President Kabbah Returns From Extra-Ordinary Summit Of The African Union On United Nations Reform

At an Extra-Ordinary Summit of the African Union on the United Nations Reform held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on Thursday 4th August 2005 to discuss the implementation of the Common African Position as adopted by the 5th Ordinary Summit of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government in Sirte, Libya from 4th to 5th July 2005, the Assembly unanimously agreed on the following:

i) Africa to maintain its position on the Ezulwini Consensus on the expansion of the Security Council as adopted by the Assembly of Heads of State and Government in Sirte, Libya;

ii) a High Level Committee comprising of ten Heads of State (two from each of the five geographical regions) was set up to facilitate this process;

iii) the Committee was mandated to present, advocate and promote universally, the Common African Position as spelt out in the Ezulwini Consensus, which essentially advocates for two permanent seats for Africa (with the rights and privileges of the veto) and five non-permanent seats in the Security Council;

iv) the Committee was further authorised to report on their findings and make recommendations, after holding consultations with other stakeholders, to the current Chairman of the African Union, President Olusegun Obasanjo of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, who will then convene another Summit of Heads of State and Government of the African Union in Addis Ababa or in New York on the margins of the General Assembly in September 2005;
v) the Summit will then map out the way- forward, depending on the outcome of the consultations with the various stakeholders.

Meanwhile, Kenya and Uganda have been named to represent the Eastern Africa region on the committee, Namibia and Zambia will represent the Southern Africa region, while member-countries of the committee from the Central and Northern regions will be named in the next two days.

His Excellency, Alhaji Dr Ahmad Tejan Kabbah and President Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal were nominated to represent West Africa on the High-Level Committee, while, President Kabbah was also appointed to lead and coordinate the work of the High Level Committee of the ten Heads of State and Government on the United Nations Reform.