AU summit: Splits emerge
2007-07-03 07:40
Accra - Major splits emerged on Monday at a summit of African leaders on how to forge a closer union, with some heads of state urging their peers not to move too fast and focus more on regional integration.
On the second day of an African Union summit in Ghana, heads of state met behind closed doors for a grand debate in which they split over whether to create a United States of Africa or simply upgrade existing institutions.
Libya's Muammar Gadaffi had been leading a push to create a confederation of states, with a union government that would replace the existing AU commission and draw up common foreign and defence policies as well as ease trade barriers.
'Nigeria supports economic integration'
However, other key players on the continent wanted the existing structure to be given time to mature, including South African President Thabo Mbeki, who hosted the meeting five years ago in Durban after the AU was formally created, and the new Nigerian leader Umaru Yar'Adua.
In his speech, Yar'Adua said that Nigeria supported political and economic integration, which would ultimately lead to "the evolvement of the United States of Africa".
But, he then argued such a goal could be best reached by first concentrating on regional cooperation.
Yar'Adua said: "Our perspective is mediated by the critical need at his point in our continent's developmental process for the nations of Africa to focus more on the strengthening and consolidation of internal governance and growth structures and on more robust regional integration."
Although Mbeki did not speak, Lesotho Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili presented the misgivings of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), a 14-country regional bloc.
'Integration should be gradual'
He said: "We recognise that Africa's interests would be best served through economic and political integration.
"However we must adopt a bottoms-up approach, not a top-down one ... We believe that such integration should be gradual rather than precipitous."
However, advocates of stronger unity, including Senegal's President Abdoulaye Wade and Gabon's Ondimba Omar Bongo, both spoke forcibly for tighter union.
After the debate wrapped up for the night, Wade said there was a split of about 50-50 on whether to fast-track the union or to proceed more gradually.
He refused to rule out linking up with other states to form a breakaway union government in the hope of attracting others at a later stage.
Wade said: "Everybody agrees with the idea of a United States of Africa, but others think economic integration should proceed political integration, but political integration will actually accelerate economic integration."
The Senegalese leader said many countries had expressed fears of losing their sovereignty but he added: "We have an enormous possibility of making a difference.... All in all, I'm optimistic" of an agreement.