AU facing money troubles
2005-07-03 14:01
Sirte -On the eve of a summit meeting of African Union states, the pan-African grouping admitted it was facing financial difficulties, with a $35m shortfall in contributions from members.
"Member states must live up to their financial obligations to the organisation, which is owed $35m in arrears," said Alpha Oumar Konare after a three-day meeting of the AU's executive commission to prepare for the summit.
A report produced for the commission found that only seven of the AU's 53 member states had fully paid their basic contributions. They were Algeria, Angola, Botswana, the Comoros, Ethiopia, Senegal and South Africa.
As contributions are proportional to the population and wealth of each country, a minority of states are responsible for the bulk of the body's budget.
An AU spokesperson said that 35% of the total was supposed to come from just five countries: Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Nigeria and South Africa.
A participant at the pre-summit meeting said that some AU officials had suggested that the Union should call on the international community for aid in financing its budget, but that was turned down.
The African Union came into being in 2001, when it replaced the Organisation of African Unity, founded in May 1963.