----- Original Message -----
From: "Andy Mensah" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, March 11, 2004 2:56 PM
Subject: [unioNews] AU Commission readies for Pan-African Parliament opening


Wednesday, March 10, 2004
<H3>AU Commission readies for Pan-African Parliament opening</H3>
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (PANA) -  The Executive Council of the
African Union (AU) will hold its fourth ordinary session here 12-
13 March ahead of the inauguration of the Pan-African Parliament
next week, a senior official of the AU disclosed Wednesday.

In the run-up to the opening of Africa's highest legislature, a
series of AU meetings start in the Ethiopian capital this week.

According to the official, the Executive Council session will be
preceded by the seventh ordinary session of the Permanent
Representatives Committee (PRC) to thrash out the agenda for
consideration by the Foreign Affairs ministers.

During its three-day session, the PRC will, among other items on
agenda, discuss the AU Commission's report on financial and
administrative matters for the June-December 2002 period; and a
report from the board of external auditors on accounts of the
Commission for the same period.

The Commission's acting head of information, Desmond Orjiako,
said the PRC will consider the status of contributions by member
States to the regular budget of the AU as of March 2004 as well
as a report of the Commission on alternative sources of funding.

The second ordinary session of the AU Assembly, held July 2003 in
Maputo, Mozambique, approved a US$43 million programme budget for
January-December 2004.

However, the AU leaders authorised the Executive Council to make
adjustment of the budget in view of newly elected officials and
recruitment of staff of the Commission.

On the political front, the PRC will go through a report on
security, stability, development and cooperation in Africa. The
Committee is also set to consider the draft statute of the
Economic, Social and Cultural Council (ECOSOCC) of the AU.

ECOSOCC, to be composed of different social and professional
groups of the member States, shall be an advisory organ of the
AU.

Polio eradication is another sticky issue on the AU's social
development and public health agenda that the upcoming sessions
will dwell on.

According to the World Health Organisation, the disease is
threatening to make a comeback, and the whole African continent
is on the brink of re-infection unless efforts were made to stop
the spread of the virus.

The campaign to "Kick Polio Out of Africa", launched in 1996 by
former South African President Nelson Mandela, and now championed
by AU Commission Chairperson Alpha Oumar Konaré, cut polio cases
down from 205 children being paralysed every day to 388 during
the entire year in 2003.

Meanwhile, the AU Commission in collaboration with the Steering
Committee on the Protocol relating to the Pan-African Parliament
has prepared for the inauguration of the Parliament and its first
session from 18-20 March.

Chaired by the Speaker of the National Assembly of South Africa,
Frene Ginwalla, the Steering Committee has carried out a series
of preparatory activities between December 2003 and February
2004.

Regional parliamentary groups will convene in Addis Ababa on 17
March, according to a programme released Wednesday by the AU
Commission.

The Inaugural Session of the Pan-African Parliament will take
place at the UN Conference Centre in Addis Ababa on 18 March
2004, followed by the first session of the Parliament that will
take place at the same venue.

As of 25 February 2004, 38 member States had signed, ratified and
deposited the instruments of ratification of the Protocol and 30
member States had submitted the list of their five Members (at
least one of whom is a woman) elected to the Pan-African
Parliament.

Copyright © 2004 PANA

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