AU and ECOWAS
Days celebrations launched--
With a
call on African countries to continue
the process of regional integration agenda
Masahudu Ankiilu Kunateh, Ghanadot
Accra, May 22, Ghanadot - African Union (AU) and the Economic Community of West
African States (ECOWAS) Days celebrations have been launched
in Accra, Ghana with a call on African countries to continue
the process of regional integration agenda.
Monday 25 May, 2009 and Thursday 28 May, 2009 are AU and
ECOWAS Days respectively.
The theme for this year's AU Day anniversary is "Towards a
United, Peaceful and Prosperous Africa", whilst that of the
ECOWAS is "Eliminating Obstacles to Free Movement While
Fighting Cross-border Crime."
In otherwords, this year's AU Day marks the 46th Anniversary
of the founding of our continental body, then Organisation
of African Unity (OAU), currently African Union, while the
Thurdays' ECOWAS Day will mark the 34th birthday of our
sub-regional body, the ECOWAS.
It is however to be noted that while the AU Day is a public
holiday in Ghana, the ECOWAS Day is not.
Launching the days, at a press conference in Accra, Ghana's
Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Alhaji
Muhammud Mumuni
outlined a number of activities planned to celebrate the
week-long anniversary. These included Christian and Muslim
prayers for African Unity and progress, commemorative AU
flag-raising ceremony on Monday 25 May at the State House,
photo exhibition, and sensitization programmes on radio and
Television stations across the country.
In the creation of both the AU and ECOWAS, Ghana played, in
line with her traditional foreign policy of promoting
African integration, cooperation and development, a key
role, especially in the founding of our continental body.
Indeed, long before many others realized its significance,
Ghana had already become convinced that, with the emergence
of many sovereign states, operating in an unfavourable
global system of exchanges, regional integration and unity
offered a life-line to developing economies.
It would be recalled that as far back as 1963 during the
first session of the then OAU, the precursor to the AU,
Ghana's first President, the late Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, in an
address to the Assembly, called for the formation of a Union
Government of Africa much like the United States of America
and not a Union of loose states as in the case of the
European Union.
On the sub-regional level, ECOWAS is considered one of the
leading Regional Economic groupings in Africa. It has
registered major and model achievements in the area of
conflicts management.
As a result, today, there is no active conflict in West
Africa unlike was the case in the recent past, or is
happening elsewhere in Africa.
In the area of democracy and good governance considerable
efforts are ongoing to consolidate democratic governance in
West Africa, happily Ghana is not found wanting in helping
show the way.
In the area of infrastructure, ECOWAS continues to make some
progress and the current focus on energy as a strategic
entry point to unleashing the progress in the other
infrastructure sub-sectors, as well as make infrastructure
drive development in the other sectors, is very commendable.
Appropriate institutional arrangements have therefore been
put in place, including the West African Power Pool, the
West African Gas Pipeline Authority, the ECOWAS Regional
Energy Regulatory Authority (ERERA) currently being
established in Accra, and the ECOWAS Renewable Energy
Resources Centre in Praia, Cape Verde.
On the other hand, we have again set the tone for free
movement in Africa by abolishing visa requirements under the
ECOWAS Protocol on Free Movement of Goods and Persons, in
order to promote trade and business in general.
Unfortunately, despite this achievement, our people,
especially the ordinary travellers and traders, continue to
face undue obstacles to their free movement and trade in the
sub-region and beyond.
What is more, in spite of efforts at controlling the illegal
movement and trade in small arms and light weapons, the
illegal trade in drugs, human trafficking and others
nefarious activities still continue across our borders.
By all means government will continue to work with sister
governments in the sub-region to help remove the obstacles
to free movement. In doing so however our efforts must move
in tandem with corresponding efforts to combat cross-border
crimes, Alhaji Mumuni assured.
Ghanadot
