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AU WEEKLY

PEACE AND SECURITY

AU WEEKLY…keeping you updated

6--14 April , 2014

In this issue

• Nigeria assumes chair of AU Peace and Security Council

• Political parties come together for national dialogue in Sudan

• AU PSC calls for implementation of recommendations of Mali Report

• Qatar happy to join AU

• 50,000 children could die in South Sudan: UNICEF

• UN-AU report urges more credible industrial policies to transform Africa

Music, plays, short stories, video documentaries and prayer from different religious denominations were some of the activities that took place during the 20th anniversary of the Rwanda Genocide commemorated on 11 April 2014, at the AU Headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

The anniversary was observed under the theme: KWIBUKA20 “Remember, Unite, and Renew”.

“We must renew our determination, and make the choice: that Africa shall be peaceful; that we will integrate; that we shall be prosperous and that we will never again tolerate genocide on African soil”, said AUC Chairperson, Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, while emphasizing on the need for Africa to silence the guns by 2020.

Also present was Ethiopian Foreign Affairs Minister Dr. Tewodros Adhano, who said the genocide as an unprecedented tragedy that should “never happen again on this continent”.Further Reading: http://pa.au.int/en/content/commemoration-20th-anniversary-rwanda-genocide

@Oxfam_AU Oxfam International Liaison Office with the African Union: OI-AU

On 9th April 2014, the Chairperson of the AUC, Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, welcomed the official commencement of the Sudan National Consultative Dialogue through the convening of a National Political Parties Summit chaired by President Omar Hassan al Bashir on Sunday 6th April, 2014. Dr Dlamini-

Zuma acknowledged that this process was an important step to transit Sudan into a new political dispensation. She also encouraged the Government of Sudan to engage in immediate national reforms and c o n fi d e n c e - b u i l d i n g measures, as announced in the meeting. This according to her would facilitate

genuine participation of all the sectors of society in the national dialogue. Dlaimini-Zuma reiterated the AU’s commitment to assist Sudan, through the AU High Level Implementation Panel (AUHIP).ht tp : //www.peaceau.o rg/e n / a r t i c l e / t h e - a f r i c a n -u n i o n - w e l c o m e s - t h e -c o m m e n c e m e n t - o f - t h e -sudan-national-consultative-dialogue#sthash.jxf11WKG.dpuf

Political parties start National Consultative Dialogue in Sudan

“Genocide must never happen again in Africa”

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On 7 April, the AUC Commissioner for Political Affairs briefed the AU PSC on the human rights situation in Mali, during the period of occupation of the three northern regions of Timbuktu, Gao and Kidal by armed separatists in January 2012.

The US has extended additional support to the African-led International Support Mission in the Central African Republic (MISCA).

The US has provided deployment airlift assistance to two MISCA battalions, 100

Qatar happy to join the African Union as observer Qatari Ambassador to Ethiopia and representative to the African Union Abdel-Aziz al-Rumaihi on Thursday voiced his country’s satisfaction with joining the pan-African body as an observer member.

“Qatar is very happy to get

Conflict in South Sudan has triggered a serious risk of famine that will kill up to 50,000 children within months if immediate action is not taken, the UN warned on Friday, April 11.

South Sudan has experienced high levels of malnutrition

The PSC raised deep concern over revelations of human rights violations and abuses, characterized by acts of murder, amputations, violence against women and children, rape, floggings and damage of private and

radios to facilitate command and control and promised 200 more vehicles, Xinhua reported

US Permanent Representative to the United Nations(UN), Ambassador Samantha Power, handed over 37

observer status with the African Union,” al-Rumaihi told Anadolu Agency one day after presenting his credentials to African Union Commission Chairperson Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma.

“We are keen on enhancing its cooperation with the African Union,” he said.

since it gained independence in 2011, UNICEF said, and conditions have worsened since ethnic conflict broke out between troops loyal to President Salva Kiir and supporters of his former deputy Riek Machar.

“Now the ongoing conflict has

public properties, as well as the destruction of cultural heritage sites.

vehicles to MISCA at a ceremony held in the capital city of CAR Bangui, a statement from the African Union (AU) said on Friday, April 11.

Qatar is the fifth Arab country to be given an observer status in the pan-African body.

The other four are Kuwait, Yemen, United Arab Emirates and Yemen.

pushed them to the edge -- unless treatment is scaled up immediately, up to 50,000 children under the age of five are likely to die,” the agency said.

AU PSC calls for Implementation of recommendations of Mali Report

MISCA receives additional help from the United States

ECONOMIC, POLITICAL AFFAIRS AND LIVELIHOODS

50,000 children could die in months in S.Sudan: UNICEF

http://www.peaceau.org/uploads/426th-psc-br-dpa-7-4-2014-en.pdf

http://www.business-standard.com/article/news-ians/central-african-republic-receives-additional-us-help-114041100824_1.html

http://www.newvision.co.ug/news/654511-50-000-children-could-die-in-months-in-s-sudan-unicef.html

http://www.turkishpress.com/news/400090/

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AU WEEKLY

On 7 April 2014, the AU formally signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA) and Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of Nigeria for the deployment and integration of the Electoral Risk Management (ERM) tool in the electoral process of Nigeria which

empower both state and non-state actors to prevent and mitigate election-related violence.

These three agreed to work together to improve the organizational capacity of INEC to address challenges relating to violence in the upcoming 2015 elections in Nigeria. Dr. Matlosa (Director of Political Affairs) representing the AUC noted

the devastating effects of election-related violence on the continent and highlighted some of the efforts of the African Union Commission to address the phenomenon of election-related violence including preventive diplomacy work.

http://www.itnewsonline.com/news/AU-IDEA-INEC-sign-a-MOU-for-the-deployment-of-the-Electoral-Risk-Management-Tool-in-Nigeria/32876/8/5

AU to deploy Electoral Risk Management tool for Nigeria elections

Ambassador Lolo Bulus, Nigeria’s Permanent Representative to the AU and Ambassador to Ethiopia, has assumed the one-month rotational Chair of the 15-members African Union Peace and Security Council (AUPSC) for April. On April 24, Nigeria will preside

over an open session of the PSC on “Silencing Guns’’: Pre-requisites for achieving a conflict-free Africa by 2020. On April 29, there will be another open session on unconstitutional changes of government and popular uprisings in Africa: Challenges and Lessons

learnt. Also up for discussion during the month of April will be the situations in the Central African Republic, the Sahel, Mali and South Sudan.

http://nigerianobservernews.com/11042014/news/news20.html

Nigeria assumes AU Security Council Chair

While Africa has recorded impressive economic growth in the past decade, more credible industrial policies and institutions are needed to advance the structural transformation of the continent, says a new report released on Friday, April 11, by the United Nations and the African Union.

This year’s Economic Report on Africa, jointly produced by the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and the African Union (AU)adds that transforming

Africa’s industrial landscape has failed partly because countries used industrial blueprints characterised by lack of dynamism and high level coordination, as well as inadequate consultations with stakeholders.

The report, launched at UN Headquarters in New York, on Friday, April 11, builds on the work of the 2011 edition – on the role of the state in economic transformation – as well as last year’s report on leveraging Africa’s comparative advantages in

commodities to industrialize.

The report tries to “dig deeper” and demonstrate that, to succeed, “industrial policy has to be organic, it has to be contextualized, it has to be specifically African,” ECA Executive Secretary Carlos Lopes said in an interview with UN Radio.

http://en.cihan.com.tr/news/UN-releases-latest-economic-report-on-Africa_4332-CHMTQwNDMzMi80

UN-AU report urges more credible industrial policies to transform Africa

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DATE EVENT VENUE DEPARTMENT CONTACT

14 – 17 APRIL

First African Ministers of Health Conference convened by the AU and WHO

Luanda, Republic of Angola

Social Affairs Collins Boakye-Agyemang, Communication Manager, WHO/AFRO

email: boakyeagyemangc@who.int

Esther Tankou Azaa, AUC

email: YambouE@africa-union.org

April 24Open session of the Peace and Security Council on Silencing Guns: Pre-requisites for achieving a conflict-free Africa by 2020

Mandela Hall, AU Commission, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Peace and Security

SITUATION ROOM

Peace and Security Department;

African Union Commission

E-mail: ausituationroom@yahoo.com;

SituationRoom@africa-union.org;

UPCOMING EVENTS

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AU WEEKLY

17, April Presidential Election in People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria

Algeria Political Affairs,

Democracy and Electoral Assistance Unit

AkubuezeK@africa-union.org

or

DemekeT@africa-union.org

23-25, AprilSpecial Session of the Labour and Social Affairs Commission of the African Union

Windhoek, Namibia

Labour and Social Affairs

Directorate of Social Affairs

Dr. Olawale I. Maiyegun

P.O.Box 3243

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Tel Off: (+251) 115 51 77 00 Ext 300

Director(+251) 115 51 35 22

Email: MaiyegunO@africa-union.org