The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) in its “A Week in the Horn” report of July 10, 2009, raised issues concerning the 13th Africa Union Summit held in Sirte, Libya, the Ethiopia-Sudan -Keeping the Momentum of their relations, the endorsement of the Operational Guidelines of Ethiopian CEWERU, the situation in Somalia, the visit of the Assistant Secretary of State Johnnie Carson’s to Ethiopia and Africa’s resolve against spoiler Eritrea.   

The 13th Summit of Heads of State and Government of the African Union was held in Sirte, Libya from July 1st to 3rd, 2009. The Summit considered various agenda items including the theme of the Summit (investing in agriculture for economic growth and food security). However, the consideration of the peace and security situation in the continent and the transformation of the African Union Commission into an African Union Authority dominated the discussion. 

The Summit, which deliberated extensively on all conflict situations in the continent, adopted a historic decision concerning the conflict in Somalia. The Summit made this bold and unprecedented decision, in line with previous IGAD Ministerial and African Union Peace and Security Council Communiqués, of calling for sanctions against all those foreign actors, both within and outside the region, especially Eritrea, that are providing support to the armed groups engaged in destabilization activities in Somalia, attacks against the TFG, the civilian population and AMISOM, as well as against the Somali individuals and entities working towards undermining the peace and reconciliation efforts and regional stability.  

It is the first time that the Assembly is calling for sanctions against a fellow Member State of the African Union and the decision speaks volumes on how fed up the region and the continent are with Eritrea's destabilization actions in the region as a whole and in Somalia in particular.   

During the debate that was made on this issue, all countries of the region and beyond starting with the President of Somalia, H.E. Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, underlined the fact that with thousands of foreign extremist militants supported by Eritrea taking the critical role in the fighting in Somalia, the conflict has become part of a war waged by Al Qaeda as part of a much wider sinister agenda. It is this collusion with and support for these groups by Eritrea that led the Summit to condemn Eritrea and to call for sanctions against it.   

Contrary to its previous statements including by the President of Eritrea himself, calling for war against AMISOM and the overthrow of the TFG, the Eritrean representative engaged in a futile and desperate exercise of denial and an attempt to disguise his country's actions and to portray it as an advocate of a political solution in Somalia. The facts on the ground are, however, incontestable with Eritrea serving both as supplier of and a conduit for military support to foreign extremists in Somalia. It was therefore appropriate that the Assembly refused to be duped by Eritrea's subterfuge. 

In fact, the delegations which took the floor on this issue underlined that the regime in Asmara is the spoiler of the Horn of Africa region, by continuously provoking conflict with its neighbours, and that the region as a whole cannot be in the wrong. It is noteworthy that no delegation did so much as speak in favour or in defense of Eritrea.  

Another case raised was the on-going border crisis between Eritrea and Djibouti. In this regard, the Summit urged Eritrea to urgently and fully comply with the repeated demands of the African Union and the UN Security Council on the border crisis between Eritrea and Djibouti. It is to be recalled that the 11th and 12th Ordinary sessions of the Assembly held respectively in July 2008 in Sharm El Sheikh (Egypt) and February 2009 in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia), as well as Resolution 1862 of the UN Security Council had called for the return to the status quo ante and the withdrawal of Eritrean troops from occupied Djiboutian territory. During the Summit in Sirte, the Eritrean representative engaged in a contradictory attempt to conceal his country's actions. He first denied the existence of the crisis itself during the meeting of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the African Union, which precedes the Summit meeting, and then during the Summit meeting acknowledged the existence of the crisis but he preferred to refrain from speaking on the matter stating that there are discreet efforts to resolve the crisis.  

This prevarication regarding the crisis with Djibouti and the new efforts by Eritrea to try to disguise its role in Somalia must be rejected outright. It is now up to the UN Security Council to heed the call of the continent for the immediate implementation of sanctions against the regime in Asmara. There is no other alternative for maintaining peace in the Horn of Africa.   

It is to be recalled that the February Summit of the Union had decided to transform the African Union Commission into an Authority. It was also decided that the Executive Council should convene an extraordinary meeting to study the functions and size of the Authority, the functions of the Secretaries of the Authority and the financial implications of establishing such an Authority. The Council met last April in Tripoli, Libya to consider these matters and came up with conclusions on how to transform the Commission into an Authority. The main debate during the deliberations of the Council revolved around the question of whether the Authority was of an intergovernmental nature. In the end, the Council agreed that the African Union is a Union of independent and sovereign States and that it is an inter-governmental body and thus all its Organs, including the Authority, would, in essence, be one of coordination and harmonization of policies in various sectors. The Authority would also represent member states in international forums if and when mandated by them. These Conclusions were submitted to the Summit.  

Some amendments to the Conclusions of the Council were submitted for the consideration of the Summit. These amendments, in effect, would obviate the need for AU’s organs such as the PSC and the Executive Council, practically rendering the Authority an independent organ free from the guidance of the Executive Council and the Assembly. The debate was particularly heated on the functions of the Secretaries. More particularly the amendments dealing with Defense & foreign policy in effect implied that there would be common foreign policy and common defense for Africa contrary to the spirit of the previous decision. After a long debate the recommendations of the Council were endorsed, with the understanding that the secretaries will only have the functions of initiating common policies and programmes in respect of the portfolios assigned to them, submit them to Union Organs for consideration and adoption and monitor the implementation of decisions. Far from being functionally independent power units, the Secretaries of the Authority would have the roles of coordinating the various policies of member states.  

In the final analysis, the debate was concluded by agreeing to have altogether ten portfolios including the president, the deputy president and eight secretaries. However, there appeared to be confusion with regard to the number of secretaries and Ethiopia voiced its concern that the actual number of secretaries was not established during adoption. It was finally agreed that whatever discrepancies there were between what was actually agreed and the text adopted would have to be verified in accordance with the audio transcript of the discussion. 

The 21st Summit of the NEPAD Heads of State and Government Implementation Committee (HSGIC) was held on 30 June 2009, in Sirte, Libya, on the eve of the 13th African Union Assembly under the Chairmanship of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi. The two agenda items considered by the Summit were integration of NEPAD into African Union structures and processes and   Africa's Engagement with External Partners, focusing particularly on the preparations for the July 2009 G8/Africa Outreach in L’Aquila, Italy. Prime Minister Meles presented the report and proposals of the Committee to the Assembly of the Union. 

Regarding the integration of NEPAD, the HSGIC recalled the decision of the 2nd AU Assembly in Maputo in 2003, the 13-point conclusions of the Algiers NEPAD Brainstorming Summit of March 2007 as endorsed by the 10th AU Assembly and the outcomes of the Dakar NEPAD Review Summit of April 2008 as the basis for the integration. The HSGIC further agreed to recommend to the Assembly for endorsement of the key recommendations in the report of the consultancy-study of the AU/NEPAD integration. In this regard, the HSGIC agreed with the proposals to establish the NEPAD Planning and Coordinating Agency (NPCA) as a technical body of the AU, in replacement of the NEPAD Secretariat. It also proposed to maintain the HSGIC as a sub-committee of the AU Assembly. It was underlined that the HSGIC operates as per the mandate given to it by the AU Assembly, to which it ultimately reports and does not take final decisions. 

Regarding preparations for the July 2009 G8/Africa Outreach in L'Aquila, Italy, the 21st NEPAD HSGIC Summit noted and endorsed the recommendations in the briefing by the NEPAD CEO. A number of African Leaders are invited to attend the G8/Africa Outreach. Prime Minister Meles Zenawi is also attending the G-8 Summit in his capacity as the Chairperson of the HSGIC. 

As indicated above, one of the recommendations of the Summit was to maintain the HSGIC. However, there was a view from one delegation that the integration of NEPAD into the AU would eliminate the continuity of the HSGIC. In light of the integration of NEPAD into the African Union, the Assembly decided to maintain the Heads of State and Government Implementation Committee as an interim arrangement so that they can continue to play a leadership role especially with regards to the G-8 Summit.  Since no final conclusion was reached on the matter, further debate is expected in the upcoming AU Summit.

The Executive Council has elected eleven members of the newly established African Union Commission on International Law. Ato Minilik Alemu, Director General for International Law and Consular Affairs in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has been elected as a Member of this important body.  

The African Union Commission on International Law (AUCIL) is established by Article 2 of the Statute of the African Union Commission on International Law and in accordance with Article 5(2) of the Constitutive Act of the African Union. It is composed of eleven (11) members of recognised competence in international law, who are nationals of Member States and who must serve in their personal capacity. The matter was originally brought to the attention of the African Union Assembly in relation to the criminal proceedings on the Sudanese president before ICC and the issuance of an arrest warrant. Concerns were raised on the effect this would have on the fragile peace efforts underway in the Sudan. Therefore, even though the AU’s commitment to combat impunity was reiterated, it was argued that the task of ensuring a peaceful settlement of the situation in Darfur and the whole of Sudan has to be given a priority. It was in line with the above consideration that the AU Assembly in its 12th session held in Addis Ababa called up on the UN Security Council to defer the processes initiated by the ICC, pursuant to the UNSC’s mandate under article 16 of the ICC Statute. It did also call for the holding of a meeting of member states that are party to the ICC Statute to consult on the work of the ICC in relation to Africa and come up with recommendations. 

During the Summit the outcome and recommendations of the meeting of member states party to the Rome Statute were presented to the assembly. After deliberating on the recommendations, the Assembly adopted a decision calling for a meeting of AU member states party and non-party to the statute to prepare for the review conference on the Statute to be held in May 2010 in Kampala, Uganda.  

Taking in to account the lack of response from the UN Security Council to a call for deferral of the proceeding against the Sudanese President, the Assembly decided that the AU member states shall not cooperate with ICC pursuant to article 98 of the statute relating to immunities with respect to the surrender and arrest of the Sudanese president.

Ethiopia-Sudan - Keeping the Momentum

As part of their commitment to keep the momentum of their relationship going, Ethiopia and Sudan are having successive and successful bilateral consultations since last April. Following meetings of the two Ministerial Committees (Political and Economic) in the preceding month, the Social Affairs Committee concluded its first meeting last weekend.  The Social Committee’s scope encompasses co-operations in the field of social and labor affairs, education, health, tourism & culture as well as youth & sport. 

The cooperation in this cross-cutting area has a catalytic role in the whole gamut of relations that the two countries currently enjoy.  The joint meeting has reviewed the existing agreements and identified key elements in each agreement. It has also developed an action plan for implementation. 

The co-operation in the provision of scholarship is part and parcel of the general educational agreement; therefore an agreement was reached to establish a system of frameworks in order to ensure its implementation. It was agreed that the system has to be managed from one center including the selection process.  There will also be exchange of profiles between and among universities and research centers to facilitate co-operation in higher education. 

The labor exchange agreement was another crucial element of the meeting.  Signed this year, it stipulates reciprocal exchange of manpower in various sectors in both countries where one has an advantage over the other.  The two sides also reached agreement to regulate migrant workers and to facilitate the sending by migrant workers of remittances to their respective home countries. 

An agreement on Social Welfare and Children was also signed in the meeting.  The two countries have agreements of cooperation in health, culture, sport and youth.