YET the 54 African leaders who attended the just concluded African Union (AU) 19th Summit in Addis Ababa have to find answers to the quite bizarre happening wherein the estimated cost of shipping a regular consignment of good say, from Baltimore in the United States (U.S.) to Tanzania for instance, is about $1,000 whereas, shipping that same cargo from Tanzania to Burundi - a distance that is far less than half the previous, will cost $10,000!The questions that development experts also asked frequently in and around summits, seminars and workshops have to do with who controls the African seaway in international trade' Who determines what is paid' On the surface, from the European, American or Asian perspective or from a holistic, African inclusive perspective' And there are naturally other germane questions begging for answers right from the preceding 24th session of the Permanent Representatives Committee (PRC) and the ordinary session of the executive council.Indeed, the leaders were told at the summit's opening that inter-regional trade in Africa was currently at an abnormally low 10 per cent of total trade whereas the same for Europe stands at 60 per cent. In the end, the AU agreed to institute what is to be known as Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA) by 2017.Speaker after speaker at the gathering that included out-going AU commission chairperson, the Gabonese Jean Ping, heads of international organisations and global institutions, lamented the worsening poverty levels on the continent. They reeled out a catalogue of statistics that mirrored the woes that include burgeoning flashpoints (Mali, Sudan, Guinea, renewed violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Boko haram insurgency in Nigeria among others) and then called for greater solidarity among the states in order to realise the lofty goals of the newly launchedAfrican Solidarity Initiative (ISI). Known as Africa Helping Africa, the initiative has been launched in support of post-conflict reconstruction and development in Africa.The Secretary-General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon told the Assembly weekend that the UN and the AU will continue to work together to confront the real problems 'facing the people of our world on a daily basis - poverty, diseases, natural disasters, environmental degradation, conflict and violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms.'The UN deputy secretary-general, Jan Eliassonwho stood in for Ban, also spoke on the situation in Mali, Guinea Bissau, DRC, Somalia as well as the Gulf of Guinea.He said: 'We must intensify our efforts to find a political and humanitarian solution to end the suffering in the Sahel. Eighteen million people are at risk of fatal starvation. One million children are in immediate danger. The world must wake up to this ongoing humanitarian disaster...'The Summit's guest of honour, the Emir of Kuwait, Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber, the Secretary-General of the Arab League, Dr. Nabil Al-Arabi as well as the president of the Palestinian National Authority Mohamud Abbas called for greater collaboration between the AU and the Arab league. Al-Arabi stressed the need for complimentarity of African and Arab parliaments as well as cooperation between the Peace and Security Council of the AU and the Arab league.Welcoming newly elected leaders -Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi, his Senagalese counterpart, Macky Sall as well as Prime Minister Thomas Thabane of Lesotho into its fold, chairman of the authority of the AU heads of state and Benin Republic President Boni Yayi, expanded the theme of the summit - 'intra-African trade' - to include 'shared values.' Into this, he noted, belonged regional cooperation, integrated economic collaboration, solidarity and security. This being integrated to mean only in solidarity would African states brace up to the implications of the sudden debt crisis in the euro zone on their economies. His direct answer to a catalogue of crisis that included hunger on the continent was a call to the leaders 'to make 2013 the year of agriculture and food security in Africa,' he added.Then the politics, which had been simmering and had witnessed intense lobbying for the positions of the chairman of the commission as well as commissioners for the commission's eight portfolios began. When the dust settled in the hotly contested rounds, Nigeria after a fourth try spanning over four decades, succeeded in installing its ambassador to Guinea, Dr. Aisha Laraba Abdulahi as commissioner for political affairs. The Nigerian candidate led in all three rounds, pooling 35 out of the 50 votes to edge out Botswana in the final round that pitched the west against the northern region. Incidentally, Central Africa region swung the votes in Nigeria's favour as candidates dropped in the third round.South African Home Affairs Minister Mrs. Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma had earlier emerged as the new chairman of the Commission together with a deputy chair - Erastus Mwencha.Others elected into the commission include Ramtane Lamamra (retained after holding it since 2008) - (Peace andSecurity); Fatima Haram Acyl - (Trade and Industry); Mrs. Elham Mahmoud Ibrahim (retained) (Infrastructure and Energy); Dr. Mustapha Sidiki Kaloko (replacing Bience Gawanas) - (Social Affairs); Mrs. Tumusiime Rhoda Peace (retained) - Rural Economy and Agriculture. Elections into the portfolios of Human Resources, Science andTechnology and Economic Affairs were postponed.Diplomatic watchers described the intrigues as well as an interplay of regional calculations and national interests that led to the emergence of Dlamini-Zuma as the Commission's chairman as 'death of the grand consensus.' The consensus has to do with an unwritten agreement whereby the five largest contributors (75 per cent) to the AU check-up dues 'Nigeria, Egypt, Algeria, Libya and South Africa - are obliged to stay away from the commission's plump job, effectively allowing small, medium and less endowed states to have some sense of belonging. This was the reason behind the backing of Ping by Nigeria which mobilised Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) eventually confronting the desperate but better prepared states in the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) on the one hand and north Africa on the other.Mrs. Zuma even resorted to arm twisting when she stated at a press conference a day before the election that Nigeria's Ambassador Peter Onu held the position for over two years when records show that the Nigerian was only in an acting capacity as secretary general (Organisation of African Unity) and Nigeria, despite mounted pressure, refused to field him in 1984 following the incapacitation of the substantive scribe in deference to this principle.The positives for Nigeria besides securing the portfolio of political affairs commissioner and the election of Kolawole Raheem Aduloju as Assistant Secretary-General of the Pan African Postal Union (PAPU), delegates at the summit also endorsed the candidature of two Nigerians for executive positions at global institutions. The Nigerians were among over 20 candidates who have either been approved for standings or elected after the ministerial committee on candidates met. They are Dr. Kanayo Felix Nwanze, the incumbent president of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). He will stand in for re-election in Rome in February next year. Also, Dr. Olumuyiwa Bernard Aliu was endorsed by the AU to stand for election as president of the Executive Council of International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) also by 2013.Nigeria's inability to stop South Africa from rubbishing the existing consensus could only mean the time for a reassessment of Nigeria's multilateral diplomacy cannot be any other than now.Nigerian diplomats both from headquarters and the team on ground in Addis worked extra hard to ensure that the absence of President Goodluck Jonathan did not affect the fortunes of the country's positions. But in the shoving through the rounds of voting, a presidential wand to muster the troops, cajole or twist arms where necessary was not there. The situation was made worse by the fact that Nigeria's ally and host President Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia was forced by ailment to be absent.Giving an insight into why Nigeria's outing was not salutary, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and leader of delegation, Ambassador Olugbenga Ashiru said: 'To me, from our own assessment, South Africa had a robust campaign and that is the outcome of what you saw on that day...We must admit that South Africa ran a better campaign. You can imagine that South Africa was able to dispatch envoys once or twice to all 51 African states. You can imagine the outcome. If they have worked hard which we must accept, then the result was not a surprise to some of us.'On the seeming leadership impetus now handed to South Africa to realise other ambitions in the United Nations at the expense of Nigeria, Ashiru said: 'No. That is not correct. You will recall that President Jonathan said it many times that this is not a contest between Nigeria and South Africa and that Nigeria is actually not campaigning for anybody. That is the truth. We did not mount any campaign for any country. All we did was to stand by ECOWAS' endorsement of the candidature of Dr. Ping of Gabon and that was it.'But is the loss of faith in present development strategies, the need for greater integration and trans-national African trade responsible for a subtle romance by the AU with China and the Arab World'There has been an announcement by the emir of Kuwait of a financial assistance to equip the AU new conference centre.Now, the new state of the art $200 million conference centre of the AU opened earlier in the year, was built and donated to the union by China. Kuwait is billed to host the next Arabo-African summit with a view to'reinforcing the relationship between the Arab world and Africa.'In all and beyond politics, how realistic would be the CFTA by 2017'There is not much enthusiasm from the point of view of the Nigerian diplomatic machinery, which expressed reservations during and after the summit, ostensible because of the threats to such a move by poor infrastructure, energy, communication as well as divergent policy frameworks of various states.
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