Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06ADDISABABA917
2006-04-06 12:30:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Embassy Addis Ababa
Cable title:  

AU POLITICAL AFFAIRS OBJECTIVES AND INSTITUTIONAL

Tags:  PREL PGOV EAID XA AU 
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DE RUEHDS #0917/01 0961230
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 061230Z APR 06
FM AMEMBASSY ADDIS ABABA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 9865
INFO RUEHZO/AFRICAN UNION COLLECTIVE
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ADDIS ABABA 000917 

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR AF/RSA, AF/E, S/P
USAID FOR STEVE PIERCE
LONDON AND PARIS FOR AFRICA WATCHERS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL PGOV EAID XA AU
SUBJECT: AU POLITICAL AFFAIRS OBJECTIVES AND INSTITUTIONAL
TRANSFORMATION


SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED. NOT FOR INTERNET DISTRIBUTION.

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ADDIS ABABA 000917

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR AF/RSA, AF/E, S/P
USAID FOR STEVE PIERCE
LONDON AND PARIS FOR AFRICA WATCHERS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL PGOV EAID XA AU
SUBJECT: AU POLITICAL AFFAIRS OBJECTIVES AND INSTITUTIONAL
TRANSFORMATION


SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED. NOT FOR INTERNET DISTRIBUTION.


1. (SBU) Summary: The African Union's (AU) top priority
through 2007 is to push forward the process of institutional
transformation to ensure a proactive and effective
organization as compared to the OAU, AU Commission Secretary
Prof. Johnson recently told a group of AU partners.
Political Affairs Director Leonard-Emile Ognimba said that AU
Commission political affairs objectives for 2006 include
developing a system to improve governance oversight,
organizing a debate on African constitutions, getting an AU
electoral unit up and running, fostering public service
reform, and strengthening the African Commission on Human and
Peoples' Rights. Post comments that empowering the AU
Commission to better address governance challenges in Africa
has value as a means of collective pressure on member states
to adopt best practices. End summary.

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CREATING A BETTER AU
--------------


2. (SBU) AU Commission Secretary Prof. C.A. Johnson told
Addis-based partners that efforts to ensure an effective and
proactive AU emerges out of the vestiges of the old OAU is
the AU's top priority through 2007. The AU's institutional
transformation project involves strengthening AU Commission
management, support structure and operations; rationalizing
institutions of the union; and promoting better
organizational governance. (Note: AU officials often
highlight the contradiction in member state and international
community expectations that the AU Commission will already
begin to deliver on major issues of peace and security,
health, and other matters while the organization has yet to
put adequate institutional structures in place. End note.)


3. (SBU) Prof. Johnson said the AU intends to use
knowledge-based management and information communications
technology to improve departmental interaction and
information sharing. At present, he noted, departments tend
to work in a vacuum and do not consult sufficiently on
cross-cutting issues or programs. (Note: A
Swedish-Norwegian VSAT program will form the backbone of the

AU's knowledge-based management effort. The AU Commission
has also submitted an ESF grant proposal to the USG to
improve network infrastructure. Fifty million dollars
provided by India will be devoted to linking AU member states
to tele-education and tele-medicine programs. End note.)


4. (SBU) The AU Commission will reach out to its staff to
create buy-in for institutional change. Prof. Johnson said
that the AU is using a culture change management consultancy
to improve human resources outreach.


5. (SBU) Prof. Johnson said that the AU intends to improve
organizational governance by solidifying and clarifying links
between the AU Commission and other AU organs such as the Pan
African Parliament (PAP). Johnson explained that, in the
absence of such oversight, many AU organs have developed
their own rules of procedure and begun to independently
solicit funds, which has caused confusion. Johnson said that
the AU is just beginning to staff the Peace and Security
Council (PSC) Secretariat, but Commission staff had taken on
the responsibility of drafting reports and organizing
consultations in the absence of the Secretariat.


6. (SBU) Note: AU member states allocated 9.3 million
dollars for institutional transformation needs, Canada has
pledged 4.5 million Canadian dollars, and the EU will devote
a portion of a 55 million euro, three-year contribution to AU
institutional transformation. End note.

--------------
POLITICAL AFFAIRS OBJECTIVES
--------------


7. (SBU) In the same meeting, Political Affairs Director
Leonard-Emile Ognimba and Governance, Elections, Democracy,
and Human Rights Head of Division Mamadou Dia outlined AU
political affairs priorities for 2006.

Draft Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance
-------------- --------------


8. (SBU) Dia said that the AU will hold a meeting of experts
April 2 and 4 in Addis to encourage adoption of the Draft

ADDIS ABAB 00000917 002 OF 003


Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance at the Banjul
Summit in July 2006. The AU will also assess implementation
of the Lome Declaration on Unconstitutional Changes of
Government and chart a way forward for that declaration. Dia
echoed the complaints of other AU Commission officials that
there are too many coups in Africa and the AU is not
empowered to deal with poor governance and other
circumstances which can lead to coups.


9. (SBU) The draft charter will bring together the Lome
Declaration, the African Charter for Popular Participation in
Development, and the African Charter on Human and Peoples'
Rights into one legally binding instrument which calls on
member states to build solid democratic institutions. The
charter is expected to complement NEPAD African Peer Review
Mechanism (APRM) efforts. (Note: For more information on
this project, see
www.africa.union.org/root/AU/conferences/past /2006/april/pa/ap
r7/meeting.htm. End note.)

African Constitutions
--------------


10. (SBU) According to Ognimba, the AU plans to hold a debate
on African constitutions in November 2006. The AU Commission
is concerned by recent manipulations of constitutions by
African leaders and wants to develop a best practices
template for African constitutions to avoid crises of
governance, Ognimba stated.


11. (SBU) AU member states did not allocate any funding for
this activity, but Dia confirmed that member states approved
its inclusion in the AU Commission's work plan provided
funding is received from other sources. EC, Canadian, and EU
member state development agency representatives present at
the meeting expressed reservations about funding activities
which do not have clear backing by AU member states, but Dia
retorted that the AU Commission's role is to hold member
states to a higher standard. He said that African leaders
who benefit from poor governance would of course be reluctant
to approve an activity designed to limit their latitude of
action, and asked for partner support to produce needed
institutional change on the continent. Dia added that
outside pressure is sometimes required to move positive
agendas ahead.

Electoral Assistance Unit
--------------


12. (SBU) Dia said that, while the AU fields observers to
elections in Africa upon invitation, the AU actually wants to
develop a comprehensive Electoral Assistance Unit with
training, capacity building and other components. He
mentioned that the EU and USAID are considering support for
this activity (Note: USAID plans to further define a program
of support based on an AU project document during an April
18-21 visit to Addis. End note.)

Public Service Reform
--------------


13. (SBU) Ognimba explained that the AU Commission is working
with the NEPAD Secretariat and the South African Ministry of
Public Administration to implement the AU Charter on Public
Service. The AU also wants to ensure member state
ratification of the AU anti-corruption mechanism, as four
more ratifications are required for it to enter into force.

Human Rights
--------------


14. (SBU) Ognimba said that the AU plans an assessment of the
Banjul-based African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights
(ACHPR) to determine how to strengthen the organization. He
noted that some member states have questioned the ACHPR's
reports on procedural grounds (such as at the January 2006
Khartoum Summit),and the Commission wants to eliminate such
obstacles to the ACHPR's effectiveness.

--------------
COMMENT
--------------


15. (SBU) The AU Commission is moving into sensitive areas as
it attempts to hold member states to a higher standard of
governance and respect for human rights, but its efforts
should be supported as a means of applying collective

ADDIS ABAB 00000917 003 OF 003


pressure on African countries to adopt best practices. The
Commission's strong stance on TOGO was softened in the face
of regional resistance, and it is now trying to better
institutionalize mechanisms to address poor governance. Part
of that effort involves a plan to empower AU organs such as
the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights, to
streamline NEPAD, and to break out of the OAU's self-censure
mold. Similarly, success of the institutional transformation
project is critical to producing a better managed and more
capable AU. The AU Commission will require strong support
from key partners such as the USG, if it is to succeed.
HUDDLESTON