KNOW YOUR AFRICAN UNION AGENDA: VISION OF THE AFRICAN UNION The African Union Constitutive Act (, which sets out the vision of the African Union to “build an integrated, prosperous and peaceful Africa, an Africa driven and managed by its own citizen and representing a dynamic force in the international arena”, To actualise this vision into a pragmatic and tangible sense, the chairperson of the African Union Commissiont, Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, has expatiated it as follows: An Africa with high-speed railways, a common language, diplomatic clout, cutting-edge fashion and leadership in space exploration: this was the vision of a transformed Africa laid out before a continental summit this week. In a speech to the African Union, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, the chair of the 54-member bloc, outlined her vision of what the continent could look like in just 50 years, providing some welcome relief to an agenda dominated by conflict. Written as a message to a hypothetical friend in 2063, Dlamini-Zuma spoke of a grand reality where a new Confederation of African States has replaced the AU. At the beginning of the 21st century, we used to get irritated with foreigners when they treated Africa as one country: as if we were not a continent of over a billion people and 55 sovereign states. But the advancing global trend towards regional blocks reminded us that integration and unity is the only way for Africa to leverage its competitive advantage, she said. We did not realise our power, but instead relied on donors, that we euphemistically called partners. She described a future with regional manufacturing hubs in Congo, Angola and Zambia, as well as silicon savannahs in Rwanda, Egypt, Nigeria and Kenya. She also envisioned a time when women would have equal access to education and business ownership. The future Africa, Dlamini-Zuma said, was a leader in renewable energy, with war a thing of the past. We lit up Africa, the formerly dark continent, using hydro, solar, wind, geothermal energy, in addition to fossil fuels, she told delegates at the summit in Addis Ababa. Some magazine once called us The hopeless continent, citing conflicts, hunger and malnutrition, disease and poverty, as if it was a permanent African condition. Because of our experience of the devastation of conflict, we tackled the root causes, she added. Dlamini-Zuma spoke of an African space agency, a modern, continent-wide telecommunications infrastructure, and an Africa young people could tour on high-speed rail links similar to Europes InterRail system. Our grandchildren still find it very funny how we used to struggle at AU meetings with English, French and Portuguese interpretations, she said, describing an Africa half a century into the future where Swahili had replaced the languages of the former colonial powers. Dlamini-Zuma described Kinshasa as having eclipsed Paris and Milan as fashion capital of the world, and Accra as upstaging Brussels as the home of gourmet chocolate. God Bless Africa, Africans in Africa and Diasporas must unite!! Stay Blessed
Posted on: Sat, 01 Feb 2014 10:10:49 +0000
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