African Union Commission chief Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma will not run for a second term in office of the 54-member bloc, her spokesman said on April 1, 2015, and will leave the post in July. / AFP / FILIPPO MONTEFORTE
The outgoing African Union (AU) chairperson, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, has blamed the focus on national interests over continental interests for the slow growth of Africa.
“Africa has lost over 40 per cent of its market share and member-states have open sky agreements with many more non-African countries than they do with other African nations,” she said in her welcome address to the Ordinary Session of the Permanent Representative Committee (PRC) of the AU.
The 32nd Ordinary Session of the PRC opened yesterday at the Kigali Convention Centre in Rwanda’s capital bringing together all the 54 African Union Member-States as well as AU officials to kick start the 2016 AU Summit.
We have more to win, than to lose from implementing our African agenda, she said.
Dlamani-Zuma said the issue of unity and cooperation is very vital in reaching the goals of the Agenda 2063, calling for a balance between national interests and the continental common good.
One of the reasons for slow movement on some issues…was our focus on national interest, to the detriment of the continental interests.
“It would be difficult for us to move forward on the transport corridors that connect our countries; on the regional energy pools that must power industries and homes; on free movement of people; on regional value chains in beneficiation and manufacturing, without cooperation among countries and with the Regional Economic Communities,” she said.
However, Dlamini-Zuma acknowledged the commitments by member states to move towards self-reliance and fund AU operations and programmes to reduce the impact of over-reliance on outside funding.
The decision of HOSG to move towards greater self-reliance and funding for AU operations, programmes and peace operations must be our guiding mantra.
