Country to sit on AU Peace, Security Council

The Times of Zambia (Ndola)

31 January 2008

By James Muyanwa
Addis Ababa

ZAMBIA and nine other countries have been elected as members of the African Union (AU) Peace and Security Council for the next five-years, amid challenges of conflicts in various parts of the continent.

The 10 countries representing five African regions were elected here during the 12th Ordinary Session of the Executive Council of the AU at the commission headquarters.

Apart from Zambia , the other southern African country is Swaziland .

Elected countries from the Central African region are Burundi and Chad while those representing West Africa are Benin, Burkina Faso and Mali .

Rwanda and Uganda were the two nations elected from East Africa while Tunisia was the only country representing North Africa .

The elections were held within the framework of the on-going AU heads of State and Government summit which reached its crescendo today as the heads of State and Government gather for the assembly.

Following the election of the 10 countries for the Peace and Security Council, peace and rights activists called upon the new council to work hard and address issues of conflict in Africa .

They said here in a joint statement that the council should prioritise listening to the affected people directly. It should advance issues of women and children in the conflict-stricken areas like Darfur region, Democratic Republic of Congo and Somalia .

Femmes Africa Solidarity founder, Bineta Diop said the outgoing council had done its part and the new one should build on the gain made so far.

"The peace and security should now improve its ways of working, especially in its relations with non-state actors. It would gain a lot by working closely with African civil society organisations and peace directly affected by conflicts," said Said Desire Assgbavi from Oxfam.

International Refugee rights Initiative (IRRI)'s Dismas Nkunda said it was unacceptable that in its five year term, the council had denied access to those directly affected by the conflict.

During the same session, the AU and regional economic communities and the coordinating mechanism of regional standby brigade of Eastern and Northern Africa signed the memorandum of understanding to re-enforce relations.

According to Peace and Security Commissioner, Said Djinnit, the MOU was as a result of a four-year effort and it now marked the beginning of the new era in the leadership and responsibility of the AU.

The MOU was signed by Mr Djinnit and the representatives of the regional economic communities as well as coordinating mechanisms of regional standby brigades.