OAU summit, endorsing African Union, closes in Togo

   LOME, July 12 (AFP) - The 36th Organisation of African Unity summit
officially closed Wednesday in Lome shortly before midday, with African
leaders signing a plan for continental union that foresees a supreme body
and
an executive council.
   The closing ceremony took place in the presence of more than 30 African
heads of state and government, among them Moamer Kadhafi, who first
promoted
the grand idea of a United States of Africa.
   The type of union agreed on here is akin to a watered-down version of
the
European Union.
   The constituent act will take effect 30 days after ratification by two
thirds of Africa's 53 nations, replacing the OAU charter of 1963, though
the
pan-African organisation's founding text would remain in force for a
transitional year.
   The act specifies that the African Union will be based in Addis Ababa,
the
Ethiopian capital and OAU headquarters. Its founding principles are
"equality,
sovereignty and the independence of states", with "respect for borders",
"non-interference" and a ban "on the use of force or the threat of force
against another member state."
   The OAU's secretary general, Salim Ahmed Salim, said the adoption of the
constituent act was an "historic decision."
   He also said next year's OAU summit would be held in Zambia.
   OAU's rotating presidency is held by Togo, which has taken over from
Algeria.
   Several African leaders, Presidents Paul Biya from Cameroon, Paul Kagame
from Rwanda and Thabo Mbeki from South Africa had already left the Togolese
capital before the closing ceremony.

Sidi Sanneh

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