Ethiopia: AU Ministers meet to define road map to Union government
The 10-member African Union (AU) ministerial committee on the proposed Union government Tuesday began its third meeting here, ami d optimism that it will reach specific agreements regarding the road map and time frame for establishing a new political system for the continent.

Opening the session, Ghana's Minister for Foreign Affairs and Regional Cooperati on, Akwasi Osei Adjei, said he believed the committee would reach some concrete c onclusions.

The outcome of the meeting will be submitted to the Executive Council for making appropriate recommendations to the next ordinary summit of the AU, scheduled fo r January 2008.

Adjei, who is also the current chair of the AU Executive Council, asked the comm ittee to pay more attention to outstanding issues related to the road map and ti m e frame for the coming into being of the Union government, by considering in det a il all relevant studies and documents on the matter.

These include proposals contained in the Abuja Treaty and the results of recent consultations with sectorial ministries of AU Member States on the alternative sources of funding the Union government.

"I am confident that you will have successful deliberations that will be charact erized by frankness, mutual trust, sense of responsibility and a spirit of colle g iality," Adjei told the committee members.

Foreign ministers of Egypt, Libya, Senegal, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Uganda, Botswana, South Africa, Cameroon and Gabon, representing the five regions of the continen t , make up the committee.

The committee held its first meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly 29 September 2007 in New York, and its second meeting took place 27-28 Septembe r 2007 in Accra, Ghana.

Identification of the Union government's domains of competence and the impact on the sovereignty of member states is among issues being considered at the two-da y meeting.

As a follow-up to the implementation of the Accra Declaration on the Union Gover nment, adopted by the last AU summit, the committee will discuss contents of the Union Government and its relations with national governments.

Definition of the relationship between the Union government and the regional eco nomic communities is part of the session's agenda which, according to AU officia l s, aims at brainstorming on ways and means that could enhance the prospect and a s piration of achieving the United States of Africa.

http://www.afriquenligne.fr/news/dai...2007112712233/

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