AU Commission Chairperson, Moussa Faki, on Monday says the AU financial independence is gaining momentum as the African continent aspires autonomy from reliance on outside sources.
Advancing institutional reforms and financial autonomy of the 55-member pan-African bloc are among the aims at the two-day 32nd ordinary session of the assembly of the AU, which ended on Monday in Addis Ababa.
Faki told African leaders that the reform process is progressing well with increasing contribution from AU member states.
“In the area of reform, we are making steady progress toward financial autonomy and improving accountability,” Faki said.
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He said that AU was able to reduce the commission’s budget by 12 per cent in 2019, while some 26 AU member countries are implementing a 0.2 per cent levy on eligible imports from non-AU member countries.
“We have strengthened the sanctions regime for the non-payment of contributions by member states, which will now ensure payments on time,” the AU chairperson said.
Forty-nine member states have contributed 89 million dollars to the AU Peace Fund, which now has its Board of Trustees in place, Faki said.
In the two-day session, the AU heads of state and government are expected to consider detailed proposals for making the AU Commission a more effective and performance-based institution, which is at the heart of the reform.
Rwandan President, Paul Kagame, who is also AU’s outgoing chairperson, had previously said that advancing the institutional reform of the union was a major target of the African leaders.
At the core of the AU reform process is the design and establishment of a sustainable financing mechanism to ensure that the AU not only stands firmly on its own feet but can also shape and drive its agenda, according to the AU.
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Costantinos Bt. Costantinos, who served as an economic adviser to the AU and the UN Economic Commission for Africa, stressed that the pan-African bloc “must be self-reliant in financing its operations,” mainly from membership contributions.
According to the expert, financial autonomy will give the AU independence in its decision-making from donors, who have their own agenda that may not be in line with pan-African aspiration.
“AU must be self-financing if it is to be free from the dominant conditionality that superpowers impose on it,” he said.
The AU Commission has recently embarked on reducing its financial expenditures to minimise its dependency on partner funds.
During the 31st ordinary session of the AU Summit in Nouakchott, Mauritania, in July 2018, the AU approved a budget of 681.5 million dollars for the 2019, a record 12 per cent decrease from that of 2018.
Similarly, AU Peace and Security Commissioner, Smail Chergui, on Monday hailed the solid peace and security cooperation with China.
Chergui said that China is a good partner to the AU that helped the continental body face numerous peace and security challenges in Africa ranging from efforts to end the civil war in South Sudan to the UN peacekeeping mission in conflict-hit Mali.
“China is a very good partner of the AU. China has made concrete contributions to the AU’s peace and security efforts,”
The AU and China have many areas of cooperation ranging from the deployment of Chinese peacekeepers in conflict areas, to technical and logistical support for the numerous peacekeeping efforts in Africa.
China is an important partner for Africa and the AU in general,” said the commissioner on the sidelines of the ongoing 32nd AU summit here.
I would like to extend my appreciation for the high level of cooperation and political dialogue we have and we will continue to reinforce this dialogue,” he said.
China is the second largest contributor to the UN peacekeeping budget and the 11th largest provider of UN peacekeepers.
Chinese peacekeepers have served in several UN mandated peacekeeping missions across Africa, including those in South Sudan, Sudan’s Darfur region, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Mali.
Chergui emphasised that the relationship between the AU and China is not restricted to peace and security aspect.
“We have other domains of cooperation including health, energy, and infrastructure to mention some of the multifaceted relationship,” he said. (NAN)
