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Obasanjo now AU chairman
Obasanjo now AU chairman
PRESIDENT Olusegun
Obasanjo has been elected chairman of the African Union (AU) at the on-going
summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Consequently, Nigeria will host the next
summit of the AU in July 2005.
President Obasanjo, who accepted the
position, promised to work with fresh vigour to tackle the continent’s debt
problem and speed up Africa’s socio-economic development.
President John Kuffour of Ghana who
confirmed Obasanjo’s election at a special prayer session preceeding the opening
of the summit, had called for "special prayers to be offered for our incoming
chairman President Olusegun Obasanjo."
With Obasanjo’s assumption of the
leadership of AU, he has added another feather to his cap as an international
statement.
He currently occupies the chair at the
Commonwealth, the New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD) implementation
committee and also heads the NEPAD peer review mechanism committee.
Diplomatic sources said President Obasanjo
was now well positioned to carry his colleagues along in his ongoing efforts to
secure peace and security in Africa and also in speeding up its development.
In an acceptance speech he gave shortly
after the country was given the mandate to chair the union, Obasanjo assured his
colleagues that Nigeria would not falter in her efforts to provide excellent
leadership during her tenure.
He said Nigeria was highly honoured to
have been elected chair of the AU assembly and pledged that the country would do
her best to move the union forward and get the continent on the path of speedy
development.
"I promise to discharge the functions of
the office with utmost diligence and commitment," Obasanjo said, adding that the
country would also spare no effort to justify the confidence that was reposed in
her by other member AU nations.
He said that Nigeria would, at all times,
strive to promote the unity and solidarity as well as the sustainance of the
continent’s hard-earned independence, while counting on the support of other AU
member states.
"Nigeria will also count on the valuable
support of all of you in our collective effort to vigorously pursue these
ideals.
"We shall continue to promote cooperation
and integration as well as the sustainable development of our continent," the
President said.
He said that Nigeria would work together
with all member states, the commission as well as all stakeholders with renewed
determination to accelerate the socio-economic development of Africa.
"We intend to work together with the
commission to accelerate the ongoing restructuring in the commission to bring
the process to a speedy conclusion in order to enhance its service delivery
capacity," he said.
Obasanjo declared: "We intend to confront
headlong, the conflict situations in Africa with renewed vigour and
determination.
"We like to enlist the support of members
of the Union, especially its peace and security council and other development
partners to achieve the goal."
He pledged that Nigeria would also work
during its tenure, to ensure that Africa remained firmly on the agenda of the
G-8, the EU and other partners in the effort to "accelerate the socio-economic
development of the continent."
Among other things, the president said
that his tenure would give attention to the continent’s debt issue.
He said attention would also be given to Africa’s belief
in multi-lateralism as the best option to handle issues of peace and collective
security arrangement as enshrined in the UN charter.
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