Continental Parliament Inaugurated in Africa
The African Union yesterday launched a pan-African parliament with the mission of spreading democracy, prosperity and peace across the continent. A ceremony in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, inaugurated what is to be a 265-member assembly of the union's 53 member states. Gertrude...
The African Union yesterday launched a pan-African parliament with the mission of spreading democracy, prosperity and peace across the continent.
A ceremony in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, inaugurated what is to be a 265-member assembly of the union's 53 member states. Gertrude Ibengwe Mongella, a Tanzania representative who headed the 1995 world conference on women in Beijing, was elected president.
The assembly is billed as analagous to the European parliament, but sceptics said that without funding it could be a talking shop. Consultative powers are to be given teeth after five years with legislative powers, including harmonisation of national laws.
The African Union replaced the discredited Organisation of African Unity in 2002. Mozambique's president, Joaquim Chissano, the union's chairman, stated its immediate priority: "Without peace, all our plans will be but utopia."
Regardless of population, each state will have five MPs picked from national parliaments when all 53 have ratified the protocol.
The assembly's first task will be to decide where to locate itself for its twice-yearly sessions. Egypt and South Africa are competing to be the host, touting Cairo and Cape Town.
A ceremony in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, inaugurated what is to be a 265-member assembly of the union's 53 member states. Gertrude Ibengwe Mongella, a Tanzania representative who headed the 1995 world conference on women in Beijing, was elected president.
The assembly is billed as analagous to the European parliament, but sceptics said that without funding it could be a talking shop. Consultative powers are to be given teeth after five years with legislative powers, including harmonisation of national laws.
The African Union replaced the discredited Organisation of African Unity in 2002. Mozambique's president, Joaquim Chissano, the union's chairman, stated its immediate priority: "Without peace, all our plans will be but utopia."
Regardless of population, each state will have five MPs picked from national parliaments when all 53 have ratified the protocol.
The assembly's first task will be to decide where to locate itself for its twice-yearly sessions. Egypt and South Africa are competing to be the host, touting Cairo and Cape Town.
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