepreneurs? The PAP is expected to promote collected self reliance and economic recovery and facilitate cooperation and development of Africa as well as strengthen continental solidarity and build a sense of common destiny among the people of Africa.I thank you Mr President for the Floor.HON. FRANCISCA DOMINGAS TOMÁS [MOÇAMBIQUE]:-Muito obrigada SenhorPresidente. Antes de mais, gostaria de agradecer a apresentaçao do relatório e também subscrever aquilo que todos os intervenientes que me antecederam disseram.Moçambique aderiu ao Mecanismo de Revisao de Pares em 2003 durante a Cimeira da Uniao Africana em Abuja, na Nigéria, depois de subscrever a Declaraçao de Durban sobre Democracia, Governaçao Política, Económica e Cooperativa. Ao aderir ao MARP, Moçambique reafirmou o seu compromisso inquestionável na promoçao dos princípios de boa governaçao, estado de direito, justiça social, transparência, separaçao de poderes, democracia, participaçao e prestaçao de contas.A adesao de Moçambique ao MARP aconteceu num contexto político em que o país acabava de desenhar e aprovar uma visao estratégica nacional, Agenda 2025, que é um processo inclusivo de todas as forças da sociedade moçambicana: partidos políticos, organizaçoes da sociedade civil, académicos, sector privado.Em grande medida, os princípios do MARP coincidem com os princípios da Agenda 2025 e de outros instrumentos de governaçao como Programa Quinquenal do Governo e o Plano de Acçao para Reduçao da Pobreza. Desde a adesao ao MARP, Moçambique realizou muitas acçôes recomendadas pela NEPAD, nomeadamente, eleiçoes gerais, presidenciais, e criou um fórum nacional do MARP, o qual integra 58 membros, sendo 14 do Conselho Nacional da Agenda 2025, 22 representantes da sociedade civil, 8 deputados presidentes das comissoes permanentes, 5 relatores das universidades e 7 personalidades de reconhecida idoneidade moral.Em 2007 criou o Secretariado Técnico do MARP. O MARP em Moçambique contempla 4 pilares fundamentais, a saber: governaçao e gestao económica, governaçao cooperativa, democracia e governaçao política, desenvolvimento sócio-económico.O MARP incorpora também assuntos transversais como igualdade de género, HIV e SIDA e sustentabilidade ambiental.O processo de MARP tem sido muito participativo, sendo de referir que uma das organizaçoes que estiveram na dianteira desde o inicio é a Fundaçâo para o Desenvolvimento da Comunidade (FDC).HON. SHITAYE MINALE TIZAZU [ETHIOPIA]:Thank you, Mr. President.I would like to thank the presenter even though the presentation gives me information on the general procedure about the condition of the continent. In fact, this presentation does not give detailed information about the APRM. It is highly summarised; - anyway - it would have been good if the APRM was presented in respect of standards. At what level are African countries? How is information collected to assess their service? Through their own self-assessment!Howver, this is a good beginning for us to have information so that we can make a follow-up because I believe that in our respective countries the main activity of Parliament is to oversee the activities of the government, especially the Executive body. So, this has to be continued and has to go into depth to help us in our own activities.In a way, this Report will help us to share experiences and learn from each other.If we take the conditions of all African countries, they are at different levels, and we can even see how the countries’ commitments vary. Some do not like to even be part of the process. So, it shows that there is need to strongly bring all African leaders to a similar understanding and commitment to build good governance, peace, and development in their respective countries.I believe that the presentation and the document will be very helpful for us to make a follow-up and to learn from each other, and to influence our respective countries at different levels.Some are not even willing to be part of the APRM and others are not committed at all. Therefore, there is a clear difference in the level of democracy, good governance and election.In countries committed to APRM, it is a good opportunity for us PAP members to bring the commitment to similar levels. I can cite an example of my country which is highly committed to assessing the condition of the country.HON. BERNADETTE LAHAI [SIERRA LEONE]:I thank you very much, Mr President.Mr President, we want to thank the Pan-African Parliament for bringing us Prof. Amos Sawyer. You know the good thing about this Parliament is that it brings us into contact with people that you otherwise see in pictures of you see through books. This is one good thing that I like about this Parliament.As others have said before me, Prof. Amos Sawyer is an icon of Africa and particularly for us in Sierra Leone as a neighbor, and for his invaluable work as interim chair during the trying times of Liberia. So we welcome you and thank you for your presentation.We also thank you for making available to us the reports of the countries that have already submitted their self-evaluations. Members, the reports are outside and believe you me, if I had the resources; I would have wanted to take as many copies for all the countries so that we place them in strategic institutions in our country so that we know what is happening in the other parts of the continent. I do not know what PAP can do to help us have these documents of all the reports that have been made, in our different countries.Sierra Leone as a post conflict country is very strategic in terms of the APRM because it addresses particulars of post conflict countries since it has had war. It is also a wakeup call especially when countries embark on their self assessment. to see whether they are off track. This self assessment will bring you back to reality. All that I can call for is that in our assessments, we must be very hard on ourselves, we must be rigorous and we must be true so that we do not produce a report of what is not or what may not be. This way, we can actually bring into sharper focus where the country’s short comings are.So, this is a very welcome APRM process and we hope that Parliaments will be given oversight role particularly in the elaboration of the process because this way, Parliament can also bring in the other key stakeholders particularly at their constituency level.As a welcome process, we encourage all those that have not acceded to it to accede to it. Sierra Leone has made a lot of progress and it is well documented in the Sierra Leone APRM, which I have here and I encourage everybody to read it. I thank you very much.HON. MUNTAKA MOHAMMED-MUBARAK [GHANA]:Thank you, Mr. President for commemorating our senior citizen for the presentation even though I believe the presentation is very brief and concise. I would have loved to see some key elements or issues in the seventeen countries that were reviewed. These should be well highlighted as a way of motivating other countries.I know it is in the Report, but to summarize and highlight some key elements within each country would have been excellent. I hope Prof will take this in good faith and next time when he has an opportunity of presenting such a report to us those issues will come up Let me say that Ghana is one of the countries, and we are very proud, that acceded to the APRM in the early stages. One would have thought that by now, Ghana who acceded early would have gone through the third of fourth assessment, but you can see clearly that countries that acceded early are dragging their feet. If we have about fifty countries and only seventeen countries have agreed to go through APRM and nothing seems to be done, you then ask yourself with greater respect why we tried to establish the APRM in the first instance.Mr. President I want to say that as Africans, if we want to make the progress that we anticipate, we will have to change the ways of doing things.The ways of doing things that has made us to make progress very slowly in the past fifty years muss change to a drastic one. I would like Prof to take these suggestions that may be able helpful. One, why should countries that have refused to accede to APRM be given the opportunity to chair AU? Why should they be allowed to chair most of the organs? Why should they have the opportunity to address AU summit?These are issues that I believe we should use as a way of naming and shaming. But, if we leave it that way, we may never get there. I think we should not be looking at ways of necessarily punishing, but ways of motivating countries to accede to APRM.Thank you, Mr. President for the opportunity.HON. ELSAYED MOUSSA HAZEN [EGYPT]:بسم هللا الرحمن الرحيمشكرأ سيادة الرئيس وأشكر البروفيسور علي ما قدمه من تقرير طيب هذه األلية مفيدة لدول أفريقيا التي عاشت تحت اإلحتالل واالستعمار وتولد عنها الفقر والجهل والمرض ثم إنتشرت البطالة ) نرجو من االمانة حل مشكلة الترجمة وإنشرت الرشوة وذادت البطالة ولم يكن هنلك حكم رشيد طوال هذه الفترات هذه اآللية تساعد الدول إلي أن تتقدم إلي األمام لكن أتساءل سيدي الرئيس ما هو دور البرلمان االفريقي في مراقبة تلك اآللية برلماناتنا الوطنية نختص بأمرين التشريع والرقابة فمن حقنا في بالدنا أن نراقب علي هذه اآللية وأيضا نحن هنا لدينا هذه الخاصية فأنا أريد أن تكون هناك كما تفاهمنا مع اإلتحاد االفريقي علي أن تكون هناك مساحات نريد أن ً مشتركة ما بين المفوضات المختلفة مع الجان الدائمة هنا إيضا تكون هناك آلية مبين هذه اآللية وما بين البرلمان االفريقي حتي نتضامن وحتي نتكاتف في األخذ بأيدي دولنا إلي أن تنهض في التقييم الذاتي وفي أقترح أن يكون هناك آلية محددة ما بين هذه اللجنة المختصة أو ً التقدم إذا اآللية المختصة في البرلمان االفريقي مع البرلمان االفريقيشكرا سيدي الرئيسHON. BECHIR CHAMMAM [TUNISIA]:بسم هللا الرحمن الرحيمسيدي الرئيس والزملاء الكرام شكراأريد أن اتكلم في مسألة واحدة نقطة واحدة مقترح في مسألة الرقابية الذاتية هذه وخاصة عندما تكون صادرة أو يقوم بها الجهاز الرسمي ويرفعها قبل أن تكون فيها أقدار كبيرة من المصداقية وأود أن أقترح أن يجانب اآللية في إعتمادها علي التقرير الرسمي السلطة ويكون عندها الجمع يات تواصل مع الشعب بمعني هناك آلية للمجتمع المدني مثالً ً أيضا أوغير ذلك يكون في نوع من التوازن في التقرير وتصبح السلطة الرسمية أن تقرأ حسابها بأنه ألي جانب هذا التقرير هناك تقرير آخر يقوم به المجتمع المدني ويرفعه المجتمع المدني فيكون أكثر توازن وأكثر مصداقية.HON. DOMINIC A. B. NITWUL [GHANA]:Thank you Mr. President; I want to add my voice to those who have thanked the presenter Professor Amos Sawyer for a good presentation done this morning.Mr. President I want to commend you for tabling the two proposals, in my view they are very good and I want to appeal to this Parliament through you to heed to it that we at least allow APRM to table their reports on their countries for debates and send recommendations to our various Parliaments as well as establishing a parliamentary Committee to monitor the work of the APRM. We should add it to the existing Committees to be able to do that.Mr. President it is troubling that of the 54 countries in the African Union 31% have agreed to allow themselves to be peer reviewed. Only 51% of those who have agreed to that have actually done it, and 61% of the African countries have registered to do it. I think this is not good enough. We voluntarily agreed to this and we should let it succeed because in my view one of the keys and cardinal decisions taken by Africa was, yes. So, we should allow it to succeed.Mr. President, one thing that is missing or embedded in the second cardinal point which has to do with the economic management, and President Zuma highlighted this in the last meeting of the African Union when he stated that one of the thing of the APRM and the Africans whether parliament or Executive should focus on is the phenomenon of youth employment in all over Africa.Mr. President, I think it is very important that in Africa we have to look at this phenomenon seriously. It used to be that people or brains used to leave Africa, but we are seeing a phenomenon where people are beginning to enter Africa and take the little jobs particularly the services areas and take away the little jobs that African would be able to have and do. What will happen to our young people?How are we going to ensure that the young people enter the Market and stay in the Market and work? Do we have to orient our educational systems to ensure that there is value for money? We have to insist that Governments create the conducive atmosphere for young people to have a living in the area of technology which has taken over jobs from human beings. We have to take this very seriously Mr. President.Mr. President, it is not only a shame but it is troubling that Spain which produces more energy...(end)HON. JERRY DIMOTANA THIBEDI [SOUTH AFRICA]:Mr. President, let me also join and add my voice to those who commended the report as tabled. As it has been indicated, it is indeed the 10th anniversary of this very important programme of the APRM. I must also indicate that in as much as there are challenges in certain aspects of the APRM, I am of the view that there are a number of successes that one can actually begin to learn from in order to move forward.We have witnessed steady improvement in certain identified areas but my view is, whilst we commend those that have actually embraced this programme, I think it is important to develop ways and means of ensuring that those who are lagging behind and who have not subjected themselves to this important mechanism, to actually come to the party. I think we can do that by beginning to implement our oversight role as Parliaments. We can find ways and mechanisms to ensure that these governments that are lagging behind come to the party. We must ask questions whether they are opposed to democracy, to economic governance; to co-operative governance and socioeconomic development because those are the key pillars that the APRM actually uses as focus areas in terms of this particular subject.We must also understand that African development and regional co-operation programmes can only succeed in the context of good economic and political programmes. That is the only way in which we can succeed.Ironically, we always complain as Africans. We always complain and worry about the western interference in domestic affairs and we talk about finding African solutions to African problems, yet we are reluctant to back what we say and propose with concrete actions. For instance, we complain about the International Criminal Court’s double standards in prosecuting only the Africans, yet we don’t want to ratify the protocol to establish the African Court of Justice and Human Rights.We complain about interference from outside, yet we can hardly endorse and embrace systems that are home grown and are meant to helping us develop.[Applause]c CHAMBRIER [GABON]:Merci Monsieur le Président.Je voudrais féliciter le Professeur Amos Sawyer pour sa présentation et dire qu’évidemment les principes du mécanisme de revue par les pairs sont des principes louables que nous devons mettre en œuvre et appliquer.Je voudrais insister sur l’importance de la séparation de pouvoirs. Effectivement, c’est un point essentiel de ce mécanisme, de cette évaluation que de s’assurer que la séparation entre le Législatif, l’Exécutif et même le Judiciaire. Très souvent, il existe un décalage entre la réalité et les rapports, et je pense que ça peut être une des déconnexions de bonne foi c'est-à-dire qu’il y a une insuffisance de statistiques ou les statistiques ne sont pas toujours fiables ou trop globales, pas suffisamment prises au niveau microéconomique ou que nous avons des indicateurs aussi qualitatifs dans la corruption, la gouvernance qui ne sont pas toujours sincères. Et là, il faut se méfier de la complaisance et du manque d’objectivité. Et je salue l’intervention de notre collègue de Tunisie parce que si on nous avons eu une évaluation de la Tunisie ou même le Mali, je suis sûr que la Tunisie, en termes d’indicateur économique, aurait eu de très belles notes, et le Mali également, sur le plan de la démocratie et des indicateurs économiques. Dans le cas du Mali, nous n’avons pas évalué l’état de l’armée, les difficultés que rencontrait l’armée dans ce pays et c’est la raison pour laquelle nous devons relativiser ce type de rapport. Je crois qu’il faut qu’on évite l’effet de mode. Tout cela c’est très bien, mais il faut que chaque pays puisse faire son autoévaluation, que les parlements jouent leur rôle, que la société civile joue son rôle et que nous ne nous nourrissions pas d’illusion parce que vous aurez toujours des spécialistes pour avoir de bons rapports, mais qui ne reflètent pas la réalité. La pauvreté sera toujours là, le chômage sera toujours là et il faudra attendre une explosion pour se rendre compte que nous étions à côté de la plaque...Je vous remercie, Monsieur le Président.HON. ROSE MARIE KONDITAMDE COMPORE [BURKINA FASO]:Merci, Monsieur le Président,Merci au professeur Sawyer pour la présentation du rapport.J’ai quelques questions.Le MAEP a comme objectifs, entre autres, la promotion et le renforcement de la bonne gouvernance en Afrique.Ma question: quel est l’impact visible et réel du MAEP sur la gouvernance dans les pays ayant achevé le processus d’évaluation?Ma deuxième question: le MAEP fonctionne, en partie, grâce aux cotisations des pays membres. Partant de ce fait, son exercice est-il vraiment indépendant?Ma question suivante: pourquoi après les évaluations, la publication des rapports met-elle du temps à paraître? N’est-ce pas pour donner du temps aux États, aux gouvernants de mettre du vernis là-dessus?Ma dernière question: que fait le MAEP pour le suivi post-évaluation?Je vous remercie.HON. LUHAGA JOELSON MPINA [TANZANIA]:Mheshimiwa Rais, ahsante sana.Mheshimiwa Rais, tangu APRM ianzishwe, katika nchi ambazo zimejiunga mapema kabisa na zile ambazo hazijajiunga, bado tunashuhudia wizi mkubwa wa fedha za umma, utoroshaji mkubwa wa rasilimali za umma kwenda kufichwa nje ya nchi. Taarifa mbalimbali zinasisitiza haya. Ukisoma ya Taarifa ya Global Financial Integrity, Taarifa ya Ndikumana and Boyce, Taarifa ya Fraud and Corruption Africa Summit, utathibitisha kwamba nchini Afrika, kila siku na kila mwaka, wizi na utoroshaji wa fedha za umma unaongezeka.Mheshimiwa Rais, nini nafasi ya APRM katika kuhakikisha kwamba rasilimali za Taifa zinalindwa, rasilimali za Afrika zinalindwa kama kila mwaka wizi unaongezeka na bado APRM tunayo katika Afrika yetu? Afrika sasa mkakati wao ni nini? Wanapokuwa wanatathmini na kugundua, hatua zao huwa ni zipi katika kuhakikisha kwamba rasilimali za Taifa zilizopo Afrika zinawanufaisha Waafrika wote?Mheshimiwa Rais, hizi rasilimali za Taifa na fedha za umma, zipo kwa ajili ya Waafrika wote na kwa maslahi ya Afika. Sasa zinapogeuka na kuwa kwa manufaa ya watu wawili au watatu, inakuwa ni mgogoro mkubwa katika Afrika. Afrika inateseka kwa kukosa fedha za kuwekeza lakini wakati huohuo Watendaji Wakuu wa Serikali wanaiba rasilimali na kwenda kuficha nje ya nchi kwa manufaa yao na familia zao.Mheshimiwa Rais, kama APRM haiwezi kuja na mkakati mahsusi wa kuhakikisha kwamba haya mambo yanamalizika katika Afrika, basi hatuna sababu ya kuwa na APRM katika Afrika kwa sababu haitusaidii. Msaada wa APRM, leo ingetuonyesha toka nchi hizo zilivyojiunga na wao zimenufaika vipi katika kuhakikisha kwamba wanakomesha kabisa rushwa, wizi na ufujaji wa fedha za umma katika nchi husika?Mheshimiwa Rais, mara nyingi nimekuwa nikilalamika, taarifa kama ya APRM kubwa namna hii, leo hata taarifa yenyewe hatunayo hapa, vitabu vyenyewe vikubwa kwelikweli, vile vya nchi sijui kumi na ngapi viko pale, ndio tumeviona asubuhi hii. Kama walihitaji mawazo ya Wabunge hawa, ili Wabunge hawa waweze kutoa mawazo na ushauri wao kuhusiana na maendeleo ya APRM, walitakiwa kuleta vitabu hivi mapema ili Wabunge waweze kupata nafasi ya kuvipitia na kutoa ushauri unaotakiwa.(Makofi)HON. AWAD HAG ALI AHMED [SUDAN]:Thank you very much Mr. President I would like to thank the Professor for his compact and informative presentation. We have established this mechanism not only as a way of observing good governance but it is also important for training our Government staff at all Levels on the principles of good governanceSudan is an active Member of this mechanism and has done very well. She is expected to finish its report by the end of this yearAs a Professor, I believe that you University Professors have best knowledge of this mechanism because it is scientific and the Evaluators are well trainedThis report needs to be evaluated by National Parliaments because it is expected from National Parliaments to observe good government and to extend this evaluation process to PAP through Member countries. This can be done by bringing the report of National Parliaments for more evaluationI fully support this mechanismHON. MOHAMED YOUSIF ABDULLAH [SUDAN]:Thank you very much, Chairperson. I would like to thank Professor Amos for his very concise and up to point presentation. In his assessment, he stated that 33% of 52 African countries have acceded to the APRM and other countries have not acceded. I want our parliament to call upon other countries that have not yet acceded to accede to the APRM.Mr President, in the area of standards and codes of good governance, harmonising national laws with these standards is a laborious exercise. It is not an easy one and that is why the following period that has been specified for acceding countries and their national parliaments to present their reports on this basis need technical assistance. This is because harmonisation of laws is the role of the parliament and adoption of polices is also the role of the national parliaments. Therefore, as PAP we call upon the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) to provide technical assistance to the national parliaments so that they can exercise their duties properly.The third area of importance is the constraints in exercising this process. Internal constraints are conflicts in some areas and external constraints are related to the international trade mechanisms and laws. There are now about 42 countries in Africa that have acceded to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) trade terms. The trade terms are not good to us. Therefore, we have seen a decline in our share of the international trade. We now stand at 1.5 per cent and we are nowhere near 3.5 per cent of the sixties and seventies. Therefore, it is not only the national rules that we should harmonise, but we also need to harmonise other rules in favour of Africa. We need a study on this area, particularly on trade and good governance of the third sector which is economic governance and management. I request that the APRM in the next session should present a report in that regard.I thank you very much, Chairperson.HON. LABELLE MARIE NOËLLE FRANÇOISE [MAURITIUS]:Thank you very much Honourable President. I would like first of all to express my gratitude to Professor Amos Sawyer for the brief and concise presentation of the Africa Peer Review Mechanism (APRM). This presentation reminds us parliamentarians how the APRM is an excellent opportunity to see where our respective countries stand regarding democracy, governance and socio-economic development.Honourable President, I quickly read through the report on my country Mauritius and I wish to avail myself this opportunity to thank members of the APRM for this report. The points captured in this report are of utmost importance for the progress of my country. My concern, Honourable President, is the dissemination of the report and to follow up on the recommendations. Maybe Professor Amos Sawyer could enlighten this Assembly on this issue of dissemination and follow up of the recommendations and whether there is a particular mechanism for feedback from stakeholders not only from government, but also from others. Another of my concern, Honourable President, is whether there is something that is being done regarding countries which have not yet accepted to be peer reviewed.I thank you, Honourable President,HON. ONYANGO KAKOBA [UGANDA]:Thank you, Mr. President. I would like to join other colleagues by congratulating the professor on the presentation.Mr. President we all know that APRM is good for Good Governance and that we are aware that good governance is a prerequisite for peace and development. Because if there is good governance it will minimize grievances and once you minimize grievances you reduce conflicts and once you reduce conflicts you eliminate wars.You can be assured that without wars you are bound to have peace and with peace you can do a lot of development. Therefore, I want to reaffirm my support for this mechanism.Mr. President, having said that the mechanism is good; we still need to make some improvements. I have said this before but not here. We need to make some improvements, for instance I note very few countries have acceded to be reviewed.I think one of the weaknesses of this mechanism is it voluntary.If the professor may help to find out why it was made voluntary because if we want these countries to be very serious, then we have to make it compulsorySecondly, it think we have to find some words for punishment. If a country does so well what is the reward? And if a country is not doing well, what is the punishment? I think the emphasis must be on the reward. I would like this mechanism to reward those countries that are doing well.For instance countries that have shown interest in the Chairmanship of AU should first accede to APRM. Even countries that are not democratic want the Chairmanship of AU. Why can’t we use this mechanism to determine who is going to be the next Chairman of the AU instead of peaking on countries that are doing so badly in terms of governance and we find them chairing the AU?I think we need to make some improvements in the process, otherwise the process is a welcome one and it will go a long way to make sure that Africa moves a stage ahead.I thank you very muchH.E. PROFESSOR AMOS SAWYER [CHAIRPERSON OF APRM PANEL OF EMINENT PERSONS]:Thank you, very much, Mr. President.Distinguished Members, thank you all for your questions and comments.We are delighted that a brief report could spur a very substantive discussion here this morning with all the questions being on mark, being extremely important. We are extremely pleased with the level of involvement, the concerns and the interest in the APRM.I am happy, Members noted in the response that my report was indeed brief and, if you will, a bit thematic. It was meant to be this way so as to make a case for a more consistent engagement between the APRM and the Pan-African Parliament. We would like very much to reiterate the recommendations that there should be a consideration of regular engagement in a structured way so that Members of the Panel of Eminent Persons will come to this august body with the Review Report and to discuss the Review Report with you in some detail. This is because this group is very well pleased to help drive processes of democratization, economic governance, and socio-economic development - all of the objectives of the APRM both at the continental level as well as at the level of national governance and country level activities. So, we could not want a better relationship - a more regular relationship than one with the Pan-African Parliament.So, Mr. President, we again, humbly, request that this proposal be looked at so that we can benefit from your vast network and authority at continental as well as national levels.From the point of view of the Panel of Eminent Persons, working with the PAP, there are opportunities, through workshops, to disseminate information to various constituencies at all levels of government to ensure that the African people take deeper control of this process. And if they did, they are able to engage their governments and through the participation of Parliaments at the continental level, we can engage very significantly at the continental level.So, questions regarding why some countries are more hesitant - issues that detract from those countries being forthcoming can be explored. Members of Parliament can raise questions at the local level of the Parliament and can help to emulate democracy and good governance, socio-economic development in those countries whilst at the continental level, learning the best practices as we discuss in bodies like this the Report from the various countries.The voluntary nature of the review process is, in a way, its strengths. Countries volunteer to come forward and open up the governance experiences to their brothers and sisters from other African countries and that is the genius of this activity. One, it is a self-assessment and an inclusive self-assessment exercise. It is not a government exercise. And for many of you here who have participated in the process in your countries, you would see that civil society, the rural population, teachers, the Bar Association, Chamber of Commerce, student organizations are all deeply involved in the self assessment and have to sign on to the process if it is done well. And we encourage that it is done well by having broad-based involvement.And then, there is the Panel that comes in to take a look at the Self-Assessment, raising questions to ensure its authenticity, to ensure the breadth of the inclusion and to raise issues that may not have been raised in the Self-Assessment.Then, yet at another level - at the level of the Peer Review - I can assure you - One of the finest and frantic dialogue you could ever witness is the discussion among Heads of State behind closed doors when they are assessing the Report. They are open. They are critical. They are helpful.One President might suggest to another a way of solving a problem, addressing a challenge - a bit critical but in a helpful way. This is because, at the end of the day, they all try to help each other in moving this process forward. The Panel itself has remained independent. Its Reports - some of the Reports have been praised. Some have been highly criticized by some countries. We can talk about portions of the Report that some leaders have not liked. But they have accepted. So, this is an authentic and genuine process that we need to strengthen. We need to strengthen it, Mr. President, and one way is by engagement with the Pan-African Parliament and the Panel of Eminent Persons.On the issues having to do with what happens after the assessment - there are two things; one, there is a plan of action - A National Programme of Action that comes out of the Review Process. We ask countries to take that review process very seriously. We call upon international partners to assist countries with the implementation of the Plan of Action. This is because, it does not make much sense if the people of a country will review themselves, come out with a programme to address the issue that they have identified as challenges and then there is a national budget that is heading in a different direction. So the alignment of the national plan of action with the national budget is important. And then the support of the national budget by our friends and international partners is also very important.Leaders are asked to make periodic reports on the implementation of the Plan of Action of this Programme every two years. And this is again, an important element of follow-up.After five years, when necessary, countries are required to undertake second reviews. There are some countries now that are preparing for the second review. Ghana is one of those. Nigeria is one of those. Kenya is also one of those. So, there are a number of countries who have done the first review, have been implementing a Programme of Action and are now looking forward to the second review. We must provide all of the support necessary to strengthen the governance institutions, processes of economic, socio-economic governance in the various countries.So, Mr. President, looking at my notes, again, more specifically on Botswana, should I here say that we have been reaching out to Botswana, there are lessons that Botswana can bring into the Peer Review Process and lessons that can take from the Peer Review Process. You would recall last, the African Governance Forum was held in Gabon and one of the issues was to engage the government and the people of Botswana such that they will see it fit to join the Peer Review Progress. And we continue these engagements in the hope that the countries that have not joined - they are about 21 or 22 that have not joined at all. There are 33 that have signed up. There are 17 that have been peer-reviewed and others now in the various processes. It has been slow and we would like to see it speeded. We urge your support, but we are aware that the process itself is demanding. It is an innovation. Mr. President, it opens up a country to it s one people to dialogue amongst themselves. It opens up a country to bring in brothers and sisters from elsewhere to take critical look. So, we Africans must be proud of this. This is, indeed, genuinely, an African innovation and we have been getting enquiries from Asian countries, from Latin American countries as to how this experience can be used in their regions.So, we acknowledge the value of the proposals to have the PAP issue a call and we would like very much your support in calling on African countries, Mr. President, to join the African Peer Review Mechanism process and together we can continue to work for the improvement of democratic and political governance, economic governance and management and the socio-economic development of our continent.Thank you, very much, Sir.[Applause]THE PRESIDENT:Thank you very much Your Excellency for the wonderful presentation and your response to the issues and questions raised by hon. members. Your Excellency, the Pan-African Parliament is a partner of the APRM process. We support it. We are convinced that if fully and thoroughly implemented, it would give our continent and the people of Africa the opportunity for good governance and will offer development and improvement on the welfare and well-being of our citizens.The Pan-African Parliament will partner with you. I do believe that the work that you are doing on behalf of our continent is very critical and it would, in no small way, enhance the ability of member states. They will hear from their citizens how governance, democracy and political issues were best handled.As been reiterated by some of our colleagues, the Pan-African Parliament calls on member states of the African Union that have not yet acceded to the APRM process to please do so as quickly as possible, as this process is an unique and available African process. As we begin to find African solutions to African problems, we must continue to support any process that would help us to protect the fundamental human rights of our citizens, ensure the respect of the rule of law and of course produce an create the environment for our people to be able to pursue their livelihoods with respect and dignity.Your Excellency, on behalf of the Pan-African Parliament, we once again are honoured by your presence and thank you for your contributions and we commit to a partnership. In every October session we would provide a day in our session to review the outcome of the APRM process for member states that have completed for that year. I am convinced that with additional publicity given to the outcome of the APRM process, and if we ensure that our national Parliaments are very abreast with the outcomes and ensure that the implementation of the national plan of action for member states exceeds to national Parliaments, especially in consideration of their national budgets, the partnership will grow in a sure way to ensure progress and development on our continent. Once again, I thank you, Your Excellency for coming. Please, hon. members, may we give a very astounding applause to the His Excellency.[Applause]I would now excuse myself and escort His Excellency to the lounge to see him off. Madam Vice President.H.E. ARCANJO MARIA DO NASCIMENTO [CHAIRPERSON OF THE PEACE AND SECURITY COUNCIL]:Her Excellency Madam, the Vice-President of the Pan-African Parliament, Honourable Members of the Pan-African Parliament, I am pleased to be here today and I would like to thank you for the invitation extended to the Chairperson of the Peace and Security Council to address this august Assembly on the peace and security situation in our continent. My presentation will be confined to the situation in the Republic of Mali, Central African Republic, the Great Lakes Region, Somalia, Egypt, Guinea Bissau, Madagascar, Western Sahara and the conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea.On the situation in Mali, the multi-dimensional crisis facing Mali remains a source of concern for the AU. The situation in Mali is mobilising tremendous efforts from the AU in coordination with ECOWAS, the AU countries and international partners in particular the United Nations (UN) and the European Union (EU).With regard to the current security and humanitarian situation in Mali, progress continues to be made towards consolidation of state authority in Mali with gradual expansion of state control in the northern areas thanks to the Malian, French and African Led International Support Mission in Mali (AFISMA) forces. Let me express once again profound AU appreciation to all the forces involved in the ongoing efforts to secure and stabilise the liberated areas. We should also welcome the progress made in the Parliament of the African Led International Support Mission in Mali (AFISMA) of which 82 per cent of the force of sixty thousand and three hundred personnel are already on the ground.With respect to the prevailing situation in the city of Kidal, there is need to ensure that the speed and restoration of state authority through the disarmament of the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA). At its three hundred and seventy-first meeting held on 25th April, 2013, the Peace and Security Council reaffirmed its demand for the unconditional disarmament of all non state groups in Mali in particular, the MNLA, and the clear commitment by this group to respect the unity and territorial integrity of Mali as a condition for its participation in the political process. The Peace and Security Council also stressed the need for deployment of the army in Malian administration in Kidal and all other locations where such a process has not yet been completed. The Council expressed full support for the initiative made by the support and follow up group on Mali during its fourth meeting held in Bamako on 19th April, 2013 requesting the AU, ECOWAS, UN and the EU under the leadership of special executive of the Chairperson of the Commission and head of AFISMA former President Pierre Buyoya to find an early solution to this worrying situation.In beefing up our common efforts to improve the security situation in Mali, we should underline the importance of further reforming and training the Malian Defense and Security Force as well as the need to ensure the total restoration of the chain of command under civilian control. In this respect, the commencement of the military training delivered by the EU training mission is appreciated. It is also important to reiterate the importance of cooperation between the country of division with regard to intelligence sharing and surveillance of borders.In this regard, the commission has taken steps with the holding in Nouakchott Mauritania on 17th March, 2013 under the AU auspice of the consultative ministerial meeting on regional cooperation and operationalisation of the African Peace and Security Architecture in Sahel Sahara region. Within the frame work of implementation of the conclusions of Nouakchott, the commission convened the first meeting of chiefs of intelligence services of the countries of the region in Bamako on 18th April, 2013. In this respect, there is need to encourage close collaboration and exchange of information and analyses among countries of the region including within their cooperative frameworks such as the African Centre of Study and Research on Tourism and the Committee of Intelligence in Security Service for Africa (CESA) to enhance effectiveness of the fight against terrorists and international organised crime and facilitate the implementation of a AFISMA’s mandate. The humanitarian situation in Mali remains critical with the combination of the consequence of drought and conflict. There is urgent need for continued and enhanced assistance to the affected population especially women and children.Honourable President and Honourable Members, let me share with you the progress made in political processes in Mali. On 29th January, the road map for transition in Mali presented by the government was adopted by the National Assembly. The road map paves the way for the restoration of state authority over the Malian territory and the holding of free, fair, transparent and credible elections. We should express appreciation for the steps taken towards implementation of the road map as well as the establishment of the Dialogue and Reconciliation Commission on 6th March and the designation of its members and leadership. The Peace and Security Council stressed the need for Malian transitional authorities to do everything possible to enable the commission to immediately commence its work to give the required priority to collaboration with civil society and local stakeholders. The AU welcomes the commitment made by the Malian transitional authorities to organise free, transparent and credible elections in July, 2013.In conclusion, allow me to share with you the vision expressed by the Peace and Security Council on the way forward with regard to the situation in Mali in the context of the transformation of AFISMA into a UN mission and future of the AU’s role in Mali.We welcome the adoption on 25th April, of resolution 21 00/2013 by the UN Security Council that authorised the transformation of AFISMA in into a UN Multi-Dimensional Integrated Mission for Stabilization of Mali (MONISMA) with the view to facilitating the re-wording of AFISMA, the AU underscored the need in the mean time to provide AFISMA with the requisite support to enhance its effectiveness and facilitate its re-wording and called on all countries and organisations concerned to pay their pledge made to the AFISMA trust fund.We note with concern, that Africa was not appropriately consulted in the drafting and consultation process that led to the adoption of the UN Security Council Resolution authorising the deployment of the UN Multi-Dimensional Integrated Mission for Stabilisation in Mali (MONISMA) to take over AFISMA and stress that this situation is not in consonance with the speed of partnership that the AU and the UN have been striving to promote for many years on the basis of the provisions of Chapter 8 of the UN Charter. Let me in this context reiterate the AU’s conviction that continued and strong political involvement by the AU, ECOWAS and AU countries is essential for the success of the ongoing efforts in Mali.In this respect, the Chairperson of the commission as well as ECOWAS and the President of its commission are requested to continue to play their rightful role in support of Mali including with regard to the political process, dialogue and national reconciliation, elections and mobilisation in coordination with the UN Secretary General of the support of the international community through the support and follow up work. The AU commission is looking forward to the support of the members of PAP to assist in efforts towards a smooth holding of free, fair, transparent and credible elections in Mali.On the situation in the Central African Republic, the situation in the Central African Republic was already fragile for several years and deteriorated significantly in recent months especially since December, 2012. The situation marked by the coup d’état of 22th March, 2013 against the regime of President and the coming François Bozizé and the coming to power of a coalition of armed rebel movements called SELEKA led by Mr Michel Djotodia the new head of the Central African State since 24th March. On 6th December, 2012, the Peace and Security Council expressed concern over the many challenges that faced the Central African Republic including the security, political, social and economic problems.The Peace and Security Council warned all those who would undermine the process of reconciliation and national reconstruction in the country. A few days later, the combatants of SELEKA launched several attacks from the east against the positions of the Central African Republic Armed Forces and went rapidly to occupy several cities in the country. It was in this context that the heads of state of the Community of Central African States (ECCAS) met in an extra ordinary summit in N’Djamena on 21st December, 2012 and decided to send new troops about 700 men in total in addition to those military packs that were already there in the Central African Republic to stabilise the situation. They discouraged the use of force a means of settling the crises and encouraged the Central African Republic parties to engage in negotiations.The negotiations opened in Libreville on 8th January, 2013 and culminated in the signing of the political agreement and ceasefire in Libreville on 11th January, 2013 at the Second Extraordinary Summit of the Heads of State of ECCAS. Under the Libreville agreement, a government of national unity headed by a person from the Democratic Opposition Mr. Nicholas Tiangai was formed and it accused President Bozize of not implementing all the terms of the Libreville agreement and SELEKA resumed attacks on 21st March, 2013. On 23rd March, 2013, the Peace and Security Council met and called on SELEKA to stop its attacks. The Peace and Security Council rejected the request to arm the rebellion as a means to assert political demands. But on 24th March, 2013, the troops of CELEKA entered the capital city Bangui and occupied all the strategic points. In clashes between elements of SELEKA and South African troops deployed in the country for a few months, 13 South Africans were killed and 27 were wounded but the number of injured among SELEKA ranks remains unknown. Michel Djotodia leader of SELEKA then proclaimed himself the President of the republic on 24th March, 2013. President François Bozize and some close members of his family ran away and took refuge in Cameroon.The scenes of looting, destruction, rape, and murders multiplied in Bangui and in many cities of the country for several days. Central Africans left in thousands to seek refuge in neighbouring countries particularly in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and in Cameroon. On 25th March, 2013, the Peace and Security Council met again on the situation in the Central African Republic. The Council condemned the seizure of power by SELEKA and decided to suspend the Central African Republic from participation in the activities of all AU organs. Several leaders of SELEKA including Michel Djotodia were put under sanctions. On 3rd April, 2013, the heads of state of ECAS held an extra ordinary summit in N’Djamena.The heads of state did not recognise Michel Djotodia as President. On their part, the Central African parties went on to establish a National Transitional Council (NTC) of 105 members to replace the dissolved parliament and elect a President. On 13th April, 2013, the NTC members elected Michel Djotodia by acclamation as President of the Central African Republic. On 16th April, 2013, the Peace and Security Council held a meeting on the Central African Republic and expressed the determination of the AU to work in collaboration with ECCAS, the UN and other actors towards the return to constitutional order. The Peace and Security Council requested the Chairperson of the Commission to conduct the necessary consultation on the establishment of an International Contact Group on the situation in the Central African Republic (CAR) to mobilize the widest possible support for efforts to restore constitutional order.On 18th April, 2013, at the end of day four of the extraordinary summit, the heads of state of ECCAS adopted the idea of CAR and adopted a road map to define the steps for resolving the crises in Central African Republic. The first meeting of the ICGRCA was held on 2nd and 3rd May, 2013 in Brazzaville. On the ground in the Central African Republic, security is far from being restored and tension remains high in the country and SELEKA itself is unable to run the country.On the situation in the Great Lakes Region, the signing of the framework agreement for peace, security and cooperation in the DRC and the region in Addis Abba on 24th March, 2013 was followed by significant developments both at the regional and international level to implement it. It is in this framework that the Presidents of South Africa, Angola and the DRC met in Rwanda on 12th March, 2013 to analyse the situation the Eastern DRC. They among others reiterated their support for the efforts of the President of the DRC and the Congolese Government in search for peace, stability and development in the country. The three leaders decided to create a tripartite mechanism for joint cooperation in order to create favourable conditions for the implementation of the framework agreement.Similarly, in a meeting in Aru in the DRC on 24th March, 2013, the Heads of State of the Republic of Congo, the DRC, Rwanda and Uganda exchanged views on the situation in the Eastern DRC and committed themselves to implement the framework agreement.In the same context, the Secretary General of the UN on 18th March, 2013, appointed Mrs Mary Robinson as His Special Envoy for the Great Lakes Region. Mrs Mary Robison is responsible for facilitating the implementation of the commitments made by all the parties in the framework agreement. It is was in this regard that the Peace and Security Council at its meeting on 27th February, 2013 stressed the need for the special representative of the Chairperson of the Commission of the AU for the Great lakes Region and the special envoy of the UN to work closely together within the partnership between the two organisations.On its part, the Security Council of the UN adopted resolution 2098/2013 on 28th March, 2013. By this resolution, the Security Council decided inter alia to extend until 31st March, 2014 the mandate of MONOSCO and to create exceptionally and without creating a precedent and without prejudice to the agreed principles an Intervention Brigade. The brigade comprises of three infantry battalions, an artillery company, a special force and a reconnaissance company with its headquarters in Goma. It will be under the direct command of the force commander of MONOSCO.The Intervention Brigade will be responsible for demiilitarising the armed groups and aim to reduce threats to the authority of the state and promote security for the civilian population in the Eastern DRC as well as prepare the ground for stabilisation activities. The momentum created by the signing of the framework agreement has helped to accelerate the rise of the contributions within the M23 Movement particularly between the political wing led by Jean-Marie Runiga and the military wing headed by General Sultani Makenga.Following clashes between the two wings of the movement, Runiga and his followers took refuge in Rwanda. Bosco Ntanganda who fought alongside Runiga found refuge in the embassy of the United States in Kigali where he asked to be surrendered to the International Criminal Court (ICC). Furthermore, on 9th December, 2012, in Kampala, direct dialogue between the government and the M23 Movement provided an opportunity for the evaluation of the agreement of 23rd March, 2009. This was the subject of an agreement between the two parties on 15th March, 2013.The dialogue continued in Kampala and the focus was on points on the agenda on direct dialogue namely security issues, political, social and economic issues and the implementation plan. At its 371st meeting held on 25th April, 2013, the Peace and Security Council welcomed these developments and among other things, called for the speedy deployment of the intervention Brigade and invited the Congolese Government to accelerate the implementation of its obligations under the framework agreement.On the situation in Somalia, the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) was deployed in Somalia seven years ago. It is made up of the following troops and police contributing countries: Burundi, Djibouti, Kenya, Nigeria, Sierra Leon, and Uganda. Ethiopian forces are also deployed in Somalia but they are not under the operational command of AMISOM. The current strength of AMISOM is 17, 731 uniform personnel authorised under the UN Security Council resolution 2093/2013 which allows AMISOM to carry out its mandate in Somalia until 28th February, 2014. The AMISOM is a multi-dimensional mission made up of military, police and civilian components. It is funded by the UN through a trust fund support package managed by the UN Support office for Somalia (UNSOA) located in Nairobi and Mogadishu and bilateral donors mainly the European Union (EU), the United Kingdom (UK), the United States (US), and Italy, just to name some of them.The AMISOM is headed by the special representative of the Chairperson of the Commission currently Ambassador Al Nadif from the republic of Chad. The main challenge facing AMISOM is funding for troop allowance and reimbursement for country owned equipment. This is in addition to the lack of support in form of force multipliers and neighbours and this has negatively impacted the military operations. Currently, AMISOM is so stressed that it is no longer extending its military operations to new territories. Instead, it is just holding on to the gains made so far. The implications of this scenario are indeed very dire for the whole security stabilisation endeavour in Somalia. The threat from Al shabaab remains real. Al shabaab may have been weakened but it is not yet dead, thus the security and political gains made still run the risk of being reversed.Recent events have seriously challenged the security situation in Somalia. On 17th March, 2013, Al shabaab took over the town of Xuddur following the withdrawal of Ethiopian forces. This withdrawal should not be misconstrued as Ethiopia remains firmly committed to securing the stability of Somalia. Burden sharing is an issue that partners in AMISOM should integrate to keep on board like Ethiopia. On 14th April, a court house attack in Mogadishu by Al shabaab claimed more than 50 lives and its insistent bombings continue. In sector two, the Kenyan Defence Force deployed there has reported a surge from armed opposition groups. In order to secure the gains made, the Federal Government of Somalia (FGS) has been playing its part. It continues to reach out to its citizens for reconciliation, peace building and stabilisation based on its six pillar policy framework. The framework aims to ensure service delivery in all sectors and its vision is to lay a firm foundation for a federal state.In this thrust, President Mohamed in April signed a dialogue and cooperation agreement with the President of the breakaway region of Somali Land which is a welcome step in the right direction. By tracing the President’s efforts, the Prime Minister Shirdon Saaid has also continued his listening tour of regions in an effort to connect them with the vision of Mogadishu regarding such critical issues as the regional authority formation, reconciliation, and the challenge associated with the federal state formation project. It is not an easy path to tread.In Juba Land, a showdown with Mogadishu is in the making. On 2nd April, the three regions of the area adopted a charter which created the state as part of the Federal Republic of Somalia but the president dismissed the Juba Land conference as un-procedural and unconstitutional in terms of the interim federal constitution. The AU and the countries of the region through ECCAS may have to intercede sooner rather than later. It is not an exaggeration to state that the peace process in Somalia may stand or fall at the altar of Juba Land.The way forward in Somalia is therefore, to support the federal government which enjoys international recognition and legitimacy, a force in the last 21 years of Somalia’s political tumuli. Through AMISOM and partners, Somalia has built a credible, loyal, disciplined and well resourced Somalia National Security Force under clear command and structure. This is the only route to ensure stabilisation, peace-building and state-building in Somalia. It is also a critical component of AMISOM’s exit strategy.On the situation in Egypt, the eruption of the first political upraising in Tunisia in December, 2010 triggered pivotal upheavals in Egypt and Libya. While the call for political reforms have resulted in significant and impressive progress in the initiation of democratic reforms, many challenges still remain and the transitional process in all three countries remain tentative at best. The transitional process in Egypt seems to be at cross roads. Following the removal of former President Hosni Mubarak from power, the military and the Muslim Brotherhood became the most dominant and organised political force in the country and contend to fill the political vacuum in Egypt.Initially, the military attempted to circumscribe the power and influence of the Muslim Brotherhood. However, in late 2011, and early 2012, the Muslim Brotherhood and more conservative Islamist parties took command of the country’s new Parliament. After the run-off presidential election in June, 2012, by a vote of 51.7 per cent, Mohamed Morsi the Muslim Brotherhood’s candidate narrowly defeated a former General in the Mubarak regime to become President of Egypt. As a reaction to this unexpected development, the military issued a series of decrees seeking to undermine the presidency. In retaliation, and relying on his newly gained power and momentum, President Morsi in August, 2012 forced the retirement of Defense Minister and de facto head of state since Mubarak was ousted, Field Martial Mohamed Hussein, the Army’s Chief of Staff, Sami Aman and several senior generals.While the Morsi victory greatly strengthened the Muslim Brotherhood, it also fractured the Opposition leader’s wing and sympathisers of Mubarak’s regime. Criticism by the Liberal Opposition against Morsi’s Government started when the Opposition learned that his first Cabinet was less than inclusive and that it included six former Mubarak’s ministers. The Liberal critics also took issue with the composition of the committee entrusted with the drafting of the constitution. The Opposition believed that the committee was dominated by Islamists and that it did not take into account their concerns. Therefore, the struggle between the President and his critics continued as the battle of ideas dealing with women’s rights, Islamic law, executive powers and the proper role of the state. On 22nd November, 2012, President Mohamed Morsi in addition to executive and legislative powers granted to him within existing laws, announced a constitution decree giving him effective control of all three branches of government and complete immunity from judicial oversight.Following major demonstrations in the strategically and economically crucial Suez Canal corridor, Suez City, Port Said and Ismailia, at the end of January, 2013, the President declared Martial Law in these three regions. While the crisis that precipitated the declaration of emergency law has subsided, the confrontation between the Islamists and secular forces as collectively represented by the National Salvation Front (NSF) is far from over and is now paralysing the country. There is also no agreement by the various parties on a date for the holding of parliamentary elections. The President and his party believe that by virtue of the last elections, they have a mandate to govern the country. The Opposition citing the various unilateral and unconstitutional measures that the President promoted in the past sees an assertive Muslim Brotherhood imposing a gradual sharia based order in the country.The Opposition is deadly opposed to the sharialisation of the country. Under these circumstances therefore, it is difficult to see how the political and economic paralyses in the country will be allowed to continue without triggering a massive civil confusion. If such a scenario was to prevail in the country and existing civilian institutions are unable to cope with the crisis there is a risk that the military would intervene in the political process.Guinea Bissau and Madagascar are making notable efforts towards returning to constitutional order which will be marked by the holding of general elections in both countries. Undoubtly, each of them face a real challenge to create the required conditions for conducting free, fair transparent and credible elections. I should also mention that that Guinea Bissau is faced with another huge problem of dealing with the army’s interference in politics of the country and drug trafficking.On Ethiopia and Eritrea, there is an impasse on the peace process between Ethiopia and Eretria. The border dispute remains unsolved. The AU and the international community should assist the parties to find a lasting solution to the border dispute.On Western Sahara, despite international efforts over the few years, the resolution of the problem of the Western Sahara remains elusive. It is in this context that the AU is renewing momentum towards finding a solution to the problem. The issue will be discussed this month at the AU summit. The people of Western Sahara should be given the opportunity to determine their future through a properly organised referendum.Mr President, Honourable Members, I cannot conclude my presentation without evoking an element that is critically important to Africa’s peace efforts. It is the development of the African stand by force in particular, the dimension of the rapid deployment capacity. The crisis in Mali where Africa was unable to intervene in response to the call, by the Malian authorities at the moment of critical need and the flashpoints existing on our continent illustrates how urgent it is for Africa to equip itself with a rapid deployment capacity. it is welcome that the 6th ordinary meeting of specialised training technical committee on defence, safety and security which took place in Addis Abba on 29th to 30th April, 2013 regrouping the African chiefs of defence staff and African Ministry of Defence added momentum to the process of building the African standby force including the rapid deployment capacity. It is equally essential that all of us in Africa deepen the democratisation process, ensure good governance and respect for human rights. This will go a long way to assist in our conflict prevention efforts.I thank you very much.THE PRESIDENT:Thank you very much HE Arcanjo Maria do Nasscimento Ambassodor of the Republic of Angola to Ethiopia and to African Union and Chairperson of Peace and Security Council of the African union for that very detailed and elucidating presentation on the state of Peace and Security in the Member states.Honourable Members I will now call on the Hon. Khumalo Chairperson of the Committee on Cooperation, International Relations and Conflict Resolution to make his presentation.HON. MARWICK KHUMALO [SWAZILAND]:Mr. President, in view of the fact that the document is twelve pages, and the issues are somehow complementary, I would like to summarize my presentation. I am aware that all Honorable Members have received and read the report
The situation in the Republic of Mali
4.The crisis in Mali has seen significant developments since January 2013 especially following the military intervention of France under the code name "Operation Serval". The launching of Operation Serval led to new dynamics on the political as well as the security levels. As a result, there was a ray of hope on the horizon of the country that had gone through nine months under the occupation of the rebel forces of the National Movement for the Liberation of the Azawad (Mouvement national pour la libération de l’Azawad) (MNLA) and the armed groups professing religious extremism, namely, the Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAW), Ansar Dine and Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). These groups carried out acts of violence on the population, endangered the very existence of the State, its territorial integrity and its sovereignty in the northern region while the south of the country was plagued by divergences and contradictions among the political and military role players.The political and security Scene on the eve of the Military intervention5.With regard to the institutional scene at the time of the launching of the French Operation Serval, three fundamental elements that seemed to characterise the situation must be highlighted:The first related to the lack of connection between the understanding and the reading of events by some members of the international community, and that of some domestic, national role players, at least during the first phase of the conflict. This discrepancy in perception highlighted the limits of the normative approach often established in crisis management - this led to a type of confusion or ambivalence on the part of the international community who made requests, demands but in reality there was no shared position on the ways and means to restore constitutional order nor on the organisation of priorities between the institutional crisis and the security crisis.The second element characterising the situation in the south before the launching of the intervention, 10 months after the coup, was the continued existence of the Kati factor because the junta, embodied by Captain Sanogo, continued to play a major role on the political scene as was shown by the dismissal of the Prime Minister Cheick Modibo Diarra last December.The third element concerned the context that prevailed simultaneously at the capture of Konna. It would be recalled that on 8, 9 and 10 January, some political parties and Civil Society organisations organised demonstrations in Bamako calling for the holding of national consultations and the departure of President Dioncounda Traoré.6.On the security level, a difference in assessing the threats and the players could also be noted. It was to be noticed that since the resurgence of the Tuareg rebellion in January 2012 that in fact served as a springboard for the criminal and terrorist groups that assaulted twothirds of the Malian territory, not all the role players saw the threat from the same angle. While for Mali, the groups occupying the regions of the North represented an overall visible threat for the very existence of the country and the stability of the sub-region, some foreign role players believed that some of them could be associated with and could be won back. But in suggesting to the Malian Authorities to consider the groups whose claims were "legitimate", the very close ties that united them, either through affinity, or through parentage, or because of economic and financial interests were overlooked.Operation Serval and its consequences7.Uncertainty remained as to the exact reasons that led the armed groups to cross what had previously been the front line separating them from the Malian army. Some observers believed however that the offensive on Konna was aiming at the capture of Sevare, where there was an international airport as well as the operational headquarters of the Malian army for the northern country. The control of this town would have removed the Malian army from the theatre of operations, hampered the deployment of the AFISMA, and enabled an alternative course of action to be taken to control the south of the country. Still, the military intervention by France to stop the progression of the Islamists towards the South was undoubtedly most timely. It was obvious that, despite the efforts made and the equipment acquired recently, the Malian army was far from being restored to its full operational capacity.8.The offensive of the armed groups, the launch of Operation Serval and the arrival of the AFISMA changed the face of the game and led to two developments: on the one hand, a repositioning within the political and military spheres, on the other, a redefining of the relationship between the two spheres.9.It should be noted that the regions of Gao and Timbuktu were freed in a manner of speaking. In the field, the armed groups had been weakened. Some entrenched themselves in the Kidal mountains while others such as Ansar Dine metamorphosed to become the Islamic Movement of Azawad (MIA). The major concern at this point was how to sustain the fragile security gains in the northern regions and accelerate the process of political transition.The issue of the July 2013 presidential elections10.The acceleration of the freeing of the northern cities addressed in new terms the question of the link between the holding of elections and restoring the authority of the State throughout the national territory. It was now possible to consider the holding of elections sooner than before, as soon as the large towns of the north would have gone back under the authority of the State and have the required security. The indicative timetable included in the roadmap adopted by the National Assembly in February 2013 mentioned elections by the end of July.11.It is important to note that the financial issue is not entirely settled. It was estimated that around 25 million Euros would be needed to organise the electoral event.Safeguarding the regions of the North12.In its latest resolution 2100, the UN Security Council authorised the creation of a peace-keeping force in Mali, the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilisation Mission in Mali (MINUSMA). This force made up of 12 600 peacekeepers would be responsible for stabilising the north of the country. It would take over from the Pan-African force, the African-led International Support Mission in Mali (AFISMA). If such a decision showed recognition of the complexity of the security situation in the northern region of Mali, it did not entirely solve the problem of jihadist groups that continued to threaten the stability of Mali and the sub-region despite the initial defeat inflicted by the French army supported by African forces. This deployment would certainly put an end to a long period of prevarication and hesitation.The Kidal case and the issue of national reconciliation13.There were two problems in the region of Kidal. Firstly, the entry into the town of Kidal of the French forces without the Malian army in answer to the request of the MNLA provoked very strong reactions in Bamako. Secondly, the refusal of the MNLA to disarm was seen as an act given rise by a supposed support the group received from France. In truth, what could be called the case of Kidal illustrated the post-intervention dilemma very well and clearly raised the issue of managing the freeing of the northern regions.14.It should be noted that the security crisis served as an opportunity for some groups to seek revenge, hence the importance of a comprehensive, inclusive, participatory process of national reconciliation above all.
The situation in Central African Republic
15.The Central African State has always been an entity under threats, if it is not a threat in itself because of the socio-political and security inertias that has always punctuated its evolution since independence. In fact, the Central African Republic was one of the rare countries that in its quest for legitimacy, to re-establish itself, a decade after independence, with the imperial state under Jean-Bedel Bokassa who became Emperor in 1976 without ever succeeding in putting the country back on the path of development and political stability.16.Since then, its political history has been alternating between abortive attempts at democratisation and violence caused by civil wars and coups d’état which have plunged the country into a permanent crisis thus increasingly aggravating, on a daily basis, the living conditions and the lives of its citizens. Since its accession to independence, the CAR quickly distinguished itself by a peculiarity in the management of its affairs: arms became the sole mode of accession to the supreme magistracy. Of the five Presidents who have ruled the country, three were senior officers of the Central African Armed Forces (FACA), and the other two were civilians who did not hesitate to use arms either to accede to power (David Dacko), or to preserve a shaky democratic regime which had shown its limits in the domain of good governance (Ange-Félix Patassé).17.The latest developments with the outbreak of the rebellion of a group of armed gangs under the banner of Seleka are the logical culmination of the failure of the efforts and initiatives to restore peace and democracy since 1990.18.Generally, the chronic instability in the CAR can be attributed four major factors, namely: the entrenchment of the culture of military rebellion, the recognized lack of good governance, the alarming deterioration of the socio-economic situation and the decline of the national army. In this context, the rebellion called Seleka which means "an alliance" in the Sango language, in fact, is nothing new.19.In fact, Seleka was formed by the various factions such as Union of Democratic Forces (UFRD) led by Michel Am Nondroko Djotodia, the Convention of Patriots for Justice and Peace (CPJP-Fondamentale) of Mohamed Moussa Dahfane or still the Democratic Front of the Central African People (FDPC) headed by Abdoulaye Miskine. These factions were later on joined by other leaders. On the demands and ambitions of the group, the Army Chief of Staff of Seleka, General Issa Issaka, explained: "Our area is landlocked: we do not have roads, we do not have wells, we do not have schools. It is for this reasons that we have decided to take up arms". From Paris in France, the Spokesperson of Seleka Jean-Paul Bagaza, asserted that the coalition merely wishes that President Bozizé respects the agreement signed in Libreville in 2008. There were two essential issues: disarmament and the integration of all the former fighters into the Central African army.The stakes, the dynamics of the conflict and the fall of the Bozizé regime20.In fact, the Central African Republic today has two categories of active rebellion military movements that have not yet opening arrived at a common consensus on the ground. The first is the direct result of bad governance: it is headed by the former brothers-in-arms of President Bozizé who were abused and sacrificed as well as the former members of the FACA. The second resulted from a trans-nationalisation of the illegitimate violence in a nervous State that is unable to guarantee the security and the goods of its population. This is incarnated by the LRA (Lord Resistance Army) of the Ugandan Pastor Joseph Kony (is of the country) and by the deserters who were once loyal to the former Chadian rebel Abder Kader Baba Laddé (North-Centre) who can easily be solicited by the Central African protagonists in the current dispute.21.The rapid progression of the Seleka rebel forces can partially be attributed to the inability of the State to ensure the security of the entire territory. The divide and rule policy of the government which was manifested in the signing of the agreement with a faction of the armed groups, could not prevent the attacks launched by CPJP-Fondamentale on the town of Sibut, Damara and Dekoa in September 2012. Other towns fell while pressure was mounting on Bangui. And despite the re-enforcement of troops from Chad, Gabon and Cameroon to momentarily halt the progression of rebels and to force the protagonists to enter into negotiations, the atmosphere remained tense. After threatening the capital Bangui at the end of December, the rebels accepted to negotiate with François Bozizé, which culminated in an agreement signed under the auspices of ECCAS in Libreville (Gabon) on 11 January 2013.22.This agreement provided for a sharing of power: François Bozizé would remain as President until the end of his term of office in 2016, but the post of Prime Minister would belong to the opposition in the person of Nicolas Tiangaye. A transitional government would be put in place for twelve months: on the thirty ministries, the outgoing majority would have only twelve, and four ministries would be proposed to the civil society. This government would organise early parliamentary elections. However, this agreement was fragile: from 20 January, Seleka soldiers took up arms again in the East of the country. A bit of strategic subtlety in fact enabled the different rebel groups to keep on responding appropriately to the government, which besides, became increasingly weak.23.In the same vein, the multitude of troops to act as "peacekeeping forces" is enough testimony to buttress the point of the games of interests that were being played out. The international games of interests were being exposed in the Central African Republic because of a regime that will not hesitate to sell off the sovereignty and wealth of the country.The challenges of the transition24.Once more, the African Union and the Economic Community of Central African States found themselves faced with a case of change of government which falls out of the constitutional framework. If the regime of deposed President Bozizé had since lost its legitimacy, the rebel forces that seized power and whose leader proclaimed himself President of the Republic is facing difficulties being recognised both by his citizens and by the international community. Meeting in Ndjamena for the first time on 3 April 2013, and while condemning the phenomenon of usurpation of power, the regional bodies did not however advocate the return to the previous status quo. In this regard, they have in the first place defined the parameters of the transition by suggesting to the new Central African authorities to put in place a National Transitional Council (NTT) and elect the President of the transition.25.The last ECCAS summit which was also held in Ndjamena took four decisions on the road map of the transition: firstly, the summit did not recognise the President of the Republic elected by the NTC but took note of his election. Secondly, it fixed the transitional period at 18 months by insisting that no member of the transitional government should stand for presidential elections. While defining the functions of the transitional government and the NTC, the summit also consolidated the powers of the Prime Minister Nicolas Tiangayae. Lastly, the summit proposed the reenforcement of peacekeeping forces in order to cope with the increasing insecurity in the capital and the other regions of the country.26.One of the major obstacles facing the country is financing. In addition to poor management, the crisis has severely put the economy of the country in a very bad shape and the decision by donors to suspend their aid does not help the financial situation of the organs of the transition. In the security domain, if ECCAS has taken the decision to send about 2000 soldiers, no timeframe has been drawn up for this deployment which is equivalent to a quadrupling of the number of multi-national Central African Multinational Force (Fomac) already in place, but which did not succeed in preventing the violence and lootings in Bangui.
The situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo
27.In March 2012, the M23 rebellion plunged the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo into yet another cycle of violence. At the same time, the political situation in Kinshasa was unstable, following the flawed presidential and legislative elections of November 2011. However, the pace at which the security situation deteriorated in the east following the start of the M23 rebellion, led to an excessive focus by the international community on this particular rebellion. As the M23 rebels gained ground, the political problems in Kinshasa remained, while various other illegal armed groups intensified their activities in the eastern DRC, particularly north and south Kivu. The International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) started mediating between the M23 and the government of Kinshasa. The ICGLR proposed that a Neutral International Force (NIF) be deployed to neutralise the negative forces in the eastern DRC. The NIF was problematic to operationalize due to funding constraints, but also because it was a complicated process to realise its neutral character, given that most of the countries in the region have a history of involvement in the DRC. Eventually, it was under a United Nations (UN) initiative that a similar idea came to fruition. The UN is willing to fund an Intervention Brigade (IB) composed of South African, Malawian and Tanzanian soldiers. The IB will function as a part of the UN stabilisation mission in the DRC (MONUSCO), but will have the mandate to carry out targeted operations against the M23 and other rebel groups operating in the eastern DRC.The Peace, Security and Cooperation Framework Agreement on the DRC28.On the 24th of February 2013, the Peace, Security and Cooperation Framework Agreement on the DRC was signed by 11 countries in Addis Ababa. The countries that signed were Angola, Burundi, Central African Republic, Congo, DRC, Rwanda, South Africa, South Sudan, Uganda, Tanzania and Zambia. The Framework Agreement consists of two components, one aimed at Kinshasa’s domestic politics, urging a number of political reforms, and another aimed at the regional as a whole, urging neighbouring countries to stop interfering in the DRC. Although the signing of the Framework Agreement was a positive step, the agreement itself still needs to be fleshed out. For example, the oversight of the political reforms in Kinshasa is left up to the DRC government. Also, there are no clear benchmarks for measuring improvement. The manner, in which the non-interference of neighbouring countries will be monitored, is also not specified.29.For the M23, this is not an acceptable deal, since they used to have better ranks in the military, and could enrich themselves in the Kivus. Another sticking point is the long standing issues of Congolese refugees in Rwanda that have not been allowed to return home. Lastly, the M23 are refusing to disband until Kinshasa meets these demands. Also, the M23 has promised to fight to the last man should the IB attack them, before the ICGLR negotiations are concluded.The Intervention Brigade (IB)30.The IB, which is likely to become fully operational by May 2013, has the most aggressive mandate that any peacekeeping or enforcing force in the DRC has ever had. The IB, consisting of 3096 soldiers, is mandated to carry out targeted operations against the M23 and other rebel groups. However, the IB faces numerous challenges. Firstly, some of the soldiers in the IB do not have sufficient experience fighting in the type of terrain found in the eastern DRC. Secondly, there are very high expectations on the IB, both from Kinshasa and from the international community. However, it will by no means be easy for the IB to neutralise all the armed groups in the region. Besides the M23, there are many Mai Mai groups, specifically the Mai Mai Raia Mutomboki and the Nyatura. Thirdly, an essential component of the IB will consist of the South African National Defence Force members that have been stationed in the DRC already. How these troops will work together with the Tanzanian and Malawian troops will also pose some difficulties. Lastly, how the IB will work together with the rest of MONUSCO also has to be treaded around carefully. It remains to be seen whether MONUSCO will support this IB fighting becomes critical. More importantly, perhaps, is that fact the aggressive mandate of the IB may lead to the rest of MONUSCO, and even all other UN personnel becoming targets of violent attacks.Changes in the pattern of the conflict?31.With the deployment of the IB, the most aggressive peace enforcing mandate to date and Bosco Ntaganda’s surrender, it may appear as if the peace and security situation in the DRC has finally taken a turn. However, Ntaganda was certainly not the only war criminal in the region and only time will tell whether the IB will succeed in making a positive difference. When the FARDC was defeated and the M23 managed to capture Goma for a few days in late November 2012, it became clear that Kinshasa needed help, and the realisation of the M23’s threat to topple President Joseph Kabila seemed more real than ever.
The situation in Somalia
32.Since the coming into place of Somalia’s new government in September 2012, there has been notable progress in the areas of security and the political processes in the country. Regarding security, there has been some extension of security beyond Mugadish u and commendable battle successes by AMISOM and its allied forces. The most visible political achievement is in the successful swearing-in of the Prime Minister Abdi Farah Shirdon Saaid and his cabinet, including the first female Foreign Minister for Somalia.33.The leadership of the country has since gained express recognition from a number of Western countries, including the United States. The president has also made a number of high level international visits to Washington, London, Ankara, Brussels, Kampala, Doha, Nairobi, Cairo, Addis Ababa and Riyadh. In addition to initiatives towards political and judicial reforms, the government so far appears to be laying the necessary foundation for reconstructing Somalia.Key Security Issues: Sustaining Security beyond Mugadishu34.Despite making significant progress in the extension of security beyond Mogadishu, the Al-Shabaab still remains the primary threat to the survival of the new Somali government and realisation of peace in the country. As was anticipated, the group’s primary strategy is fast shifting from direct engagement with the military forces to the use of guerrilla-style tactics involving targeted attacks through bombing, use of Improvised Explosive Devises (IEDs) and suicide bombings. Targets have included journalists and symbols of the Somali statehood, including the Court.35.The latest coordinated attacks in this line of this strategy by Al-Shabaab took place on Sunday 14 April 2013.36.Notwithstanding these challenges, the government, through the support of the African Union forces and Ethiopian troops, has succeeded in extending security beyond Mogadishu. Kismayo remains liberated and under the control of Kenya troops and their Ras Kamboni allies.Ethiopia threatens to pull out37.In an address to parliament, the Prime Minister of Ethiopia indicated that Ethiopian troops would be pulled out from Somalia soon. The basis for this is that despite repeated requests to African Union troops to take over from them in the areas Ethiopia is holding, there has been no response. The high cost of operation is another factor that is informing Ethiopia’s decision.38.Following a recent unexpected unilateral pulled out by Ethiopian troops from the town of Huddur, capital of the Bakool region, Al-Shabaab fighters quickly took over the town. This pointed to the fact that the Islamist group is closely monitoring happenings in the liberated areas and is capable of swift return where loopholes are noticed. It also implies that more remains to be done in dealing with the Al-Shabaab menace since their presence can still not be hastily discounted. If Ethiopia should pull out, there will be a quick reversal of gains made in the areas under Ethiopian control with dire implications for the progress so far made in the country.39.In order to pave the way for the development of a strong Somali force, the UN Security Council eased the arms embargo on Somalia in March. The sanctions have been partially lifted for a year to pave the way for the new government to buy arms to equip its army. Despite the significance of the move, there are apprehensions about its abuse and effect on the security situation in Somalia. However, the presence of the UN Monitoring Group on Somalia will serve the purpose of providing a watch over the supply of arms into the country.Tensions over Jubaland state creation40.Months after its liberation, there are still tensions over the control of Kismayo and its surrounding areas remains. Different interests by various stakeholders surrounding the formation of a Jubaland state, made up of the Gedo, Middle Juba and Lower Juba regions have become a bone of contention capable of derailing progress made in the fight against Somalia’s Islamist fighters and the advancement towards peace in the country.41.The various differences had been simmering since the idea of creating a Jubaland state was mooted by Kenya as a buffer zone between its territory and South Central Somalia. In recent times, however, the lid over the long simmering differing views on the creation of Jubaland state has finally been lifted following the open declaration by the Prime Minister, Abdi Farah Shirdon, that a convention of delegates to craft the state and therefore the on-going process is unconstitutional. The Prime Minister made the pronouncement following the breakdown of talks between his team and the leadership of the Kismayo local administration in which the creation of a local administration for the area, security and other related matters were discussed. With his open declaration, the issue has become an albatross around the necks of the leadership in Mogadishu and, indeed, the many stakeholders in the Jubaland process as the next crucial test for progress in Somalia.42.Three sources of tensions and contentions about the Jubaland process are noted. The First one is the procedural issue originating from disagreements over who is driving or facilitating the process. According to a press release from the Somalia Federal Government (SFG), the Mogadishu leadership prefers to facilitate the formation of SFG-mandated local administrations as foundation stones for the eventual formation of federal states, as is the case with consultative engagements in Baydhabo and Beled Weyne regions. Given that the on-going process towards the creation of Jubaland is neither driven from Mogadishu nor has the involvement of the SFG; the latter deems the process as unilateral and thus unconstitutional.43.Related to this are deeper issues surrounding underlying regional and local interests and involvements in the process. Prior to the 2011 Kenya military incursion into Somalia, security on the Kenyan side of the border had worsened due to attacks blamed on Al-Shabaab elements and apprehensions Kenyan trainees in Al-Shabaab capable of returning to threaten Kenya’s stability. The creation of Jubaland has, therefore, long being on the agenda in Kenya as a buffer zone to prevent Al-Shabaab incursions in its territory. This interest explains Kenya’s preference for their troops to be based in that region. Ethiopia, on the other hand, is also interested in a similar arrangement towards securing borders and clarifies why their forces crossed into the Gedo region to attack the bases of Al-Ittihad Al-Islami (AIAI) in 1996. Given the cross border ethnic identities and historical tensions surrounding the Ogaden issue, Ethiopia is interested in the emergence of a local administration that will not be sympathetic to the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF), who share a Darood clan identity.44.The Darood and Hawiye clans and their sub-clans transcend the Somali boundaries into Ethiopia and Kenya. Consequently, those on the Ethiopian and Kenyan side have interests and affections for what happens on the Somali side. This introduces the underlying regional clan dynamics in the Jubaland process and also partly explains Puntland’s motivation for closely watching happenings around its formation.46.Another source of tension is connected to the SFG’s concerns about the representativeness of the process and associated fears that surround the possibility of Ogaden sub-clan dominance and the marginalization of others. Many clans inhabit the Gedo, Middle Juba and Lower Juba areas of Somalia. These include the Darood, Hawiye, Dir and other ethnic minorities such as the Bantus. The region is therefore a melting pot of important identity compositions. Historically, even within the Darood, the three main sub-clans, namely the Ogaden, Marehan, and Harti, are not known to have a history of peaceful co-habitation and have had difficulty in sharing Kismayo and subsequently have fought over it several times.47.This implies that representativeness, shared governance and coexistence among the many clan identities is absolutely important in making sure that any local administration that emerges in the region is sustainable and can ultimately become a building block to federalism in Somalia. The SFG fears that without adequately addressing issues of representativity in the on-going process in Kismayo, clan-based grievances and tensions could emerge to undermine reconciliation in the country. Actors driving the process, on the other hand, feel every effort has been made to achieve representation and if certain groups dominate, traditional leaders and authorities from marginalised areas would raise the issues in the series of consultation meetings that have been held since the process took off several years ago, before President Hassan Sheikh Mahamud’s administration came into being.48.A failure of the process and/or disregard for the central government has the tendency to make things difficult for all the actors working towards peace in Somalia.49.Reconciliation among these actors and others remain an important task for the new leadership. There are many groups allied to the government such as the Ahlu Sunna Waljama'a and other stakeholders of the process who need to be reconciled as part of efforts to sustain build peace and sustain some of the gains so far made in the country. The thorny issue of dealing with Al-Shabaab so as to pave the way for sustainable peace still remains thorny.Mr. President, for purposes of completeness I would like to inform you that we will be submitting the recommendations on the usual areas of concern that we have raised after we have met as a Committee on Cooperation, International Relations and Conflict Resolution.Mr. President I submit the report, thank you very much(APPLAUSE)THE PRESIDENT:Thank you, very much, Honourable Chair of the Committee on Cooperation and International Relations and Conflict Resolution.Honourable Members, I shall now allow debate on the two presentations. I have a list of speakers and the first speaker on my list is Hon Phillip Makgalemele from Botswana.HON. DIKGANG PHILLIP MAKGALEMELE [BOTSWANA]:I thank you, Mr President.Mr. President, I wish to thank both presenters on the topic of peace and security. Peace and security are central to the socio-economic growth of all countries and therefore must be given priority at all times.Mr President, I strongly believe that we must continue with the multi-broad approaches to this topic and in that context, Mr President, I support the formation of the African Standby Force. I propose that this proposal be a resolution of this PAP’s Ordinary Session. But as the force is being developed, countries be mobilised and urged to provide adequate resources and highly skilled human capital in this area.Mr President, we must also think outside the box and involve other stakeholders. We must for example approach the private and business sector for the promotion of a concept of peace for sustainable business growth. We must approach various regional and international sporting bodies in the promotion of a concept of sports for peace, Mr President. We must lobby academic institutions to develop courses on peace for development and encourage academia to research and write dissertations and thesis documents on peace for sustainable development.I believe that if we can look at both short and long term interventions as I have already alluded to through the formation of a standby force, but also look at other creative means.I still believe that we need to ensure that our nations are empowered about the benefit derived from peace. That where there is peace, there is sustainable development. I thank you, Mr President.HON. GALLICAN NIYONGANA [RWANDA]:Merci Monsieur le Président.Monsieur le Président,J’ai voulu prendre la parole pour témoigner ma sympathie envers les populations des régions en conflit et par là-même présenter mes hommages et gratitude à tous ceux qui ont contribué et contribuent encore à l’amélioration de la sécurité et des conditions de vie dans ces régions dans notre continent.Je me souviens, Monsieur le Président, lors de la session précédente dans cet hémicycle, la situation sécuritaire au niveau de l’Afrique était pathétique. Maintenant l’espoir est en train de renaître et on observe des avancées très significatives que ce soit au Mali, à l’Est de la RDC, en Somalie et bientôt en République Centrafricaine.Monsieur le Président,Je voudrais particulièrement mentionner et vanter le mérite de l’accord et des engagements de la Conférence internationale des pays de Grands Lacs sur la RDC tels qu’ils ont été mentionnés dans les deux exposés de la matinée, lesquels engagements ont reçu récemment la bénédiction du Forum des Parlements de la Conférence internationale de la région des Grands Lacs, réunit en séance plénière à Kinshasa le 24 janvier 2013 et a fait siens ses engagements des chefs d’États. Ils ont fait leurs ces engagements en tant que représentants de la population.Je pense que c’était un exemple qui mérite une attention particulière.Partant, Monsieur le Président, je voudrais demander que nos conclusions et recommandations au niveau du Parlement panafricain s’inscrivent dans le processus déjà enclenché tout en ayant conscience que seuls la bonne gouvernance, la démocratie et le respect des droits de l’homme sont susceptibles de garantir la stabilité et la paix durable.Je vous remercie, Monsieur le Président.HON. SUAD AL-FATIH AL BADAWI [SUDAN]:بسم هللا الرحمن الرحيملتقارير ُ أيضا ً ً علي هذه الفرصة وشكرا السيد الموقر الرئيس شكرا الشاملة الصادقة التي إستمعنا إليها ولكن اود أن أقول بأنها قد أصابتني بالحزن الحزن علي مستقبل أفريقيا التي شقلتنا بالدفاع عن أمنها وإستقرارها وتجيش الجيوش إلطفاء النيران هنا وهناك في مناطق أفريقيا المختلفة في كل أفريقيا في شمالها وغربها وشرقها ووسطها والذي اوقف ذ فيها إلي حد كبير عجلة التنمية فأصبحنا ال نستنع إال جيوشا هبت إلي هنا ً وهناك وكذلك االخفاق في التمية في التعليم وفي محاربة الفقر وفي الصحة وفي العناية باألطفال الذين أطلقنا عليهم إسم أطفال الشوارع إستمعنا لذلك ونحن نقرأ واقع إفريقيا الشباب حلحلة مشاكلهم وجهة كل االمكانيات إلي القتال والمقاتلين وتسليحم والدفاع عن االمن واالستقرارفي إستشراء وإنتشار ً أفريقيا المنظم والممول والمحرض من الخارج ثالثا الفساد المالي ’’ تجارة المخدرات واتلبشر وغيرها ساعد علي غياب ُ صرفها عن إستقالل ثرواتها واالنتفاع بها عمالء االستعمار أفريقيا وأيضا ال يزالون يمسكون ببعض مفاصل السلطة في إفريقا رضينا بذلك ام أبينا والعلم علي نشر الفتن حتي الثورات سيدي الرئيس التي ظهرت في شمال القارة في تونس وفي مصر وليبيا إنقلبت إلي صراع بين أبناء البلد الواحد وإلي مقاتلة بعضهم البعض وإلي عدم االستقرار.HON. BERNADETTE LAHAI [SIERRA LEONE]:Thank you very much Mr President. I also want to thank the two presenters for their presentations.Mr President, since 2008, the number of countries in Africa that have experienced conflict have actually reduced to seven or eight which shows that there has been a big effort on the part of the AU organs and our respective governments.Mr Speaker and Honourrable Members, there are several factors that continue to accentuate the wars and conflicts in Africa. The most important one is the proliferation of small arms and light weapons which continue to fuel wars in Africa. Small arms and light weapons are easy to carry, easy to buy and easy to operate. They can even be smuggled unnoticed from country to country. This is what is actually prolonging our wars. I am happy to report that over the last few years, the world has converged in the United Nations (UN) to develop a tax on the arms trade treaty which was recently adopted by almost all the countries. Currently, countries are being encouraged to sign the arms trade treaty and their parliaments to ratify it. I was part of the negotiations for the first and fourth protocol meeting and following this, there is going to be a meeting in Tanzania that is going to bring thirty parliaments together to start planning the advocacy work as to how our governments should sign and the parliaments should ratify this important document.Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, for our development to be sustainable, Africa particularly needs to be free of small arms and light weapons. There is an ECOWAS treaty on small arms and light weapons and I am sure that there are treaties for other sub regions also. I encourage those countries that have not signed these protocols to do so and I also encourage our national parliaments and governments to enact a national commission on small arms and light weapons. It is not the big arms or the ballistic missiles that are fueling the wars, it is the small arms and they are also sustaining the wars because they are easily bought.Our natural resources should continue to be harnessed so that rebel leaders will not use our natural resources to procure these arms. So, I am making a plea that we should encourage this parliament in the near future to set up a Pan African Parliamentarian Network on Small Arms and Light Weapons. This way, we will also be contributing to ensuring that Africa is free of small arms and, therefore, our development will be faster and easy. I thank you very much.HON. HUGUES ALEXANDRE BARRO CHAMBRIER [GABON]:Merci Monsieur le Président.Je voudrais féliciter, très sincèrement, les responsables de l’Union africaine et également notre propre Commission de la Coopération, des Relations internationales pour la qualité des analyses qui sont faites. Et Dieu seul sait si ces problèmes de sécurité ne sont pas aussi simples qu’on puisse le penser. Mais, tout cela pose la question de la prévention des conflits. Je voudrais avoir l’avis du Commissaire, du Président du Conseil de Paix et de Sécurité de l’Union africaine sur l’avancement de la mise en œuvre de ces mécanismes de prévention, qui sont essentiels pour mieux permettre d’économiser ces conflits.Alors, je voudrais me centrer essentiellement sur la situation au Mali et en République Centrafricaine. Pour le Mali, nous avons les élections qui sont prévues en juillet et je voulais savoir si réellement ces dates vous paraissent réalistes, compte tenu des difficultés de coexistence dans le Nord, avec les groupes Touareg, de la présence encore des putschistes, des difficultés financières. Est-ce qu’on peut réellement penser qu’on aura des élections libres, justes et transparentes dans un tel contexte?Pour la RCA, c’est le même problème, l’analyse des causes est toujours bien faite mais, ce sont les populations qui souffrent de ces situations. Certains sont obligés de fuir; nos propres collègues qui siégeaient avec nous ne peuvent plus venir. Alors, vous voyez que tout cela a un coût. Aujourd’hui, il faut débourser des montants importants pour renforcer la sécurité dans ce pays, alors que là, dans ce cas précis, on a vu la situation se dégrader. Là encore la question de mécanisme de prévention se pose!Merci Monsieur le Président.HON. JEANNE D’ARC MUKAKALISA [RWANDA]:Merci Monsieur le Président, de m’avoir accordé la parole. Comme les autres collègues, je félicite les deux présentateurs.Monsieur le Président,Malgré les efforts que l’Union africaine fournit pour que l’Afrique soit un continent stable, il y a toujours l’insécurité et la violation des droits dans certains pays ciblés dans ce rapport.Monsieur le Président,Lors de l’atelier de deux jours avec le CICR à Pretoria, il nous a montré dans les conflits d’aujourd‘hui, en particulier en Afrique, les civils représentent environ 29 % d’ensemble des victimes, presque les conflits de guerre, armés et civils, ne respectent pas les droits internationaux humanitaires.Monsieur le Président,Avec la Convention de Genève du 12 août 1949 on signait que la protection de la population doit être respectée lors des conflits de guerre. Tout cela me pousse à poser quelques questions à Son Excellence Arcanjo MARIA.Première question: j’aimerais savoir quels sont les mécanismes et les mesures d’accompagnement que l’Union africaine mène pour éradiquer l’insécurité, bien sûr pour promouvoir la paix et la sécurité dans les pays ciblés ainsi que pour protéger la population en particulier les enfants et les femmes qui sont plus vulnérables que les autres?Deuxième question, Monsieur le Président: pourquoi les conflits de guerre, armés et civils, dans les pays ciblés dans ce rapport ne respectent pas les conventions de Genève?Troisième question: quel est le rôle du PAP pour promouvoir le respect et le développement de solides principes de liberté, de liberté civile, de justice et des droits humaines et de paix, des droits fondamentaux au sein de l’Union?Enfin, Monsieur le Président, je voudrais suggérer que la justice pénale internationale doit chercher à faire d’inclusion dans la culture de l’impunité par la poursuite des auteurs de violation.Merci, Monsieur le Président.HON. BONAVENTURE NIYOYANKANA [BURUNDI]:Merci Monsieur le Président, de m’accorder la parole.Si je rejoins mes collègues pour apprécier le rapport, c’est un rapport qui nous donne la situation sécuritaire en Afrique et, en particulier, dans certains pays. C’est un rapport qui montre qu’il y a un besoin urgent, une nécessité d’une collaboration plus étroite entre l’Union africaine et les communautés régionales pour, en fait, prévenir justement ces guerres.Je ne voudrais pas trop insister sur l’intervention de l’Honorable du Kenya qui a parlé de la prolifération des armes, mais je voudrais ajouter que le phénomène de trafic de drogue et même le pillage des ressources naturelles dans certains pays qui, en fait, conduisent à l’achat des armes qui ont un effet très dévastateur sur nos populations, voire les déplacements internes des populations lors d’une guerre.Monsieur le Président,C’est vrai que les causes d’instabilité, de frustrations, il y en a beaucoup, il y a aussi la mauvaise gouvernance, mais je crois que ce ne serait pas une raison, une explication pour la prise des armes. Il faudrait plutôt encourager, d’abord, les pays qui n’ont pas encore signé ces ratifications en rapport avec la bonne gouvernance, la protection des droits des personnes, la prévention des déplacements internes, à le faire avant qu’on ne célèbre les cinquante ans d’existence de l’Union africaine.En tant que députés, il faudrait que nous soyons comme des vecteurs de messages pour aller expliquer à nos dirigeants, à nos populations que l’urne devrait être le seul juge de la bonne ou la mauvaise gouvernance dans nos nations.Je vous remercie.HON. KADIDIATOU COULIBALY SAMAKE [MALI]:Merci, Monsieur le Président.Je voudrais féliciter les deux intervenants pour la qualité de leur rapport qui est conforme à la situation actuelle de la crise au Mali. Il reste certainement beaucoup à faire mais, il y a de bonnes perspectives notamment l’organisation des élections.Monsieur le Président,N’ayant pas beaucoup de temps, je voudrais m’appesantir surtout sur ce point qui me semble fondamental.Les Maliens sont prêts à aller aux élections et je voudrais rassurer ici que tout est mis en œuvre pour cela.Le budget sera bouclé ‘’Inch’Allahou". Mais, la préoccupation principale aujourd’hui, c’est la situation à Kidal, comme cela a été évoqué dans le rapport.Les Maliens ont décidé, à travers son Gouvernement et la représentation du peuple, l’Assemblée nationale, qu’il n’y aura pas d’élections tant que Kidal ne sera pas occupé par les troupes maliennes et l’administration malienne, parce que nous ne comprenons pas que la France qui nous a aidé, qui a fait tout pour que le Mali sorte de cette situation bloque les soldats maliens à l’entrée de Kidal. Ils étaient déjà à l’entrée, il y a quelques jours, on leur a demandé de retourner à Gao.Donc, nous ne comprenons pas cette situation et c’est à la demande du MNLA. Nous vous rappelons que ce MNLA pour, nous, les Maliens, nous pensons qu’il a été la cause de tout ce qui est arrivé au Mali, par leurs revendications séparatistes. À Aguelhok, ils ont tué, massacré 200 soldats et c’est à la suite de cela qu’il y a eu l’occupation des deux tiers du territoire avec d’autres groupes, comme cela a été dit dans le rapport. Donc, pas d’élections sans la libération de Kidal.Le deuxième point que je voudrais évoquer, c’est dire au Président du CPS qu’il est important d’envisager la certification des élections, pour éviter des conflits postélectoraux, parce qu’au Mali, ce n’est plus un secret, la junte soutient un candidat, ce qui pourrait fausser les jeux démocratiques et elle détient certains départements clés, dont le département chargé des élections.Je voudrais demander aussi au Président du CPS de prendre en compte la contribution du Tchad auprès des troupes de la CEDEAO au Mali, cela ne ressort pas dans ce rapport.Je vous remercie.(Applaudissements)HON. ELAMIN DAFALLA GASM ELSEED [SUDAN]:Thank you, very much, Mr. President for the opportunity.Please, allow me to comment on the Report from the Chairperson of the AU Peace and Security Council and the Chairperson of the Committee for Peace and Security from the PAP. Allow me also to commend the good work which is done by the Peace and Security Council of the African Union which they did to solve the problems of some African countries, particularly, the assistance towards solving the problem of the Sudan with the Southern Sudan recently. and they are still working to solve the remaining issues. They should also be commended on their insistence that all African problems should be solved within Africa and not be referred to the Security Council of the United Nations.But Mr. President, if we look at all the problems in the countries referred to in the Report, you will find that there are similarities in all of them. And all this is due to certain things which are economic problems, political problems, absence of good governance, and absence of respect of human rights. And for this reason, if we say what is the way out of these things, you will find that I agree 100 per cent with the recommendation mentioned in this Report that the way out of all these problems is first, to build an African Standby Force, and not to give any chance to any interference from countries outside to intervene in our problems as we saw recently in Mali and other places where the French troops interfered. With a well developed and capacitated force, we can deepen democratization process and ensure good governance and respect for human rights.I think if we look back, we would find that in Africa, we reject in most cases, the transfer of democracy and power by some and the example of that is what happened in Egypt. It is a proper election that came with a proper president, but still some people did not want it to continue. The report also attest to what is happening.Anyway, I think what is done by the Security Council, by —HON. ASSOUMANA MALAM ISSA [NIGER]:Merci Monsieur le Président.Je voudrais, Monsieur le Président, remercier et féliciter l’Honorable Marwick KHUMALO et Son Excellence le Président du Conseil de Paix et de Sécurité de l’Union africaine pour ces deux rapports si enrichissants qu’ils viennent de nous présenter.Je vais commencer, Monsieur le Président, ce n’est pas de mon habitude, par une inquiétude. Au vu de la prolifération de ces conflits à l’Est avec le conflit Somalien et Érythréen, au Centre avec la République Centrafricaine, à l’Ouest avec le Mali et la Guinée Bissau, au Nord avec tout ce qui se passe avec les pays Arabes, et quand on intègre le paradigme selon lequel il n’y a pas de développement sans paix et sécurité, quand on intègre l’autre paradigme qui ressort la nécessité d’avoir des moyens énormes pour régler ces conflits, est-ce que nous ne sommes pas en droit de nous demander si l’Afrique peut se développer?Monsieur le Président,Par rapport au rapport proprement dit, je voudrais relever quand même deux ou trois choses, si le temps me le permet.La première, c’est que j’ai été, j’avoue, un peu déçu de remarquer que le rapport de la Commission a été très superficiel relativement à la question malienne. Je ne comprends pas qu’on traite aujourd’hui de la question malienne sans relever qu’il y avait eu, au préalable, une médiation du Burkina Faso, sans relever au préalable la pro-activité, la solidarité avec laquelle le Tchad est intervenu au Mali - il y a perdu plus de cinquante personnes, sans relever la position du Niger, la réaction du Burkina Faso, du Togo, du Bénin, de la Côte d’Ivoire et même du Burundi, du Nigeria. Tous ces pays sont intervenus. Ils ont envoyé des hommes au Mali pour que la paix règne. Que cela ne ressorte pas sur le document, je crois qu’il faut bien corriger cela comme l’a souhaité ma sœur du Mali.Deuxième chose, Monsieur le Président, il faut rappeler que la question du Kidal est une question qui préoccupe tout le Sahel. Personne n’a compris pourquoi la France a empêché aux forces maliennes et aux forces tchadiennes de rentrer avec elle à Kidal. Et nous, en tant que Nigériens, on sait qu’il y a un vieux projet de la France et des Touaregs d’avoir un territoire touareg qui regrouperait une partie du Mali, une partie du Niger, une partie de l’Algérie, une partie de la Libye.Est-ce que cette attitude de la France ne met pas au clair, à jour cette intention qui met en danger toute l’Afrique occidentale, pas simplement le Mali ou le Niger?Et la troisième chose, Monsieur le Président, que je voulais évoquer, elle est relative à ce qui se passe actuellement. On a regretté que l’Afrique n’ait pas pris le leadership de l’intervention et de maintien de la paix. L’ONU a été obligée de le faire. On comprend parce que les moyens ne sont pas présents. Mais, Monsieur le Président, aujourd’hui que le Mali est engagé dans la recherche de la paix [...].(Applaudissements)HON. JOSEPH NJOBVUYALEMA [MALAWI]:Thank you, Mr. President for this opportunity; I want to thank the two presenters for the ably presented reports. Let me quickly respond to the report. Honourable President, my first reaction to the report is that there is emphasis on crisis management. They are talking about restoration and rebuilding; terms that imply re-activeness and not pro-activeness.They are not talking of how to prevent conflict. The mandate of this House as well as our Committees is to assist in conflict prevention. This is our mandate, but the report emphasises on restoration, the damages that have occurred, people that have died and destruction.The other point I want to raise is that our Committees are briefed by the Peace and Security Council of the African Union. They have no first hand information because they were not on the ground. There is need to give first hand information, but they can’t do that because they were not on the ground. This means this is a third party arrangement. Actually, they were supposed to be on the ground to get the information and brief this House, so that we can see what we can do with AU headquarters.However since the report is already presented I want to say time is running out Mr. President to make Africa a goodplace for all people. The AU and PAP must rise to this challenge.Mr. President you are aware of Millennium Development Goals, which are supposed to be achieved by 2015. This cannot be achieved because of conflict. African countries like other countries in the world have experienced varied degrees of conflicts, and you are aware of that Mr. PresidentPresently, many people are displaced, some are refugees and, therefore, conflict resolution is very paramount in the development strives of Africa.HON. AWAD HAG ALI AHMED [SUDAN]:Thank you Mr. President; I am glad today to have for the first time, a report about peace and security not indicating Darfur or South Sudan. This is because of the patient, continuous and excellent work of the AU through the former President Laurent Ambique. Now South Sudan and Sudan are friends and their people are enjoying their full freedoms. Darfur is also going towards full peace. I am saying this in order to give hope to all Africans and African countries facing conflicts.They should listen to the AU because Africans know each other. Always, the involvement of the United Nations (UN) and foreigners makes the situation more complicated as what happened to Darfur. If you looked carefully at the report, you could easily notice that bad governance and lack of democracy are the main reason for the conflicts in Mali, Central African Republic and others. Therefore, our Parliament has a big role of establishing peace in Africa through observing good governance, democracy and good elections. We should also support the need for African strong mobile forces in order not to allow those colonialists to come back to Africa.I thank you very much.HON. BOHUE MARTIN [CÔTE D’IVOIRE]:Merci Monsieur le Président.Je voudrais me permettre d’exprimer mon admiration par rapport aux exposés présentés par les deux éminentes personalités qui sont intervenues ce matin sur la paix et la sécurité en Afrique.Ces deux exposés ont fait apparaître quatre choses.Premièrement: la déliquescence des institutions politiques en place qui engendre la récurrence des coups de force, synonymes d’instabilité politique.La deuxième chose: c’est le défaut de consensus réel autour de nos institutions politiques nationales.La troisième chose: l’inexistence regrettable des forces sous-régionales, régionales, continentales, capables de dissuader ou même de combattre les actes de déstabilisation.La quatrième chose enfin: c’est la volonté manifeste des dirigeants africains de se maintenir au pouvoir par la manipulation des lois fondamentales de leurs pays.Et pourtant, Monsieur le Président, nous avons en Afrique quelques exemples d’institution qui donnent satisfaction. Nous pouvons citer par exemple l’Organisation pour l’Harmonisation en Afrique du Droit des Affaires (OHADA) qui, comme nous le savons, édicte des principes et directives applicables dans tous les États membres. Et elles ont force contraignante et ça marche bien.Dans le domaine politique, la situation d’instabilité constatée interpelle l’Union africaine et singulièrement le Parlement panafricain qui, s’il était doté de pleins pouvoirs législatifs prendrait ou adopterait des principes, lois et directives applicables avec force contraignante dans nos États.De cette tribune, relativement à la crise socio-militaire politique au Mali, nous tenons à exprimer notre solidarité avec le peuple Malien, nos salutations et encouragements aux forces africaines et françaises qui ont empêché l’occupation totale et entière du territoire malien, et, nous exprimons notre admiration à la CEDEAO sous la présidence de Son Excellence Alassane Ouattara, Président de la République de Côte d’Ivoire, pour sa promptitude et sa ténacité dans la recherche de solutions viables et fiables à l’occupation inadmissible du territoire malien.Je vous remercie.HON. OULÉYMATOU ASCOFARE TAMBOURA [MALI]:Merci, Monsieur le Président.Je voudrais, également, féliciter les deux intervenants pour la qualité de leur rapport. Il reflète bien la situation sur le terrain au Mali.Monsieur le Président,Chers Collègues,Le Mali revient de loin. Il y a quelques mois, c’était le désespoir au double plan sécuritaire et institutionnel, mais par la grâce de Dieu, avec l’aide de la CEDEAO, de l’Union africaine, de l’ensemble de la communauté internationale, l’espoir est aujourd’hui permis. C’est le lieu, encore une fois, d’exprimer la reconnaissance du peuple malien à l’ensemble des forces armées de la CEDEAO et des forces africaines qui opèrent sur le terrain actuellement. Je veux parler du Togo, du Burkina Faso, du Bénin, du Sénégal, de la Guinée, du Niger, de la Côte d’Ivoire, du Nigeria, avec une mention particulière toutefois aux forces françaises pour leur promptitude et aux forces tchadiennes pour leur intervention courageuse et efficace dans le massif de l’Adrar des Ifoghas. C’est ce qui nous a permis de bouter tous les narcotrafiquants au dehors de cette zone.Les présentations faites doivent en faire mention comme cela a été dit. Si l’intervention française est à saluer, elle n’est pas moins préoccupante du point de vue de la solidité et de la crédibilité de notre organisation continentale qui devait être la première sur le terrain.Dans ces conditions, quelle signification donner à notre statut d’État indépendant dont nous étions si fiers.Gérer, c’est prévoir, n’attendons pas d’être en conflit pour bâtir des armées fortes et républicaines.Qu’est-ce que l’Union africaine entend faire pour être proactif dans ce domaine?À quand la force africaine d’attente d’intervention rapide dont vous avez parlée, Monsieur le Président de la Commission, mais sans autre forme de précision.Monsieur le Président,Chers Collègues,Il y a un pays qui inquiète aujourd’hui de par le monde. Je veux parler du Qatar. Il fait partie de ceux qui ont armé et financé l’ennemi chez nous.Quelle mesure votre structure envisage-t-elle pour lutter contre les stratégies de déstabilisation mises en œuvre par ce genre de pays?Les défis auxquels nous sommes confrontés actuellement sont le MNLA, c’est le Mouvement National de Libération de l’Azawad, mouvement armé qui doit être désarmé et aussi le lobby touareg qui existe de par le monde, qui doit être neutralisés en donnant la vraie information sur cette composante minoritaire de la population du Mali.La réconciliation doit passer par la justice forcément. Les élections qu’on prévoit au mois de juillet et pour lesquelles, pour leur réussite, il faut nécessairement neutraliser la junte qui dispose de plus de six départements ministériels, dont le département qui est chargé de l’organisation des élections et certainement cette junte influencera les élections si on n’y prend garde.Je vous remercie.HON. MOHAMED YOUSIF ABDULLAH [SUDAN]:Mr. President, I wish to express my satisfaction with both reports that were presented to us this afternoon. I will go directly to the proposals because time is limited. Firstly, PAP commends the efforts of the Peace and Security Council (PSC), in Conflict Prevention and Management in Africa.Secondly, PAP calls on the PSC to improve its efforts in conflict prevention in Africa, and to extend additional efforts to consolidate the gains of the past decade where conflict trends in Africa had declined.Thirdly, PAP also calls upon the parties to conflict in Africa to co-operate fully with the PSC to end this conflict sooner rather than later.Fourthly, PAP calls upon the Peace and Security Council to take harsh measures against non state actors that are igniting conflict in Africa. Similar action must be taken against leaders of coup d'état by banning non-recognition.Lastly, PAP commends national Parliaments in each country, and also demands that the national Parliaments co-operate with PAP in the area of conflict prevention to assist the PSC in carrying out its duties in the way it is indicated in its mandate. Thank you very much.HON. BAKARY OUATTARA [CÔTE D’IVOIRE]:Merci, Monsieur le Président.Je voudrais faire une réflexion et je commencerai par une citation de Félix Houphouët Boigny qui est le premier Président de la Côte d’Ivoire et qui disait que « la paix n’est pas un mot, c’est un comportement ».L’absence de paix et de sécurité constitue de véritables maux qui minent notre continent. On se posera la question de savoir alors, pourquoi il y a cette fragilité de la paix et de la sécurité dans notre continent? À mon humble avis, il s’agit essentiellement d’un problème de bonne gouvernance. C’est vrai qu’il y a certains aspects tels que le terrorisme religieux qu’il ne faut pas écarter. On parle actuellement au Mali de jihadisme, mais je pense que le mot n’est pas très propre parce que le mot jihad en islam est un terme assez noble.Alors, pourquoi bonne gouvernance? Parce que si nos leaders respectaient les principes élémentaires de la démocratie, le respect de nos Constitutions respectives, une bonne gestion des ressources des États, on aura pour corollaire un minimum de bien-être financier, environnemental et surtout alimentaire. Je dis bien et surtout alimentaire. Et nous aurons la paix à l’intérieur de nos nations. Qui dit paix intérieure, dit sécurité intérieure. Et qui dit sécurité intérieure, dit sécurité à nos frontières.Je n’ai pas le temps de développer ma pensée mais malheureusement, il faut constater que ces principes de bonne gouvernance sont foulés aux pieds par nos leaders qui sont capables de tout. Je dis bien tout, pour s’agripper au pouvoir contre vents et marées.L’une des solutions qui est à notre portée, avec un peu de bonne volonté bien sûr, c’est de donner les vrais moyens d’actions à la Commission de l’Union africaine pour exercer des moyens de pression sur les Chefs d’États qui s’écarteraient des lignes de bonne gouvernance.Tant que nos Chefs d’États seraient libres de manipuler les Constitutions, de dilapider les ressources de l’État en toute impunité, la paix et la sécurité seront de vains mots en Afrique. C’est pourquoi, il faut vivement que le Parlement panafricain passe, très rapidement, vers sa vraie fonction qui est la fonction législative. C’est seulement de cette façon que nous pourrons contrôler nos leaders et les obliger à la bonne gouvernance par le biais du MAEP.La non-consultation de l’Union africaine, comme quelqu’un l’a dit tantôt, par l’ONU dans le cadre de la mise en place d’une force plus large au Mali est essentiellement en rapport avec la faiblesse de l’Union africaine. Cela va de soi. Et je pense que nous avons notre avenir dans notre main. La paix et la sécurité en Afrique dépendent de nous. Et il est temps que nous prenions notre responsabilité.Monsieur le Président du PAP,Nous vous regardons. Nous sommes avec vous. Et je pense qu’il y a quand même un moyen de pouvoir contourner la Conférence des Présidents parce qu’on ne peut pas rester éternellement à la merci de nos Chefs d’États parce que véritablement, ce sont eux qui prennent des décisions à l’Union africaine et nous sommes obligés de subir au niveau du Parlement.Alors, à quand la fin d’être [...]?HON. MIHAMED ALI ALMARDI:بسم هللا الرحمن الرحيمسيد الرئيس إن العرضين الذين قدما تميزا بالموضوعية والوضوح شكرا للوقائع وكنا نرجو أن ال يكتفياء بالسرد فقط بل ً ً صحيحا وقد كانا سردا أو إستنتاجات للوقائع التي سردها حتي يتضمنا عالوة علي ذلك تحليالً نتمكن نحن في البرلمان االفريقي من تقديم توصياتنا كذلك كنا نتوقع أن يتطرق التقريران إشارة إلي إختراق كبير في مجال حل النزاعات قامت به دولتا السودان وجنوب السودان ألن في ذلك تشجيع للدول االفريقية لتنهج هذا النهج المباشر دون أن يكون في حل النزاعات فرصة المالءات من الدول الكبري أو التدخالت غير الحميدة التي إعتاد عليها ً سيدي الرئيس نحن نحتاج في مجلس االمن التابع لألمم المتحدة أيضا للتدخل السريع ً قويا ُ ً ومعدة إعدادا ً وماديا أفريقيا إلي قوة مدعومة عسكريا حتي ال نتيح الفرصة للدول االوربية لتتخل مثل ماتفعل فرنسا األن في مالي وهي ال تفعل ذلك حبا في األفارقة ووإنما لتنفيذ أجندتها الخاصة بهاشكرأسيدي الرئيسHON. ABDORRAHMAN SALEK [SAHARAWI DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC]:بسم هللا الرحمن الرحيمأهني المتاخلين علي تقريرهم الوفي بداية لدي سؤال وهو تكرار لسؤال طرحة بعض الزمالء في هذه القاعة منذ يومين علي رئيسة المفوضية االفريقة سيدة زوما حول بلدي الصحراء الغربي و السؤال ألخصه في االتي هل هناك خارطة طريق لدي االتحاد االفريقي من أجل االسهام مع آليات االمم المتحدة االخري أي المبعوث الخاص لألمين العام لألمم المتحدة مجلس االمن اللجنة الرابعة لتصفية االستعمار وغيرها من آليات االمم المتحدة التي تقوم بمجهودات معتبرة من أجل تصفية االستعمار من الصحراء الغربية السيد الرئيس أنتم تعلمون جيدا أنه إضافة إلي القضية الرئسية التي هي قضية تصفية االستعمار من الصحراء الغربية هناك قضايا أخري مجرد عن االحتالل المغربي ألجزاء كبيرة من الصحراءالغربية مثل قضية ننهب الثروات وسرقة ثروات الصحراء الغربية من طرف الحكومة المغربية وحلفاؤها الغربين وكذلك قضية إنتهاكان حقوق االنسان في االراضي المحتلة من الصحراء الغربية والتي شهدت عليها الكثير من التقارير وتقارير المنظمات ادولية مثل هيومان رايد ووتش واالنترناشونال والمنظمة الدولية لمناهضة التعديد ومجلس حقوق االنسان لآلمم المتحدة وتقارير دولية لوزارة الخارجية االمريكية وغيرها يبقي نفس السؤال المطروح بخصوص تصفية االستعمار هو مطروح بخصوص هذه القضايا وهل هناك برنامج أو خطة من االتحاد االفريقي ومؤسساتة من أجل تصفية األستعمار ومن أجل الضغط علي الحكومة المغربية لآلنصياع لقرارات الشرعية الدولية السيد الرئيس إن قضية الصحراء الغربية هي قضية أفريقيا االولي كآخر مستعمرة فيها فمع أنن نقدر كامل التقدير دور األتحاد االفريقي من دعم ومساندة للقضية الصحراوية إال أنا نري أنها ال تحظي باالولوية الالزمة وكأن القضايا في إفريقيا تخضع للتقادم إن حل هذه المشكلة يقع بالدرجة االولي علي عاتق األتحاد االفريقي بمختلف هياكله من برلمان ومفوضية وغيرها وهي مسؤلسة أفريقية وأفريقيا لها من المكانة الدولية ومن أوراق الضغط التي إن هي إستثمرتها ضد الحكومة المغربية يمكن أن تجل من االسراع لحل ُ هذه النزاع الذي عمر كثيراوشكراHON. ISAAC STEPHEN MABILETSA [BOTSWANA]:Thank you Mr President. When the liberation movement and pre-independence parties in Africa fought for self rule, they never went round terrorising their civilians or anybody else. Some parties, particularly those in the SADC region such as the African National Congress (ANC), South West Africa People’s Organisation (SWAPO), Frente de Liberta^ao de Mozambique (FRELIMO) and the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU, wherever they where located fighting for self rule or the liberation of their countries, they made friends with the leadership and the civilians in those countries.Now, this new animal called Alshabaab and Al qaeda and whatever, one wonders, what are they up to? Their objectives are unknown. The objective of the liberation movement and the pre-independence parties were well known and they were even supported internationally at the UN, the AU and other international bodies, but with these ones, I fail to understand what their objectives are. I do not know what they represent other than that wherever they operate, they terrorise and dehumanise the people or the communities within which they operate. This is my biggest issue, Mr President.The other issue that I think we need to address Mr President, which I also asked about during the Committee sittings is the genesis of the funding for the arms that they are using for the wars they are waging. I have never got a full and satisfactory answer. While we are suffering from hunger, lack of development because we do not have financial resources, they have enough financial resources to terrorize anybody. I am not convinced; Mr President, when I am told that the conflicts were maybe fifteen or whatever the number was, and now they have reduced to seven. One conflict in Africa is one conflict too many because people still suffer.Therefore, I am not happy about that. Another thing I think Africa needs to do is to introspect about the leaders that it creates because they become too powerful and too strong. When the American President, Obama visited Africa, he said Africa needs strong institutions and not strong leaders. Look at where we are as PAP. We want to be given legislative powers and be recognized, but we are struggling with the strong leaders. We need to review how we do things. We elect leaders, we give them so much power and we leave parliament without powers.Mr President, I have never, and I will say this for the second time, heard of a Member of Parliament or a group of Members of Parliament who have taken power by the barrel of the gun or through unorthodox or unconstitutional means. We need to see how we concentrate our power and transfer power from one person to Parliament because Parliament is more representative of the people than one man called the head of state.I thank you.HON. ELSAYED MOUSSA HAZEN [EGYPT]:شكراُ سيادة الرئيسفي البداية أود أن أن أخذ الوقت المناسب الن هناك أمور كثير أريد توضيحها عن التقرير الذي عرضة السيد السفير سفير أنقوال ورئيس لجنة السلم واالمن لهذ الشهر الحقيقة االولي سيدي الرئيس أن هذا التقرير لم يعرض ولم يناقش ولم يعتمد من محلس السلم واالمن في إجتماعاته ُ هذا التقرير قد تضمن العادية علي مستوي السفراء بأديس أبابا ،، ثانيا ً كبيرأمن االنقائية في إختار دول بعينها باالضافة إلي ما تضمنة من قدرا عرض وجهة نظر سلبية عن مصر وبما ال يعكس التطورات االيجابية التي حدثت منذ ثورة 22 يناير وحتي اآلن فلقد تمت إنخابات ديمقراطية حرة علي مستوي مجلسي الشعب والشوري فضالً عن إنتخاب أول رئيس جمهورية بطريقة ديمقراطية ألول مرة في البالد وكتب دستور بإرادة شعبية ألول مرة ،، االمر الثالث أن التقرير يعبر عن وجه نظر كاتبه ويعتبر تقرير شخصي ال يعكس وجهة نظر لجنة السلم واالمن والذي تشارك مصر في عضويته وترأسة جلساته في سبتمبر الماضي وكنا نود من السيد سفير أنقوال رئيس مجلس السلم واالمن في الشهر الحالي أن يقوم بمراجعة ما تضمنه التقرير بشأن مصر مع زميلي في المجلس السفير المصري والذي يشارك معه بأنتظام في مناقشة كافة الموضوعات أننا نثق بأنه كان سيوضح له ً التي تتعلق بالسلم واالمن في أفريقيا وأيضا دقة المعلوماتوالتحليالت حول مصر وعلي هذا سيدي الرئيس إن الوفد المصري يتحفظ بشكل كامل علي هذا التقرير وما تضمنة من شأن مصر ويطالبة بحزفة بإعتباره يعبر عن وجه نظر شخصية ويبتعد عن الموضوعية ويتضمن معلومات غير دقيقة وإستنتاجات غير صحيحة ُ عن الحقائق المعلومة للعامة والخاصة تمثل وجه نظر سلبية وتبتعد تماما فضالُ عن االنتقائية في الدفع بإسم مصر عند تناول هذا التقرير دون توضيح لألسباب لبتي دعت السيد السفير المقر ألستبعاد دول اخر تجنب التقرير االشارة إليها وإذ نؤكد سيادة الرئيس مرة أخري رفض وفد مصر ما تضمنه التقرير فإننا تؤكد تحفظنا علي ما ورد به من معلومات ونطالب بحزفها أو تصحيحها وأسأل سيادتك أيها الرئيس كيف يتم عرض هذا التقرير علي البرلمان االفريقي قبل عرضه وإقراره من مجلس االمن والسلم نفسة هذا سلوك يسير الكثير من عالمات العجب واألستفهام والتقرير الذي جاء من اللجنة الموقرة تدارك هذا األمر ولم يزكر مصر ألن مصر فيها ثورة وليست فوضي فيها ديمقراطية وفيها تعبير عن األراء الحرةشكرأسيدي الرئيسHON. SANIA AHMED MARHBA [SAHARAWI DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC]:شكرأ سيدي الرئيسأريد أن أشكر المتحثين المقدمين للتقريرين أشكرهم وأثني علي تقاريرهم وأقول أنها تقارير شاملة وجيدة وأقل كذلك أن مثل هذه التقارير يمكننا كممثلين لشعوب أفريقيا أن أتثقف وأن أعي وأتعبئ بكل المشاكل والقضايا الموجودة في قارتنا وفي بلداننا وأثني علي تقديم هذا النوع من التقارير وأطلب المزيد من التنوع والتخصص في التقارير المقدمة لنل ولكن أريد أن أضيف وأعلق علي أن هذه التقارير شاملة وكانت مقتضبة في موضوع الصحراء الغربية والصحراء الغربية كما قال الزميل عن ُ من أولويات القارة ومن موضوع تصفية األستعمار ويجب أن يكون دائما أولويات شعوبها بإلضافة إلي خوض الشعب اليوم إنتفاضة ويخوض ربيع وصيف وشتاء وخريف مستمرين من ذ العام 2 1 21 مهذه األنتفاضة المستمرة في العيون وفي الداخل وفي كل مدن الجمهورية العربية الصحراوية الديمقراطية تحاط سلسلة أمنية وبحائط أمني عسكري وأمني وتطويق من طرف السلطات المغربية تغفل هذه المدن عن األنظار وعن الصحافة وعن وسائل اإلعالم كلها وقبل أسبوع كانت هناك أطفال ونسا ء يخلعو مالبسهم في الشوارع وكان هناك أطف ال يداسون بالسيارات سيارات األمن في شوارع العوين وهذا في صمت مطلق عن أنظار وسائل اإلعالم األفريقة وشعوب القارة االفريقية أقول بأنه كان هناك من الضروري علي أن هذه التفاصيل وهذه اإلنتهاكات تقدم في هذه التقارير ليتثني لشعوب القارة األفريقية أن تعيش حقائق الكفاح وحقائق اإلنتفاضة للشعب الصحراوي وأطلب طلب أخير علي أنة في هناك محاوالت من دول مجلس األمن علي أن تكلف مجموعة النمرسو وقواتها أن تحمي حقوق االنسان في الصحراء الغربية وأريد أن أطلب من هذا المجلس الموقر يضمن ضغطة ومطالبته األمم المتحدة واألتحاد االفريقي علي أن االمرسو في الصحراء الغربية تتحمل مسؤلية حماية حقوق األنسان.HON. JERRY DIMOTANA THIBEDI [SOUTH AFRICA]:Thank you, Mr. President.Mr. President, peace and security are the conditions and catalysts without which there can be no development, good governance and the rule of law.So, Mr. President, I believe that the following initiatives can enable the African Union to be more effective in dealing with peace and security concerns on the continent.The first being the revilisation of the early warning systems: Mr. President, the cost of demobilisaiton, disintegration, re-integration and other post-conflict activities such as security reform are far more expensive than prevention. The early warning system could then enable the AU to be vigilant and show constant monitoring and above all ensure in-depth understanding of the dynamics of all levels of conflict including identifying potential conflict spots and mitigating the possibility of relapse into conflict after initial settlement.The second one being the availability of a democratic space - some of the instabilities are a result of bad governance and lack of democracy. When the democratic space is closed, people feel that they have no other means of expressing themselves other than resorting to physical confrontation in order to exert pressure as way of expressing their frustration.The last one is the setting of term-limits of the Heads of State - People who stay longer in the office are likely to develop illegal survival strategies by becoming law unto themselves. These tendencies might force affected people to resort to violence and fighting as the only way to remove the incumbent.Mr. President, peace and security require dedication, commitment and sacrifices when necessary. The responsibility of bringing peace and stability in the continent is the responsibility of all AU member States and not a few. Therefore, all the AU Member States should be able to contribute troops when requested to do so by the African Union.While I appreciate progress made in bringing peace to many parts of our continent including Somalia and Mali, I am equally worried about rising tension in the DRC and the possible withdrawal of Ethiopian troops in Somalia.As alluded to in the Report, the recent unexpected withdrawal of the Ethiopian troops from the town of Huda enabled Al Shabab to regroup and took over the town.HON. ASHEBIR WOLDEGIORGIS GAYO [ETHIOPIA]:I thank you, Mr President. My thanks also go to the presenters.Mr President, since I joined PAP, I have witnessed that we do not have problems with fact findings but the problem is only with solutions. We are always having debates and discussions here and Mr President, it is a pleasure to recommend that as you have a fact finding mission, we need to have a reconciliation mission to all those countries otherwise the debates will stay only in this House.Secondly, Mr President, regarding Somalia, the situation in Somalia is very fragile. We know and we understood from the report of hon. Khumalo that Ethiopia withdrew troops from that region. We witnessed that there is no support from the AU and the UN. It is not only the duty and responsibility of a specific country to fight against terrorism. We need to join hands to fight against terrorism. Al-Shabaab will take over all the areas shortly because as we heard from the reports, it is not ‘dead’. We need to join hands and work together and fight against terrorism otherwise it will be very difficult.Thirdly, Mr President, foreign forces or super powers cannot bring peace and stability for Africa. If we cannot avoid violence on African soil instigated by foreign bodies or even by building huge numbers of military personnel on the African soil - we need to organise and hold transparent, fair and free elections in our countries otherwise it will be very difficult, Mr President. I thank you.HON. JULIANA KANTENGWA [RWANDA]:Thank you Mr. President; in recognizing and applauding the two presenters, I wish to say that the state of peace and security in Africa is nothing to make this House proud. It is evident that a new reality is coming to Africa. A trend of primitive and coordinated self assertion instead of democratic cocoons to raise the process of home groomed state formation.One destructive process in the name of self determination has taken a centre stage. Mr. President I hope a new hope is emerging on the horizon. This week, the head of state from Nigeria His Excellency Good Luck Jonathan visited South Africa had this to say; "The two nations will achieve more acting in concert than acting alone." This is in recognition of the potentials of the two economic powers of Africa.President Zuma on his part indicated that the first step in addressing the continental roles would be the realization of the African Union stand by force. These two realizations Mr. President can spell hope for Africa; that exciting moment we were told at the beginning of this week.Mr. President, the outbreak of the Mali crisis and the subsequent security deficiency in Africa only exposed the lacuna that was filled by the French forces. What a humiliating reality to the African continent!We sent them out because of our blood and we are now inviting them back to solve our problems.Mr. President much as it is a shame to Africa; it should be a shame to the super powers that have disabled us from completing the circle of state formation and state building.Mr. President, I wish to support presentations of the UN envoy to the Great Lakes region when she talked about the framework of hope which is the underlying causes of the conflict for the good. It is in the light of this that I wish to associate with those who spoke before me and call upon AU team to strive and come up with all strategies in the operation of all the intents in regional integration in its natural way to stop state insecurity and fragility.I thank you.HON. LOIDE L. KASINGO [NAMIBIA]:Thank you Honourable President for giving me the Floor. The AU is about to celebrate its 50th Anniversary and there are noticeable achievements since the inception of the OAU, which is now the AU. The biggest achievement is the de-colonisation of Africa, and Namibia where I come from is one of those achievements.However, there is a gloomy picture if we take into consideration the civil wars and conflicts as elaborated by the previous two presenters. My question is; what are the root causes? It has already been stated by various MPs that prevention is better than cure. I support those who said that first of all, we must adhere to the democratic governments which are as a result of democratic, free and fair elections. What do I mean by democratic government?A democratic government should be inclusive at all levels, that is, at the political, social and economic levels. All the citizens in our respective governments should have a share of our cake of natural resources. Once we have that in place, we should be ready to defend our democratic government and the answer to that is the creation of the Permanent Stand by Force as soon as possible.I would like to support my colleague who said that at the end of these deliberations, we must come with recommendations or a Motion to call upon the AU as our heads of state will be about to convene in Addis Abba, to give a gift to African citizens and that gift is the establishment of the Stand by Force as soon as possible.Secondly, 60 per cent of our citizens on the African continent are youths. The youths should be sensitised to defend Africa their continent intellectually and physically.I thank you, Honourable President.H.E. ARCANJO MARIA DO NASCIMENTO [CHAIRPERSON OF THE PEACE AND SECURITY COUNCIL]:Hon Speaker, I will be brief. I firstly I would like thank the distinguished members of PAP for their comments and observations. Of course we deemed to draft a comprehensive report, but in the interest of time and due to the fact that we would like to concentrate on flash points on the continent, that is why we have the report with just the situation in the regions and countries that I mentioned before.We have full mandate from the Peace and Security Council to present this which by the way is a very factual report based on the information we collect from our assessment of situation on the ground. This report would like especially to emphasize the work of the AU, particularly the Peace and Security Council to promote peace and security on the continent. We didn’t want to get into the different approaches with regard to the root cause of this conflict, but rather to focus on what the AU is doing in order to restore peace.Another general observation is that in fact conflict has reduced a whole lot in our continent. If we compare to previous years, we have less conflicts although we had some setbacks, but that is due to the futility of the peace process going on in some of the regions on our continent. Most conflicts arise from disputes around electoral processes. Some others arise because of differences within some countries. Others arise because the countries are so fragile that they are at the risk of reversing the gains they made in the peace process, especially countries in transition like the DRC, the Central African Republic where the peace path was taking good course, but state institutions are not strong enough. There are a lot of challenges in terms of diversity of population, and without the assistance of the continent, there is always the risk of these countries reversing the gains they already made. And this is the situation we are facing in some countries.With regard to the focus of the Peace and Security Council, of course the focus is on prevention. We haven’t finished yet, the establishment of African Peace and Security architecture. There are some bodies that are already functioning like the Peace and Security Council which sits at the top of this architecture. But there is the panel of the elders that are already working. There are some other bodies that are yet to put at work, in particular, the standby force. The standby force has made some progress because the first step of this standby force is at regional level. Some regions are well-advanced in terms of submission to regional brigades. Others are not yet. That is why we have some problems in addressing the pressing situations like recently in Mali.I would like also to point out that there is need for us, on one hand, to work towards establishment of this standby force at continental level, and also to develop its rapid reaction capacity. This is a key issue in the standby force because had we established this before, I think we would be able to address the request by some countries like in Mali, instead of inviting the former colonial power. The fact that France intervened was because of our lack of ability to address the situation. The Ministers of Self-Defense and military staff met recently in Addis Ababa. They discussed the issue of a standby force, and this issue will be revisited later this year. We are already working on it. This will be a tool that the African Union can use in future to prevent foreign powers outside the continent to interfere. But the decisions of the governments will be crucial for this force to be established, not only on political will, but also the contribution in resources.Addressing some of the concern raised here, I would firstly like to address concerns by colleagues with regard to whether the mechanisms of prevention are already working. I should say that yes, we have a broad range of mechanisms that can be used by the African union in order to prevent conflict; not only the formal mechanisms but there are also the informal ways to address the situation. I just want to point out one thing. Some of the conflicts lately in the continent derive from, as I have mentioned before, disputes of electoral results. The AU is addressing this situation in a very efficient manner. By sending electoral observers for instance, Long-term electoral observers, that can monitor the whole process leading up to the elections, also sending observers to observe how the elections are being conducted and also observers that stay to see how disputes that may arise from the electoral results should be settled.Recently, we had an example in Kenya where the process was conducted according to the norms because the AU was very efficient in setting up the mechanism in order to prevent conflict. We can say that the result was peaceful, even though there were some challenges to the outcome of the elections, but they could resolve it peacefully resorting to the legal means. This is an example that we want to set in the continent in other electoral processes. This is one way to prevent countries that are going through elections really from getting into this conflict situation. This is a preventive tool that the AU is using. And also, the Panel of Eminent Persons is being very active in moving in when there is some hotspot of conflict in some of our countries.There are some other informal ways used by the Chairperson the Commission and or the other important actors. Here I would like to address the role of regional institutions, the so-called RECS. They are very active because given the principles of sadc, they take the lead in addressing the cases when they emerge in some countries on the continent. We have examples here in Southern Africa in Madagascar where SADC took the lead and the UA is supporting the efforts of SADC and other stakeholders. So there is this close interaction between the AU, on one side, and the regional institution. We have another example in West Africa in Mali where ECOWAS has taken the lead and received the support from the AU. So this is a way to address this. We realised that countries in the regions should be the one to step in when crises arise because they have the means, the resources and capacity to influence how the peace process can be conducted.With regard to the human rights violations; of course this is not something that we are overlooking. The African Union has the Commission of Human and People’s Rights which is monitoring the situation in all countries, not only particularly in those affected by conflict. So, there is work being done in the area of human rights.Also the AU is encouraging all parties to resolve peacefully and through negotiations, their differences and discouraging military rebellion as a means to solve the differences or to succeed to power. One of the areas where the AU has been very consistent is in applying the rules and norms like the Charter, is the law of succession. The AU does not recognise and imposes sanctions on any regime that succeeds to power through unconstitutional means. This happened in Guinea Bissau, in the DRC, Madagascar. That is just a few examples. One the other hand, we suspended these countries according to the AU rules. This is one way to discourage all those who would like to seek unconstitutional means to accede to power rather than the ballot.Of course the contribution of ECOWAS in the solving of the crises I think was not well emphasized in the report, but is something that we can later one address and amend the report to this effect. I am just addressing some of the concerns raised here by some of the countries, in particular countries from the ECOWAS regions. This is something that we really value a lot - the contribution of regional organizations in this, like ECOWAS, in the crisis in Guinea Bissau and Mali.With regard to the situation in Western Sahara, it is on the agenda of the Peace and Security Council. Of course allow some time for the mediation to work. The UN is deeply involved, the AU is also deeply involved and this issue will be revisited during the upcoming summit of the AU in May.I believe, Mr. Chair, I addressed the main concerns here.Thank you very much.HON. MARWICK KHUMALO [SWAZILAND]:Mr. President I want to thank colleagues for their input which has been more constructive on the peace and security situation in Africa. But just probably refer to one issue for clarification. It will be unwise Mr. President to fold our hands if we are unable to go to conflict ridden countries because of the issue of resources. If resources are not available, we will always find other means of getting information and, clearly it is not one form of getting information, but we utilize various ways of getting information.So, we will continue to do so because sometimes resources are not available, but we still need to do some work for the PAP, and we will continue to do so. Otherwise the ideal thing is to visit the areas, and we wish to make our recommendations on those areas.Mr. President thank you.THE PRESIDENT:I thank you, Honourable Chair and I thank most especially our Guest Speaker, His Excellency, Ambassador Arcanjo Maria Do Nascimento, the Chairperson of the African Union Peace and Security Council and Ambassador of the Republic of Angola to Ethiopia and to the African Union for his detailed presentation.Excellencies, we thank you for the cooperation that we have received. We thank you for making out time to be with us today and to also listen to the concerns of Members of the Pan-African Parliament.Honourable Members, we would definitely agree that the issue of peace and security remains paramount on the agenda of this parliamentary institution because we are convinced that there can be no development on our continent without peace. And as such, all hands must be on deck and all parties, all interest groups; all stakeholders must do whatever we can to enhance the prevention of conflict on our continent. This is because, during these conflicts, our women and children suffer very terrible situations in conflict areas. During these conflicts we lose lives of many young citizens of our continent. And I believe that working together with the Peace and Security Council, the Pan-African Parliament can contribute to the process of conflict prevention and conflict mediation and resolution on our continent.Once again, Your Excellency, on behalf of the Bureau and Members of the Pan-African Parliament, we thank you for being with us today.Honourable Members, may we give a round of applause to our Presenter.[Applause]And I now call on the Clerk to make some housekeeping announcements.THE CLERK:Honourable President, we have committee meetings this afternoon at 2:30 p.m. The Committee on Cooperation, International Relations and Conflict Resolution in Committee Room Number 1; Committee on Health, Labour and Social Affairs, Committee Room Number 2; Committee on Rural Economy, Agriculture, National Resources and Environment, Committee Room Number 3; Committee on Justice and Human Rights, Committee Room Number 4; and Committee on Transport, Industry, Communication, Energy and Technology in Committee Room Number 5.Thank you, Mr. President.PRESIDENT:We have now come to the end of our Business for today. Therefore, this House stands adjourned until tomorrow Thursday, 9th May, 2023 at 9:00 o’clock in the morning.I thank you.ADJOURNEMENT [13:38:10]
Thursday, 9 May, 2013
THE PRESIDENT:Please, be seated.Honourable Members, in accordance with Rule 9 of the Rule of procedure we shall now swear in New Members of Pan-African Parliament.The following hon. Member took the Oath of Solemn Declaration, signed it and took his seat.1.Hon. Paramount Chief Bai Kurr Kanagbaro Sanka [Sierra Leone]THE PRESIDENT:Honourable Members, in accordance with provisions of Rule 38(1) H.It is with great pleasure that I invite Professor Abdoulaye Bathily, Minister of state, Advisor to the Head of states of Senegal to enter the chambers.May I also invite Mr. Joel Netshitenzhe, Executive Director, Mapungubwe Institute for Strategic Reflection to please enter the chamber.Honourable Members as we commence the business of the day, may I invite the Clerk to read the first order of the day.THE CLEK:Thank you Mr. President.1.Presentation and Debates on the Theme of the Summit "Pan-Africanism and Africa Renaissance"2.Presentation and Debates on Africa Union, 50th Anniversary: Achievements and challengesTHE PRESIDENT:Thank you Mr. Clerk.Honourable members, may I on your behalf invite Professor Adoulaye Bathily Minister of State, Adviser to the Head of State of Senegal to make a presentation to this Parliament on Pan-Africanism and African Renaissance.PR ADOULAYE BATHILY [MINISTRE D’ÉTAT, CONSEILLER DU CHEF DE L’ÉTAT DU SÉNÉGAL]:Monsieur le Président,Honorables membres du Parlement panafricain,Je voudrais tout d’abord exprimer une satisfaction personnelle d’être ici, ce matin, devant vous, à ce Parlement panafricain.En 2003, alors que j’étais membre de l’Assemblée nationale du Sénégal, Vice-président et membre du Parlement de la CEDEAO, la Communauté Économique des États de l’Afrique de l’Ouest, j’avais été invité par la Présidente du Parlement Sud africain d’alors Madame Frene GINWALA, avec d’autres collègues parlementaires pour réfléchir au cours d’un séminaire à Cape Town sur ce que doit être le futur Parlement panafricain: ses attributions, ses pouvoirs et ce que les peuples d’Afrique doivent en attendre. Et, je suis heureux aujourd’hui de constater la mise en place de ce Parlement depuis quelques temps et le rôle qu’il commence à jouer dans le panorama des institutions panafricaines. Donc, c’est un plaisir personnel d’être là aujourd’hui en tant qu’ancien parlementaire ayant contribué à la mise en place de votre institution.Je suis heureux également de la proposition qui m’a été faite de parler de ce thème: « Panafricanisme et Renaissance africaine ». En réalité, le Parlement que vous constituez est en fait le résultat des premiers processus que le Panafricanisme et la Renaissance africaine ont initié au cours des dernières décennies.D’abord, qu’est-ce qu’il faut entendre par « Panafricanisme »?Le Panafricanisme - j’ai donné les éléments dans le papier qui vous a été distribué, je ne vais pas entrer ici dans les détails - c’est un mouvement à la fois intellectuel et politique né dans la diaspora et au sein des élites africaines, depuis au moins le 18e siècle et qui, jusqu’au 20e siècle, a constitué le fondement de ce qu’on peut appeler, de manière plus générale, le mouvement de libération des peuples d’Afrique. Il pose ses racines dans l’histoire tragique des peuples d’Afrique: la traite atlantique des esclaves qui a déporté des millions d’Africains, de notre continent, vers l’Amérique et les îles du continent américain.C’est un mouvement aussi qui est né justement de la protestation contre l’esclavage des Noirs, un mouvement de protestation qui est né au sein des intellectuels afro-américains et caribéens. Mais aussi, c’est un mouvement qui pose ses racines dans la protestation des nouvelles élites qui sont nées de l’expansion européenne de la colonisation et du développement des idées racistes en Afrique et, de manière générale, dans le monde.Donc, le Panafricanisme, globalement, c’est un mouvement de protestation, mais aussi un mouvement qui voulait réhabiliter l’Homme noir, l’Homme africain face aux tentatives à la fois intellectuelles et politiques, de lui renier son identité.Ce mouvement, à partir de la fin du 19e siècle a pris corps et devenu un mouvement politique. En effet, l’ensemble de ces groupes de protestation, en Amérique mais aussi le long de la Côte africaine, parmi les élites, a conduit à la création de la première organisation panafricaine, en 2900, à Londres. C’est à Londres en 2900, qu’a été porté sous les fonts baptismaux le mouvement panafricain initié par un avocat antillais célèbre Henry Sylvester Williams de Trinidad; mais aussi avec le soutien de plusieurs représentants des élites africaines de cette période venus d’Afrique de l’Ouest, de la Gold Coast, en particulier, de Sierra Léone, du Libéria, du Nigéria, d’Afrique du Sud, puisque les premiers, ceux qui vont lancer ce que va devenir le Congrès National Africain, P.K. Seme, fait partie de ces intellectuels qui ont porté sur les fonts baptismaux, le mouvement panafricain.De 1900 à 1945, le mouvement panafricain va être l’organisation qui va fédérer la protestation contre le système colonial. Il va tenir plusieurs congrès, mais surtout en Europe, aux États-Unis puisque, à l’époque, la nuit coloniale s’était imposée au continent africain; avec les administrations coloniales, il n’était pas possible d’organiser de tels congrès sur le continent luimême. Ce sont les conditions particulières démocratiques en Europe de l’époque, avec le soutien de l’église et des forces démocratiques que le mouvement panafricain a pu tenir ses congrès en Europe et en Amérique. Avec l’organisation du Congrès de Londres en 1945, dont la cheville ouvrière a été Kwame NKRUMAH de la Gold Coast, le mouvement panafricain profitant du mouvement de libération de l’après guerre va mettre la jonction entre continent africain et la diaspora et les luttes des africains en Europe, en Amérique, avec la décolonisation.Kwame Nkrumah et son ami Georges Padmore mais aussi le Noir américain célèbre William Du Bois, entre autres, vont désormais lier directement le mouvement panafricain en tant que mouvement intellectuel, mouvement politique de réhabilitation des Noirs avec le processus de décolonisation sur le continent africain. Et, le manifeste du mouvement panafricain au Congrès de Londres rédigé de la main de Kwame Nkrumah et de Georges Padmore va être, en fait, le cri de guerre, le point de départ pour la décolonisation accélérée du continent africain. Kwame Nkrumah quitte Londres et s’embarque pour s’installer sur le continent africain. Et, tout le reste est connu, il va s’engager de manière inlassable dans la lutte pour la décolonisation du continent africain. Avec d’autres leaders africains, on va assister à l’accélération du mouvement avec la création de différentes organisations: groupe de Casablanca, groupe de Monrovia. C’est une histoire, du reste, bien connue. Évidemment, tout cela va être couronné par l’indépendance du Ghana en 2957, le point de départ du processus qui va mener plus tard à la création - je vais y revenir - de l’Organisation de l’Unité Africaine en 1963.Mais, cette décolonisation du continent africain au Sud du Sahara va également être articulée, non pas seulement à la question des Noirs et la question de la diaspora, mais aussi va être articulée à la problématique globale de la libération des peuples opprimés et dominés à travers le monde. C’est ainsi que Kwame Nkrumah va se lier avec l’Égyptien Gamal Abdel Nasser. Vous savez que, en 1952, grâce à cette révolution de juillet des officiers libres, l’Égypte devient non seulement l’épicentre du mouvement de libération dans le monde arabe, l’Égypte donne une impulsion au nationalisme arabe mais également, un soutien à l’ensemble des pays du Maghreb comme le Soudan, pardon! Oui, bien sûr le Soudan, mais aussi la Tunisie et pratiquement, à l’espace de quelques années, sous des formes ou d’autres l’ensemble de ces pays de l’Afrique du Nord vont être indépendants. Mais également, au-delà de ces pays africains du Nord, il y a de manière globale, le processus de libération au Moyen-Orient: le combat du peuple palestinien mais aussi ce qu’on appelle le mouvement de Bandoeng avec Sukarno en Indonésie mais aussi l’Inde.Bref, le mouvement panafricain va être donc articulé au mouvement global des peuples colonisés, des peuples dominés, des peuples « de couleur » - je ne sais pas s’il y a d’ailleurs une personne qui n’a pas de couleur - mais, c’est le jargon colonial. Donc, le panafricanisme revêt une dimension à la fois africaine mais internationale, qui va, au-delà de ces pays, être lié aussi au mouvement en Amérique latine, en 1959, avec la révolution cubaine et l’expansion du nationalisme bolivarien en quelque sorte. À travers le reste de l’Amérique latine, le Panafricanisme va être une dimension du processus de lutte anti-impérialiste et anticoloniale. Et, c’est ce processus, évidemment à l’intérieur du continent qui mènera à l’indépendance de beaucoup de pays d’Afrique, avec la création de l’Organisation de l’Unité Africaine (OUA) en 2963, la création du Comité de Libération basé à Dar Es Salam.L’Organisation de l’Unité Africaine devient en quelque sorte la réalisation concrète du rêve panafricain de libération et de réhabilitation du continent africain lié à la réhabilitation et à l’expression de l’identité des peuples, jusqu’ici sous domination coloniale. Le comité de Libération, comme vous le savez, a joué un rôle très important dans le soutien aux mouvements des pays encore sous domination coloniale, comme les pays sous domination coloniale portugaise et, par la suite et en même temps, les pays sous domination raciste: Zimbabwe, Afrique du Sud, etc.Donc, la création de l’OUA a été l’expression la plus achevée du rêve panafricain: une Afrique unie politiquement, une Afrique réhabilitée dans son identité, en tant que partie de la grande famille humaine. La reconnaissance de cette identité a été une dimension importante de l’histoire mondiale, au 20e et au 21e siècle. Bien entendu, de1963 à 2000, pendant quelques décennies, ce rêve panafricain s’est exprimé sous différentes formes. Mais, ce que nous avons constaté, c’est que aussitôt l’indépendance acquise, beaucoup de pays africains ont eu tendance à, sinon, oublier, en tout cas dans leurs pratiques, à ne pas traduire dans les faits, des éléments essentiels de l’idéal panafricain, au-delà de l’unité africaine. On a eu tendance à dire que l’Organisation de l’Unité Africaine était un syndicat de chefs d’État et non pas l’expression de l’idéal qui en a été le fondement, à savoir une véritable libération des peuples, parce que de 2963 jusqu’aux années 2000, ce à quoi on a assisté, c’est une dégradation rapide de la situation en Afrique, à la fois sur le plan politique, sur le plan économique, sur le plan social. Certains ont pu même parler de décennies perdues. Le Président du Ghana John Dramani Mahama, qui a écrit une intéressante bibliographie, a parlé de « Stories from the lost decades of Africa ». Évidemment, ces années perdues, on peut les repérer à travers un certain nombre d’indicateurs de la vie africaine de cette période. Il y a d’abord les coups d’État militaires crescendos qui se sont abattus sur les pays. À quelques rares exceptions près, les États africains sont tombés sur la férule de dictatures militaires. On peut compter sur le bout des doigts le nombre de pays qui n’ont pas subi de coups d’État militaires, qui ont annihilé l’idéal démocratique pour lequel les chantres du panafricanisme se sont battus.Il y a également une régression économique dans beaucoup de pays. Là aussi, il y a plusieurs indicateurs qui le montrent: la famine, une désindustrialisation; le système éducatif malgré des progrès a connu des crises multiples dans beaucoup de pays; la gestion politique a connu également beaucoup d’errements. Il faut le reconnaître, chacun de nos pays, lorsque nous voyons l’itinéraire qui nous a amené ici, on peut dire que dans les années qui ont suivi les indépendances, évidemment, on ne peut pas parler de progrès continu. Pire, les politiques d’ajustement structurel, qui ont été imposées par les bailleurs de fonds bilatéraux et internationaux ont abouti, dans bien des cas, à un effondrement de l’État. Les coupes dans les budgets sociaux, qui ont entraîné un peu partout une délégitimation des États, leur affaiblissement, ce qui a fait le lit des guerres civiles, qui ont éclaté un peu partout. Ces guerres civiles qui ont ensanglanté l’Afrique - qui sont connues, parce que vous venez de différents pays - constituent la négation aussi de l’idéal panafricain. Dans beaucoup de pays, les gouvernements ont eu du mal à assurer la gestion des sociétés avec leur diversité. Ces graves problèmes, évidemment, ont été notés mais aussi, il faut le reconnaître, des progrès dans d’autres secteurs.Peu à peu, on s’est rendu compte que l’Organisation de l’Unité Africaine, grâce a son appui aux mouvements de libération nationale a conduit effectivement à la décolonisation des pays sous domination portugaise, il faut rendre hommage aux États africains, aux forces démocratiques à l’intérieur de ces États, qui ont soutenu ces mouvements de libération nationale. Les gens de ma génération ont vu, dans nos différents pays, à travers les activités de l’Organisation de l’Unité Africaine ou d’autres regroupements sous-régionaux, les leaders des mouvements de libération obtenir non seulement les visas, des soutiens matériels, financiers qui ont permis la conduite de leurs activités jusqu’à la victoire. Ceci est un élément important, c’est-à-dire que la solidarité africaine, malgré les difficiles conditions, s’est exprimée tout au long d’un pays à l’autre, avec plus ou moins de vigueur, il faut le reconnaître. Ce tableau de ce qu’on peut appeler les manquements et même les échecs, osons-le dire, de l’Afrique postindépendance ont conduit à la fin du dernier millénaire à une nouvelle réflexion qui était le produit à la fois interne mais aussi le résultat des transformations de l’environnement international.À la fin des années 1990, de plus en plus en Afrique, on a vu se développer de nouveaux mouvements dans le cadre d’une transition démocratique qui s’est exprimé dans tous les pays, après des révoltes, des luttes intenses à l’intérieur de différents pays et globalement sur le continent, une nouvelle réflexion est née sur la nécessité de faire renaître l’Afrique et d’aller vers une application, une réalisation des idéaux du panafricanisme. Et le concept de Renaissance de l’Afrique est né de ce questionnement, de cette réflexion sur les conditions du continent à l’orée du premier millénaire, du deuxième millénaire. Une réflexion était engagée pour savoir ce qu’il faut faire pour améliorer la gouvernance sur le continent, améliorer l’économie du continent, redéfinir l’identité du continent, affirmer la place du continent dans le monde, comme acteur nouveau et positif.Le Président Mbeki a donné une impulsion à cette réflexion théorique. Mais aussi, dans les universités, dans les mouvements sociaux, cette réflexion s’est engagée et s’est traduite en fin de compte par la création de l’Union africaine (UA) en 1999. Et, la traduction de cette volonté, de cette nouvelle tentative de renaissance du continent africain s’est exprimée à travers, évidemment la nouvelle Charte, le nouvel Acte constitutif de l’Union africaine, les nouveaux organes qui ont été créés dont ce Parlement. Le renouveau économique, on a voulu le traduire à travers le NEPAD et d’autres instruments qui constituent aujourd’hui des guides pour l’action de notre organisation continentale. La renaissance africaine donc, aujourd’hui, est une aspiration des peuples africains, une aspiration des élites africaines.Qu’est-ce qu’on peut en attendre? Je sais que mon collègue, tout à l’heure, va en parler. Lorsque nous faisons l’état de la question aujourd’hui, qu’est-ce qu’on peut constater? Eh bien, cette renaissance, sur le plan économique constitue, sans aucun doute, une aspiration et la principale.Il y a des ombres, mais il y a aussi quelques rayons de lumière, donc des éléments d’espoir au tableau. L’ombre au tableau, bien entendu, c’est la situation qui est caractérisée aujourd’hui, tout le monde le constate à travers nos différents pays mais également, globalement, que l’Afrique n’est pas encore un acteur fondamental dans le processus économique mondial. Certes, le taux de croissance est considéré comme un des plus importants aujourd’hui par rapport à l’Europe, par rapport à l’Amérique, on parle de 5 à 6 % et plus pour certains pays, mais lorsqu’on regarde, on décortique bien ce taux de croissance, on verra bien que c’est surtout les pays exportateurs de minerai liquide ou solide: le pétrole, le gaz, les autres minerais.Sur le plan de l’agriculteur, les Africains, pour le moment ne se nourrissent pas eux-mêmes; nous importons essentiellement de l’extérieur. Notre agriculture est dépendante, même quand elle est exportatrice de produits de rente non transformés pour l’essentiel. Les éléments du pacte colonial demeurent pour l’essentiel la caractéristique de l’économie africaine: l’exportation de matières premières, peu de transformation, donc une industrialisation encore très faible, avec toutes ses conséquences. Et, plus grave, les tendances à l’accaparement des terres africaines par des multinationales pour produire en Afrique, pour l’exportation. Ce qui, aujourd’hui, nous cause des préoccupations majeures sur le continent, l’accaparement des terres africaines par des groupes à l’extérieur du continent.Sur le plan politique, sans aucun doute, là aussi la démocratisation, incontestablement a connu des progrès importants. La diversité s’exprime dans la presse. Sur le plan politique, ce Parlement en est aussi l’expression. Des parlementaires venus de différentes sensibilités politiques de différents pays sont là, dans ce Parlement. On ne peut pas dire que c’est représentatif d’un seul parti, même à l’intérieur d’un même pays. Donc, des progrès dans la gestion de la diversité africaine, chaque nation africaine est une nation arc-enciel, ce n’est pas valable seulement pour l’Afrique du Sud, tous nos pays. Diversité culturelle, diversité religieuse, diversité politique, diversité sociale, c’est une grande richesse aujourd’hui qui est reconnue et que les Africains veulent retenir.L’Afrique, une Afrique, une Voix! Là aussi, sans aucun doute avec la nouvelle architecture, l’Afrique commence à parler d’une voix, donc les éléments de la renaissance sont là. Mais, nous devons prendre conscience de l’importance de la longueur du chemin encore à parcourir, parce que lorsque vous regardez nos relations internationales, aujourd’hui, on ne peut pas dire que devant les grandes crises qui affectent l’Afrique, l’Afrique réellement parle d’une seule voix. Est-ce que l’Afrique elle-même se défend, défend sa propre sécurité? Les tragiques événements qui se passent aujourd’hui au Nord Mali en constituent une des illustrations, parmi tant d’autres; la crise en République Démocratique du Congo. En fait, jusqu’ici, malgré les progrès importants qui ont été accomplis, nous devons être conscients du fait que, jusqu’ici, ce que j’appelle le syndrome de Berlin est encore là, l’Afrique morcelée, l’Afrique divisée sur des bases linguistiques, sur des bases géopolitiques qui ne participent pas de l’intérêt global de l’Afrique. Aujourd’hui, constatons-le, beaucoup de nos chefs d’État ne sont pas aussi massivement présents lorsqu’il y a les sommets de l’Union africaine. Par contre, lorsque de l’extérieur, certains groupes appellent, tout le monde est là. Cela, il faut le constater.(Applaudissements)Donc, c’est une dimension. Voilà quelques éléments que je voulais mettre sur la table; les parlementaires - j’en ai été un - notre rôle c’est de jouer une sorte de veille permanente. Nous ne sommes pas les porte-voix d’un Gouvernement, nous sommes les porte-voix, en tant que parlementaires, de l’Afrique dans sa diversité, de l’Afrique qui veut parler d’une voix face aux autres continents. Nous sommes de cette Afrique, qui pour s’exprimer, s’affirmer comme acteur décisif du monde d’aujourd’hui, doit être une Afrique de tolérance, tolérance politique, tolérance religieuse; mais aussi, une Afrique socialement en paix avec elle-même. La bombe, aujourd’hui, que constituent les millions de jeunes sans emploi du fait de la faible industrialisation, de l’agriculture qui est encore à l’état de non développement, il faut le dire, cette situation sociale nous interpelle tous.Voilà, Monsieur le Président, Honorables membres du Parlement, les considérations que je voulais faire.Je vous remercie de votre aimable attention.(Applaudissements nourris)THE PRESIDENT:Thank you very much Professor Adoulaye Bathily Senior Minister in the Office of the President of the Republic of Senegal for that very wonderful presentation. Honourable colleagues, may we please give him another round of applause.Honourable Members may I, on your behalf call upon Mr Joel Netshitenzhe the Executive Director of the Mapungumbwe Institute for Strategic Reflection to make a presentation on the AU 50th Anniversary achievements and challenges.MR. JOEL NETSHITENZHE [EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, MAPUNGUMBWE INSTITUTE FOR STRATEGIC REFLECTION]:Honourable Vice President,Hon Members,I should reiterate the gratitude of Prof. Bathily for this opportunity to interact on the motion of Pan-Africanism and the African renaissance.I would refer to them jointly as the Pan-African Renaissance and deal with them in the context of Agenda 2063, which is the objective that the African Union seeks to address in the context of the anniversary of the Organisation of African Unity.We would all agree that throughout the world, there is growing international interest in Africa. With regions from countries of the globe brushing up their Africa strategies and yet the irony is that Africa itself does not have an America, Asia or Europe Strategy. All this arises as the Professor indicated, from the fact that Africa is showing great potential, which is undertaken in part by growing democratization, vast natural resources and a clearer picture to all of the world about the trajectory that Africa can and should adopt in the coming period.New players are starting to take active part in Africa’s economic growth and development; China, India, South Korea, Malaysia and others. In this context, they are reconfiguring the relations that Africa has had with the globe, which historically were informed by the dictates of colonialism, neo-colonialism and the cold war. But Africa emerges in terms of the global interest as one of the areas of focus amongst the big powers also because of the so-called "war on terror" which has elevated Africa’s strategic significance in international security considerations.So, as we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), we have to pose the question, where will Africa be in 2063 - 50 years from now? And indeed, we need to map out this scenarios proceeding from the premise that rendezvous will depend primarily on what Africans themselves do. As the Professor indicated, recent discourses revolved around notions of Pan-Africanism and African Renaissance, as philosophical underpinnings to the continent’s endeavours. Are these concepts still relevant today? Will they be relevant as Africa charts out that trajectory into the next 50 years?As we know, from luminaries such as Marcus Garvey, and W. E. B. du Bois, to Kwame Nkrumah, Nnamdi Azikiwe and others, Pan-Africanism has been a recognition of the common experience and common destiny of Africa’s people for unity, independence and self determination. From, Pixley ka Seme of South Africa on the regeneration of Africa to Sheikh Anta Diop of Senegal in his essays on culture and development and former President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, the African-Renaissance has been conceptualise as rejecting the notion that Africans are objects of others curiosity and are certain that Africans have contributed to and should continue to contribute in shaping human civilization.It is in this context that we should reflect on Agenda 2063. In my view, the notions of Pan-African and the African Renaissance have not lost their significance.But in addressing them - in raising them - as low stars, we have to proceed from the premise that today’s generations are architects of a new socio-economic system which should express itself in what I would refer to as a continental democratic revolution.So, Pan-African and the African-Renaissance are no longer concepts that underpin protest and resistance but should be concepts that inform creation that inform development.The question has been posed - is the re-generation of the continent signaling a variety of ways over the past two decades sustainable? Do internal and external factors on the continent further inform the new trajectory going forward? Shall we accomplish the Pan-African Renaissance by 2063?I think to answer this question we need to appreciate the key driving forces that have informed the positive developments that have taken place in Africa in the past 20 years or so. Amongst others, as the Professor has indicated, Peace and Stability has been attained in most of the continent. South Africa, the last bastion of white colonial domination has been liberated. Debilitating conflicts in countries such as Angola, Mozambique, Ethiopia, Sierra Leone, Sudan and Liberia have been resolved. And in most of the continent a new crop of leaders has emerged; capable states have been built, law-governed systems have being forged; and democracy and citizen participation have improved. And I would want to add that a critical element of this is a the role of the African intelligentsia and much of the middle strata, including the media.These and other factors have contributed to higher rate of economic growth, coupled with and improvement in the socio-economic conditions of Africa’s people. According to the United Nations, in Sub-Saharan Africa in the past 15 years or so, the proportion of the population earning less than US$1.25 a day has declined. Primary education and enrolment has improved. Under five years mortality rate has declined. And this is on the back of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth in Africa per person that is per capita that has increased by about 2.3 per cent per annum between 1995 and 2009. Trade with the world has stabled and foreign debts have declined by some 25 per cent.Indeed, it is in the context of all these developments that the Managing Director of the International Monitory Fund said earlier this year that Africa’s emerging nations had become a driving force to global growth and the economies, which a few years ago, characterized Africa as a hopeless continent is even more effusive in its praise of the continent. We are talking about a genuine middle-class that is emerging made up of about 16 million African households and that by 2015, that number is expected to reach 100 million - almost the same as India today.Now, if these are some of the driving forces that have helped shape Africa’s recent progress, what are the factors that inhibit even more rapid development of the continent. For in order to succeed, we also have to be self-critical. I would argue that amongst some of the insidious negative factors are issues of identity and control of resources which drive conflict that persist in countries such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mali and the Central African Republic.I would also argue that one of the negatives that we need to address - going forward, is the failure to deepen democracy beyond formality and ensure that it embraces genuine inclusivity. This is because, in my view, it is this weakness that is nibbling us the outcome of the Arab Spring - so-called in Tunisia and Egypt. But also in instances where conflict has been resolved, economic growth in many countries is coupled with an accumulation regime which worsens inequality amongst people of the continent as rent-seeking elites amass wealth at the expense of their states and populations.The fundamental question that we then need to pose to ourselves is whether these negatives will overwhelm the positives going forward.And in addressing that question, we cannot avoid looking at the global state of affairs. As we know, many positive shifts have taken place globally in the past two decades with high economic growth rates in Asia and Latin America, which has resulted in economic power centres shifting from the North. As a consequence of the thirst of these countries for Africa’s primary resources and also their deliberate activism on the continent, we are starting to witness what one can refer to as decoupling and re-coupling in global international relations. This is reflected in the startling fact that in 2012, China surpassed the United States of America as the largest trading partner of Africa and that growth correlation between Africa and China has grown to 92 per cent - that is correlation between the rate of growth in China and the rate of growth in Africa.But easily there might be these changes in the global arena. There are also negative issues that we need to be vigilant of. Amongst others will be the reality of the economic crisis in Europe and North America, which reflects the inability and the unwillingness on the part of that leadership to tame the market and stabilize their polities. The manner in which the leadership, for instance, of the United States has behaved in relation to the threads of fiscal cliff and sequestration reflects a political paralysis with major implications. And diplomatically, the leader of the social democratic party in Germany referred to the victory of "two-clowns" in Italy’s recent elections. But overall, the outcome is again a reflection of a deficit of leadership as the leadership of the European Union seeks to impose template-based solution with little regard to the interest of the European people themselves. But there has also been an attempt to impose the diktat of NATO on the African continent, ignoring the attempt on the part of Africa’s leadership to resolve conflict. This was reflected in part in what happened in Cote d’Ivoire and Libya. But also on the part of some of the "new actors" such as China, there has been connect that has been unbecoming, reflected in such best practices on issues such as workers’ right and land grabs.So, we come back to the question. In the built-up to 2063, 50 years from now, will the positives overwhelm the negatives?Macro-projections are that, by 2050, the global economic pecking order will have China as the largest global economy, followed in this order by the United States, India, Brazil, Russian and Japan as the top six global economies. But at the political-military level, the US will remain the dominant power - because, we know its military strengths today is greater than the strength of the next big powers combined. And as a consequence, global balances in the coming period will reflect what one can refer to as primary unipolarity with secondary multipolar features - albeit with significant shift towards multipolarity.The other tendency that will manifest in the coming period is the migration of production sites. We will all be aware that China, for instance, is climbing up the manufacturing sophistication ladder. And many of the enterprises that were located in China are relocating to such countries as Vietnam and Bangladesh. And many of them are also starting to relocate to Africa. For instance, a Chinese shoemaker the Huanjia Group plans to build a manufacturing zone in Ethiopia that may generate about US$4 billion a year of exports.Africa’s infrastructure programmes in the coming period should continue. And with this as well as development of mining, agriculture and green technologies, the continent should experience major opportunities for industrialization. This will also be strengthened by the demographic dividends and increasing the number of employed people as well as the middle strata and urbanization, with massive growth in consumer demand and therefore opportunities for manufacturing. And that should help describe the trajectory of Africa as we move towards 2063.Is this too optimistic?What one can say - we do know for sure, as shown over the past 15 years is that high rates of economic growth can be achieved along with the improvement in the conditions of lives of Africa’s people. In some scenarios, the middle story line posits on Africa which in 2050 will be where China be today in terms of economic power, in terms of infrastructure development, manufacturing, extrication of millions of people from poverty and perhaps some spatial imbalances.The trajectory of the scenario story lines could be higher, that is even more optimistic or it could be lower or even more pessimistic. This will be conditional primarily on what Africans themselves do. And some of the critical questions that Africa has to address, which will do, hopefully, also engage the mind of the Pan-African Parliament would include:Firstly, will the capability and effectiveness of the African state, the quality of leadership and the activism of citizens be sustained?Secondly, will formal democracy be deepened to include adept management of social contradictions, promotion of social inclusivity and forging of social compacts among various players in our countries?Thirdly, will there be preparedness across Africa to pool sovereignties of African countries in political and economic policy and praxis including regional and inter-regional trade? And in my view, this should not be so much in grand ideas of an African government, but as East Asia has shown, in mutually beneficial osmosis across our countries.The fourth question is, will there be strategic acumen to manage the changing economic power balances across the continent as various countries and regions are growing at differing rates? Or will these changing economic balances lead to increased unhealthy competition and even conflict?The last question is, will non-state actors such as academics, researchers and activists in the media and the arts be afforded, or themselves capture, the space to act as midwives and nurturers of the Pan-African Renaissance?To reiterate, how all this pans out in the coming 50 years will depend on the African people themselves.But, as we develop scenarios for this coming period we cannot altogether rule out the possibility of global "black swans" which might exert a profound impact on Africa itself. For instance, will China be able to break out of the middle income trap and achieve higher rate of domestic consumption which Africa can then take advantage of?There is also the question - in terms of such "black swans" as to whether humanity will be able to address the challenges of global warming. This I because if they are not addressed there will redound negatively on the continent. There is also the possibility of debilitating wars in parts of the globe because, as we know, in history, qualitative changes in global power balances can come along with increased international tensions and conflicts.Do the Sino-Japanese tensions and the so-called United States Pacific pivot presage such global disaster?So, the point that we are making is that we need to plan for 2063 and beyond, informed by our own capacities, our own endowments on the continent. But we also need to take into account the possible global developments that may help promote or inhibit our rapid growth and development as a continent.Our approach, in charting out that path, should be informed by a deliberate strategy to develop the continent’s productive forces to ensure inclusive economic growth and to foster an environment in which the creative energy of Africa’s people finds reign.And when we talk about human rights, which is not a foreign concept for Africa’s people, this should embrace all generations of human rights, political, economic, social, environmental as well as "informational."And when we relate to the world, we need to be informed by Africa’s own interest and ensure that we diversify our relationship with various regions of the globe. And in talking about this, we need to remember that in Africa’s pre-colonial history, the continent enjoyed strong relations with Asia and the Middle East, as a natural consequence of geography. The strengthening of such relations should come naturally as part of post colonial geo-strategic normalization. And it should not be seen as a threat to anyone.As this happens, the continent cannot afford to lower its guard on such tendencies amongst the "new actors" as backward practices in relation to labour relations and mass importation of labour.So, a Pan-African Parliament Renaissance, in my view, is possible by 2063 but it will not come of its own accord. It requires foresight in leadership. It requires activism in our societies. It requires the renaissance of Africa’s "think industry". And this regard, the African Union through bodies such as the AU Commission and this august body, the Pan-African Parliament needs to play an active and leadership role. In partnership with the intelligentsia on the continent and the rest of civil society, these bodies can serve as critical, continental thought-leaders, facilitators and monitors to ensure that Africa’s people achieve their objective of a renaissance reflected in an improved quality of life.Thank you.[Applause]THE PRESIDENT:Honourable Members, I thank our President Mr Joel Netshitenzhe Executive Director of the Mapungumbwe Institute for Strategic Reflection for that wonderful presentation. Can we please give him another round of applause.Honourable members, we have listened to our invited guest speakers. I shall now allow debates on the presentations. I have a very long list of speakers, about sixty. I will, therefore, allocate three minutes to each person. For those who have already spoken you can use two minutes to speak and those who want to say what others have already said can abstain, please.Today’s discussion is very topical as we plan for the future of our continent. Honourable members, may I call on the Hon. Dominic A. B Nitiwul from Ghana to make his contribution.HON. DOMINIC A. B. NITIWUL [GHANA]:Mr. President, let me use this opportunity to thank the speakers, particularly Prof. Abdoulaye. He spoke as tempo and he really impressed me a lot. Of course the other speaker did so too. He informed me about things I didn’t know before. I believe that 50 years in the life of an individual, whether through marriage or life at all, is a landmark occasion and we should celebrate ourselves and be proud that Africa has attained a Golden Jubilee, but the unity we seek to achieve, have we got to it? The independence; yes. The self-rule; yes. But what have we reached? The vision 2063, is what caught my eye in this presentation. I thought that to give yourself 50 years is a very long, long time. Fifty years ago, China and the Asian tigers were far below Africa in terms of development, but today it looks like they are 100 years ahead of us.I believe that we should start dividing this 50 years vision into a tinier vision and have measureable landmarks that we can measure ourselves against. They say that leadership is cause and everything else is effects. We need very good leadership in Africa if we are to achieve anything. I will make some suggestions. For the next 10 years the African leaders must ensure that we measure one of these four or five issues that I am bringing forward and see whether we have achieved it.Firstly, the free movement of goods and services; let’s set that target and see whether we can achieve it. I believe that we should have an African Constitutional Court. Let us set that target and see whether in the next 10 years we can achieve it. I believe that we should tackle the phenomenon of youth unemployment vigorously, because it is the most dangerous thing to our democracy. Let’s see whether we can achieve it.I also believe that it is important to establish a truly legislative body for Africa, called an African Parliament, not the one that we have today. Can we achieve it in the next 10 years? Let us measure it and see whether we can achieve it. It is important that we have a very strong, resolute standing army for Africa that can response positively and promptly to threats to peace and security in Africa...[Time has expired.]HON. HENRI YAWOVI HONAM GBONE [TOGO]:Je vous remercie, Monsieur le Président.Monsieur le Président,Je voudrais remercier le Ministre BATHILY pour sa brillante présentation ainsi que Monsieur Joël.Monsieur le Président,Lorsque nous étions enfants, nous entendions parler avec beaucoup d’admiration du « panafricanisme ». En dépit de notre jeune âge, à l’époque, et de notre ignorance de la chose politique, nous étions fiers. Le temps nous a donné raison de voir le succès remporté par le panafricanisme, la libération des peuples opprimés, les indépendances, etc.Mais force est de constater, Monsieur le Président, que les démons que le panafricanisme a chassés de la sphère afro-américaine sont revenus tambour battant par la grande porte et parfois même avec notre propre complicité.Ma question, Monsieur le Ministre d’État, est que: peut-on dire dans ces conditions que le panafricanisme a achevé sa mission?En tout cas, on ne l’entend plus beaucoup. Vous avez indiqué, Monsieur le Ministre, sa transformation à travers la création de l’Union africaine. Mais à l’exemple de la majorité des Africains, vous avez relevé vous-même les insuffisances. J’allais même dire les grandes insuffisances.Je voudrais vous demander, Monsieur le Ministre: que faire pour que l’Afrique se relève? Parce qu’aujourd’hui tous les Africains sont déçus et ont perdu tout espoir. Vous êtes vous-même chef de parti politique, vous entendez sûrement les cris de cœur de vos militants. Que faire?Je vous remercie, Monsieur le Ministre.HON. JERRY DIMOTANA THIBEDI [SOUTH AFRICA]:I thank you, Mr President. Let me also thank the presenters for the wonderful presentations that they made to this august House.Mr President, let me start by saying that today is a very important day because we are discussing this very important subject and I think that our history informs us and will help us to move forward.You know Pan-Africanism assisted our fore bearers to respond to their challenges as caused by a decision taken at the Berlin Conference in 1884 when the western powers met to discuss and negotiate among themselves as to how to share Africa among themselves without fighting.So, it is therefore, important that our fore bearers were able to respond to that question without referring to themselves as Anglophones, Francophones and Lusophones. I think that it is a very important matter because had they done that, which is what the colonialists had wanted them to do by acting in a divisive way, they would not have achieved what they have achieved today.So we are proud of them, but the question that I am asking myself is; if they were to wake up today, will they be proud of the regional divisions which often characterise our thoughts and the manner in which we cripple ourselves and react to situations at the expense of the African unity?A point has been made by one of the presenters that we have to deepen democracy beyond formalities and I think it is a very important point because the democracy we are proud of today in our own countries, I think is a formal democracy and does not cascade to the ordinary people who are supposed to benefit from that democracy.I am particularly proud of this Pan-Africanism because as a South African and as a member of the African National Congress, I take pride that most of the African countries assisted this liberation movement during difficult times. Even if they were independent at the time, they were resolute that their independence will not have value until South Africa is liberated.(Applause)Mr President, I think that there are certain achievements that the OAU and the AU can pride themselves of. For example, the achievements I have mentioned of the African State and the increase in public accountability - (Member timed out_)HON. MEAR ALI SIRRO [ETHIOPIA]:شكرأ سيدي الرئيسأود أن أشكر المقدمين لهذا للتقريرين الممتاز إن إفريقيا تحتفل ُ وأيضا ً ولكن السنوات المقبلة ستكون بالعم الخمسين لتأسيسها مبروك لنا جميعا أصعب ومتطلبات األفارقة سوف تكون أ كثر فلهذا البد أن نكون مستعدين ألجل تطور وتقدم لخلق حياة أفضل للألفريقيين والعالم في مسار الطور واالزدهار ولكن في إفريقيا نتحارب ونقتل بعضنا البعض في األلفية الثالثة وهذا سبب لقارتنا الفقر والمرض والتخلف والجهل واألفكار الهدامة وعدم اإلستقرار ،، سيدي الرئيس حينما نتحدث عن اللجان في أفريقيا هناك دور كبير ألثيوبيا إن أثيوبيا الدولة الوحيدة التي لم تقبل األستعمار وهزمت الغزاة الغربيين الذين حاولو ذلك إن أثيوبيا ساعدت وجندت ودربت الحركات االلتحررية في إفريقيا ومنها دولة زمبابوي الرجل العظيم ُ ساعدت ودربت وساعدت بالسالح ألجل إستقالل وأيضا المثل االعلي ألفريقيا نلسون مانديال كان يتدرب فب أثيوبيا لماذا ننسي هذه الفعاليات واإلنجازات سيدي الرئيس لكي تتطور إفريقيا البد من خلق بيئة مناسبة بين الدول التي لها مشاكل وأن تحل بطريقة سلمية فمثالً هناك خالفات بين أثيوبيا وإرتريا إن أثيوبيا تريد أن تحل المشاكل مع إرتريا بطريقة سلمية عاجالً والنوايا الحسنة من أثيوبيا وليس آجالً ُ مئات لألرتريين إن االرتريين الذين يأتون من إرتريا هناك يوميا االرتريين يأتون ألثيوبيا لكن لم نعتبرهم الجئيين بل هم فب بلدهم مئات ُ ُ كمثل المواطنيين وهناك أيضا الطالب يدرسون في الجامعات مجانا برامج اإللتقاء بين الشعبين علي المستوي األعلي وأتمني من أخواننا من قادة اإلرترييت أن يهتموا بالسالم ولكي تحل الخالف بيننا في طاولة المستديرة ،، سيدي الرئيس أن هناك عوائق ألجل تطور أفريقيا المعوقات السياسية وغيرها.وشكراُHON. SHEKU B.B DUMBUYA [SIERRA LEONE]:Thank you, Mr. President. Although I recognize the fact that there have been some achievements made by Africa, one still has to concede that there are challenges. A major challenge to me is that we must try to have a permanent court of our own to prevent some of the unsavoury happenings in Africa. The people of Saharawi are still suffering. What is Africa doing? There has to be a decisive action on that; the people of Saharawi have been suffering for too long.Mr. President, on the question of Pan-Africanism, I wish to commend the presenter for his passion as he was speaking. I was reminded of great Seko Toure of Guinea. I think our French colleagues are like that, there are firing speakers.Mr. President, during the time of paying tribute to former political luminaries of Africa, people like Arab Moi, Ndi Aziqueee, Kwame Nkrumah, Patrice Lumumba and few others, the name of such people readily come to mine.Mr. President these are people who did everything possible to bring about the African Liberation movements into being.Mr. President it may be invidious to mention one or two where all of them deserve the highest recommendations. But Mr. President, I cannot help to leave out the great man Ajasefu Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana. This man to me has left an indelible impression in my mind for he was consistently vociferous in his condemnation of colonialism and imperialism.Mr. President, if I had my way, the name of this man should be written in Gold in all the history books of Africa. This man saw far ahead of his peers at that time. To me this man was very authored, the exponent and the architect of much of what is happening in Africa particularly when we talk about Africa Liberation.We should pay tribute to him. I want to use this opportunity to really honor the great Ajasefu of Ghana. I thank very much.HON. ASHEBIR WOLDEGIORGIS GAYO [ETHIOPIA]:Thank you Mr. President.I also thank the presenters. I would like to bring to the attention of Prof. Abdoulaye that there is also a freedom fighter of Africa that he did not mention; Mr. Nelson Mandela. If we forget him today, nobody will recognize him tomorrow. We expect that he be included in this debate.On the other hand, when we discussed about that issue also, it is true, as it was mentioned by Honourable Mhahar, Ethiopia protected His Excellency, Nelson Mandela, and he gave training to the Zimbabwean soldiers. I think Zimbabweans and South Africans who are in this House will recognize and other Africans should mention that.When we come to Africanism and Renaissance, for the next 50 years we should concentrate on education. We know Nelson Mandela and others were political freedom fighters. We now need to create from our youth political and economical freedom fighters. As a result, it should be very difficult. Africa is exporting raw materials. These raw materials are coming back from western countries after processing. We buy them and they are very expensive. It is costly for Africa. We are not creating job opportunities for Africans for years. We are killing Africa. We should concentrate on the industrialization of Africa. If we want to see the prosperity of Africa, that will be the only way for Africa.I thank you.HON. MNINWA JOHANNES MHLANGU [SOUTH AFRICA]:Thank you, Mr President and thank you to the two presenters who did so well today. Maybe the question that we need to ask ourselves today is; what is Pan-Africanism? Is it an ideology, a movement or a philosophy? No matter how one views it, one thing is certain. Pan-Africanism is about solidarity and collective self-reliance of all African people including those in the diaspora.Like any other movement, it has to adapt to the modern world for it to remain relevant. This is where African renaissance comes in and I want to agree with hon. Joel.The two concepts, therefore, are like finger and nail. One is not complete without the other. In the modern world, these concepts mean that we must eradicate some of our cultural beliefs that take us backwards and one of the best ways to do this is through education. We are aware that our continent Africa is very rich in minerals, but we cannot diversify them because of the lack of infrastructure and skills and therefore we send them to other continents like North America and Europe and when they come back, they come back as finished or secondary products.When lamenting this issue, Kwame Nkrumah had this to say and I quote. "Africa is a paradox which illustrates and highlights neo-colonialism. Her earth is rich, yet the products that come from above and below the soil continue to enrich, not Africans predominantly, but groups and individuals who operate to African impoverishment."We must also adapt to the modern way of governance which is democracy. Lack of democracy in some African countries is what makes the continent to stagnate or worse, to regress.During the speech at the Heads of State in 2001, Kofi Annan once said, "Africa must reject the way of the past and commit itself to building a future of democratic governance subject to the rule of law". Such a future, he continued, "is only achievable on the condition that we end conflicts in Africa without which no amount of aid or trade and assistance or advice will make a difference." Even where there is democracy, that democracy will fail if we do not take adequate measures to strengthen it.And as Ezekiel Mpahlele, in support of that says, "we are wrong if we think that because a government is elected democratically, therefore there is democracy...democracy is about the relationship between politicians and their constituencies, and African renaissance must, therefore, go to the heart of the people in making them think democratically. The dream of Africa will not be realised to which Mandela said, "I dream of an Africa which is in peace with itself." I thank you. (Applause)HON. ONYANGO KAKOBA [UGANDA]:Thank you Mr President. I want to thank the presenters for their presentations that are quite tickling to the intellectual mind.Mr President, it has been pointed out that Africa has achieved tremendous development in some areas, but that we also have challenges. In my view, Mr President, much as these challenges are both internal and external, the main challenges of Africa are internal and mostly it is the issue of governance that is a challenge. Because we have not deepened our governance and democracy, we have problems internally and this disgruntles our people. It also affects our relationship with the external world. Let me give an illustration concerning the International Criminal Court (ICC). Because of issues of governance in Africa, we find that some of our people are at the ICC. But it is us Africans who take ourselves to the ICC. Out of the ten cases that are at the ICC for instance, only three were taken there by the UN and these are Libya, Sudan and Kenya. All the rest were taken there by Africans themselves and after that, we complain that there are double standards being used. I think that as Africans, we need to focus on the issue of democracy and governance, that is when we shall be able to develop. When we look at the 50 years ahead, that is one thing that we need to explore.Mr President, in the interest of time, let me conclude. For Africa to make meaningful development in 50 years from now, we need to focus our attitude towards internal challenges vis-a-vis external dynamics. Yes, we need to change our attitudes. As a philosophy saying goes, ‘the problem is not the problem, the problem is our attitude towards the problem.’I thank you very much.HON. ABRAOUA FRANÇOISE ASSOGBA [BÉNIN]:Merci, Monsieur le Président.À mon tour, je voudrais remercier les deux conférenciers surtout pour leur exposé clair, bien structuré. À travers leur exposé, surtout celui du Professeur BATHILY, nous sommes partis des temps coloniaux jusqu’à nos jours. Parlant des temps coloniaux, nous devons rendre un hommage bien mérité à nos aînés. Je crois que cet exposé nous a fait voir tout le travail que ces aînés-là ont eu à faire pour que nous soyons, ici, aujourd’hui.Maintenant, parlant du temps postcolonial, notre temps, ils nous ont évoqué les succès et les échecs. Les échecs doivent nous faire penser et surtout par rapport à la renaissance dans les cinquante ans à venir. Nous devons savoir. Et à travers mon intervention, je voudrais savoir ce que l’Union africaine a comme objectifs, comme défis élaborés par les Africains eux-mêmes.Par rapport à ces défis, à ce que les Africains doivent élaborer eux-mêmes, je voudrais réfléchir par rapport au rôle que les Chinois sont en train de jouer actuellement en Afrique. On les voit partout. Et nous avons tendance à leur demander de faire ce que nous-mêmes, nous devons faire.Est-ce qu’il ne serait pas bon que nous leur exigions le transfert de technologies?Je crois que les Chinois, s’ils en sont là aujourd’hui, c’est parce qu’à un moment donné, ils ont exigé le savoir-faire des Occidentaux. Ils l’ont exigé! Je crois que l’Afrique est en mesure d’exiger la même chose des Chinois, aujourd’hui.Deuxième commentaire! C’est par rapport à la croissance de l’Afrique aujourd’hui. La croissance dont on parle, nous savons tous que cette croissance est due aux exportations de minerais. Et parlant de minerais, vous savez qu’à un moment donné, les minerais vont s’épuiser.Quelles sont les précautions que nous prenons, surtout ces pays exportateurs-là, par rapport à l’avenir?Je sais que par rapport à cette idée, il y a quelques années, la Banque Mondiale, par rapport au Tchad, leur avait conseillé d’ouvrir un compte pour y mettre une partie des produits de la vente du pétrole. Mais l’idée a été vite rejetée.Est-ce que nous-mêmes, Africains, on ne peut pas commencer par penser à cette idée-là, peut-être d’une manière plus africaine?Que cela ne soit pas imposé par la Banque Mondiale, mais entre nous-mêmes, nous devons, quand même, commencer à penser à l’avenir à travers des réserves que nous pouvons constituer.Merci!HON. MASTER MOISERAELE GOYA [BOTSWANA]:I thank you, Mr President for this opportunity.I want to say that today’s topics or presentations have the mark of making an imprint and I am saying this - in fact if I were to distinct between the two presentations, I would say that the presentation that was made by the professor gave us a synopsis of our history as a continent and the presentation that was made by the executive director, gave us a synopsis of where we are going as a continent; but it is more futuristic, whereas the one for professor is more historic.Mr President, I want to confirm my contribution to this debate by making two statements. The first statement that I want to make is that what goes around comes around. That is the first statement. My second statement is that Africa has been turned into a boxing ring.I will start with the first statement where I said what goes around comes around. I was saying that in the past the Europeans came to Africa; and they came to Africa because they were looking for resources. They amassed all the resources in Africa and they left. Today, it is the Chinese. The Chinese are here under the guise of development for Africa. But what they are looking for is the same resources that the Europeans were looking for in the past. The Chinese are here for resources and nothing else.(Applause)So, I want to move into the second statement where I said Africa has been turned into a boxing ring. I want to say that when two elephants fight, what suffers is the grass. In this scenario of the two elephants, it is the United States and China and the grass is Africa. I am referring to a statement that I read from this presentation that was made by the director where he said that in 2022, China surpassed the US as Africa’s trading partner. China is bound to do that. China wants to fight the US through the economy because they - wishes that is what I did not know and if we are not careful as Africans, we are going to find ourselves suffering a lot.I want us as Africans to draw our own development path without influence of the external forces. We must come out with our own documents so that when the Europeans and Chinese come to Africa and present their own documents, we should also present our own document. We should exchange hands and not be allowed to be at the receiving end, every time. I thank you, Mr President.(Applause)HON. SALEH KEBZABO [TCHAD]:Merci, Monsieur le Président.Je vais continuer l’idée de Master GOYA parce qu’il exprime exactement ce que nous pensons.Monsieur le Président,Depuis quelques jours, j’entends parler des cinquante ans. Notre problème actuellement, ce n’est pas cinquante ans. Il faut qu’on voit bien quel est le bilan des cinquante dernières années et qu’on se demande pourquoi nous avons échoué, parce que nous avons lamentablement échoué.Je voudrais, pendant ce petit laps de temps, dire qu’il y a trois points essentiels pour l’Afrique.Le premier, de mon point de vue, c’est le déficit culturel grave qui nous anime. Nous sommes tous culturellement avec une mentalité qui n’est pas africaine. Nous avons été formatés pour être au service de l’Occident. Et tant que nous n’allons pas dépasser cette situation, je crois que nous ne pourrons pas du tout avancer, ni penser quoi que ce soit pour l’Afrique.Le deuxième déficit, c’est un manque de visionnaires panafricains. Chaque fois qu’on parle de l’Afrique, de l’Afrique qui doit s’unir, on évoque la catégorie des NKRUMAH et autres d’il y a cinquante ans. Cela veut dire que depuis cinquante ans, on n’a pas de Chefs d’États en Afrique qui aient été capables d’avoir une vision africaine pour les années qui viennent. Et c’est grave. Nous avons affaire, le mot a été utilisé par Abdoulaye tout à l’heure, syndicat. L’autre jour, j’ai parlé de syndicat aussi. Et je crois que tant qu’on a affaire à un syndicat de Chefs d’États qui se battent uniquement pour leur maintien au pouvoir, pour la prédation, et uniquement pour détourner les votes des électeurs, nous ne pourrons pas avancer. Et je crois que c’est le plus gros problème. Vous savez que nous, en particulier en Afrique centrale, nous avons affaire à des pays qui refusent la démocratie, qui refusent le développement. Ils sont coalisés contre leur peuple. Ils ont confisqué le pouvoir. Ils ont pris leur peuple en otage. Et ils ne veulent pas du progrès de leur continent. Donc, je crois que tant que nous allons avoir affaire à des Chefs d’États de cette catégorie, nous sommes condamnés. On ne pourra faire de progrès.Le dernier point que je voulais souligner, Monsieur le Président, qui résulte de ce que je viens de dire, c’est que s’il y a un déficit démocratique, c’est parce que nous avons ce manque de visionnaires, c’est parce que nous avons ce manque de dirigeants qui veulent de l’unité de l’Afrique.Comment voulez-vous que lorsqu’un Président tombe malade, vous apprenez qu’il est transporté en Europe, en France pour se soigner alors que ses propres habitants meurent de maladies tous les jours?Leurs enfants sont dans les meilleures universités américaines ou européennes. Leur argent est placé dans les banques européennes ou américaines. Ce n’est pas avec des gens comme cela qu’on peut avancer.Je crois que le gros problème reste la démocratie. Tant que ces Chefs d’États ne vont pas accepter un minimum de démocratie dans leur pays, nous ne ferons absolument aucun progrès.Je vous remercie.(Applaudissements)HON. MOHAMMED ALI ALMARDI [SUDAN]:بسم هللا الرحمن الرحيمشكراً سيدي الرئيسبعملين جيدين محاضرتين قيمتين وتحليل ممتاز ُ نعم قد إستمتعنا حقا بروفسور عبد هللا ُ لحالنا في أفريقيا وكيف ننهض بمسؤلياتنا وشكرا وشكرا ’’ واإلنجازات سيدس الرئيس كثيرة وقد تم ً مستر ميتش تينزي تعدادها وهي علي الرغم من من أنها ال تكفي ولكن يجب أن نبني عليها لمزيد من النجاح دعونا أن نركز علي التحديات أهمها ضرورة محاربة الفساد الذي إستشري عن طريق منح العقود إلي شركات أجنبية وغير مؤهلة عن طريق الرشوة وإختالس األموال العامة مما أفقر الخزين العمة في كل الدول وعطل عمليات التنمية والخدمات أما التحدي األكبر سيدي الرئيس فهو اإلهمال الذي يتعرض له الشباب الذي أهلكته البطالة ودفعته ُ من شبابنا إلي اللهو والمخدرات والخمور إلي الضياع إنصرف كثيرا والجريمة تشجعه علي ذلك بعض القنوات الفضائية التي ال يهمها غير األموال التي تجنيها من األعالنات ثم هناك تحدي كبير هو ضرورة تغيير مناهج التعليم وهذا التعليم النظري مأل المجتمع فقط بشباب غير مؤهل ألداء أي عمل فني أو علمي ويجب أن تتغير المناهج إلي مناهج في مجاالت التمية والخدمات نفعةُ أعماالُ تطبيقية حتي تقدم لبالدنا أعماالٌ ’’ إن رسالتنا من هذه الجلسة ومن هذا المكان ومن هذا البرلمان إلي ُ هو أن يتمثلو رؤسائنا الذين ينتوون عقد إجتماع عقد قمة لهم قريبا بالروح الوطنية القوية التي تمثل بها آباؤنا االوائل من أمثال جوموكنياتا وكوبن كروما وأحمد سكتوري وجوليس نوريري وموديبو كيتا وجمال عبد الناصر وهيالسي السي وهيستل باندا وكنيث كاوندا وغيرهم.وشكراُHON. JOSEPH NJOBVUYALEMA [MALAWI]:Thank you, Madam Vice President, for giving me this opportunity.Madam Chair, I would like to congratulate the presenters for their comprehensive and intelligent presentation. I am particularly interested in words like "Africa for Africans" and "Renaissance". The bottom line of this is that Africans would like to be independent, which is a long-time battle. Being independent in this case, implies that Africans will have to be free from influence or control of others, not dependent on another for financial support. Is this achievable?Honourable Vice President, the measure of politicians is not by their words, but by what they do for their people. And this is extremely important. Africa has some urgent and immediate problems which ourselves have to deal with, which we can, indeed, deal with. For example, our economies are what I would call "false economies". Our markets are flooded with counterfeit products undermining local manufacturing and hampering legitimate business. How can we stop the fake products? I am talking about car parts. I am talking about pharmaceuticals. I am talking about alcohol; mobile phones, toothpaste and the like - all of them are fake products and indeed, we are supposed to produce same ourselves locally and we do not have the initiative to do that. How do we expect Africa to be for Africans?Africa also suffers from a perception that it is an unstable place to do business. Factors like corruption and inefficiencies are most predictable. These are beside illegitimate governments. Are these factors not possible for us to deal with? And we do expect that we deal with them in the next 50 years if we cannot deal with them now?If a political risk can be anticipated, it can also be measured. And if it can be measured, it can be managed. Why do we not manage our political risks? Out of the ten most difficult countries in the world, seven are from Africa. Why do we accept such a situation - and this is from World Economic Forum Report.Honourable Vice President, the African continent is indeed poor and its micro-economic management has also remained poor. But it can be improved. It just requires transformational leadership.HON JOYCE MUSU FREEMAN SUMO [LIBERIA]:I thank you Madam President. I will first of all start by congratulating the two presenters. I will go into one of their questions on the growing international interests in Africa. I will start by asking questions.First, why are they interested in Africa? For me, the first answer is because we have minerals and we are a rich continent and they think that by having interests in our countries, they have decided to supply us with small arms and weapons that are used by the youth that do not have employment to kill all of our people.And my own thinking is that we should stop going to the west for arms. Let us try to dialogue like - I want to use Ghana for example. For the last 15 to 19 years, Jerry John Rawlings up to this present administration, there have been a lot of ways people have used to try to distabilise the government in Ghana, but they have remained steadfast as a thinking people and they are developing their country. I have been going there since 1994, and I have seen what has happened in all these years that I am referring to.Then the issue of how can we improve the lives of our people? That is one way. Stop taking arms from the west. Let us use our own ways as Africans to dialogue amongst ourselves.The capability and effectiveness of African states, quality and leadership and activism of citizens; how can that be attained? - that was the question that I wanedt to ask. Yes, if we decide as Africans and do everything on our own instead of running to the west as our former colonial power, we will be able to achieve that.The issue of colonisation, power fighting, domination and racial discrimination against our people; a question was asked. These things are dividing us. Let us stop this issue of I am a Portuguese, I am Francophone, I am Anglophone. Let us stop it. We all are one Africa. One Africa, we must speak as one voice and we must think one way. Let us learn it from here as a group of parliamentarians.(Applause)That is my contribution and thank you for this opportunity to speak to my colleagues.HON. AWAُD HAG ALI AHMED [SUDAN]:شكراُ السيدة الرئيسةأوالُ البد للتقرير الحماسي لبروفسور عبد هللا في الحاجة إلي التي إستأصلت إلسترقاق وقضت علي األستعمار وعمالءه من بعض ضعف الحكام وبالرغم من إيماني بالدعوة اإلنسانية بحكم تخصصي في تقانة المعلومات التي جعلت العالم قرية واحدة بل أسرة واحدة ولكننا داخل يحتاج للرعاية الخاصة فالبد من األهتما به ولذلك ُ األسرة إذا هناك ضعيفا ولذلك انا أؤمن اليوم باألفريقانية ألن أفريقيا في حاجة ألي إهتمام خاص أؤمن كذلك باالفريقانية ألن منخاللها تم معاجة قضايا السودان التي خلقها وعقدها المستعمرون قد إنتهت مشاكل السودان بنموزج يجب أن يعمم علي كل الدول األفريقية أال وهو نموزج الحريات األربع بين شمال السودان وجنوبه حرية التنقل والدخول والخروج وحرية التملك وحرية التملك وحرية اإلقامة ،،وشكراُ السيدة الرئيسةHon. ISAAC STEPHEN MABILETSA [BOTSWANA]:Madam President, as we move towards the 50th Anniversary and the African renaissance of the AU, we need to introspect on both our achievements and failures. In doing so, let me acknowledge that to some degree, Africa has achieved an element of both social and physical infrastructure.In social infrastructure, let me acknowledge that there are institutions of learning from both primary to secondary and tertiary. We have African graduates who are intellectuals ranking very high in the international arena. I want to bemoan the fact that on social infrastructure and development of our education, we did not develop education that was more towards self empowerment and industrialisation of our country. We are lagging in both science and technology. Let us pause and consider.What is it that the Eastern Tigers did to succeed in science and technology? What is it that the Chinese did to succeed in science and technology? What do we need to do as Africans? Madam President, my biggest worry, which makes me a skeptic of the achievements that have been tilted round saying that trade of Africa with China and Europe has grown to a greater extent, and that in some instances, it has grown up to 90 per cent. My little query is, is this a healthy growth?Is it a one-way traffic of raw materials going to these industrialised countries and one-way traffic of finished products coming to Africa? If it is that type of growth, I am sorry but that is not healthy growth. We need growth that is two-way traffic. This is my submission to you, Madam President. When we say that China is now the one upsetting the economic imbalance that was there - we are seeing countries in Africa mortgaging or leasing contracts for raw materials such as oil, diamonds, coal and you can name others going to empower industries in those countries.HON. LUHAGA JOELSON MPINA [TANZANIA]:Mheshimiwa Makamu wa Rais, nikushukuru na pia niwashukuru wawasilishaji wa mada hii.Mheshimiwa Makamu wa Rais, tunaadhimisha miaka 50 ya Muungano wetu lakini tunatafakari na kama walivyoongea watu wengine kwamba umaskini Barani Afrika umekuwepo kwa muda mrefu na wala hauchukui likizo. Licha ya rasilimali nyingi Waafrika tulizo nazo lakini Waafrika wamekuwa maskini wakubwa.Mheshimiwa Makamu wa Rais, limezungumzwa suala la ukuaji wa uchumi katika Bara la Afrika kwamba unakua, kwa kweli ni wa kuigwa kwamba uchumi umekua kati ya 5% - 8% lakini ukuaji huu wa uchumi haujawa na manufaa kwa Waafrika kwa sababu umeshindwa kupunguza umaskini wa Waafrika wenyewe. Nchi nyingi za Afrika zimeshindwa kufikia Malengo ya Mileniamu. Tulikubaliana kwamba umaskini tungeweza kuupunguza hadi kufikia nusu ifikapo mwaka 2015 lakini nchi nyingi za Afrika zimeshindwa kufikia malengo haya. Niipongeze nchi ya Ghana kwa sababu wao waliweza kufikia Malengo ya Mileniamu ya kupunguza umaskini mapema kabisa kabla hata ya huo mwaka 2015 ambao tunautegemea. Bunge hili liipongeze nchi hiyo pamoja na nchi nyingine ambazo zimeweza kufikia Malengo ya Mileniamu ya kupunguza umaskini kufikia nusu ifikapo mwaka 2015.(Makofi)Mheshimiwa Makamu wa Rais, tunalo tatizo kubwa hapa la ajira ya vijana wetu. Barani Afrika ni 20% sasa ya vijana wetu hawana ajira na ndio rasilimali na nguvu kazi ya Taifa ambayo ingeweza kulisukuma Bara hili kupata maendeleo makubwa.Mheshimiwa Makamu wa Rais, lingine ni suala la utegemezi wa kibajeti. Tunazungumza miaka 50, tunazungumza kuwa na uwezo sisi kama nchi za Kiafrika, lakini nchi nyingi za Kiafrika zinategemea misaada kwa 50% katika bajeti zake. Kwa maana hiyo, wana uwezo wa kuendesha bajeti zao kwa 50% tu asilimia 50 zingine wanategemea misaada na mikopo kutoka nchi za Ulaya. Kama hivyo ndivyo, hata huu uwezo tunaojikakamua nao, tunaosema kwamba tumeweza kujitegemea, bado hatuwezi kujitegemea kwa sababu Wakoloni wanatutawala kwa sababu 50% ya bajeti yako unategemea Wakoloni hao, huwezi kuwa na maamuzi, lazima utaendelea kuwa mnyenyekevu kwa hao unaowategemea ili wakusaidie katika bajeti zako.Mheshimiwa Makamu wa Rais, nchi nyingi za Kiafrika zimeelemewa na madeni makubwa, ingekuwa kampuni ni mufilisi kwamba nchi zingewezwa kupigwa mnada kwa sababu wanadaiwa hata kuliko...HON. ELAMIN DAFALLA GASM ELSEED [SUDAN]:I thank you very much, Madam Vice-President. بسم هللا والحمد هلل والصالة والسالم علي رسول هFirst of all, I thank the presenters of this historic and very nice talk about Africa and the prospects of the future.The second thing that I would like all of us today is to remember all of our leaders who brought freedom and independence all over Africa. I am thinking especially, of our President, Ismail al-Azhari, who brought independence to Sudan as early as 1955 from the Anglo-Egyptian colonisation and also for those of us - as early as the 50’s in the non-alliance organisation but all of them are seeking independence. All of them are from African and Asian countries. In Bandong they agreed that they have to have a strategy to bring about freedom.Madam Vice-President, if you are talking about Africa and the 50 years to come in 2063, we have to think about two important things. What should we do to make Africa one nation and village as we have in Europe and other places? Now if you see the media, all our news is coming from the European and American media and we believe in them. The news of Africa - all of us are looking at other news. So let us talk about how to do something about the media and to bring about this sort of media which can cross all over African countries.The second thing is on colonisation. They came to Africa for the resources and those who are still here after they left are looking for our resources. What is our strategy in the next 50 years? We should have a strategy, a five-year or 10-year plan as our colleagues say, so that we can delay or we set forth a programme on how to make use of these resources in Africa and how can we come from any country in Africa to make use of these resources and not leave it to others like Chinese, Europeans or Americans.The third thing; if you want to go, for example, from Sudan to Senegal, I have to go through France so that I can come after two days to Senegal. If I come directly from Sudan to Senegal, this will be hours - (Member timed out_)HON. CECILIA ATIM-OGWAL [UGANDA]:Madam Vice President, I want to start by applauding our forefathers for recognising in 1900 that Africa was a continent of one people, one destiny and has a common challenge of ignorance, disease and poverty. We need to applaud our forefathers.Secondly, the new ideological concept of Pan Africanism and African Renaissance renewed our hope about the future of Africa. It is not too late for Africa to accept its real identity in the global setting. From generation to generation Africa has been described as a dark continent, a continent made up of savaged and uncivilized people, a continent that is made up of poor people and a continent of beggars.You know very well that the world has woken up to realise that Africa is the richest continent, endowed with vast natural resources like land, minerals and everything God has blessed us with.It is high time, as we develop agenda 2063, that Africa must protect itself, protect its resources and be able to develop an agenda to weed out dictatorial and corrupt leaders who are misusing our resources and misdirecting them for the enrichment of themselves and the same colonial masters that oppressed and exploited us.Thirdly, Africa must renew its commitment to placing women in places where women need to be, in order to be equal partners in driving the economy and the politics of our continent.Finally, we want a new Africa with a new agenda to renew its commitment to ensuring that we reinforce or strengthen the effort towards integration, so that we can use our vast market for our own development, rather than rendering our market for the enrichment of continents that are already rich.I am so disappointed that we as Africans, who are already poor, export raw materials. For example, in Uganda we export raw cotton in order for the rich industrial countries to process them and provide employment for their people when we are...[Time has expired.]HON. HUGUES ALEXANDRE BARRO CHAMBRIER [GABON]:Merci, Madame la Présidente.C’est toujours difficile de parler après ma voisine dont j’admire la force de conviction, mais nous en avons quelques uns comme ça et nous nous en félicitons.J’irai dans le sens de l’Honorable Master Goya. Je pense qu’il traduit parfaitement notre pensée. Nous devons encourager le commerce et les échanges sur le continent et c’est le rôle du Parlement d’approfondir l’intégration régionale.Je pense que les exposés ont été excellents. Je voudrais très modestement qu’on approfondisse un peu les zones où il y a des retards démocratiques parce que c’est difficile de parler de tout le continent sans voir que certains sont plus avancés que d’autres sur ce plan et souvent les zones où il y a un retard démocratique, c’est là où il y a les ressources pétrolières ou minières. Et ça doit nous interpeller sur les capacités de ceux qui exploitent ces ressources à retarder les processus. Quant à cette idée de leader visionnaire, etc., moi j’ajouterai aussi de leader sage, parce qu’il faut avoir la sagesse de respecter les institutions. Je pense que nous devrions, comme Barack Obama l’a dit, insister plus sur la force des institutions.Je pense que nous devons réfléchir aussi sur la manière de diffuser les bonnes idées et les bonnes pratiques. Il y a un de nos collègues qui parlait du déficit culturel. Je pense que c’est important.Le point sur lequel je voulais également insister, plutôt que de s’en prendre toujours à l’extérieur, voyons comment nous pouvons renforcer notre faible capacité de négociation. Je rejoins une fois de plus Master Goya pour dire que nous risquons encore d’avoir des illusions et d’avoir de nouvelles formes de colonialisme, de nouveaux colonisateurs.Lorsque nous parlons enfin des Chinois, n’oublions pas que les droits des travailleurs sont bradés, mais c’est un peu ces intérêts-là qui les bradent et nous devrons être vigilants.Alors, je remets une question sur l’accaparement des terres pour les deux qui ont soulevé ce point. J’aurais aimé que vous puissiez l’approfondir et voir comment nous pouvons gérer cela. Mais je pense que c’est encore la capacité de négociations parce que nous avons besoin des capitaux, nous avons besoin de la technologie. Et de ce qui nous les amène [...].HON.THULO TSOEU MAHLAKENG [LESOTHO]:Thank you Madam President; allow me to align myself with the appluase and congratulations extended to the two presenters who made very wonderful and educative presentations.Madam President having said that, I am aware that we are to reflect and focus and assess on the achievements and challenges that the 50 years that we went through brought about. I am aware Madam President that the achievements have very well been alluded to by the speakers before me.Madam President, I want to concentrate on two issues in the light of the time that I have.Madam President, the first one is what I refer to as a very serious challenge that was never addressed in the 50 Years that we took and that has to be looked into as we chart the next 50 Years to 2063 is the issue of creation of mechanisms aimed at redressing the wrongs that were done by the colonizers in terms of territorial boundaries and territorial entities. A very clear example here Madam President is the situation of Lesotho. Lesotho’s territory is twice the size of its current territory. Lesotho was chopped by the colonizers and because of the absence of mechanisms before us aimed at redressing the wrongs and injustices done by the colonizers, it has remained like that. I am only saying madam President that these are issues we must look into and find solutions.We in Lesotho faced a very serious situation whereby there are campaigns in some quarters that because of the wrongs that were done by the colonizers, Lesotho should disappear from the map of Africa.Madam President I quickly pass on to the second challenge that I see as we go to 2063, and as we chart the African agenda. This is the issue of accepting what the colonizers have left here in Africa. We belong to compartments which were left by the colonizers and we have stayed with then up till now.Madam President, I am addressing you in English and the next speaker will be in French and the other in Portuguese. We have remained in this compartment of Anglo-Phone, Francophone and Portuguese and surely these are the phones of the colonizers but we cling to them as if we cannot do what is African. When are we going to speak of the "Afrophone" Languages? When are we going to ensure that when we say one Africa one voice we say that in Afrophones and not Franco phone or Anglophone Languages?I thank youHON. JEANE D’ARC MUCAKALISA [RWANDA]:Merci, Madame la Viceprésidente.Je crois qu’ils se sont trompés, mon pays c’est le Rwanda.Je vous remercie, Madame la Vice-présidente, de m’accorder la parole.Tout d’abord, je remercie les présentateurs pour leurs exposés.Madame la Vice-présidente,Souvent nous nous posons la question d’où va l’Afrique, quel est son avenir? C’est à nous, les Africains, de répondre à ces questions.Je crois qu’il est temps de prendre des décisions. Ce sont les Africains eux-mêmes de s’engager de leur propre volonté pour leur futur.L’Afrique est riche. Pour qu’elle se développe, l’Afrique a besoin de la bonne gouvernance, ce qui mène à la démocratie, à la stabilité et à la paix; d’où le développement de l’Afrique.Nous devons être rapides dans tout ce que nous faisons pour pouvoir atteindre nos objectifs.Je crois que le Rwanda en est l’exemple.Merci Madame la Présidente.HON. JARJU BINTANDING [GAMBIA]:Thank you, very much, Honourable Mr. Vice President, for availing me this opportunity to contribute to this important debate. First and foremost, I must also thank the presenters for the excellent presentations. We are now informed as to where we came from, where we are and where we want to go as a continent. We thank the founding fathers of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) because it is through their idea that we are talking about this African Union today and also celebrating 50 years of its existence.Honourable Mr. Vice President, I would not stay long because most of my points have been covered but I have a concern about one issue. Now, we are mapping out our trajectory to 2063. But I am worried about the numerous women in refugee camps who are bearing children in these refugee camps, bringing up those children in these refugee camps and maybe by 2060 most of us will not be here and those children are to take over this continent.What type of children are we bringing up who will be responsible for this continent? What is the African Union doing about this? It is of great concern because if we are not here - you and I - and then those children from refugee camps are to take over the responsibilities of the continent, what kind of continent are we talking of? Madam Vice President, I think we must urge the African Union to take seriously the issue of conflict to prevent women from bearing children in refugee camps.Madam Vice President, I think I would not do justice if I do not talk about the poverty that our women are facing in this continent. Without alleviating poverty, I think we are moving nowhere. And what is stopping Africans from trading with each other? What is the problem? Our markets are flooded with foreign goods when we neglect our own African goods.HON. PETER HITJITEVI KATJAVIVI [NAMIBIA]:Madam Vice President, let me move rapidly to thank both presenters for the lucid presentations. My brief comment on both presentations on the African Union’s 50th anniversary, dealing with achievements and challenges, relates to the fact that Africa has had to fight two major wars - the political liberation and the economic liberation and emancipation.The political liberation was a major success because we properly strategized. The economic liberation has continued to be daunting, challenging, mainly because of the great amount of corruption on the continent. Because of our lack of strategy, the fight for Africa’s economic liberation and emancipation has indeed proven to be a major challenge.Madam Vice President, as a Member of Parliament from Namibia, I must say that as we debate this important topic, I feel it is also appropriate for us to pay tribute to the rest of the independent Africa and the world for the support and solidarity they have given us in Southern Africa for the liberation of the continent.Madam Vice President, as we look to the future there is a need for us to utilize this same selfless methodology we used during the continent’s political liberation, to ensure the economic liberation and emancipation of the African continent.I thank you.HON. DIKGANG PHILLIP MAKGALEMELE [BOTSWANA]:Thank you Madam President. First I just want to indicate that Hon. Mavimbela who is m y neighbour has given me some of his points so I think you should take that into consideration.Madam President, first and foremost we must appreciate that a theme is not an event but a process. Therefore, whatever we agree on concerning this theme of Pan Africanism and African Renaissance must be implemented. We must implement and monitor what we have agreed on.Madam President, in debating this theme, it is important that we appreciate that we are looking at an Africa that is existing in the context of the global village, and an Africa that has many influences, both negative and positive ones.Madam President, Pan Africanism and African Renaissance must be about Africans working together for prosperity of all Africans including those in the diaspora. This theme must also be debated as a concept which facilitates rights to resources by Africans.Madam President, we have cases were tourism businesses, for example, which are mainly controlled by foreigners stretch into the river banks hence denying people access to the river and the sea, thus frustrating fishing and other business opportunities. Therefore, land rights are key as we discuss Pan Africanism and African Renaissance.Madam President, other key aspects which must be looked into are how trade was done in the past for example, the barter system. Can this system be improved? We ensured physical fitness by walking long distances, cycling, and eating the rich African food. How about wearing the national attire? Some countries such as mine for example do not have clear cut national attire. Traditionally, how did we ensure peace and unity?Madam President, I agree with the Presenter who said that exporting raw materials is a form of colonisation. Therefore, industrialisation must be promoted. As PAP, we must develop modern laws in this area. We must ensure that intra Africa trade is maintained. In fact, that must be the theme for the next 50 years.Madam President, my wish is that as Africa, we must agree on one language which could be a major land mark for the next generation. We have well developed languages in Africa such as Swahili which can be developed further.Madam President, let me make one final point. The concept of best brains industries as proposed, I believe is possible and it must include visible participation of Africans living in the diaspora who have diverse skills.HON. PRINCESS PHUMELELE DLAMINI [SWAZILAND]:Thank you very much MadamPresident. First and foremost, I want to sincerely thank the presenters for their elaborate presentations. My submission, Madam President is directed to the language barrier as other Members of Parliament have already mentioned. The president reflected earlier this week that whenever we meet as African nationals, we need at least four to six translators. That on its own is a setback and it is confusion. The one Africa one voice idea should start from the language. All developed countries do everything in their native languages no matter how big a country might be. The OAU tried to unify us by introducing Swahili which was a Bantu language but it failed along the way and we do not know why. Unless we focus on this barrier, progress will be a dream to us.Madam President, a person reaps what he or she sows. If you sow nothing, you will reap nothing. We simply sow hunger and that is why we are still too reliant on donor agencies in whatever we plan to do. If we plant corruption and the like, what do we expect to reap?Madam President, we have to change our mindset. A child lives on breast milk, then soft foods and then hard foods for example, porridge. We are forever going to be beggars but why? That is the question to us all.Madam President, youth unemployment is increasing yearly. One of the reasons for this is that the youths are so educated that, to them, earning a living is just through employment and not cultivation of the land we have.Madam President, last but not least, a truly independent state is a hungry free state.I thank you.HON. MUTINTA CHRISTINE MAZOKA [ZAMBIA]:Madam President, thank you to the two presenters. Looking back on last 50 years of the AU’s existence, what achievement have we scored? We may say arguably that during the last 50 years nearly, if not, all of the African countries have gained political independence. The continent has made some strides in the field of education, where there are more schools and universities since the inception of the OAU at the time. We have made some improvement in the agricultural sector. We have more hospitals now and health centers since the inception of the OAU.There is still more room for improvement. We need to improve on these because we are nowhere near to where we should be. Unfortunately, Africa still has a multitude of challenges to overcome. The chronic problem of coup d’états result from leaders who do not want step down when their time is up. I will consider these leaders as the most unpatriotic sons and daughters of Africa, because they should know when to stop. They are not kings or queens. They should know that they are elected by people and when their time comes to step down, they should step down.This is a challenge which the AU should now tackle decisively, by making it mandatory for Presidents of member states to serve only two terms so that democracy is enhanced. We cannot talk about democracy if these people continue in their positions, overstay and do more harm than good to the nations they serve.Yes, we gained political independence, but what is political independence without economic independence? It is not a secret that in our...[Time has expired.]HON. P.C BAI KURR [SIERRA LEONE]:Thank you, Madam President; Honourable Members I am starting my Fifth year in this Parliament. What we are now addressing, thinking about and analyzing are those issues that made us to be here.Madam President we are talking about renaissance and Pan-Africanism, we are here purposely for that. I have two speeches here all delivered by the then President of South Africa, Thabo Mbeki. I got them from the website this morning from South Africa Broadcasting cooperation. Gallagher Estate 13th August 1998, when he was the Deputy President.Madam President all that we are saying today is contained in that speechAs the Deputy President at that time, he delivered this speech at the lounge of the African renaissance institute Pretoria 11th October 1999.Madam President from me I have all the speeches this morning, all leading to African unity. All what we are saying Africa must be united, we talk of one voice but how could we talk about one voice when we have fifty four heads of states? How could we talk of one voice when we have fifty four foreign Ministers? How could we talk of one voice when we have fifty four Finance Ministers, Defense Ministers, and Trade Ministers?Are we really serious as a continent? As a people with all this fragmentation and we talk about Renaissance. Somebody spoke yesterday of Heads of state but all of us are supporting our heads of state as long we belong to the same party. When you talk against your President in the same party he will not make you minister. Are we honest? This is very serious Madam President.I expect from this parliament that we should do a workshop to address these issues and deliberate on them well, but honestly after these presentations and debates there is going to be no resolution on these speeches.Madam President I therefore suggest we have a workshop....(end)HON. THABANG LINUS [LESOTHO]:I thank you, Madam President. In Lesotho, we do not speak after chiefs and so it is against my tradition surely to speak after a chief.But I want to thank you for the opportunity that you accord to me to address the august House, and I also want to extend my thanks to the rich and balanced presentations made by the presenters.Madam President and honourable members, unity is power. This was realised by African Heads of State 50 years ago before some of us were born. Some, if not most of those leaders have since passed on. May their souls rest in peace. They left us united and with power to solve Africa’s problems. Indeed they fought colonialism and they gave our states freedom. We thank them.The founders of Pan-Africanism and the African Union have done their part but we are still faced with a lot of challenges facing Africa like neo-colonialism, cohesion and bribes as opposed to the guns of the colonial masters, corruption, fraud, unemployment and nepotism, starvation and poverty, regional conflict and military interventions.Madam President, what more is there for us to celebrate after five decades of the formation of the African Union while we have failed to realise Africa as for Africans? As the Europeans have done in Europe, they have since realised that Europe is for Europeans.Madam President, what power are we celebrating after these 50 years when Africans are still required to have passports to visit their fellow Africans in Africa? While Africans are still expected to have study permits to study in Africa? While Africans are still expected to have work permits to work in Africa? When Africans are subjected to long queues at the borders to be given recreational conditions and to have their passports stamped?Africa is at war with itself. The sons and daughters of Africa are killing each other. HIV/AIDS and malaria are on the rampage. What are we doing? 50 years old AU - (Member timed out_)HON. EBO BARTON-ODRO [GHANA]:Thank you very much Madam President.Madam President, I would like to thank the speakers for the brilliant presentations they have made.First of all, it is clear that we have gone through the process of freeing ourselves from colonial rule. The next step is economic emancipation. Without that we are still under colonization in the form that Kwame NKrumah described as neo-colonialism.Let us not be flattered by the figures that have been given to us that Africa is advancing and that the GDP is growing and all of that. As the speaker rightly said, it is because we are exporting raw materials. When they give us these praises; the likelihood is that we are going to slumber and complacency will be our being. I would want to encourage us to think ahead. We can do better, much better than we have done.We want to look at the areas of energy and industrialization. We need an industrial revolution to take care of job creation. Governments are not capable of absorbing the huge numbers of youth unemployed that we have in Africa.We also want to look at areas like agriculture mechanization, the use of science research to advance our agriculture; it is key because that is the area where we have an advantage. If we continue to depend on present farmers we are doomed.I would like to conclude by urging us to strategize for the next fifty years. It should not be an ad hoc kind of program. We should sit down, our various Ministers in various sectors and strategize so that we can effectively push Africa forward.Thank you.HON. PATRICK MWALULA MUCHELEKA [ZAMBIA]:Thank you, Madam Vice President.Appreciating the two presenters, I want to agree that indeed, progress has been made in the last 50 years which has seen the liberation of most of our countries, and particularly for me who comes from Zambia, I clearly remember the role that Zambia played in liberating most of the countries in Southern Africa through the frontline Heads of State where my own President, President Kenneth Kaunda, played a pivotal role, which led to the liberation of Angola, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Namibia and South Africa. The headquarters was in Zambia.Madam Vice President, one of the speakers made reference to the role that China plays and the poor conditions and the issue of "one grabs". But the question is who allows China to play that role? Is it not our leaders who have seen that some of the leaders who have stayed too long in power are themselves collaborating with multi-national companies and Chinese investors to the extent of not even being able to pay tax or avoiding to pay taxes completely altogether? And we have seen huge sums of moneys being paid to the leaders of ruling parties so that they remain in power or use the money to rig the next elections.Therefore, when somebody talks about a standby Armed Force for Africa I disagree. What we need to do is to strengthen the institutions, to invest in democracy so that the institutions that are created should be able to command the confidence and trust of the citizens, and then you do not need a standby Army for Africa. We need to invest in good governance, democracy, human rights and the rule of law. Then, we do not need a standby army. I disagree with that completely.Madam Vice President, we still have challenges, the challenges that we need to be looking at is to ensure that we create employment, ensure we achieve economic growth using home-grown African initiatives such as NEPAD, African Peer Review Mechanism and all those processes so that we begin to increase economic growth and poverty reduction, employment creation for the youth and most importantly we need to accelerate economic growth and poverty reduction and invest in the people by ensuring that we strengthen the institutions of governance.As I said, let us include the role that Parliament can play. Pan-African Parliament is indeed the true representatives of the people that are elected. We want to strengthen this institution of governance and then we will be able to make meaningful progress as we move forward in the next 50 years.HON. BERNADETTE LAHAI [SIERRA LEONE]:Thank you Madam President I want to follow the former presenter by acknowledging the presentation of the two presenters.Madam President I get perturbed why the discussion on pan-africanism and Africa renaissance was going on particularly when fore fathers who were crafters or who helped in the struggle, but we are very loudly silent on our fore mothers, sisters and our fore grand mothers.Madam President I ask myself where were women when all our fire fathers were struggling? Where they at home doing manicure, pedicure or what?Madam President if you read the American History women like Anan Cooper, Anan Jones they worked very closely with Mucus Carvey and also Buchan Washington, and today, when we come to Africa, you cannot talk about the history of the Apartheid in South Africa without Winnie Mandela, in Mozambique without Marsha Graca, in Sierra Leone without Paramount Chief Ella Goblo Gulama who is late and yet we are silent. I think this silent has the potential of not counting women when it comes to the writing the history of African renaissance.Madam President we must write her history, we have many of these heroines and we must write their history. So I want to recommend that as we look forward to the next fifty years, let us feminize the journey of the next fifty years. Let us bring more women on board, let us make sure our women go to schools and stay there and complete. Let us have more women in Parliament, in our cabinet, in our educational institutions. This way, we will be harnessing African truly valuable resources that is, women and men.Madam President we must ensure that our infrastructural development efforts intensify. We must ensure that when I leave South Africa I transit in Ghana but straight to Sierra Leone. I don’t transit in Nigeria because of poor communication. We must make sure that Sahara desert alone 1% of the sun heated by the Sahara desert can provide the energy for the whole of Africa. What are we doing about it?Madam President our Geo-puma potentials what are doing about it? So as we move along, infrastructural development is going to be key. Lastly and not the least, put your mouth where your money is. If you are talking about African strategy, of African doing by Africans we must make sure we have the money. We cannot eat the cake and have it. If we don’t want to acknowledge or work with the Europeans then let us make sure we have our own money...(end)HON. KONE DOGON [CÔTE D’IVOIRE]:Merci, Madame la Présidente de me passer la parole.Le nom c’est Koné DOGNON. Je vous remercie.Madame la Présidente,J’avoue que la compréhension du texte présenté par le second intervenant me pose quelques problèmes. Mes collègues francophones, ici présents, conviendront avec moi que la traduction en français des idées de l’exposant est à revoir. Sans doute, est-ce cette situation qui fait que j’ai du mal à comprendre l’allusion faite à la crise postélectorale de 2010-2022 en Côte d’Ivoire, mon pays?Dans son allusion, l’intervenant qualifie le soutien de l’ONU à la Côte d’Ivoire: « d’interventionnisme flagrant visant à imposer le diktat des pays de l’OTAN ».En soutenant ce propos, il insinue que le soutien de l’ONU à la vérité des urnes en voie de confiscation par la partie perdante a été inopportune et mal à propos.Monsieur Joel NETSHITENZHE, excusez d’écorcher le nom, sait-il que les efforts de l’Afrique dans cette période dramatique de la Côte d’Ivoire se sont traduits par la convocation de sommets, par l’envoi de panels, souvent, ce sont des panels d’experts, des panels de haut niveau, et que sais-je encore? Pendant que chaque jour, les morts et les blessés se comptaient par centaine, sans compter les milliers d’exilés qui envahissaient les pays voisins: Mali, Ghana, Togo, Guinée, Burkina Faso, etc., est-il correct et juste de parler d’interventionnisme flagrant, quand, devant le monde entier, la partie perdante d’une élection tente de confisquer les résultats sortis des urnes?Pouvait-on admettre devant le désastre humanitaire qui se perpétuait urbi et orbi que l’Afrique et toute la communauté internationale continuent d’assister impassibles aux massacres d’innocentes populations?Madame la Vice-présidente,Au moment où nous fêtons le 50ème anniversaire de notre Organisation continentale, au moment où nous constatons que beaucoup de ceux-là même qui conquièrent le pouvoir d’État et l’exercent dans nos pays se disent souvent héritiers des pères fondateurs du panafricanisme, est-il normal que, sous le couvert du panafricanisme, ils nous servent, en réalité, « l’idéologie de repli identitaire », terreau de l’exclusion de telle ou telle catégorie [de citoyen]?Je vous remercie, Madame la Présidente.(Applaudissements)HON. OULÉYMATOU ASCOFARE TAMBOURA [MALI]:Merci, Madame la Présidente.Permettez, à mon tour également, de féliciter les deux intervenants pour la qualité de leur présentation.Si le panafricanisme a fait vibrer, avancer le continent en venant à bout du colonialisme, de l’esclavage, de l’apartheid, force est de constater de nos jours que l’intelligentsia, la société civile, les politiques du continent sont en panne. Je pense qu’un collègue a déjà abordé cet aspect. Il n’y a plus d’idéal véhiculé, capable de porter les peuples, de les motiver et de faire décupler leurs forces pour bâtir notre continent.Nos dirigeants ne nous font plus rêver. Je pense que c’est l’Honorable KEBZABO qui l’a souligné. Or, ce sont les concepts, les idées qui font avancer le monde.Alors ma question: est-ce que le panafricanisme peut être remis au goût du jour et jouer son rôle de locomotive d’entant sans leader capable en vue?D’un notre point de vue, la bonne gouvernance est le pilier du développement. Or, elle est mise à mal partout en Afrique avec ses conséquences néfastes sur les populations, conséquences qui ont pour nom corruption, maladie, famine, conflits, manque d’emplois.Je ne suis pas afro-pessimiste, mais comment expliquer après 50 ans que l’Afrique n’arrive pas à donner des simples espoirs d’emplois à ses fils, à nourrir ses fils malgré tout le potentiel dont nous disposons, à assurer la sécurité de ses enfants?Dans ces conditions, comment l’Afrique peut-elle compter et relever la tête dans le concert des nations?Les défis sont énormes, vous l’avez souligné, mais pour ma part, il s’agit de changer, changer maintenant ou disparaître.Je vous remercie.HON. MOHAMMED-MUBARAK MUNTAKA [GHANA]:I thank you, Madam Vice-President and also thank the presenters for their wonderful presentation.Let me not repeat what most of our colleagues have said for want of time. I just want to say that yes, Africa has achieved so much and we should remember that our leaders set a target for themselves and have a systematic way of doing it. One was to get political independence and I must say that today, as we stand here and talk 100 percent achieved because the last country to be completely independent was South Africa.But what did they leave behind? They left us with their language, they left us with their food, they left us with their way of dressing, their justice system, their way of democracy. They divided us into smaller countries. Are we not doing the same thing and maintaining the same method that they were using when they left? 50 years down the line, almost 80 percent of the languages that we are speaking here are still their languages. With the exception of the Swahili that is being spoken in this House, all the languages that we are speaking are the languages that they left us. (Applause). Can’t we tell ourselves that we must begin to develop? I would be prouder of myself if I am speaking a language from Nigeria that I will know is a language from another African country. I would be much proud than to be speaking a language of somebody who is far away from me.What are some of the divisions that they use? They make us to believe that we are Francophone, we are Anglophone, we are this. When they left - we talk about leaders, every one of us sitting here is a leader. Every one of us! We are the leaders and we should be talking about some leader as if those leaders are outside. It is you and I who are the leaders. What are we doing? In our own backyards and in our own countries, we are dividing ourselves into tribes, we are dividing ourselves into ethnic groups and we are dividing ourselves with our religion. These are religions that they even left us behind.What are our names? Our leaders today, many of us saw them either as students or as young men and women. What will our children and grandchildren remember us for? It is something that we need to begin to think and think very fast. Why can’t we reduce the waste?In 2013 alone, there will be 13 countries going for elections. All of them will buy ballot boxes, all of them will need election commissioners, all of them will need police, all of them will buy ballot papers and yet after that election, they put it down until the next five, seven or four years depending on which country and then the next country will also have to buy the same ballot boxes. One ballot box used in Nigeria alone could be used in the whole of West Africa. Do you know how much money you will be saving to develop Africa? We are not thinking about that. Look at - (Member timed out_)(Applause)HON. MOHAMED ALI FOULIEH [DJIBOUTI]:C’est une joie et un grand honneur pour moi de prendre la parole, ce matin, devant cette auguste Assemblée. Je salue d’abord les deux intervenants. Sur le Panafricanisme et la Renaissance, la partie décolonisation, je voudrais noter le rôle important qu’a joué le comité de libération de l’Organisation de l’Unité africaine pour l’indépendance des pays de colonisation portugaise, d’Afrique occidentale et éventuellement certains pays des îles tels que les Comores et Djibouti également qui a été indépendant le 27 juin 1977. Je voudrais simplement rappeler que l’OUA a joué, à cette époque, un rôle important et primordial. Si nous avons...نرجو الترجمة بالعربيةJe voudrais dire à ce moment-là qu’aux Sommets des chefs d’États, tenus à Mogadiscio en 1974, et à Entebbe en 1975, les mouvements de libération de Djibouti ont été accueillis et l’OUA a pris cause et fait pour l’indépendance du Djibouti et a condamné les actes criminels du colonisateur.توجد ترجمة توجد ) هذا حديث جانبي حول الترجمة من الفرنسية إلي العربية (Je note également que des réunions étaient organisées...Qu’est-ce qu’il voulait? Moi, je continue.Je continue, donc!THE VICE-PRESIDENT:What is the problem?HON. MOHAMED ALI FOULIEH:Des réunions ont été organisées à Accra, à Abidjan, pour unifier les mouvements de libération pour préparer l’indépendance nationale et éviter toute contradiction ou éventuelle déstabilisation entre les différents mouvements de libération. Une délégation de l’OUA s’est rendue également à Djibouti aux mois d’avril-mai 1976 pour s’enquérir de l’état de la population en République de Djibouti.Donc, je salue le rôle qu’a joué le comité de libération de l’OUA, car si aujourd’hui Djibouti est indépendant c’est, en partie, le rôle qu’ont joué ces mouvements de libération.Pour notre part, le Djibouti, dès l’indépendance a également joué un rôle important pour la stabilité de la région. Il a accueilli, dès son indépendance, les réfugiés provenant de la guerre entre l’Éthiopie et la Somalie en 1977.En 1991, il a également accueilli les réfugiés provenant de la chute de Monsieur Siad Barre en Somalie et de Mengistu Hailé Mariam en Éthiopie.En 2986 Djibouti....THE VICE-PRESIDENT:I thank you for the intervention. The next on the list is hon. Laurent Sedego from Burkina Faso.HON. LAURENT SEDEGO [BURKINA FASO]:Merci, Madame la Présidente.Je voudrais, tout d’abord, à mon tour, remercier et féliciter nos deux communicateurs. Mais en particulier, je voudrais rendre un vibrant hommage au Professeur BATHILY, comme vous le savez, éminent intellectuel mais dont la constance dans l’engagement politique et pour le progrès de l’Afrique a toujours été sans faille. En tant que cadet du Professeur, il nous a toujours inspirés et je souhaite que Dieu lui donne la force de continuer toujours à inspirer les jeunes générations.Parlant de la renaissance africaine, je crois que c’est une ambition qui honore tous les Africains. Mais comme toute ambition, je pense que l’Afrique doit se donner les moyens de l’assouvir. Et malheureusement, c’est là parfois que le bât blesse. En tout cas, entre les moyens nécessaires à la mise en œuvre des stratégies, des plans et programmes pour atteindre cet objectif et les moyens, mais surtout la volonté réelle, je pense qu’il y a un très grand fossé que nous devons chercher à combler. Sinon, ce ne sera qu’une utopie.La question de la renaissance, pour ma part, pose simplement la question de notre rôle et notre place dans l’échiquier mondial, dans le contexte actuel qui, comme vous le savez, est marqué par de grands bouleversements et les changements climatiques. Et comme vous le savez également, l’Afrique est le dernier réservoir de ressources naturelles. C’est la lutte pour la survie, Madame la Présidente, et les [Occidentaux] ont tout épuisé, chez eux. Malheureusement, ils ont de niveaux de vie tels que vous prenez le plus simple des travailleurs, il veut aller passer des vacances très gracieusement dans les îles Baléares ou autres. Comment vont-ils faire pour continuer à maintenir leur niveau de vie, sinon à continuer à exploiter le réservoir africain?Aujourd’hui, on parle de l’arrivée des Chinois comme si c’était la solution.N’est-il pas temps pour nous, de nous asseoir et de réfléchir effectivement à ce que nous devons faire?Comment allons-nous organiser notre propre développement pour nous-mêmes et par nous-mêmes?Nous avons beaucoup parlé de la Banque Mondiale. Mais ce sont les initiatives de la Banque Mondiale que nous-mêmes, nous avons acceptées. Les plans d’ajustement structurel, je rappelle, nous ont été imposés. Nos gouvernements sont allés librement.Alors, qu’est-ce que nous devons faire?Il va falloir donc que nous puissions nous donner, je crois, les institutions capables de soutenir cette dynamique. Et dans ce sens, je voudrais demander au Professeur BATHILY de peser de tout son poids, avec d’autres, pour convaincre nos Chefs d’États.Le PAP est une institution extrêmement importante dans cette dynamique.Je voudrais, également, demander à ce que nous puissions traduire tout cela en plan stratégique.Mon frère, l’Honorable Dominic du Ghana, l’a déjà proposé. Il nous faut des plans sur dix ans, sur quinze ans, avec des moyens d’évaluation. Et je pense que c’est comme cela effectivement que nous allons [...].HON. STEVEN OBEEGADOO [ÎLE MAURICE]:Madame la Présidente,L’Afrique, elle est multi-plurielle. Les réalités africaines sont diverses et variées. Si le panafricanisme trouve son essence à la conviction que malgré cela, le salut se trouve dans la conjugaison de nos efforts pour le progrès et que le panafricanisme prend son envol à partir de cette vision d’un continent uni et indivisible, je pense qu’aujourd’hui au-delà du rêve d’unité africaine de NKRUMAH, au-delà de l’affirmation de la négritude par le poète SENGHOR, aujourd’hui le panafricanisme doit être revigoré par le concept multidimensionnel d’une renaissance africaine articulée par le Président MBEKI.Le panafricanisme 2013 doit se définir en fonction du contexte présent, du contexte de ce début du 21ème siècle et j’insiste sur deux choses.D’abord, le panafricanisme est riche de son passé. Nous le savons, les références aux civilisations précoloniales, aux cultures ancestrales, aux connaissances indigènes, toute l’œuvre intellectuelle décrite par les autres intervenants, les luttes politiques du 19ème et du 20ème siècles, mais le panafricanisme doit aujourd’hui avoir les pieds ancrés dans le présent, voire les problèmes, les défis auxquels nous sommes confrontés. Et le panafricanisme doit avoir les yeux rivés sur l’avenir de nos peuples et du continent.Deuxièmement, le panafricanisme doit être une praxis, c'est-à-dire qu’il y a, à la fois, le panafricanisme comme une construction conceptuelle articulée et développée par les philosophes et les universitaires, mais le panafricanisme c’est aussi et surtout une action concrète, multidimensionnelle; mais il est à la fois, au niveau des pays, au niveau du continent et au niveau international. D’où notre responsabilité d’interroger le présent, de faire un effort d’introspection pour définir le rôle du PAP et de ces - je ne sais plus - 265 parlementaires pour traduire dans le concret la vision du panafricanisme et pour faire de la renaissance culturelle un instrument agissant à cette fin.Le temps ne me permet pas de décliner le panafricanisme en termes des grands chantiers, mais je souhaiterais qu’il soit réinterprété en tant que principes, en tant que valeurs de droits humains, de bonne gouvernance, de démocratie, d’adhésion aux objectifs du Millénaire pour le Développement qui soient applicables, qui soient valables pour tous nos peuples aujourd’hui, à tout le continent.Donc, je vais terminer, Madame la Présidente [...].M. LE PRÉSIDENT:One second!HON. STEVEN OBEEGADOO [ÎLE MAURICE]:Yes!Le panafricanisme n’aura de pertinence que s’il ne soit plus associé à un romantisme désuet, mais qu’il se conjugue au présent, qu’il soit une force de solidarité, d’innovation, une force agissante pour répondre aux besoins du présent et que les retombées et bénéfices soient tangibles dès à présent pour nos peuples.Merci, Madame la Présidente.(Applaudissements)HON. BAKARY OUATTARA [CÔTE D’IVOIRE]:Merci, Madame la Présidente.Renaissance de l’Afrique, oui! Le Professeur BATHILY l’a suffisamment démontrée devant le passé sombre de notre continent, depuis l’esclavage, avec la traite négrière en passant par la période de la colonisation jusqu’à cette période postcoloniale avec les indépendances où nos propres leaders africains continuent d’exploiter leurs frères africains. Cela se traduit donc par leur enrichissement illicite tandis que le reste de la population reste dans la misère.Il faut donc absolument une renaissance de l’Afrique si nous voulons embarquer dans le train de la mondialisation et de la globalisation.Le panafricanisme s’avère donc plus que nécessaire car, aucune nation ne saurait y aller en cavalier solitaire. Le vrai problème c’est de savoir quel visage donner à ce panafricanisme.Nous avons deux idées qui s’affrontent. La première idée: est-ce qu’il faut pratiquer un panafricanisme ouvert où il faut accepter de regarder chez l’autre, voir ce qu’il y a de bien et y puiser et accepter de se remettre en cause?Ou alors, le deuxième principe, c’est le panafricanisme dogmatique qui est vraiment basé sur le repli identitaire où on accuse l’autre d’être le responsable de nos maux, où on chante notre indépendance, où on dit que l’on réfute l’ingérence de l’extérieur.Et, mon collègue ivoirien l’a dit tantôt, le cas flagrant a été dans mon pays, la Côte d’Ivoire où quelqu’un qui a perdu les élections dit que « oui, nous sommes indépendants, on ne veut pas d’ingérence » et pendant ce temps, il est en train de martyriser la population et des auteurs trouvent que cela est normal. Je m’y inscris en faux.Et, je vais donc poser la question au Professeur BATHILY, en tant qu’intellectuel, je voudrais son point de vue là-dessus. Pour aller à cette mondialisation avec le panafricanisme, faut-il le panafricanisme dogmatique pour alors le panafricanisme ouvert?Madame la Présidente,Si j’ai encore la parole, je voulais m’aligner sur l’intervenant - le nom est un peu difficile à prononcer - KANGBARO de la Sierra Léone. Vraiment, j’ai apprécié son intervention et j’aimerai dire que, tant que nous n’allons pas rédiger des résolutions à partir des idées claires que nous avons et les exécuter, nous allons toujours faire du sur place, nous n’allons pas avancer, parce qu’il faut qu’on rentre maintenant dans l’exécution des idées que nous avons.Je vous remercie.(Applaudissements)HON. ASSOUMANA MALAM ISSA [NIGER]:Merci, Madame la Présidente.Je voudrais aussi remercier les deux présentateurs pour leurs brillants exposés.Madame la Présidente,On ne va pas se répéter. Nous avons découvert les vertus du panafricanisme et nous sommes d’accord qu’il faut qu’on change de comportement et qu’on définisse nous-mêmes les stratégies qui vont nous mener vers l’indépendance, la vraie indépendance.Professeur BATHILY,Je voudrais, avant de dire mes propos, vous poser une question.En fait, de quoi s’agit-il?Est-ce qu’il s’agit de la renaissance de l’Afrique ou de la renaissance du panafricanisme?Ceci étant, Madame la Présidente, je reconnais que justice a été rendue quand on a parlé de Kwame NKRUMAH, de Gamal Abdel NASSER et tous les autres, comme étant les précurseurs du panafricanisme, pour le rôle qu’ils ont joué et pour les efforts et les sacrifices qu’ils ont consentis.Mais je pense que justice n’a pas été du tout rendue à certains leaders africains qui ont marqué leur engagement dans le combat panafricaniste.Je pense particulièrement à Thomas SANKARA du Burkina Faso qui, au cours d’un discours à Addis- Abeba dont chacun d’entre vous s’en souvient certainement, a dit ce qu’est la renaissance que nous attendons aujourd’hui de l’Afrique. Il avait tenu des discours devant François MITTERAND.Et je crois que si nous voulons définir un panafricanisme actif, il faut qu’on commence par définir notre position par rapport à ces leaders européens.Est-ce que nous allons continuer à accepter le paternalisme qu’ils nous imposent?Ou bien, on va vers un partenariat gagnant-gagnant, avec ces gens?Et même le Président KADHAFI n’a pas été que mauvais.Sur le plan panafricaniste, il a eu des idées qui vont dans le sens de la défense des intérêts de l’Afrique.Mais qu’est-ce qu’on constate le plus souvent?Si un Chef d’État se dégage pour prendre une position qui défend les intérêts de l’Afrique, il est soit assassiné, soit écarté par un coup d’État. Et aucune solidarité africaine ne vient l’appuyer ou défendre ce qu’il fait. Et nous disons que nous voulons du panafricanisme.(Applaudissements)Je crois qu’il faut que nous soyons réalistes.Pour finir, Madame la Présidente, notre idée, quand nous faisons des discours ou quand nos Chefs d’États font des discours, on est content, on est heureux parce que c’est de belles idées qui sont dites. Mais quand on va à côté, moi, pour aller au Gabon, il me faut un visa. Si je veux exporter mon oignon du Niger au Cameroun, il faut qu’on me taxe comme si le produit vient de l’Europe ou de l’Inde.Est-ce que c’est cela le panafricanisme?Est-ce qu’on ne va pas tendre vers un passeport africain où on n’a pas besoin de visa dans un pays?C’est cela le panafricanisme. Et je pense que c’est parlà que l’Union africaine doit [...].(Applaudissements)HON. SUAD AL-FATIH AL BADAWI [SUDAN]:Thank you, Madam Vice President for this opportunity.I also want to join the others to express my deep appreciation of the excellent historical background and the seasoned ideas presented by the two speakers.And I want to raise certain points. The first point is that, we are speaking about democracy and about good governance and about human rights and about the protection of the masses, but we have not got the mechanism for this. A strong African Parliament should take place in order to take care of all these and end this anarchy.The second point is the reflection of the laws governing the United Nations. The United Nations is governed by an administrative structure and laws that are unfair and unjust to Africa. We should change this and we should give Africa its fair share of the cake. For example, five countries among which America has got the right of veto. Africa has not got this right. We either have to have this right or abolish it for all countries so that we all stand on equal footing.The third major point is - I am very sad about our brains and intellectuals and national voices in the Diaspora. They are scattered all over the world. It is high time that we invite them and we give them the opportunity to build Africa and now, I think Africa is ready to receive them.Fourth, our children and our youth, Madam Vice President and colleagues - I repeat this once, twice and every time - our youth at present, we should all be concerned about them. Thus direct our concern to protecting the present and the future of Africa. The exchange of wealth and knowledge should be on equal footing. If they have got the technology, we have the means to make and advance this technology.Finally, Madam Vice President, Africa is fully awakened now and it is capable of protecting its land. Thus, we should refuse now and every time any intervention in our own internal affairs making sure that a very strong security protector is built..[Interruption]One minute, please, half a minute.Finally, we should protect our culture from melting into the culture of the colonizers. Now, we are doing this in our appearance and our food, as my friend here from Ghana was saying. Protection of our culture is the key to development - and we have got a very, very rich culture.Thank you, Madam.HON. STEPHANIE ANQUETIL [MAURITIUS]:Thank you, Madam Vice President.Promoting Pan-Africanism and African Renaissance must consider free movement across the continent. Every country in Africa must remove barriers to facilitate greater bonds visa-a-vis trade and travel.Mauritius has strong and friendly relations with African States. And I am very pleased to inform our Honourable Members that since the beginning of this year, the Government of Mauritius has signed Regulations to open-up our visa requirement for nationals from 29 additional countries from Africa.Thank you, Madam Chair.[Applause]HON. JACQUELINE AMONGIN [UGANDA]:Madam President, I would like to add my voice to that of my colleagues who have already spoken. I want to refocus on the principle of Africanism and integration as being a strategic national imperative, because our forefathers like Marcus Garvey, Kwame Nkrumah, Nelson Mandela, all those, at one time, dreamt that, as Africa, we will come together and have one common voice. That is why, today, we stand as one Africa. Even when we have not reached it, I want to appreciate the efforts that they have put in place. I believe that we can carry the mantle forward, right from today rather than lamenting.I think what we need to refocus on is patriotism. Even today when I move on any international airport and I carry a diplomatic passport and there is a white person carrying a diplomatic passport, they will first ask me to hold on, look at me properly to reconfirm whether I am supposed to even pass via that airport. The white person will be made to cross just by showing red. I think this is what should change. Our mindset, our attitude as Africans must totally change so that we appreciate ourselves like we were made because we did not apply to be Africans. It is just by God’s initiative.As we celebrate 50 years, the conflicts we are talking about in Africa today, it is the young people who are recruited in the army forces. Look at the figures of how many young people have died in Somalia because of the war. How many young people died in Uganda because of the war?We must now instill patriotism on our young people so that they start to appreciate Africanism and their countries. If we have patriots, we will move forward. It we don’t have patriots; we will continue to extend our labour force. We will be flown to Europe, the US. We will see that the best players in Europe are Africans. They are black and not white. We will see that the best footballers in the UK are not white, but black. They are taking everything from Africa to make a name in the other continents.Investment should be all owned by the Africans. I am fed up. When investors come to our countries, you will find that we end working as tea girls. I need to make this point right. All the accountants are brought from all the different continents and we wonder what we are doing. We are bragging that we have brought investors into the country, when actually our universities in Africa are producing many lawyers, accountants and economists, but we cannot even produce a toothpick in Africa. In most of the African countries even toothpicks are still brought from China...[Time has expired.]HON. ELISE NDOADOUMNGUE NELOUMSEI LOUM [TCHAD]:Merci, Madame la Présidente!Vous savez qu’il n’est pas du tout aisé d’intervenir après un grand nombre d’interventions aussi pertinentes que celles de mes collègues.Ceci étant, je voudrais, d’abord, saluer la concision de l’exposé de Monsieur Joël qui nous a fourni un certain nombre d’éléments d’appréciation par rapport aux défis de l’Union africaine, même si les étapes signalées pour l’action 2063 restent encore une utopie dans l’esprit de nombreux citoyens africains.Madame la Présidente,Mon intervention s’adresse au Professeur BATHILY que je tiens, également, à féliciter pour sa très poignante intervention qui reflète, d’ailleurs, l’universitaire personnalité.Après l’aspect historique de la renaissance développé par nos deux éminentes personnalités, un accent particulier a été mis par le Professeur BATHILY sur les réflexions à mener.Professeur BATHILY,Vous avez évoqué de multiples états de dépendance que subit le continent.Vous avez relevé l’incapacité de l’Afrique à défendre sa propre sécurité.Vous avez souligné l’importante nécessité d’éradiquer le syndrome de Berlin.Vous avez également déploré le non développement, tout en notant les progrès et ce que vous appelez les zones d’ombre dans votre intervention.Tous ces problèmes évoqués, Professeur BATHILY, ont connu de réflexions à différents niveaux d’ailleurs et dans chaque pays.Vous nous parlez d’une nouvelle réflexion.Alors, comment définissez-vous cette nouvelle réflexion à mener?Est-ce que c’est une nouvelle démarche pour transformer le panafricanisme?Est-ce que c’est un plan d’actions pour l’Union africaine pour aller de l’avant?Madame la Présidente,Les deux intervenants ont mis également un accent sur le panafricanisme.Le 25 mai 2023, ce serait l’anniversaire de la journée de la libération du continent africain qui sera commémorée au prochain Sommet des Chefs d’État. Ce sera le début d’une nouvelle ère qui engagera l’Afrique face aux nouveaux défis également. Cinquante années à célébrer, quelqu’un l’a dit tantôt, dans la vie d’un homme, c’est beaucoup de choses. Ce serait un événement. Mais dans un événement pareil, il faut également du nouveau positif.Nous n’allons pas également réinventer la roue mais je voudrais demander à nos deux éminents intervenants, qui ont certainement contribué à la bonne marche de l’Union africaine, s’ils ont déjà réfléchi pour proposer des noms des nouveaux potentiels leaders africains à la traditionnelle liste de nos premiers combattants de l’Afrique que sont NKRUMAH, KENYATTA, NASSER et NYERERE.Quelqu’un l’a évoqué, tout à l’heure, je crois que c’est mon ami du Niger qui l’a dit. Est-ce que [...].HON. VINCENT DABILGOU [BURKINA FASO]:Madame la Présidente, merci beaucoup.Je voudrais, à mon tour, féliciter le Professeur, le Ministre d’État BATHILY pour la qualité particulière de son intervention. C’est vrai qu’au Burkina Faso, c’est une personnalité que nous aimons bien à cause de ses idées, mais aussi surtout à cause de sa façon de pouvoir les exprimer clairement.Son bref historique sur le panafricanisme nous donne le droit de se demander ce qui s’est vraiment passé entre temps, parce qu’entre ce passé glorieux pour un panafricanisme uni et réhabilité, on se rend bien compte que ce rêve s’est un peu étiolé, s’est un peu dépassé dans le sens qu’au fil du temps, et avec les indépendances acquises, on ne reconnaît pas nos dirigeants. Cela est vrai, car les statistiques indiquent que chaque année les pauvres sont de plus en plus nombreux en Afrique.Vous avez, Professeur BATHILY, su le dépeindre très clairement. Et pourquoi cela? Je voudrais pointer du doigt, d’abord pas nécessairement, les politiques d’ajustements structurels imposées. Je ne voudrais pas pointer du doigt ces politiques d’ajustements structurels. Je ne veux pas non plus pointer du doigt les guerres civiles, assez seulement nourries par les puissances étrangères. Je voudrais d’abord et surtout accuser le manque de volonté politique de certains de nos dirigeants. On revoit les résolutions, au niveau de nos instances, qui ne sont jamais prises.Je voudrais aussi accuser le refus d’abandon des souverainetés nationales dans nos pays. On a en mémoire, encore, la petite phrase d’un dirigeant africain qui a dit: « Mon pays ne cédera aucun aspect de sa souveraineté. »Et vous savez que chacun de nous se reconnaît dans cette petite phrase. J’accuse aussi l’incapacité de nos dirigeants actuels à exploiter nos ressources naturelles de valeur pour valoriser et entreprendre des projets continentaux, des projets ensemble.J’accuse enfin l’incapacité de nos dirigeants à faire participer les peuples africains à la renaissance. Chaque pays s’est enfermé, je pense, dans un chauvinisme politique, économique, parfois honteux.Je voudrais reprendre ici ce que l’Honorable Issa a bien voulu dire en parlant de passeport, en parlant aussi de notre capacité à ne pas pouvoir faire le commerce entre nos pays africains. Mais il y a des éléments de renaissance qui sont là. Je vais parler donc du PAP [...].HON. LABELLE MARIE NOËLLE FRANÇOISE [ÎLE MAURICE]:Thank you Honourable Chair.Madame la Présidente,Je voudrais remercier chaleureusement le Professeur BATHILY et Monsieur NETSHITENZHE pour leurs présentations.Je vais limiter mon intervention sur la renaissance africaine.Madame la Présidente,Depuis que le concept de la renaissance africaine a été prononcé pour la première fois en 1920 par le grand Marcus GARVEY, dont le fils nous a fait l’ultime honneur d’être parmi nous l’année dernière, à la conception du Président MBEKI en passant par le Cheikh DIOP en 1928 et d’autres dirigeants africains, beaucoup a été dit, mais un long chemin reste encore à être parcouru.Madame la Présidente,La renaissance africaine dépendra de ce que nos dirigeants vont faire dans leurs pays respectifs d’abord, et la consolidation de coopération entre les États africains - mes collègues ont parlé du commerce, du visa, etc.Nos dirigeants africains sauront-ils rattraper ce que le Professeur BATHILY a qualifié de « recul dramatique des forces progressistes »?Nos dirigeants africains sauront-ils reconstruire « le mouvement progressiste africain qui a précédé les indépendances en Afrique pour cette fois libérer leurs peuples du joug de la pauvreté? - Qu’est-ce que l’indépendance sans une indépendance économique, s’est demandé une intervenante avant moi?Pour libérer leurs peuples du joug des conséquences de la guerre? L’Honorable JARJU de la Gambie nous a rappelé les camps des réfugiés.Nos dirigeants africains sauront-ils relever les défis du développement pour l’avancement de leurs peuples et non seulement l’enrichissement des multinationales?Sauront-ils relever les défis de la consolidation de la démocratie?Madame la Présidente,En tant que parlementaires africains, nous avons le devoir de veiller à ce que la renaissance africaine dont on parle depuis presqu’un siècle ait enfin lieu.Que notre Parlement, le Parlement panafricain puisse jouer un rôle actif pour l’avènement de cette renaissance comme l’a suggéré Monsieur NETSHITENZHE.Que les peuples africains unis par l’histoire, unis par l’espace et unis par les destins aient enfin une Afrique nouvelle, à savoir une Afrique [démocratique, pacifique, unie, fraternelle et travailleuse pour son développement et l’avancement de son peuple].HON. DELWA KASSIRE COUMAKOYE NOURADINE [TCHAD]:Merci, Madame la Présidente.Je profite de l’occasion pour saluer mon collègue et ami Abdoulaye BATHILY, pour la promotion d’avoir été nommé Ministre d’État. Je le félicite puisque je n’ai pas eu l’occasion de le rencontrer.C’est pour la troisième fois que nous allons nous rencontrer et discuter de l’Afrique. Je ne vais pas aller dans les détails, mais il y a quelque chose qui manque. Je pensais qu’il allait - comme l’ont dit mes prédécesseurs - dégager les vrais martyrs de l’Afrique et s’il le fait, dans la salle, ici, nous sommes tous peut- être auteurs par responsabilité, auteurs par omission, auteurs par complicité, parce que, comme il l’a dit, rares sont les États africains, aujourd’hui, qui ont un gouvernement issu depuis l’indépendance et qui continue.Donc, je pense que nous sommes tous responsables. Ce ne sont pas seulement les dirigeants qui sont responsables. Nous sommes tous responsables et je pense qu’il y a une question fondamentale que je lui avais posée: « Pourquoi la démocratie que nous avons copiée en Europe ne marche pas? »Il ne m’a pas répondu et je lui avais aussi posé une autre question. Nous luttons pour la République, mais il y a des monarchies européennes qui fonctionnent bien.Faut-il étudier ces problèmes pour qu’on trouve des solutions communes pour l’Afrique?Mais tant que nous resterons avec le système politique que nous avons copié de l’Europe, nous ne réussirons jamais à nous entendre tant dans les villages, dans nos régions qu’au niveau africain.Nous avons perdu dans le parcours. Ce n’est pas aujourd’hui, parce que mon ami est au gouvernement. Hier, il a dit qu’on a perdu, je continue à dire que nous avons perdu au niveau de l’Afrique. Il faut une réflexion pour chercher le système convenable à nos valeurs. Tous les Africains s’aiment, même entre frères, ils s’entretuent pour le pouvoir. Donc, il faut trouver une formule où nous pouvons nous entendre pour mieux diriger nos sociétés.Là, il faut y réfléchir, mon ami.Madame la Présidente,Je le félicite pour avoir fait l’effort de réflexion. Je n’ai pas autre chose à dire puisque je l’ai déjà dit, nous sommes tous responsables par omission, par conscience, de l’échec [...].HON. AKE CAMILLE ÉPOUSE AKOUN [CÔTE D’IVOIRE]:Je vous remercie, Madame la Présidente.L’exposé présenté par le Professeur BATHILY, faut-il le dire dès l’entame de mon intervention, est un excellent travail. Je voudrais l’en féliciter et le remercier.Trois étapes se dégagent de son travail. Dans un premier temps, le Professeur décrit le mouvement dans sa nature comme étant un mouvement intellectuel et politique, et considère ainsi les Africains, toutes origines confondues, comme homogènes. De cette position, il pose les objectifs recherchés par ce mouvement, à savoir l’unité culturelle, l’indépendance politique de l’Afrique et bien entendu la construction de l’Afrique sur la base de l’égalité des droits. Le point que l’on peut faire de cette première étape, c’est que le mouvement panafricaniste est devenu le creuset des revendications des peuples noirs, progressistes pour l’indépendance de l’Afrique.Dans un deuxième temps, le Professeur décrit la période des indépendances et relève, hélas, les expériences malheureuses dans les domaines économique, culturel et social, dévoyant ainsi le mouvement panafricaniste de ses nobles idéaux, qui l’ont fécondé dès le départ. Il décrit, par exemple, la vision d’autonomisation économique, culturelle et sociale, synonyme d’autarcie; la montée du nationalisme au détriment du panafricanisme; l’apologie sourde et rétrograde du tribalisme et de la solidarité ethnique et clanique; le défaut de politique économique innovante; l’impuissance de nos États devant l’augmentation de la pauvreté; l’effondrement même de nos États; et enfin les conflits sociaux et politiques à répétition.Alors, troisième étape, faut-il croire, Professeur BATHILY, et c’est là notre interrogation, que le mouvement panafricaniste est à la croisée des chemins, confronté qu’il est à rechercher ses marques, confronté qu’il est, comme vous le dites, à de nouveaux paradigmes de développement alternatif à l’idéologie néocoloniale, confronté qu’il est à la nécessité de revisiter, sans doute, les missions de démocratie et de citoyenneté, confronté qu’il est enfin à la nécessité de construire de solides États capables d’impulser le développement; pensez-vous, Professeur BATHILY, que si demain ces pesanteurs sont levées, l’ordre sera mis enfin dans notre maison commune, l’Afrique?Je vous remercie.Pr ABDOULAYE BATHILY [MINISTRE D’ÉTAT, CONSEILLER DU CHEF DE L’ÉTAT DU SÉNÉGAL]:Je voudrais, sous une forme télégraphique, réagir par rapport à un certain nombre de questions et de commentaires. Vous comprendrez bien qu’il sera impossible de répondre à tout le monde. Les interventions étaient extrêmement enrichissantes pour moi, très importantes et je vois cela comme autant de contributions à un débat qui se pose, aujourd’hui, sur le continent et qui interpelle tous les citoyens africains que nous sommes, à quel que niveau de responsabilité où nous nous trouvons aujourd’hui.Donc, c’est sous forme ramassée et thématique, plutôt, que je vais aborder, très rapidement, ces questions.La question du leadership a été posée. Je crois que c’est une question qui est au cœur, aujourd’hui, de la problématique du panafricanisme et de la renaissance. Nous sommes en crise de leadership en Afrique. C’est très clair. Le leadership, ce n’est pas seulement au niveau des États, des gouvernements, des parlements. Le leadership, c’est quelque chose qui se construit, de la base au sommet. À partir de nos différentes positions de responsabilité, au niveau national et au niveau continental, je crois qu’il faut mener la réflexion sur ce plan-là. Je ne peux pas développer davantage.La question a été posée des conséquences de Berlin. Je crois que là aussi, lorsqu’on parle du panafricanisme et de la renaissance africaine, nous ne pouvons pas évacuer cette question capitale, celle de l’unité, celle de l’intégration du continent.Voyez, pourquoi l’Afrique a aujourd’hui cette position faible dans le monde? C’est parce que nous sommes émiettés, morcelés face aux grands blocs économiques, face à l’Europe qui s’est construite, face aux grands ensembles, le bloc chinois, même le Brésil qui est un pays-continent.Nous devons réfléchir aujourd’hui.Est-ce qu’il est possible d’assurer un développement durable et global pour chacun des pays pris isolément?Que chaque pays, individuellement, construise un système industriel, un système agricole, un système scolaire, un système universitaire?C’est impossible! Toutes les études ont démontré que c’est dans l’intégration à différents niveaux que nous pouvons arriver à résoudre ces problèmes-là, mais pas à l’intérieur des frontières héritées de la colonisation. C’est impossible d’assurer un développement économique dans ce cadre-là.Aujourd’hui, la question de l’énergie, par exemple, se pose avec acuité à tous les pays. Il y a des coupures intempestives d’électricité un peu partout.Mais à ce rythme-là, dans combien d’années allonsnous résoudre ce problème qui est capital pour l’industrialisation, qui est capital pour la modernisation de nos pays?Or, aujourd’hui, si nous nous mettons tous ensemble, le barrage d’Inga seulement, en République Démocratique du Congo, peut résoudre les problèmes énergétiques de tout le continent africain. Je ne parle même pas des réserves de gaz et d’autres sources énergétiques. Seulement le barrage d’Inga qui donnerait de l’électricité, à très bon marché, et assurerait un décollage industriel de tout le continent. Il y a beaucoup de discussions, pourtant, toutes les études ont été faites sur le plan technique.Sur le plan financier également, si on dit simplement qu’il faut compter sur l’extérieur pour financer, bien sûr, cela va prendre beaucoup de temps.Mais est-ce que vous savez, par exemple, qu’en matière de réserve monétaire, l’Afrique a plus de réserves que l’Inde?Et pourtant, quand il faut aller faire un grand sommet Inde-Afrique, tout le monde va là-bas et on applaudit. On cherche l’appui financier. Or, si l’Afrique se met ensemble, avec les réserves qu’on a dans toutes nos banques centrales réunies, aujourd’hui, on peut assurer les conditions du financement d’une bonne partie du développement du continent.Est-ce que vous savez que les envois opérés par les Africains de la diaspora dépassent de loin l’aide extérieure qui est donnée au continent africain?Et pourtant, on applaudit nos bailleurs de fonds, nos donateurs. Nous ne pouvons rien faire sans dire: « Allons-y vers nos partenaires, nos bailleurs ». C’est un aspect.Tous les Africains ont constaté, avec humiliation, le fait que le siège de l’Union africaine soit construit par un autre pays. Notre propre « Maison » qui doit être notre fierté! Le siège de l’Union africaine, que les Africains n’aient pas pu se mettre ensemble, à travers nos propres ressources budgétaires de manière extraordinaire, disant que nous allons faire un concours d’architecture et construire cette « Maison » pour qu’elle reflète l’image de l’Afrique d’aujourd’hui, notre projection vers le futur, c’est aussi ce panafricanisme dynamique, créatif dont nous parlons, qui n’est pas seulement romantique.Voyez, si vous allez à Addis-Abeba, tout le monde est fier de ce siège-là.Cela a été construit par qui?Avec quel argent?C’est la Chine qui l’a financé entièrement. Voilà un problème qui se pose.Est-ce que nous pouvons empêcher que les autres défendent leurs intérêts?Oui, les autres défendent leurs intérêts. Mais c’est à nous de défendre nos intérêts en nous mettant ensemble. Et nous pouvons le faire avec la volonté politique.Je l’ai dit tantôt, lorsque vous voyez, par exemple aujourd’hui, il est de bon ton, c’est presque devenu une sorte de rituel: sommet France-Afrique, sommet Afrique-Chine, sommet Afrique-Turquie, sommet Afrique-Brésil, et tout le monde court vers ces différents sommets.Mais quels efforts nous-mêmes, nous faisons à l’interne pour améliorer - on l’a dit - nos relations économiques?Au moment du débat sur les accords de partenariat avec l’Europe, l’Union africaine a organisé un important séminaire pour savoir comment aborder le renouvellement de ces accords de partenariat. Et des propositions pertinentes avaient été faites.Nous avons dit, en tant qu’experts, qu’il faut, au lieu d’avoir plusieurs équipes de négociation pour négocier avec l’Europe, sous-région par sous-région, faisons une équipe commune de négociation en Afrique qui tiendrait compte, bien sûr, du point de vue de la réalité, des différences entre les économies.La Côte d’Ivoire n’a pas nécessairement, pour ses bananes, les mêmes intérêts qu’un autre pays. Ainsi de suite. Et chaque pays a des réalités économiques qui ont été forgées par 200 ans, 200 ans d’histoire coloniale, d’économie. Et évidemment, même 50 ans d’histoire économique.Donc, il faut tenir compte de ces diversités-là, mais, il est possible, dans une équipe commune de négociation, de tenir compte de ces différences, mais, en même temps, de mettre en évidence nos intérêts communs que nous allons défendre face à tous nos partenaires.Résultat des courses!Qu’est-ce qui s’est passé?On a dit: « Une Afrique, une voix »; « une Afrique, plusieurs voix » se sont exprimées dans la réalité. Et aujourd’hui, tout est bloqué. Cela n’avance pas. Voilà aussi un exemple qui doit nous instruire et sur lequel nous devons réfléchir cinquante ans après, si nous voulons faire un nouveau départ à partir de ce cinquantenaire-là, parce qu’il ne faut pas seulement célébrer. Il faut tirer les leçons de ce qui s’est passé et pouvoir aller de l’avant.La question de la corruption a été aussi évoquée.Il y a des initiatives importantes qui sont faites comme chacun le sait. Aujourd’hui, dans le STAR1: « Stolen Asset Recovery Initiative », on a démontré que plus de mille milliards de dollars américains ont été transférés d’Afrique depuis 2970 sous forme d’argent volé par les dirigeants, à différents niveaux, et qui sont allés dans les comptes en banque à l’extérieur du continent, mais également, des droits de douane non payés, des taxes non payées, d’impôts non payés par les multinationales. Ce sont des sommes colossales! Et aujourd’hui, il y a évidemment une équipe qui s’occupe de cela, des transferts illicites, dans laquelle siègent les Présidents MBEKI, Koffi ANNAN et d’autres dirigeants africains, pour voir quelles sont les mesures qu’il faut prendre pour arrêter cette hémorragie financière du continent. Ce sont des mesures pratiques importantes qu’il faut appuyer pour que l’Afrique puisse retrouver ses ressources.1L'Initiative pour la restitution des avoirs volés (StAR).La question du rôle des femmes!Évidemment, il y a également beaucoup de dirigeants qui ont été nommés. Je voudrais dire, simplement, que depuis près de 20 ans, j’enseigne l’histoire de la décolonisation, du panafricanisme et des mouvements de libération nationale. Il faut vraiment rendre un hommage mérité, non seulement, à ces héros, comme un dicton Wolof dit: « dès qu’on commence à citer, c’est une façon d’éliminer », et je voudrais m’en excuser auprès des honorables représentants, ici.En réalité, ces héros sont nombreux, au-delà de la figure considérable de Nelson MANDELA et sa stature morale qui dépasse, aujourd’hui, le continent africain.Ce processus de décolonisation, cette marche du panafricanisme a été parsemée de héros nombreux et de figures nombreuses. Certains ont été chantés, d’autres ne l’ont pas été. Et la gloire appartient aux peuples africains qui ont appuyé ces héros. Et c’est l’histoire des peuples africains.Si je n’ai pas cité le cas d’Haïlé SÉLASSIÉ, le rôle de l’Éthiopie qui est quand même un pays symbolique, à cette époque-là, d’ailleurs, ce n’est pas un hasard que la plupart des drapeaux, au début des années 60, étaient pratiquement sur le modèle éthiopien: le vert, jaune et rouge agencés de différentes manières. Le rôle du Liberia en tant que premier État issu des esclaves libérés qui ont créé la République du Liberia en 1847, c’est aussi, un pays symbolique.La Sierra Leone! Freetown, c’est une des villes libérées, peuplée par des esclaves libérés qui ont été, dans le cadre du mouvement anti-esclavagiste et de l’abolition, installés à Freetown comme une des plateformes par lesquelles, évidemment, les Africains ont commencé à prendre en charge leurs propres affaires.Victoria Island à Lagos, également, c’est symbolique de tout cela. Je n’ai pas parlé de NYERERE dont le rôle, en tant qu’un des principaux leaders de ce qu’on appelle « les pays de la ligne de front », avec Kenneth KAUNDA et bien d’autres, ont permis aux pays d’Afrique australe, aux mouvements de libération nationale de toute cette zone-là, de s’adosser en un mur solide qui a permis, plus tard, la libération de ces pays d’Afrique australe du joug de la domination raciste.De KENYATTA, de Oginga ODINGA qui, le premier, d’ailleurs, a attiré notre attention dans son fameux ouvrage « Not yet rule », après l’indépendance, et bien d’autres! Cheikh Anta DIOP, en tant qu’historien, Modibo KEITA, Léopold Sédar SENGHOR, Sékou TOURÉ. Chacun a apporté une contribution. Mais nous n’en parlons pas simplement parce que si on commence à citer, bien entendu, j’aurais pu faire tout mon exposé à citer simplement. Mais ce n’était pas du tout une manière de les ignorer.Le rôle de la révolution algérienne, le Mouvement de Libération en Algérie, à partir de la révolte de 1954 a joué un rôle considérable dans tout le processus de transformation. Alger a été un des quartiers généraux du Mouvement de Libération, pratiquement jusque dans les années 80, Alger a joué un rôle considérable.Le roi Mohamed V du Maroc, dans les années 60, avec le groupe de Casablanca! Donc, véritablement, il y a énormément de choses à dire, et je ne voudrais pas donner l’impression que je vais prendre partie pour tel ou tel. Il y a beaucoup de héros, des héros chantés, des héros moins chantés, mais c’est la gloire de tous les Africains eux-mêmes, à différents niveaux, hommes et femmes, à avoir contribué à cette lutte.Félix HOUPHOUËT-BOIGNY! À la fin des années 40 et au début des années 50, HOUPHOUËT-BOIGNY était considéré comme un héro à travers toute l’Afrique Occidentale Française. On l’appelait même le Lénine de l’Afrique Occidentale Française.Maintenant, une autre question, c’est l’avant-dernière sur laquelle je vais dire un mot, c’est la question de l’identité en Afrique.Aujourd’hui, toutes les dérives que nous avons connues en Afrique, depuis les indépendances, découlent de ce que j’ai appelé l’inefficacité dans la gestion de la diversité dans nos pays: diversité politique, diversité identitaire, culturelle, identité religieuse, ethnique, parce qu’au départ, au nom de la construction de l’État- Nation, considéré comme devant être quelque chose d’homogène, on a voulu imposer un modèle à chaque pays africain.Or, ces États africains, il fallait considérer, dès le départ, que ce sont des créations du système colonial. Aucun pays africain n’a une frontière qui ne soit pas une frontière tracée par les colonisateurs depuis Berlin. Même l’Éthiopie a connu ce problème avec l’Érythrée qui était une colonie italienne. Donc, c’est une réalité!La crise ivoirienne, par exemple, au cœur de cela, il y avait cette idéologie de l’ivoirité. J’ai abondamment écrit là-dessus au moment de l’éclatement de cette crise. J’avais présenté un rapport au Parlement de la CEDEAO dont j’étais membre de la Commission Paix et Sécurité, et ces écrits existent.La Côte d’Ivoire et l’actuel Burkina Faso, c’était le même territoire jusqu’en 2927, par les Français. C’était le même territoire! Les principaux acteurs de la crise ivoirienne, que ce soit OUATTARA, que ce soit Laurent GBAGBO, que ce soit BÉDIÉ, ils sont tous nés au moment où ces deux territoires ne faisaient qu’un seul sous la colonisation française, parce qu’ils sont nés avant 1947, dans un territoire qui était dans le même pays. Et après, lorsqu’on nargue de cette idéologie de l’ivoirité pour dire, par exemple que quelqu’un qui appartient au Burkina Faso, n’est pas Ivoirien de souche, pour moi, historien, c’est une aberration.(Applaudissements)Parce qu’aucun de ces trois protagonistes n’est né, stricto sensu, en Côte d’Ivoire ou au Burkina Faso. Ils sont nés dans un même territoire que les Français appelaient Haute et Basse Côte d’Ivoire. C’est le même territoire! Et une fois qu’on joue avec cette fibre de l’identité, en référence au tracé des frontières coloniales, on ouvre une boîte de Pandore. Et la tragédie ivoirienne est née de cela.Combien de milliers de morts?Beaucoup de crises en Afrique aujourd’hui découlent de ce problème. Que ce soit la question des Américano- Libériens versus ceux qui sont considérés comme d’origine indigène, etc., nous sommes des agrégats d’identité.Et pour bien gérer nos pays et assurer un développement durable, stable, dans la sécurité, il faut tenir compte de cette réalité; la diversité, mais aussi notre histoire et l’assumer totalement. Donc, c’est un problème extrêmement sérieux que vous, en tant que parlementaires, vous devez prendre en compte.On appelle à nos dirigeants à tenir compte de ces réalités façonnées par l’histoire, à gérer, de manière équitable, les différentes identités qui composent nos différents pays.L’apartheid a construit l’Afrique australe par la maind’œuvre à bon marché qui a été transférée d’un territoire à l’autre, de la Rhodésie à l’Afrique du Sud. Cela aussi, l’identité africaine australe ne peut pas se comprendre, aujourd’hui, sans le rôle de l’apartheid dans la transformation de ces sociétés.Et donc, l’Afrique de demain, si nous devons nous y projeter, c’est gommer ces frontières et revenir aux réalités qui font qu’aucun d’entre nous, pris individuellement, ne peut réaliser son développement. D’où la nécessité, et cela, je suis tout à fait d’accord avec l’ensemble des intervenants, d’avoir recours à un panafricanisme dynamique qui s’articule aux interrogations qui se posent, aujourd’hui, aux peuples africains; la nécessité de l’intégration non seulement à l’intérieur d’un même pays, parce que souvent, les pays eux-mêmes ne sont pas intégrés.Les disparités nées de la colonisation subsistent dans chaque territoire pris individuellement, parce que chaque territoire a été géré selon un modèle de développement colonial.Et souvent, cinquante ans après, quand vous regardez l’histoire économique et sociale, la physionomie de chaque territoire, pris individuellement, chaque État, aujourd’hui, vous voyez l’empreinte de ces stratégies coloniales de développement qui ont marginalisé une partie du territoire, marginalisé une ethnie, marginalisé une culture au détriment d’autres.Et à l’échelle du continent, nous avons la même situation, certaines régions qui ont été beaucoup plus mises en valeur en fonction de l’intérêt du colonisateur au détriment d’autres qui sont marginalisées, qui sont land lot.Tout cela, nous devons pouvoir réfléchir dans le cadre de la conception d’un panafricanisme dynamique, remettre en cause ce modèle issu de la colonisation, ce syndrome de Berlin pour aller vers quelque chose de plus dynamique, de plus constructif, la libre circulation des marchandises et des biens.Chacun d’entre vous ici, comme quelqu’un l’a dit, quand vous voyagez dans nos aéroports en Afrique, un Français, un Européen, un Américain, il n’a pas besoin de visa. Il entre ici!Prenez le cas de l’Afrique du Sud où nous sommes, sans visa.Combien d’entre vous est obligé d’aller passer par le consulat d’Afrique du Sud dans vos pays et chacun de vos pays, pour dire la même chose, par rapport à beaucoup d’entre nous jusqu’à présent?Alors, c’est aussi une des dimensions importantes. Et çà, c’est le Parlement qui doit porter ce message. C’est le Parlement qui doit porter ce message.Notre regretté ami Kajudeen Abdurahim - que Dieu l’accueille en son sein - à un des sommets de l’Union africaine, a fait un discours pathétique sur cette question de la libre circulation en disant aux Chefs d’États: « Vous qui êtes là, vous-mêmes, quand vous allez d’un pays à l’autre pour vos sommets, n’est-ce pas que vous êtes obligés de passer par les ambassades du pays où vous devez faire vos sommets? ».Sans compter le citoyen lambda, l’entrepreneur lambda. Et nous disons qu’il faut intégrer les économies africaines. On donne plus de place aux opérateurs économiques venus en dehors de l’Afrique que nos propres opérateurs économiques.Donc, donner la dignité à nous-mêmes, nous affirmer nous-mêmes, c’est cela qui est, aujourd’hui, absolument important; et le rôle du Parlement, de mon point de vue, parce que c’est une institution qui est à nulle autre pareille.Je vous disais, en 2003, à l’un des premiers séminaires que nous avons faits pour susciter la création de ce Parlement panafricain, quand nous nous sommes réunis au Cap, c’était pour dire, justement, que ce Parlement-là doit être même plus important que la Conférence des Chefs d’États et de Gouvernements.(Applaudissements)Parce qu’il reflète beaucoup plus la diversité de l’Afrique que l’Assemblée des Chefs d’États.Alors, prenez en charge vos responsabilités, Honorables!Jouez votre rôle!Ce panafricanisme dynamique, c’est à vous de le traduire en actes, par vos actes, vos faits et gestes.Monsieur le Président,Je vous remercie.(Applaudissements nourris)MR. JOEL NETSHITENZHE [EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, MAPUNGUMBWE INSTITUTE FOR STRATEGIC REFLECTION]:Madam President, I will try to be as brief as possible and cover a few subthemes. Firstly, I want to emphasise that for the nations of the African Renaissance and Pan Africanism to succeed you require a visionary leadership on the continent. Sometimes we underplay this issue to our own detriment. We need visionary leadership that transcends regional, religious and ethnic mobilization. We need a visionary leadership that does not see the state as an instrument of personal accumulation. We need a visionary leadership that transcends electoral cycles to think about the long-term interests of their countries and of Africa as a whole.With regard to the issue of formal democracy, we need to deepen this to ensure inclusivity. The point needs to be made that one of the weaknesses on the continent, in my view, is that there is no deliberate effort on the part of those who win elections to govern as leaders of all their people, irrespective of who voted for them because once your are elected your are meant to be a government of all the people, not only of your supporters. We fail in terms of ensuring, as elected leaders, that we address and take into account the genuine apprehensions of sections of society that might not necessarily have voted for us. We fail to forge social compacts amongst the various sections of society, be they in the media, intellectual community, and the business community and so on, to ensure that all of them contribute to the development of our countries and the continent as a whole.By failing to do that, we therefore undermine our capacity to do what Asia has done because it is on the basis of social compacts that they were able to succeed. Also by failing to do that we create desperation on the part of politicians, either to capture power, or when in power, not to want to leave because the sense is that once they leave they will be marginalized from society all together.The next thing is about ensuring that we develop our economies beyond mineral extraction. I suppose that it is a given, but one thing that needs to be underlined as an example is Africa’s infrastructure programmes. As we indicated, some US$400 billion will be required in the coming 25 to 20 years in order to build Africa’s infrastructure. That is well and good. It will improve the economies and it will create some employment, but one of the fundamental issues that attaches to this is the supplier industry for the infrastructure programmes. Where do the nuts and bolts come from for the infrastructure? Where do the coaches for the rail system come from? The breaks, the wheels, the signal systems and so on? We import them from abroad whereas, given the massive nature of Africa’s infrastructure programme, we can construct manufacturing capacity for those supplier industries for infrastructure, because this programme in Africa, especially Sub-Saharan Africa is going to continue for the next fifty years if not more. Why shouldn’t the manufacturing capacity for supplier industries be located on the continent?The next issue is about the actor on the continent from outside of Africa and how we relate to them. We can develop all kinds of approaches and policies and even complain about these actors. The question that arises is whether Africa can decouple itself from the world. The answer obviously is no. Therefore, what we need to do is to develop the policies as well as state capacity to be able to ensure that our relationship with globe benefits Africa as such. We can even, if we strategize well, take advantage of the rivalries amongst these various actors.The governments of Europe and North America are complaining about the Chinese and the question is: If they see the Chinese as competitors, can we take advantage of that competition amongst all these actors? The Chinese for instance also construct infrastructure when they extract minerals. Can we demand the same of all the other actors and where necessary even play one against the other? But the fundamental issue attached to this will be whether we have capable states that are able to do so and whether we have a capable Pan-African Parliament as well as individual Parliaments in various countries to monitor what happens.On the issue of corruption, I would agree with what the speakers have said. Humanity or humans do get tempted to do wrong things. It is not possible to eliminate corruption all together. The fundamental question is whether we have the instruments of monitoring and evaluation in order to prevent corruption. In my view, our Parliaments, including the Pan-African Parliament, should be part of the instruments to fight corruption. The question is whether we have independent agencies in our various countries that are able to investigate and deal with corruption. Do we have an independent judiciary? Is there political will on the part of the leadership to deal with corruption? What is response of our governments and our state when the media expose corruption? Those are the issues that we need to address in order to discourage it and in order for people to come to appreciate that corruption does not pay.I will not respond to the specific questions, including the one in relation to Côte d'Ivoire except to make the point that when we talk about democracy, it goes beyond formality to embrace inclusivity. That should also go along with ensuring that the solutions that we find to conflicts in various countries and on the continent address the root causes of the conflicts themselves. We should not address these conflicts at face value because the conflicts will come back again to haunt us. We need to pose the questions to ourselves: What are the real reasons behind the tensions amongst our communities and within our nations. Is it resources, is it issues of identity, or is it ethnicity? And we must address those root causes so that we prevent the recurrence of the conflict.I should say in conclusion that this is the first time in my own life that I am in a meeting where there are so many speakers who reflect such a commitment to the unity of the continent, such passion for the development of Africa, such loyalty to the interests of Africa’s people and do it with such vibrancy in terms of ideas and creativity in proposing the solutions that are required. For that I am grateful.Thank you.THE PRESIDENT:Once more we applaud our two presenters.(Applause)Honourable Members you can agree with me that this is the best ever intervention in Debates we have had. I would like to propose that this issue must not end here. The theme of Pan-Africanism and the renaissance, we should go with it to our respective Parliaments and Governments.May be we can also organize some activities to celebrate the 50th anniversary of AU by inviting these scholars to share these historical backgrounds with our citizens. I myself I am going to do that because I was really impressed.Once more we give them a round of applause.(Applause)THE CLERK:Thank you Honourable Members. The Committee on Monetary and Financial Matters is scheduled to meet at half pass two in Committee Room No.1, Committee on Rules and privileges scheduled for half pass two in Committee Room Two, Committee on Gender youth and people with disability scheduled for half pass two in Committee Room No.4, Committee on Trade, Customs and Immigration scheduled for half pass two to meet in Committee Room No 5.And a separate announcement; it comes from the Committee of Education.There is a round table discussion on the development of education in Africa in Committee Room No.3 at half pass two. All Members are invited to this discussionADJOURNMENT [13:44:14]
Friday, 10 May, 2013
HON. NJINGUM MUSA MBUTOH:It is all the same. I think everybody got it. I will proceed with it. Today I am presenting to you the 2014, budget. We have done the 2013, budget. I will give you the reason why we are presenting the 2014 Budget as I present my report. The presentation of this budget and the processes of the preparation, scrutiny and approval that preceded it, are in line with the decision of the Pan-African Parliament October 2012 Plenary Resolution that instructed PAP to convene the Committee on Monetary and Financial Affairs as soon as the instruction and guidelines of preparing the 2014 Budget are received from the AUC. We left here one day and the instruction came. That is why we could not present to you the budget of 2014.The Rules of Procedure of the Pan-African Parliament stipulated under section 26(2) that the Committee on Monetary and Financial Affairs is mandated, amongst others to:Examine the draft estimates of the Parliamentary budget and submit it to you for validation;Discuss the budget of the Union and make appropriate recommendations;Examine and report to Parliament on the problems involved in the implementation of the annual budget; andAssist Parliament to execute its role of establishing sound economic, monetary and investment policies.Pursuant to the aforesaid mandate under the Rules of Procedure and the Resolution from the PAP Plenary, the Committee convened a non-statutory meeting held at the precincts of the PAP, from 18 to 22 February, 2013 to consider the 2014 budget. This is the draft budget as presented to you. It has been sent to the African Union Commission.In execution of this mandate, the Committee was guided by the prevailing statutory and legal regime governing the PAP Budget formulation processes, as required in the AU Rules and Regulations. The guiding decisions observed were: Ex.CL/DEC.98, Ex.CL/DEC.407 (xii), Ex.CL/455, the PAP Protocol, the Executive Council Decision EX.CL/Dec578.The methods as in the methodology are as follows:As per the AU request to all its organs regarding its 2014 budget preparation, PAP was requested to stay within the 5% incremental threshold. However, the PAP was compelled to increase its budget by 11% because of the necessity to implement the approved decision of the Assembly of Heads of State on the PAP structure.We will now go to the review of the 2013 PAP Budget. The budget cycle of the AU has changed because of the AU Summit that adopts the Budget. It was moved to July, annually. Organs of the AU are now expected to prepare and submit their budgets to the Commission before the end of March of each year. The change in the budget cycle was necessitated by the fact that the AU and its organs realized that there was a delay in the start of the implementation of the operational and programme budget within the fiscal year. As such, there was need to put in place a new budget cycle that can enable the AU organs to undertake a good implementation of their budget within the fiscal year. When the budget was adopted in January, before we start implementing the budget, there are already payment delays. That is why the organs of the AU decided that the budget should be adopted in July. Before January, we will start the budget and we start it early and go on with its execution very early.Despite the challenges in the budget cycle, there was also a request that organs should submit their budgets of 2014, so that it can be adopted at the Summit in May 2013 because of the Assembly. The Assembly was scheduled for July 2013 to consult with the commemoration of the AU 50th anniversary. That is why we are now on the 2014 Budget because they should have been concerned with 2013, but now we are considering because we know 2014 budget to be considered in July. So they say we shall adopt the Budget in of 2014 before May.As such, the Committee did not carry out an evaluation of the 2013 budget to guide the process of compiling the 2014 budget. Also, the PAP has to alter its internal processes of compiling and scrutinizing its budget before it is submitted to the relevant AU organs. Because of the situation, it was not up to the expectation, so we could not take the 2013 Budget to evaluate the Budget of 2014. As a result, the PAP plenary has to alter its internal processes of compiling and scrutinizing its budget before it is submitted to the relevant AU organs. Committee on Monetary and Financial was monitored by the plenary to prepare the Budget and submit it to the relevant AU organs. That is what we did. In preparing the 2014 budget threshold, the Committee used the previous budgets to guide them about the necessity and the past expenditures of the PAP. That is from 2004 to 2013.We will now look at the 2014 budget objectives. Over and above the general implementation of the objectives of PAP, the year 2014 PAP Budget seeks to achieve the following key priorities:Effective implementation of policies and objectives of the AU;Effective implementation of the Principles of Human Rights and Democracy in Africa;The promotion of good governance, respect for law, transparency and accountability in AU Member States; Promoting peace, security and stability in Africa;Improving the institutional and technical capacity of PAP;Promote co-operation among regional economic communities in Africa; and,Encouraging continental solidarity, co-operation and development to build a common destiny in Africa.Those were the major objectives of the Budget of 2014 in line with the AU.We will now look at the PAP Operation Budget of 2014. The current operational budget has taken into consideration the following activities, amongst others: One; the holding of two Ordinary Sessions for the maximum duration of the ten days,Two; the holding of two meetings of the Bureau, to coincide with the above,Three; the holding of two joint meetings of the Bureau and Bureau of the Committees, to coincide with the above, and the holding of two sittings of Committees, each sitting for a maximum duration of three days.The total operational budget stands at US$ 11,685,390.The programme budget was prepared in conformity with the decision of the African Union on a logical framework of budget preparation. You have it in front of you. This framework is meant to make clear the objectives of each project so that it aligns with the PAP strategic plan and the broader objectives of the African Union. As such, all activities of the committees have been taken into consideration and are included in the budget.The programme budget is not funded by the AU regular budget. Organs of the AU fund their programmes through donations from donor partners. The AU requires the submission of all agreements on pledges made towards funding the programme budget and it is against the rules of the AU for organs to carry out programmes whose funding was not approved by the AU.At the time of compiling this report, PAP has secured the following partners to support its programme budget which was estimated at US$3 946 532. I will come to a lot of conclusions.European Commission, EC.African Capacity Building Foundation, ACBF.Gesselschaft fur Internationale zusammenarbeit, GTZ.United Nations Development Programme, UNDP.The Electoral Institute for Sustainable Development in Africa, EISA.Africa Governance Monitoring and Advocacy Project, AFRIMAP.We will now look at the challenges of the Budget. It is important to highlight that the requirement by the AU for all its organs to limit their budgetary increase to a ceiling of 5% may pose challenges to certain budgetary line items which may genuinely require increase beyond the 5% limit in order for institutions such as PAP to meet their objectives. This problem has been made more glaring in the preparation of the 2014 budget where PAP had to accommodate the implementation of the new PAP administrative structure in the budget while trying to maintain the 5% percent ceiling, which is very difficult. That is why we had to go up to 11%.The other challenge that is presented by the 2014 Budget is that the Budget is prepared and adopted more than a year prior to the year of implementation. We could hardly use the year of the 2013 execution before we could determine the budget for 2014. The priorities and costs of some of the budgeted items may change or escalate - in 2014 we may have different costs and different the prices of items - before the budget is implemented. This may affect PAP’s ability to carry out some activities and to operate within the budget in 2014. However, we have to do with it. The consumption of 2013 cannot be used as a benchmark in the preparation of the 2014 budget, and as such, the challenge that may incur may not be accurately forecasted. We may not forecast what will be contained in the 2014 Budget. We will have to manage it.The committee recommends the following for consideration and endorsement.When submitting annual budgets, all organs of the AU are instructed not to increase their budget by more than 5%. The 5% ceiling is challenging to the capacity of PAP. The PAP should lobby the political leadership of the African Union to revise this policy as a way of aligning the budget of the AU with the demands of the Union and its organs.The implementation of the PAP administrative structure may require more funds than estimated in this budget. Therefore, PAP business should be given consideration as proposed in the draft budget. There should be a follow-up by the members of the Committee on Monetary and Financial Affairs on the prepared Budget until its final approval by the PRC and Executive Council of the AU. The Committee noticed the vacancy of the Deputy Clerk of finance which is a very strategic position in administrative and international relations. This is very strategic for the financial management of PAP. As such, the committee recommended that this situation should be filled immediately.You would have noticed that the Committee of Finance has always prepared Budgets for these and forwarded it, but now it is noticed that a team of members of the Committee on Monetary and Financial Affairs of Bureau should be set up to follow up the requests of this allowances of members. Members sit in Parliaments without allowances, Bureau members without allowance. So we need to fight ECWAS to give these allowances back to us, as started in article 10 of the PAP Protocol,To this extent, the PRC is not very very stringent on us now. They asked to bring a team so that we can work together to see what modality we can bring out to follow this particular demand.These strategic committee activities is very important item the committee proposed and adopted that some of the programme activities of the committee should be taken care of within the strategic committee meetings from different countries in the five regions. As such, eleven activities were proposed in the eleven different countries in the five regions. If this is done and we succeed in this, you will have two strategic committee meetings and with twenty countries. What feasibility of PAP would you think we can create? The social economic and political impact of the Pan-African Parliament on other member state countries would be wonderful for PAP. So, we will have to manage the finances we have in the strategic committee meetings, which we have here as I highlighted to you, and share it within the committees to make sure we meet our needs. The Bureau will see that modality which we will have to use, to impact our member state Parliaments and to see how we can host these types of committee meetings. I think that will be wonderful for all of us.In conclusion, the operational budget for 2014 is allocated as follows:For salary and wages, you have the operational budget with you, it is US$ 2,773,958.The member running cost is US$ 200 000.The common staff cost is US$3 6078 385 million.Official missions is US$707 000.Maintenance of equipment and vehicles is US$ 68 000. Communication is US$ 160 000.Supplies and service is US$250 904.Equipment and Furniture is US$ 99 000.Meetings and seminars, where we have these strategic committee meetings, US$, 3 629 143.Projects, contribution of AU US$ 120 and this was a serious debate with us and the PRC that members need to take the responsibility in sponsoring the programme budget because 97% of the programme budget is sponsored by partners and we cannot succeed with that money. Tariffs of accommodation have gone up is very seriously.The total operation budget is US$ 11 685 390. Now I quote only the strategic committee meetings and that budget now is at US$ 800 000. That is the one you have to share with the committees on a substitute basis, in the different countries, to undertake their activities. These activities that you have to undertake in their different counters, should not be a matter of going to sit and read minutes, it should be a very important activity and a very important workshop that it will have an impact on the member state country where you are going. Then also, you must come back here and give a resolution that the Bureau can take the resolution and forward it to the AU to show the capacity of PAP. And that is how we will play an important role. We may use the three arms of the hosting country, we may use the interpreters of the hosting country and we may use the printing press of the hosting country. Then you would have contributed in that country and made the economic, social and political impact of PAP in that particular country felt.For the Programme budget, we have the following objectives:Effective implementation of the policies and objectives of the AU. US$1.128 492.Effective implementation of he principles of Human Rights and Democracy in Africa, US$265 696.Promotion of good governance, respect the rule of the law, transparency and accountability in AU Member states- US$515, 664.Promoting Peace, Security and stability in Africa- US$139,386.Improving the institutional and technical capacity of PAP US$1,168,174.Promote co-operation among regional economic communities in Africa- US$88,400.Encouraging continental solidarity, co-operation and development to build a common destiny in Africa US$ 368, 208.The total programme is US$3 946 532Committee unequivocally urges the Plenary Assembly to consider and adopt the proposed 2103 PAP Budget of US$15,631,922. Broken down as follows:Operational budget is US$11,685,390; andProgramme Budget is US$3 946 532, which gives you a total of US$15,631,922.Lastly, the Committee wishes to thank the Secretariat for the hard work put during the preparation of this budget. Hon members, we have already submitted the first part of this budget. The first part of discussion has already taken place in Mombasa; that is a first step of the sub-committee and the sub-committee was talking of the ceiling of 5%, but because of the unique situation of PAP, they made a very strong recommendation to the PRC and the executive that they should try to consider the budget as allocated by the Pan-African Parliament of the 11%. And until this is approved, that is when I will come to present to you the final approval of the budget. Please, I think that it was very interesting that the PRC is really in good line with us and I hope that when the follow-up is done, we shall achieve this budget for the good of the Pan-African Parliament. Thank you for your indulgence and for listening to it.I beg to move accordingly.I wanted to be very brief here today.HON. HENRI YAWOVI HONAM GBONE [TOGO]:Je vous remercie, Monsieur le Président.Monsieur le Président,Je voudrais également adresser mes remerciements à l’Honorable MBUTOH pour la présentation du budget, exercice 2014.Je voudrais aussi appuyer la proposition qui a été faite de penser à organiser, dorénavant, les réunions des Commissions du Parlement panafricain, de manière tournante.Monsieur le Président,L’avantage de cette proposition, me semble-t-il, serait de permettre, pour mieux assurer la visibilité du Parlement panafricain au moment où nous en parlons, tout le temps, sans pouvoir vraiment concrétiser ce souhait.Nous avons déjà des exemples. Le Parlement de la CEDEAO, par exemple, le Parlement de l’UEMOA, organisent de manière tournante les réunions de leurs Commissions. Donc, je voudrais appuyer cette proposition.Monsieur le Président,Je voudrais aussi saisir cette opportunité pour demander des explications, des informations sur les problèmes budgétaires, le financement des travaux, des séminaires, des conférences qui sont organisés aussi bien au siège qu’à l’extérieur.Nous sommes confrontés à de nombreux problèmes.Monsieur le Président,Nous avons conscience que notre Parlement ne dispose pas assez de ressources pour le financement de ses conférences, de ses séminaires, bien entendu. Il est nécessaire que nous nous battions pour que les financements soient disponibles, mais en attendant cela, lorsque nous sommes confrontés à la pénurie de ressources pour l’organisation de ces séminaires-là, nous entreprenons des démarches auprès de certains organismes pour nous porter secours.Mais très souvent nous entendons de la part de la direction du Parlement, des commentaires sur la procédure: « vous n’avez pas droit à ceci, vous n’avez pas droit à cela ». Mais nous, nous travaillons pour la bonne cause et nous souhaitons qu’une fois pour toute, on nous fixe avec précision sur nos droits et devoirs et sur ce que nous pouvons faire en matière de sollicitation pour le financement des activités, eu égard aux difficultés qu’éprouve notre Parlement à assurer ses financements.Merci, Monsieur le Président.HON. SHEKU B.B DUMBUYA [SIERRA LEONE]:Mr. President, I would like to congratulate Hon. Musa on his presentation.Mr. President, all of us are aware of the fact that no organization in the world will function effectively without money. Even in cases where what is budgeted for is given, it will still be found wanting, as it will be severely limited.Mr. President, The Pan African Parliament is no exception in this regard. That is why Mr. President, I will ask about the emphasis that must be put on transparency and accountability in the use of resources available to PAP.Mr. President, we all know that we depend so much on our partners to fund us to help us undertake most of the activities we have set for ourselves. The other day Mr. President, when you were submitting the activities report of PAP for the past six months, our colleague from Ghana said, and I support him, that all those who have been found guilty of financial practices must be severely punished. This must be done if we are to establish credibility. This must be done if we want to encourage our funding partners to continue to help us. If something is not done, or nothing severe is done by way of punishment they will not take us seriously.And in your explanation Mr. President you said, among other things that the issue is not that there is Fraud on the part of the bureau, but that the budgeting principles that were asked for, particularly with regard to procurement were not followed.This is slackness on the part of PAP I must say. PAP must never be in a hurry, must take time to go through the procurement procedures as all of us know even in our various Parliaments that this is strictly adhered to.Mr. President, I will advise that you take this very seriously because as lawyers say, and Mr. President is a Lawyer "to conceal a fraud is fraud"; I repeat, to conceal a fraud is Fraud and Mr. President you are a lawyer and you know that.So, as much as we agree that perhaps there may not be fraud on the part of the Bureau, but very stringent actions must be taken on those guilty of any financial malpractices. I will call for this.Mr. President, serious efforts must be made to get funds, otherwise the activities of PAP will come to a standstill. If nothing is done in this regard, after sometime, we will be found to be irrelevant. It is very pitiable to hear that allowances are not paid to Members of the Bureau and to some other Members when they sit at Committees.Mr. President, we have to make every effort to revise this situation because it is shameful. I am eagerly looking forward to the day when the AU will provide funds to enable members to attend PAP meetings.Mr. President, the other day I was saying that attendance has been dwindling. This is true and I would like you to know that some Members of Parliament are providing their funds to come to meetings and, for those who cannot afford it, they are not here and they will never be here. So, I still want to call on you Mr. President to find a way out as it is done in ECOWAS.Thank you very muchHON. ABRAOUA FRANÇOISE ASSOGBA [BÉNIN]:Merci, Monsieur le Président.Je crois que mon collègue, l’Honorable GBONE, a pris en compte beaucoup de mes préoccupations.Étant membre de cette Commission, je voudrais insister, Monsieur le Président, sur les lacunes que nous constatons surtout en matière de documentation dans le cadre de la gestion du Parlement. Au niveau de la Commission, nous en avons beaucoup débattues.Ce qui nous a été promis, c’est de renforcer la capacité du personnel surtout lors du recrutement qui est en vue.Donc, je voudrais insister, Monsieur le Président, sur ce volet-là.Ne perdons pas de vue ce volet de bonne gestion, de bonne gouvernance. Il y va de la crédibilité du Parlement panafricain.Merci, Monsieur le Président.HON. MASTER MOISERAELE GOYA [BOTSWANA]:Thank you, Mr. President.I thank you for allowing me to also thank the Chairperson of the Monetary and Financial Affairs Committee, Honourable Musa Mbutoh for his presentation.Mr. President, by virtue of my position as the Deputy Chairperson of this Committee, I want to assure Honourable Musah that I am in solidarity with him for this Budget to be approved by this House.Mr. President, the 2014 Budget of the Pan-African Parliament is the third Budget that has been prepared without execution of the previous year’s Budget. And this alone poses a problem. It gives Members of this Committee sleepless nights when keeping the Budget.And again, the little that I want to say, Mr. President, is that it is now almost four years since AU has been insisting on a five per cent incremental grip on all its Organs Budget. This again is a problem. We cannot achieve our objectives because of this five per cent incremental grip.But I want to crave the indulgence of this House to say that let us just learn to live with this. And I am saying this because we all know that AU gets its revenue from our Member States. So, if our Member States are not obliging, if our Member States are not paying their dues, if we still have Member States who are in arrears, how then do we expect the AU to allocate funding? Obviously, they are hamstrung. Their hands are tied. There is no way that they can allow us to get about 30 or 20 per cent increase on the budget because they do not have money. It is simple as that. So, I am just craving the indulgence of this House to say that let us learn to live by the instructions of AU that all its Organs must increase their budgets by five per cent on yearly basis.The other point that I would like to talk about, Mr. President, is the one on Committees meeting outside the precincts of Pan-African Parliament. I want to buttress this point, I want to reinforce this point that it is very, very important that these committees meet in different countries. This, on its own, will assist in popularizing the Pan-African Parliament. It will enhance the visibility of the Pan-African Parliament. And I just want to again crave the indulgence of Chairpersons of committees and their Members to heed to the recommendation of the Monetary and Financial Affairs Committee.Having said this I agree that we should approve this Budget.I thank you, Mr. President.HON. ISAAC STEPHEN MABILETSA [BOTSWANA]:Mr. President, I did not have time to read through this report, but the comment that I wish to make on the budget is that maybe this Parliament should start a campaign or project of trying to find modalities of how to finance itself. We are experiencing a lot of problems with attendance because member states cannot do it. But the way it was suggested by one of the guest speakers yesterday is the manner in which ECOWAS is being financed. Maybe this is something that this Parliament should look into and try and launch a lobby campaign towards that type of model of financing this Parliament.Otherwise, apart from that, when you took over the Presidency and the leadership of this Parliament, you placed it on record that you are going to try to the best of your ability to keep the finances of this Parliament in a manner that is acceptable, transparent and now that we have this project of staff recruitment, I wish you the best in your endeavours in that line to recruit the best possible qualified people to run the financial division of this Parliament.With these few remarks, Mr. President, I thank you.HON. LUHAGA JOELSON MPINA [TANZANIA]:Mheshimiwa Rais, nakushukuru sana kwa kunipa nafasi.Mheshimiwa Rais, kama wenzangu wote walivyozungumza, tumekuwa tukishuhudia kila Bunge na kila bajeti ya PAP uwepo mdogo wa fedha kwa ajili ya kuendesha Bunge lenyewe. Tumekuwa tukiambiwa ni sungura mdogo, sungura mdogo pamoja na ongezeko dogo sana la fedha kwa kila mwaka.Mheshimiwa Rais, kikubwa tunachotakiwa kujiuliza, hivi AU wenyewe wanapata wapi pesa? Ukienda kwenye AU wenyewe wanapata wapi pesa, utajua ni kwa nini PAP tutaendelea kulalalamika mwaka hadi mwaka pesa hazitoshi, pesa hazitoshi. Bajeti kubwa ya AU wanategemea misaada kutoka kwenye nchi wahisani. Sasa kama unategemea misaada na huna uwezo wa kwako wewe wa ndani wa kutengeneza fedha za kwako wewe mwenyewe kwa ajili ya kuendesha Jumuiya yako, uko kwenye tatizo kubwa. Ugonjwa huu upo hata kwenye nchi wanachama. Nchi wanachama zimekuwa hazitoi michango yake inavyopaswa na hatujui tatizo ni nini.Mheshimiwa Rais, ukija kwa upande mwingine kama nilivyozungumza wakati ule nachangia kuhusu miaka 50 ya Muungano huu kwamba nchi nyingi za Afrika zinaendelea kutegemea misaada na mikopo mpaka leo. Nchi zilizo nyingi zina uwezo wa kuendesha bajeti zake kwa asilimia 50 tu na asilimia 50 nyingine wanategemea mikopo na misaada. Tukiendelea kung’ang’ania huu ugonjwa uliotung’ang’ania wa kutegemea misaada na mikopo, Afrika haiwezi kusonga mbele na wala Jumuiya yetu haiwezi kusonga mbele. Ni lazima tukubali kutoka hapa tulipo sasa, tujitegemee na tuwe na uwezo wetu wa kifedha.Mheshimiwa Rais, kwa mfano, nchi zinazofanya vizuri, ni zile ambazo zina uwezo wa kujitegemea kibajeti angalau kwa asilimia 80. Nchi kama Ethiopia wanajitegemea kibajeti kwa 80% kutoka fedha zao za ndani. Nchi kama Kenya sasa wanajitegemea kibajeti kwa 98%. Nchi nyingine za Afrika zikifanya hivi, tutatoka hapa tulipo.Mheshimiwa Rais, vilevile nilitaka kujua kama fedha zilizotumika kwenye matangazo ya kutangaza nafasi za waajiriwa wapya ziliidhinishwa na PRC kama Sheria ya AU inavyosema?Mheshimiwa Rais, la mwisho na mara nyingi nimekuwa nikisema hili kwamba kile kipengele (d), kutokana na muda siwezi kukisoma, cha mamlaka ya Kamati ya Fedha ya Bunge hili, kikiwezeshwa, kikafanya kazi yake sawasawa, kitatusaidia sana hapa Afrika kutatua matatizo mengi. Mimi nakiri ni mjumbe wa Kamati ya Fedha lakini hiki kipengele (d) kilichoainishwa katika Sheria Namba 26(2), Kamati hii haitekelezi wajibu wake huo. Kamati hii ikiwezeshwa na Bunge hili, ikatekeleza wajibu wake huo, tutaweza kusaidia sana Bara hili la Afrika kuondokana na mambo makubwa yafuatayo:-(i)Tatizo kubwa sasa hivi linaloendelea la fraud and corruption katika fedha za umma.(ii)Illicit financial flow inayoendelea sasa hivi Barani Afrika.(iii)Deficit budget. Nchi nyingi za Afrika bajeti yake ndio hivyo.Mheshimiwa Rais, sasa lazima tuwe na guidance, Bunge hili na Kamati hii, iwezeshwe kulishauri vizuri Bara la Afrika ili lijipange vizuri katika kuhakikisha kwamba wanaweza kukusanya kodi, wanaweza kukusanya maduhuli yatakayowawezesha kuziendesha nchi zao lakini na kuliendesha Bara la Afrika.Mheshimiwa Rais, bado tuna tatizo kubwa la pro poor budget, kwamba bajeti kweli zinazopangwa ni kwa ajili ya wananchi wenyewe au ni kwa ajili ya kundi la watu fulani? Tumelalamika kwamba pamoja na uchumi kukua lakini tumeshindwa kuu-transform uchumi huu katika maisha ya watu wa kawaida. Unajua maana yake ni nini? Kwa sababu unakuta bajeti ya nchi nzima, ukiipigia hesabu, ni kwa ajili ya kulipa mishahara na posho za watumishi wa Serikali. Pesa inayoenda kwa huyu mwananchi wa kawaida ni ndogo mno kiasi kwamba haiwezi ikamsaidia yeye kuinua maisha yake na kuondokana na umaskini. Kamati hii ya Fedha ikijengewa uwezo huo, ikatoa guidance kwa Afrika nzima, tunaweza kuondoka hapa tulipo na kupiga hatua kubwa.Mheshimiwa Rais, ahsante sana.HON. CECILIA ATIM-OGWAL [UGANDA]:I thank you, Your Excellency, for giving me an opportunity to comment on the Budget. Appropriately, you are monitoring me to see and wanting to catch me at my own problem by arriving late. But I just want to comment on a few things considering this Budget.Your Excellency, first of all, a Budget must have clearly well defined objectives of the activities which are supposed to be funded by that Budget. Now, when I look through this Report, I have not seen the welldefined programmes and activities to be funded. What I know is that each and every Parliament Committee presented a Budget to this House and I would have expected that they reflected in the Budget so that we know what aspect of this Budget is going towards funding proposed the activities.Secondly, according to our Protocol, article 12, subsection 5, the Bureau President and the Vice President are officers of the Pan-African Parliament. Now, as officers of the Pan-African Parliament, it therefore, means that their operations and their presence here must be reflected in the operational budget. I would want to see what aspect of this Budget goes into ensuring that at every one time, the President and the Vice President are present here to conduct the affairs of Pan-African Parliament. I have not seen that reflected in the Budget here.And finally, Mr. President, I have already raised this point. I want to raise it again, for the purpose of emphasis that it is very, very important that we must now demarcate the operational budget that goes to fund the staff, vis-à-vis the operational budget that goes into the programmes of the committees of Parliament and the Bureau. That is very, very important. I know that the activities of staff are sometimes lumped on the activities of the Bureau.So, as Members of Parliament, when we look at the globalised budget, we feel that the Bureaus are spending so much money on its operation when actually it’s the staff, which is attached to the Bureau who is drawing that money. So, I would like to see a clear demarcation of the activities of the Bureau, the activities of staff and the activities of Members of Parliament.I thank you, Mr. President.HON. PATRICK MWALULA MUCHELEKA [ZAMBIA]:Thank you, Mr President for the opportunity. May I also join my colleagues in sincerely thanking hon. Musa Mbutoh, the chairperson of the finance committee for this budget, which I will certainly support for adoption and approval.Mr President, you clearly see that the bulk of the funding to the Pan-African Parliament may come from cooperative partners. While appreciating the role that the donors may play in financing the AU as well as the Pan-African Parliament, that however, may not be sustainable. At this stage perhaps we need to encourage each other here to try and take ownership of the Pan-African Parliament budget by making a call to our member Parliaments to specifically budget for Pan-African Parliament. That is another way of taking ownership of our Pan-African Parliament which is indeed a peoples continental Parliament and, therefore, each country should be able to take ownership by directly contributing to the running of the continental Parliament by budgeting for it at country level.Mr President, I however, want to say that as countries perhaps are encouraged to participate in funding the Pan-African Parliament directly - apart from the finances that support the members when they come here, we may also have to directly support prior activities through member countries contributing.However, if that has to be done, we really have to show value for the money that will be spent and this is why perhaps we are calling for, even at this stage, the full transformation of PAP into a legislative Parliament so that indeed we can be seen to be making visible and meaningful contributions.But most importantly, I also wish to commend you, Mr President for the steps that you have taken to try and enhance the financial systems at the Pan-African Parliament given the challenges that we have experienced. I want to sincerely also call on you and your Vice-Presidents that support you to ensure that there is prudent utilisation of the resources that are given to the Pan-African Parliament so that as much as possible, we must be the ones showing the lead in being transparent and accountable in the use of resources.I want to sincerely support the approval of this budget. I thank you, Mr President.HON. BERNADETTE LAHAI [SIERRA LEONE]:Thank you very much Mr President. I want to extend my appreciation to the Chairperson for presenting this budget.Mr President, I am very happy that the Statutory Committee Meetings will be held in member countries. I think this is a very laudable recommendation which we must bring on board because it will improve the visibility of the PAP by bringing the Parliament closer to the people. While we will be in these countries, we must make use of this golden opportunity to meet with different stakeholders in the countries such as the Executive, particularly those whose mandate falls under the Committees, civil society and their Parliaments. This will afford members an opportunity to see how other African countries operate and learn from their experience. This is a very laudable gesture.With regards to the ceiling of 5 per cent, we have now been told that the budget increase is 11 per cent. This means that we have gone overboard by 120 per cent. I am a bit worried on whether this will not pose a problem given the high default rate of member countries. I hope that the AU understands the reason for this increase.Mr Speaker, on the regional consultative meetings, we have been told that there will be ten ratification consultations on the AU instruments. I do not know what these ten will be about, but I want to draw your attention to a very important Charter and that is the African Charter on Maritime Transport. This Charter was adopted a long time ago, but only four countries have signed it. No country has ratified it. This Charter is very important because the maritime sector transfers bulky goods round the world. It is very important for a Charter like this one to be ratified by members. I recommend that this Charter should be among the ten. We have already started talking to the AU Commission on Transport and Energy for it to come to this Parliament and familiarise Members of Parliament on the importance of this charter.This is a very welcome budget and we only hope and pray that we will have the money for us to implement it.HON. STEVEN OBEEGADOO [MAURITIUS]:Mr President, I am duty bound to be critical, and I have six points to make in three minutes.Three years now, I have been fighting for a document and this is a document of critical importance, but we always get it on the morning of the day it is presented and we are supposed to study it. This is inadmissible. We have been asked to approve something we do not know.Mr. President, the Chair carries with it high hopes of change of culture within this Parliament, and we call on you Chair to work decisively in that regard. This state of things should not be allowed to continue.Mr. President, the second point is that we are supposed to own this document without any consultation; I am saying this solely because my Committee and I have not been consulted as to what appears in this document or the logical framework. Why should we support Chair? We will approve it on protest or approve it on pretext. But this state of things must not be allowed to continue.Mr. President for the committee funding, the Chair had undertaken to ensure that for the next year all Committees would have their budgetary allocation information in advance so they take responsibilities of their activities. As a Chair of my Committee I did not receive funding information and this is severely affecting attracting additional members to my Committee and I call for a change in that regard so that Committees be fairly treated and allocated funding in advance.Also for joint meetings of Bureau and Bureau of Committees, the two meetings provided for in the report are not sufficient. If you want Committees to play their roles in shaping the plenary sessions, then for instance, in August of this year for next year, there need to be joint meetings of Bureau so that we could plan ahead.So, I call on the Chair for two fine words. One in favour of the interpreters on the occasion of this session we have noted with concern the shortage in terms of interpreters and unacceptable and unprofessional conditions of work imposed on the interpreters. The quality of our Debates and participation depends on interpreters and I again Chair call on you to look into this matter urgentlyMr. President, my final point is that this is the first time we are discussing a budget without the Deputy Clerk responsible for Finance. We trust in the name of good governance and transparency to be told the circumstances of his resignation. Having spoken to colleagues, there is some dissatisfaction which we do not understand clearly. What has prompted the resignation of Mr. Morad? I am, therefore, on behalf of colleagues and my own name requesting that the resignation Letter of Mr. Morad be made public and circulated within the Assembly.I thank you.HON. BAKARY OUATTARA [CÔTE D’IVOIRE]:Merci, Monsieur le Président.Dans le document, il est dit que dans le budget de fonctionnement, il est prévu la tenue de deux réunions des Commissions.Alors, je voudrais savoir si ces réunions sont faites en dehors des sessions ordinaires ou si elles sont tenues pendant les sessions?Alors, si ces réunions sont tenues en dehors des sessions, je voudrais savoir qui assure la prise en charge des parlementaires de ces commissions?Est-ce que c’est le PAP ou les États d’origine de ces députés?Ma deuxième préoccupation a été prise en compte par l’Honorable Cécilia de la Zambie, sur la présentation des budgets où on ne voit pas du tout les actions menées. On voit toujours des grandes lignes, mais on ne sait pas exactement quels sont les détails de l’utilisation de ces budgets.Mon troisième point, ce sera de réagir un peu sur la plaidoirie de Master GOYA, qui dit « qu’il faut se contenter de ce qu’on a, du fait des difficultés financières ».Je dis d’accord, mais il faut aussi qu’on tienne compte de la rigueur de la bonne gouvernance, car, il a été dit, ici, que certains donateurs se sont retirés du fait de détournements de fonds ou alors de la mauvaise gestion des fonds qui ont été alloués. Si cela est vérifié, il est temps que le PAP prenne ses responsabilités, parce qu’il n’est pas question que certaines personnes viennent s’enrichir et que d’autres personnes doivent se serrer la ceinture.Donc, véritablement, cela ne doit pas continuer! Il faut que le PAP prenne ses responsabilités en donnant un signal fort aux donateurs, pour que ceux-ci aient le courage de revenir.Que les fauteurs de trouble soient sanctionnés, pour que les autres puissent être à l’aise!Je vous remercie.HON. ASSOUMANA MALAM ISSA [NIGER]:Merci, Monsieur le Président.Monsieur le Président,C’est l’occasion, pour moi, de féliciter le Président et les membres de la Commission des Affaires monétaires et financières.Je voudrais dire, Monsieur le Président, que quelques unes de mes préoccupations ont été prises en charge et je partage entièrement le souci de l’Honorable OBEEGADOO qui a soulevé la nécessité de mettre le document à notre disposition, [à temps].Je sais que le premier document qui nous a été remis est un rapport narratif du budget mais j’aurais souhaité, pour la lisibilité du document, qu’il y ait au moins sur la partie consacrée aux chiffres, un tableau facilitant la lecture.Je salue également l’idée de délocaliser les réunions des Commissions parce que cela contribuerait à améliorer la visibilité du PAP et à faciliter le plaidoyer.Monsieur le Président,La plupart de mes préoccupations sont plutôt contenues dans l’annexe. On nous a remis un document, en annexe, qui est intitulé: « Planification du cadre Logique de budgétisation de l’UA ».Pour tout celui qui a suivi comment on fait une planification stratégique, qui connaît le processus de planification stratégique, il sait déjà qu’à ce niveau l’appellation n’est pas bonne. Ce n’est pas la budgétisation de l’Union africaine. Il s’agit bel et bien du budget du Parlement panafricain selon le cadre logique de l’Union africaine.Donc, encore une fois, le problème de la traduction est là. Il faut vraiment qu’on règle définitivement ce problème. Et je crois que ce n’est même pas le Parlement panafricain qui a un problème; c’est plutôt l’Union africaine qui a un problème parce que la planification stratégique étant universelle, les appellations doivent être universelles. Ou alors l’Union africaine n’a pas fait l’effort de faire cela ou le personnel du PAP ne maîtrise pas la planification stratégique.Et je crois un peu à cette dernière idée, Monsieur le Président, parce que quand vous parcourez le document, vous avez une présentation qui vous présente les résultats attendus et les activités. Quelque part quand on cite, vous arrivez à un endroit, on vous dit résultats partiels et on vous donne un montant. Cela n’a aucun sens. C’est un coût partiel. Ou on parle en termes de coûts, ou bien on parle entièrement d’autres choses, mais il n’y a pas de résultats partiels.Donc, ça encore c’est un problème de traduction qu’il va falloir régler. Mais ce problème est tellement important, Monsieur le Président, qu’il enlève tout le sens à certaines phrases et à certaines informations qui sont contenues dans le document.Je voudrais savoir, quand on parle d’évaluation pré et postélectorale, Monsieur le Président de la Commission, s’agit-il des observations des élections ou bien d’une nouvelle activité qui entre dans le cadre du Parlement panafricain?Je voudrais également remarquer que le cadre logique tel qu’il est présenté est incomplet parce qu’on a aucune indication sur les périodes, sur les échéances, un cadre [...].HON. JACQUELINE AMONGIN [UGANDA]:Mr. President, I just have a few things to raise. One is in regard to the report that I have just seen here in the Committee of the Monetary and Financial Affairs. However, my interest is firstly the follow-up with the member states on the recommendations and the resolutions that we come up with here. Despite the fact that we are an advisory body and although we have not yet attained legislative powers as the Parliament of the UA, I think we could utilize this advisory body to advice the member states to take up some of the decisions that we come up with, especially those related to conflicts, governance and the rule of law, basically.I think it would be good for us to practice that role of advisory and once in a while even get the speakers of Parliament on board and advise them on what is happening in the A,B,C,D and advise them that these particular countries are violating the rights of the people. This Parliament should be able to champion that.The Heads of State always have summits and I don’t see any role that we would play as legislative arm of the AU. You find that, whenever the Heads of State Summit takes place, different stakeholders, different actors, the civil society organisations are brought on board. There are pre-heads of summits meetings going on in the different caucuses of AU in the Addis or wherever they are going to sit from, but you don’t find the Pan-African Parliament participating in any. I think this is something we need to be pushing for when we are talking about the 2014 Budget.Lastly, this Budget is quite fine, but I am so proud that in the last sitting that we had, we resolved to form a Pan -African youth caucus that will champion the issues of the youth in the Pan-African Parliament.I would also like to see if we could perhaps budget for having an annual Youth Parliament, annual youth summit where our youth come and strategize on the issues of Africa. I would be happy to have it included in the report that has been presented today. I rest my case.HON. TSHELANG W. MASISI [BOTSWANA]:Thank you Mr. President. I want to thank the Chairman of this Committee for the honorable job that he has done over the time and I would like to commend the Committee that has been striving under a very strict budget.Mr. President we will remain being beggars if we are not going to move ourselves from these cocoons. We have to think seriously outside the box of how we can raise funds for ourselves because we entirely depend on member countries or AU for the little percentage they are going to give to us. We cannot run this Parliament with 5%. It cannot be operational.Mr. President 65% of the Budget is being used by the staff, and Members of Parliament and other activities take about 35% which is really uncomfortable. We cannot go on like this. I would like to applaud the Committee for recommending that we schedule meetings to other Member states so that we will be able to publicize the activities of PAP.Mr. President, it is indeed important that we should be heard. How are we going to take this Parliament to the people? How are we going to take the issues of this Parliament to the ordinary people because we need budgeting as well? It is imperative for us to ask Member states to assist this Parliament to publicize the activities of this Parliament. Most people do not know what is happening in this Parliament. I think it is very important to take a serious step in that direction.Thank you Mr. President.HON. LUCKY MULUSA [ZAMBIA]:I thank you, Mr. President.From the onset, I must state that I am a Member of this Committee, whose Report is under debate this morning.Mr. President, I wish to also adopt the debate of two Honourable Members of Parliament from Mauritius and from Uganda and say that the points that they raised, I take them as my own.But, I wish to comment on the issuing of the Report in the morning and immediately we start debating it. Yes, I agree there are a lot of challenges in that and perhaps the Bureau will assist us in sequencing our meetings so that maybe Committees can meet before Plenary meets and not Committees meetings inside the Plenary. It causes us to produce reports during the time that we are debating.Mr. President, there is also mention on the decision by the former Deputy Clerk (FA) [Finance and Administration] in terms of his resignation. For our Committee, I wish to state that we kindly request to be included in the decisions when recruiting the next Deputy Clerk. We work directly with that particular Department and we would like to ensure that some of the challenges that we faced in the past; we do not face them in the future with the recruitment of the new person that will come.Let me also comment about the Committee’s works and the moneys that have been allocated to these Committees. I know that we have been complaining about funding challenges. However, when we go to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to defend these allocations, the Committees need to empower us by ensuring that they produce productive outcomes out of the programmes for which these moneys are allocated so that when we go to argue that we should not be given a limit of five per cent increment we are going to point at something that these Committees have done.Mr. President, yesterday, we heard Mr. Joel Netshitenzhe eloquently talked about the Far East, for instance, providing challenges to Africa and how we can actualize those challenges to ensure that they become opportunities and benefits for Africa. But I must state that our challenges are actually within ourselves here in Africa and not elsewhere. These Committees have to be structured so well that they are meant to answer back and speak for Africa.And I also want to buttress the point on our relevance, especially, when the Presidents are meeting at Summits. I think our absence defines our irrelevance and we need to make sure that we change that scenario and the moneys allocated go towards actualizing the challenges of Africa.Thank you.HON. ARNOLD TJIHUIKO [NAMIBIA]:I thank you very much, Mr President for the time. Let me start by thanking you and the Committee responsible for financial administration of PAP for another job well done.Mr President, I am happy to note that under your administration, a lot has improved when it comes to financial administration of PAP and we are moving in the right direction. Congratulations on that.Secondly, I am a bit concerned about what some of the colleagues have already said. The budget of almost 11.7 million has been budgeted for administration and then you only allocate a budget of less than 4 million for PAP programmes and Committees. It gives me a lot of concern because we are creating an impression that as an institution, we are only looking at concentrating on ourselves. We are more of inward looking and we are not doing things that one would expect us to do mainly things that will improve the lives of the people we are representing. I wish I could see a situation where we will spend more money on programmes that will create or bring about voter less Africa so that Africans can start creating among one another.I wish to see a situation where there is an increase in funding looking at the inter Africa trade. These are the things that will change or improve the lives of African people. These are the things that will bring us closer to one another and learn from one another as Africans. I think concentrating on only spending more money on administration will not do us justice. I thank you, Mr President.(Applause)HON. AZIZOU EL HADJ ISSA [BÉNIN]:Merci, Monsieur le Président.À mon tour, je voudrais vraiment vous remercier par rapport à la transparence que vous êtes en train de vouloir asseoir à l’intérieur du PAP, parce que sans cette transparence, nous n’irons pas loin.Je voudrais aussi féliciter le Président et tous les membres de la Commission des Affaires financières et monétaires.Toutefois, Monsieur le Président, le Président de la Commission a dit qu’ils n’ont pas pu analyser les bilans pour la présentation de cette programmation budgétaire de 2014. Or, cela nous fait des points en moins. Les bilans existants, il vaut mieux qu’on les mette à disposition non seulement de la Commission mais également de tous les parlementaires parce qu’un travail fait et qui n’est pas exposé, c’est cela qui fait qu’il y a beaucoup d’interventions dans ce sens. Je pense que les prochaines fois, ces bilans vont être mis à la disposition des parlementaires et à temps.Monsieur le Président,Le Président de la Commission a parlé des réunions des commissions délocalisées. Cela fait partie des objectifs que les Caucus se sont fixés parce que de cette manière, on fait d’une pierre, plusieurs coups. On va donner de la visibilité au PAP, telle que les collègues l’ont déjà dit et au même moment, nos travaux techniques vont se réaliser avec les parlementaires des régions dans lesquelles ces travaux vont avoir lieu.Pour finir, Monsieur le Président, je voudrais répéter une énième fois, parce que nous nous sommes engagés à vous aider, une maison sans manuel de procédure administrative, financière et, pourquoi pas, technique, va à la dérive.Si vous arrivez ne serait-ce qu’à sortir ce seul document avant la fin de votre mandat, vous auriez rendu beaucoup de services à l’Afrique et aux parlementaires africains.Je vous remercie.HON. OBAMI-ITOU ANDRÉ [CONGO]:Merci, Monsieur le Président, pour la parole.Je voudrais, à mon tour, remercier le Président de la Commission, l’Honorable MUSA qui vient de nous présenter le rapport budgétaire 2014.Monsieur le Président,Chers Collègues,Nous venons tous des parlements nationaux. Nous savons que lorsque nous siégeons en session budgétaire, le budget constitue dans chaque État le document ou la loi la plus importante, parce que le budget permet de savoir comment nous allons vivre, quelles sont nos ressources, d’où proviennent nos ressources et comment nous allons les utiliser.Voilà l’importance du budget. C’est la loi la plus importante de l’année. Et lorsque nous, au PAP, nous examinons le budget, ce n’est pas de la littérature. Il faut dire voilà ce que nous aurons. Ça vient de telle source et voilà comment nous allons les dépenser. À partir de ce moment-là, les choses sont claires.Mais, je félicite la Commission, Monsieur le Président, parce que sans l’exécution du budget 2023, ils ont réussi à nous présenter le budget 2022. C’est un exercice terrible, parce que sincèrement on ne peut pas adopter un budget sans avoir vu l’exécution du budget de l’exercice passé. Ça c’est une règle fondamentale et les parlementaires disent la loi de reddition.Mais nous, agissant de cette manière, nous comprenons le contexte, nous comprenons les exigences de l’Union africaine et nous agissons ainsi. Ce n’est pas de la bonne manière! Sincèrement!Je suis parlementaire et je ne pense pas que c’est la procédure qu’il faut. Nous devons en finir avec ces méthodes, et quitte à faire l’observation à la Commission. On ne peut pas adopter le budget 2014 sans avoir vu celui de 2013, comment on a même dépensé un franc en 2013.(Applaudissements)C’est pourquoi, Monsieur le Président, je vais terminer en disant que j’avais plusieurs préoccupations que je partage avec l’Honorable [...].HON. MOHAMED ALI FOULIEH [DJIBOUTI]:Merci, Monsieur le Président, de m’avoir donné la parole.Je félicite l’intervenant de ce matin, pour avoir préparé, à temps, le budget, malgré certaines contraintes imposées par la Commission de l’Union africaine.Mais, je voudrais, ce matin, apporter ma petite contribution à ce projet. Je constate que dans d’autres régions africaines, on finance le budget des organisations régionales par une redevance sur les frais perçus sur les frets maritimes. Alors, pourquoi ne pas organiser une réunion d’experts pour nous proposer éventuellement des solutions de financement adéquat et, ensuite proposer ces solutions à la Commission qui devrait ensuite les soumettre à la Conférence des chefs d’États?À titre d’exemple, on peut éventuellement citer un pourcentage sur les cartes de crédits des téléphones mobiles, peut-être un pour mille (212000). D’autres solutions peuvent être évoquées, ici, et c’est pourquoi nous disons qu’il y a lieu de bouger. Nous ne pouvons pas attendre qu’on puisse quémander par-ci ou par-là des financements.Je crois que nous portons, en nous, la souveraineté de nos populations et pour cela, le PAP doit s’autofinancer en premier lieu, et ensuite, pour certaines actions ciblées, demander le soutien des bailleurs de fonds.Je vous remercie.HON. RENE RADEMBINO CONIQUET [GABON]:Merci, Monsieur le Président, pour la parole.Merci aussi et félicitations pour le budget présenté.Je constate que l’idée principale qui m’animait vient d’être développée concernant les ressources.Néanmoins, je crois que quand il y a un problème préoccupant, il n’est pas mauvais de répéter. Je suis donc préoccupé, à l’occasion de l’examen de ce budget 2014, par trois indicateurs qui me paraissent très importants.Concernant d’abord, l’adoption des recettes, des dépenses du budget et la reddition des comptes.Concernant les dépenses, je dois dire que sur le palier « chiffres », je n’ai pas la loupe. C’est trop petit. Donc, je ne peux pas savoir exactement les affectations successives qui ont été faites par rapport au budget global qui ressort bien par rubrique. Donc, la prochaine fois, je pense qu’il faudrait écrire un peu plus gros.D’autre part, je reviens sur les financements. Je pense que nous sommes des États qui se sont battus pour l’indépendance. Nous devrons continuer à rester indépendants dans nos organisations. Or, nous constatons que le budget de l’Union africaine est financé, pour une grande part, par les anciens colonisateurs, en général et quelques organisations.Je reviens à ce qu’a dit mon prédécesseur, qu’on peut trouver un système d’autofinancement, par exemple, qui existe à la CEMAC, à la CEDEAO pour que nous puissions, nous-mêmes, en tant qu’Africains, pour être indépendants, financer nos activités. S’il n’est pas ainsi, on va peut-être avancer mais le chemin restera encore très long.D’autre part, nous adoptons le budget. C’est peut-être la première fois qu’on en débat ici. Mais on ne nous a jamais rendu compte de l’exécution des budgets que nous avons votés.La reddition des comptes, je crois que c’est très important. Quelqu’un l’a dit. Comment peut-on voter un budget sans savoir comment l’autre budget a été exécuté?D’accord, il y a des contraintes parce que les financements sont assurés après des accords divers, mais je pense qu’il faut aller dans le sens de l’autonomisation de nos moyens de financement.D’autre part, il y a un problème qui me préoccupe. J’ai été informé que pour le renouvellement du personnel, on remet tout en cause [...].(Le micro éteint)Ça s’est éteint, mes excuses!Donc, on les remet en cause et on les fait concourir avec des nouveaux. Mais c’est une procédure qui n’existe nulle part ailleurs. C’est pour cela que les dépenses du personnel vont augmenter parce que c’est une opération qui va coûter aussi chère et qui n’était pas prévue.Je pense que nous devons tous, notamment le Bureau, réfléchir sur ces problèmes qui sont très préoccupants afin que nous puissions réaliser nos objectifs avec nos propres moyens.Je vous remercie, Monsieur le Président.HON. EDUARDO JOÂO LADRIA [MOÇAMBIQUE]:-Muito obrigado SenhorPresidente. Senhor Presidente quero, antes de mais, felicitar ao Senhor Presidente da Comissâo dos Assuntos Monetários e Financeiros, e através dele à toda a Comissâo pela apresentaçâo deste relatório que aprecia o orçamento de 2014.Os objectivos do orçamento de 2014 sâo claros, mas como verificou-se nos outros anos questiono, Excelências, o desembolso na totalidade das verbas referidas no documento apresentado, pois, durante muito tempo, este Parlamento ressente-se com a falta de verbas para consubstanciar um número de actividades que conduzam ao cumprimento desses objectivos.Senhor Presidente, sou tentado a dizer que este orçamento é decorativo, nâo verdadeiro. Pois, as condiçoes actuais do presente ano, 2013, serâo bem diferentes das do próximo ano, 2014.Os custos nalgumas verbas serâo irreais. As condiçoes de aquisiçâo de alguns produtos e serviços que serâo diferentes, o que vai levar a incapacidade do Parlamento Pan-Africano de realizar as suas actividades.Senhor PresidenteVamos deixar de viver de ilusoes. A Uniao Africana deve encontrar melhor mecanismo para melhor financiar as suas actividades e programas. O nosso continente é rico e nao é ironia dizer isso. Os nossos países possuem recursos que estamos a entregar de bandeja a muitas multinacionais.Temos muitos recursos minerais, hidrocarbonetos, temos terra fértil, temos recursos pesqueiros, entre eles, marinhos e lacustres, aquacultura e o nosso espaço aéreo que é explorado dia e noite.As nossas telecomunicaçoes produzem recursos finaceiros invejáveis. Temos muito mas muito mais fontes que podem gerar recursos para finaciar a Uniao. O que nos falta Senhor Presidente, Senhores Deputados, é coragem para dar passos necessários para sairmos desses problemas.Tenho ditoMuito obrigado.HON. MOHAMED ABDOULKADER MOHAMED [DJIBOUTI]:Merci, Monsieur le Président.Mes préoccupations ayant été prises par tous ceux qui m’ont précédé, et notamment par mon collègue OBAMI-ITOU, je renonce à mon temps de parole.Merci.HON. KHALIFA SULEIMAN KHALIFA [TANZANIA]:Mheshimiwa Rais, nakushukuru kwa kunipa fursa ili nami niungane na wenzangu katika mjadala wa bajeti hii.Mheshimiwa Rais, kwanza, naunga mkono bajeti hii na kazi nzuri iliyofanywa na Kamati na niwaombe Wabunge wenzangu tuipitishe bajeti hii.Mheshimiwa Rais, la pili, imeelezwa hapa kuwa ni taratibu za Umoja wa Afrika kutokubali msaada wowote wa fedha au fedha yoyote kupitia kwenye vyombo vyake bila ya idhini yake. Mimi swali langu, ni bila ya idhini yake lakini ikiwa watajulishwa wataruhusu au hawataruhusu kwa namna yoyote ile? Maana yangu ni nini?Mheshimiwa Rais na Waheshimiwa Wabunge wenzangu, hali ya fedha inaonekana dhahiri kuwa haiwezi kutosha katika Bunge letu. Kama hivyo ndivyo, ni lazima ipatikane njia ya kuweza sisi kupata fedha. Ni kawaida ya Mabunge mengi hata katika Mataifa yetu, Bunge mara nyingi linatengewa fedha ambazo hazitoshi kulingana na kazi za Bunge lenyewe. Ukiangalia baadhi ya Mabunge huwa wanafanya urafiki na Mabunge mengine na ni hapo wanapopata namna ya kuweza kupata fedha za ziada.Mheshimiwa Rais, mimi nafikiri lazima tuombe Umoja wa Afrika uangalie upya taratibu zake hizi kwa sababu mwisho wa siku zitakwamisha Bunge letu. Fedha wanazosema sisi tupate kwa mfano 5% ya nyongeza, haiwezi kabisa kutosha kuendesha Bunge hili. Sasa kama wataweza kuruhusu Bunge hili kuwa na marafiki na Mabunge mengine ambao wataweza kulisaidia Bunge moja kwa moja bila fedha hizi kupitia kwenye Umoja wa Afrika, hiyo itakuwa njia ya pekee ya kulisaidia Bunge hili.Mheshimiwa Rais, mimi siamini hizi dhana tunazosema kuwa Bara letu lina pesa nyingi, kuna madini mengi, ni namna gani basi tutapata hizo fedha wakati lazima zipite kwenye Umoja wa Afrika? Ni wajibu wetu sasa kuutaka Umoja wa Afrika uangalie upya taratibu zao kwa sababu kimsingi zinakwamisha Bunge letu.Mheshimiwa Rais, la tatu, napenda niulize kuhusu bajeti. Bajeti tuliyonayo sasa na mimi nina hakika tutaipitisha ni ya mwaka 2014. Kimsingi, mwaka 2013 bajeti yake haipo na hatujaijadili. Sote ni Wabunge hapa, tunaelewa taratibu, kama bajeti haikupitishwa na Bunge si halali kuitumia. Mimi napenda niulize hapa ndani ya Bunge, hivi fedha za matumizi kwa Bunge letu hili la mwaka huu au kazi zetu za mwaka 2013, zitatoka wapi maana hazikuja kwenye Bunge hili kuridhiwa na kama hazikuridhiwa haitakuwa halali kuzitumia, fedha hizi zitatoka wapi?Mheshimiwa Rais, sababu ya msingi ya hili ni kutokana na uzembe wa watendaji wa Bunge letu wenyewe. Hawakufanya kazi lakini athari yake inarudi kwetu. Sasa nina maswali yafuatayo:-(i)Tunawachukulia hatua gani wale ambao walisababisha bajeti ya mwaka 2013 isije Bungeni na isiende kwenye Umoja wa Afrika?(ii)Je, pesa za matumizi kwa Bunge hili la mwaka 2013 zitatoka wapi kwa sababu mjadala tunaoufanya sasa ni wa mwaka 2014, mwaka huu, fedha zake zitatoka wapi?Mheshimiwa Rais, nashukuru.HON. ONYANGO KAKOBA [UGANDA]:Thank you, Mr. President.Mr. President, being one of the last speakers, I want to associate myself with the concerns that have been raised by my colleagues, more so those raised by my colleagues from Mauritius and the one from Congo about the non-presentation of last year’s budget.Mr. President, I hope we shall use the contributions that have been made here to improve on what is not being done properly.Having said that, I also want to give credit to where it is due. Mr. President, when I first came here in 2011, I was a little perturbed by the financial status of this institution. Whatever we could hear was about staff has embezzled this, donors have pulled out funding. But now, I must say that I am glad to say that on the list of the donors, some of the donors that had pulled out have come back. This shows that as a Bureau you are doing something to make sure that you rectify what went wrong and I do appreciate that and we do appreciate you for the work you are doing.However, I must point out that we should not be complacent - because that is not enough. Let us use whatever achievements that we have made so far in the financial arena to make sure that we improve on other areas that are still pending. As we realize, we are an oversight institution - we are the institution that is supposed to be a watchdog over the other institutions and therefore we should be exemplary. It will be very, very pathetic, if as a watchdog institution, we have to look for another dog to watch us. That should not be the situation. We should be the real watchdog and we should not need other dogs to watch us. And we can only do that by making ourselves transparent and making sure that we handle the financial matters as they are supposed to be.Mr. President, one of the challenges we face is the issue of the Committees. We all know that much of the work of Parliament is executed through the Committees, but the Committees are not adequately financed and I think this is an area that we have to look into. My own proposal, if finances allow in future, is to make sure we budget for each Committee autonomously, other than statutory meetings. If the Committees are given their own finances, I think they can plan for their activities.Otherwise, the way we operate now is very much ad hoc. We plan an activity, today it is put off because there is no money. Sometimes, we have to look for donors and at times we are not very much comfortable. This is because if you are going to investigate something and you are being funded by the body you are supposed to investigate, there is that conflict of interest. This is why I think we have to lobby the AU to make sure that the restriction that they impose of five per cent is lifted and then we look for funding for the Committees.Meanwhile, the way we are working as Committees is not good. I thank you very much for your kind attention.[Applause]HON. STEPHANIE ANQUETIL [MAURITIUS]:I thank you, Mr President. I just want to tell you that my points have already been covered by my colleague, Hon. Steven OBEEGA DOO from Mauritius. I thank you.HON. JOSEPH NJOBVUYALEMA [MALAWI]:Thank you, Mr. President, for given me this opportunity, let me also underscore that a budget is a blue print. It is actually a plan for an institution, it is considered as the most important document as far as office management is concerned. So Members ought to be given ample time to read and look at the figures, objectives intended and outcomes.Mr. President, for Honourable Members to debate an important document like this for 3 minutes is unfair.Mr. President the other point is that the Chair of the Committeee, on moving a motion on the last paragraph of his statement said, ‘The Committee urges the plenary Assembly to consider and adopt the proposed 2013 PAP budget ofUS$25,632,922, I beg to move’.Mr. President my question is, are we adopting the 2013 report or 2014 budget?The other point I want know is information to the effect that this budget 2013 is already approved by the African Union. In other words whether we adopt it or not, it won’t add value or change anything. Really to call a spade a spade; what we have done here this morning may not change anything, it is a waste of time.Mr. President, I have some information which is available in the building. I discovered the following: The budget for the first quarter starting from January to April on the following activities.The Bureau has already spent 71% of its allocation. Just within the first four months. What is going to happen to the remaining nine months? Administration has already spent 96% of its allocation within the first four months. What is going to happen within the next Nine months? Equally the MPs on official missions have spent 8%. What is happening?Mr. President the other point is on expenditure on furniture, which included purchase of a Car. There is no expenditure.Mr. President on the Committee Meetings, there is 23.0% expenditure; considering the way prices are going up every day, if we don’t use the money, now by the time we come to use it that money would have devalued to half. I also looked at the conditions of service for staff. I think we need to review them. They are entitled to salary, House allowance, pension scheme, installation Allowance, life insurance, training cost, education allowance, special allowance, separation cost.There is nothing on furniture allowance which is common in most institutions. For purposes of sustaining the morale of staff, there should be car loans and furniture allowance. This is not happening in this institution. I can see also that some of these conditions are outdated, it is imperative for the Bureau to look at these and see where they can add value for the interest of the staff so that we can maintain their morale.Mr. President, with these few contributions, I thank you for your attention.HON. JERRY DIMOTANA THIBEDI [SOUTH AFRICA]:Thank you Mr President for giving me this opportunity. Let me also add my voice in congratulating Hon. Musa and his Committee on doing this job under very difficult conditions and constraints.Honourable President, let me from the onset indicate that a budget is a fundamental tool that can be used by any organisation or formation to advance its programme. If a budget is acquired through donors, surely the freedom to advance your programme will be affected because the donors want to have a say in terms of how you drive your programme. Therefore, one has to ask how will this be? Maybe we can debate this proposal budget before it is submitted to the AU as plenary of the PAP because it is only through this kind of engagement that even the AU can begin to realise that we should take this issue of the budget very seriously.The other point I want to raise is that we must jealously guard our independence as Parliament. This is because as long as we are beggars, and as long as we keep on crying and asking for money, there is no way that we will be able to stand on our feet and play our oversight functions without being told to keep our mouth shut, otherwise, the purse will be closed.Honourable President, the other point I wanted to make has been made by colleagues who spoke about the resources that Africa possesses. The reason I am raising this is because it is clear that most of our challenges are as a result of non-payment of membership fees by our respective countries. The question I ask myself is; what is our role as Members of Parliament in our respective parliaments to ensure that our governments play the role that they are supposed to play in terms of membership fees? Are we only raising these issues here? If we are raising these issues here only, it means that we are talking to ourselves. Our governments are responsible for ensuring that the AU functions, and functions independently.I think that it is better if we have 70 per cent of our funds coming from our own resources and less money coming from the donors. However, the opposite of this is true as we speak right now. We are going to be perpetual beggars if we do not stand up and begin to ensure that we do what we are supposed to do. If we do not play the role that we are supposed to play in our respective government- I think there has to be some kind of incentive for those countries that are paying their subscription fees. For example, we cannot come here and each person is given three minutes to talk, including those from countries which do not pay their subscriptions. Those who do not pay their subscriptions must speak for one minute and it must be allocated proportionally so that they go back to their respective governments and begin to push their governments to pay subscription to the AU.Mr President, I want to suggest that we must engage the AUC starting now as we move towards the next budget so that next time when we discuss this budget, we should not complain but simply appreciate the effort that we have taken. We will only appreciate these efforts when we will be able to finance our Committees. Committees are the engines of the PAP. Without functional Committees, we shall all be lost. We will come here and lament. If we do not push our governments to pay the subscription fees, surely, in the next plenary we must consider allocating time proportionally to those who pay their subscriptions fees.HON. FABAKARY TOMBONG JATTA [GAMBIA]:Hon President, let me first of all declare that I am a member of this particular committee. Let me thank the Chairperson for his presentation.We must look at this budget from a different perspective. This budget was prepared under very difficult circumstances, under laws that hardly govern Parliaments. You must appreciate that.Two, there are certain basics that we must get clear. For statutory meetings, it is agreed that our national parliaments have performed all statutory meetings for Parliamentarians. Non-statutory meetings are those that should be catered for in the Budget.Hon President, the fact that we have about US$11 million plus for the operational Budget and US$3 million plus for programs, it is clear that the backbone of any Parliament are effective Committees. It is reversed here. In fact, even the US$11 million plus we are talking about is mostly from the donors.The AU only funds our operational budget. It is a very small amount - about US$100 000 for programs. We must get this clear.The other aspect is the fact that if you look at the budget well, you will begin to appreciate what portion of the amount goes to the various sectors like staff, MPs, Bureau, etc. Interestingly, if you look at your draft budget, you will observe that it is clearly stated that salaries and wages of staff for the 2014 Budget is about US$2, 7 million, running cost is about US$2,2 million, common staff cost, including the staff also is about US$2,6 million.So, what percentage of the Budget actually goes to the Bureau or to a member as this is? If you look at the official resources, you have the Bureau and Parliamentarians. The Bureau has US$200 000 and Parliamentarians have US$350 000. But if you go to the main cost where you have sessions, even the costs of US$2 million plus that you see for the sessions, Parliamentarians and the Bureau don’t have anything to do with it.It is mostly for translators, other visitors and logistics. So, I can hardly say that a high percentage of the budget goes to other things than MPs. So, I definitely share his view that unless the basic allowance is for MPs and the Bureau members should be worked on so that the AU should be able to take that on board.Finally, let me say that at the time of the preparation of the rules for the AU, the Parliament did not exist, so all constraints are the regulations that they had prepared before the Parliamentary institution was in place.So, I think gradually we are moving. I want to applaud the Bureau. The Hon. Members said it. There are times when management of funds in this Parliament is horrible. I think the Bureau has done and is working well to ensure that we have proper financial management.Finally, Committee meetings; as I said earlier, some members said that they have not seen drafted estimates in the budget cost for Committee meetings. You must realize that costs that are to be borne by the national parliaments will not be reflected in this Budget.Thank you.HON. P.C BAI KURR [SIERRA LEONE]:Thank you, Mr. President.I am sure the Committee has done its utmost to determine the issues that are affecting this Parliament. When some of us first came in here in 2008, we had difficulties of trying to know who is responsible for the Budget; is it the AU Commission or Parliament? And later we found out that we have to do things within the orders of the AU Commission in Addis Ababa. So, this has brought a lot of difficulties for us to really absorb the Budget as it is. I want to know other issues in the Budget and others that are not in there today.First, some of us have been listening and looking at the website - we are seeing that most of the staff, about 74 - those positions will be advertised or have been advertised. We are wondering what is going to happen if all the senior members of this PAP - if their positions are going to be advertised. Is it a problem of mismanagement, inefficiency or just a regularization of the structures of PAP? And this is very important in the Budget because we do not know where we are going to get all the moneys to bring those who are going to be shortlisted and the cost of all that. I could not see it here. Since I just got the Budget this morning, I could not find out.But my worries are that if we have all these positions to be advertised, is it not going to affect the Budget again? And is it that we have to lobby more, you particularly, and the Bureau to increase the Budget for PAP?Secondly, sir, when we came in here, at the earlier stages, PAP had more dealings with the parliamentarians particularly when we were travelling. But today, when we are sent to be observers - others are coming from the AU. So, you find that there are difficulties for them to try to move us from the continent to the other.We are appealing to you, so that we can work together with the AU, to facilitate our work the way you used to do in the past. And we will give you the support that is necessary for us to lobby at different Heads of State. I remember, the former President used to take other Members of Parliament to lobby their own Heads of State so that the budget can be increased. This is because it is always a problem between what is going on here and AU. We want you to synchronise and make that workable because yesterday we talked about the African Renaissance and if we do not work together with the AU, then that means things will not be well for you and in the end the Bureau will have all the problems that they will face in terms of running Parliament as you are now doing your best to do. We need you to lobby and ask more donors to support us like the European Union and other partners that used to support this Parliament.I thank you sir.[Applause].HON. NJINGUM MUSA MBUTOH [CAMEROON]:Mr. President, thank you for given me the floor the second time. Before I go ahead, I want to thank all Honourable members for your laudable contributions and observations which are meant to enrich the input of the Committee on Finance in the Pan African parliament.It is true that we have to get this document long before time so that you can go through it. If you all had the chance to go through this document, let’s say even one week before time, all the contributions you made here today would have been contained in this document. But because of the short time that you have gone through the document that is why you have given it a lot of feedback. No budget can be put in place without analyses.Mr. President nobody can put in place a budget without particular guiding principles or procedure. But, I also would want you to understand that the financial Regulations and Rules of PAP were adopted before PAP came into existence, and we are having a lot of constraints in bringing up our budget because of the Financial Rules of AU which do not go with PAP activities and operations. But, we are obliged to use all necessary measures either technical or otherwise to go through these challenges.Mr. President and Honourable Members, now the Bureau is in the process of gradually departing from AU regulations by amending the financial Rules of AU. With that, we hope and pray that all the challenges would be overcome.Honourable Members, for two years, the AU, the PRC completely took away all the responsibility allowances from this budget and that has been a very big problem to us. That is one of the reasons why Members are struggling to find ways to run the Parliament. But a year ago, the Committee started with the PRC and I think you can see an indication of budgetary line. We used that tactic to go in gradually and it is working. The same tactics would be used for that responsibility allowance to come in for the Members.Mr. President, I want to state here that we depend much on the donors and that depending on donors will not make us achieve our goals because there are conditional ties and we cannot escape from then.Mr. President, it is true that there is inadequate funding for the Committees, but we have to manage with what we have for now. We are looking everywhere for resources to run our Committee meetings.The Bureau has taken note of all the issues you have raised and the Bureau will consider them during its meetings. This Budget is 2014 and not 2013.That is a practical error and it must be corrected.Mr. President, I want honourable members to know that we have had a lot of constrains in preparing this Budget in the sense that we are doing a budget without looking at the implementation of the previous budget. This was part of the Budget circle that was championed by the AU. I said in my presentation that the AU has brought forward their assembly which is scheduled for July to May and in May they need to adopt the 2014 Budget. If we fail to bring in a Budget so that they can adopt it for us, then there will be no Budget for 2014 because the Assembly will not be meeting in July. The Circle was changed for the good of the organs, but this is a test case because the 50thAnniversary has come and AU wants to adopt all the Budgets at its sittings in May. This is the reason we are presenting this budget without the expenditure of 2013. Some members brought the execution of the 2013 budget, but, in all fairness, this Committee has not presented any expenditure for 2013. We will get to you with how the Budget was executed when the time comes.Mr. President, we are talking of 2014. We cannot present an evaluation of the 2013 budget now, but when we are presenting the 2013 budget, we will do it in line with 2012 expenditure. I said in my presentation that we cannot forecast actually in 2014 because we needed to see the expenditure for 2013 before it is properly done. But we have to present a budget under all circumstances. That is why we requested this house to allow us to prepare a budget for submission to AU so that we won’t be late and the mandate was given. We used the entire experts to bring up this budget. I, therefore, want thank to thank the experts of the Committee for this work.Mr. President, a member was talking about Objectives and lining up the objectives for the meetings. We cannot prepare a budget without an objective. Without pointing out what the budget is up to. If you look at operational budget this is fifth, you can see all the alignment. You have Committee meetings, programme and budget. When you go through this budget you will see who is sponsoring what, what is the objective of the programme budget? Which Committee will be in charge of this or that?Please, go home and study this report honourable Members.Thank you for all your comments.(Applause)THE PRESIDENT:I thank you very much,honourable chair of the committee. I, therefore, honourable members put the Report of the Pan-African Parliament 2014 Budget for adoption.(Question put and agreed to.)THE PRESIDENT:I thank you very much, honourable colleagues. I want to reassure this House that myself and my colleagues in the Bureau are committed to ensuring transparency and accountability in the management of the affairs of our Parliament and we have listened very attentively to all the issues that have been raised by our various colleagues and we will attend to them in the interest of the well being of our Parliament. I thank you.Honourable colleagues, I now would call on the Clerk of Parliament to make some housekeeping announcements.THE CLERK:I thank you honourable President. I have this announcement to make: The Northern Africa Caucus has submitted to me for the candidatures for election to the Office of the Second Vice-President of the Pan-African Parliament representing the region, the following names:1.Hon. Elsayed Moussa Hazen from Egypt2.Hon. Suilma Hay Emhamed ELKAID from Saharawi Democratic Republic.I thank you.THE PRESIDENT:I thank you very much. As we had agreed earlier, honourable members, this plenary would be holding the elections to fill the vacancy in the position of the Second Vice-President on Monday in the afternoon and we will enjoin all members to try and be present to participate in this very important function. The Clerk may continue.THE CLERK:I thank you, Mr President. The next and last announcement is that the Women’s Caucus Meeting will be held at 2.30 p.m. in Committee Room No. 3. I thank you.THE PRESIDENT:I thank you. Honourablemembers, we have now come to the end of our business for today and therefore this House stands adjourned until Monday 23 May, 2023 at 9 o’clock in the morning. I thank you.(The House rose at 11.29 a.m. and adjourned until Monday 13 May, 2013 at 9.000 a.m.)ADJOURNMENT [11:29:43]
Monday, 13 May, 2013
THE PRESIDENT:Please, be seated.Honourable Members, in accordance with provisions of rule 38 (i) (h), it is with great pleasure that I now invite His Excellency, Mikhail Margelov, the Special Representative of the President of the Russian Federation on Cooperation with African Countries to please enter the Chamber.[Applause][H. E. Mikhail ushered into the Chamber]THE PRESIDENT:Honourable Members, I shall now call on the Clerk of Parliament to read the first Order of the day.CLERK OF PARLIAMENT:Thank you, Mr. President.Address by H. E. Mikhail Margelov, the Special Representative of the President of the Russian Federation on Cooperation with African Countries.THE PRESIDENT:Honourable Members, I call on his H. E. Mikhail Margelov, the Special Representative of the President of the Russian Federation on Cooperation with African Countries to please address Parliament.[Applause]HIS EXCELLENCY MIKHAIL MARGELOV [THE SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION ON COOPERATION WITH AFRICAN COUNTRIES]:Dear colleagues, today, Africa ranks among the top priorities of Russia’s foreign policy. The times when the global community considered Africa to be merely a continent of instability and poverty are already over. Modern Africa has transformed into a continent of dynamic economic growth which is now becoming one of the determinant factors of global economic development.We, the Russian Parliamentarians are contented to witness the African leaders’ success in effecting democratic and organisational transformations. We also appreciate the influence of regional and sub-regional organisations of the continent on this positive process. These organisations are mainly represented by the African Union (AU) and the Pan African Parliament (PAP), which can soon become the highest legislative body of the AU.In this regard, I believe that tight and direct contact between the Federal Council of the Russian Federation, the Russian Parliament and the PAP will favour the development of Russian-African relations. Our Chamber, the Russian Senate, has accumulated extensive and helpful experience in inter-parliamentary cooperation and we are ready to use it while working with our African colleagues. We are engaged in diplomatic activities with parliamentarians of many countries and we believe that such activities are highly effective due to the open and frank negotiations of all the most sensitive issues which are particularly common for the meetings of parliamentarians. Moreover, we will be delighted to make use of the more than eight years work experience of our PAP colleagues.I also think that it is essential to draw the attention of our colleagues to the need for the development of relations between our country’s regional parliamentary institutions. As you know, nowadays, the Inter-parliamentary Assembly of the Commonwealth of Independent States member nations is operating under the territory of the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). In May, 2007, an agreement on cooperation between the Inter-parliamentary Assembly and the PAP providing regular exchange of information on priority directions, activities and coordination of the efforts of our interaction was signed.I believe that we have all the possibilities to intensify the activities in this sphere and I see maintenance of Parliament- Working contacts between the Inter-parliamentary Assembly and the PAP as the top priority task as it will help to bring other traditional amicable relations to a fundamental new level and proceed and develop a rich history of our traditionally friendly relations and give them a new positive substance to the benefit of our people. I am sure that cooperation between the Inter-parliamentary Assembly and the PAP based on the principles of the respect of human rights and basic liberties, development of democracy, rule of law, market economies and social justice will promote strengthening of mutual confidence and relations of multiple rewards taking into account the interests of all the states and the people.I wish you all the success and, I thank you.THE PRESIDENT:I thank His Excellency for those very kind words of solidarity and cooperation between the Pan-African Parliament and the Inter-Parliamentary Assembly, and for the evolving relationship between the Russian Federation and the African continent under the auspices of the African Union.Let me now, on behalf of the members and Bureau of the Pan-African Parliament, invite Her Excellency, The 3rd Vice-President, hon. Loide Kasingo to give us a vote of thanks on behalf of the Pan-African Parliament.HON. LOIDE L. KASINGO [NAMIBIA]:Thank you, Your Excellency, the President of the PAP, for giving me the floor. Your Excellency, Mikhail Margelov, the special representative of the President of the Russian Federation, I want to thank you sincerely for coming to address the African continent Parliament. I also like to state that the Russian people are not foreign to the African issues. Most of the African counties that have independence, particularly, in Southern Africa, got assistance from the Russian people.I am from a small country, the Republic of Namibia, and we have the benefit of this struggle and you continue to support us, not only on government level, but you came here to cement the relationship on the Parliament level. On behalf of the African Parliament and the continent of Africa, I want to thank you sincerely and I would like to see the action between the Parliament of the Russian Federation and the PAP being strengthened, particularly, in the different Committees. I believe Committees are the blood vessels of any organization. We thank you for availing yourself to come and see us. We wish you all the blessings and wisdom.Thank you very much.[Applause]PRESIDENT:I thank you, the Honourable Vice-President. Honourable colleagues, on your behalf, may I present to our special quest a gift from the Pan-African Parliament.(APPLAUSE)Honourable Members, today we will also have the President from the European Parliament later this morning and I will, therefore, crave the indulgence of this House to receive him and his message of solidarity on behalf of the European Parliament.I, therefore, Honorable colleagues thank you for enabling me to attend a meeting on your behalf with the delegation from the Russian Federation and also to await the arrival of the President of the European Parliament.Therefore Honourable colleagues I will now suspend the business of the House until 10.45 am and we shall resume by receiving the President of the European Parliament.I thank you Honourable Members.(Applause)THE PRESIDENT:Distinguished hon. colleagues, in accordance with the provisions of the Rule 38(1)(h), it is with great pleasure that I now, on your behalf, invite the hon. Martin Schulz, President of the European Parliament to enter the Chamber, accompanied by His Excellency, Alvin Digall, Ambassador of the delegation of the European Union to the Republic of South African and hon. J Fubbs and MP, Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Trade and Industry in the National Assembly of South Africa and Mr. M Wingler, Head of Cabinet in the European Parliament.[Applause]Hon Members, I also recognise in the gallery, members of the delegation of the President of the European Parliament.Let me also recognise the presence, in the gallery, of members of the Committee on Equal Opportunities from the Parliaments of Uganda. I have the Hon. Anifa Kawooya, leader of the delegation. I have the Hon. Ibi Ekwau Florence, Hon. Flavia Kabahenda, Hon. Kitatta Aboud, Hon. Ndeezi Alex, Hon. Okeyoh Peter and Hon. Lubega Godfrey. They are all from the Parliament of Uganda.[Applause]I also have from the Parliament of Nigeria, the Hon Salisu Abdekarim, Hon Chiladur Alemina and Hon Dr. Sani Mohammad Abdul.[Applause].Let me also recognise in the gallery, His Lord Bishop of the Anglican Communion of the Central diaosis and his wife the Archbishop Imana Imanwiken. [Applause] I also recognise the presence of Lady Amadi, my dear wife.[Applause]Hon members, the Clerk shall now read the second order of the day.The CLERK: Address by hon Martin Schulz, President of the European Parliament.THE PRESIDENT:Hon Members, on your behalf, I call the hon Martin Schulz, President of the European Parliament to address this august House.HON. MARTIN SCHULZ [PRESIDENT OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT]:The President of the Pan African Parliament (PAP) Mr Bethel Amadi, honourable members of the PAP, dear colleagues, your Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen.It is my rare pleasure and a great honour to address today, the plenary of the PAP, a Parliament that has been leading in the promotion of good governance, democracy and human rights within a diverse and vast continent. Both our Parliaments, that is, the PAP and the European Parliament (EP) share a fundamental common goal,that of representing our citizens and making their voices heard beyond the borders of our member states. These voices have a lot in common. Europeans, as much as Africans, are world citizens who although by times are facing different challenges, and share the same aspirations when it comes to social and economic progress of their societies.When I speak to young Africans, I see that they share the same dreams and objectives as young Europeans, that is, a dignified life, peace and security. It is true that both our continents still act far too often from a national perspective only. However, the regional and global dimensions are increasingly unavoidable, especially considering the numerous challenges we face today and which no single state is able to tackle alone. Many of the European Union (EU) members for example, not France, not Great Britain and not even my own country Germany, although many hold Germany as a model, no single state is today able to show the way forward alone. It is only when they come together that they can have a real global influence. As you may know, the EU and its 27 member states have made substantial progress in building common institutions across European countries. Despite the firm divisions and sometimes even hostility to one another, states have managed to pull serenity on the basis of shared values and interests.Africa is today, although within a very different context, and at a higher speed, on a similar path moving towards enhanced regional integration. This means that we are no longer living in hermitically sealed regions but in an increasingly inter-dependent road. Only 14 kilometers separate our two continents, a geographic proximity that is mirrored by numerous historical, economic, political and human links that join Europe and Africa. In a world that is changing as rapidly as this one, it is good not to lose sight of our shared values. Fifty years ago, almost to the day, on the 25th May, 1963, 32 African heads of state met in Addis Abba in Ethiopia and founded the Organisation of African Unity (OAU). Some of the values that inspired the founding of the OAU 50 years ago have remarkably stood the test of time. The opening lines of the Founding Charter provided an inspiring vision which I believe is still extremely relevant today. African leaders were and I quote from the Charter ‘conscious of the fact that freedom, equality, justice and dignity are essential objectives for the achievement of the legitimate aspirations of the African people’. African leaders were inspired by a common determination to promote understanding among our people and cooperation among our states in response to the aspirations of our people for oneness and solidarity in a larger unity transcending ethnic and national preferences. These words touch on the very essence which should guide the commitment of a continent-wide organisation. These words provide a vision and inspiration to each and every one of us as elected representatives of the citizens of the EU and AU.Citizens today are increasingly global. They are connected to the entire world via their mobile phones and the internet, not just within their districts or countries as they have never been before, and they have to be represented by parliaments that share their preoccupations. Of course, this is easier said than done. To represent the people of an entire continent needs time, a capacity to adapt as well as above all, an iron will and a great faith.President and honourable members, as you know the European Parliament has supported the role of the PAP since its creation. This commitment is reinforced by the European Parliament’s own history and experience on the long and difficult way towards institutional strengthening, a process that is nonetheless necessary in order to materialise the vision and the values that inspire our work. The European Parliament has its origins at the Consultative Assembly of the European Coal and Steel Community founded in 1952. It took us 27 years for members of the European Parliament to be directly elected by citizens. In 1979, members of the European Parliament were first directly elected by our citizens. Similarly, the European Parliament’s process of increasing its legislative powers has been slow and gradual. I hope that the PAP will need less time than the European one took to achieve this. The PAP is much younger but we believe in its future because there is a need for a continental institution that is able to promote democracy and good governance throughout Africa, but also to bring together the citizens of such a diverse continent in a peaceful way.As the European institutions prevented conflicts between member states, I believe that the PAP can play a proactive and highly useful role in peace processes on the continent and thus help to bring African solutions to African problems. Neither the PAP nor the European one is a threat to national parliaments. On the contrary, they must aim at reinforcing this Parliament. On our part, I recently had the occasion to invite Speakers from the Parliaments of the Union for the Mediterraneans in Marseilles, France to deliver the same message that we must work together to promote parliamentary democracy to convey messages we receive from civil society and to be a driving force behind Executive powers. In this context, please allow me to make some more general remarks on democracy and the importance of parliamentarism. In the rhythm of our globalised media society, decisions are taken and implemented with unimaginable speed.We are currently seeing how all over the world, we are under pressure from the markets. Decisions are being taken swiftly and if possible, without parliament involvement. However, the right thing to do is precisely the opposite. Democracy and parliamentarism need time. If we do not take that time, we will have a democracy that is at the mercy of market principles rather than a market that complies with democracy. Hedge funds for example, and speculation on increases in food prices show how perverse markets can act if they are not under democratic scrutiny. The result is especially visible here in Africa where people are suffering from food shortages. It is not acceptable that the hunger of some is used for the profits of others. This is immorality carried to the extreme.President, honourable members, I want to stress here, the EU’s commitment to expanding and deepening EU- Africa relations. The 2007 EU-Africa Summit approved the Joint Africa-EU Strategy, which is the framework for relations between our two continents. The operationalisation of this strategy has however, fallen short of the hopes expressed when the strategy was agreed. What we need is a review of the priorities and the implementation mechanisms of the joint strategy. It is essential that this revision takes into account, the parliamentary dimension of the relations between the EU and the AU.The new strategy needs to include provision for the European Parliament and the PAP active involvement in providing political guidance to the future strategy as well as ensuring the effective monitoring and implementation of the strategy and its action plans. To make this a reality, the European Parliament and the PAP should work closely together to prepare and influence the 4th Africa-EU Summit. Next year’s summit will provide an opportunity for the EU and Africa to further promote the vision of a mutual, beneficial, balanced and people-centred partnership between our continents and al our citizens. Ways in which a new strategy could work to bring African and European societies together are to deliver on those aspects that are important to our citizens, that is, fostering sustainable and inclusive economic growth, concluding mutually beneficial trade agreements that can deliver on economic growth and provide for the creation of jobs, strengthening of democratic and accountable political institutions and the promotion of good governance, human rights and global sustainable development.This, ladies and gentlemen, is particularly important in the current context in which discussions have started to design the Post-2015 development framework that will take over from the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). We should explore how the new framework can take stoke of the new global realities and promote a model of development cooperation that does not build on traditional donor-recipient relations. The goal of the Post-2015 agenda should be to provide a decent life for all by 2030, a decent life that needs to integrate the three key dimensions of sustainable development, that is, economic, social and environmental development.In many African countries, the exploitation of natural resources has led to massive pollution and has not benefitted local people but only a very small group of individuals. Worse still, many wars and guerillas on the continent have been provoked by the different groups vying to take control of these resources, sometimes with the backing of foreign and often European companies. Our role as parliaments is to prevent such scandals from happening again because it is in our common interest. Well managed resources will last longer, benefit more people and a close association with local people will help to ensure stability without which there can be no economic development.As I just mentioned, the environmental dimension will in the future play an even bigger role than today in the relations between Africa and Europe. Africa is indeed one of the continents that is and will be most affected by climate change. Food insecurity will become an ever increasing challenge and a possible source of conflict as we are faced with a growing world population, unequal access to water, rising temperatures and more extreme climate conditions. For this reason, the EU considers the sustainable management of natural resources according to the principles of transparency, accountability and good governance as something that should become a core pillar of the Post-2015 framework.Mr President, honourable members, the EU is currently negotiating its long term budget for 2014-2020. The outcome of the negotiations might affect European development cooperation. To face all the challenges I just talked about, and to keep its strong relations with Africa, the EU needs to resist the temptation of short sightedness that has risen with the crisis we are facing. Let me therefore assure you here in the PAP that the European Parliament is standing firm when it comes to disproportionate cuts in the EU’s development spending. We cannot shy away from our international responsibility for the poorest people on the planet.Dear Mr President, honourable members, contrary to what is written on my flight ticket, I am not coming from more than 9,000 kilometers away. No, I am coming from 14 kilometers away. The 14 kilometers is the distance between Africa and Europe. What are 14 kilometers in our globalised world? Nothing. We are as close as neighbours can be. We share the same values and face the same global issues. It is our duty as parliamentarians of the European Parliament and the PAP to turn these challenges into opportunities for the future, to hear and represent the interests of all our people and to devise a sustainable development for our societies.Ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much for giving me this opportunity to address you and let me wish you a fruitful session.THE PRESIDENT:Honourable Members, let me request that you give another round of applause to our Special Guest.[Applause]THE PRESIDENT:Honourable Members, let me once again, on your behalf, welcome His Excellency, the Honourable Martin Schulz, President of the European Parliament on this special and august visit to the Parliament of the people of Africa.Your Excellency, we are indeed honoured by your presence and your visit to our Parliament today. And as you clearly mentioned in your speech, Europe remains Africa’s closet neighbour and we think that the jury is still out on the effect and the outcome of many years and centuries of Africa-Europe relations.We, therefore, on behalf of the people of Africa, urge Your Excellency, the President of the European Parliament to ensure that working together, the future of the Europe-Africa relations is one that is build truly on mutually beneficial partnership.I would therefore, invite Her Excellency, the Vice President of the Pan-African Parliament, the Hon Juliana Kantengwa, on behalf of the Parliament, give a vote of thanks.HON. JULIANA KANTENGWA [RWANDA]:Thank you Mr. President; the President of Pan-African Parliament, His Excellency Bethel Amadi, the vice President Madam Kassingo, the President of European Parliament, Honourable Members, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen.On behalf of the President of Pan-African Parliament, my colleagues Bureau Members and Members of Pan-African Parliament, I am pleased to thank you for honouring your request with your esteem presence despite your numerous engagements. This confirms the level of interest you have in our Parliament, and we indeed appreciate your visit.Our two continents a few kilometers apart, I guess some are going to speak in the local languages. The local languages of Africans only a few kilometers away can hear and understand that Language.Your Excellency, Our continent has had a shared past through robust, prosperous and negative history which we cannot today use as a means to determine our common prosperity. And together we shared an obligation to shape a common future; a future of understanding aimed at promoting prosperity between the two peoples through mutual respect is the only way to promote our purpose in a way that will find meaning and dignified lives for our people.Your Excellency, the issues of access to European markets by African Agriculture Products bother this Parliament, and so is the issue of dumping of toxic waste. The issue of small arms is also another concern to this Parliament because most African countries do not produce arms.Your Excellency, our shared history between the Pan-African Parliament and the European Parliament has demonstrated so far that when we work together we will be able to achieve our goals.On this note His Excellency, we are appealing to the European Parliament to be an advocate for Pan-African Parliament on issues that confront Africa today and border on the lives of the common man and woman of Africa to realize their individual dreams.Your Excellency, I wish to draw your attention to EU/African strategy which is meant to be a joint strategy. As we moved to the new strategy we must wish to state here that much emphasis be put on the word "Joint", where the aspirations of African and European persons are affected by the new strategy. This is where the joint aspect gets meaning.Your Excellency, we wish to thank you once more for taking your time to be with us this morning and being able to address us.We wish you a happy stay in South Africa and as you return home, we wish you a safe journey.I thank you (applause)THE PRESIDENT:Hon Members may I, on your behalf, present a gift from the Pan-African Parliament, to our guest in commemoration of his visit to the Parliament.[Applause]Hon members, I will call on the Clerk of Parliament to make some House keeping announcements.THE CLERK OF THE PARLIAMENT:Hon members, this afternoon, commencing at 14:30, is the election of the Second Vice President. That will be followed by the elections of the youth caucus. In this regard, we have received the following nominations from the West Africa region. The nominee is hon. Assoumana Maham Issa, from Niger. From the Northern Region, the nominee is hon. Djamel Bouras of Algeria and from the Southern Africa region, Evelyn Nawases of Namibia. From the Eastern Region, hon. Jacqueline Amongin of Uganda. From Central, hon. Ango Ndoutoume of Gabon. I should explain, with regard to the youth caucus, we would like to apologize because earlier on there was an impression that all regions will not be represented. That has now been rectified. So, as I have read the names, all regions will be represented in the Bureau of the youth caucus.With regard to committees, we have the following meetings which will all take place at 15:30: the Committee on Co-operation and International Relations, Room number one, Committee on Health, Labour and Social Affairs, Room number 2, Committee on Rural Economic and Agriculture, Room number three, Committee on Justice and Human Rights, Room number four, Committee on Rules, Privileges and Discipline, Room number five. I thank you.Members will have an opportunity to have a photo session outside in the usual spot with our guest, the President of the European Parliament. Thank you.THE PRESIDENT:Hon members, we will now suspend business until 14:30 when we will come to this Chamber for the elections of the second Vice President of the Pan-African Parliament and the Bureau of the youth caucus. Hon members we, therefore, join the Bureau to have a good photograph with the guest from the European Parliament, as we proceed out of the Chamber.SUSPENSION [11:32:11]THE PRESIDENT:We now have to elect our 2nd Vice-President in accordance with Rule 16 of the Rules of Procedure. I, therefore, call on the Clerk to explain to honourable colleagues the procedure for today’s election.THE CLERK:I thank you, honourable President. Honourable members, the elections for the Vice-President shall be by secret ballot and a simple majority of members present and voting.We would like to also inform honourable members that when no candidate obtains the required majority which in this instance is the simple majority, a second ballot shall be conducted.The definition of a simple majority according to our rules means 50 percent plus 1. An absolute majority has a corresponding meaning - meaning that when we vote, the candidate who wins must get more than 50 percent. That is 50 percent plus one.In carrying out the elections, we have officers sitting at the desk on my left where you will register and sign against your name and be given a ballot paper which has got the two names of the candidates. You will then proceed to the podium which is the polling point where you vote by putting your "x" against the name of the candidate of your choice, and then you proceed to the transparent ballot box and deposit your ballot paper. After that, the votes will be counted and the results announced by the President. I thank you, Mr President.THE PRESIDENT:Honourable Members, in line with our parliamentary tradition, I would like to call on each of our candidates to present themselves before Parliament in five minutes or less. I will call on hon. Elsayed Moussa Hazen. He can come to the front to use the podium.SUELMA BEIRUK KAID [SAHARAWI DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC]:Señor presidente,honorables diputados. Me he presentado para cumplir esta misión o para asumir este cargo prometiendo como prometí anteriormente en la inauguración de esta augusta asamblea, ser fiel a los objetivos, principios y valores de África y luchar con dignidad por la paz, el bienestar y la prosperidad en nuestra África.{ El presidente^palabras en Ingles} y contribuir de la mejor manera para ayudar al consenso y la armonía dentro del buro.Me he presentado con todo mi empeño y voluntad para trabajar de la mejor forma en nuestra asamblea. Soy Africana que cree en África, en el Africanismo, en los pueblos de África y creo en un futuro mejor para África. Soy Suelma Beiruk, he sido miembro de la dirección nacional de la unión de estudiantes Saharauis en 1974, miembro fundador de la unión nacional de mujeres Saharauis entre 1975 y 1976, consejera en el ministerio de educación y enseñanza de la Republica Saharaui, vicedirectora de la escuela superior de formación de cuadros femeninos, responsable de cooperación internacional y relaciones internacionales, miembro del parlamento Nacional y miembro fundador del Parlamento Pan Africano. Casada y madre de Cuatro hijos.Tengo larga trayectoria y experiencia internacional en encuentros internacionales y conferencias de varias temáticas.Muchas gracias.THE PRESIDENT:Thank you very much Honourable colleagues, let us quickly proceed. Each Honourable Member will be given a ballot Paper like this (A specimen shown to Honourable Members). You will be given a ballot paper and when you step forward you will register and confirm your name on the list of registered members of our Parliament. Please try to mark within the box so that we don’t have void votes. We will start by column by column starting from the column on my left hand side. You will proceed in single file to come and register and pick up your ballot paper, mark it and drop it in the box. I wish all the best of luck.Thank you.Please Honourable members, it is secret ballot. (Appeal to Honourable members) You can use the podium and various Members will step down because I am also going to vote.The ballot paper has the two names so you don’t need to write anything. You should know who you are voting for as Members of Parliament. It is clear on the ballot Paper. The first name is Hon. Elsayed Moussa Hazen from Egypt, and the second name on the ballot paper is Hon. Suilma Hay Emhamed Elkaid from the Saharawi Democratic Republic. (voting takes place in single file)Honourable Members I have received the result for the position of Second Vice-President. I hereby declare the votes as follows:Hon. Elsayed Moussa Hazen had 37 votes and Hon.Suilma Hay Emhamed Elkaid had 81 votes.Accordance with our Rules and procedure, 50%+1 and over the votes cast, I hereby declare Hon.Suilman Hay Emhamed Elkaid as elected as the second vice-president of the Pan-African Parliament. (Applause)I will, therefore, now invite her to please come forward to express gratitude to the electorate.HON. SUILMA HAY EMHAMED ELKAID [SAHARAWI DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC]:[ السالم عليكم بسم هللا الرحمن الرحيم والصالة والسالم علي أشرف المرسلين ].Quisiera expresar profundamente mi agradecimiento a todos vosotros, pero muy en especial aquellos que me dieron su confianza y atreves de todos ellos a todos vosotros.Quiero deciros en muy pocas palabras, que el día, día es el que va a hablar por cada uno de nosotros.Yo soy una de las personas que formó parte de esta augusta asamblea desde su creación en el 2004 y durante estos nueve años hemos estado trabajando conjuntamente. El mismo juramento que hice el primer día, los mismos principios que he estado cumpliendo desde el inicio, todos esos pasos los voy a intentar hacer y aun mas mejorar y como bien dije anteriormente, yo soy una africana que creo en África, una África para todos los Africanos, una África mejor, una África en paz, una África en prosperidad, una África en la que los hijos de África no volverán a ir a morir en pateras para buscar una vida mejor, sino tener esa vida mejor en África y un futuro mejor para África.Muchas gracias para todos vosotros.THE PRESIDENT:Thank you, very much.We will now proceed with the swearing-in of the Vice-President.Mr. Clerk, please assist.THE PRESIDENT:Honourable members, on behalf of the Bureau and on your behalf, I welcome the newly sworn in Vice-President to the Bureau of the Pan-African Parliament. (Applause)Honourable Members, we will now proceed to the election of the Pan-African Parliament Caucus on Youths. The Clerk of Parliament is hereby invited to explain the voting procedure.HON. MEMBER:Procedure, Mr President. This side!THE PRESIDENT:Yes, honourable.HON. MEMBER:My Point of Procedure, Mr President, is that I just wanted to find out whether it is procedurally right for all of us to vote for the youth caucus while we are treated as a wing like women’s wing, like women’s caucus - they cannot just go and organise themselves separately according to the list and vote for themselves there without us influencing the youth. I thank you, Mr President. (Applause)THE PRESIDENT:Thank you very much, honourable members. What we have is not a youth caucus. We have a Pan-African Parliament Caucus on Youths and all those who are interested in voting can vote and those who are not, can abstain. It is a Pan-African Parliament Caucus on Youths and its membership, as we agreed when we formed it, is open to all Members of Parliament who are interested in youth affairs. And the same will proceed in the election of their leadership.Honourable members, we will proceed. The Clerk will explain the procedure for voting.THE CLERK:I thank you very much, Honourable President. Honourable members of the Pan-African Parliament, we have received nominations for the post of President of the Caucus on Youths from the five regions. We have hon. Francois Ango Ndoutoume from Gabon, hon. Djamel Bouras from Algeria, hon. Evelyn Nawases from Namibia, hon. Jacqueline Amongin from Uganda and hon. Malam Issa Assoumana from Niger.There is a ballot box with all the five names and each member must put an "X" on one chosen candidate to be the President of the caucus on youths. You vote for one candidate to be the President of the caucus. The results [BREAK/INAUDIBLE]....HON. MEMBER:We want to vote now.UNE HONORABLE MEMBRE:Monsieur le Président, s’il vous plaît, nous ne connaissons même pas les candidats.Monsieur le Président,Je pense que nous avons les règles parlementaires. Nous ne connaissons même pas les candidats et vous voulez qu’on passe au vote.Est-ce que c’est normal pour les parlementaires que nous sommes?Ce n’est pas sérieux, nous devons connaître les parlementaires que nous devons élire [...] les jeunes.Merci, Monsieur le Président.THE PRESIDENT:With your permission, maybe we invite the candidates to please come forward and present themselves for two minutes please. I now invite the first candidate, hon. Francois Ango Ndoutoume from Gabon to present himself to Parliament. (Applause)HON. FRANÇOIS ANGO NDOUTOUME [GABON]:Merci, Monsieur le Président.Honorables Députés,Chers Collègues,Je m’appelle Ango Ndoutoume François, député du Gabon.Je suis à mon deuxième mandat de député. C’est vrai qu’en tant que jeune, on commence déjà à acquérir une certaine expérience avec le deuxième mandat.Je tiens à remercier d’abord le Caucus d’Afrique centrale, pour m’avoir fait cette confiance, et je crois que cette confiance va se prolonger vers l’ensemble de tous les députés, ici, présents.Je tiens à remercier le Parlement panafricain pour avoir tenu compte de trois piliers essentiels pour toutes les populations d’Afrique:les femmes, avec leur fidélité, qui se sont déjà organisées;les hommes, nos aînés, avec leur sagesse;et aujourd’hui, les jeunes avec leur force.L’Afrique a besoin de ces trois composantes et de ces trois piliers pour que notre continent puisse aller de l’avant et parler d’une seule voix.Je vous remercie.(Applaudissements nourris)THE PRESIDENT:I thank you. I now invite hon. Djamel Bouras from Algeria. He is not here? I now invite hon. Evelyn Nawases from Namibia.(Applause)HON. EVELYN NAWASES [NAMIBIA]:I thank you, Mr President. Thank you my fellow colleagues.My name is Evelyn Nawases from Namibia. I am the Chairperson of the Committee on Constitutional and Legal Affairs back home and this is my second term in the Pan-African Parliament.If I may quickly give you a background on my leadership experience since 1994; I have been serving in various positions in my party structure. I have been the pioneer of SWAPO Party which is the ruling party of Namibia, I served at the branch level, I served on the district level, I served as a District Regional Secretary of the SWAPO Party Youth League. Eventually, I became the Deputy Secretary of the SWAPCO Youth League at the national level of our party.In 2005, I was elected as a Member of Parliament to represent the youths in Parliament and up to date I am a Member of Parliament. As we are speaking now, I have also been serving on the National Executive Committee of the National Youth Council of Namibia. Briefly, that is a background of my experience in the leadership positions. I whole heartedly count on your undivided support.I thank you, my colleagues.(Applause)THE PRESIDENT:I thank you very much. I now invite hon. Jacqueline Amongin from Uganda to present herself.(Applause)HON. JACQUELINE AMONGIN [UGANDA]:(Applause) I thank you, Mr President. Without wasting a lot of time, I want to quote one of the President’s in Africa who was here last week during the inauguration of this Parliament and that is His Excellency John Dramani. He said, "A house is not necessarily a home." But since I arrived here last year in October, you have made me feel at home and I want to thank you so much for that.(Applause)My name is Jacqueline Amongin and I am a Member of Parliament from Uganda. I was born in 1980 and so as I speak, I am 30 years - (Applause) - and it is only that person who is putting on a tight shoe who knows how tight the shoe is. It is not the neighbour.(Applause)Therefore, the challenges of the young people on the African continent, just like our forefathers like Nelson Mandela and Samuel Etoro said that the struggle starts with the first step. I know that the day I moved a motion in this House to formulate a Pan-African Youth Caucus - (Applause) - that is the day we started the journey. The journey we must move so that we get there - where we want to see the youth of Africa and here I come with leadership experience.At 30, I am married and have two sons and I know that the future of those young children on the African continent must be well guided and that is why I stand here to champion the cause of the young people on the African continent.In the national Parliament, I have served in so many leadership positions. Hon. Cecilia Ogwal, our senior Member of Parliament from Uganda can qualify this. I have served on the African Youth Union and we initiated the idea of forming the African Youth Charter and that is why the Heads of States had to adopt the African Youth Charter. I need to follow the process and we need to ratify and domesticate this charter and move the youth mantle forward.(Applause)I come with the leadership experience. Frantz Fanon, the person I love so much to quote once said, "Every generation must out of relative obscurity discover its historical mission and either fulfill it or betray it." Honourable colleagues of the great Pan-African Parliament, I know that I will not betray the generation and I know that we will together, working with my colleagues, champion the issues of the young people in the Pan-African Parliament on the African continent. Here I am. Entrust me. My CV at 30 is long and I am not going to talk about it here. I have supplied to you my CV in English, French and all the other languages.Merci beaucoup. Obaigado. I thank you very much. Asante sana.(Applause)THE PRESIDENT:I thank you very much.Honourable colleagues, I now invite hon. Malam Issa Assoumana from Niger to present himself to his colleagues.HON. ASSOUMANA MALAM ISSA [NIGER]:I thank you, Mr. President. I would like first to thank everybody here and to greet the Pan-African Parliament’s Bureau because of choosing this day to have a caucus on youth issues. I think that PAP is showing that Africa has to be built by it sons.Mesdames et Messieurs, je vous remercie.Je m’appelle Assoumana Malam Issa.(Applaudissements nourris)Je suis élu député du Niger, le 17 mars 2011 et quelques mois après, je rejoins le Parlement panafricain.De toute ma vie, je me suis consacré à la jeunesse et à l’enfance.J’ai appartenu à beaucoup d’associations.J’ai été scout; membre de la Jeune Chambre internationale; dirigeant de plusieurs associations.(Applaudissements nourris)Je ne parlerais, peut-être pas de l’association de partis politiques, parce que là, je suis le Vice-président national de l’Organisation de la Jeunesse de mon parti, mais, je voudrais dire simplement que la jeunesse, ce n’est pas l’âge; la jeunesse c’est dans l’esprit et nous sommes tous jeunes. L’Afrique a besoin de nous!(Applaudissements nourris)L’Afrique a besoin de nous, à un moment où personne ne doit venir construire le continent pour nous. Nous devons réfléchir, aider l’Union africaine, aider le Parlement panafricain et avoir des leaders dignes.Un chef d’État africain disait: « Ne demande pas, si tu veux construire ton pays, ce que ton pays fera pour toi, demande-toi ce que tu peux faire pour ton pays ».Je vous remercie.(Ovations)THE PRESIDENT:Honourable colleagues and members, you will now agree with me that it is important that we all participate in this process.Let me now, as the No. 1 youth member of the youth caucus, be the first to vote - (Laughter) - (Applause) - followed by my Vice-Presidents and of course by our ever youthful former President will come next to us - Dr Idriss Mousa Ndele to participate in this process. I thank you.THE CLERK:I thank you, honourable members. Now we are going to count. The total votes cast are 115 and so that is the number we are working with. Now we are going to count them. I thank you.[Vote counting]THE PRESIDENT:Honourable members, the results are as follows; hon. Francois Ango Ndoutoume from Gabon 10 votes. Hon. Djamel Bouras from Algeria 04 votes. Hon. Evelyn Nawases from Namibia 24 votes. Hon. Jacqueline Amongin from Uganda 30 votes and Hon. Malam Issa Assoumana from Niger 47 votes. (Applause). Therefore, Hon. Malam Issa Assoumana is elected President of the Pan-African Parliament Caucus on Youths.(Applause)Hon. Jacqueline Amongin is elected 1st Vice-President of the Pan-African Parliament Caucus on Youths. (Applause). Hon. Evelyn Nawases is elected 2nd Vice-President of the Pan-African Parliament Caucus on Youths - (Applause) - and Francois Ango Ndoutoume is elected 3rd Vice-President of the Pan-African Parliament Caucus on Youths - (Applause) - and Djamel Bouras is elected 4th Vice-President of the Pan-African Parliament Caucus on Youths.(Applause)Honourable members, while on your behalf I congratulate the elected leaders of this caucus, it was this plenary in its wisdom that created this very important, very special caucus on a very important issue for Africa. Today, we have the youngest population of any continent in the world and in the next 12 years, Africa will be housing one quarter of all young people who are under 25 years of age in the world.(Applause)It is important that we as a Parliament for the people of Africa who represent this very large population of our continent, that we begin to work assiduously to plan and to prepare on the future of the young people of our continent. I urge all of us to participate actively in the work of this caucus. I thank you.(Applause)Honourable members, I now call on the Clerk to make some housekeeping announcements.THE CLERK:I thank you, Mr President. Honourable members, in the light of our inability today to hold Committee meetings owing to the elections that we have just finished, we would like to announce Committee meetings programme for tomorrow. It is as follows and I will start with those that will meet at 2 o’clock tomorrow: The Committee on Cooperation, International Relations and Conflict in Room No. 1. The committee on Health, Labour and Social Affairs in Room No. 2. The Committee on Rural Economy and Agriculture in Room No. 3. The Committee on Justice and Human Rights in Room No. 4. The Committee on Rules, Privileges and Discipline in Room No. 5. So that will be the first batch because we are unable to have all committee meetings at the same time because of the interpretation challenge.So, after that lot, the second will commence at 2 o’clock and they are the following: The Committee on Monetary and Financial Matters in Room No. 1. The Committee on Gender, Family and Youth in Room No.4. The Committee on Trade and Customs in Room No. 5. I thank you, Mr President.THE PRESIDENT:I thank you very much.Honourable members, we have now come to the end of our business for today.HON. MEMBER:Mr President, Point of Observation.THE PRESIDENT:Yes.HON. MEMBER:If this is the schedule for tomorrow, what will be the schedule for Wednesday because we will not be this way and we do not know what we are going to debate on.THE PRESIDENT:I thank you. A copy of the programme for the whole session is available to all members and our programme remains as approved. I therefore urge the secretariat to make available more copies of the programme for the session which contains the daily activities of this House.Honourable members, we now have come to the end of our business for today and therefore, this House stands adjourned until Tuesday 22 May, 2023 at 9.00 o’clock in the morning. I thank you.(The House rose at 5.17 p.m. and adjourned until Tuesday 14 May, 2013 at 9.00 a.m.)
Tuesday, 14 May, 2013
THE PRESIDENT:Please, be seated.THE PRESIDENT:Honourable Members I wish to inform you that on the 6th May 2013, I received a written notice of motion from Honourable Dikgang Philip Makgalemele on Poverty alleviation in accordance with position Rule 60.This motion will be on the order paper for Thursday 16th May, 2013 for debate.I also wish to inform you Honourable members that on the 7th May 2013, I received a written notice of motion from the Honourable Azizou Elhadj Issa on the absenteeism of Members of Pan-African Parliament from statutory meetings in accordance with Rules 60 of our Rules of procedure.This motion will also be on the order paper on Thursday 16th May 2013.Honourable Members, in accordance with provisions of Rule 38(1)(H), it is now a great pleasure to invite Ms. Aminattou Haidar,President of the collective of Saharawi Human Rights Defenders to enter the chamber. (she entered the Chamber) (Applause)Hononorable Members, I shall now call on the Clerk of Parliament to read the first order of the day.THE CLERK:Thank you Mr.President, the first item on the order paper is the Presentation and debate on the situation in Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR). Presenter Ms Aminattou Haidar, President of the collective of Saharawi Human Rights Defenders.THE PRESIDENT:Honourable Members, it is now my pleasure to invite Ms Aminattou Haidar, President of the collective of Saharawi Human Rights Defenders to address the House.MME AMINATTOU HAIDAR [PRÉSIDENTE DU COLLECTIF DES DÉFENSEURS SAHAROUIS DES DROITS DE L’HOMME]:Son Excellence Monsieur le Président du Parlement panafricain, Monsieur Honorable Bethel AMADI,Honorables Députés,Excellences Mesdames et Messieurs les Ambassadeurs,Mesdames et Messieurs,Honorable Audience,Tout d’abord, je tiens à vous remercier et saluer votre noblesse pour m’avoir honorée d’être parmi vous, aujourd’hui, au siège du Parlement panafricain, à l’occasion de la tenue de sa première session annuelle.À cette même occasion, permettez-moi d’exprimer ma gratitude et ma reconnaissance à Son Excellence Madame la Présidente de la Commission de l’Union africaine, Dr Nkosazana Dlamini ZUMA, pour son engagement dans la voie de la recherche d’une solution pacifique et juste du conflit du Sahara Occidental allant certes, mettre fin à la souffrance du peuple sahraoui.C’est une fierté pour moi, de pouvoir m’adresser aux représentants des peuples africains, de la tribune de cette Institution représentant l’expression de la volonté des peuples du continent africain, continent que ses États étaient parmi les premiers dans le monde, à avoir appuyé fortement le droit du peuple sahraoui à l’autodétermination, appui qui s’est transformé au fil des ans par un engagement continental.À cette occasion, également, je tiens à saluer et remercier le Parlement panafricain pour ses prises de position en faveur du droit du peuple sahraoui à l’autodétermination et ses appels pour le respect des droits de l’homme dans mon pays, le Sahara Occidental.(Bruits stridents de la vidéo projetée dans l’hémicycle)Je salue et remercie, de même, toutes les célébrités africaines connues pour leur soutien et leur solidarité avec le peuple sahraoui.Excellences Mesdames et Messieurs les Ambassadeurs,Honorables Députés,Mesdames et Messieurs,Comme vous le savez très bien, le Sahara Occidental est le dernier pays africain figurant, à nos jours, sur la liste des territoires non autonomes de l’Organisation des Nations-Unies.Au moment où le peuple sahraoui attendait la décolonisation de son territoire du colonisateur espagnol, l’État du Maroc - et en violation flagrante du droit international - a annexé de force mon pays, le Sahara Occidental, le 31 octobre 1975. Depuis cette date, le Maroc viole, systématiquement, tous les aspects des droits de l’homme du peuple sahraoui.C’est ainsi que l’État marocain a semé la terreur contre la population civile sahraouie.Pour sauver leurs vies, des milliers de civils sahraouis ont été contraints de fuir le territoire du Sahara Occidental. Durant leur fuite, leurs campements provisoires ont été bombardés par l’aviation marocaine avec des bombes interdites, à savoir les bombes de Napalm, le Phosphore blanc et les bombes à fragmentation.Les rescapés, parmi eux, vivent depuis 38 ans dans des conditions difficiles aux camps des réfugiés sahraouis à Tindouf en territoire algérien, recevant des aides humanitaires du Programme Alimentaire Mondial (PAM) en coordination avec le Haut Commissariat pour les Réfugiés (HCR), des autres organisations humanitaires internationales et des comités de soutien du peuple sahraoui. D’autres ont choisi de vivre en diaspora, à titre d’exemple, en Mauritanie, en Espagne et en France.C’est ainsi que le peuple sahraoui s’est trouvé déchiré. Pour les autres civils sahraouis qui n’ont pas pu fuir les territoires du Sahara Occidental annexés par le Maroc, ils continuent toujours de vivre les affres de la répression féroce pratiquée par l’État marocain.Des centaines de civils sahraouis ont été enlevés par les services du régime marocain et avaient vécu la disparition forcée durant des périodes variant entre quelques mois et 16 ans. Ils étaient séquestrés dans des lieux de séquestration secrets au Maroc et au Sahara Occidental.Personnellement, j’ai été enlevée par la police marocaine à l’âge de 20 ans alors que j’étais encore élève du lycée préparant mon baccalauréat. J’étais séquestrée, en compagnie d’une dizaine de femmes sahraouies, pendant 3 ans et 7 mois dans un bagne secret à El-Aaiùn, capitale du Sahara Occidental. Nous avons trop souffert! Nous étions soumises quotidiennement à la torture la plus atroce. Durant toute la période de notre séquestration, nos yeux étaient bandés, passant toute la journée accroupies en face du mur de la cellule du bagne secret, dépourvues des soins médicaux, d’hygiène et des moindres droits; totalement isolées du monde extérieur durant toute cette période.D’autre part, le sort de plus de 500 disparus sahraouis, enlevés depuis 1975, demeure toujours inconnu. Selon des témoignages crédibles recueillis auprès de quelques rescapés, des dizaines de civils sahraouis ont été enterrés vivants dans des fosses communes alors que d’autres ont été jetés en chute libre à partir des hélicoptères de l’armée royale marocaine.Pour le contrôle et l’isolément du monde extérieur de la population civile sahraouie vivant en territoires occupés du Sahara Occidental, l’État marocain a procédé au quadrillage militaire, sécuritaire et médiatique du territoire. Ainsi, l’État marocain a renforcé sa présence militaire par le déploiement de mini-casernes militaires dans tous les quartiers des villes sahraouies. Les contrôles, aux barrages routiers se trouvant à proximité de ces villes, sont très sévères et visent en premier lieu les passagers sahraouis.Les territoires occupés du Sahara Occidental sont restés, pendant 26 ans, privés du service de la ligne téléphonique automatique permettant l’accès direct aux communications internationales. Ce n’est qu’en mars 2002 que ce service a été établi.Mesdames et Messieurs,Honorable Audience,Depuis le 21 mai 2005, la population civile sahraouie aux territoires occupés du Sahara Occidental et aux villes du Sud du Maroc, organisait des sit-in et des manifestations pacifiques, réclamant publiquement le respect des droits du peuple sahraoui à l’autodétermination et le respect de tous ses droits légitimes. Ces sit-in et manifestations étaient brutalement réprimés par les autorités marocaines. Les manifestations sahraouies étaient brutalement réprimées par les autorités marocaines. Les manifestants sahraouis, sauvagement tabassés lors de ces sit-in et manifs, étaient interdits par les autorités marocaines et le corps médical et paramédical marocains d’accéder aux soins médicaux dans les hôpitaux.Les habitations sahraouies et leurs meubles se trouvent souvent saccagés par les éléments de la police marocaine. Des dizaines de sahraouis arrêtés ont été soumis, dans les locaux de la police marocaine, aux méthodes de tortures corporelles et psychiques les plus humiliantes avant d’être abandonnés dans les décharges et les plateaux arides, en dehors des périmètres urbains des villes, alors que d’autres étaient déférés devant les tribunaux marocains et condamnés à de lourdes peines d’emprisonnement.Dans ces circonstances, plusieurs jeunes sahraouis torturés ont succombé à leurs blessures, d’autres souffrent des handicapes à perpétuité.Mesdames et Messieurs,Depuis l’entrée en vigueur du cessez-le-feu instauré par l’ONU au Sahara Occidental en 2992, les défenseurs sahraouis des droits de l’homme continuent, avec détermination, de dénoncer et de faire connaître, à la communauté internationale, les violations des droits de l’homme commises par l’État marocain contre la population civile sahraouie. C’est pourquoi les autorités marocaines multiplient les intimidations et les menaces à leur encontre.Pour contrecarrer leur travail, les autorités marocaines procèdent à de multiples méthodes d’intimidations comme:détention arbitraire,torture,expulsion abusive du travail ou gel de salaire,privation de passeport,expulsion du Sahara Occidental,etc.Personnellement, j’ai été expulsée de mon travail pour avoir célébré la Journée Mondiale de la Femme en mars 2005, ainsi qu’au 27 juin 2005, j’ai été violemment tabassée par des officiers de la police marocaine en pleine rue, puis emprisonnée pendant 7 mois, pour avoir participé à un sit-in pacifique organisé à El Aaiun, capitale du Sahara Occidental, réclamant le respect des droits du peuple sahraoui à l’autodétermination.Le 22 novembre 2009, le gouvernement marocain m’a illégalement expulsée de l’aéroport de El Aaiun, Sahara Occidental, vers Lanzarote aux îles Canaries, en Espagne, où j’ai observé pendant 32 jours, une grève de la faim illimitée qui pouvait mettre fin à ma vie.Je n’ai pu regagner ma patrie, le Sahara Occidental, qu’après des pressions exercées par la communauté internationale sur le Maroc et en particulier celles exercées par l’Organisation des Nations-Unies, les États-Unis d’Amérique et la France.Les autorités marocaines continuent toujours de multiplier les intimidations et les menaces à l’encontre des défenseurs sahraouis des droits de l’homme. Les organes de presse de la majorité des partis politiques marocains mènent des campagnes chauvinistes contre eux. Ces organes de presse appellent même à leur arrestation et liquidation physique.L’État marocain affiche toujours une intolérance envers la liberté d’expression et la constitution des associations aux territoires du Sahara Occidental occupés. Les principales associations sahraouies des droits de l’homme, en l’occurrence mon organisation, le CODESA et L’ASVDH, sont toujours démunies de leurs droits à l’enregistrement légal.Mesdames et Messieurs,Les violations et atteintes aux droits de l’homme se sont aggravées après le lancement en 2007, sous l’égide de l’Organisation des Nations-Unies, du processus des négociations entre le Royaume du Maroc et le Front Polisario, en application de la Résolution 1754 du Conseil de Sécurité de l’Organisation des Nations- Unies. C’est ainsi que, les autorités marocaines font toujours recours à l’arrestation arbitraire des civils sahraouis exprimant pacifiquement leur opinion politique en faveur des droits du peuple sahraoui à l’autodétermination.Des centaines de civils sahraouis ont été jugés devant des tribunaux marocains sans pourtant citer les cas de ceux qui étaient arrêtés, sévèrement maltraités et torturés puis relâchés sans être différés devant la justice. Les procès des civils sahraouis arrêtés sont souvent inéquitables à cause de la non indépendance de la justice marocaine qui est très instrumentalisée. Le cas le plus significatif de cette non indépendance de la justice marocaine était la comparution, en février dernier, de 25 civils sahraouis, parmi eux des défenseurs des droits de l’homme, devant un tribunal militaire marocain qui a prononcé contre eux des peines lourdes allant jusqu’à la peine de réclusion à perpétuité.Au moment où les grandes organisations internationales des droits de l’homme, et en particulier le Centre Robert F. Kennedy pour la Justice et les Droits de l’Homme, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, l’Organisation Mondiale Contre la Torture (OMCT) et le Rapporteur spécial des Nations-Unies sur la torture, Monsieur Juan Mandez, appellent toutes les autorités marocaines à respecter les droits de l’homme aux territoires du Sahara Occidental annexés par le Maroc et à ouvrir une enquête sur les allégations de torture pratiquée par les forces de répression marocaines contre la population civile sahraouie.Les autorités marocaines récidivent et continuent d’afficher leur indifférence face à ces appels pour le respect des droits de l’homme au Sahara Occidental, et la justice marocaine s’abstient toujours à ouvrir des enquêtes sur les cas de torture et de traitements dégradants, objets des plaintes déposées par les civils sahraouis.Les responsables sécuritaires marocains impliqués dans ces actes de torture et des traitements dégradants, jouissent toujours de l’impunité absolue.D’autre part, le Maroc continue de commanditer des campagnes médiatiques, chauvinistes et racistes, incitant à la haine contre les sahraouis, à travers les médias marocains, la majorité des organes de presse, certains partis politiques, les syndicats et une partie de la société civile marocaine.Honorable Audience,Malgré la montée du chauvinisme marocain, depuis 2999, et la répression atroce qui l’accompagne, la population civile sahraouie continue toujours de mener une résistance pacifique et non violente.Dans les annales de la lutte des peuples pour exiger le respect de leurs droits légitimes, la population civile sahraouie n’a jamais eu recours aux actions violentes ou à caractère terroriste, ni contre les autorités marocaines, ni contre les civils marocains résidant aux territoires du Sahara Occidental annexés par le Maroc. Cette population civile a toujours préféré compter sur la légalité internationale et le soutien de la communauté internationale pour faire exiger le respect de ses droits légitimes. C’est une population civile porteuse d’un message de paix et de tolérance et qui a toujours choisi de mener une lutte propre, empruntant ainsi la voie des grands leaders des mouvements de libération nationale contemporaine, à savoir Mahatma GANDHI et Nelson MANDELA, qui ont pu conduire leurs peuples à la victoire grâce à leurs appels à la résistance pacifique et à la tolérance.Mesdames et Messieurs,Profitant de l’indifférence de la communauté internationale et en particulier l’indifférence des grandes puissances mondiales, le Maroc continue de commettre de graves violations et atteintes aux droits de l’homme à l’encontre de la population civile sahraouie au su et au vu de la Mission des Nations-Unies pour l’Organisation du Référendum au Sahara Occidental (MINURSO), présente au Sahara Occidental depuis septembre 1991.L’État marocain s’abstient toujours à ouvrir des investigations sur les violations des droits de l’homme commises au Sahara Occidental. C’est ainsi que les responsables sécuritaires marocains impliqués dans ces violations bénéficient toujours de l’impunité absolue et ne sont jamais traduits devant la justice.Il est à noter que le droit international humanitaire se trouve constamment violé par les autorités marocaines, et en particulier les clauses incriminant l’impunité. Pour cela, j’appelle les juristes africains à fournir l’assistance juridique nécessaire aux civils sahraouis, victimes des violations des droits de l’homme, pour qu’ils puissent saisir les mécanismes compétents des Nations-Unies.Bien que l’État marocain viole d’une façon grave les dispositions de la 4ème Convention de Genève relative à la protection des civils, lors des conflits armés, les violations graves des droits de l’homme commises par l’État marocain à l’encontre des civils sahraouis impliquent également la responsabilité de l’Union africaine et la communauté internationale, non seulement à garantir et à maintenir la paix et la sécurité internationale et à protéger les principes de la justice, mais à exercer des pressions sur l’État marocain pour le respect des droits de l’homme aux territoires occupés du Sahara Occidental et le respect des droits du peuple sahraoui à l’autodétermination.Pour cela, et afin de garantir une protection internationale des civils sahraouis et les prémunir contre d’éventuelles violations qui peuvent être commises par l’État marocain, je saisis cette occasion pour appeler les membres du Parlement panafricain, d’adhérer au mouvement international, qui s’élargit au fil des ans, interpellant les Nations-Unies pour qu’elles contribuent efficacement à la protection des civils sahraouis, par l’envoi d’une part, d’une commission des Nations- Unies pour enquêter sur les violations graves des droits de l’homme commises par l’État marocain à l’encontre des civils sahraouis et l’élargissement, d’autre part, du mandat de la MINURSO au volet de la surveillance de la situation des droits de l’homme au Sahara Occidental.Honorable Audience,La situation aux territoires occupés du Sahara Occidental est arrivée à des niveaux de tension sans précédent à cause de la répression violente marocaine, pratiquée à l’encontre de la population civile sahraouie, illustrée par l’interdiction de toutes les formes de la libre expression et la constitution des associations et l’usage excessif et systématique de la force contre toutes les formes de protestation pacifiques organisées par la population civile sahraouie. Cet usage excessif et systématique de la force a pris des formes plus graves, pouvant constituer une atteinte à l’intégrité physique et aux droits à la vie, surtout avec les interventions brutales des forces publiques marocaines, armées de matraques et des armes blanches (couteaux et épées), pour disperser les manifestants sahraouis, comme c’était mon cas, moi-même, le 1er novembre 2012, quelques heures après avoir rencontré au quartier général de la MINURSO à El Aaiun, Son Excellence l’Envoyé personnel au Sahara Occidental, Monsieur l’Ambassadeur Christopher Ross, quand j’ai été tabassée, menacée avec des armes blanches portées par les éléments d’un groupe de forces publiques marocaines et ma voiture a été endommagée.De même, après avoir participé, en mars 2013, à une rencontre organisée au siège des Nations-Unies, à New York, sur la situation des droits de l’homme au Sahara Occidental et avoir rencontré la majorité des membres du Conseil de Sécurité et en particulier l’Ambassadrice des États-Unis d’Amérique, Mme Susan Rice, je suis devenue la cible d’une campagne médiatique de dénégation commanditée par l’État marocain. Cette campagne s’était accentuée juste après que les États- Unis d’Amérique aient présenté au Conseil de Sécurité, en avril 2013, un projet de résolution sur l’élargissement du mandat de la MINURSO au volet de la surveillance des droits de l’homme au Sahara Occidental.Dans ce cadre, je me trouve actuellement sous surveillance permanente de la part des services de renseignements marocains. Ma maison a été attaquée en avril par la police marocaine au moment où je tenais, en compagnie des membres du Bureau exécutif de mon organisation, le CODESA, une réunion de travail avec une délégation d’Amnesty International. De même, le 2 mai 2013, alors que je donnais des interviews à une délégation de la presse américaine, britannique et canadienne à la maison du Secrétaire général de mon organisation, au moment où les civils sahraouis organisaient une grande manifestation pacifique à El Aaiun, au Sahara Occidental, la maison en question a été encerclée et attaquée durant presqu’une heure par un groupe de policiers marocains et ma voiture a été de nouveau endommagée.Mesdames et Messieurs,Les droits économiques et sociaux des sahraouis sont toujours bafoués par le Maroc au moment où les ressources minières et halieutiques du Sahara Occidental qui relèvent, conformément au droit international, de la souveraineté permanente du peuple sahraoui, sont pillées et exploitées illégalement par l’État du Maroc sans que le peuple sahraoui en tire profit.L’aggravation de la précarité des conditions de vie de la population civile sahraouie, d’une part, et la situation alarmante des droits de l’homme aux territoires du Sahara Occidental annexés par le Maroc, d’autre part, ont contribué à l’émergence au sein de cette population civile sahraouie, d’un sentiment de désespoir quant à l’amélioration de ses conditions de vie économiques, sociales et politiques, et le respect des droits de l’homme aux territoires du Sahara Occidental annexés par le Maroc.Dans ce climat de désespoir, je ne souhaite pas survenir, dans l’avenir, une riposte violente de la part des civils sahraouis. C’est malheureux de voir à l’avenir mes compatriotes sahraouis, toutes générations confondues, recourir à la violence pour exiger le respect des droits légitimes du peuple sahraoui. Ce sera égalementmalheureux de voir les grandes puissances mondiales continuer d’afficher leur indifférence par rapport à une contribution directe et efficace pour la résolution du conflit du Sahara Occidental, conformément à la légalité internationale et la protection des civils sahraouis aux territoires du Sahara Occidental, comme c’était le cas, le 25 avril 2023, lorsque certaines grandes puissances mondiales, membres du Conseil de Sécurité, avaient refusé d’appuyer un projet de résolution présenté par les États-Unis d’Amérique, en faveur de l’élargissement du mandat de la MINURSO, au volet de la surveillance des droits de l’homme au Sahara Occidental.À ces grandes puissances mondiales, je lance un appel solennel et sollicite leur engagement pour épargner notre peuple et les peuples du Grand Maghreb, des affres d’une violence aveugle pouvant déstabiliser, certes, la paix dans toute cette région et exercer davantage des pressions sur le gouvernement marocain pour respecter les droits du peuple sahraoui à l’autodétermination.Enfin, vu que la situation des droits de l’homme se détériore davantage aux territoires du Sahara Occidental annexés par le Maroc et vu que le Maroc continue à ne pas honorer ses engagements quant à l’amélioration de cette situation, il est d’une nécessité impérieuse, pour une contribution efficace à la protection des droits de l’homme aux territoires du Sahara Occidental, que l’Union africaine réagisse fermement et sans retard pour que:l’Organisation des Nations-Unies (ONU) élargisse le champ des mesures de confiance entre le Royaume du Maroc et le Front Polisario, au volet des droits de l’homme et ce en appelant le Maroc à libérer tous les prisonniers politiques sahraouis en détention arbitraire; établir la vérité sur le sort des centaines de sahraouis demeurant toujours en disparition forcée;l’Organisation des Nations-Unies (ONU) exige l’arrêt immédiat du pillage et l’exploitation par le Maroc des ressources naturelles et halieutiques du Sahara Occidental;le Conseil de Sécurité adopte une résolution sur l’élargissement du mandat de la MINURSO au volet de la surveillance de la situation des droits de l’homme au Sahara Occidental; etla communauté internationale garantisse la jouissance du peuple sahraoui de son droit à l’autodétermination en se prononçant librement et démocratiquement sur le statut politique définitif du territoire non autonome du Sahara Occidental.Monsieur le Président,Honorables Députés,Mesdames et Messieurs,Je salue solennellement tous les efforts déployés par l’Union africain et ses institutions pour trouver une solution pacifique au conflit du Sahara Occidental, permettant au peuple sahraoui d’exercer librement son droit à l’autodétermination.Je continue, également et toujours, de croire en la volonté ferme des nations africaines de pouvoir mettre un terme à la souffrance vécue par le peuple sahraoui depuis 38 ans.Enfin, je tiens, au nom de tous les membres de mon organisation et au nom de tous les défenseurs sahraouis des droits de l’homme, à vous exprimer notre profonde estime et notre haute considération.Merci beaucoup, pour votre attention.(Applaudissements nourris)Monsieur le Président,Avec votre permission, on a une vidéo à présenter qui montre vraiment la répression atroce pratiquée, au quotidien, contre la population sahraouie.(Applaudissements nourris)(Visionnement de la vidéo)THE PRESIDENT:Honourable Members, can we give a round of applause to our presenter.Honourable members, you will agree with me that the continued suffering and occupation of the people of Western Saharawi, especially women and children is something that the African continent needs to deal with decisively and bring to an end, the last occupied territory on our continent. As we celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the birth of our union, it is important that we spare time, give direction and put our position forward on the situation in Western Saharawi and the continued brutal oppression of this very last colony by people who we believe should have learnt from their own colonial experience.Honourable colleagues, join me to salute our presenter, who has over the years, suffered imprisonment and torture. Her and so many other activists in this occupied territory have continued to ensure that the voice of the suffering people of Western Saharawi is heard across the globe.I have before me, a list of members who want to intervene and I give three minutes to each speaker. The first speaker on my list is the Hon. Francois Labelle from Mauritius.HON. LABELLE MARIE NOËLLE FRANÇOISE [ÎLE MAURICE]:Thank you, Honorable President.Honorable Président,Je voudrais remercier Madame HAIDAR d’être venue nous rappeler la souffrance du peuple sahraoui.Honorable Président,La relation qui existe entre le parti auquel j’appartiens et le Front Polisario date de presque 40 ans. Ce qui fait que nous suivons cette situation et nous partageons la souffrance du peuple sahraoui.Mon parti, le Mouvement Militant Mauricien a été un des premiers partis à envoyer une délégation dans les années 70 pour être à côté de leurs frères de la République Sahraouie.Que le peuple sahraoui reçoive les salutations fraternelles de mon leader Monsieur Bérenger et du peuple mauricien.Cette situation qui perdure, depuis des décennies, n’a que trop duré. Il est inacceptable, au moment où nous parlons de la Renaissance africaine, qu’un pays africain demeure un État colonisé et que son peuple souffre d’une telle violence.Cette vidéo que nous venons de visionner nous bouleverse. L’image de cette femme battue, saignant mais montrant le « V » de la victoire, nous donne espoir et démontre le courage de ce peuple opprimé.Honorable Président,Ce n’est pas la première fois que nous parlons du sort du peuple sahraoui au sein de notre Parlement. Nous avons même voté des Résolutions et comme vous l’avez vous-même bien dit, Honorable Président, il est important que l’opinion de ce Parlement soit entendue haut et fort pour que cesse cette oppression d’un État africain.Il est de notre devoir de continuer à fournir les efforts et à faire entendre notre voix afin que la République Arabe Sahraouie soit enfin un État libre et que cesse l’oppression sur le peuple, sur les enfants et les femmes sahraouis.Je vous remercie, Monsieur le Président.(Applaudissements)HON.ISAAC STEPHEN MABILETSA [BOTSWANA]:Thank you, Mr. President, for the opportunity. I rise first of all to salute Ms. Aminattou Haidar for the brilliant presentation she made about the plight of the people of Saharawi. In this day and age, it is totally inconceivable, totally barbaric and totally unacceptable to have an African country being a colonizer, oppressing and torturing women and children who are unarmed. I wonder whether the police officers and security officers that we are seeing in the video, applying all sorts of pressure against innocent and unarmed women and children, in their own right, are fathers and uncles. If they are any of that to their people, would they like to see their daughters kicked around the way they were kicking the women in the video? Would they like to see their mothers abused the way we saw mothers being abused in that video? Would they like to see their daughters or nieces being dehumanised the way we saw them abusing them and torturing them in the video.Mr. President, this is totally unacceptable. We as members of the living world must rise and apply all sorts of pressure against Morocco. I will remind you about this. If we lived in a neighboring country like South Africa during the apartheid days and if you live in a neighboring country like Zimbabwe during the UDI period, what we really saw here opened up old wounds. The way the world came and put that to a complete stop was to apply punitive trade sanctions, baring all links, trade and all sorts of activities that took place between these member states that I am now talking about, which are now free states and bona fide members of the Pan-African Parliament and the AU. Why is the world not applying this same pressure they applied to apartheid South Africa and UDI Rhodesia of Ian Smith and many other oppressive states that were.[Time has expired.]HON. THULO TSOEU MAHLAKENG [LESOTHO]Thank you, Honourable President for giving me this opportunity to make a very brief and humble intervention on this issue of great magnitude.Mr. President, allow me to also express my loud applause to the gallantry presentation made by Madam Haidar on this topic this morning.I want Honourable President - having seen the video that was played here which has completely turned me around - has it not been for that video, I was going to speak in a different manner. But having seen that, I merely want to say to our brothers and sisters in Polisario Front and the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic that in fact, what we are seeing is not only force in the nature of force, but what we are seeing here are the last pangs of a dying force. A people determined to achieve and force their destiny can never be defeated by force in the manner that we are seeing. In fact, those who apply force in the manner that we saw it are merely delaying the people who are determined to secure their victory and self determination. But for sure, victory and self-determination, destiny will be reached. These are guaranteed - force or no force.Mr. President, I do not want to sit without giving applause to our brothers and sisters in Mauritania. When reading this pamphlet, I see that in 1979, they took the boldest of moves - after the colonizers had balkanised Western Saharawi into Morocco and part of Spain, our brothers in Mauritania just decided on their own to say no and that this is the territory of Saharawi and they returned it with no questions and with no qualms. This is commendable, Mr. President.I - [Interruption] -Just one minute, Mr. President, if you may allow me.I am saying that coming from Lesotho, I cannot fail to see this glaring similarity on the boundary questions of the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic and what was done by Mauritania because in Lesotho, when the British, who were the colonizers were occupying the country they allowed their kith and kin to take chunks and chunks of land. And surely, the very, very noble expectation is that our brothers cannot say now, we have benefitted from the wrongs that the colonizers did to our other brothers in Lesotho.I thank you, Mr. President.[Applause]HON. P.C BAI KURR [SIERRA LEONE]:Thank you Mr. President, Sierra Leone has been in the fore front on this issue. In 1980 during the time of OAU, Sierra Leone gave an observer status to Western Saharawi.The King of Morocco and his delegation walked out of the conference and the OAU. Up to now, they are yet to return.Mr. President, the History of Western Saharawi is well known to the people of Sierra Leone and we are there to give our support to the people of Western Saharawi.Mr. President sometimes we begin to wonder when we look at these issues and tempted to ask what Africa is doing. The last time we debated on the African renaissance, but let us look at the basic happenings in Africa. This is the violation of basic human Rights of the people of Western Saharawi and all the democratic Rights that African is advocating for. It is also a violation of good governance that the people of the world are advocating.Mr. President, Hitler once said we talk too much and feel sorry about the killings of the Jews, but nobody does anything about it. This is exactly what is happening.Mr. President, if the United Nations, USA can go to Iraq then what is happening today in our continent? In fact we are asking the General Assembly of the United Nations, The AU Heads of State to look seriously into what is happening in the Western Saharawi because it is a pitiable and a sorrowful issue for us as Africans, particularly when we are doing this to our fellow Africans. If we want to have a united continent, is this what we should be doing to each other?Mr. President, my Plea is not only to talk here, but to advocate to our Heads of State to look seriously into these issues when attending the AU summit. We need to take firm decisions to solve our problems in Africa. We have seen Africans driving other Africans from their countries.Mr. President, when I first came here I saw on the television in this country, South Africans driving other Africans from this country. However the situation in the Western Saharawi is far worse because people are dehumanized. My plea to this noble assembly of PAP is that strong resolutions must be passed and this information must relayed to our respective governments.I thank you.HON. AWAD HAG ALI AHMED [SUDAN]:Thank you Mr President. Unlike the fact that North and South Sudan was once ruled as one country by the Turkish for one century, and then by the British for more than half a century, Western Saharawi was occupied by the Spanish while Morocco was occupied by the Moroccans. Western Saharawi had its independence in 1976 after twenty years of being ruled by Morocco. South Sudan has signed such a comprehensive peace agreement under the mediation of the African Union (AU) and that gives the South Sudanese people the right to separate from North Sudan through a democratic referendum. North Sudan acknowledged the agreement and the South Sudanese people voted and decided to have their own country and North Sudan was the first country to recognize the new South Sudan country. Now, South and North Sudan are working currently with the support of the AU to give a good model of brotherhood, to have flexible borders and to have larger and full freedoms, such as the freedom to pass the borders freely, that is, freedom of movement and freedom of ownership. All this is being done with the support of the AU. The international community and the AU should work and put pressure on Morocco to follow the example of North Sudan and to give Western Saharawi its independence.I thank you very much.HON. ASSOUMANA MALAM ISSA [NIGER]:Merci, Monsieur le Président.Permettez-moi, Monsieur le Président, de féliciter Madame Aminattou HAIDAR pour la clarté de son exposé.Permettez-moi aussi, Monsieur le Président, de reconnaître qu’il me semble qu’il y a un déficit d’informations sur ce que vit la population sahraouie. Sinon, on ne saurait comprendre pourquoi un tel silence, pourquoi une telle complicité de la communauté internationale par rapport à un problème de violation des droits de l’homme et des libertés qui se passe en Afrique et au 21ème siècle?Monsieur le Président,Je crois que la République Arabe Sahraouie Démocratique elle-même, l’Union africaine et tous les pays africains doivent prendre ce problème à bras-lecorps; doivent faire de la situation que vivent les populations, que vivent les hommes, les femmes et surtout les enfants de la République Arabe Sahraouie, une priorité pour que cesse cette occupation en Afrique.Je vois aussi, Monsieur le Président, en tant que musulman, que cette situation est un peu atypique, parce qu’elle se passe dans un espace musulman qui pratique une religion, qui prône la paix et la solidarité. C’est inadmissible!Monsieur le Président,Les peuples africains, les peuples du monde tout entier, doivent alors se mobiliser. Ils doivent se sentir suffisamment complices et concernés de toute l’atrocité que vivent les enfants et les femmes que nous venons de voir.Que les peuples du monde soutiennent, par devoir et par solidarité, la population sahraouie pour que l’Afrique toute entière se sente libre, parce qu’aussi longtemps que cette occupation persistera, l’Afrique ne sera pas entièrement libre.Et tous les discours que nos leaders tiendront sur les diverses tribunes, resteront fades et présenteront un goût d’inachevé.Soyons-en conscients et soutenons la vérité.Soutenons la liberté et appelons au respect de la libre administration de la République Arabe Sahraouie.Que triomphe ainsi la justice et la justesse des combats!Je vous remercie.(Applaudissements)HON. TSHELANG W. MASISI [BOTSWANA]:I thank you, Mr President. I am a bit down Mr President after what I have seen in the video. I am so heavy hearted, but I would like to applaud the presenter for giving us this important information and, thank you very much for giving me the opportunity to say a few words even though I am so disturbed.It is pathetic, Mr President, that in this age and time, we are still seeing these atrocities in our own continent. This is a draw back to our development and our continent. We have been debating about the way forward for our continent to be free and to be able to work for economic development for the benefit of our people. After watching the video, I am so much worried about what exactly we are doing for other countries in assisting them to get liberated.I want to urge and ask the AU to take serious steps to end these atrocities and to campaign so hard to have sanctions imposed against the Moroccans. I wonder why the rest of the world, especially the United States and the other big countries like France do not take action to stop what the Moroccans are doing to the other countries because they have been doing some intervention into other countries when there are problem or a fight or a coup. But this is far from being tortured - the young children, the women and it has been so cruel to the women and a gross violation of their rights. I do not know why the United Nations does not take action seriously to stop this immediately.Maybe we should preach hard and educate them about the atrocities perpetrated in Western Saharawi. We must spread the word of wisdom that the presenter has already shown us and you should give us more time to advertise this and show the world that the time has come to stop these atrocities.It is hurting, Mr President, to see women being beaten. In the video, I saw only women and children being beaten. I never seen a man being beaten there and I wonder if I did not see it properly. Those cowards from Morocco are chasing women and I do not know why they are only chasing women and children. They are just pathetic, and I think it is time to force the Moroccans to stop these atrocities. I thank you. (Applause)HON. ONYANGO KAKOBA [UGANDA]:Mr. President, it is unacceptable and pathetic to see that as Africa plans to celebrate 50 years since the founding of the OAU, we still have an African country that is colonized by a fellow African country, especially because OAU was transformed to AU to give leeway for African countries to intervene in such situations. This is a situation that any civilized person must condemn. And we do condemn it in the strongest terms.Mr. President, we have just seen the video and my colleagues have talked about. The people suffering the most are the women and children. This habit of targeting the vulnerable groups is not quite different from terrorism. So, this is another form of terrorism. If we are talking about terrorism we should not go to any other place, we should have started with the Saharawi Republic and this one should be fought in the strongest terms.As Africa, we need to come together to make sure that we fight this situation. The international community has an obligation, but as Africa we first have the obligation to make sure that we fight the acts of terrorism that are taking place in the Saharawi Republic.Mr. President and hon. members, in the continuum of conflict resolutions there are three steps that one can take. The first step is the beginning of the negotiations. If the negotiations fail, then you can apply threat of force. If that doesn’t work then you apply force. In the case of the Saharawi Republic, Morocco appears not to listen to anybody. I think that it is incumbent upon us as African countries to make sure that we come together and force them out of Saharawi.My colleagues have just talked about what happened in Southern Africa, before they were Free states and we remember them. Yes, there are sanctions, but I am quite aware that the colonizers there gave in because of the pressure from other African countries. African countries joined forces and put pressure on these colonizers in this region. We need to apply the same force in Saharawi to make sure that Morocco gets out of Saharawi. I reiterate that the international community has the responsibility, but the first responsibility should start with us as Africans, because if we have to sort out this issue, it should be internally first. Then we can get helpers from outside. In my language, we always say that if you want someone to help you, you should first help yourself. Therefore, as Africa, we should first help ourselves before we go to the outside world. I thank you very much.HON. MARWICK KHUMALO [SWAZILAND]:Mr. President, in the nine years that I have been in this Parliament, I have never been so emotional.But, Mr. President, let me just say that the savage attacks on the unarmed and defenseless, particularly women that we have just seen, whose crime is just to strive for self-determination, is not only revolting but it deserves condemnation in the strongest terms.Mr. President, nonetheless, we still pay tribute to the gallant people of Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic for, against such oppression and such savage attack, they still stand their ground and we pay tribute to that.Mr. President, Morocco is driven by greed and insatiable appetite for power and control. This is because they have enough parcel of land of their own and one wonders why they are actually looking beyond their borders because that land does not belong to them. That is a fact of life.Mr. President, African countries have done so much. They have said so much in the struggle of the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic. But we need to salute one country that has done more than all of us. That is Algeria. They have accommodated them. They have given them everything. And till today, they are still holding fort. We thank Algeria.[Applause].Mr. President, if you remember how the AU Africa Strategy came to being. It is because Europe wanted to accommodate Morocco that is why it could not be EU- AU strategy. There was so much fighting. That is why it is AU Africa Strategy because if they say EU-AU, then Morocco is out. And then we, as Africans were fooled into that and we bought into it, stupidly, if I may say.Mr. President, it came but a bit new. You need to put your leadership in place. You need to demonstrate to the world that there is a new breed of African leaders. We have been to the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic. The Pan-African Parliament has to take the war to where it matters. You need to put up a mission to the United States Congress. You need to put up a mission to the United Nations. You need to go to the AU. You need to put it to them that the Pan-African Parliament is totally opposed to this and we demand sanctions against Morocco.Thank you, Mr. President.[Applause].HON. EDITOR ERIMENZIAH MATAMISA [ZIMBABWE]:Thank you Mr. President, I would like to add my voice to this disheartening situation we have all witnessed through the Video here this morning.Mr. President, for over forty years the Saharawi or Western Sahara has struggled to gain control over Morocco invasion.Mr. President so many agreements have been signed between Morocco and Saharawi Republic. But unfortunately, Morocco continues to play double standards. According to what we have seen, they are totally showing no political will to ensure self determination for the people of Saharawi Republic.Mr. President this situation is a violation of Human Rights by Moroccans over the people of Saharawi Republic. It is unfortunate that in this day and age we find an African State forcing occupation on another African state. This is unacceptable. It is also unfortunate that those who violate other people’s rights always go scot free and nothing happens to them.Mr. President we must resolve that the African Union should speak out loud on the Morocco invasion of the Saharawi Republic. The unfortunate situation is that we are dealing with an African state that is totally devoid from African issues and hence, the problem is an African problem, but goes beyond African continental borders.Mr. President, there is need for AU, if possible to engage the Arab league to conscientize them on the prevailing situation, and the need for intervention through peaceful means to deal with this situation though I foresee a problem.Mr. President, the engagement is worth trying because the situation is very volatile. The great concern is the servitude of women and children and Health and Education system under such circumstances are compromised. African must recollect its senses and try to value the lives of our brothers and sisters in the occupied Western Saharawi. The time to act is now, otherwise we stand to lose more lives.Mr. President, to the Saharawi’s I say Aluta continua, the struggle continues and victory is certain.I thank you.HON. SHEKU B.B DUMBUYA [SIERRA LEONE]:Mr. President, as I entered yesterday, the lady form Saharawi was giving a resounding vote to support her to the position of Vice President. I think that is a clear indication that PAP is consistently in support of the Saharawi people. I am partly sympathizing with them in their unfortunate situation, but one thing that baffles me is that over the years, in this Parliament we have been talking about Western Saharawi. I think it is now time to graduate from the talking stage to positive action. I think the AU now has to do something drastic and decisive.What I also cannot understand is why the big powers are so indifferent to what is happening in Western Saharawi? To me it gives the impression that they are really insensitive to the plight of the people of Western Sahara.All of us would recall that in the dark days of colonialism and imperialism Morocco was one country in the forefront in the condemnation of these devils of colonialism and imperialism. So, one begins to wonder why Morocco now is assuming the role of the evil it was condemning? I cannot understand this. That is why I would want to add my voice in support of the suggestion made by one of the members that has spoken that Morocco has to be isolated. It has since left the African Union. Therefore, we have to sever diplomatic ties with Morocco.I would also like to associate myself with the views that were expressed by hon. Khumalo that Algeria should be openly commended for its support of Western Saharawi. [Applause] I recall sometime in the 1980s, Algeria used to fund the conferences organized by Africa to go to that country in support of the struggle of the people of Western Saharawi. I think they must openly be commended and I think other countries must also follow, particularly countries from the Arab league.Mr. President, I feel that the time has come for the AU to act. I have a feeling that if we had legislative powers, by now the Pan-African Parliament would have done what the AU has not been able to do. Thank you very much.HON. JEANNE D’ARC NYINAWASE [RWANDA]:Merci, Monsieur le Président, de m’avoir accordé la parole.Je voudrais féliciter Madame Aminatou HAIDAR, pour sa présentation.Je voudrais aussi la féliciter, Monsieur le Président, parce qu’elle a été une femme brave malgré la situation qu’elle a connue dans sa vie.Monsieur le Président,Après avoir vu la vidéo, cela été douloureux pour moi parce qu’elle me rappelle la date du 7 avril 2992 qu’a connue le Rwanda lors du génocide des Tutsis. Cette attaque sauvage que le peuple sahraoui a vécue aujourd’hui, est semblable à celle que le peuple rwandais a vécue lors du génocide.Monsieur le Président,C’est franchement douloureux qu’aujourd’hui, nous sommes en train de dire que nous allons célébrer l’anniversaire des cinquante ans de l’Union africaine, alors que les peuples africains en souffrent toujours.C’est toujours douloureux pour moi de voir des femmes et des enfants qui souffrent ainsi, alors que nous avons une vision d’avoir une seule Afrique, une seule voix.Est-ce que franchement, nous allons continuer d’avoir foi en notre vision?Monsieur le Président,Il est temps que le Maroc respecte le droit international humanitaire.Il est temps que l’Union africaine pense à la situation du peuple sahraoui [et donne la résolution le plus vite possible].Merci, Monsieur le Président.HON. SANTOSH VINITA KALYAN [SOUTH AFRICA]:Thank you Mr President for accommodating me at this late stage on the Speakers’ List. I would like to thank Madam Haidar for her input today. She reminded us that we sometimes forget our neighbour’s distress because we are in our comfort zones. My colleague, Hon. Khumalo has stated unambiguously what the Pan African Parliament (PAP) must do. I would like to take it a little further and urge all my colleagues to defer this matter to the International Relations Committee in your Parliaments and further, to propose a Motion for debate in each of your Parliaments.Mr President, it is quite frustrating that sometimes we debate matters here but when we go back to our Parliaments, we seem to either forget the resolutions or do nothing about them. As I sat here, I have done three things. One is, I have written a letter to the Minister of International Relations in South Africa to ask her whether she would care to make a statement in the Parliament of South Africa on the situation in the Western Saharawi. The second thing is that I have tabled a Motion and thirdly, I have asked the Committee on International Relations in South Africa to take this matter further.Honourable President, I would like to ask the PAP Committee on International Relations to monitor the United Nations (UN) security interventions and report to this Parliament on their observations at the next sitting. The PAP has the responsibility to lobby on behalf of Western Saharawi, at other international platforms like the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA), international human rights organisations, as well as the European Union (EU). We had the President of the EU here yesterday and it is a pity that we could not tie the two together because we are having the debate on this issue today. However, Sir, you have a huge responsibility and I trust that you will take this issue further at other platforms that I have referred to, since you in the first place, have allowed Western Saharawi to make a presentation here.I thank you so much.HON. JULIANA KANTENGWA [RWANDA]:Thank you, Mr. President, for recognizing me.I also want to associate myself with the previous speakers, especially in thanking Madam Aminattou Haidar for her courage, coming here and being able to speak out, especially her life experiences.Mr. President, allow me to congratulate ourselves - this House, for the bold statement we made yesterday when we elected Her Excellency, Suilma Hay Emhamed Elkaid as our Second Vice President. Mr. President, this is very unprecedented. At a time when many of our African countries still keep diplomatic relations with Morocco, we have made a bold statement in uncertain terms that for us, we are for the people of the Saharawi and we are according them all the possible status amongst ourselves.Much as we know that the Republic of Saharawi in actual strictest of terms, physically and geographically, is a virtual state - almost non-existent because the better part of it is occupied and then the government is in exile. So, we are not talking about the normal physical state that we know of but for us, we have moved that step further. And by electing our colleague that is why I am saying that we have made a bold statement. And what does this statement mean. We are telling our Heads of State that they should stop that ambiguous debate of theirs that they always hold at the Summit where some of them speak for, others speak against. For us, we have unanimously spoken with one voice and that voice is saying, we shall be on the side of the people of Saharawi.And to the international community, Mr. President, we are telling them that this is not an issue of politics or economic interest, it is an issue of human lives, and it is an issue of human rights and the dignity of all persons.And to the Moroccan authorities, this statement just tells them that time is up, we are catching up on them and we should move forward.And to the Saharawi - I like the victory sign being made by that woman, in spite of her suffering - however much, they suffer, victory is certain - like my sister put it.I wish to thank you, Mr. President.[Applause]THE PRESIDENT:I thank you very much and also thank all those who have spoken. I believe that it is time that we will, as Africans, be truly our brothers’ and sisters’ keepers.I therefore would now invite our guest presenter to respond to the speakers who have contributed to this debate. You can respond in five minutes from where you are seated, Madam Haidar.Mme AMINATOU HAIDAR [PRÉSIDENTE DU COLLECTIF DES DÉFENSEURS SAHARAOUIS DES DROITS DE L’HOMME]: Une fois encore, je tiens à vous remercier très infiniment pour votre engagement dans la recherche d’une solution juste et définitive au conflit du Sahara Occidental pour mettre fin à notre souffrance.Je tiens à remercier tous les intervenants, les honorables députés pour leur soutien, leur engagement et leurs idées brillantes. À mon tour, je me félicite des quelques idées qui ont favorisé l’envoi et la dépêche d’une mission aux territoires occupés du Sahara Occidental, une commission au Conseil de sécurité et une commission aux Nations-Unies.Je remercie aussi l’intervenante qui a proposé une motion qui aidera beaucoup à exercer une pression sur le Maroc afin qu’il respecte les droits fondamentaux et élémentaires du peuple sahraoui.Ma dernière préoccupation: je vous interpelle à intervenir, et de façon urgente, pour éviter un tel massacre aux territoires occupés du Sahara Occidental, surtout que la population sahraouie ne va pas faire marche-arrière.Les sahraouis sont déterminés à poursuivre leur lutte pacifique pour jouir de leurs droits légitimes.D’autre part, l’État du Maroc augmente sa répression contre cette population en essayant de faire taire toutes les voix qui sont contre la thèse officielle du Maroc.Donc, pour éviter un tel massacre ou génocide au Sahara Occidental, je pense, en tant que défenseur des droits de l’homme, qu’il est nécessaire que l’Organisation des Nations-Unies et le Conseil de Sécurité des Nations-Unies agissent pour la mise en place d’un mécanisme des Nations-Unies ayant des compétences et un mandat de surveillance et de protection des droits de l’homme aux territoires occupés sahraouis.Je vous demande et vous interpelle à visiter les territoires occupés du Sahara Occidental pour enquêter et investiguer sur le terrain, car ce que vous avez vu dans la vidéo n’est qu’une petite partie de la souffrance quotidienne que vivent les populations civiles. Cette répression atroce n’épargne nullement les enfants et mêmes les bébés.Vous ne pouvez pas imaginer que les éléments des forces de l’ordre du Maroc n’ont aucune honte de battre et de tabasser les enfants de trois et même de deux ans.Je vous remercie encore une fois.(Applaudissements)HON. AZIZOU EL HADJ ISSA [PRÉSIDENT DU GROUPE RÉGIONAL DE L’AFRIQUE DE L’OUEST]:[Début de l’intervention non enregistré sur Record Player][...] Du Président de Parlement de l’État de Rivers, du nom de l’Honorable Otelemaba Dan Amachree - j’espère que je ne fais pas de tort au nom.Après cela, il y a eu cinq autres interventions dont je vous fais grâce, ici, avant le mot d’ouverture du Président du Parlement panafricain, l’Honorable AMADI Bethel.Suite à cela, cinq communications nous ont été faites:La première concernait l’Architecture de la Gouvernance africaine. Cette architecture prend en compte les trois instruments dont je viens de vous parler et qui concernent la gouvernance en Afrique.Au niveau de cette première présentation de l’Architecture de la Gouvernance africaine, il a été défini trois piliers dont le premier concernait seulement la définition des normes.Le deuxième pilier était juste pour traiter des questions institutionnelles.Et le troisième pilier concernait la coordination d’un mécanisme d’interaction entre les différentes institutions chargées de la bonne gouvernance en Afrique. Cette première présentation, le présentateur, Monsieur IKUBAJE, a espéré que le Parlement panafricain, suite au travail de lobbying qu’on a eu à faire l’année dernière à Addis-Abeba, continue ce type de lobbying avec d’autres institutions afin que la promotion de la bonne gouvernance en Afrique puisse être réelle.La deuxième communication a concerné la Charte Africaine de la Démocratie, des Élections et la Gouvernance.À ce niveau, il faut noter que sur 54 États, 41 ont signé la Charte. À la date du 15 février 2012, dix-sept (17) pays l’avaient déjà ratifiée, pendant qu’on attendait une ratification de 25 pays pour l’entrée en vigueur. Donc, cette Charte est entrée en vigueur à la date du 15 février 2012.Là, également, le présentateur a demandé que le Parlement panafricain renforce ses rapports avec les médias pour continuer à poursuivre la campagne sur les autres actes - les actes juridiques de l’Union africaine - parce que ce tour qu’on a eu à faire à Addis Abeba l’année dernière, a fait en sorte qu’il y ait eu un éveil en ce qui concerne la considération, par l’UA elle-même d’abord, le corps diplomatique sur place qui s’est mêlée et ensuite, un certain nombre de gouvernements ont pu adhérer à la chose.La communication 3 a concerné la Charte africaine sur les Valeurs et les Principes de la Fonction publique et de l’Administration. Elle est faite par Monsieur Josiah COBBAH qui est de la Conférence des Ministres africains de la Fonction publique.L’objectif de cette communication était de renforcer le professionnalisme, la démocratie, de moderniser les fonctions publiques africaines et de définir des normes afin que les agents publics puissent respecter le code de conduite qu’on pourrait assigner aux fonctionnaires africains.Pour cette Charte, 22 pays l’ont signée, 5 l’ont ratifiée. Mais nous sommes encore dans l’attente de 25 ratifications afin que la Charte puisse entrer en vigueur.La quatrième communication a concerné la Convention de l’Union africaine sur la prévention et la lutte contre la corruption. Elle est faite encore par Monsieur John IKUBAJE de la Commission de l’Union africaine qui est Expert en gouvernance de l’Union africaine.À ce niveau, il a noté qu’en ce qui concerne la corruption, la Banque Mondiale a précisé que l’Afrique perd plus de 148 milliards de dollars par an, soit 25 % de son PIB, rien que pour des questions de corruption. Il a aussi noté qu’en 2002, 50 % des recettes fiscales et 30 milliards de dollars provenant des partenaires, donc de l’aide au développement, sont passés plutôt dans les paradis fiscaux, au lieu d’aller vers le développement du continent.Pour le présentateur, les principes sur lesquels la Convention s’est basée, sont la transparence, la reddition des comptes, l’intégrité, la prévention de la corruption, la recherche de cas de corruption, etc.Pour cette Convention, 23 pays l’ont signée, 32 l’ont ratifiée et déposée. Donc, la Charte est déjà en vigueur. À ce niveau, il faut reconnaître que l’Afrique de l’Ouest a joué un grand rôle dans cette ratification.Pour la dernière communication sur le Réseau africain d’information parlementaire, c’est une plateforme pour la coopération qui a été faite par Monsieur Flavio ZENI, Conseiller technique en chef de l’UNDESA. Cette présentation s’est focalisée sur la question de savoir comment ce Réseau peut soutenir le travail du Parlement panafricain.Je vais vous faire grâce des questions dont on a débattues. Mais, en réalité, le point fort a été qu’en ce qui concerne la lutte contre la corruption, sans la volonté politique, dans aucun pays, cette lutte contre la corruption, quels que soient les instruments, les commissions, les organes que nous allons mettre en place, ne peut réussir.En ce qui concerne la séance de clôture, il y a eu une motion de remerciements que j’ai eu à lire.En plus de cela, comme dernier élément en séance de clôture, le Président du Parlement panafricain est encore intervenu et a salué le leadership de son Excellence Dr Aisha ABDULLAHI qui est la Commissaire aux Affaires politiques de l’UA pour l’organisation des missions d’observation des élections. Ce qui, à terme, si on arrivait à aboutir aux objectifs que l’UA et le Parlement panafricain poursuivent, renforcerait la bonne gouvernance en Afrique.Pour le Président du Parlement panafricain, l’essence de cet atelier régional était de ramener et de discuter au niveau local, la question du traitement réservé aux instruments du continent et surtout, à ceux de la bonne gouvernance et du respect des droits humains.Donc, Port Harcourt nous a permis de ramener le débat continental au niveau régional, pourquoi pas local, et de pouvoir aider, pour la Région ouest-africaine, à ce que ces instruments, dans l’avenir, puissent être ratifiés assez rapidement et que les députés, également, participent à la vulgarisation des instruments montés par l’Union africaine.Pour finir, le Président du Parlement panafricain a salué le gouvernement de l’État de Rivers, l’Union africaine et le PNUD pour leur soutien à l’atelier.Nous allons finir, Monsieur le Président, par la lecture du communiqué final qui a été proposé à l’issue de cette rencontre pour laquelle nous allons demander que les collègues procèdent à des amendements en vue, éventuellement, de son adoption.Je lis donc le communiqué final:« Conformément à l’article 18 du Protocole établissant le Parlement panafricain, nous membres du Parlement panafricain de la région Afrique de l’Ouest, participant à l’atelier des 5 et 6 décembre 2012 tenu dans l’hémicycle du Parlement de l’État de Rivers, à Port Harcourt, République Fédérale du Nigeria;Notant le progrès atteint jusqu’alors sur la ratification des instruments de l’Union africaine et la venue en force de la Charte africaine de la démocratie, des élections et de la bonne gouvernance;Notant en plus la nécessité d’intensifier les efforts pour que tous les membres des parlements puissent faire signer, ratifier et approprier les instruments de l’Union africaine sur la bonne gouvernance;Faisant appel aux membres du Parlement panafricain de montrer l’exemple en faisant signer, ratifier, approprier en exécutant les instruments de l’Union africaine tout en donnant la priorité à la Charte africaine sur les valeurs et les principes de la Fonction publique et de l’Administration qui nécessite encore 10 autres ratifications avant sa mise en œuvre;Félicitant les 5 pays africains qui ont ratifié la Charte africaine sur les valeurs et les principes sur la Fonction publique et de l’Administration à savoir: le Kenya, l’Île Maurice, la Namibie, le Congo Brazzaville et le Mozambique;Félicitant aussi les 9 pays d’Afrique de l’Ouest qui ont ratifié la Charte africaine de la démocratie, des élections et la gouvernance et qui se montrent ainsi leaders de toutes les autres régions dans ce processus;Engageant les parlements de la Région ouest-africaine pour améliorer leur performance, en étant le leader des autres régions, en ratifiant la Charte africaine de la démocratie, des élections et la gouvernance;Reconnaissant que l’architecture de la gouvernance africaine soit un mécanisme pour coordonner le lobbying de ratification des instruments de l’Union africaine par les États membres;Considérant le niveau de corruption et la nécessité de conserver et de mobiliser les ressources pour atteindre l’objectif de Développement pour le Millénaire et l’éradication de la pauvreté;Considérant aussi, selon le rapport de la Banque Mondiale de 2002, que 25 % du PIB africain, soit 148 milliards de dollars des ressources africaines, 50 % des recettes fiscales du continent et 30 milliards de l’aide pour l’Afrique, passent dans la corruption;Conscients de l’objectif de la Convention qui consiste à prévenir, détecter, punir et éliminer la corruption et autres infractions assimilées dans les secteurs publics et privés;Conscients en outre du fait que le principe fondamental du droit au développement est le droit au service public de qualité et le droit d’accès à l’information;Recommandons, au nom du Parlement panafricain, que:1.Les membres du Parlement panafricain de la Région de l’Afrique de l’Ouest deviennent des leaders pour la sensibilisation de leurs parlements et de leurs gouvernements respectifs sur la nécessité de signer, de ratifier, de vulgariser et de mettre en œuvre les instruments de l’Union africaine;2.Le Parlement panafricain lance une campagne visant à acquérir 10 autres signatures de la Charte africaine sur les valeurs et les principes de la Fonction publique et de l’Administration en vue de leur transmission à la Commission de l’Union africaine courant 2013;3.Le Parlement panafricain, dans le cadre de son mandat consultatif, entreprenne des missions périodiques de suivi de ratification, d’appropriation et de mise en œuvre des instruments de l’UA;4.Le Parlement panafricain travaille en étroite collaboration avec le département de l’Union africaine en charge de la politique, la société civile et autres parties prenantes afin de s’assurer de la prise en considération, par les peuple africains, des instruments de l’Union africaine;5.Le Parlement panafricain sensibilise les parlements nationaux sur la nécessité d’intégrer les instruments légaux de l’Union africaine dans les lois nationales afin de parvenir à une harmonisation telle qu’envisagée par le Protocole créant le Parlement panafricain;6.Le Parlement panafricain présente un rapport détaillé de ratification des différents instruments de l’Union africaine à la Commission de l’Union africaine en tant qu’organe consultatif à celle-ci;7.Le Parlement panafricain suscite un travail en étroite collaboration avec les organisations qui luttent contre la corruption, en l’occurrence le Conseil consultatif africain sur la corruption et le Réseau parlementaire africain de la corruption afin de soutenir l’élaboration de lois nationales contre la corruption et la création des commissions nationales y relatives dans les pays où elles n’existent pas;8.Le Parlement panafricain travaille avec l’Union africaine et d’autres organisations qui luttent contre la corruption pour appuyer la ratification et la mise en œuvre de la Convention contre la corruption;9.Le Parlement panafricain, avec ses parlementaires, rédige une loi-type sur les élections, les modalités de financement de ces élections et élabore des règles et procédures pour leur mise en œuvre.Midrand,le 14 mai 2013 ».Je vous remercie.(Applaudissements)Merci, Monsieur le Président, c’était l’essentiel du rapport.HON. MASTER MOISERAELE GOYA [BOTSWANA]:Mr. President, last week there was a presentation and debate on the African Peer Review Mechanism which was done simultaneously with one on the African governance Platform. I did reiterate that I am opposed to the idea of establishing the African governance platform. Today, I am here and I want to buttress the same speech that I made last week that I am still puzzled and baffled by the advent of the African governance platform. If intentions and motives are more or less the same as those of the APRM, then why AGP? To a large extent, APRM deals with issues of political governance, issues of corporate governance, issues of socioeconomic development, and so is the African Governance Platform, the establishment of this baby, the AGP, to me it is a pure duplication of the functions of the APRM.I think, as Africans, it seems as if we have now lost ideas, because we are coming up with institutions which are repeating functions and roles of other institutions which exist. I don’t see anything more ambitious about the African Governance Platform.There is a body which should be charged with the responsibility of promoting and of coordinating the ratification, the domestication and popularization of AU instruments. That body is none other than the Pan-African Parliament. So, forget about coming up with all these new institutions. It is our role as the Pan-African Parliament to domesticate, to popularize all these African instruments. So, we don’t have to come up with more and more institutions.What is happening now is that our national Parliaments are spending money to send us to grace invitations that we are invited to attend as a national Parliament. I don’t see any reason why we have to come up with all these institutions.Of course, I appreciate the efforts made by my colleagues from the West to attend the conference that was held in West Africa.HON. AWAD HAG ALI AHMED [SUDAN]:Thank you Mr President. My suggestion for this House is that it should endorse these recommendations and then pass the recommendations to the Caucuses and the Committees so that they can make specific plans on how to implement these recommendations.I also suggest that every country through these Caucuses, should give a report on the situation on the ratification and implementation of these charters and conventions. The Committees should do advocacy programmes and train many workers who can help with the implementation of these charters. Right now, we do not need to talk more. It is our duty to do that. According to the AU, it is the role of the Pan African Parliament to follow up the ratification and implementation of the policies and recommendations of the AU. That is our job. Let us go and do the job of implementing and making follow ups on these recommendations.I thank you very much.HON. P.C BAI KURR [SIERRA LEONE]:Thank you, Mr. President.I think Pan-African Parliament is doing its utmost, though internally to work for the African continent. But I think we have to do more when we leave this Parliament and this is what we are trying to do here.Sir, when you look here on page 5, third paragraph - that is Summary of Proceedings - Opening Session, may I please read?"H. E. Rt. Hon Amachree stated that, River State Assembly was most delighted to host the PAP and that he was aware that the meeting was consultative to promote the ratification and domestication of four basic legal instruments, vis-à-vis the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance, the African Charter on the Values and Principles of Public Service and Administration, the African Union Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption and the Protocol to the Treaty Establishing the Economic Community for Africa (ECA)."I think these are basic concepts. The Governor said all these things and we should be working very hard to see that we implement some of these things in our Parliament. For example, in Sierra Leone, we have just had elections on 17th November 2012 and they came out very peaceful and very clear. This is because, before elections, the Government came out with the Elections Act. The Elections Act makes it so clear, explicit that when you commit so much, you do this, you do that, this is what is going to be done to you. So, that helped a lot. It supported the Opposition. It supported every person that was in Sierra Leone. And believe me, it was highly accepted by the world that the elections were peaceful, fair and progressive.Yes, when one comes back to that same paragraph. On Preventing and Combating Corruption, in Sierra Leone, we have the strongest anti-corruption law. It is one of the strongest anti-corruption laws in Africa or even the world for that matter. It makes it quite clear that when one is caught or when the Commission finds one wanting, they do not need the Government or the Attorney-General or the Minister for Justice to give one clearance. One can be charged to court.But when one comes to the next paragraph, it says:"The meeting should be focused as the PAP is the apex of all national and regional Parliaments in Africa."Is that a true statement that PAP is the apex of all national and regional Parliaments in Africa? This is what we are trying to achieve. I hope - I wish all of you here to know that PAP is the apex of all national and regional Parliaments in Africa. We do not have control of the national Parliaments because we do not even have the right to be a legislative body as of now. So, I am sure that statement - I want that one to be -HON.ISAAC STEPHEN MABILETSA [BOTSWANA]:Mr. President what I have discovered in some countries in Africa, Botswana in particular, is that members of the Executive are normally comfortable attending international fora, engaging in Debates about Treaties or Instruments, but they hardly come and report to their National Parliaments. That is the consequence why we have so many treaties and charters not ratified because it remains with the executive and there is no oversight over them because basically Parliaments are not abreast of what is taking place in the executive realm.Mr. President, even when they engage in International debates, Parliamentarians and Parliaments are left behind so this is what I see as the most problematic situation about the treaties. My fear is that the executive will mortgage the rights of its nationals without the participation of parliaments. And one thing that is frustrating is that they want everybody to support them.I don’t think this is the proper way of doing things.Mr. President, whether they are many platforms to promote these ratifications or Instruments, personally, I not have an issue with that. But, I believe we must try to engage all African countries on the charter of Democracy, governance and Elections.Mr. President I know PAP sponsored so many meetings throughout the five caucuses, but we still have not ratified this Charter. The reason for this is that it is still with the Executive. This is where I see the problems with these Charters, conventions and or treaties.Mr. President, I thank you.HON. CECILIA ATIM-OGWAL [UGANDA]:Thank you Mr. President, I would like to congratulate the Western caucus on having come up with this report which has covered a number of interesting areas of great importance to this institution.Mr. President, I would like to reiterate the issues that have been raised in this parliament over and over. We can pass many resolutions, but until we have an effective mechanism of ensuring that these resolutions and decisions we make here are implemented in the Member states we would be wasting the efforts and the resources of our countries and the African continent.Mr. President the first thing I would want to recommend to this Parliament is to come up with a recommendation on how we can enforce the implementation of some of the decisions we take concerning Democracy and Governance in general.Secondly Mr. President, I am extremely concerned about the way Africa is being mortgaged. Sometimes we used to be envious of countries that have oil and mineral resources.Africa is discovering oil in many countries, Africa has the biggest land in the whole world, but our main problem is that we mortgage all these resources to the exploitation of the varied negative forces that we have condemned over the years.Mr. President we have condemned colonialism, we have condemned the ways we have been exploited from generations to generations. We have also condemned the way we have been cheated unjustly. But it is more disheartening to imagine that today the very African is the one exploiting his own country. The very Leader you have put in place by your own vote in the name of Democracy is the very Leader that is standing against his own country.So Mr. President I believe as a parliament we should come out with a decisive mechanism of how we can call this government accountable for their irresponsibility and where necessary we must impose sanctions. Unless we come up with sanctions then there will be no remedy to this problems....(end)HON. ASSOUMANA MALAM ISSA [NIGER]:Merci, Monsieur le Président.Monsieur le Président,Permettez-moi de féliciter le Président du Caucus, pour la clarté de son rapport et surtout pour sa richesse en informations.Monsieur le Président,Mon information a deux aspects, mais avant je voudrais également dire que le PAP a eu une très bonne idée d’organiser ces rencontres délocalisées.C’est donc le lieu, Monsieur le Président, de dire qu’il faudrait multiplier ces genres d’actions, parce que nous avons été à Port Harcourt et nous nous sommes rendus compte que, en contact avec ceux qui ne sont pas du Parlement panafricain, il y a souvent un déficit d’informations sur ce que le PAP fait. Les responsables de l’administration qui sont venus de nos divers ministères ont été émerveillés par la pertinence des choix effectués par le PAP en matière de plaidoyer.Donc, le premier aspect, c’est de dire que la richesse même des thématiques qui ont été débattues au cours de cette rencontre, était évidente. Elle était suffisamment évidente que des relations devraient être tissées. Des relations auraient même été tissées entre les parlementaires du PAP, l’administration et la société civile. Ce qui, du coup, donne une chance d’efficacité aux négociations et aux plaidoyers sur tous les aspects qu’on a débattus.Le deuxième aspect, Monsieur le Président, je ne vais pas parler sur toutes les thématiques, mais je vais soulever une question qui m’a paru assez importante: la lutte contre la corruption. Cela se justifie un peu, parce que dans mon pays, Monsieur le Président, je suis le Président du Réseau parlementaire de lutte contre la corruption.Donc, c’est une question sensible. Tous les efforts de production que nos États africains font, tous les efforts de gestion, d’améliorer la gestion que nous faisons, vont s’avérer vains, si on ne trouve pas le mécanisme de lutter contre la corruption qui est devenue si générale dans notre vie, si générale dans nos actes; que plus de 50 % de nos ressources vont dans les poches de quelques individus et souvent particulièrement les grands leaders. C’est inadmissible!Je crois que beaucoup de pistes ont été dégagées par le PAP pour voir comment collaborer avec le Conseil d’administration qui s’occupait de cette question sur le plan africain et puis mener des actions de plaidoyer, des actions de création du cadre juridique adéquat pour combattre ce fléau, parce que c’est cela qui bloque l’Afrique; ce n’est pas le manque de richesses; c’est parce que nous sommes égoïstes, surtout si nous sommes au sommet.Les plus grands corrompus, ce sont malheureusement ceux qui ont le pouvoir.Je vous remercie, Monsieur le Président.HON. TSHELANG W. MASISI [BOTSWANA]:Mr. President, thank you very much for giving me the opportunity to bring my point across to Africa. I have to congratulate the western region for their effort, at least, to host the workshop for PAP. However, I would like to mention and emphasise that which hon. Goya was saying that we should not duplicate Committees that have the same objectives, because PAP doesn’t have money, we are beggars.I wish that PAP can take responsibility and play a critical role in popularizing and calling for the domestication and implementation of the key instruments continentally. As the western region did, PAP should take the initiative and roll it out to other regions so that we can become closer to the people and to the civil societies. We must educate and mobilise the parliamentarians in that particular region, to understand when we talk about ratification, when we talk about implementation and even domestication of the central treaty which are very crucial for this continent.It is important that we have a serious concern and budget for this initiative because we cannot go on to domesticate and implement without the background or the knowledge of the people behind us - the people who are doing the services. It is important that we act fast.Moreover, it goes back to what Madam Cecilia was saying, that we as the leaders, today, should be in a position to organise ourselves, to understand that now we have independence, but economically we are not yet independent. We are colonizing ourselves by giving away all those raw materials, unfinished products to other countries to create employment somewhere else. We should devise means of having a mechanism of how we can develop our own resources so that they can build up our resources to a certain standard and that we gain something out of it. What I am trying to emphasise is what we call....[Time has expired.]HON. MOHAMED ALI FOULIEH [DJIBOUTI]:Merci, Monsieur le Président.Je félicite, d’abord, le Parlement panafricain et son Président ainsi que le Président du Groupe régional de l’Afrique de l’Ouest pour avoir effectué ce travail important de vulgarisation des instruments juridiques du Parlement panafricain.Mais, je constate avec regret que l’initiative même de ces Chartes et de ces Conventions devrait, éventuellement, revenir au Parlement panafricain qui, disposant même d’un pouvoir consultatif, pourrait apporter toute sa contribution et ainsi permettre aux parlements nationaux d’analyser ces documents et ces textes avant leur signature par les chefs d’États.Enfin de compte, les documents nous reviennent alors qu’au début on aurait pu éventuellement travailler, et cette vulgarisation qui vient, a posteriori, devrait venir en aval.Ainsi, nous pourrions éviter de revenir en arrière, de faire des efforts parce qu’en ce moment-là tous les parlements nationaux auraient pu disposer de ces documents.Par exemple, à Djibouti, nous allons bientôt examiner un projet de loi sur la prévention et la lutte contre la corruption. Je crois que nous sommes très contents de disposer d’une convention africaine déjà élaborée et disponible. Nous apprécions donc les travaux qui ont été initiés par le Parlement panafricain.Je vous remercie, Monsieur le Président.HON. ONYANGO KAKOBA [UGANDA]:Thank you, Mr. President.Mr. President, I want to thank the Chairperson of the Western Caucus for this Report.Mr. President, when one reads this Report it still underscores the challenge that we have in Africa in making sure that we provide good governance. All the comments here are about good governance. But if one looks at them, some have not been ratified. One has got very minimal ratification and the other one has been ratified, but the implementation is almost not there. For instance, this African Charter on how to improve public service, we still need ten more ratifications. And this is a very important document.On the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance, we have just got fifteen (15) and this is an international law. Unless one has ratified the document one is not bound by it unless it has universal application.Then, the African Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption; that one has been ratified but on the ground one would realize that most of the problems that we have in Africa emanate from corruption. Actually, it is another paradox. In the morning, we talked about the paradox of moving towards fifty (50) years yet we have a country that is colonized. Another paradox is that Africa is the richest continent in natural resources but the poorest in the world. And it is because of corruption. One of the avenues is this - and we believe that if this Convention was implemented, then it will go a long way in making sure that Africa is well governed. But we have that problem, we either do not sign, or if we sign, we do not ratify. When we ratify we do not implement. So, this is one area that I think as PAP we need to work on. We want to make sure that we oversee the ratification of these documents and make sure we followed them up to the national Parliaments for them to be domesticated.Secondly, we also have to find the mechanism of making sure that after they have been ratified and domesticated, these instruments are implemented. This is because it does not necessary follow that when they have done the ratification and domestication, then the implementation is obvious. I would give just an example. Mali is one of the countries that have done so well in ratifying these documents. Out of 43, they have ratified 31in the African continent. But we know what is happening in Mali now. So, it is high-time that we put in place our oversight mechanism and push African countries not only to ratify and domesticate but also to make sure that they implement what they have put their hands on paper.Thank you, very much, Mr. President.[Applause]HON. ELAMIN DAFALLA GASM ELSEED [SUDAN]:Thank you, very much, Mr. President.12:31: بسم هللا والحمد هلل والصالة والسالم علي ] [رسول هبسم هللا والحمد هلل والصالة والسالم [رسول هI would like first to commend the work which is done by Hon Azizou El Hadj Issa, President of the Western Caucus. I must admit that since I came here a week ago, I found that there is a lot of work which is done by the Western Caucus and we find them everywhere - at Committees they are very active. I commend them for that.[Applause]The second thing - I notice in the list that most of the participants that are coming from PAP are from Parliaments from the Western Region, but unfortunately I never saw anyone from the representatives of the Governments of the Western Region, particularly the country in which this meeting was held. And this is one of the reasons why all the resolutions and propositions that came out of this meeting are not adopted.There is always a gap between the Governments and the Parliaments. Not only that, but also, there is a gap between the Parliaments of Africa and the African Union Commission (AUC) because there is the thinking that since they came from AUC, these Charters on Democracy, Elections and combating corruption are not adopted by the Governments. Even then, they are not giving the chance to PAP to have the legislative power so that it can solicit these countries to adopt and implement these charters.I think if we look at these resolutions, prepositions and recommendations, and look back ten (10) years ago since this PAP came into being till now, we find that a lot of the Resolutions are duplicated, replicated, triplicated. But if we ask ourselves how much of these recommendation find their ways from this institution to member countries, I am sorry, it is going to be very little, despite the fact that if we look into Africa now compared to ten (10) years ago, we find there is progress in all these Charters. There is progress and we have to admit that. But this is not satisfactory. Let us fight, Mr. President, so that this PAP can have the right to legislate.Thank you, very much.[Applause]HON. SHITAYE MINALE TIZAZU [SUDAN]:Thank you Mr. President, I want to thank the President of Western caucus. It is a good beginning for Regional parliamentary meetings to deliberate on issues of African governance platform and promotion of African Union legal instruments on promoting good governance in Africa and African charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance, the Africa charter on the values and principles of public service and administration and the African Union convention on preventing and combating corruption. These continue to experience slow ratification, domestication and implementation which are the foundations upon which African Leaders can be held accountable and transparent.Mr. President as it has been presented, it is apparent that the signing of Legal instruments cannot bring anything to the people of Africa while living in poverty, instability and suffering for lack of good governance. There is a long way to go in order for the people of Africa to benefit from these Legal instruments because it is clear that African leaders are not willing to put them into practice.Mr. President, there are different ways to benefit from these legal instruments when they have been domesticated, ratified and implemented.Each has its characteristics and challenges; the main thing has to do with the commitment of our African Leaders. I believe that as African parliamentarians, we represent the people of Africa and we are responsible for the present position of Africa.Mr. President, historically, accountability has been the thorny issue in Africa and it seems to me these issues are only on paper, which has not helped to bring any meaningful change for the people of Africa. According to our mandate as Pan-African Parliamentarians, we have to play the minimum role of advising all institutions created by the Africa continent.Mr. President in our respective countries, we have to take the initiative to convince our National parliaments to ratify these agreements or treaties. With regards to PAP, these matters cannot be resolved during the regular session, we have to develop a strategy on how to resolve some of these issues.THE PRESIDENT:Thank you honourable Members. We have Committee meetings scheduled for this afternoon. I still have a very long list of speakers. May I ask for your indulgence that we stop the debate on this topic. I think the issue is quite clear. Let us attend to the Committee Meetings.Honourable members, Committee Meetings are very important and I think that a lot of work needs to be done in our Committees. During one of our earlier meetings, we had proposed that each Committee should begin to look at the possibility of developing a model law in one area or the other. We think that this will help our Committees in enhancing our productivity and help our Parliament in taking its place in the African Union (AU) governance architecture. We believe that we honour our present protocol with our capacity to advise, to consult, and be able to propose draft model laws and clearly defined areas to the AU. I believe that a process of harmonisation of legislations on our continent is part and parcel of our current responsibilities as established in our protocol. I urge all the Committees to look at the possibility of developing these model laws.Honourable Colleagues, tomorrow, we will be looking at the draft model law while discussing the media dialogue developed by the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights Commission based in Banjul Gambia. If the Commission on Human and People’s Rights can develop a draft model law on what it believes should be the position of freedom of information and press freedom. How about we the Parliament of the AU? We think that it is important that our Committees begin to propose daft model laws for us to present to the AU for consideration, adoption and harmonisation by our various member states.I now call on the Clerk to please make some House keeping announcements.I thank you.THE CLERK:Thank you Honourable President.Honourable Members of the Pan African Parliament, we have Committee Meetings this afternoon. The Committee Meetings which will be at 14:00 are:The Committee on Cooperation, International Relations and Conflict Resolutions in Committee Room number 1.The Committee on Health, Labour and Social Affairs will meet in Committee Room Number 2.The Committee on Rural Economy, Economy, Agriculture, Natural Resources and Environment will meet in Committee room number 3.The Committee on Justice and Human Rights will meet in Committee room number 4.The Committee on Roles, Privileges and Discipline will meet in Committee room number 5.The Following Committee Meetings will be at 16:00 this afternoon:The Committee on Transport, Industry, Communications, Energy and Technology will meet in Committee room number 2.The Committee on Gender, Family, Youth and People with disability will meet in Committee room number 3.The Committee on Trade, Customs and Immigration will meet in Committee room number 5.I thank you, Honourable President.THE PRESIDENT:Honourable Colleagues, you realise that some of the Committee Meetings were supposed to be held yesterday. However, because we were unable to finish the programme on time, we moved the Committee Meetings to today and we had to give two hour slots in the afternoon for the first set of Committee Meetings and a subsequent two hours slot from 16:00 for the second set of Committee Meetings. Therefore, if you will excuse my indulgence, the Secretary will distribute copies of the time table for the Committee Meetings. I think they are available outside. The Committee Meetings are scheduled for this afternoon. The copies of the time table are outside. We thank you for your understanding.Honourable colleagues, tomorrow, we have the dialogue on media freedom in Africa. We have worked hard to improve visibility for the Pan African Parliament and our activities and we think that a partnership with the media will help us enhance our access to the people that we represent. The issue of freedom of the media on the continent is also a major contributor to good governance, accountability and transparency on our continent. Therefore, I urge the honourable colleagues that will come tomorrow to fully participate in this dialogue to ensure that we bring a parliamentary dimension to the issue of media freedom and freedom of access to information. This we believe will help the growth and development of not just parliamentary democracy but of good governance on our continent.Honourable members, we have now come to the end of our business today. Therefore, this House stands adjourned until Thursday, 16th May, 2013.ADJOURNMENT[ 12:45:00]
Thursday, 16 May, 2013
The President:Please, be seated.HON. DIKGANG PHILLIP MAKGALEMELE [BOTSWANA]:I thank you Mr President.Motion on Poverty Eradication. Pursuant to the provisions of Article 60 (1) Sub-section (1) of the Rules of Procedure of the Pan African Parliament, which stipulates in part that ‘notwithstanding the provisions of rule (60) a member may with leave of the Presiding Officer give oral notice of Motion during a sitting’.Pursuant to the provisions of Article 3 Sub-section (6) of the protocol, the treaty establishing the Pan African Parliament, which requests to ‘contribute to a more prosperous future for the peoples of Africa by promoting collective self reliance and economic recovery’.Acknowledging the memorandum of understanding between the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), and the Heads of State and Governments, Implementation Committee, and the Africa Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) on the challenges posed by widespread poverty in Africa in the midst of richly endowed human and natural resources, I am convinced that poverty can only be effectively tackled through the promotion of democracy, good governance, peace and security, development of human and physical resources, gender equality, openness to international trade and investment, allocation of appropriate funds to the social sector of the economy, increased partnership between government and the private sector, with the private sector playing a pivotal role. I am conscious of the need to support the African Union agenda 2063, which seeks among others to eliminate poverty and malnutrition and guarantee food security on the continent.I note with concern Mr President, that ineffective policy and programme implementation over the years is attributable to lack of strong political will and corruption at various levels of governments coupled with weak accountability mechanisms. I recognize the need to initiate and implement as a matter of urgency, home grown pragmatic policies and programmes based on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). I stress the importance of the Maputo Declaration of 2003 on Agriculture and food security in Africa, in particular the commitment to devote ten per cent of the national budget to the implementation of agriculture and rural development policies.I am aware of the challenges associated with access to land by the poor especially women. As it is concerned about the increasing challenge of youth unemployment due to the lack of employable skills, the Pan African Parliament hereby resolves that:(i)poverty eradication policy and strategy development debates be held during each PAP ordinary session;(ii)that the Pan African Parliament compiles positive poverty eradication case studies from member states into a special Pan African Parliament publication to be launched as part of the activities in the commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of the African Union as an instrument indicating that poverty can indeed be eradicated. It is further agreed that the launch should be held during the next Pan African parliament ordinary session scheduled from September 24th to October 4th, 2013;(iii)that the pan African Parliament appoints an eminent person as the Pan African Parliament Special Good Will Ambassador on Poverty Eradication.I beg to move, Mr President.HON. MARWICK KHUMALO [SWAZILAND]:Thank you Mr. President, I rise to second the well motivated motion by Hon Makgaleme. This is the right motion at the right time after several hot debates and several issues that all centered towards poverty eradication. We talked a lot about Pan-Africanism.Mr. President, if the Pan-africanism that we talked about does not address poverty eradication, then it is useless. We talked about African Renaissance; if it does not eradicate poverty it is useless. We talked about ratification of AU Charters, Treaties and Protocols; we talked about Democracy, Elections and Good Governance. If all these do not address poverty eradication, then we have wasted our time.Mr. President this motion urges us to act and stop talking or lamenting and stop pointing fingers.President John.F. Kennedy once said "... together we must take action but they are far less than the long point of reaching cost for comfortable inactions".Mr. President, this motion proposes a programme of action that underlines a three pronged approach to poverty eradication...THE PRESIDENT:Honourable member sir, you are suppose to second this motion and during the debate, you will have the opportunity to make your contribution. I thank you for seconding the motion.HON. MARWICK KHUMALOMr. President it is because...THE PRESIDENT:I will give you the floor during the debate to make your contribution please.HON. MARWICK KHUMALO:Thank you Mr. PresidentTHE PRESIDENT:Honourable Members, the motion has been ably moved by Hon. Philip Makgalemele, and seconded as contained in the paper. Now in accordance with provision of rule 66(1), I will allow debate on the motion not exceeding one hour and, therefore, I will allow three minutes per speaker. In that regard, I will give the floor to the Honourable Member that seconded the motion to begin the debate.HON. MARWICK KHUMALO:Thank you Mr. President I will continue from where I ended. The programme of action that is suggested in this three pronged motion is that;1. In Every session there should be debate on the strategies to eradicate poverty.Mr. President, you will agree with me that unless we ourselves in this Parliament talk about poverty eradication, no one will do that. It behooves on us that we should start to talk about issues that will help Africa to get out of innate poverty. It is said that every generation must define their own missions which they may either fulfill or betray. It is our time today to define our mission. It is our time today to realize our dream. Let us create the platform to share experiences, reflections and to share testimonies and also to exchange ideas on poverty eradication. This is what this motion is suggesting.Mr. President, the second part of the motion suggests that we celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the AU in style by seeing; realizing and recognizing poverty eradication strategies and all efforts by African states to write the testimonies of poverty eradication in our various states must be ensured.Mr. President, the third part of the motion further suggests that we identify or recognize one African Leader as an ambassador of poverty eradication. This person will initiate the strategic partnership of poverty eradication in the world.The person will help us to partner with poverty eradication foundations worldwide and anti-corruption agencies.A French philosopher said; Discoveries are often made by not following instructions, but by going off the main road trying...."This is our time to try and try we must.I thank you.HON. PETER HITJITEVI KATJAVIVI [NAMIBIA]:Thank you, Mr. President.I rise to add my voice to this important subject before this House, which is the motion on poverty eradication. There is no doubt that the Pan-African Parliament and our various national Parliaments are duty-bound to champion the fight against poverty and underdevelopment in general.I believe, we as Parliamentarians are not being called upon to exercise our oversight parliamentary responsibilities, but we must be proactive to ensure that resources are made available to critical areas in our respective countries, particularly to poverty eradication.Mr. President, the fight against poverty in our respective countries must continue to get the attention of our Parliament here. In other words, we must use our collective endeavours in order to ensure that we improve the welfare of our citizens.I noted, with great interest, that the motion does also link the fight against poverty with implementation of the programmes on MDGs in our respective countries and I support the motion.Thank you.[Applause]HON. MUTINTA CHRISTINE MAZOKA [ZAMBIA]:Mr. President, the African story is indeed a sad one. After more than 50 years of political independence, Africa is still wallowing in poverty, disease and hunger. Most of these challenges are as a result of the selfishness and greed on the part of our leaders who want to amass wealth at the expense of their people. Africa is endowed with abundant natural resources which unfortunately have become a source of conflict. Until these leaders learn how to manage these resources selflessly and prudently, Africa will remain houses of hunger, poverty and disease.We call upon our leaders not to put self before the welfare of their people. Our leaders must manage Africa’s natural resources to bring prosperity and development to the continent, like what has happened in the Arab world. Investors come and take our raw material to their countries, thereby creating employment for their people, leaving ours jobless. They even bring their own manpower, leaving our well-trained women and men in the cold.We want these investors to set up processing plants in Africa so that, for a change, we can export finished goods to Europe and the Americans and earn the much needed forex to eradicate poverty in Africa, and create jobs for our people.The foreign banks which operate in Africa have enforced prohibitive, lengthened interest rates, thereby cutting out women and the youth from accessing any loans. This group is generally considered the poorest in our societies. We want affordable bank loans for everybody and our leaders should rise above all selfish interests to achieve equal opportunities for everybody. I thank you.HON. SALEH KEBZABO [TCHAD]:Je vous remercie, Monsieur le Président.Monsieur le Président,Cette motion nous donne l’opportunité d’un bref débat sur un sujet qui est très important.Je pense que, telle qu’elle est conçue, et si comme nous le voulons, par cette motion, instaurer un débat à chaque session parlementaire sur la pauvreté en Afrique, nous aurons grandement contribué à l’éradication de celle-ci sur notre continent. C’est un sujet récurrent depuis l’indépendance, et c’est un sujet qui prend de plus en plus d’ampleur pendant que les autres avancent, nous, on recule.Mais, je crois que, Monsieur le Président, le plus important, comme l’a souligné la motion dans le paragraphe: - « Convaincu que la pauvreté... » - avec tout ce qu’il faut pour l’accompagner; ce qu’il faut souligner, je pense que c’est la prise de conscience; doubler avec la prise de conscience, surtout le fait que nous devons, de plus, Africains, nous démarquer de tout cela.Nous devons par nos propres ressources intellectuelles, réfléchir un peu plus à nos problèmes de pauvreté et voir quels mécanismes on peut instaurer pour participer vraiment à la réduction de la pauvreté chez nous et non pas reprendre les slogans que nous imposent les grandes puissances ou les organisations internationales qui ont toutes, ou des disquettes, ou des clés avec les mêmes propositions pour tout le monde. Et tous les dix ans, on revient avec les mêmes slogans. On n’a absolument réglé aucun problème.Je crois qu’il faut que les Africains se réapproprient tout cela. Que nous réfléchissions avec des experts ainsi qu’avec toute la classe intellectuelle que nous avons et qui peut contribuer au débat afin que chaque pays ait un plan spécifique qui réponde à ses besoins précis et non pas des plans préétablis, qui sont plutôt tournés vers un développement à l’extérieur pour que d’autres, les grandes puissances et les multinationales profitent de nos richesses, et que nous, nous continuons de stagner.Je suis convaincu que lorsque les débats vont être instaurés à chaque session, les contributions seront de plus en plus importantes et en ce moment-là, il faudrait faire en sorte que le débat soit long, qu’on puisse en débattre vraiment de long en large.Je vous remercie, Monsieur le Président.HON. ASSOUMANA MALAM ISSA [NIGER]:Merci, Monsieur le Président.Monsieur le Président,Je voudrais féliciter l’Honorable Philippe pour cette belle initiative qui nous donne l’occasion de nous pencher sur une question aussi importante que la lutte contre la pauvreté.Je ne voudrais pas être long, Monsieur le Président, mais je vais relever, quand même, ce que Monsieur Saleh vient de relever, à savoir l’instauration d’un débat régulier au cours de nos sessions sur cette question. C’est une chose extraordinaire qu’il faut saluer. Et cela va nous permettre de voir tous les contours de cette question, à savoir les rapports entre la pauvreté et la gouvernance, les rapports entre la pauvreté et l’emploi des jeunes, les rapports entre la pauvreté et les conflits qui sont très récurrents en Afrique, les rapports entre la pauvreté et la lutte contre la corruption.Par rapport au dernier sujet, quand on dit qu’en Afrique, il y a la corruption, on se demande ce qui cause l’un ou l’autre. Est-ce la corruption qui est à la base de la pauvreté parce qu’elle instaure la mauvaise gouvernance, ou bien c’est la pauvreté qui entraîne les gens à accepter la corruption?Donc, toutes ces questions vont être débattues au cours de nos sessions. Et je crois qu’il faut appuyer la motion et la rendre effectivement applicable.Merci, Monsieur le Président.HON. LANCENI BALLA KIETA [MALI]:Merci, Monsieur le Président.Ce thème est important pour le PAP, à plus d’un titre, car il réveille la conscience des gouvernants, des gouvernés, des partenaires techniques et financiers qui continuent à aider l’Afrique pour son développement.Ce thème nous met face à notre responsabilité.Au départ, on désignait l’Afrique par le terme « le continent pauvre ». À une autre époque, on la désignait par le terme « le continent sous-développé ». Actuellement on nous désigne comme étant « le continent en voie de développement ».Monsieur le Président,La faute est à qui?Cette question est importante et mérite une réponse.Les premiers gouvernants ont-ils bien planifié le développement du continent?Quels sont les principaux leviers pris en compte pour le développement?Monsieur le Président,Certains spécialistes du développement disent qu’il faut, au moins, que 50 % de la population soient instruites pour le démarrage économique d’un pays, voire même d’un continent.Pour ma part, ne faut-il pas renégocier tous les contrats relatifs aux ressources minières, qu’il s’agisse de l’or, du pétrole, du gaz, etc.?Aucun pays producteur n’en bénéficie à hauteur du souhait, à cause de la nature des contrats signés.Comme exemple, le prix de l’or a doublé depuis un certain temps, mais aucun pays producteur n’en bénéficie.Donc, la bonne gouvernance a-t-elle manquée?Je vais répéter Monsieur Dumont qui disait, tout juste après les indépendances en 1960, que « L’Afrique noire est mal partie ».Avait-il raison?La question mérite une réponse.Merci.HON. TOURÉ DAOUDA [CÔTE D’IVOIRE]:Je suis préoccupé, Monsieur le Président, par le problème de la pauvreté autant que tous les honorables qui sont dans cette salle. Si ce phénomène doit être éradiqué, il doit même faire l’objet d’une charte. Une vraie vision panafricaine sur l’éradication de la pauvreté doit prendre en compte, bien sûr, tous les problèmes de bonne gouvernance, comme il se dit, d’allocation de fonds aux pauvres, à l’ouverture au commerce international, à la transformation.Mais, mes propres recherches m’ont révélé que l’Afrique doit mettre un accent spécial et soutenu sur l’éducation. Oui! Je dis bien l’éducation et je ne voudrais pas que ce mot « éducation » soit simplement une rhétorique.Alors, je parlerais encore d’éducation, mais une éducation ciblée sur ce que nous voulons en Afrique.Pour l’agriculture, il nous faut, par exemple, former nos enfants pour l’amour de la terre et la gestion agricole dans tous ses sens, c'est-à-dire prendre en compte une intégration totale qui va de la recherche à la production, à la commercialisation et à la spéculation jusqu’à la consommation par nous-mêmes de nos produits agricoles, les produits agricoles transformés, je veux bien dire.Je prends le cas du café et du cacao pour la Côte d’Ivoire, pays dont je suis membre, dont je suis citoyen, je dirais, pour lequel nous n’avons pas une maîtrise sur les prix. Les spéculations se font à Londres et à Chicago.Sur le minerai, nous devrons encore nous impliquer sur la transformation. Ce ne sont pas les ressources financières qui manquent, c’est encore une vision politique qui reste à voir; une volonté politique qui accepte encore de former ses jeunes, qui, dans les générations futures, nos enfants, nos petits enfants, qui sont dans la course au développement et le bien-être des populations africaines au même titre que les Asiatiques. Qu’est-ce que les Asiatiques ont fait pour arriver où ils sont?Il y a des exemples qui sont dans ce monde et nous pourrons nous en inspirer.Monsieur le Président,Je soutiens cette motion et adresse mes encouragements à l’auteur de la motion, à l’Honorable Dikgang Phillip MAKGALEMELE de Botswana.Merci.HON. AWAD HAG ALI AHMED [SUDAN]:I thank you, Mr President. Poverty eradication is a central goal of the MDG’s and should be achieved by 2015.Mr President, there is consensus that lack of good governance and democracy are the main reasons of the failure to achieve these goals in Africa compared to other regions such as Asia. Moreover, the lack of a scientific approach to dealing with problems associated with foreign investments and companies which have contributed nothing to the development of the communities we come from.There is lack of any type of processing of raw materials inside Africa, and that is how prices rise when finished goods come back from abroad. These are all standing factors that are increasing poverty in Africa.Therefore, I support this motion and suggest that it is adopted in all our national Parliaments. I thank you very much.(Applause)HON. LABELLE MARIE NOËLLE FRANÇOISE [MAURITIUS]:Thank you, Honourable President.Honourable President, while hundreds of programmes are elaborated and implemented, while huge sums of money are spent, poverty remains a main challenge for many African countries and millions of our African brothers and sisters. Why?Honourable President, too often the money does not go to the primary beneficiaries. A high percentage of the money goes to administrative costs, consultants and so on, and it does not reach those for whom it was allocated. Of course, good governance and democracy have a crucial role to play as well as government policies. For example, Honourable President, land policies must be balanced with pro-poor priorities and market orientation by mainstreaming land issues in poverty reduction strategies. It is of utmost importance that appropriate measures be taken to ensure that increased market driven policies of land development do not expose vulnerable groups, particularly women to further marginalization.Honourable President, time constraint does not allow me to go into education and so on. But allow me to end with this quote from Victor Hugo - I quote from memory:«La pauvreté est l’œuvre des hommes et les hommes peuvent l’éliminer »Je vous remercie.HON. PATRICK MWALULA MUCHELEKA [ZAMBIA]:Mr. President, in contributing to and in supporting this motion, I wish to say that Millennium Development Goal, MDG number one talks about reducing poverty and hunger by 50% by 2015. Do you agree with me that the situation in Africa, as far as the indications are, is that most of the countries in SubSaharan Africa, in particular, will not be able to meet MDG number one? Therefore, poverty, indeed, will remain a very important issue on the post-2015 development agenda. It is also true that the majority of our people continue to dwell in poverty and most of them are in rural areas, especially women, children and other marginalised groups.Yes, it is true that Africa has experienced economic growth. However, this economic growth we are talking about does not, in any way, positively correlate to issues of poverty. Therefore, what is important for us, as we support this motion, is to ensure that all our member countries put in place effective rural development and agricultural policies.These should come with measurable indicators so that we are able to track the progress that will be made by African countries. We need to ensure that, as we talk about poverty reduction and rural development, we have to look at issues of land, climate change and ensure that we come up with measures that are aimed at reducing poverty by ensuring that the measures are sustainable.What is also important for us as members of Parliament is to put these issues on the agenda in our respective member countries. When we go back, we should be able to even move private members’ motions in our Parliaments so that the governments in our member countries are compelled to bring to Parliament policies that they intend to take with regard to poverty reduction. Then, from time to time, we will be able to take stock as the Pan-African Parliament to measure what progress the respective countries have made.I surely support this motion.HON. PRITHVIRAJSING ROOPUN [MAURITIUS]:Thank you Mr. President, I would like to thank the mover of this motion for raising a very important issue which is topical.Mr. President who is the poor? We have to define it first of all.We have poor people in rich countries and we have rich people in poor countries. It is the question of relativity and how to combat poverty; first and foremost, we should be concerned with the distribution of wealth.Mr. President it is a question of inequality and inequity in any society. It is not the question of economic development. It is the question of how resources of any particular country are distributed. We have elites, but we have chronic discrimination in our societies. We have to combat poverty and get rid of all these ills; then we will be enroute to preventing poverty.Mr. President it is not the question of donors or donor countries; rather, it is the question of good governance and empowering the poor, and equitable distribution of the wealth of the country.Honourable Members, all of us have poverty in our countries. It is therefore, important that we move in the same direction, I fully subscribed to it, but there is need for us to come up with clear strategies for those down trodden in our society and ensure that they can be empowered through Education, reforms and a host of other means.I think we should commend the mover of this motion, and I fully support the motion. We should consider different aspect of poverty. It is not merely a question of being rich because somebody may be poor because he/she does not have the means or access to facilities that will enable him to exercise his/her full potential.I thank you Mr. President.HON. ISATAT KABIA [SIERRA LEONE]:Thank you very much Mr President.Honourable members, I thank you for the opportunity to make my first contribution today in Parliament as I say goodbye today.ApplauseI have been encouraged by the Motion to eradicate poverty as opposed to reducing it, which has been the norm in African strategies. However, in the last ten days that I have been here, I find it very strange that a room full of 300 legislators is waiting for the permission to legislate. Those of us who are old enough to remember some of Africa’s worst conflicts, yet also young enough to still believe in her transformation are quite impatient. What we have been through in Sierra Leone in our past recent history has enabled us to fast track our country to success because we know that we do not want to see that kind of history again.The vision 2063 should not turn into another negative reflection. We must take bold actions for Africa. We are far behind in all areas of human development and therefore, no half task measures will do for this enduring continent. Africa, my Africa, is eager, yet she is hungry. She is resource rich yet impoverished. She is multi talented yet unable to reach her full potential. We have all the ingredients in this room to ensure that Africa succeeds. We have the brains, experience, determination, and collectively we have our national legislative powers. We must ensure that the African governments’ architecture is not voluntary, that the organs here established are not just a set of acronyms left on reports; APRM, CAMPS, AGP, EISA, etc. We are charged with the responsibility of human rights, education and economic rights for our people. When Obama visited Africa, he insisted that we need strong institutions. I would like to add that Africa also needs strong women. In addressing any country’s development, we must ensure that we eradicate feminised poverty. We must ensure that we educate our women. If you empower girls, you can change Africa. I am really encouraged to be here. I am happy for the opportunity to serve my continent and I hope that with our collective belief in what Africa can truly become, we will take the right actions in the next few years so that we do not turn into another talk shop. The PAP has the power, we have the determination and we have the enabling environment to ensure that our continent succeeds.I thank you.HON. EDITOR ERIMENZIAH MATAMISA [ZIMBABWE]:Mr. President, this motion, I think, was long overdue to come to this august House, simply because Africa is at pains with what is happening in all its corners. I see a problem that we always want to safeguard those who do wrong in Africa and we want to say that they are doing the right thing. I really feel that selfish leadership is failing to manage our mineral resources in Africa. We have vast mineral resources and they should be benefitting the people of Africa and poverty should have been long gone by now.Once I was looking at our leaders and I saw that they fail to create jobs for the people of Africa. Exploitation of our vast mineral resources by foreigners has notadded value to our people’s lives. For example, the Chinese come into Africa and bring their workers with them wherever they have interests. They carry the raw materials back to their homes. They are creating jobs for their own people in their own countries. They further benefit from a multiplicity of byproducts from our raw materials that they have taken home, thus further enhancing their country’s financial business.Mr. President, I therefore, feel that African leaders should adopt new policies towards foreign investment to ensure the upliftment of their people. We must be more critical about our policies to ensure they meet our countries’ requirements.Of greatest importance is the fact that Africa must create jobs for its people. It must uplift the general living standards of families. It must, therefore, open up for capital investment and last, but not least, it must create an environment conducive for economic growth. I thank you.HON. DIKGANG PHILLIP MAKGALEMELE [BOTSWANA]:I thank you, Mr. President.Mr. President, first I want to thank Honourable Members for the unanimous support on this motion. I must confess that I am, indeed, humbled by their support.Mr. President, I am convinced that as the Pan-African Parliament, we can make a huge difference in poverty eradication in Africa and I am very excited that my colleagues have supported this motion.Mr. President, I am convinced that there are some positive cases in Africa which different countries can learn from and part of what the motion is proposing is exactly that.Mr. President, I happened to be a student of poverty eradication at academic level. I hold a Masters’ degree in Poverty Reduction and Development Management from the University of Birmingham. So, poverty eradication remains very dear to my heart. And I believe that we have many experts in Africa who can help us deal with this problem.Mr. President, as I conclude my submission and thanking my honourable colleagues, I just want to make a small amendment in the motion in terms of the dates for the next Ordinary Session. I have since been advised that the next Ordinary Session will in fact be from 21st October, 2013 to 1st November, 2013.With that small amendment, Mr. President, I once again thank my dear honourable colleagues and I believe that with this level of support and eagerness to eradicate poverty, poverty shall indeed be eradicated.I thank you, Mr. President and dear colleagues.THE PRESIDENT:Thank you very much honourable members. The question before this House is that we adopt the Motion moved by Hon. Philip. Agreed to? ApplauseHonourable members, the Clerk shall read the second Notice of Motion.THE CLERK:Thank you Honourable President. Honourable members, please pay attention to and debate on the Motion on the Absenteeism of Members of the Pan African Parliament from Statutory Meetings.THE PRESIDENT:Honourable members, I call on Hon. Azzizou Elhadj Issa to move his Motion.HON. EL HADJ ISSA AZIZOU [BÉNIN]:Merci,Monsieur le Président.Monsieur le Président,Si vous vous rappelez, à la fin de la dernière session, en octobre 2012, ici, exactement à ce moment-ci, nous étions moins d’une dizaine de parlementaires devant vous, dans l’hémicycle. C’est là la source de l’inspiration de cette motion.Mais, Monsieur le Président, nous savons que les raisons sont multiples et ne dépendent pas que seulement des parlementaires. Cette motion permettra donc, Monsieur le Président, de réchauffer certaines dispositions du Règlement intérieur du PAP, en rappelant aux États membres, les parlements nationaux donc, leurs devoirs, et à nous autres, parlementaires, nos obligations.Je m’en vais donc lire la proposition de motion.« PROJET DE MOTION SUR l’ABSENTÉISME DES PARLEMENTAIRES AUX RÉUNIONS STATUTAIRES DU PARLEMENT PANAFRICAINConformément à l’article 60 qui stipule « qu’un parlementaire soumet un avis écrit au Président ou au Secrétaire, au moins trois jours avant la séance au cours de laquelle il ou elle a l’intention de proposer la motion », le présent avis est soumis à l’examen de la plénière du PAP:Conformément aux articles 2 et 4 du Protocole au Traité instituant la Communauté économique africaine relatif au Parlement panafricain qui indique que « les parlementaires panafricains représentent toutes les populations africaines et reflètent la diversité des opinions politiques de chaque parlement ou de tout autre organe législatif national »;Considérant que les populations africaines qui soufrent en majorité de pauvreté, de faim, de disette, de diverses intempéries, du non accès à l’éducation, aux soins de santé primaires, à l’eau potable et à l’énergie et vivent ainsi sous le seuil de la pauvreté;Conscient que le Parlement panafricain et ses parlementaires doivent lutter pour inverser la situation malheureuse dans laquelle ces populations sont plongées en participant effectivement aux travaux du Parlement;Informé de la décision du Conseil Exécutif EX.CL/Dec.407(XII), prise en février 2008 et qui instruit les États membres à prendre à leur charge les frais liés à la participation des parlementaires panafricains aux réunions statutaires du PAP;Notant que certains membres du PAP s’absentent de l’hémicycle malgré les dispositions administratives et financières prises par leurs parlements nationaux respectifs;Notant en outre que l’absentéisme des parlementaires limite la capacité du Parlement panafricain à prendre des décisions importantes et entrave gravement le bon fonctionnement de l’Institution;Préoccupé enfin par le fait que ces comportements peuvent ternir l’image du Parlement panafricain;LE PARLEMENT PANAFRICAIN:1.Lance un appel aux parlements nationaux à prendre effectivement en charge les frais de participation de leurs parlementaires afin qu’ils puissent assister aux différentes réunions statutaires du Parlement;2.Demande aux Présidents des parlements et à tout autre organe législatif national d’informer le PAP, pour chaque session, de la durée du séjour prévue pour la participation de leurs parlementaires membres du Parlement panafricain, expliquant les raisons qui justifient que ces parlementaires ne puissent participer pleinement à toute la session;3.Demande au Bureau du PAP:3.1.D’appliquer les dispositions de l’article 88 du Règlement intérieur portant sur les absences des députés;3.2.de veiller à faire circuler l’état antérieur de présence avant chaque séance plénière et de commissions;3.3.De transmettre aux Assemblées nationales, Sénats et tout autre organe législatif national, un rapport sur la participation de chaque parlementaire, à la fin de chaque session du Parlement panafricain, qu’il s’agisse des séances plénières ou des travaux en commissions;3.4.De baser le choix des parlementaires pour participer aux missions du Parlement panafricain sur leurs présences et assiduités aux séances plénières;3.5.De désigner les députés pour les séminaires, ateliers ou autres missions des commissions sur la base de leurs présences effectives aux travaux de leurs commissions respectives.F ait à Midrand, le 16 mai 2013 ».Merci, Monsieur le Président.(Applaudissements)HON. MOHAMED TAYEB LASKRI [ALGÉRIE]:Merci, Monsieur le Président.Mohamed Tayeb LASKRI de l’Algérie!Je soutiens et appuie, avec conviction, cette motion sur l’absentéisme des parlementaires introduite par l’Honorable Azizou Elhadj Issa, qui est à remercier à plus d’un titre; et ceci pour plus de respect et plus de crédibilité envers notre honorable Institution parlementaire.Je vous remercie.(Applaudissements)THE PRESIDENT:Thank you very much.Honourable members, the question before this house is the Motion by Azizou Elhadj Issa that has been read to you and has been distributed in accordance with provision of Rule 66(1). Debate on the motion will not exceed one hour. I will, therefore, allow three minutes per Speaker to contribute to this debate. I will now invite Hon. Awad Hag Ali Ahmed to make the first contribution.HON. PATRICK MWALULA MUCHELEKA [ZAMBIA]:My apologies, Your Excellency. I was in a wrong seat.Mr President, in supporting this motion, I want to sincerely say that as Pan-African Parliament, we have a responsibility. The responsibility that we have indeed is to provide leadership to the continent at the highest level. But as we do that, it is very important for member countries to also take their commitment and responsibility towards Pan-African Parliament very seriously. We have noticed that indeed for various reasons, among them the challenge of finances, most of our colleagues are not able to stay or attend the meetings up to the very end.We want to call on those countries as much as possible to support the work that the Members of Parliament are undertaking on behalf of the African continent. Even as we do that, it is also important for us as individuals to try and do some kind of soul searching. To what extent are we also holding our responsibility very seriously? It is also true that sometimes even when we are supported by our member countries; we have noticed that some Members of Parliament have been able to leave Parliament when the sessions are going on - even when they have been fully funded by their countries.For those MPs, I want to appeal to you to exercise or rather, to all of us to exercise responsibility and ensure that we participate because if we are talking about legislative powers, which we are all calling for, we need to ensure that indeed we are ready and that will be done and seen by the manner in which we conduct ourselves. I, therefore, wish to support this motion, Mr President. I thank you.HON. ASSOUMANA MALAM ISSA [NIGER]:Merci, Madame la Vice-présidente.Je félicite le Président AZIZOU Elhadj Issa pour avoir eu cette initiative.Madame la Présidente,Je crois que si nous devons analyser la question de l’absentéisme, il faut le faire à deux niveaux.D’abord, par rapport même à la présence à Midrand. Je crois que depuis 2008 que les frais de participation aux sessions ont été à la charge des parlements nationaux, on rencontre ces problèmes de déplacement parce que les charges sont énormes. En plus, ce n’est pas dans tous les cas que les parlements nationaux peuvent prendre en charge les déplacements des députés. Voilà la première difficulté!Pour cet aspect là, la réflexion doit être menée pour voir comment, dans sa recherche de l’autonomie, le Parlement panafricain peut effectivement prendre en charge la participation des députés, parce que logiquement cela n’a pas de sens qu’on travaille pour le Parlement panafricain et que ce soit les parlements nationaux qui prennent en charge nos déplacements.Voilà pourquoi, souvent, on n’a pas la totalité des députés ici, parce que les charges financières sont énormes, et c’est objectif.La deuxième dimension de la question est que, c’est quand on est ici, la participation aux travaux en plénière et en commissions, je crois qu’on n’a même pas besoin de faire de motion. C’est une question de responsabilité!(Bruit du micro)Je ne peux pas accepter de venir à Midrand pour des travaux et que je sois en train de me promener dans les Boulders et autres. Ça n’a pas de sens. Et nous voulons être des leaders de demain!Pourquoi on va essayer d’accepter cela?Mon parlement est en session actuellement, j’abandonne les travaux de mon parlement, je viens ici et que je me retrouve à l’hôtel en train de dormir. Je dois avoir un problème de conscience.Donc, prenons nos responsabilités, si on est ici, qu’on participe effectivement à ce à quoi on a effectué le déplacement. Et je félicite la proposition dans laquelle il est dit qu’il faut appliquer les textes. C’est cela le problème de l’Afrique. On a de beaux textes partout dans nos pays, mais les mettre en œuvre, c’est un problème.Je souhaite donc que ça soit plutôt venu d’une prise de conscience individuelle, d’une prise de conscience collective qui contribuerait à améliorer l’image du Parlement panafricain.Je vous remercie.HON. ISAAC STEPHEN MABILETSA [BOTSWANA]:I thank you, Madam President. I looked at Rule 88, which the honourable Mover of the motion cited in his motion and I must confess that I find it wanting and inadequate to cover the situation that the honourable member wishes this Parliament to address.I agree with the sentiments expressed by previous speakers that once members are here, they should dedicate and devote their time to participating in the debates in this Chamber. I think that is the reason why we said that we want people to vote us to come and represent their interests here.There are understandable situations where maybe the country has not been able to pay for its members due to financial constraints. That is understandable. But when members come here, sometimes they spend two or three days without attending sittings. I do not really think that Rule 88 is adequate when it comes to ensuring members’ attendance. let me just quote what it says for clear understanding of other members. Can I, Madam President?THE VICE-PRESIDENT:Proceed.HON. MABILETSA:It says, "A member shall not absent himself/herself for more than 10 consecutive sittings of the House during any period when the House is continuously sitting except with written communication of the President or written notice to the Clerk."The reason that I am making this quotation is that this very provision allows members to be absent as long as they are not exceeding the periods stipulated here and that is why I am saying that it is wanting.Therefore, Madam President, I think that maybe we need to review our rules to try and cater for this situation, particularly for those members whom their government has been able to provide resources for them to attend this House.Therefore, I stand to truly support the motion by my honourable colleague, and I believe that we also have to consider what the rules can do to cover such situations. I thank you.HON. NASSIROU AMADOU [NIGER]:Merci, Madame la Présidente.J’appuie la motion de Monsieur Azizou Elhadj Issa par rapport à l’absentéisme des députés.Si possible, je voudrais demander au Bureau du PAP de faire une vérification stricte par rapport à la liste de présence. Les députés doivent normalement signer leur liste de présence avant leur départ.En ce qui concerne les membres des parlements nationaux, devrais-je leur demander de faire des ordres de mission stricts qui coïncident avec les billets d’avion aller et retour des membres du Parlement.Ma deuxième préoccupation, Madame la Présidente, c’est de demander l’appui constant des pays membres du Parlement par rapport aux départs de leurs parlementaires au niveau de leurs pays, parce que ce n’est pas l’arrivée au Parlement panafricain qui cause problème, mais c’est la présence au niveau de la plénière qui cause problème. Et cette situation devrait être réglée par rapport à la signature de chaque parlementaire de sa liste de présence avant son départ.Merci, Madame la Présidente.HON. LANCENI BALLA KIETA [MALI]:Merci, Madame la Présidente.Certains parlent de l’absentéisme des membres du PAP. C’est un constat fait depuis longtemps, depuis du temps de Gertrude MONGELLA. Mais, je pense que les raisons sont multiples.Dans nos pays et dans nos parlements nationaux, souvent, on pense qu’être au PAP est un privilège. Donc, bien que les dates des sessions soient diffusées très souvent un mois à l’avance, alors il y a souvent des difficultés à réunir au plus tôt toutes les conditions pour la mise en route des parlementaires.Ensuite, au départ, certains pays avaient des difficultés pour la prise en charge de leurs représentants. Également, certains dirigeants africains, à tort ou à raison, pensent comme le Président Jacob ZUMA d’Afrique du Sud, qui en octobre 2009, a dit « qu’au Parlement panafricain, ce sont de grands débats intellectuels et des perdiems ».Donc, si l’importance du PAP n’est pas perçue à ce niveau par le pays qui abrite le siège du Parlement, que peut-on donc dire des autres pays et parlements qui pensent de la même façon?L’Union africaine, dans ma compréhension, tarde à donner au Parlement panafricain la plénitude de ses pouvoirs. Et je pense que tant que le PAP ne deviendra pas un organe législatif, avec des parlementaires désignés ou élus pour ce fait, et vivant en Afrique du Sud, l’absentéisme ne finira pas.Merci.HON. MARWICK KHUMALO [SWAZILAND]:Mr President, I thank you and I thank the Mover of the motion.I do associate myself with the sentiments expressed in the spirit of the motion, Mr President, but I am mindful and worried that if we do, Mr President, as it has earlier been stated by my colleague, hon. Mabiletsa, that if we tend to move motions that are contrary to the provisions of our own Rules of Procedure, we might find ourselves, Mr President, in a very compromising situation because if Rule No. 88 of the Rules of Procedure is contrary to what the motion seeks to achieve, then I believe, Mr President, that the ideal situation would have been to refer this matter to the Rules Committee.And more so, Mr President, we are, just after this business, going to deal with the Code of Conduct for Members of Parliament and if the issue of absenteeism is not provided for in the Code of Conduct, this is why we should be strengthening the issue as opposed to creating another structure of set of rules regarding absenteeism and yet we are going to deal with the code of conduct.So, Mr President, I am of the view that the sentiments and the spirit that I support, I am worried that to support a motion that will stand alone without actually being dealt with accordingly, more so because when we opened this time, Mr President, you said something very important and which I applauded; that you will be writing to each and every Parliament about the attendance of the members. They know if they have given the Members of Parliament the full amount of money to be spent over the two weeks period or some members would have to spend one week as it is the case. Some members come here on their own volition and their own money. Some members are given a pittance, some members, actually, are given more than others. So, you need to take stock of all that, Mr President.Mr President, I support the spirit, but I am mindful of not supporting the motion. I would not want to support it as is because of the provisions of the Rules of Procedure. I thank you, sir.HON. MASTER MOISERAELE GOYA [BOTSWANA]:Thank you Honorable President.Mr. President, considering that a lot has been said by members who spoke before me, I stand the risk of being repetitive, but I will try by all means to avoid that.For members who have been given per diems and air tickets to come and attend Pan-African Parliament and at the end of the day those Members don’t show up in Parliament, is very disturbing. This is a betrayal of their Parliament and the people they represent.Mr. President this is day light robbery that is tantamount to hunger-mugger chicanery and should not be condoned. I am inclined to support the Mover of this Motion although other Members are saying they are not supporting the motion. I think this motion will assist in operationalizing the attendance of Members of PanAfrican Parliament because a code of conduct will ensure the presence and attendance of Members. This motion creates a window of opportunity for Pan-African Parliament to communicate with National Parliaments about the attendance of their representatives at this Parliament. We are supposed to come here and sit in this Parliament to deliberate on issues.It is disturbing Mr. President that since 2008, some Members have been coming here but have not opened their mouths for over four years. I am tempted to ask myself whether they are representing their people or not. We are supposed to be here to represent our people, to talk about issues that are affecting the African continent.I do support this motion. The other thing Mr. President, we have Leaders of various delegations from our respective Parliaments. This morning colleagues from Botswana called me and asked why I am not calling them to a meeting. I expect the same thing to happen to the delegations from other Parliaments. When we come here, delegates should meet and deliberate on issues taking place in Africa and find solutions on how to solve some of these problems, and further communicate to their respective Parliaments. I think the Leaders of the delegations are equally to be blamed because we are supposed to ensure that our Members attend sittings in Parliament here. If my Member is not in Parliament I am supposed to ask him about his or her where about. This is our responsibility as Leaders of the delegations.(end)HON. MOHAMED ALI FOULIEH [DJIBOUTI]:Monsieur le Président, je vous remercie de m’avoir donné la parole.Cette motion est certes louable, intéressante et normalement elle tombe à point nommé. Cependant, nous devons analyser les textes en vigueur et voir la situation des parlementaires au point de vue financier.Dans les textes, l’article 38 du Règlement intérieur dispose que: « Lors d’une session, aucun parlementaire ne pourra s’absenter plus de dix séances consécutives à moins d’adresser une communication écrite au Président ».Donc, les textes donnent une certaine largesse sur l’absentéisme, et ce qui est permis n’est pas interdit. A priori, nous devrons aller vers la modification du texte ou bien le modifier en profondeur.La motion en question contrevient au texte qui est en vigueur au Parlement. Le problème qui se pose est de deux sortes, comme disait mon ami du Niger: c’est le problème du financement des parlements nationaux pour les membres qui viennent ici.Est-ce qu’ils ont effectivement l’ensemble des perdiems pour les dix jours de présence et les deux jours de départ et d’arrivée?En fait, tout revient à quinze, voire à seize jours. Cette première question, si elle est résolue, c’est la Commission permanente des Règlements, des Privilèges et de la Discipline qui doit certainement voir si on peut appliquer le Règlement avec une certaine sévérité.Mais, comme certains n’ont pas le financement nécessaire, faudrait-il prendre des mesures contraignantes alors que nous, nous n’avons besoin d’aucune mesure contraignante?Chaque membre, ici, au Parlement est issu, soit de la société civile, soit de l’administration et a déjà fait ses preuves au niveau national. Ce sont des personnes responsables qui sont là pour concrétiser un idéal, l’idéal du panafricanisme.Serait-il nécessaire de passer par la contrainte?Il me semble, pour ma part, que cette contrainte, on peut la reporter à plus tard si effectivement toutes les conditions sont remplies pour tous les parlementaires.Je vous remercie.HON. AZIZOU ELHADJ ISSA [BÉNIN]:Merci, Monsieur le Président.Je crois qu’il n’y a pas eu, en tant que tel, de questions pour que je donne des réponses.Ce que je voudrais dire, Monsieur le Président, nous sommes face à un PAP malade. Nous sommes face à une Institution qui souffre, qui est agonisante. Nous avons des calmants à lui donner avant que le médecin ne vienne le sauver. Si nous acceptons la motion en tant que calmant, le temps que le médecin arrive, nous aurons notre Institution vivante.Mais nous refusons ces calmants-là, nous voudrons le cadavre à l’arrivée du médecin. Voilà comment je résume la situation.(Applaudissements)Et ça me fait peur. J’ai peur, Monsieur le Président! J’ai peur parce que les derniers intervenants nous ont dit que nous sommes des responsables. Si nous sommes des responsables, même les députés dont les parlements n’ont pas les moyens, la motion est claire: le Président du parlement écrit au Bureau pour dire qu’il autorise, compte tenu de ses moyens financiers, les gens ne pourront passer qu’une semaine ici. Il n’y a plus de problème.(Applaudissements)En attendant que tout soit réuni, nous disons qu’il faut que le PAP prenne les frais, les perdiems en charge. Ce sont nos Chefs d’États, Monsieur le Président, qui ont décidé que leurs pays vont prendre en compte leurs députés qui viennent au Parlement panafricain.Qu’est-ce que nous voulons dire ici?Ce sont nos Chefs d’États! Ce sont eux qu’ils ont dit qu’ils vont payer.Donc, Monsieur le Président, comme moi-même, je viens du Bénin, je suis ici avec juste un seul collègue. Les trois autres sont déjà partis. Le problème concerne tous nos pays. Si je peux être là, les autres aussi pourront être là, mais s’ils ne sont pas là, le pays a les moyens, mais ils ont décidé de partir. À l’heure où on parle, il y en a qui sont au Boulders.Monsieur le Président,Je ne serais pas très long. Je voudrais qu’il y ait plus de conscience dans cette « Maison » pour qu’on vous aide, pour qu’on aide les pauvres populations africaines.C’est tout le problème!Je vous remercie.(Applaudissements nourris)THE PRESIDENT:Honourable Members, before we put the question, I believe that this issue is an important issue and I would like to make a contribution from the Chair. As we look around this room, each and every one of us here can see that the numbers which were high on Monday, the 6th of May 2013, do not resemble the numbers we have today. We understand the constraints that many delegations face. But we also believe that the work we are doing here on behalf of the African people is a call to duty. I have called it the labour of love because we love Africa and we know Africa has problems and that there is need for the leaders of this continent to find solutions to these problems. That is why you, Honourable Members, have made sacrifices to be here today to attend to the issues that we have accepted responsibility. We have taken it upon ourselves to be part of those who will find solutions to the problems facing our continent. And I thank each and every one of you here in this august House who has decided to answer this call to duty, despite so many other possible important urgent matters that you could have been attending to at this very moment.[Applause]Honourable Members, I have had the opportunity to look at the rules and I do not see anything in this motion that contradicts our Rules. I have had the opportunity to look at the Code of Conduct and there is no provision in the Code of Conduct for abseentism. I believe that this motion does not in any way contradict any of the existing rules of the House, but rather it provides for us additional request for information on how we can begin to internally manage the process of what has suddenly become a problem for our institution.Many Committees have not been able to meet because they did not have a quorum. Those who have taken leadership of some Committees continue to absent themselves from the responsibilities they have chosen. And this does not help the work that we have to do.Therefore, Honourable Colleagues, as we conclude this debate, I would put the question before this House.The question before the House is that we adopt the motion moved by Hon Aziz El Hadj Issa - Agreed?[Motion accordingly agreed to]THE PRESIDENT:I thank you, Honourable Members.Motion is hereby adopted.Honourable Members, I shall ask the Clerk to read the first Order of the Day.THE CLERK:Presentation and adoption of the Pan-African Parliament Code of Conduct for the Members of Parliament.THE PRESIDENT:Honourable Members, may I on your behalf call on the Hon Zely Pierre Inzoungou Massaga, Chairperson of the Committee on Rules, Privileges and Discipline to make his presentation.HON. INZOUNGOU-MASSANGA ZELY PIERRE [PRÉSIDENT DE LA COMMISSION DES RÈGLEMENTS, DES PRIVILÈGES ET DE LA DISCIPLINE]:Merci bien, Monsieur le Président,Comme vous l’avez indiqué, je vais, ici, présenter le projet de Code de conduite des membres du Parlement panafricain que notre Commission a élaboré.Depuis que le Règlement intérieur avait été adopté en septembre 2004, il avait prévu en son article 13, tout comme le Protocole d’ailleurs, que la Commission des Règlements, des Privilèges et de la Discipline du Parlement panafricain devait proposer le Code de conduite qui va régir le fonctionnement du Parlement panafricain en sus du Règlement intérieur.Le Code de Conduite n’est donc pas un Règlement intérieur bis, mais c’est un texte qui vient en complément du Règlement intérieur.Vous avez reçu un document qui venait de nous être distribué, mais je voudrais bien solliciter votre indulgence pour les quelques fautes que vous trouverez, notamment à la page 2, la table des matières, il y a par exemple numéro un, préambule, au lieu de mettre le numéro de la page, bien vous verrez ce qui est écrit là. Cela, c’est purement et simplement à reconsidérer. Vous voudrez bien nous en excuser.Donc, dans la table des matières, il y a:le préambule;des définitions;l’application;l’objectif;les articles du Protocole;l’intégrité du Parlement panafricain;l’intérêt général;l’intégrité;le principe d’éthique et aspirations,les gains financiers;le recrutement et promotion;la passation des marchés;les activités criminelles;la conduite à l’égard des autres membres;la conscience et l’égalité en genre;le lobbying;le code vestimentaire au sein des commissions;la conduite au sein de la Chambre et des commissions permanentes;les plaintes;les procédures de la Commissionermanente de Règlement, des Privilèges et de la Discipline;la confirmation du rapport;la procédure après confirmation.
PARTIE I: – PRÉAMBULE, DÉFINITIONS, APPLICATION ET OBJECTIF
1. – Préambule:
Au préambule, l’article 3 du Protocole au Traité de juillet 2001 instituant la Communauté économique africaine relatif au Parlement panafricain énumère les objectifs du Parlement panafricain comme suit:« faciliter la mise en œuvre effective des politiques et objectifs de l’OUA/Communauté et, ultérieurement, de l’Union africaine;promouvoir les principes des droits de l’homme et de la démocratie en Afrique;encourager la bonne gouvernance, la transparence et l’obligation de rendre compte dans les États membres;familiariser les peuples africains aux objectifs et politiques visant à intégrer le continent dans le cadre de la mise en place de l’Union africaine;promouvoir la paix, la sécurité et la stabilité;contribuer à un avenir plus prospère pour les peuples africains en favorisant l’autosuffisance collective et le redressement économique;faciliter la coopération et le développement en Afrique;renforcer la solidarité continentale et créer la conscience de destin commun parmi les peuples africains;faciliter la coopération entre les communautés économiques régionales et leurs forums parlementaires ».La création du Parlement panafricain s’inscrit dans le cadre de la vision qui est d’offrir une plateforme commune aux peuples africains et à leurs organisations communautaires en vue d’assurer leur plus grande participation aux discussions et à la prise de décision concernant les problèmes et les défis auxquels le continent est confronté.Les membres élus aux Parlement panafricain, en tant que représentants publics ont pour obligation d’adopter des normes éthiques exemplaires et de ne pas poursuivre un enrichissement personnel afin de réaliser les objectifs du Parlement panafricain.L’article 23 du Règlement intérieur du Parlement panafricain dispose que: « En toutes circonstances la conduite des parlementaires sera régie par un code qui sera élaboré par la Commission permanente des Règlements, des Privilèges et de la Discipline ».L’adoption de ce Code de conduite élaboré par a Commission permanente des Règlements, des Privilèges et de la Discipline permettra de détailler un certain nombre de règles qui garantiront une conduite morale et éthique exemplaire de la part des membres du Parlement panafricain chargés des responsabilités qui incombent aux représentants du service public, conformément aux principes et à l’esprit du Protocole de l’Acte constitutif et du Règlement intérieur du Parlement panafricain.
2. – Définitions:
Sauf s’il en a été stipulé autrement dans ce Code:« Bureau » signifie le Bureau du Parlement panafricain établi par l’article 22 du Règlement intérieur du Parlement panafricain;« Acte Constitutif » signifie l’Acte constitutif de l’Union africaine adopté à Lomé au Togo, le 11 juillet 2000;« Commission permanente des Règlements, des Privilèges et de la Discipline » signifie la Commission établie par l’article 26(20) du Règlement intérieur du Parlement panafricain;« Membre » signifie un membre du Parlement panafricain élu ou désigné par les parlements nationaux respectifs ou par tout organe législatif des États membres, conformément à l’article 5 du Protocole et à l’article 6 du Règlement intérieur du Parlement panafricain;« États membres » signifie les États membres de l’Union africaine;« Parlement » signifie le Parlement panafricain établi par l’article 27 de la Charte de l’Union africaine et le Protocole au Traité de juillet 2001 instituant la Communauté économique africaine relatif au Parlement panafricain;« Personnel » englobe tous les membres du personnel et les employés au service du Parlement panafricain, sauf stipulation contraire;« Président » signifie le membre u Parlement panafricain élu président en vertu de l’article 22 du Protocole et de l’article 26 du Règlement intérieur;« Protocole » signifie le Protocole au Traité instituant la Communauté économique fricaine relatif au Parlement panafricain de juillet 2001;« Règlement intérieur » signifie le Règlement intérieur du Parlement panafricain adopté par le Parlement panafricain le 21 septembre 2004, conformément à l’article 22 du Protocole.
3. – Application:
Ce Code s’applique aux membres du Parlement panafricain élus ou désignés par les parlements nationaux respectifs ou tout autre organe législatif des États membres, conformément à l’article 5 du Protocole et de l’article 6 du Règlement intérieur.
4. – Objectifs:
Ce Code de conduite définira les principes d’éthique, les normes et les règles générales de conduite s’appliquant aux membres du Parlement panafricain.
PARTIE II: – CONDUITE GÉNÉRALE
5. – Article 3 du Protocole:
(1)Tout membre doit être fidèle et respecter les principes de l’article 3 du Protocole et doit promouvoir les objectifs du Parlement panafricain à savoir:« faciliter la mise en œuvre effective des politiques et objectifs de l’OUA/Communauté et, ultérieurement, de l’Union africaine;promouvoir les principes des droits de l’homme et de la démocratie en Afrique;encourager la bonne gouvernance, la transparence et l’obligation de rendre compte dans les États membres;familiariser les peuples africains aux objectifs et politiques visant à intégrer le continent dans le cadre de la mise en place de l’Union africaine;promouvoir la paix, la sécurité et la stabilité;contribuer à un avenir plus prospère pour les peuples africains en favorisant l’autosuffisance collective et le redressement économique;faciliter la coopération et le développement en Afrique;renforcer la solidarité continentale et créer la conscience de destin commun parmi les peuples africains;faciliter la coopération entre les communautés économiques régionales et leurs forums parlementaires ».(2)Tout membre doit s’abstenir de toute conduite qui contreviendrait ou encouragerait toute contravention à toute prévision de l’article 3 du Protocole.
6. – Intégrité du Parlement panafricain:
(1)Tout membre doit œuvrer à maintenir et à renforcer l’intégrité du Parlement Panafricain et s’abstenir de tout acte et omission qui pourrait nuire à la réputation du Parlement panafricain.(2)Tout membre doit respecter et faire respecter le Règlement intérieur du Parlement panafricain.(3)Tout membre ne doit pas contrevenir au Règlement intérieur et à toute politique adoptée par le Parlement panafricain.
7. – Intérêt général:
Tout membre doit:(1)inscrire sa conduite dans le sens de l’intérêt général;(2)mettre en avant l’intérêt général;(3)éviter tout conflit entre son intérêt personnel et l’intérêt général; et(4)promouvoir l’intérêt régional qui va au-delà des intérêts nationaux et partisans.
8. – Intégrité:
Tout membre doit agir avec la plus grande intégrité et honnêteté.
PARTIE III: – NORMES ÉTHIQUES
9. – Principes d’éthique et aspirations:
Les membres seront guidés par les aspirations et principes suivants dans la poursuite des ambitions et la réalisation des objectifs ainsi que des activités du Parlement panafricain:(1)Le respect de la vie humaine et des activités pacifiques et non violentes;(2)La promotion de la démocratie, des droits de l’homme, de l’État de droit, de la bonne gouvernance ainsi que de la justice pour tous les peuples d’Afrique;(3)Le respect de l’égalité, des droits et de la dignité de l’homme de tous les peuples;(4)La promotion de la justice sociale pour un développement économique équilibré;(5)Le rejet de l’intolérance partisane, politique, éthique, ethnique, culturelle, raciale ou religieuse et de toute forme de discrimination;(6)La promotion de l’égalité de genre et l’inclusion sociale à tous les niveaux;(7)Le maintien d’une culture de transparence, la reddition des comptes et le rejet des pratiques immorales et de corruption;(8)La promotion d’une culture de dialogue et de partage des ressources, de l’information, de l’expertise et de l’expérience;(9)Le rejet de toute forme de recherche, des programmes, des projets et autres activités directement ou indirectement liés à la création des moyens de toute torture ou de toute autre technique visant à violer ou subvertir les droits de l’homme;(10)L’encadrement et la promotion de la jeunesse pour recréer la sève citoyenne et assurer son développement.
10. – Gain financier:
(1)Tout membre doit refuser toute forme de paiement, compensation, recompense, bénéfice ou pot-de-vin destinés à soutenir ou à faire opposition à une décision ou à un dossier en cours d’examen par le Parlement, une Commission ou toute autre structure du Parlement panafricain;(2)Aucun membre ne doit prendre la décision ou influencer une quelconque structure du Parlement, de manière à ce qu’elle prenne une décision qui résulterait en un gain matériel ou tout autre avantage financier pour ce membre, un membre de sa famille ou l’un de ses amis;(3)Si un membre du Parlement panafricain ou un membre de sa famille a un intérêt financier ou matériel dans une motion, une décision ou un dossier en cours d’examen par le Parlement panafricain, une commission ou toute autre structure du Parlement panafricain, et que cet intérêt financier ou matériel n’est pas en lien direct avec les fonctions et responsabilités normales de ce membre, ce dernier doit:a)déclarer l’intérêt financier ou matériel;b)se récuser lorsque le Parlement panafricain, la Commission ou toute autre structure du Parlement panafricain étudie et vote le projet de loi, la motion ou le dossier.
11. – Recrutement et promotion:
Tout membre doit, en sa qualité personnelle ou en tant que membre d’une Commission ou de toute autre structure du Parlement:a)recruter et promouvoir des personnes sans aucun jugement partisan conformément aux règles en vigueur relatives au recrutement et à la promotion;b)déclarer toute relation avec une personne dont le recrutement ou la promotion sont envisagés et se récuser de toute commission ou structure relatives à ce recrutement ou cette promotion.
12. – Passation des marchés:
Tout membre, en sa qualité personnelle ou en tant que membre d’une commission ou de toute autre structure du Parlement panafricain, doit:a)allouer des contrats pour la passation des marchés pour biens ou services, de façon non partisane et conformément aux politiques existantes de passation des marchés; etb)déclarer toute relation avec une personne ou une société dont la candidature est considérée pour un contrat, et se récuser de ladite commission ou de ladite structure.
13. – Activités criminelles:
Aucun membre ne doit prendre part à une activité criminelle quelle qu’elle soit.
14. – Conduite à l’égard des autres membres:
1)Tout membre doit traiter les autres membres avec respect;2)Aucun membre ne doit se retrancher derrière ses privilèges parlementaires et consciemment accuser faussement, accuser sans preuve ou avancer de fausses allégations envers un autre ou d’autres membres.
15. – Conscience de l’égalité en genre:
1)Tout membre doit être conscient de l’égalité en genre dans l’exercice de ses fonctions et responsabilités;2)Tout membre doit s’abstenir des actes qui constituent du harcèlement sexuel tel que défini dans la politique sur le harcèlement sexuel.
16. – Lobbying:
Aucun membre ne doit donner ou accepter de rémunération, récompense ou bénéfice quelconque de la part de toute personne faisant du lobbying pour une quelconque cause.
17. – Code vestimentaire au Parlement et au sein des Commissions:
(1)L’article 20(2) du Règlement intérieur prévoit que tous les membres doivent s’habiller d’une manière digne et acceptée par leur Parlement national ou tout organe délibérant;(2)Le Code vestimentaire suivant définit les normes d’habillement, d’une manière digne, qui doivent être respectées par les membres au sein du Parlement et des Commissions:a)En règle générale, les membres doivent être vêtus de manière élégante et décontractée, de telle sorte que leur habillement n’ait pas d’impacts négatifs sur la dignité du Parlement;b)Les membres ne doivent pas porter des vêtements ou d’accessoires vestimentaires affichant des emblèmes ou signes de partis politiques;c)Les membres de sexe masculin ne sont pas obligés de porter des vestes et des cravates, mais ils doivent être vêtus avec élégance et en conformité avec les dispositions du présent Code;d)Si un membre porte une veste, elle doit être une veste formelle avec boutons, et non pas des blousons. Les vestes de sport, les vestes informelles ou en cuir ne sont pas autorisées;e)Les membres ne doivent pas porter es jeans ou des culottes;f)Les membres ne doivent pas porter des t-shirts ou des chemises de golf;g)Les membres ne doivent pas porter des sandales de plage ou des chaussures de sport;h)Les membres ne doivent pas porter des robes ou des vêtements qui sont trop révélateurs eu égard à la dignité du Parlement;i)Si les membres portent des chemises culturelles, ils n’ont pas besoin de porter en plus une veste;j)Le Code vestimentaire doit être lu dans le contexte de la dignité, de la propreté et présentabilité;k)Les membres de sexe féminin ne doivent pas porter des tenues provocantes;l)En cas d’incertitude sur la question de savoir si un membre est habillé en conformité avec le présent Code, le Président de séance ou le Président de la Commission, prendra une décision qui sera définitive et considérée comme un précédent qui sera inclus dans ce Code.
PARTIE IV: – CONDUITE AU SEIN DE LA CHAMBRE ET DES COMMISSIONS PERMANENTES
18. – Conduite au sein de la Chambre et des Commissions permanentes:
1)La conduite des membres au sein de la Chambre et des Commissions est réglementée par le Règlement intérieur;2)Les règles de procédure suivantes sont répétées par souci de précision:
A. – Article 40: Conduite des Membres au sein de la Chambre:
(1)Au cours d’une session:a)Tous les membres doivent entrer ou sortir de la Chambre avec le décorum;b)Tous les membres doivent occuper leurs sièges tel que déterminé par le Bureau;c)Les membres ne doivent pas se déplacer inutilement;d)Lorsqu’un membre a la parole, tous les autres doivent rester silencieux et attentifs et ne pas l’interrompre;e)Lorsque membre termine son intervention, il doit reprendre son siège;f)Un membre n’est autorisé à introduire dans la Chambre que des papiers, livres et autres documents directement liés aux questions à l’ordre du jour;g)Les membres ne doivent pas introduire dans la Chambre des armes, des enregistreurs, des récepteurs radio ou tout autre équipement électronique;h)Tous les téléphones portables doivent être éteints;i)Tous les membres doivent s'habiller d'une manière digne telle qu’acceptée par leur Parlement national ou tout organe délibérant.
B. – Article 49: Allocution du Président:
Lorsque le Président de séance prend la parole au sein de la Chambre, tout membre qui a la parole et est debout, doit immédiatement s’asseoir et le Président de séance doit être entendu dans le silence.
C. – Article 50: Conduite des débats:
Le Président de séance est chargé de mener les débats et les décisions concernant toute question, sont sans appel.
D. – Article 51: Ordre au sein de la Chambre et des Commissions:
(1)Le Président de séance est responsable du respect du Règlement intérieur ou de l’ordre au sein de la Chambre ou au sein des Commissions permanentes;(2)Le Président de séance, après avoir attiré l'attention de la Chambre ou de la Commission permanente sur la conduite d'un membre qui persiste à s'éloigner du sujet ou fait des répétitions fastidieuses, que ce soit de ses propres arguments ou des arguments présentés par d'autres membres dans le débat, peut ordonner à ce membre de mettre fin à son discours;(3)Le Président doit ordonner à tout membre dont la conduite est gravement désordonnée de se retirer de la Chambre ou de la Commission permanente pour le reste de la séance du jour, et l’huissier ou le sergent d'armes doivent agir sur ordres reçus du Président de séance pour assurer le respect de cette règle;(4)Les mesures prises contre un membre selon les termes de l’article 3, dans le cas de la Commission permanente, seront annoncées à la Chambre au cours de la première séance suivant cette opération.
E. – Article 52: Sanction des membres:
(1)Si le Président de séance estime que la conduite d'un membre ne peut être traitée de manière adéquate suivant l’article 25(3) du Règlement intérieur, il ou elle peut nommer le membre.(2)Si un membre est nommé:a)dans le cadre des procédures de la Chambre, le Président doit suspendre de la Chambre le membre nommé; oub)dans le cas d'une Commission permanente, le Président de séance, avec l'assentiment de la Commission permanente, peut suspendre de la séance le membre nommé et rendre compte de la décision à la prochaine séance de la Chambre.(3)Lorsqu’un membre est suspendu:a)Pour une première fois, sa suspension aura effet sur les trois prochaines séances à l'exclusion de la séance au cours de laquelle il ou elle a été suspendu(e);b)Pour une deuxième au cours de la même séance, sa suspension aura effet sur les sept prochaines séances à l'exception de la séance au cours de laquelle il ou elle aura été suspendu(e);c)Pour la troisième fois au cours de la même séance, sa suspension aura effet sur les vingt-huit prochaines séances suivantes à l’exception de la séance au cours de laquelle il ou elle a été suspendu(e).(4)Nonobstant le nombre de jours auquel le membre a été suspendu en vertu de l’article 25(3), la suspension prend fin à la fin de la session au cours de laquelle il ou elle a été suspendu(e), à moins que la Chambre n'en décide autrement;(5)Si un membre qui a été suspendu de la Chambre, refuse d’obtempérer à l'instruction du Président, le sergent d'armes doit lui demander de quitter la Chambre. Le Président peut ordonner que le membre soit expulsé de force;(6)Le Président peut annuler la suspension du membre après que ce dernier lui ait adressé une lettre d'excuses.
F. – Article 53: Retrait d'un membre suspendu de l’enceinte du Parlement:
Un membre qui reçoit l'ordre de se retirer de la Chambre, selon l’article 52(3) ou qui est suspendu de la Chambre, en vertu de l’article 52(2), doit quitter l'enceinte du Parlement, à l’exception de la résidence parlementaire, jusqu'à la fin de la période de suspension.
G. – Article 54: Pouvoir du président d'ajourner ou de suspendre une séance de la Chambre:
En cas de désordre grave au sein de la Chambre, le Président peut, selon ses prérogatives, ajourner la séance en cours, ou suspendre ladite séance jusqu'à une date qui sera déterminée par le Président.
H. – Article 58: Déclaration d’intérêt personnel:
(1)Un membre qui fait partie d’un cabinet ou qui est l’un des associés d’un cabinet ayant conclu un contrat avec le Parlement, doit déclarer son intérêt ou celui de ce cabinet ou entreprise, et ne peut participer au vote pour toute question relative à ce contrat;(2)Lorsqu'un membre omet de déclarer son intérêt selon l’article 2, un autre membre peut soulever la question au sein de la Chambre ou d’une Commission permanente. Le Président de séance, après s’être assuré de la véracité de la question, doit ordonner que le membre ne prenne pas part au vote concernant le contrat en question et doit informer la Commission permanente des Privilèges, du Règlement et de la Discipline, de la conduite de ce membre;(3)La Commission permanente peut, après enquête, recommander à la Chambre des mesures qu’elle jugera appropriées contre le membre.
PARTIE V: – APPLICATION DU CODE
19. – Plaintes:
(1)Toute personne qui souhaite déposer une plainte contre un membre ayant contrevenu à ce Code doit soumettre cette plainte par écrit, au Président en y indiquant avec suffisamment de détails la contravention alléguée;(2)Le Président informe le membre et le Président de la Commission permanente des Règlements, des Privilèges et de la Discipline, de la plainte.
20. – Procédures de la Commission permanente des Règlements, des Privilèges et de la Discipline:
(1)La Commission permanente des Règlements, des Privilèges et de la Discipline agissant de sa propre initiative ou réagissant à une plainte déposée par une tierce personne, au sujet de toute contravention à ce Code, doit mener une enquête dans les plus brefs délais;(2)Le Règlement intérieur du Parlement p anafricain applicable à toute réunion et procédure s’applique mutatis mutandis à toute enquête menée par la Commission permanente des Règlements, des Privilèges et de la Discipline;(3)La Commission permanente des Règlements, des Privilèges et de la Discipline se doit de recevoir la déposition du plaignant et du membre contre qui la plainte a été déposée;(4)À la suite de son enquête, la Commission permanente des Règlements, des Privilèges et de la Discipline doit émettre un jugement détaillé circonstancié et étayé par des arguments valables sur la validité de la plainte;(5)Si un m embre est jugé coupable de contravention à ce Code, la Commission permanente des Règlements, des Privilèges et de la Discipline doit recommander l’application de l’une ou plusieurs des sanctions suivantes:a)une réprimande;b)une amende déterminée par la Commission;c)la suspension conformément à l’article 52 du Règlement intérieur ou toute autre sanction que la Commission jugera appropriée.(6)La Commission permanente des Règlements, des Privilèges et de la Discipline doit communiquer au Président ses conclusions et recommandations pour une sanction appropriée;(7)La Commission permanente des Règlements, des Privilèges et de la Discipline doit concevoir des mécanismes et systèmes visant à protéger les dénonciateurs et à punir les personnes qui intimident ou se comportent de manière impropre envers les dénonciateurs.
21. – Confirmation du rapport:
Le Président doit confirmer ou modifier le rapport de la Commission permanente des Règlements, des Privilèges et de la Discipline, ou renvoyer l'affaire devant la Commission pour réexamen.
22. – Procédure après confirmation:
Si le Président du Parlement Panafricain confirme le rapport de la Commission permanente des Règlements, des Privilèges et de la Discipline, il doit publier les conclusions de l’enquête et la sanction au Parlement et faire en sorte que la sanction soit appliquée dans les plus brefs délais.Monsieur le Président,Ainsi fait, j’ai donné lecture du projet du Code de conduite des membres du Parlement panafricain.J’aimerais quand même rappeler que c’est depuis le 22 septembre 2002 qu’il avait été demandé à la Commission permanente des Règlements, des Privilèges et de la Discipline d’initier le projet de Code de conduite. Mais, pour beaucoup de raison, ce Code n’avait jamais été présenté en plénière, ici.Aujourd’hui, c’est enfin chose faite. Et vous voyez, Monsieur le Président, depuis quand le Parlement est installé? Depuis quand nous naviguons sans ce Code de conduite?Je sollicite de la part de la plénière que ce Code soit enfin adopté certainement après amendement et qu’il soit directement mis en œuvre, parce que nous le manquions gravement.Ainsi dit, Monsieur le Président, j’ai fini et je vous remercie.HON. AUBIN NOGNGO LUWOWO [RÉPUBLIQUE DÉMOCRATIQUE DU CONGO]:Merci, Monsieur le Président.Monsieur le Président,Comme vous l’avez dit, le document est très important. Il nous concerne et il concerne la discipline des membres.Je pense qu’il nous a été distribué ce matin, même dans la salle.Je souhaiterais qu’on le laisse entre les mains des honorables députés.Nous allons clôturer la séance demain et que nous puissions apporter tranquillement des amendements parce qu’il y va de la dignité, du prestige même de notre Parlement, qu’à la session prochaine nous apportions des amendements, tranquillement pour qu’il soit vraiment conforme au Règlement intérieur et à la réalité de notre vie au sein de ce Parlement.Je vous remercie.HON. NASSIROU AMADOU [NIGER]:Merci, Monsieur le Président.Je voudrais, juste, appuyer ce que vient de dire mon collègue NGONGO.Nous devrons prendre ce document pour faire certaines vérifications et apporter des amendements.On vient de le recevoir ce matin. Donc, donnez-nous un peu de temps pour vérifier ce document.Merci, Monsieur le Président.HON. AWAD HAG ALI AHMED [SUDAN]:Thank you very much Mr President. I agree with my colleagues that more research needs to be done on the content in this draft and that it should be discussed later. I thank you very much.UN HONORABLE MEMBRE [HON. ASSOUMANA MALAM ISSA [NIGER]:Procedure, MasterPresident!Oui, Monsieur le Président, à la lumière des trois interventions, je crois que nous avons là une procédure qui ne dit pas son nom.Les collègues qui sont intervenus proposent que l’on donne du temps aux parlementaires d’examiner le document et, à la prochaine session, qu’on l’adopte.Je crois que c’est déjà une très bonne chose qu’on l’ait entre les mains et leur procédure me paraît un peu opportune.Peut-être que, maintenant, les collègues peuvent se prononcer sur cette procédure-là.Merci, Monsieur le Président.THE PRESIDENT:Honorable Member, now that you have raised a point of order, which is the appropriate way in which this issue can be raised, we can now deal with the point of order. What the other colleagues did was to make their own contributions without raising a point of order which is now before us.Honorable colleagues, the point of order that has been raised is that we suspend consideration of this report to enable Members to have time to digest and put in their inputs to this proposed draft code of conduct.Is that accepted? (Applause across the floor)I thank you Honorable colleagues. I will ask the secretariat and the Clerk at Table to put the debate on the code of conduct for tomorrow morning for consideration by this Parliament.I thank you.UN HONORABLE MEMBRE:S’il vous plaît, Monsieur le Président.HON. SALEH KEBZABO [TCHAD]:Monsieur le Président!THE PRESIDENTYes, Honourable. You have the floor Honourable.HON. SALEH KEBZABO [TCHAD]:Je voudrais porter à l’attention du Parlement une information, si vous le permettez, avant qu’on passe au point suivant.THE PRESIDENT:You may continue Honourable.UN HONORABLE MEMBRE:Monsieur le Président, je voudrais intervenir par rapport au texte qui devait être adopté.UN HONORABLE MEMBRE:Monsieur le Président!UN HONORABLE MEMBRE:Mais, celui-là!THE PRESIDENTHonourable, he already has the floor, please! Another Member has the floor.HON. SALEH KEBZABO [TCHAD]:Merci de ramener la discipline.THE PRESIDENT:The Honourable Member has the floor, please! Yes, hon. Saleh, you may proceed.HON. SALEH KEBZABO [TCHAD]:Je vous remercie, Monsieur le Président.Monsieur le Président,Je vous remercie de me donner l’opportunité de saisir le Parlement pour porter à l’attention de mes collègues un bref aperçu sur la situation actuelle au Tchad, mon pays.J’ai fait un rapport que je ne vais pas lire. Je vais donc le résumer et avec votre permission, je le mettrais à la disposition du Secrétariat pour qu’il soit distribué à tous les membres, étant entendu que j’ai déjà pris la précaution de le traduire, au moins, en anglais.Monsieur le Président,Depuis le 1er mai, il se passe un certain nombre de choses au Tchad dont il me paraît qu’il est important que le Parlement panafricain en soit informé, car je sais que d’autres structures régionales et internationales parlementaires ont déjà été saisies par cette question.On aurait pu me demander mais pourquoi est-ce que depuis la semaine dernière je n’ai pas donné cette note d’information. Je réponds tout simplement que c’est parce que j’attendais que la situation atteigne un certain niveau de développement et qu’il y ait des informations vérifiées et bien établies pour que je ne vous dise pas n’importe quoi.À l’heure actuelle, quatre députés tchadiens sont en prison au mépris de toute loi et en particulier de l’article 111 de la Constitution du Tchad qui accorde aux députés des privilèges d’immunité. Le gouvernement a argué sur le flagrant délit que donne la loi pour les arrêter alors qu’ils ont été soit arrêtés chez eux, à domicile la nuit, soit convoqués à la brigade criminelle où ils ont été maintenus en détention, deux le 1er au soir, trois depuis le 6 mai.Pourquoi ont-ils été arrêtés? Il y a eu, pour ceux qui ont suivi les informations, en cette date du 1er mai, une première information du gouvernement annonçant un putsch qui aurait été avorté. Puis le lendemain, le gouvernement a fait sa déclaration pour dire qu’il s’agit d’une tentative de déstabilisation des institutions de l’État. Et puis quelques jours après, le Président de la République, devant les partis politiques appelés pour la circonstance, a dit qu’on ne peut pas parler de putsch parce que quand il y a de tentative de putsch, c’est l’armée qui est concernée avec des hommes armés, or, ce n’est pas le cas. Et donc lui, il a préféré le mot « conspiration » pour dire qu’il y a eu une conspiration dans laquelle sont mêlés des hommes politiques.Alors cet édifice, de mon point de vue, et du point de vue de tous ceux qui ont connu le dossier, est très léger. Il ne repose sur aucun fait avéré car chacun des députés qui a été arrêté, a été interrogé à la police sur des problèmes différents ou des problèmes anciens à caractère personnel.Il y a avec les députés aussi, des gouverneurs des régions ou des généraux de l’armée. Ils ne sont pas très nombreux, mais tous ces gens qui ont été arrêtés sont soit de l’opposition - il y a deux députés de l’opposition - soit de la majorité du parti au pouvoir - deux députés du parti au pouvoir. Toutes ces arrestations ont eu lieu dans l’illégalité la plus totale. Et tous, qu’ils soient les députés, les généraux ou les autres personnalités, ont répondu devant la police qu’ils n’avaient absolument aucun rapport avec le présumé responsable de toute cette histoire qui a, en fait, rédigé un communiqué qui n’a jamais été diffusé, mais qu’on a trouvé chez lui appelant à l’insurrection de la population. On a aussi trouvé chez lui une liste d’une vingtaine de personnalités auxquelles il aurait fait appel.Donc, tout cela reste pour nous un grand mystère parce qu’il n’y a rien de solide dans tout cela, puisque le responsable lui-même qui était un ancien rebelle, qui a rallié le régime depuis quatre ans et qui se trouve en chômage, a dit au procureur qu’il a subi des sévices à la police et on l’a obligé de signer cette liste d’une vingtaine de personalités, liste sur laquelle d’ailleurs tous les noms ne figurent pas parmi ceux qui sont arrêtés et sur laquelle figurent des noms de personnalités qui ne sont pas arrêtées.Alors, je voudrais tout de suite dire à mes collègues qu’en date du 5 mai, la police a fait une descente à mon domicile, alors que comme une police organisée, elle devrait savoir que j’ai quitté depuis le 2 er mai avec un ordre de mission de l’Assemblée nationale pour venir ici, à notre session précédée par des réunions de Commissions.Ne m’ayant pas trouvé, ils sont repartis et mon nom figure parmi les quatre noms que le gouvernement a communiqués à l’Assemblée nationale comme étant des députés qu’on voudrait entendre. Ce qui est un stratagème pour arrêter ces députés. Moi, j’étais absent et donc trois députés ont suivi cette procédure avec l’accord de l’Assemblée et ont été purement et simplement arrêtés. Donc, à l’heure actuelle, quatre députés sont sous les verrous de façon tout à fait illégale.Ce que je voudrais dire aux collègues députés, c’est que je suis concerné par cette affaire. Je suis concerné à plusieurs titres. Je suis député, je suis président d’un groupe parlementaire et je suis aussi coordinateur de l’opposition, mais je suis et surtout chef de file légalement de l’opposition puisque c’est mon parti qui a le plus grand nombre de députés à l’Assemblée nationale.On va donc se demander pourquoi est-ce que toute cette cabale tourne comme ça dans un pays réputé à avoir retrouvé la stabilité et la paix depuis quelques années, un pays qui a beaucoup fait parler de lui ces dernières semaines avec l’intervention voyante, valeureuse des soldats tchadiens sur le terrain malien, comment peuton dire aujourd’hui que ce pays est dans l’instabilité? C’est tout simplement, chers collègues, parce qu’effectivement quant au fond, c’est une mauvaise peinture qui est plaquée sur le Tchad pour qu’on montre que c’est un pays stable. En réalité, c’est un pays qui n’est pas stable, du tout. La preuve, une petite affaire comme celle-ci devient une affaire d’État où le pouvoir persévère, où les responsables n’arrivent pas à se contenir et se comportent, comme vous l’avez vu, en violation totale des règlements et des lois.Je vais donc conclure. Vous verrez les détails dans le document qu’on va vous distribuer.Moi, je vais rentrer chez moi, Monsieur le Président, parce que je n’ai pas vocation à vivre en exil et je n’ai pas non plus vocation à entrer en rébellion. Je fais partie d’un certain nombre de partis politiques, au Tchad, qui luttent pour la démocratie. Nous allons continuer cette lutte à l’intérieur, mais pas à l’extérieur. Beaucoup de camarades qui m’ont entendu ces jours-ci, certains ont tenté de me déconseiller de rentrer, mais avec tous ces titres que je décline si je ne rentre pas, Monsieur le Président, c’est que vraiment je ne suis pas digne d’une confiance quelconque de qui que ce soit.Je vais finir mon programme à l’étranger après la session du PAP. J’ai une autre mission et je crois que dans une semaine, dans dix jours, je vais rentrer chez moi pour répondre soit à la justice, soit à la police ou à tout autre organe qui en ferait place et lieu, pour répondre, si besoin était, aux questions qui vont m’être posées, mais je suis comme les autres, je ne connais même pas le responsable présumé de cette affaire. C’est la première fois que j’entends son nom. Si moi, en tant qu’acteur politique majeur dans mon pays depuis vingt ans, on attribue à quelqu’un une tentative de déstabilisation et que je ne connais pas cette personne, cela veut dire que c’est du pipeau, comme on dit en français, c’est une affaire qui ne tient pas debout.Donc, voilà, chers collègues, je vous remercie de votre attention.Monsieur le Président,Je vous remercie de m’avoir donné la parole. Je souhaite, si cela était possible, qu’une mission, même légère, soit envoyée en urgence au Tchad pour voir ce qui s’y passe. J’en ai discutée avec les amis de notre Commission de la Coopération et des Relations internationales et je crois que le Président vous aura certainement rendu compte et je vous remercie une fois encore, Monsieur le Président.Merci.(Applaudissements nourris)THE PRESIDENT:Honourable members, the information provided by our honourable colleague will be referred to the Committee on Cooperation, International Relations and Conflict Resolution. We will consider the possibility of sending a fact finding mission to Chad on this information.I thank you. (Applause)UN HONORABLE MEMBRE:S’il vous plaît, Monsieur le Président, je voudrais faire une motion d’information.HON. MEMBER:Just on a Point of Procedure, Mr President.THE PRESIDENT:Yes, honourable.HON. MEMBER:I agree with your decision to refer the report to the Committee on cooperation, but I realise that this is the last but one day and there are no planned meetings of the Committee.My worry or concern starts from the fact that Parliament has been accused of running after the problem and not pre-empting it. I am just asking you to indicate to us when you think this Committee can meet because I think the matter is rather urgent and it must not be left to go on like that because we have been talking about issues of governance, safety and security.Before the ink of our reports could dry, we are now having that situation in Chad, Mr President. I thank you.THE PRESIDENT:I thank you, honourable colleague. But as you are aware, the information came by Point of Information and it is not a motion and the Bureau will liaise with the Chair of the Committee on Cooperation, International Relations and Conflict Resolution and we would of course attend to it as an urgent matter. I thank you.Honourable members, I shall now call on the Clerk to read the Second Order of the day.UN HONORABLE MEMBRE:S’il vous plaît, monsieur le Président, je voudrais faire une motion d’information.THE PRESIDENT:Yes, you have the Floor.Je fais partie de la Commission des Règlements et des Privilèges.Tout à l’heure, en suspendant l’adoption de ce document concernant le Code de conduite, je n’ai pas bien maîtrisé ce que nous devrions faire, puisque vous ramenez cela pour demain. Si c’est pour demain, est-ce que c’est demain que nous allons l’étudier pour l’adopter? Auquel cas, je propose que ceux-là qui ont le document aujourd’hui, puissent peut-être verser les amendements au secrétariat qui seront, tout de suite, transmis à la Commission pour que demain, cela puisse se faire rapidement. Auquel cas des gens proposaient que cela soit peut-être ramené à la session prochaine. Si tel est le cas, il serait bien que les amendements soient versés au secrétariat pour qu’au cours des travaux des commissions très prochainement, on puisse l’étudier avant de le présenter à la session.Voilà ce qui me préoccupait, Monsieur le Président.THE PRESIDENT:I thank you honourable member but our Rules of Procedure provide that amendments be taken during debates. So, members who have amendments will propose them during the course of the debate and we shall attend to it in that order.I thank you. The Clerk.THE CLERK:I thank you, Mr President.PRESENTATION AND DEBATE OF THE EVALUATION REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON ADMINISTRATION AND FINANCIAL EVALUATIONTHE PRESIDENT:Honourable members, I call on Hon. Chief Fortune Charumbira, the Chairperson of the Committee on Administration and Financial Evaluation to present the Committee’s report.The Chairman is not in the hall? We, therefore, stand down the consideration of the report of the Committee on Administration and Financial Evaluation and we shall proceed to the Third Order of the day. The Clerk.THE CLERK:I thank you, Mr President.PRESENTATION AND DEBATE ON THE REPORTS OF PERMANENT COMMITTEESTHE PRESIDENT:Honourable members, I call on Hon. Henri Gbone, the Chairperson of the Committee on Rural Economy, Agriculture, Natural Resources and Environment to make his presentation.HON. HENRI YAWOVI HONAM GBONE [LA COMMISSION DE L’ÉCONOMIE RURALE, DE L’AGRICULTURE, DES RESSOURCES NATURELLES ET DE L’ENVIRONNEMENT]:Merci, Monsieur le Président.Monsieur le Président,Chers collègues,Vous avez dû constater une reprise du programme de la session. Vous constatez également que le point relatif à la présentation de Madame la Commissaire chargée de l’Agriculture de l’Union africaine, qui devrait faire une présentation sur la problématique de l’agriculture en Afrique, a dû être retiré du programme.Madame la Commissaire a manifesté la meilleure volonté pour participer à cette rencontre. Malheureusement, elle a dû reporter, à trois reprises, sa décision d’être avec nous. Les raisons procède de ce que la Commissaire est en train de préparer des dossiers pour le prochain sommet des Chefs d’États de l’Union africaine prévu la semaine prochaine. Les problèmes de vol, parce qu’elle voulait un vol qui puisse la ramener à Addis-Abeba aussitôt après sa présentation, mais elle n’en a pas trouvé. Donc, je vous présente, en son nom, ses excuses.Je devrais, moi-même, faire une présentation mais pour des raisons de gestion administration, je l’ai reportée à plus tard. Donc, je vais tout de suite passer à la présentation du rapport de ma Commission, je veux dire la Commission permanente de l’Économie rurale, de l’Agriculture, des Ressources naturelles et de l’Environnement.Comme vous le savez certainement, la Commission permanente de l’Économie rurale, de l’Agriculture, des Ressources naturelles et de l’Environnement a mené plusieurs activités. Je dirais de nombreuses activités depuis la dernière session. Nous n’allons pas les présenter toutes, peut-être que je vais juste citer les activités qui ont eu lieu, et ensuite, je vous présenterai le rapport d’un atelier que nous avons retenu en particulier.Donc, Monsieur le Président, depuis la dernière session à aujourd’hui, la Commission permanente de l’Économie rurale, de l’Agriculture, des Ressources naturelles et de l’Environnement a mené plusieurs activités.Vous le savez, du 4 au 5 octobre 2012, il y avait eu un atelier sur l’accaparement des terres pour la région de l’Afrique de l’Ouest à Cotonou.Ensuite, il y a eu une réunion conjointe de la Commission permanente de l’Économie rurale, de l’Agriculture, des Ressources naturelles et de l’Environnement du PAP avec la Commission de l’Agriculture de l’Union africaine dans le cadre des concertations organisées par le Parlement pour l’ensemble des commissions avec leurs homologues de l’Union africaine.Il y a eu aussi une promotion sur les problématiques de l’agriculture en Afrique. Cette retraite a été organisée par la Commission de l’Union africaine, ensemble avec la Commission permanente de l’Économie rurale, de l’Agriculture, des Ressources naturelles et de l’Environnement du PAP qui a siégé donc, ici même, au siège du Parlement, en novembre 2012.Il y a eu également, les 15 et 16 mars, un séminaire atelier avec une ONG du nom de « WaterAid », en partenariat avec « WaterLex» et notre Commission, qui s’est tenu à Addis-Abeba avec la participation, principalement, de la Commission de l’Éducation, de la Culture, du Tourisme et des Ressources Humaines et, je dirai, des représentants de presque toutes les autres commissions du PAP.En avril dernier, il y a eu la 9ème réunion du Programme détaillé pour le développement de l’Agriculture en Afrique qui s’est tenue à Addis-Abeba avec les membres de la Commission permanente de l’Économie rurale, de l’Agriculture, des Ressources naturelles et de l’Environnement.Le 29 avril, j’avais été invité, en tant que Président de la Commission permanente de l’Économie rurale, de l’Agriculture, des Ressources naturelles et de l’Environnement, à participer à une réunion sur les terres à Addis-Abeba au siège de l’Union africaine.Du 2 au 2 mai, j’avais été également invité à participer au 1er Forum sur la promotion de l’Agriculture en Afrique. C’était une rencontre de très haut niveau présidée par le Président Yayi BONI, Président de la République du Bénin.Tout récemment, disons au début de cette session, nous avons eu également deux séances avec deux organisations importantes. Il s’agit de l’UBA qui est l’Agence de l’Union africaine chargée des problèmes sur les politiques animales en Afrique et qui a un vaste projet soutenu par la FAO et qui a souhaité que la Commission permanente de l’Économie rurale, de l’Agriculture, des Ressources naturelles et de l’Environnement puisse piloter les principaux projets que cette Institution a adoptés. Nous en avons reçu l’accord de Monsieur le Président du Parlement. Donc, ces activités vont commencer bientôt.La dernière activité que je voudrais signaler, Monsieur le Président, concerne également les contacts que nous avons eus le Parlement du [11:49:39 mot prononcé inaudible] qui est également une organisation internationale qui souhaite travailler avec nous.Monsieur le Président,Je vous remercie pour cette indulgence, pour m’avoir donné l’opportunité de citer toutes ces activités.Je vais maintenant passer au rapport sur le séminaire atelier que nous avons donc organisé du 15 au 16 mars 2013 à Addis-Abeba avec « WaterAid » et « WaterLex ».
I. – INTRODUCTION
Le Parlement panafricain, en collaboration avec l’Organisation Non Gouvernementale « WaterAid », a organisé, du 15 au 16 mars 2013 à Addis-Abeba en Éthiopie, un atelier de formation sur l’eau et l’assainissement, avec la participation, comme je le disais tout à l’heure, principalement de la Commission permanente de l’Éducation, de la Culture, du Tourisme et des Ressources Humaines du PAP et d’un représentant des autres commissions permanentes de notre Institution.Le centre d’intérêt de l’atelier a porté sur l’initiative d’action pour un accès durable à l’eau potable et à l’assainissement en Afrique.L’atelier avait pour objectif de sensibiliser les séminaristes sur les liens qui existent entre l’eau et la croissance économique de l’Afrique dans le cadre de l’agenda de développement du continent et au-delà, d’identifier les bonnes pratiques en matière de financement des ressources en eau.Le deuxième objectif était de faire le bilan des progrès accomplis, mais aussi identifier les difficultés rencontrées dans la mise en œuvre des recommandations prises au haut niveau de décisions sur l’eau et l’assainissement en mettant l’accent principalement sur les insuffisances de financement en Afrique et élaborer des stratégies de plaidoyer.L’autre objectif était d’identifier les modalités et les mécanismes susceptibles d’assurer une allocation améliorée et accrue des ressources domestiques en eau, hygiène et assainissement pour les citoyens.
II. – MOTS DE BIENVENUE ET DISCOURS D’OUVERTURE
Les questions abordées au cours de l’atelier s’articulent autour des points suivants:1.La situation de l’accès à l’eau et à l’assainissement en Afrique;2.Le droit à l’eau et à l’assainissement;3.Le financement du secteur d’approvisionnement en eau potable;4.L’hygiène et l’assainissement;5.La problématique de l’accès à l’eau après 2015; et enfin6.La formulation de recommandations et l’adoption d’un plan biannuel pour le programme eau et assainissement.Venons-en à l’ouverture de ce séminaire!L’ouverture de la séance a été marquée par les interventions des personnalités suivantes:L’Honorable Henri GBONE, Président de la Commission permanente de l’Économie rurale, de l’Agriculture, des Ressources naturelles et de l’Environnement du Parlement panafricain;Madame Bethlehem MENGISTU, Coordonnatrice régionale pour le plaidoyer pour l’Afrique de l’Est;La Représentante de la Commissaire en charge de l’Économie rurale et l’Agriculture de l’Union africaine;Monsieur Vivien DELOGE, Responsable du Projet « WaterLex».Et enfin l’atelier a été officiellement ouvert par l’Honorable Bethel AMADI, Président du Parlement panafricain qui nous a fait l’honneur de prendre part à cette séance.
2.1. – Synthèse des discours:
L’Honorable Henri GBONE a, dans son discours, remercié WaterAid pour avoir bien voulu accéder à la requête des membres de la Commission en organisant cet atelier qui vise à sensibiliser les députés du Parlement panafricain sur les enjeux de l’eau et de l’assainissement en Afrique. Cet atelier permettra d’établir l’engagement des parlementaires panafricains dans la recherche et la mise en œuvre des moyens pour l’accès à l’eau et à l’assainissement des citoyens.Les parlementaires panafricains devront, donc, définir au cours de l’atelier, un plan d’actions et des recommandations qui leur permettront de s’engager sur un programme de deux ans ayant trait aux actions et interventions à mener par les parlementaires dans le domaine de l’eau et de l’assainissement sur le continent.Madame Bethlehem MENGISTU a, quant à elle, indiqué que WaterAid est une Organisation Internationale Non Gouvernementale dont la mission est de transformer les conditions de vie des populations, en améliorant l’accès à l’eau potable, l’hygiène et l’assainissement dans les communautés les plus pauvres du monde.WaterAid travaille dans 19 pays africains, spécialement dans certains pays de l’Afrique de l’Est, l’Afrique de l’Ouest et l’Afrique Australe.La vision de WaterAid est l’accès équitable et durable à l’eau et à l’assainissement pour tous.De l’avis de la Coordonnatrice régionale de WaterAid pour le plaidoyer en faveur de l’Afrique de l’Est, les parlementaires panafricains doivent être impliqués dans la réalisation de cette vision. Elle a, en outre, indiqué que WaterAid fait la promotion d’un plan qui se décline en trois points. Il s’agit:1)d’assurer l’accès universel à l’eau de base aux services d’assainissement qui est reconnu comme un droit humain fondamental par les Nations-Unies;2)de faire son possible, d’ici à l’an 2030, pour rendre l’accès universel à l’eau et à l’assainissement et à l’échelle nationale, mondiale, dans les ménages, les écoles et les établissements de santé pour tous;3)de réduire les inégalités en matière de fourniture d’eau, d’assainissement et d’hygiène en application des principes des droits humains et d’égalité et de non-discrimination en ciblant les groupes pauvres et défavorisés comme priorités.Le Représentant de la Commissaire en charge de l’Économie rurale et de l’Agriculture de l’Union africaine a, dans son allocution, noté que sa présence à cet atelier montre l’engagement de la Commission de l’Union africaine à la noble cause des perspectives de l’Afrique pour l’amélioration du secteur de l’eau et de l’assainissement en vue du développement durable de l’Afrique. Il a souligné que les parlementaires panafricains ont un rôle clé à jouer dans la promotion de l’accès à l’eau potable et à l’assainissement pour tous au niveau des États membres de l’Union africaine.Et, pour finir, il a élucidé les raisons pour lesquelles une attention particulière devrait être accordée à l’accès à l’eau pour tous sur le continent africain dans le cadre du développement après 2015.En ce qui le concerne, Monsieur Vivien DELOGE, Responsable du Projet « WaterLex», a indiqué que son ONG a été développée dans le but de constituer une source de référence mondiale comme aussi bien la législation que les politiques et la jurisprudence nationale, régionale et internationale dans le cadre d’une approche fondée sur les droits de l’homme.À la suite de la proclamation du droit fondamental à l’eau et à l’assainissement par l’Assemblée générale des Nations-Unies et le Conseil des droits de l’Homme en 2010, il est apparu nécessaire de fournir une impulsion essentielle visant à promouvoir la réalisation concrète de ce droit afin de permettre un accès équitable et durable à l’eau et à l’assainissement pour tous.Le but de WaterLex est d’assister les acteurs de l’eau dans l’analyse de la mise en œuvre législative du droit, par les États, à travers le monde et d’évaluer les développements intervenus afin de garantir la conformité des différentes législations nationales et régionales avec les principes de ce nouveau droit.WaterLex a été conçu comme un outil pratique visant à fournir une information juridique de qualité à tous les acteurs de la gouvernance de l’eau.WaterLex souhaite collaborer avec le Parlement panafricain pour l’assister au niveau national et régional afin qu’il devienne champion dans la mise en œuvre du droit à l’eau et à l’assainissement.Le Président du Parlement panafricain a, dans son discours d’ouverture, exprimé sa gratitude à WaterAid pour avoir organisé cet atelier de formation à l’attention des membres du Parlement panafricain en vue de l’élaboration d’un programme de collaboration complète de deux ans sur l’eau et l’assainissement, entre le PAP et WaterAid. Il a précisé que l’eau a une composante politique et sociale qu’il ne faut pas perdre de vue. Le manque d’accès à l’eau et à l’assainissement de base peut constituer une menace pour la croissance et le développement durable du continent africain, si cette question n’est pas traitée avec beaucoup d’attention.Pour l’Honorable Bethel AMADI, l’eau demeure l’un des principaux indicateurs de développement des sociétés et une source qui va réécrire l’équation mondiale pour le développement, la paix et la prospérité au cours de ce 21ème siècle en particulier sur le continent africain.Pour finir, il a indiqué que la recherche de solution pour le manque d’accès à l’eau potable et à l’assainissement doit se faire en commun. Il a reconnu que les députés jouent un rôle important en représentant la voix des sans voix. Ils peuvent donc être champions en soutenant le développement de la société en vue de l’amélioration des conditions de vie des populations.Venons-en aux présentations des sous-thèmes de l’atelier et des débats qui ont suivi!
III. – PRÉSENTATIONS DES SOUS-THÈMES DE L’ATELIER DE DÉBATS
L’atelier a été subdivisé en cinq sections. Les présentations faites au cours de ces cinq sections ont porté sur les points suivants:
3.1. – Section 1: Approvisionnement en eau potable, hygiène et assainissement:
Au cours de cette première section, les participants ont eu droit à un clip vidéo de 12 minutes qui a montré les difficultés que rencontrent les personnes vivant avec un handicap, notamment, les femmes, les enfants, les personnes âgées, pour accéder aux services et infrastructures d’eau et assainissement.Une présentation a été ensuite faite sur le progrès accompli par l’Afrique au niveau des Objectifs du Millénaire pour le Développement et le secteur de l’approvisionnement en eau.L’autre présentation qui a porté sur les coûts résultant du délaissement et du manque d’actions en matière d’eau et d’assainissement en Afrique a pris en compte, d’une part, les coûts d’ordre économique et, d’autre part, les coûts liés à l’éducation et à l’autonomisation des femmes.
3.2. – Section 2: Le droit à l’eau et à l’assainissement:
Le contenu du concept de droit à l’eau et à l’assainissement a été présenté au cours de cette section. Le présentateur a mis un accent particulier sur le contexte et les processus ayant conduit à la résolution des Nations-Unies.La deuxième présentation a porté sur les progrès réalisés par l’Afrique en matière de droit d’accès à l’eau et à l’assainissement. À ce niveau, le présentateur a mis en exergue la situation du droit à l’eau et à l’assainissement sur le continent africain. L’orateur a, enfin, incité les députés à accélérer, dans leurs pays respectifs, la mise en œuvre du droit à l’accès à l’eau et à l’assainissement pour tous.À l’issue des deux présentations, les participants ont indiqué qu’il y a beaucoup de défis à relever en Afrique en ce qui concerne l’accès à l’eau et à l’assainissement. Le droit à l’eau est un droit humain et capital pour la vie. Les gouvernements africains doivent accorder une attention particulière au secteur de l’eau. Les députés panafricains doivent jouer un rôle prépondérant dans la promotion de l’accès à l’eau et à l’assainissement dans leurs pays respectifs.
3.3. – Section 3: Le financement du secteur approvisionnement en eau, hygiène et assainissement:
Au cours de cette section, les présentateurs se sont appesantis d’abord sur les blocages au financement du secteur, ensuite sur l’initiative eau et assainissement pour tous. Les deux présentations ont porté sur l’adéquation entre les engagements politiques et leur mise en œuvre, les actions nécessaires pour combler l’écart de financement entre le rôle des parlementaires dans l’initiative eau et assainissement pour tous.Au cours de débats, parlementaires panafricains ont souligné l’importance, pour leurs gouvernements, d’accroître les budgets alloués au secteur de l’eau et de l’assainissement. Ils ont recommandé que des programmes de renforcement des capacités soient initiés à leur intention pour les aider à améliorer l’accès à l’eau et à l’assainissement pour tous dans leurs pays respectifs. Des députés ont, en outre, indiqué qu’ils doivent veiller au respect des engagements pris par leurs gouvernements respectifs en matière d’accès à l’eau et à l’assainissement pour tous. Ils ont également proposé que des fonds soient mobilisés au sein des pays africains pour améliorer le financement du secteur de l’eau et de l’assainissement
3.4. – Section 4: L’agenda pour l’eau après 2015:
Cette section a porté sur le processus de l’agenda pour l’après 2025 et sur le consensus pour l’approvisionnement en eau, l’hygiène et l’assainissement.Il s’est agi aussi du rôle des parlementaires dans le processus pour l’après 2025 et le plaidoyer pour la fixation d’objectifs ambitieux au profit du secteur. Le délai imparti pour la réalisation des Objectifs pour le Millénaire arrivera à terme en 2015. Le rôle des parlementaires panafricains dans les débats pour l’après 2015 a été abordé au cours de cette section.La responsabilité des gouvernements dans l’accès à l’eau et à l’assainissement par les populations était clairement énoncée dans les OMD. Il est donc important, pour les décideurs africains, de passer en revue les Objectifs du Millénaire pour le Développement et de faire une évaluation afin d’inventorier les secteurs qui ont besoin d’être améliorés.Monsieur le Président,Tel a été le contenu des interventions.Mais à la suite du séminaire, une série de recommandations a été adoptée ainsi qu’une résolution sur le droit fondamental à l’eau et à l’assainissement.Je vais d’abord vous livrer les recommandations qui ont été adoptées sur le droit fondamental de l’accès à l’eau et à l’assainissement.
IV. – RECOMMANDATIONS ET DÉCISIONS PRISES
4.1. – Recommandations sur l’amélioration de l’accès à l’eau et à l’assainissement en Afrique:
Prenant note de l’atelier sur l’eau et l’assainissement tenu à Addis-Abeba en Éthiopie, du 15 au 16 mars 2013, organisé par la Commission permanente de l’Économie rurale, de l’Agriculture, des Ressources naturelles et de l’Environnement du Parlement panafricain, WaterAid et WaterLex, intitulé: « Descendre l’action pour un accès viable à l’eau potable et à l’assainissement en Afrique »;Reconnaissant que l’eau et l’assainissement est un droit fondamental essentiel pour le bien-être, la santé, la dignité et le développement de nos peuples et de nos États;Conscient de ce que l’accès à l’eau potable, à l’assainissement amélioré et à des installations d’hygiène appropriées peut réduire la morbidité et la mortalité liées aux affections, ainsi qu’avoir un impact sur la réduction de la pauvreté et le développement socioéconomique;Préoccupé par le manque d’informations et de données relatives aux conditions défaillantes d’accès aux services d’approvisionnement en eau et d'assainissement pour une grande partie des populations sur le continent;Souscrivant aux principes de la Déclaration d’eTheckwini, du 20 février 2008, des engagements de Sharm el-Sheikh du 1er juillet 2008, des engagements de la réunion de haut niveau Assainissement et Eau pour Tous du 20 avril 2012, de la Vision africaine de l'eau 2025 ainsi que de Charte Africaine des droits de l’Homme et des Peuples du 27 juin 1981, de la Résolution 64/292 de l'Assemblée générale des Nations- Unies du 28 juillet 2010 et de la Résolution 15/9 du Conseil des droits de l’Hommes des Nations-Unies du 10 septembre 2010;Reconnaissant le rôle de l'accès universel à une eau potable et à l'assainissement amélioré dans l’accélération de la réduction de la pauvreté sur le continent et la réalisation des Objectifs du Millénaire pour le Développement, et en particulier l'objectif de réduire de moitié, d'ici à 2015, la proportion des personnes qui n’ont pas accès à l'eau potable ou qui n’ont pas les moyens de s’en procurer et la proportion des personnes qui n’ont pas accès à des services d’assainissement de base;Soulignant que l'Afrique a besoin de prendre des dispositions immédiates pour mobiliser des ressources financières suffisantes afin de rendre l'eau disponible et assurer l’assainissement pour tous;Déterminés à renforcer la solidarité, la cohésion, la coopération et le développement continentaux pour le bénéfice de nos peuples;Le Parlement Panafricain:1.Recommande de mettre en œuvre le droit fondamental de l’accès à l'eau et à l'assainissement comme une priorité politique pour l'Afrique afin d’assurer l'accès à une eau potable salubre et à un assainissement amélioré pour tous avec une attention spéciale pour les populations marginalisées et les plus vulnérables de la société, en particulier, les femmes, les enfants et les personnes handicapées;2.Demande l’adoption de modalités de tarification différenciées pour l’accès à l’eau afin de prendre en compte le faible pouvoir d’achat des couches les plus vulnérables de la population;3.Encourage les États membres à adopter des politiques et des législations visant à favoriser l’accès à l'eau potable et à l'assainissement pour tous;4.Recommande aux États membres de mener des évaluations, des cadres juridiques et des infrastructures existantes devant permettre l’accès à l’eau par l’assainissement afin d’améliorer leurs politiques en la matière;5.Incite les États membres à instaurer des politiques d’échanges inter-États en vue du partage d’informations sur les bonnes pratiques d’accès à l’eau et à l’assainissement;6.Encourage les parlements nationaux à renforcer les capacités des parlementaires à légiférer sur les questions de l’eau, de l’hygiène et de l’assainissement.Monsieur le Président,Permettez-moi enfin, il n’y en a plus beaucoup, de présenter la résolution sur le droit fondamental à l’eau qui a été adoptée.
4.2. – Décisions prises sur l’amélioration de l’accès à l’eau et à l’assainissement
Reconnaissant que l’eau et l’assainissement est un droit fondamental essentiel pour le bien-être, la santé, la dignité et le développement de nos peuples et de nos États;Conscient de ce que l’accès à l’eau potable, à l’assainissement amélioré et à des installations d’hygiène appropriées peuvent réduire la morbidité et la mortalité liées aux affections, ainsi qu’avoir un impact sur la réduction de la pauvreté et le développement socioéconomique;Préoccupé par le manque d’informations et de données relatives aux conditions défaillantes d’accès aux services d’approvisionnement en eau et d'assainissement pour une grande partie des populations sur le continent;Déterminé à renforcer la solidarité, la cohésion, la coopération et le développement continentaux pour le bénéfice de nos peuples;Prenant note de l’atelier sur l’eau et l’assainissement tenu à Addis-Abeba en Éthiopie, du 15 au 16 mars 2013, organisé par la Commission permanente de l’Économie rurale, de l’Agriculture, des Ressources naturelles et de l’Environnement du Parlement panafricain, WaterAid et WaterLex, intitulé « Descendre l’action pour un accès viable à l’eau potable et à l’assainissement en Afrique »;Le Parlement Panafricain:1.S’engage à défendre au niveau national, régional et continental les principes et actions portant sur l’importance de l’eau et de l’assainissement;2.Décide d’engager une campagne de plaidoyer en faveur d’une allocation budgétaire suffisante pour le secteur de l’eau et de l’assainissement;3.S’engage à promouvoir l’agenda post 2025 des OMD pour l’Afrique;4.Félicite et encourage WaterAid, WaterLex et tous autres partenaires à soutenir le Parlement panafricain dans la réalisation de ces programmes liés à l’accès à l’eau et à l’assainissement pour tous.Je vous remercie, Monsieur le Président et chers collègues.(Applaudissements)HON. MANCHOLU MOLEMOHI [LESOTHO]:Thank you Mr. President.Mr. President, Africa needs to improve in Agriculture productivity, Technology and marketing systems.Mr. President in my country Lesotho, there is plenty of water, but there is a need to change how farmers must be knowledgeable in the field of irrigation methods. There is need to train farmers to understand how to use and maintain the irrigation methods.Mr. President the methods to be implemented by these farmers must be geared to eradicate hunger and poverty. It is high time for PAP Members of Committee on Rural Economy, Agriculture and Natural Resources and Environment to sensitize their member states to send and share knowledge, expertise and experiences on farming methods.Mr. President, it is suggested that farmers need to improve their use of resources through new technology. In order to overcome the challenges to succeed in providing more food using less water, farmers need to be aware and to adopt new innovations and technologies. The Committee needs to consider the development of common Regional and continental policies in the agriculture sectors. The committee also needs to improve on the development policies and implementation of programmes relating to natural Resources and the Environment.I thank you Mr. President.HON. HYACINTA CHIKAONDA [MALAWI]:Thank you, Mr. President, for giving me the chance to add my voice to the debate on the floor. Firstly, let me declare my interest in this one. I was one of the participants in this workshop, sent by my Committee on Co-operation. The workshop was an eye opener to most of us, because we had a chance to see the different situations in terms of water and sanitation in the continent of Africa and its impact on the people’s lives.For example, as a woman, I was concerned with the impact of lack of water and sanitation on girl education. As you are aware, the drop-out rate for girls from schools is very high in Africa and one of the contributing factors is lack of water and sanitation facilities in our schools. As you know, there are situations where there are other biologically-triggered factors in a girl, and during that time, you will see that most of the girls will not attend school if there are no facilities like water and sanitation. Therefore, good water and sanitation facilities will improve girl child education in Africa.In terms of Malawi, Malawi is doing well as far as providing clean and safe water is concerned. We learned that 83% of the communities have access to clean water and this includes public facilities like schools and hospitals. Over 400 schools in Malawi have been provided with clean water with the help of UNICEF and other stakeholders. However, in terms of sanitation, Malawi has not achieved much as only 51% of the population have good sanitation facilities.My major concern is about the funding for water and sanitation facilities in most of the African countries. It was learned that diarrhea only, which is caused mostly by lack of clean water and poor sanitation, kills people more than HIV and Aids and malaria combined. If you look at how malaria kills children and even women in Africa....[no sound]... not finish, the impact of HIV combined, diarrhea is rating high in killing the people of Africa. And yet, funding is very low. Therefore, if you look at the cost of the neglect, it is very high in Africa. I, therefore, urge my fellow PAP members to push for more funding towards achieving it in our national Parliaments and try to design or adopt water and sanitation facility plans that are disability friendly, so that each and every citizen is able to access water, since it is a basic human rights issue.Also, during our oversight role, we are going to scrutinize budgets allocated towards sanitation to see if the money was well utilized.Finally, in our different political parties we can also have sanitation and water in our manifestos. I rest my case, Mr. President.HON. DIKGANG PHILLIP MAKGALEMELE [BOTSWANA]:Thank you, Mr. President.Mr. President, I want to congratulate the Committee on the Report, especially their innovations in terms of engaging non-governmental organizations as in this particular case, they did engage Water-Aid.I also agree with one of the workshop’s objectives which were to demonstrate that indeed there is a strong link between water and economic growth. I agree, Mr. President, because water is indeed a basic human right and therefore, human rights as we would all agree are central to any form of development, including economic growth and economic diversification.Mr. President, I also want to associate myself with what the Committee is recommending in the communiqué when they talked of the advocate for the implementation of the human right to water and sanitation. I think, Mr. President, this presents us with an opportunity for some form of model policies or model laws to be developed through this very important Committee.But having said that, Mr. President, I want to propose or maybe first to start with posing a question as to what extent was the question of water harvesting discussed at this very important workshop. I think, Mr. President, it is common knowledge that once there are limited drains in certain parts of Africa, the little rains which Africa receives are allowed to actually flow away without being properly harvested. Therefore, I want to ask the extent to which water harvesting, as a concept, was actually discussed at this very important workshop.I would also want to urge the Committee to come up with innovative ideas on how the concept of water harvesting can be taken on board as one of the core strategies of the Committee.I want to conclude, Mr. President, by encouraging the Committee to invest their energies on the issue of rural economies. As you would all agree, rural economies of Africa present unique opportunities, and at the same time they present challenges. Many a time, when one talks to Ministers of Trade, they will tell you that rural areas do not present opportunities which can attract investors. I think this is one of the issues which the Committee should look into.I thank you, Mr. President.[Applause]HON. BAKARY OUATTARA [CÔTE D’IVOIRE]:Merci, Monsieur le Président.C’est Bakary Ouattara.Ma conviction est que la survie de toute société passe par une autosuffisance alimentaire, conditionnant toute action de développement, et cela se voit en Afrique, dans les localités où il y a la famine, avec son corollaire de maladies et de morts. C’est pourquoi, je suis resté sur ma faim devant le rapport de la Commission permanente de l’Économie rurale, de l’Agriculture, des Ressources naturelles et de l’Environnement.C’est vrai, plusieurs activités ont été menées, certes, mais nous sommes en plénière d’une session ordinaire. Il est donc bon que nous ayons les informations utiles, je dis bien utiles, sur les problèmes clés qui constituent les maux de l’Afrique; bien entendu, le problème de l’eau qui a été traité par l’orateur de façon suffisante.Mais, certains problèmes comme l’agriculture n’ont été que cités alors que des réunions importantes ont été tenues, dont l’accaparement des terres, la problématique de l’agriculture en Afrique et les programmes de l’agriculture en Afrique.Il aurait fallu nous communiquer les résolutions ou recommandations faites au cours de ces rencontres. Nous avons besoin de connaître les stratégies adoptées au niveau de l’Union africaine pour le développement de l’agriculture en Afrique. Cela nous permettra, en tant que députés, d’informer nos populations et de contribuer au suivi de l’exécution de ces différents programmes éventuels.C’est pourquoi, je propose à la Commission de mettre à la disposition des parlementaires les différentes résolutions ou recommandations portant sur les stratégies et les moyens d’actions dans un document écrit. Tout à l’heure, nous avons parlé d’éradication de la pauvreté et je pense que la première étape passe par une autosuffisance alimentaire.Je vous remercie.HON. BERNADETA KASABAGO MUSHASHU [TANZANIA]:Mheshimiwa Rais, napenda kuchukua fursa hii kukushukuru sana kwa kunipa nafasi ili nami niweze kuchangia kwenye hoja hii ambayo iko mbele yetu.Mheshimiwa Rais, kwanza, napenda kumpongeza Mwenyekiti wa Kamati yetu...HON. MEMBER:No translation.VICE PRESIDENT:Translation!HON. BERNADETA KASABAGO MUSHASHU [TANZANIA]:Can I continue?VICE PRESIDENT:Are you okay?TRANSLATOR:Yes.VICE PRESIDENT:Please proceed Honorable.HON. BERNADETA KASABAGO MUSHASHU [TANZANIA]:Mheshimiwa Rais, naomba nikushukuru wewe kwa kunipa nafasi ili niweze kuchangia hoja hii muhimu iliyo mbele yetu.Mheshimiwa Rais, kwanza, napenda kumshukuru na kumpongeza Mwenyekiti wa Kamati kwa sababu ya ubunifu, ni mchapakazi na ndio maana Kamati hii imeweza kufanya kazi nzuri na ameweza kutoa ripoti nzuri sana.(Makofi)Mheshimiwa Rais, maji ni muhimu sana katika dunia hii, maji ni uhai, maji ni maendeleo na maji ni haki ya kila binadamu. Maji ni suala la amani na ni suala la maendeleo na usalama.Mheshimiwa Rais, bila maji na mifumo mizuri ya majitaka na majisafi, afya itakuwa ni mgogoro. Magonjwa yatakuwa mengi, kutakuwa na milipuko ya magonjwa mbalimbali ambayo itasababisha watu kuwa wagonjwa, kuwa na afya mbaya na hatimaye kufariki.Mheshimiwa Rais, Waafrika wengi wanategemea kilimo kwa ajili ya chakula na kwa ajili ya kuboresha uchumi. Bila maji ya uhakika na mifumo ambayo itaweza kuwafanya watu wakawa na kilimo cha umwagiliaji, hatuwezi kuondoa umaskini katika Bara la Afrika kwa sababu Waafrika wengi wanategemea kilimo.Mheshimiwa Rais, ukienda vijijini, utawaruhumia sana wanawake, wanahangaika kutafuta maji kwa sababu maji hakuna. Mtu anaweza kutumia saa saba mpaka kumi na mbili au tangu asubuhi mpaka jioni anatafuta maji na kwa siku nzima anaweza kuchota lita ishirini tu kwa sababu maji hakuna.Mheshimiwa Rais, basi niwaombe Wabunge wenzangu, sisi tukiwa kama Wabunge katika Mabunge ya nchi zetu, sisi tukiwa kama Wabunge wa Bunge la Afrika, tutakapokwenda kwenye Mabunge yetu tuibane Serikali ili waweze kuongeza bajeti ya maji na ili watu waweze kupata maji kwa urahisi.Mheshimiwa Rais, vilevile, sisi kama Wabunge katika Mabunge yetu, tunaweza kuanzisha taasisi kama WASH ili kuweza kuhamasisha wananchi na Serikali zetu kuongeza bajeti ya maji kwa ajili ya kuondoa magonjwa, kuboresha afya na kuleta maendeleo.Mheshimiwa Rais, naunga mkono hoja.HON. KEBZABO SALEH [TCHAD]:Merci, Monsieur le Président.Je voudrais apporter ma contribution, en tant que citoyen d’une zone très éprouvée par les problèmes de l’eau, de manque d’eau, précisément.Ce matin, j’ai rencontré opportunément les experts qui ont fait des exposés, ici, sur les problèmes de l’eau et je leur ai dit que, dans mon village, il n’y a pas d’eau. Et, effectivement, dans mon village, il n’y a pas d’eau. Dans notre village, nous avons deux lacs: un lac de 5 km de long et un deuxième de 17 km de long sur 5 km de large. Alors, quand on voit de vastes étendues d’eau comme ça, on croit qu’il y a de l’eau.En fait, comme vous le savez, toute eau stagnante est impropre à la consommation. Et, nous c’est cette eau-là que nous buvons. Vous voyez donc un peu les conséquences que cela peut avoir sur les adultes et en particulier sur les enfants.Qu’est-ce qu’on va faire? Puisqu’on voit de l’eau comme ça, on croit qu’on peut forer et trouver de l’eau. Mais, on fore parfois jusqu’à 200 mètres, on ne trouve pas de l’eau. C’est pour vous dire que, en Afrique, les problèmes d’eau sont essentiels et cruciaux.Je crois qu’il faut, au niveau de notre Parlement, dans les problèmes que nous devons développer, ce matin on a parlé de la pauvreté et, indépendamment de la pauvreté et de la précarité, c’est le manque d’eau, ou de l’eau disponible mais de mauvaise qualité.Donc pour cela, je pense, il faut qu’on contribue fortement à faire en sorte que le problème de l’eau soit une priorité dans tous nos pays. Jusqu’ici, depuis l’indépendance, en tout cas, pour des zones comme les nôtres qui sont arides, il n’y a pas encore eu de politiques vraiment appropriées qui puissent mettre les populations à l’abri de ce grave problème de développement qui est le manque d’eau.Je pense qu’il faut insister là-dessus, il faut faire en sorte que cette priorité-là soit aussi acceptée comme priorité internationale. Et je crois qu’on contribuera ainsi, non seulement à réduire la pauvreté, mais surtout à mettre les populations dans des situations de sécurité sanitaire plus importante.Je vous remercie.HON. AZIZOU ELHADJ ISSA [BÉNIN]:Merci, Monsieur le Président.Je suis de la Commission, donc je n’ai pas autre chose à dire sur le rapport. C’est notre rapport.Monsieur le Président,Je voudrais que le Président de la Commission, en répondant, tout à l’heure, aux questions, puisse se rappeler du gigantesque travail qu’il a commencé au niveau du volet « Faunes, Forêts et Ressources Naturelles » pour en informer, en quelques secondes, la plénière.Et je voudrais solliciter de vous et de lui, qu’on fasse en sorte que les projets déjà montés, puissent être présentés à la prochaine session pour qu’on ait l’avis, probablement, de la plénière ou les contributions de la plénière afin de courir, avec l’appui du Bureau du PAP et du Bureau de la Commission, vers les partenaires.Donc, voilà la petite contribution, si c’était nécessaire, Monsieur le Président, à la Commission, que je voudrais faire.Merci bien.HON.PROF. ELAMIN DAFALLAH GASM ELSAYED [SUDAN]:Mr. President, thank you very much for this opportunity and my thanks goes to my colleague, the Chairperson of the Committee of Agriculture. Being a member of that Committee, I listened very well to his report, and I would like to comment on two issues.Firstly, of course we know now that healthy and clean water is very important because water-borne diseases are now in Africa, affecting most of the people of Africa and are affecting even the productivity of all the people there.The second thing is that water is not only used for drinking, but water is used for agriculture. We lose a lot of water. We lose it through the mismanagement of this water, during irrigation or even evaporation. And for this reason, I saw that we have to concentrate on these issues, especially what my friend from Egypt said on how to make maximum use of water. We lose a lot of water. Some places in Africa don’t have water. Plenty of places in Africa have water, but most water is lost compared to the water that is used. We know that in the coming century or in this century, people are talking about the water war, because there is scarcity of water all over the world.So, as a Committee, we would like to at least have a talk with the Commission of Agriculture from the AU, for us to have the policy of the AU regarding agriculture, water use, sanitation and animal resources. I am glad that the Committee proposed a lot of projects and I think I want to congratulate them on these projects because they have a lot money and this money is meant to eradicate diseases in Africa. They propose that the Committee should pay a visit to one of the projects in Burkina Faso and in East and West Africa.The committee also met with the Climate Committee and an NGO. For this reason, I think, these two meetings should at least be presented in another way in the coming session to concentrate on agriculture, animal resources and climate change. So, by way of passing this Committee report, I propose that the Committee should work in the next session to concentrate on these issues of agriculture, animal resources, rural development and human welfare in Africa.I thank you.HON. ZELY PIERRE INZOUNGOU MASSANGA: [PRÉSIDENT DE LA COMMISSION PERMANENTE DE RÈGLEMENT, DES PRIVILÈGES ET DE LA DISCIPLINE]:Je vous remercie beaucoup, Monsieur le Président.Monsieur le Président,Je voudrais remercier sincèrement tous les collègues qui sont intervenus et qui ont enrichi énormément l’exposé que j’ai fait tantôt.Je voudrais attirer particulièrement l’attention sur le problème évoqué par notre sœur du Malawi, la nécessité de favoriser l’accès à l’eau en milieu rural pour favoriser la scolarisation de nos sœurs. Nous avons effectivement vu un film où des enquêtes ont été faites dans une région où le taux de scolarisation des filles est extrêmement bas. Quand on a interrogé les filles du milieu, elles ont répondu qu’elles ne vont pas à l’école ou bien qu’elles ont arrêté d’y aller parce que - c’est difficile à dire - quand elles vont à l’école, les gens se moquent d’elles, elles ne sont pas très propres. Nous avons vu ce film avec beaucoup de peine. Donc, c’est tout à fait vrai qu’il faut renforcer les actions pour assurer la disponibilité de l’eau surtout dans les milieux les plus défavorisés.Un problème aussi a retenu mon attention, c’est que faire de toute l’eau qui tombe du ciel et surtout dans les zones où nous manquons d’eau? Que faire pour le captage ou la mise en réserve de ces eaux-là?Je voudrais dire que, personnellement, c’est un problème qui me préoccupe beaucoup et c’est un problème que j’ai posé partout où on parle de l’eau. Je l’ai posé dans mon pays, le Togo à plusieurs reprises; je l’ai posé également à Addis-Abeba, la dernière fois. Donc, c’est effectivement un aspect du problème qu’il faut que nous prenions en compte avec toute l’attention requise.C’est vrai, comme l’a évoqué mon ami Azizou, il y a d’autres activités que je n’ai pas évoquées. J’avoue que la Commission permanente de l’Économie rurale, de l’Agriculture, des Ressources naturelles et de l’Environnement mène tellement d’activités que, parfois, le rapport sur certaines activités nous échappe. Effectivement, nous avons eu également des rencontres avec des ONG telles que Born Free, SS. [12:45:01 - 12:45:06 Micro éteint]..., et qui sont venues voir également la Commission pour mener des actions, des projets ensemble. Donc, ce sont des choses que je n’ai pas oubliées, cher collègue Azizou. Nous allons reprendre langue avec ces ONG-là pour voir ce qu’on peut faire.Et, je voudrais également remercier notre collègue, le Professeur Elamin pour ses observations. Toutes les questions qu’il a évoquées sont des questions extrêmement importantes et il faut que nous nous attelions spécifiquement à ces obstacles, à ces phénomènes-là pour trouver des solutions et favoriser le développement rural en Afrique.Je remercie le collègue qui a aussi évoqué, disons, l’économie, que nous avons fait, tous les travaux, tous les séminaires que nous avons conduits sur la production agricole. Il a tout à fait raison, la production agricole est un sujet extrêmement préoccupant. Nous avons le rapport, c’est vrai; mais je pense, Monsieur le Président, qu’il faudrait peut-être accorder une demie journée à la Commission, prochainement, pour qu’elle puisse faire état de tous les résultats des séminaires et des travaux qu’elle a menés.Je vous remercie, Monsieur le Président, et je remercie tous les collègues pour leurs contributions.THE PRESIDENT:Thank you very much.Honourable members, I put the question before the House. The question is for us to adopt the report on the Committee on Agriculture, Rural Economy, Natural Resources and Environment.Applause.The report is hereby adopted.Honourable members, we have still not done the report of the Chairperson of the Committee on Administration and Financial Evaluation (CAFÉ). Therefore, I call on him to make some explanations.Mr Chairperson, you have the Floor.HON. CHIEF CHARUMBIRA: [Chairperson of the Committee on Administration and Financial Evaluation]:Thank you, Mr. President.Mr. President, I am sorry when you called out my name I was not in the Chamber and I want to apologise for that. It is because I had an appointment with my doctor and I got the timing wrong because I was going to present [the Report] after the Rules Committee’s from 11:30 a.m. onwards - but then, because you stood down the Rules Committee Report, it means we came much earlier - an hour earlier, and we missed the timing. I am sorry for that.But then, proceeding to the CAFÉ Report, last Tuesday, when I appeared before this honourable House, I did explain that we could not at that time, present the Report. It had not been properly tabled because the Committee had not met to endorse it and we did not present it to the Bureau. We are grateful that the House did accept that we defer to today. Then after Tuesday, we unfortunately encountered a second problem which is that the Honourable Members of the Committee could not raise the full quorum because running through the names -the whole Ghana delegation had left. They are no longer here. Hon. Trust Gina is here. Hon Eugene Kparkar from Liberia had gone back. I believe his Parliament could not sustain his stay here. So, he went back. Dr Minani Jean had left on that morning of Tuesday. Hon Habib Ould Diah from Mauritania also was not around. In fact, he did not even attend the session. Hon Mongi Rahoui was not well so he flew back to Tunisia. In the end, there were three Members; Hon. Cecilia B. Atim-Ogwal, Hon. Trust Gina and myself. And then we were faced with same technicality that there was no quorum to proceed and the three of us could not meet the Bureau.Once again, I request the permission of the House to defer this Report to the sitting of the next Session because there is no way we can raise a quorum between today and tomorrow when only two Members, at the moment, are around.Thank you, very much.THE PRESIDENT:Honourable members, I guess this is part of what we have been talking about earlier today.We have this difficulty and we must find solutions to this kind of problems. I would, therefore, as requested by the Chair, put the question before the House that we defer this report until the Committee can properly present it.(Question put and agreed to.)THE PRESIDENT:Agreed. The Committee report is deferred until after its proper presentation to the Committee and then be presented at the next session.Honourable members, I can see that our numbers in the morning have substantially reduced and if we have a consensus, can we please agree that this House will convene this afternoon to enable us to finish the business of the session while we still have the numbers. Our resolutions are important and that we have the adequate numbers to participate in that process. Do we agree to that, honourable colleagues?(Applause)Honourable members, I would now call on the Clerk to make some housekeeping announcements.THE CLERK:I thank you very much, Honourable President. Honourable members of the Pan-African Parliament., there are going to be two meetings this afternoon at half past one for both of them. The Youth Caucus in Committee Room No. 3 and the Committee on Trade, Customs and Immigration Matters in Committee Room No. 5. I thank you, Mr President.THE PRESIDENT:Honourable members, we shall now take a two hour break in accordance with provisions of Rule 32 of the Rules of Procedure. Business is suspended until 3 o’clock this afternoon to enable us have the various resolutions translated to the various languages. I thank you.(The House was suspended at 12.53 p.m. until 3.00 p.m.)THE PRESIDENT:Honourable Members, I wish to inform the House that according to the order of business set out in today’s order paper, it includes the fourth order of the day being presentation and adoption of the Resolution and Recommendations of the Second session of our Third Parliament.I will therefore ask the Clerk of Parliament to read the fourth order of the day.Mr. ClerkMr. President, Honourable Members of the Pan-African Parliament, Presentation and consideration of the Resolution and Recommendations of the Second Ordinary session of the Third Parliament.The PresidentAll Honourable members do you have a copy of the Draft Resolutions?Thank you.I will, therefore, call on the Chairperson of the Permanent Committee on Cooperation, International Relations and Conflict Resolution to present the Resolution on Mali.Hon. Marwick Khumalo, you now have the floor.HON. MARWICK KHUMALO [SWAZILAND]Thank you, Mr. President.Mr. President, the Resolution to send a follow-up and a pre-election Mission to the Republic of Mali reads as follows:"DEEPLY CONCERNED about the acts of violence perpetrated by the Azawad National Liberation Movement (MNLA), Movement for the Jihad Unity of West Africa (MUJAW), Jihad Movement from the AQMI (Ansar Dine, AQMI) groups on the population, endangered the very existence of the State, its territorial integrity and its sovereignty in the northern region;CONCERNED about the divergences and contradictions among the political and military role players in the south of the country;NOTING that Mali is facing a multi-dimensional crisis which remains a concern for the Pan-African Parliament;AWARE of the urgent need to ensure the speedy restoration of State authority in the North of the country, especially in Kidal;CONSIDERING the need for the Sate to regain control of the large towns in the North and also to strengthen security before elections;CALLING for concerted efforts towards ensuring that the electoral process is well organised in order to avoid post-electoral conflict in Mali;The Pan-African Parliament therefore resolves:That a follow up and pre-election mission should be sent to the Republic of Mali, taking into consideration the political, security and humanitarian situation in the county."[Applause]THE PRESIDENT:Honourable Members, the question before the House is that we adopt the Resolution- Agreed?[Applause]THE PRESIDENT:The Resolution is hereby adopted.I would also call on Hon Marwick Khumalo to present the Resolution on Central African Republic.HON. MARWICK KHUMALO [SWAZILAND]:The Resolution to send a fact finding mission to the Central African Republic."CONCERNED by the latest political and security development of the situation in the Central African Republic;NOTING that the security, political and socioeconomic problems pose a challenge in the Central African Republic;AWARE that the emergence of Seleke appears to be another mode of change of power in the Central African Republic, an unconstitutional practice that seems to have entrenched itself in that country;TAKING INTO CONSIDERATION its role to promote peace and security on the African Continent;The Pan-African Parliament therefore resolves:That a fact finding mission should be sent to the Central African Republic in order to gather necessary information on the prevailing situation in the country."I thank you, Mr. President.THE PRESIDENT:Honourable Members, the question before the House is that we adopt the Resolution as presented - Agreed?[Applause]THE PRESIDENT:I thank you.The Resolution is adopted.I would now call on Hon Marwick Khumalo to present the Resolution on Kenya.HON. MARWICK KHUMALO [SWAZILAND]:I thank you, Mr. President.Resolution to send a Goodwill Mission to Kenya -CONSIDERING that the March 2013 elections in Kenya were successful and peaceful;RECALLING the painful experience that the Kenyan people had to endure after the flawed 2007 elections;NOTING that the country has demonstrated high degree of democracy and showed that the national institutions are functional;EXPRESSING DEEP APPRECIATION to the Kenyan citizens for setting a good example for the rest of the African Continent;CONGRATULATING the elected President H. E. Uhuru Kenyatta for his brilliant campaign;COMMENDING the other political leaders for exercising restraint and graciously accepting the election outcome;The Pan-African Parliament resolves to:Send a Goodwill mission to Kenya in order to express its deep gratitude and show solidarity with the political leadership and the people of Kenya for the successful and peaceful elections held on March 2023."I thank you, Mr. President.THE PRESIDENT:Honourable members, the question before the House is that we adopt the resolution on Kenya as presented.(Question put and agreed to.)THE PRESIDENT:The resolution is hereby adopted.HON. MEMBER:Mr. President, I had tried to intervene earlier, but unfortunately, I was disappointed by the microphone here. I was just a little worried by the concluding statement on "Congratulating the elected President, H.E Uhuru Kenyatta^." and especially worried by " for his brilliant campaign." I wanted to propose that why can’t we just go as, "Congratulating the elected President, H.E. Uhuru Kenyatta;" because maybe we are implying that some other candidates were not campaigning in a brilliant manner.THE PRESIDENT:I thank you for that contribution but we have already adopted the resolution. (Applause)May I now call on the Deputy Chair of the Committee on Agriculture, Rural Economy, Natural Resources and Environment, hon. Elsayed Hazen to present the resolutions on the fundamental right of access to water and sanitation?UN HONORABLE MEMBRE [HON. ASSOUMANA MALAM ISSA [NIGER]:Monsieur le Président,Je propose que si c’est la même erreur qui est faite sur les autres documents, qu’on corrige la date. Nous sommes le jeudi 16 mai et non vendredi.Merci, Monsieur le Président.HON. LIVIO FERNANDOS LOPES [CABO VERDE]:-Muito obrigado Senhor Presidente. Boa tarde."DECLARAQAO DE MIDRAND SOBRE A LIBERDADE DE IMPRENSA EM ÁFRICA" Considerando o Artigo 9° da Carta dos Direitos Humanos e dos Povos que preconiza: "Todos os individuos tem direito de receber informa^áo"; e que "todo o indivíduo tem o direito de manifestar e divulgar as suas opinioes livremente dentro da lei".Reconhecendo a Declarado de Windhoek de 1991 que promove uma Imprensa Africana Pluralista e Independente, e que afirma explicitamente o Direito á Liberdade de Expressao e de informado para todos os indivíduos;Notando a Declarafao dos Princípios de Liberdade de Expressao em África de 2002, a Declarafao da Montanha de Mesa de 2007, a Carta Africana de Radiodifusao de 2001, a Declarafao da Plataforma Africana para Acesso a Informafao; eConsiderando o Protocolo ao Tratado que estabelece a Comunidade Económica Africana relativa ao Parlamento Pan-Africano, que estabelece entre outros objectivos do Parlamento: "Promover os princípios dos Direitos Humanos e da Democracia em África" e "Encorajar a boa governa^áo, a transparencia e a responsabilizado nos Estados Membros"Felicitando a Comissao da Uniao Africana sobre os Direitos Humanos e dos povos pelo seu empenho em promover o direito á liberdade de expressao, nomeando um Relator Especial sobre a Liberdade de Expressao e o Acesso á Informafao em África, em conformidade com a resolufao ACHPR/Res. 71 e (XXXIV)04;Cumprindo a Resolufao no PAP/P(3)/RES/08/(I) sobre a Campanha sobre a "Liberdade de Imprensa para o Desenvolvimento e Governafao: Necessidade de Reforma".Endossando as conclusoes do Diálogo sobre a Liberdade dos Meios de Comunicafao Social em África, realizado a 15 de Maio de 2013, no Parlamento Pan-Africano em Midrand, África do Sul, sob o tema: "Liberdade de Imprensa para o Desenvolvimento e Governa^áo: Necessidade de Reforma".Assim, o Parlamento Pan-Africano1.decide:(i)Lanfar a campanha sobre "Liberdade de Imprensa para o Desenvolvimento e Governado: Necessidade de Reforma" nas 5 Regioes de África;(ii)Estabelecer um "Prémio do PAP para a Liberdade da Comunicado Social em África" numa base anual para indivíduos, organizafoes e Estados Membros;(iii)Estabelecer o "Índice do PAP de Liberdade dos Meios de Comunicado Social em África" numa base anual;2)Apela aos Estados Membros da Uniao Africana para usarem a Lei Modelo relativa ao Acesso a Informado ao adoptarem ou reverem a legislado relativa ao acesso á informafao; e3)Solicita aos Parceiros de Desenvolvimento que apoiem a implementafao das Resolufoes conexas com assistencia e ajuda.Adoptada em Midrand, aos 16 de Maio de 2013PRESIDENT:Yes, Professor.HON. PROF.It is a problem of translation. There is a lot of confusion with the Arabic version and this is, as I noticed, is very different from the English and the French versions. So, it is only translation problem.PRESIDENT:No. What he is saying is that we called upon AU Member States to consider the use of the ACHPR Model Law on Access to Information in adopting or reviewing access to information laws; - "to consider" not as it has been put here like is mandatory. That is what the Honourable Member had proposed. So, in English version, "to consider" is not there.Is the amendment agreed, Honourable Members?Several Honourable Members:Yes.UN HONORABLE MEMBRE [HON. ASSOUMANA MALAM ISSA [NIGER]:Monsieur le Président,Toujours par rapport à ce point 2, il faut bien corriger. Il ne s’agit pas de dire « s’inspire de la loi-type sur l’accès à l’information dans l’adoption et l’évaluation des lois ». C’est plutôt « dans l’adoption et la révision des lois », parce qu’on a dit: « Les États qui n’ont pas de lois peuvent s’inspirer de la loi-type pour élaborer de nouvelles lois. Les États qui en ont doivent s’inspirer pour réviser leurs lois et pour qu’elles répondent à l’esprit de la loi-type ». Donc, c’est le mot « révision » et non « évaluation ».Merci.THE PRESIDENTOkay, if I understood what the Honourable Member said, he says the French version does not say "reviewing" it says "evaluating". So, the correct translation should be used so that it is "reviewing." For those who already have legislations and may want to review the legislations, they should consider using the Model Law.Honourable Members, the question before this House is that we adopt the Resolution as being presented.[Applause]}THE PRESIDENT:Resolution is hereby adopted with the amendment.[Applause]}THE PRESIDENT:Honourable Members, I call on the Honourable Azizou Issa Elhadj to present the Resolution on Absenteeism by Parliamentarians at our statutory meetings.HON. AZIZOU ELHADJ ISSA [BÉNIN]:Merci, Monsieur le Président.
RÉSOLUTION SUR L’ABSENTÉISME DES PARLEMENTAIRES AUX RÉUNIONS STATUTAIRES DU PARLEMENT PANAFRICAIN
Conformément aux articles 2 et 4 du Protocole au Traité instituant la Communauté économique africaine relatif au Parlement panafricain qui indique que « les Parlementaires panafricains représentent toutes les populations africaines et reflètent la diversité des opinions politiques de chaque Parlement et de tout autre organe législatif national »;Considérant que les populations africaines qui souffrent en majorité de pauvreté, de faim, de disette, de diverses intempéries, du non accès à l’éducation, aux soins de santé primaires, à l’eau potable et à l’énergie et vivent ainsi sous le seuil de la pauvreté;Conscient que le Parlement panafricain et ses parlementaires doivent lutter pour inverser la situation malheureuse dans laquelle sont plongées ainsi ces populations en participant effectivement aux travaux du Parlement;Informé de la Décision du Conseil Exécutif, EX.CL/Dec.407(XII) arrêtée en février 2008 qui instruit aux États membres de prendre à leur charge les frais liés à la participation des parlementaires panafricains aux réunions statutaires du Parlement panafricain;Notant que certains membres du Parlement panafricain s’absentent de l’hémicycle malgré les dispositions administratives et financières prises par leurs parlements nationaux respectifs;Notant en outre que l’absentéisme des parlementaires limite la capacité du Parlement panafricain à voter des décisions importantes et entrave gravement le bon fonctionnement de l’Institution;Préoccupé par le fait que ces comportements peuvent ternir l’image du Parlement panafricain;
Le Parlement panafricain:
1.Lance un appel aux Parlements nationaux à prendre effectivement en charge les frais de participation de leurs parlementaires afin qu’ils puissent assister aux différentes réunions du Parlement;2.Demande au Président du Parlement ou de tout autre organe législatif national d’informer le Parlement panafricain de la durée du séjour prévu pour la participation de leurs parlementaires, membres du Parlement panafricain, expliquant la raison qui justifie que leurs députés ne puissent pas participer pleinement à une session. Les absences des membres ne devraient être dues qu’à des cas d’urgence et ces raisons devraient être communiquées au Parlement panafricain;3.Demande:3.1.L’application des dispositions de l’article 88 du Règlement intérieur portant sur les absences des députés;3.2.De veiller à faire circuler l’état des présences avant chaque session plénière et travaux des commissions;3.3.De transmettre aux Assemblées nationales, Sénats ou tout autre organe législatif national un rapport sur la participation de chaque parlementaire à la fin de chaque session, qu’il s’agisse de plénières ou de travaux en Commissions;3.4.De baser le choix des parlementaires pour participer aux missions du Parlement panafricain sur leurs assiduités aux sessions plénières;3.5.De désigner les députés pour les séminaires, ateliers et autres missions des commissions sur la base de leurs présences effectives aux travaux de leurs commissions respectives.Fait à Midrand, le 16 mai 2013.HON. MARWICK KHUMALO [SWAZILAND]:On the English version it says on the first page, "noting that some PAP members absent themselves from". There is a grammatical error. It should be "absent themselves from the Chamber" and not the way in which it is written. Thank you, Mr. Chairperson.ARABIA 15:38:51THE PRESIDENT:Can you please rise.ARABIA 15:39:13سيدي الرئيس هناك مالحظة بالنسبة للقراراالول تنظيم اإلجراءات حوار تدوالي خالل إنعقاد كل دورة عادية للبرلمان اإلفريقي وذلك إباحة سياسية إلستأصال الفقر وإستراتيجة التنمية أتقد أن القرار هذا منقوص والبد أن يكمل أن الرلمان يتعهد بوضع نتيجة الحوارات ويرسلها للبرلمانات الوطنية وإلي الحكومات أما أن ينطم حوار ويجري حوار وتداول خالل كل دورة يبقي حديث أدراج هذا الرلمان اإلفريقي هذا غير مفيد هذه هي المالحظة الألولي والمالحظة الثانية في مسألة تتعلق باللغة العربية أنا أنبه األخوة المترجمين أن ال يقولو ااإلستناد علي بل اإلستناد إلي اإلستناد إلي الشي وليس اإلستنادج عليه فأرجو أن يالحظ هذا في الترجمة العربية وتصحيحه أنشا هللا وشكرTHE PRESIDENT:Can you be more specific about which ones you want corrected.ARABIA 15:39: 44THE PRESIDENT:I ask the secretary to take note of the French translation.Yes, Honorable member!UN HONORABLE MEMBRE:Oui, au quatrième paragraphe...THE PRESIDENT:Hon Member, please address Parliament standing.UN HONORABLE MEMBRE:Oh, pardon!Au 4e paragraphe: « informé de la décision du Conseil Exécutif, EX.CL/Dec.407(XII) » adoptée au lieu de « arrêtée », je pense.Merci, Monsieur le Président.THE PRESIDENT:So, you said there is a word missing in the French translation. I think the English one is quite clear. It says "cognisant of the decision by the Executive Council, EX, dash, dash, dash, "that member states should bear the expenses for the participation. Secretary, please take note.AN HON MEMBER:Thank you Mr. President, I would request that we improve the resolution number one where the Pan-African Parliament is resolving on issue number. The way it is written "that the PanAfrican Parliament therefore, hereby resolves: (1) calls on the national Parliaments to effectively cover the expenses of their parliamentarians in order for them to attend meetings of the Parliament". This sounds to me as though all the members of Parliament in our national Parliaments are members of the PAP. It is not clear. I want us to make it more clear by saying that, "calls on the national Parliaments to effectively cover the expenses of their Pan-African Parliament members." We must delete parliamentarians and then continue and say, "in order for them to attend meetings of the Parliament." This is for clarity and this is precise and to the point. Thank you.THE PRESIDENT:Is the amendment accepted?Amendment agreed to.Yes, Honorable!UN HONORABLE MEMBRE:Merci, Monsieur le Président.Au deuxième paragraphe de la Résolution: « Considérant que les populations africaines qui souffrent », tout cela, je souhaite qu’on écrive ainsi, pour bien exprimer l’idée: « Considérant que la majorité des populations africaines souffrent notamment de pauvreté, de faim, de disette et de diverses intempéries », parce que tel qu’écrit, ici, c’est comme si on s’est limité aux seuls maux que sont la pauvreté, la faim, la disette, diverses intempéries, non accès à l’éducation, aux soins de santé primaires, à l’eau potable et à l’énergie.Donc, j’aurais souhaité qu’on dise que « la majorité des populations africaines souffre notamment », parce que ce n’est pas limitatif, il y a beaucoup de maux dont souffre la grande majorité des populations africaines.THE PRESIDENT:Is the proposal acceptable?Agreed to.HON. MARWICK KHUMALO [SWAZILAND]:It is a very minor one. I thought my colleague from Uganda was going to address that one on the same point number one on the resolution that we remove the "s" because with the "s" it makes no sense. Not "calls". It has to be "call’. Thank you.THE PRESIDENT:Thank you, it is grammatical.An HON MEMBER: Mr. President and colleagues. I was looking at the person that said that it should be, "PAP members absent themselves from the Chamber" This is financial. What about a person who want to go, but they don’t pay? They request you to go, but you find there is no money. You made yourself available for the Chamber discussions. I think that I need to ask something. I have always complained to you about the behavior of the government of Liberia when it comes to participation in the Pan-African Parliament. This is why you see today, my colleagues are not present. They don’t have money to come here. They couldn’t come. I could afford, so I was able to buy my ticket to come. Yes, I have always complained in this Chamber.So, I want us to look at the amendment instead of saying "absent yourself" because some of them absent themselves not because out of their own will, but because they don’t have financial resources to come here. In the case of the other Liberians it is because they didn’t have money. That is why they are not here. So, please, this document, I think should have something in there to cover us who have to pay our way to come here, so that our government can refund our money. Thank you.THE PRESIDENT:Hon member, if you have an amendment, can you be more specific with it, so that we can deal with the amendment as you propose.UN HONORABLE MEMBRE DU TOGO:Merci, Monsieur le Président.Puisque cette Résolution dispose pour l’avenir, je souhaite, bien qu’on n’ait pas encore adopté le code de conduite, qu’on en fasse allusion à la page 2, au point 3: « Demande au Bureau du PAP, d’appliquer les dispositions de l’article 88 du Règlement intérieur ainsi que le Code de bonne conduite ».Merci, Monsieur le Président.THE PRESIDENT:Hon member, we went to the code of conduct today. There was no provision for absenteeism and the code of conduct has not been passed yet. So, we cannot refer to a document that was not yet adopted. I think we would defer that.An HON MEMBER: Mr. President, the last paragraph on the first page which says, "absent of the members should only be due to emergency cases" and so on. I think it should be "absence of members".THE PRESIDENT:That is correct. Absence of members.UN HONORABLE MEMBRE DE DJIBOUTI:Oui! Merci, Monsieur le Président.C’est sur la première page, dernier paragraphe: « Notant que certains membres du PAP s’absentent de l’hémicycle, malgré les dispositions administratives et financières prises par les parlements nationaux respectifs », puisque nous avons la preuve que certains membres du Parlement sont absents du fait du non paiement de leurs frais, il serait préférable de s’arrêter en disant que « Notant que certains membres du PAP s’absentent de l’hémicycle », puisque, à la fin du paragraphe également, de demander aux parlements nationaux de prendre en charge les frais et de l’autre côté, demander que le Président du Parlement puisse appliquer certaines sanctions.Donc, il serait mieux de ne pas donner les raisons avant, puisqu’après, nous sommes en train de demander aux parlements des pays et de demander au Président du PAP de prendre les dispositions nécessaires.Je vous remercie.THE PRESIDENT:Hon member, I am not very clear on what you said.UN HONORABLE MEMBRE:Monsieur le Président, je disais que la phrase: « Notant quecertains membres du PAP s’absentent de l’hémicycle », moi, je m’arrête là. Le reste: « malgré les dispositions administratives et financières prises par les gouvernements », nous avons la preuve que pour certains membres du Parlement, leurs frais n’ont pas été pris en charge, notamment, le cas de la dame qui a parlé tout à l’heure, puisque quatre membres de son parlement ne sont pas présents du fait que le Gouvernement n’a pas pris en charge les frais. Donc, on peut laisser en suspens, en disant: « Notant que certains membres du PAP s’absentent de l’Hémicycle ». Là, nous unirons les raisons. Nous demandons, dans l’autre page « au Gouvernement de prendre en charge les frais pour ceux qui n’ont pas été présents ». Et, pour ceux pour qui les frais ont été pris en charge, nous demandons au Président du PAP d’appliquer le Règlement. Voilà, Monsieur le Président.(Applaudissements)THE PRESIDENT:Is the amendment proposed by the hon member from Djibouti agreed to?UN HONORABLE MEMBRE:Monsieur le Président, par-là, s’il vous plaît!Monsieur le Président!(Applaudissements)Arabia 15:50:40THE PRESIDENT:If it does happen, then you can communicate. We can’t slap you in the face about that, but I think even if you have an emergency, you can always communicate what the emergency is.UNE HONORABLE MEMBRE [HON. AMINA ABDOU SOUNA [NIGER]:Merci, Monsieur le Président.Moi, je pense qu’on peut garder le paragraphe comme tel, parce qu’on a bien dit que c’est « certains membres ». Donc, le « certains » n’englobe pas ceux qui sont pris en charge par leurs parlements...AN HON MEMBER:The hon member has to rise when she is debating.UNE HONORABLE MEMBRE [HON. AMINA ABDOU SOUNA [NIGER]:Yes, Sorry!Donc, Monsieur le Président, je disais qu’on peut bien garder le paragraphe comme tel, parce qu’on a bien dit: « certains » et « certains » ne doit pas prendre en charge ceux à qui les frais sont payés par leurs parlements. Donc, on peut bien garder « certains » et garder le paragraphe comme tel, sans changement.Merci, Monsieur le Président.THE PRESIDENT:Hon members, I think the issue is quite clear.HON JERRY DIMOTANA THIBEDI:Mr. President, this side. On the point raised by the hon member from Liberia, I think the "noting" part is mostly covered by the resolution, the resolve part, because if you look at resolve part number one, it calls on national Parliaments to effectively cover the expenses of their PAP members. I think that is sufficient. It is really a call on national Parliaments to cover the cost of their members of the Pan-African Parliament deployed here. So, I thought maybe we should not concern ourselves too much about the "noting’ because the "noting" is what we observe, but the resolution for me is critical. It is actually a decision from the House.THE PRESIDENT:thank you! Hon member from rabia 15:53:23ايضاُ توجد أخطاء إمالئية في النسخة العربية وهناك بعض األخطاء أرجو تصحيحها ثالثة او اربعة أخطاء تقريباً في النسخة أرجو أن تصحح وهي ال تؤثر علي النص ولكن أخطاءAN HON MEMBER:Mr. President, I just wanted to make a rejoinder to what the hon Thibedi has just said. Firstly, I agree with him. Secondly, I want us to finetune the phrasing of these things we are talking to our national Parliaments and say "the Pan-African Parliament will" strike out therefore, and let it go as " the Pan-African Parliament hereby resolves to (2) "call on", strike out the "s" like hon Marwick Khumalo just said, and then say "call on the national Parliaments to effectively cover the expenses of their Pan-African Parliaments members", strike out parliamentarians and continue " in order for them to attend the meetings of the Parliament". I think that will be absolutely significant.THE PRESIDENT:Is the amendment agreed to?HON. MARWICK KHUMALO [SWAZILAND]:Mr. President, can I just enrich my colleague’s submission, because if we are saying to "effectively cover the expenses of their parliamentarians" what do we really mean by "effectively cover"? What we have as our shield, as our spear, if I may call it that, is the executive decision which we have been cognizant of, but now we are resolving. We are not calling upon the Parliaments to respect that executive decision which actually even stipulates how much each member should get. That was the decision of the Executive Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs. I think this is what should come in, rather than to say, "to effectively cover the expenses of the parliamentarians". I think somewhere here we should insert that executive decision, as we would have recognised it on top. Thank you.THE PRESIDENT:While I agree with hon Khumalo about quoting that section as the basis on which we are demanding that the national Parliaments comply, I don’t think that provides for how much. It provides for what they should pay for.Is the proposal by hon Khumalo accepted? [Applause.] Secretary, please take note of that amendment.Arabia 15:56:19THE PRESIDENT:I think we have addressed all the possible amendments to this resolution and the question for House is: Do we adopt this resolution as amended? [Applause.]The Resolution is hereby adopted as amended.HON. DIKGANG PHILLIP MAKGALEMELE [BOTSWANA]:I thank you, Mr President. The Resolution on Poverty Eradication:PURSUANT to the provisions of Article 3 (6) of the Protocol to the Treaty establishing the Pan African Parliament which request to "contribute to a more prosperous future for the people of Africa by promoting collective self reliance and economic recovery";ACKNOWLEDGING the Memorandum of Understanding between the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), Heads of State and Government Implementation Committee and the Africa Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) on the challenges posed by wide spread poverty in Africa in the midst of richly endowed human and natural resources;CONVINCED that poverty can be effectively tackled the promotion of democracy, good governance, peace and security, development of human and physical resources, gender equality, openness to international trade and investment, allocation of appropriate funds to the social sector of the economy, increased partnership between Government and the private sector with the private sector playing a pivotal role;CONSCIOUS of the need to support the African Union Agenda 2063 which seeks amongst others to eliminate poverty and malnutrition and guarantee food security on the continent;NOTING with concern that ineffective policy and programme implementation over the years is attributable to lack of strong political will and corruption at various levels of government coupled with weak accountability mechanism;RECOGNISING the need to initiate and implement as a matter of urgency home grown pragmatic policies and programmes based on the Millennium Development Goals;STRESSING the importance of the Maputo Declaration of 2003 on Agriculture and Food Security in Africa, in particular the commitment to devote 10 percent of the national budget to the implementation of agricultural and rural development policies;AWARE of the challenges associated with access to land by the poor especially women;CONCERNED about the increasing challenge of youth unemployment due to the lack of employable skills;The Pan-African Parliament hereby resolves:1.That poverty eradication policy and strategy development debates be held during each PA Ordinary Session;2.To compile positive poverty eradication case studies from member states into a special PAP publication to be launched as part of the activities in commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of the AU as an instrument indicating that, poverty can indeed be eradicated. It is further agreed that the launch be held during the next Pan-African Parliament Ordinary Session scheduled from October 21 to November 01, 2013; and3.To appoint an eminent person as the PAP Special Goodwill Ambassador.Done in Midrand on 16th May, 2013ENDSTHE PRESIDENT:Honourable members - yes, honourable from ZambiaHON. MEMBER:AN HONOURABLE MEMBERThank you Mr President. On the resolutions on page 11 of 12, given that we have noted that African governments need to allocate at least 10 per cent of their budget to the agriculture sector, which has not been the case so far as only a few countries have been able to do that, I therefore propose an amendment by proposing a third resolution which should say ‘we call upon African governments to allocate a minimum 10 per cent of their annual budget to the agriculture sector;I thank you.THE PRESIDENT:Honourable member, I believe that what you have said is relevant but you are aware that there is already the Maputo Declaration under the CAADP programme. Maybe what we need to do is to quote that declaration and ask member states to implement it, that way we will be referring to an existing decision of the African Union.AN HONOURABLE MEMBERMr President, that indeed is an African Union decision but the point I made is that although that decision has been made, not all countries have been able to allocate 10 per cent of their annual budget to the agriculture sector. I merely proposed that we should make another resolution by quoting that decision you mentioned and by calling on African governments to at least allocate a minimum of 10 per cent of their annual budget to the agriculture sector.I thank you.MR PRESIDENT:Honourable member, which paragraph would you like that resolution to be added?AN HONOURABLE MEMBERMr President, it can come as a fourth resolution on page 11.MR PRESIDENT:Ok. Honourable members, the proposal from the Honourable member from Zambia is that we refer to the decision of the4 Maputo Declaration that member states should invest 10 per cent of their national budgets to be dedicated to agriculture be fully implemented as a way of eradicating poverty. Is that agreed to?ApplauseMR PRESIDENT:So it should be fair to look at the other amendment.Yes, honourable member from Botswana.AN HONOURABLE MEMBERMr President, on page 20, after the word ‘noting’ at the bottom part of the paragraph were it says ‘various levels of government’. I am wondering whether we are talking of a single government or governments? Should we not add an ‘S’ at the end of the word government.I thank you.MR PRESIDENT:I am sorry, which line are you referring to?AN HONOURABLE MEMBERI am referring to page 10. There is only one paragraph that commences with the word ‘noting’. The last line saying ‘various levels of government’. I thought we are dealing with governments and not government in Africa, so I am wondering whether we should put an‘s’ so that it reads as ‘governments’.I thank you.MR PRESIDENT:I believe that the sentence ‘various levels of government’ will mean the national, regional, and local councils where they exist. In fact, a lot of the poverty alleviation programmes in many countries are run by local councils and the level of corruption in those local councils makes them ineffective. Therefore, I think that the sentence ‘various levels of government’ is correct.Yes, honourable member from Tunisia.AN HONOURABLE MEMBER:[Arabia]MR PRESIDENT:So the honourable member is proposing that the Article of the debates should be sent to national parliaments. Is that correct? Is that proposal or ammendment agreed to?ApplauseUN HONORABLE MEMBRE:Merci, Monsieur le Président.Dans le premier paragraphe, « Conformément aux dispositions de l’article 3 (6) du Protocole (...) » et non pas « au Protocole ».Le troisième paragraphe vers la fin « (.) à l’allocation de fonds suffisants au secteur social de l’économie, à l’amélioration du partenariat entre l’État et le secteur privé (.) ».Du point de vue de la forme, on sent qu’il y a un surplus là « avec le ce secteur ». Alors là, je crois qu’il faut supprimer « avec le ».Merci Monsieur le Président.Mr PRESIDENT:Thank you.MR PRESIDENT:Thank you. Secretary, please take note of that recommendation.Yes Honourable Sam from Uganda.AN HONOURABLE MEMBERMr President, I just want to seek guidance on resolution number 3. When we say that the Pan African Parliament hereby resolves to appoint an eminent person as a PAP Special Good Will Ambassador. Since that is coming from a resolution emanating from poverty issues on the African continent, I take it that the eminent person or the good will ambassador is for poverty related issues, or is he a general good will ambassador for all issues of the Pan African Parliament. If it is specific to poverty, then I think the resolution has to be captured as such.MR PRESIDENT:It is a good will ambassador for poverty eradication.AN HONOURABLE MEMBERThen it is most appreciated.MR PRESIDENT:Yes, honourable member from Ethiopia.AN HOURABLE MEMBERThank you Mr President. My suggestion about gender is not included in the resolutions. About 50 per cent of the population in Africa is comprised of women. In the debates, I remember that we said that attention has to be given to women issues especially on ownership of land. I think that in one heading there should be something about women although i do not know what approach can be used to add this in the resolution. But I know that women have been ommited and we have to give attention to women because the poorest of the poor are women. Therefore, to eradicate poverty, I think we have to consider giving special attention to women in these resolutions.I thank you.MR PRESIDENT:Yes, Phillip, do you want to respond to that.AN HONOURABLE MEMBERYes, Mr President. I think that while I appreciate the comment from the honourable member, I think the fact that we have said that we should compile a publication on positive poverty eradication case studies will cover that issue on women. This is because quite a number of countries have poverty eradication interventions, which touch different disadvantaged groups such as women,people living with disabilities or young people. I think that the spirit of what she has proposed is already covered in this proposal.MR PRESIDENT:Is that satisfactory to you, honourable member from Ethiopia?AN HONOURABLE MEMBERNo, I am not satisfied. Anyway, the House has accepted the resolutions the way they are. I think special attention has to be given to women. The honourable member spoke of women as part of a group of vulnerable people but i think that 50 per cent of the population is composed of women and if we do not work on this, we cannot eradicate poverty.I thank you.MR PRESIDENT:Can we have a clear proposal on this issue. The proposal should be on the issue of taking care of the women, you know that I am outnumbered by women in the Bureau so it is important that we take care of the issues concerning women.Yes Hon. Labelle.AN HONOURABLE MEMBERThank you your Excellency, I agree with the concern of my colleague from Ethiopia but when I look at paragraph 3, the third sentence talks about poverty can only be effectively tackeled through gender equality. I think that when we talked about gender equality, we took care of the women.MR PRESIDENT:Yes Hon....AN HONOURABLE MEMBERHonourable President, let me add something under the sentence, ‘conscious of the need to support the African Union Agenda 2063 which seeks among others to eliminate poverty and malnutrition, and gaurantee food security on the continent.’ Maybe we should also make reference or special attention to women and children.MR PRESIDENT:Ok, your proposal is that we should add that line to the sentence ‘conscious of the need to support the African Union Agenda 2063 which seeks among others to eliminate poverty and malnutrition and gaurantee food security on the continent especially...AN HONOURABLE MEMBERI said we add ‘with special attention to women.’MR PRESIDENT:Ok, is that proposal or ammendment accepted?InterruptionsMR PRESIDENT:The proposal is hereby adopted.ApplauseTHE PRESIDENT:Honourable members, I think we have exhausted ammendments to this proposal and that the basic concept behind this Motion is to draw attention to the prevalent issue of poverty on our continent. During the various debates that are proposed and various studies that have been proposed, we will now highlight the individual possible solutions to the issue of poverty eradication. I believe that the Motion serves its purpose. I hereby put that this Motion before the House be agreed to. Is it agreed to?ApplauseMR PRESIDENT:I thank you.Honourable members, I will now call on the Honourable...Khumalo, Chairperson of the Permanent Committee on Cooperation, International Relations and Conflict Resolution to present the draft recommendations on Mali.THE CHAIRPERSON OF THE PERMANENT COMMITTEE ON COOPERATION, INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND CONFLICT RESOLUTION MR [MARWICK KHUMALO]:French...Recomendations on the Situation in Mali.LaughterConcerned by the political security and humanitarian situation in Mali which is a multi dimensional crisis.Fully aware that the Northen Mali had gone through nine months under the occupation of the rebel forces of the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) and armed groups professing religious extremism namely the Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAW) Asar Dine and Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).HON. MARWICK KHUMALO [SWAZILAND]:I thank you, Mr. President.Recommendation on the situation in Central African Republic."CONCERNED about the significant deterioration of the situation in the Central African Republic since December 2012;EXPRESSING CONCERN over the political, security, and socio-economic challenges that the Central African populace is facing;CONDEMNING the Coup d’Etat of 22 March 2023, against the regime of President Francois Bozize, which is an unconstitutional change of Government;NOTING that the political history of the Central African Republic has been alternating between abortive attempts at democratization and violence caused by civil wars and coup d’etat which have plunged the country into a permanent crises thus increasingly aggravating on a daily basis, the living conditions of its citizens;AWARE of the chronic crises in the Central African Republic, attributable to four major factors namely the entrenchment of the culture of military rebellion, the absence of good governance, the alarming deterioration of the socio-economic situation and the decline of the national army;WELCOMING the decisions taken by the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) during its last Summit held on April 28, 2023 in N’Djamena, establishing the road map on the transition;The Pan-African Parliament’THEREFORE RECOMMENDS THAT:1.The Central African Republic Transitional Government should redefine the new basis to reconstruct the State;2.The African Union and the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) should work towards the establishment of an international contact group, as soon as possible, as it was proposed in the last ECCAS Summit in order to mobilize resources for the organs of the transition and to help them resolving antagonisms and conflicts between the various bodies, which could block the elections process;3.The African Union should discourage the candidature of the current President of the transition even if he resigns three months before the date of the elections;4.The African Union should get involved in all the phases of the electoral processes (parliamentary and presidential) in order to guarantee their credibility and transparency; Done in Midrand on the 26 May 2023"I submit, Mr. President.THE PRESIDENT:Honourable Members, the question before this House is that we adopt the Recommendation on Central African Republic, as proposed - Agreed to?[Applause]THE PRESIDENT:The Recommendation is hereby adopted.Honourable Members, I would now call on Hon Marwick Khumalo to present the Recommendation on the situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo.HON. MARWICK KHUMALO [SWAZILAND]:I thank you, Mr. President.Recommendation on the situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo"DEEPLY CONCERNED about the declaration of the peace and security situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo;ALARMED that the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo were plunged into a new cycle of violence by the M23 rebellion;WELCOMING the mediation process of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) between the M23 and the government of Kinshasa;APPRECIATING the UN decision to put in place and fund and Intervention Brigade (IB) composed of South African, Malawian and Tanzanian soldiers which will function as a part of the UN stabilisation mission in the DRC (MONUSCO) with the mandate to carry out targeted armed operations against the M23 and other rebel groups operating in the eastern DRC;TAKING INTO CONSIDERATION its role to promote peace and security on the African continent;The Pan-African Parliament,THEREFORE RECOMMENDS THAT:1.The International Community should not pull out, but should continue to support the DRC in its efforts for peace in the eastern region of the country;2.The Intervention Brigade (IB) should campaign very seriously to gain the support of the local population in order not to be viewed as MONUSCO, who has faced attacks from the local population due to their failures to protect civilians;3.The African Union should request for the redefinition of MONUSCO;4.The African Union should encourage the Democratic Republic of Congo to start preparing, as soon as possible, for its 2016 elections by ensuring that there is an effective mechanism for free and fair elections because the country can no longer afford more flawed elections as it was the case in 2011;5.The African Union should exhort the DRC Government to take responsibility for its own political reforms, but also for the Security Sector Reform (SSR) and Demobilisation, Disarmament and Reintegration (DDR);6.The International Community should focus its efforts on assisting the Democratic Republic of Congo with Security Sector Reform (SSR) and Demobilisation, Disarmament and Reintegration (DDR);Done in Midrand on the 26 May 2023"I submit, Mr. President.THE PRESIDENT:Honourable Members, yes, Honourable Member from Niger.UN HONORABLE MEMBRE [HON. ASSOUMANA MALAM ISSA [NIGER]:Monsieur le Président, merci pour cette recommandation, mais je voudrais faire une suggestion au point 4:« L’Union Africaine encourage, le plus tôt possible, la République Démocratique du Congo à commencer à préparer ses élections de 2016, en s’assurant qu’il y a sur place un mécanisme efficace pour des élections libres et régulières ».Je propose qu’on s’arrête à ce niveau sans faire référence aux élections de 2011, parce que je me dis que nous nous plaçons dans une logique de réconciliation. Donc, il ne serait pas très adroit de jeter un coup d’œil sur ce qui s’est passé dans le passé.Je propose qu’on s’arrête juste à « élections libres et régulières » et on supprime le reste de la phrase.Merci Monsieur le Président.(Applaudissements)THE PRESIDENT:Honourable Members, is the amendment acceptable?[Applause]Amendment is hereby agreed to and the sentence will stop at "free and fair elections."Yes, the hand up - Yes, Honourable -UN HONORABLE MEMBRE:Monsieur le Président, je vous remercie de m’avoir donné la parole.On parle de la République Démocratique du Congo et donc on touche un peu à mon cœur, étant donné que ma raison se trouve présentement au PAP, au Parlement panafricain. Et donc si ma mémoire ne me fait pas défaut, il nous a été indiqué, ici, par Madame la Présidente de la Commission de l’Union africaine qu’un Sommet se prépare au mois de janvier prochain, sauf mémoire.À notre humble avis, il aurait été indiqué que nous attendions quels seraient les avis que donneraient les collègues Présidents au niveau de la Conférence de manière à pouvoir soutenir l’action ultérieurement par le Parlement panafricain.D’autre part, Monsieur le Président, nous estimons que le temps qui nous est imparti pour exprimer, avec passion peut-être puisqu’il s’agit de mon pays, ce qui se passe en République Démocratique du Congo ne le permettra pas.Cependant de très gros efforts sont en train d’être consentis et puisque nous sommes législatifs par le Parlement national, en ce qui concerne les réformes liées notamment dans le secteur et pour la préparation et l’organisation des élections transparentes, crédibles et auxquelles tous les experts pourraient être invités. Et donc, en définitif, nous suggérerons, Monsieur le Président, que lorsqu’il s’agirait de recommandations ou de résolutions portant sur un État qui est membre de l’Union africaine et qui est représenté au sein du Parlement panafricain, la moindre des choses, je pense, valable pour la République Démocratique du Congo et pour les autres États membres de l’Union africaine, la moindre des choses, disais-je, serait de consulter les représentants ou les délégués de cet État concerné qui se trouvent être membres du Parlement panafricain.Monsieur le Président, je vous remercie.THE PRESIDENT:Chairman?HON. MARWICK KHUMALO [SWAZILAND]:Mr. President, I think the Member would be aware that this is as a result of a Report that was tabled by our Committee on Cooperation and the Recommendations come from that process.And if I may add, Mr. President, that we are fortunate in our Committee to have a Member from the Democratic Republic of Congo who has been very helpful in assisting the Committee on the situation in that country.Thank you, Mr. President.THE PRESIDENT:Yes, Honourable Member from Tunisia?4:40:53 - 4:41: 297 [Arabic]السيد الرئيس في النقطة الثالثة من التوصيات ينبقي علي اإلتحاد األفريقي طلب إلعادة تعريف ذلك. األتحاد األفريقي يوصي ، يوصي من يوصي نفسه هذا ال يستقيم هذا إلتزام يلتزم اإلتحاد األفريقي مش يوصي فالتوصية في غير مكانها ومكانها غير مناسب فالموصي والموصي هو واحد واإلتحاد األفريقي يوصي نفسه وهذا هو نوع من اإللتزام وليس التوصيوشكراHON. MARWICK KHUMALO [SWAZILAND]:Mr. President, I am reading the English version that says "The African Union should..." and I think we are calling upon the African Union to do so. So, I am not too sure if the Member would want it to be stronger than what we have written here to say it should.Thank you.THE PRESIDENT:Secretariat, please, try and crosscheck the Arabic translation to ensure that they meet with the Recommendation.Yes, the Honourable Member from Uganda.HON. SAM OTADA AMOOTI (UGANDA):Thank you, Mr. President.On page 5, where we are talking about "welcoming the mediation process of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) between the M23 and the government of Kinshasa" I just wanted some clarification. Is the Honourable Marwick referring to the Kampala Talks - the Kampala Mediation?THE PRESIDENT:And in addition to that I think the Government of Kinshasa is the wrong appellation of the government of the country.Chairman?HON. MARWICK KHUMALO [SWAZILAND]:That is correct, Mr. President.THE PRESIDENT:And the first question?HON. SAM OTADA AMOOTI (UGANDA):May you clarify whether you are referring to the Kampala negotiations?HON. MARWICK KHUMALO [SWAZILAND]:Mr. President, the Honourable Member is quite correct because the Kampala negotiations there have been a series of meetings in this area. But yes, the Kampala negotiations was the centre of the mediation process. So, it is included, Honourable Member.THE PRESIDENT:Thank you.HON. SAM OTADA AMOOTI (UGANDA):Mr. President, just a little follow-up.On the floor of this House, there were - I think in the last session, accusation of Uganda supporting the M23, Rwanda supporting the M23 and then the Kampala negotiations again did not go down very well with some people who have that sort of suspicions in their minds. I do not know how we can - Hon Marwick - I do not know how we can be clear about this particular mediation process. Are we okay to lump it up as the ICGLR negotiation or we need to unpack that and then un-rub the meat that comes with it? I just want you to give us some bit of guidance.HON. MARWICK KHUMALO [SWAZILAND]:Thank you, Mr. President.Maybe, Mr. President, I would plead with my good friend from Uganda that he should not worry about the past. This is a result of what is happening presently and what he is talking about happened then did not happen now. So, he should feel free, Uganda is not presented in a bad light now. We hold the view that that mediation process recently held in Kampala actually was the milestone. So, this is what we just cited.THE PRESIDENT:Yes, Honourable?UN HONORABLE MEMBRE [HON. AUBIN NGONGO LUWOWO [RÉPUBLIQUE DÉMOCRATIQUE DU CONGO]:Merci, Monsieur le Président.C’est NGONGO LUWOWO de la République Démocratique du Congo!Je viens de suivre mon collègue de l’Ouganda. Comme vous venez de le dire, ce qui est passé est passé. La République Démocratique du Congo, notre pays, a démontré, preuve à l’appui, les appuis qui venaient des pays voisins. Mais nous n’en sommes pas là. Ici, nous cherchons des solutions à la paix en République Démocratique du Congo.Je voudrais tout simplement faire remarquer au Parlement panafricain que nous sommes en train de lire la recommandation sur mon pays, la République Démocratique du Congo. Tout à l’heure, on a lu des résolutions sur les pays qui étaient en guerre. Je dis bien au passé, le Mali était en guerre grâce aux forces africaines et à l’opération Serval, le Mali est pratiquement complètement libéré. Donc, le territoire Malien est récupéré par l’État Malien grâce aux amis.La République Centrafricaine, il y a eu un coup d’État malheureux. Tout le territoire est entre les mains du nouveau régime. Dans les deux pays, nous venons de proposer une résolution pour envoyer une délégation, une mission du PAP. Mais la République Démocratique du Congo, mon pays, qui est encore occupée, une partie du territoire congolais est entre les mains des rebelles dont l’origine - je ne rentre pas sous l’origine - une partie du pays n’est pas sous souveraineté de Kinshasa. Mais je ne vois pas la résolution demandant une mission du Parlement panafricain pour élucider tout ce que nous sommes en train de dire ici. Je pense que si le PAP est d’accord, le Président KHUMALO pourrait proposer une résolution pour qu’une délégation aille voir clair. Vous voyez que c’est tellement flou, on parle de Kampala, on parle de rebelles, on parle de ceux qui les ont soutenus. Je souhaite que le PAP envoie une délégation, une mission de renseignements, d’informations en République Démocratique du Congo, principalement à l’Est de la République pour voir de visu qu’est-ce qui s’y passe.Je vous remercie, Monsieur le Président.THE PRESIDENT:Mr. Chair?HON. MARWICK KHUMALO [SWAZILAND]:Thank you, very much, Mr. President.I think the Honourable Member is quite in order, Mr. President. The issue was discussed at length in the Committee and I had the opportunity to discuss the matter with the President and the President gave guidance on how to solicit funding to pursue this matter and I would be consulting the President on the resolution to send a mission. But currently, the funding was not sufficient to do all the missions at once. Otherwise, the President is aware that the Committee has resolved that a mission would be sent and these are ways we are planning to work on this matter. Otherwise, the Honourable Member, Mr. President, is quite in order.THE PRESIDENT:Thank you, very much.Honourable Members, the question before the House is that we adopt the Recommendation on Democratic Republic of Congo - [Interruption] - Sorry, Chair, Privileges, Rules and Discipline.HON. ZELY PIERRE INZOUNGOU MASSANGA [PRÉSIDENT DE LA COMMISSION DES RÈGLEMENTS, DES PRIVILÈGES ET DE LA DISCIPLINE]:Monsieur le Président, je vous remercie.Nous avons, ici, une pratique, Monsieur le Président, quand il y a des situations de sécurité ou d’insécurité dans certains États membres, la pratique c’est que généralement nous envoyons une mission d’informations. Après quoi, le rapport est discuté, ici, et souvent sanctionné soit par une résolution, soit par des recommandations.Nous nous trouvons ici, face à une situation qui est, du reste, très préoccupante. Et ici, la Présidente de la Commission de l’Union africaine nous a dit qu’il y a une Conférence des Chefs d’États qui est projetée. Le Président de la Commission de la Coopération, des Relations Internationales et du Règlement des Conflits vient de nous dire qu’il y a, au sein de la Commission, l’intention de commettre une mission d’information en République Démocratique du Congo.Je pense que notre démarche gagnerait en efficacité si nous attendions que cette mission soit mise en route, qu’elle nous présente son rapport et qu’aux termes du débat sur ce rapport, qu’on prenne une recommandation, une résolution. Aujourd’hui, nous allons nous précipiter pour prendre cette recommandation et si demain les moyens nous permettaient de mettre en route la mission sur Kinshasa, que ferons-nous après et si on arrive et qu’on constate que certaines informations qui nous ont permis de faire cette recommandation sont dépassées, qu’est-ce que nous ferons? Prendrons-nous une deuxième résolution, une deuxième recommandation, ou alors on va maintenir celle-là?Je propose donc, Monsieur le Président, qu’on n’est pas pressé. Nous pouvons ajourner le débat sur cette recommandation et l’avoir opportunément après la mission d’informations qui pourrait être commise pour Kinshasa.Je vous remercie, Monsieur le Président.HON. MARWICK KHUMALO [SWAZILAND]:Mr. President, we would be doing great disservice and injustice to the situation in the DRC if we do not express ourselves as the Pan-African Parliament, even in the form of a recommendation. We should not be stalled by the issue of insufficient funding to send a Mission because we still need to be seized with the matter and we need to be heard as the Pan-African Parliament what we say on the DRC because the issue remains serious in that area.Mr. President, I think it does not necessarily follow that any time there is a Resolution, that Resolution is covered by Recommendation. Some Recommendations stand alone and the Hon Inzoungou Massanga is aware of that. Some Recommendations stand alone outside Resolution.But this is not to say, Mr. President, that this issue is taken lightly. We, as a Committee, we have had an amount of time deliberating on this issue and it will be unfortunate if we resolve not to say something on the DRC.So, I plead with my colleague, the Honourable Inzoungou Massanga to let this Recommendation continue, chances are that the Pan-African Parliament can be heard that it has expressed itself on the DRC.Thank you, Mr. President.THE PRESIDENT:Thank you, very much.Honourable Members, is there any more?In the absence of any more contribution to this, I shall now put the question that this Report on the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Recommendations be agreed to.[Applause]THE PRESIDENT:Recommendations are hereby agreed to.Honourable Members, I therefore call on the Hon. Khumalo to present Recommendations on the situation in Somalia.HON. MARWICK KHUMALO [SWAZILAND]:Mr. President, once again, thank you very much.Recommendation on the situation in Somalia."TAKING NOTE of the notable progress in the areas of security and the political processes, since the coming into place of Somalia’s new government in September, 2022’APPRECIATING the successful swearing-in of the Prime Minister Abdi Farah Shirdon Saaid and his cabinet which is seen as the most visible political achievement in the country;ENCOURAGED by the remarkable extension of security beyond Mogadishu and commendable battle successes by AMISOM and its allied forces;NOTING that despite making significant progress in the extension of security beyond Mogadishu, the Al- Shabaab still remains the primary threat to the survival of the new Somalia government and realisation of peace in the country;RECOGNIZING the efforts made by the government through the support of the African Union forces and Ethiopian troops to succeed in extending security beyond Mogadishu notwithstanding all the challenges;DEEP CONCERNED about the decision of the Prime Minister of Ethiopia to pool out the Ethiopian troops from Somalia soon, due to the lack of resources;CONCERNED about the tensions over the control of Kismayo and other surrounding areas;CONSIDERING that there are many sources of tensions and contentions about the Jubaland process;The Pan-African ParliamentTHEREFORE RECOMMENDS THAT:1.The International Community, the African Union, IGAD and the Somalia Government should work together in order to bring on board all stakeholders involved in the creation of Jubaland;2.The African Union troops should take over from the Ethiopian forces those areas they are holding, as requested by the country.Done in Midrand on the 16 May 2013I submit, Mr. President.THE PRESIDENT:Thank you, Mr. Chair.4:56:00 - 4:56: 46 - [Arabic]THE PRESIDENT:Thank you.Secretariat, take note of the amendment and grammatical errors.Yes, Honourable Member from Uganda.HON. SAM OTADA AMOOTI (UGANDA):Mr. President, I just really want to be guided by the Chair. First, we talked about paragraph number five, recognizing the efforts made by the Government, through the support of the AU forces and Ethiopia troops following, my question is are the Ethiopia troops operating parallel to the African Union troops? Are they there on their own as Ethiopians? Because also Uganda has troops there and they are operating under the African Union Forces. So, do we have two different outfits in this situation. I just want the Chairperson to give me some bit of guidance on that.HON. MARWICK KHUMALO [SWAZILAND]:Mr. President, I think the Honourable Member would note that when we were doing the Resolutions there are specific areas that have been assigned to the Ethiopia troops - specific areas within Somalia. That is why now when they are pulling out, the worry is that who is going to take over those specific areas specifically assigned to the Ethiopian troops. That is how it is.HON. SAM OTADA AMOOTI (UGANDA):But that does not quite settle my mind because that means - Is the Chairperson saying we have two parallel military arrangements; the Ethiopian and the African Union. I just want to have my mind clear about this.HON. MARWICK KHUMALO [SWAZILAND]:Well, I would not say that they are operating along parallel lines. But I think you would note that, for instance, the AU forces from Uganda have been there longer than the others. I think the Ethiopian forces, according to the information that we have, are in charge of certain specific areas. But that is not to say they are separate entities or they are operating along parallel lines.It is rather the concern also, Mr. President, Members would appreciate that the issues of Ethiopia is well known now that they want to pull out from where they have been mandated to oversee the process. So, we are very much worried by now.So, I would not agree to the Honourable Member that they are operating parallel lines. No.HON MEMBER FROM BOTSWANA:Thank you, Mr. President.Just radar from my colleague from Uganda. Would it cause any harm if we were to remove Ethiopian troops and just leave African Union forces. I am just asking the Chairperson if we were to remove "Ethiopian troops" from that sentence?HON. MARWICK KHUMALO [SWAZILAND]:Mr. President, I am not too sure how harmful it is as it is right now. Unless I am sure and it is demonstrated to me that it is harmful. But as it is now, and the way things are, this is how it is. And you can counter-check with AU documents on the peace and security situation. This is how it is. So, whether we remove it or not, this is how it is. Unless Member are saying it is somehow harmful.Thank you, Mr. President.HON. ASHEBIR WOLDEGIORGIS GAYO [ETHIOPIA]:I think I second the Recommendation of the Committee. Mine is only optional - it says, African Union troops should take over from the Ethiopian forces those areas that they are holding as requested by the country. No. My recommendation is, it should be optional "or support Ethiopian to retain the position." Are we saying that the Committee has already identified the problem. The problem is Ethiopian do not like to stay there because of financial resource problem only. So, it should be optional to give Ethiopia that option also to support Ethiopia to retain that position.Mr. President, thank you.THE PRESIDENT:Chair, you may respond.HON. MARWICK KHUMALO [SWAZILAND]:Mr. President, I am getting lost. I am trying to follow what the Honourable Member is saying because surely we are talking about the statement that was made by the Prime Minister of Ethiopia in Parliament about the pullout. Now, I am getting lost if he is saying we should say the Ethiopia should remain - [Some Honourable Members: Optional] - The Honourable Member from Uganda wants to help me, Mr. President, with your permission, please.THE PRESIDENT:Yes, Honourable Member from Uganda.HON. SAM OTADA AMOOTI (UGANDA):Mr. President, I just want to buttress what Dr Gayo said. This is because whereas it is true that the Prime Minister made that statement in Parliament and the fact on the ground is that the Ethiopian troops are still on the ground, Mr. President, I think urging them to remain will be a positive thing. Urging the Ethiopian government to retain the Ethiopian troops on the ground will be a welcome thing. In fact, I also want to give information that there is debate in Uganda about the possibility of withdrawal and I think any effort or voice that goes out to encourage somebody not to do otherwise, not to pullout is a positive voice going out there.[Applause].HON. MARWICK KHUMALO [SWAZILAND]:Mr. President, I think, we would like, gladly, as a Committee to add that recommendation because clearly we are all concerned. Africa is concerned by the imminent pullout of Ethiopia. So, if we would like to urge them to reconsider their decision or position to pullout and remain in that situation, that is a welcome recommendation, Mr. President and we would like to add here. We appreciate that.Thank you, Mr. President.[Applause]HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER FROM ETHIOPIA:Thank you, Mr. President.I think Ethiopia wants us to withdraw from that area not for any reason but because of the financial support that we are supporting ourselves. We have stayed for long time there so the government needs to withdraw from there. In the Recommendation, not only simply pushing to stay there but the other facilities should be even be added to push the African Union to facilitate extracting the things for staying there.Thank you.HON. MEMBER FROM SOUTH AFRICA:Thank you, Mr. President.I think, firstly, I agree with Chair of the Committee that paragraph on "Recognising" should be left as it is because the Ethiopian troops are performing a special function. But we all know that even if they are performing a special function they operate under the auspices of the African Union.Secondly, in terms of the new proposal of urging Ethiopian to remain. I think the first thing is that we must urge the African Union to consider the request of Ethiopia in terms of financial strength to remain in that area so that our argument must be, we want Ethiopia to remain there but their concerned about financial resources, the AU must actually consider that very seriously because pulling out there will be a disaster.Thank you, Mr. President.UN HONORABLE MEMBRE [DJIBOUTI]:Oui, Monsieur le Président.Nous nous trouvons également dans la corne de l’Afrique et nous connaissons les problèmes qui se posent réellement en Somalie.D’abord, je tiens, ici, à m’incliner devant toutes les troupes qui sont tombées sous les balles des extrémistes et djihadistes, notamment les troupes ougandaises, burundaises et éthiopiennes qui sont mortes pour la paix en Afrique. Et donc, c’est un élément très important si nous pouvons pacifier ce continent, il faut également penser à ces soldats qui sont tués sur les champs alors qu’ils exerçaient dans le cadre de la paix et la sécurité pour des populations vulnérables, faibles et fragiles.Je vous rappelle que les troupes éthiopiennes ont également joué un rôle important dans cette région et, grâce à elles, une partie de la Somalie a été pacifiée. Alors que, maintenant, un gouvernement plus ou moins reconnu par la communauté internationale est en train de s’installer, il serait mal venu que la partie éthiopienne se retire parce qu’elle va laisser le champ libre aux extrémistes qui vont profiter de cette situation pour s’armer et mener des guerres et des attentats.Donc, on peut recommander, comme nous l’avons fait au Congo, que les troupes éthiopiennes, de l’IGAD et de l’Union africaine puissent être maintenues en Somalie.Je vous remercie.HON. MEMBER FROM BOTSWANA:Thank you, Mr. President.I am a member of the Cooperation Committee. When we were considering this Recommendation, I think we did consider the fact that Ethiopians are there and they are bearing cost on their own without the help of the AU or indeed, of the international community. But what I think of the Honourable Member’s suggestion is that I think it makes sense that we carry an amendment where we would say: "Resources should be availed to the Ethiopians" so that they continue staying there. Otherwise, anything equivalent to a pullout - Al- Shabaab is very active. They are lying low. As soon as a little space opens, they will rear their heads out.I thank you, Mr. President.HON. MARWICK KHUMALO [SWAZILAND]:Mr. President, paragraph six, states clear why Ethiopia is pulling out. That is one.Number two, we welcome the amendment made by Honourable Colleagues that we first have to urge the African Union to acquire the necessary resources in order to help Ethiopian forces remaining in Somalia. So, we would be happy to approach it from that angle and we would want Ethiopia to remain and we would like to urge the African Union to provide the necessary resources.Thank you.[Applause]THE PRESIDENT:The proposed amendment by the Chair, agreed to?[Applause]THE PRESIDENT:Honourable Members, the question before the House is that we adopt the Recommendations as proposed are agreed to?[Applause]THE PRESIDENT:Thank you, very much.I now call on Hon. Khumalo to present Recommendation on the issue of Decolonisation of Western Sahara.HON. MARWICK KHUMALO [SWAZILAND]:I thank you, Mr. President.Recommendation on the issue of Decolonisation of Western Sahara."Considering the Resolutions of the UN General Assembly and the Security Council on Western Sahara, recognizing the inalienable right of the Saharawi people to self-determination to be exercised by means of a free, fair and transparent referendum;Expressing its deep concern about the continuation of the illegal occupation of parts of the Saharawi Republic (SADR) by Morocco that continues to violate systematically the human rights of the population of the territory and to plunder their natural resources;Underscoring the need of establishing a mechanism for the protection, monitoring and reporting on human rights in the occupied territories of the Saharawi Republic (SADR) and;Calling for a number of practical steps and urgent solution towards the decolonization of the Western Sahara;The Pan-African Parliament,Therefore recommends that:1.The African Union use all the potentials to exert pressure on the Moroccan government to comply with international legitimacy and the application of a self-determination referendum, as well as to ensure the protection of human rights by expanding the powers of het United Nations in the region.2.That the African Union develop an urgent strategy with other continental and international organizations in order to urgently resolve the dispute in Western Sahara.Done in Midrand on the 26 May 2023"I submit, Mr. President.HON. PATRICK MWALULA [ZAMBIA]:Mr. President, is a small one. On the second or last recommendation "That the African Union develop an urgent strategy with other continental and international organizations..." I am suggesting that we replace the word "organisations" with "community" so that it reads: "J the African Union develop an urgent strategy with other continental and international community in order to urgently resolve the dispute in Western Sahara."THE PRESIDENT:I would think that "international organisations" will include UN and others. Maybe we can add "community" to that.HON. PATRICK MWALULA [ZAMBIA]:"International community" will also involve "organisations". I am suggesting that because the word "community" is not embracing because "international organisations" will normally leave out countries because you cannot refer to a country as an organisation. So, I thought that "international community" will be more embracing.Thank you, Mr. President.THE PRESIDENT:I would have thought we can add it instead removing the one that we have.Thank you.Chair?HON. MARWICK KHUMALO [SWAZILAND]:Mr. President, actually, I agree your rendition of the paragraph. Mr. President, because if we were to remove organisations then it is not going to read well because we cannot say "continental community" because it involves continental and international. So, it has to be "organisations and community". I agree with that.Thank you, Mr. President.THE PRESIDENT:Thank you.Secretariat should note the amendment that "community" is being proposed to be added.Is that agreed to by the floor?[Applause]THE PRESIDENT:Agreed.HON MEMBER FROM WESTERN SAHARAWI:5:15:11 - 5:15:45 [Arabic]THE PRESIDENT:Thank you.Chairman?HON. MARWICK KHUMALO [SWAZILAND]:Mr. President, we gladly welcome that recommendation. I think it is very fair that the PAP can play a role in sensitizing these other parliamentary bodies, as the Honourable Member has spoken of.Thank you, Mr. President.THE PRESIDENT:Is that amendment agreed to?[Applause]THE PRESIDENT:Amendment agreed to.UN HONORABLE MEMBRE DU TOGO:Merci, Monsieur le Président.Je voudrais au niveau du paragraphe 2, qu’on ajoute « systématiquement des droits fondamentaux de l’homme ».Je voudrais également au niveau du dernier paragraphe, au lieu de mettre: « afin de résoudre d’urgence le conflit au Sahara Occidental », je crois savoir que ce n’est pas un conflit, c’est une occupation, donc c’est une colonisation, donc « de résoudre d’urgence la colonisation au Sahara Occidental ».Et puis troisièmement, je souhaiterais qu’on écrive totalement la date, parce qu’elle ne me semble pas être écrite totalement: « Fait à Midrand », sur les autres recommandations également, on doit pouvoir corriger, « Fait à Midrand, le jeudi 16 mai 2013. »Merci Monsieur le Président.(Applaudissements)THE PRESIDENT:I think the first recommendation is on the fundamental human right, is that agreed to.[Applause]THE PRESIDENT:The second recommendation is on the issue of replacing "dispute" with "colonization" - is that agreed to?[Applause]THE PRESIDENT:And finally the issue of death.Secretariat, note those amendments.5:18:20 - 5:20: 30 [Arabic]HON. MARWICK KHUMALO [SWAZILAND]:Mr. President, I take it that the Honourable Member is referring us to the first paragraph where it was mentioned that the "... the UN General Assembly, the Security Council, the African Union, and the Friends of the Sahara..." I take it that that is where she is referring to.Then two, Mr. President, on the issue of number two - Oh, no, that one has been dealt with. I think Mr. President, that is my understanding of what she said, that we should include the Friends of the Sahara in the top paragraph. If that is the case, Mr. President, we would gladly do that.THE PRESIDENT:Is the amendment accepted?[Applause]5:21:50 - 5:22: 31 [Arabic]HON. MARWICK KHUMALO [SWAZILAND]:Mr. President, I think it is very harmless amendments and I would plead with my colleagues to accept it.THE PRESIDENT:The proposal to separate the first recommendation into two sentences - agreed to?[Applause]}THE PRESIDENT:Agreed.Honourable Members, the question before the House is that we adopt the recommendation on Western Sahara as has been tabled - agreed to?[Applause]}THE PRESIDENT:The recommendation is hereby adopted.Honourable Members, I now invite the Honourable Chair on the Committee on Agriculture, Rural Economy and Natural Resources and Environment, Hon. Henri Gbone to present the recommendation on fundamental right of access to water and sanitation.ON. HENRI YAWOVI HONAM GBONE [PRÉSIDENT DE LA COMMISSION PERMANENTE DE L’ÉCONOMIE RURALE, DE L’AGRICULTURE, DES RESSOURCES NATURELLES ET DE L’ENVIRONNEMENT]:Merci, Monsieur le Président.Monsieur le Président,À propos de l’eau, il y a une recommandation et une résolution.Donc, je présente en premier, la recommandation sur le droit fondamental de l’accès à l’eau et à l’assainissement.Prenant note de l’atelier sur l’eau et l’assainissement tenu à Addis-Abeba (Éthiopie) du 15 au 16 mars 2013, organisé par la Commission permanente de l’Économie rurale, de l’Agriculture, des Ressources naturelles et de l’Environnement du Parlement panafricain, WaterAid et WaterLex, intitulé: « Défendre l’action pour un accès viable à l’eau potable et à l’assainissement en Afrique »;Reconnaissant que l’eau et l’assainissement est un droit fondamental, essentiel pour le bien-être, la santé, la dignité et le développement de nos peuples et de nos États;Conscient de ce que l’accès à l’eau potable, à l’assainissement amélioré, et à des installations d’hygiène appropriées peuvent réduire la morbidité et la mortalité liées aux affections, ainsi qu’avoir un impact sur la réduction de la pauvreté et le développement socio-économique;Préoccupé par le manque d’information et de données relatifs aux conditions défaillantes d’accès aux services d’approvisionnement en eau potable et d’assainissement pour une grande partie des populations sur le continent;Souscrivant aux principes de la Déclaration d’eTheckwini du 20 février 2008, des Engagements de Sharm El-Sheikh du 1er juillet 2008, des engagements de la réunion de haut niveau « Assainissement et Eau pour tous » du 20 avril 2012, de la Vision africaine de l’eau-2025, ainsi que de la Charte africaine des droits de l’homme et des peuples du 27 juin 2982, de la Résolution 621292 de l’Assemblée générale des Nations-Unies du 28 juillet 2010, et de la Résolution 2519 du Conseil des droits de l’Homme des Nations- Unies du 10 septembre 2010;Reconnaissant le rôle de l’accès universel à une eau potable et à un assainissement améliorés dans l’accélération de la réduction de la pauvreté sur le continent et la réalisation des Objectifs du Millénaire pour le Développement (OMD), et en particulier l’objectif de réduire de moitié, d’ici à 2025, la proportion des personnes qui n’ont pas accès à l’eau potable ou qui n’ont pas les moyens de s’en procurer, et la proportion de personnes qui n’ont pas accès à des services d’assainissement de base;Soulignant que l’Afrique a besoin de prendre des dispositions immédiates pour mobiliser des ressources financières suffisantes afin de rendre l’eau disponible et assurer l’assainissement pour tous;Déterminé à renforcer la solidarité, la cohésion, la coopération et le développement continentaux pour le bénéfice de nos peuples;Le Parlement panafricain:1.Recommande de mettre en œuvre le droit fondamental de l’accès à l’eau et à l’assainissement comme une priorité politique pour l’Afrique afin d’assurer l’accès à une eau potable salubre et à un assainissement amélioré pour tous, avec une attention spéciale pour les populations marginalisées et les plus vulnérables de la société, en particulier les femmes, les enfants et les personnes handicapées;2.Demande l’adoption de modalités de tarifications différenciées pour l’accès à l’eau afin de prendre en compte le faible pouvoir d’achat des couches les plus vulnérables de la population;3.Encourage les États membres à adopter des politiques et des législations visant à favoriser l’accès à l’eau potable et à l’assainissement pour tous;4.Recommande aux États membres de mener des évaluations des cadres juridiques et des infrastructures existantes devant permettre l’accès à l’eau et à l’assainissement afin d’améliorer leurs politiques en la matière;5.Incite les États membres à instaurer des politiques d’échanges inter-États en vue du partage d’informations sur les bonnes pratiques d’accès à l’eau potable et à l’assainissement.6.Encourage les parlements nationaux à renforcer les capacités des parlementaires à légiférer sur les questions de l’eau, de l’hygiène et de l’assainissement.Fait à Midrand, le 16 mai 2013Merci, Monsieur le Président.HON. SAM OTADA AMOOTI (UGANDA):Mr. President, thank you for the opportunity.You see, in our role as advocates, among other things that we do, our role her is to advocate for the African people. In often times, when you are dealing with, for example, issues of gender, there is what they call gender language that if you did use, you do not appear to be advocating for the gender cause. For example, words like gender-parity and things like that - I am just using that as an example, and I am saying, Mr. President, as people whose role is advocacy, I would recommend that the Pan-African Parliament from recommendations numbered 2 to 6, we use the word "urge" that is in line with advocacy. And somebody who is advocating could use a word like that and that fits in very well.Thank you, very well.THE PRESIDENT:Chairman?HON. HENRI YAWOVI HONAM GBONE [PRÉSIDENT DE LA COMMISSION PERMANENTE DE L’ÉCONOMIE RURALE, DE L’AGRICULTURE, DES RESSOURCES NATURELLES ET DE L’ENVIRONNEMENT]:Monsieur le Président,Je n’ai pas bien compris la conclusion de l’intervenant. Si vous voulez bien lui permettre de répéter.Je n’ai pas bien compris la conclusion de l’intervenant.THE PRESIDENT:Honourable Member from Uganda, could you please repeat your proposal?HON. SAM OTADA AMOOTI (UGANDA):Thank you, Mr. President.Mr. Chairman, the last appear that I made was in regard to the change in use of language so that we appear, as we are of course, advocates we use an advocacy language from 2 to 6, we use the word "urge". For example, where there is "recommends" or "encourages" or "requests" - our role is advocacy, advocacy and advocacy and I think the word "urge" is appropriate for people who are advocates or with a certain particular cause. That is my submission.HON. HENRI YAWOVI HONAM GBONE [PRÉSIDENT DE LA COMMISSION PERMANENTE DE L’ÉCONOMIE RURALE, DE L’AGRICULTURE, DES RESSOURCES NATURELLES ET DE L’ENVIRONNEMENT]:Monsieur le Président,Est-ce que je peux répondre?Je laisse intervenir le second demandeur de la parole avant, ou bien je peux répondre?THE PRESIDENT:Sorry, is it the same topic - Are you intervening on the proposal by the Honourable Member from Uganda.Please, Chairman, respond to that first before we take anther intervention.HON. HENRI YAWOVI HONAM GBONE [PRÉSIDENT DE LA COMMISSION PERMANENTE DE L’ÉCONOMIE RURALE, DE L’AGRICULTURE, DES RESSOURCES NATURELLES ET DE L’ENVIRONNEMENT]:Monsieur le Président,Sans rejeter la proposition de mon collègue de l’Ouganda, je voudrais dire qu’à mon sens, les expressions utilisées, ici, sont d’usage courant et si cela ne le gêne pas trop, je souhaiterais qu’elles soient maintenues.(Applaudissements)HON. MEMBER FROM ETHIOPIA:Thank you, Mr. President.I am a bit confused with his definition of clean water. There is no clean water from Lake or from Sea or from Ocean. If it is not refined or distilled to become clean water. We are living in a land logged country but we are living with our neighbours in peace and harmony. We do not have any problem. If anyone land logged country wants clean water from any sea, does that mean that specific country has right to drain that water from that sea?Thank you.HON. HENRI YAWOVI HONAM GBONE [PRÉSIDENT DE LA COMMISSION PERMANENTE DE L’ÉCONOMIE RURALE, DE L’AGRICULTURE, DES RESSOURCES NATURELLES ET DE L’ENVIRONNEMENT]:Monsieur le Président,L’eau saine, c’est l’eau qui n’est pas souillée. C’est l’eau qui, d’un point de vue, sanitaire est propre à boire et qui ne cause pas de maladie.Pourquoi est-ce que nous sommes arrivés à cette conclusion? Nous constatons - je ne sais pas quel est le cas dans vos pays - également, parce qu’on dit qu’il n’y a pas de l’eau, on est en train de procéder à ce moment à un certain nombre de forages.Deuxièmement, dans mon pays, il a été établi que plusieurs de ces forages produisent de l’eau. On a besoin de produire de l’eau, mais c’est cette eau qui, sur le plan sanitaire, n’est pas propre, n’est pas adéquate et qui donne des maladies. Donc, voilà ce que nous attendons par eau saine.THE PRESIDENT:Thank you.Honourable Member from Cameroun.HON. MEMBER FROM CAMEROUN:Thank you, Mr. President.Je voudrais, juste, dire que l’expression en français, consacrée pour l’eau saine c’est l’eau potable. Mettez l’eau potable, si vous nous mettez l’eau saine, on ne comprend pas, s’il vous plaît.Merci.THE PRESIDENT:Thank you.HON. HENRI YAWOVI HONAM GBONE [PRÉSIDENT DE LA COMMISSION PERMANENTE DE L’ÉCONOMIE RURALE, DE L’AGRICULTURE, DES RESSOURCES NATURELLES ET DE L’ENVIRONNEMENT]:Monsieur le Président,Cela veut dire la même chose, mais si ma collègue estime que «l’eau potable » est meilleure, je ne trouve pas d’inconvénient à ce qu’on utilise ce terme plutôt que « l’eau saine ».D’accord!Je consens.THE PRESIDENT:Thank you.HON. MEMBER FOR IVORY COAST:I am Hon. Toure from Ivory Coast.Let us take page 8 out of 9, where it says: "Conscious that access to drinking water, improved sanitation and installation of adequate hygiene facilities may reduce disease-related illnesses and mortality as well as have an impact on poverty reduction and socio-economic development;" What I wanted to see is that it is better to use statistics to strengthen your evidence. It is better to use statistics and those statistics are available in the UN Report. But I do agree. But you did is a good job.[Applause]THE PRESIDENT:Thank you.HON. HENRI YAWOVI HONAM GBONE [PRÉSIDENT DE LA COMMISSION PERMANENTE DE L’ÉCONOMIE RURALE, DE L’AGRICULTURE, DES RESSOURCES NATURELLES ET DE L’ENVIRONNEMENT]:Monsieur le Président, j’accepte la proposition.THE PRESIDENT:Thank you.Yes, we have another proposal?UN HONORABLE MEMBRE:Merci? Monsieur le Président.Je voudrais féliciter la Commission pour cette recommandation suffisamment pertinente et je suis totalement d’accord avec les expressions utilisées parce que durant la sensibilisation, nous devrons pousser les États à agir. Donc, je pense que les termes tels recommandés: « demande », « encourage », ce sont des termes qui permettent de penser qu’au-delà de la sensibilisation, nous voulons faire engager les États dans l’action.J’ai quelques points à souligner, juste, au niveau du point « conscient ». Je crois que c’est le troisième paragraphe, non le quatrième: « préoccupé ». Je suis d’accord que l’on soit préoccupé par le manque d’information et de données, mais je pense qu’on doit être encore plus préoccupé par le manque de services liés à l’eau et à l’assainissement.Je voudrais que l’on dise « qu’on est préoccupé par le manque de services liés à l’eau et à l’assainissement » et ensuite maintenant, « par le manque de données », parce que c’est cela qu’on voit dans nos campagnes, en particulier.Mon deuxième point, c’est le point 3, au niveau des recommandations. Il est écrit au point 3: « Encourage les États membres à adopter des politiques et des législations (...) », je voudrais que l’on dise: « Encourage les États membres à adopter des politiques, des législations et des plans d’actions », parce qu’en réalité, les politiques, c’est vrai, mais les États qui sont dans l’Exécutif doivent plutôt agir, et dans nos États, on n’agit pas dans des plans d’actions.Je voudrais donc que l’on puisse mettre, plutôt, « des plans d’actions » après « les politiques ».Merci beaucoup, Monsieur le Président.THE PRESIDENT:Honourable members, the question before this House is that we adopt the recommendations as proposed and amended. Agreed?(Question put and agreed to.)(Report adopted.)THE PRESIDENT:The recommendations are hereby adopted.Your Excellencies, my colleagues members of the Bureau of the Pan-African Parliament, honourable members of the Pan-African Parliament, as we draw the curtain to the end of the 2nd Ordinary Session of the 3rd Parliament of the Pan-African Parliament, let me most sincerely on behalf of the Bureau thank each and every one of you for your strong participation.You will agree with me that this session has witnessed some memorable and even momentous events. We have elected a new member of the Bureau, Her Excellency, Hon. Suilma Hay Emhamed Elkaid as 2nd Vice-President from Western Saharawi. (Applause)This is a clear and unequivocal statement of our support for the right of the people of Western Saharawi to selfdetermination and our recognition of their struggle. (Applause)We have also this session elected new officials of Committees replacing members who are no longer members of the Pan-African Parliament. We have elected regional caucus officials and elected a new Bureau for the Pan-African Caucus on Youths.Honourable members, the official opening ceremony with high level participation of His Excellency John Dramani Mahama, President of the Republic of Ghana, our own former colleague and strong supporter of the Pan-African Parliament and his words of wisdom and advice will remain forever in the memories of our Parliament.Honourable colleagues, we have also had the valued presence of the Chairperson of the African Union, Her Excellency Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, whose address to us on the State of the African Union was very fulfilling and full of content, promise and hope for our continent.We have also during this period had visits and addresses by the President of the European Parliament, His Excellency Martin Schulz and delegations from Mexico and Russia and of course delegations from national and regional Parliaments on our continent where also very high profile guests who rendered good will messages to our Parliament.Hon. Members, our deliberations during the session covered issues of peace and security on our continent with particular reference to the situations in Mali, Central Africa Republic, Congo DRC, Somalia and Western Saharawi amongst others.The urgent need to restore peace to these troubled spots of our continent can never be over stated and, as you all agree with me, honourable colleagues, there can be no development without peace and stability.It is therefore incumbent on all of us to work assiduously and ensure the restoration of peace and stability to this part of our continent as this would in no small way reduce the ongoing suffering and difficulties encountered especially by women and children in the troubled spots.Honourable colleagues, as an outcome of our successful dialogue on media freedom in Africa, the Midrand Declaration on Press Freedom in Africa is a clear manifestation of the position of the Pan-African Parliament to pursue the course of press freedom and access to information as a fundamental right of citizens of our continent and to ensure transparency and accountability in governance in our member states.Honourable colleagues, I would like to use this opportunity to motivate our various committees to begin to work on proposing draft model laws on one thematic area per community that we can use to submit to the African Union as we begin to play our role to harmonise legislations on our continent that we support the process of integration of our dear continent.Honourable colleagues, the story of our journey to integration which started 50 years ago during the formation of the Organisation of African Union (OAU), which later became the AU, has reached a crescendo and as we celebrate 50 years of the formation of our union, we must turn our attention to the need to find clear, visionary and sustainable proposals on how to provide for the future of the large population of young people who reside on our continent as we consider project 2063 as envisioned by our leaders.Honourable members, let me specially thank those of you who have persevered and participated in this session from the beginning to the end. (Applause). Your presence here today is an eloquent testimony of your commitment to the work of this Parliament in providing a platform for African people and their grass root organisations to make inputs to the decision making process of the African Union in finding solutions to the challenges facing our continent.I therefore, encourage you to continue with the good work as we work together to achieve our common goal of making sure that the voices of our people are heard and that the needs and problems of our long suffering African citizens are attended to by the leadership.Honourable colleagues, as we return to our respective Parliaments, let us not forget to carry on the advocacy on behalf of our Parliament on the need to transform our Parliament from a consultative and advisory body to a Parliament with clear legislative functions and legislative over sight in clearly defined areas.Honourable colleagues, this advocacy is incumbent on each and every one of us at all levels from the national Parliaments to the ministries of foreign affairs and to the Heads of Government to ensure that the mission and vision to have a Parliament that clearly can perform its role in the African Governance Architecture is realised in our time.Honourable colleagues, once again, let me reiterate the commitment of this Bureau to work transparently and openly on all issues as we work together to grow our institution and ensure that this institution becomes a viable tool in the promotion of parliamentary democracy on our continent.As we begin the process of ensuring that we give this Parliament an organisational structure that is capable and competent of supporting the work that we have to do, we would continue to urge you as we publish lists of vacancies for the organisational structure of the PanAfrican Parliament to please take it with you to your national Parliaments and ensure the participation of our citizens who have the required qualifications.Honourable colleagues, let me once again thank you for your hard work and on this note, I hereby declare the 2nd Ordinary Session of the 3rd Parliament closed. (Applause). This House, therefore, stands adjourned sine die.(The House rose at 5. 50 p.m. and was adjourned sine die)
