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| May 28, 2002 | Tuesday | Rabi-ul-Awwal 15,1423 |
The Armageddon predicted by Nostradamus?
ISLAMABAD, May 27: The best of exotic cuisine and culture was exhibited by the member states of the Organization of African Unity here on Monday.
The chief guest, foreign minister, Abdul Sattar, went around the entire spacious hall of Serena with the ambassadors, high commissioners and charge d’affairs of Algeria, South Africa, Sudan, Somalia, Nigeria, Mauritius, Libya, Kenya, Egypt and Tunisia to taste the delicacies of each country at their respective stalls.
Earlier, the foreign minister visited the stalls depicting the cultural heritage of the countries. The stalls were set up to mark the 39th anniversary of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) Day.
South Africa’s High Commissioner, Moosa Moolah, said the African Union with an expanded mandate would replace the OAU in July when the first Summit of the Organisation would be held.
South Africa is set to play an important role in leading the process to finalize and establish the remaining organs of AU.
Laying the foundation for the functioning of the organisation, South Africa’s inter-ministerial committee, consisting of ministers of trade, industry, treasury, foreign affairs, arts and culture, science and technology, justice and defence and intelligence approved “Peace, Development and Prosperity: The African Century” as the theme of the Summit.
As part of the administrative, procedural and legal programmes, the finalization of work towards operationalizing the AU and its new organs are a priority, the diplomats said.
These include the development of the Rules of Procedure on the Pan-African Parliament, the Court of Justice, the Economic Social and Cultural Council, the review of OAU agreements, treaties protocols and their relevance under AU, the operationalization of the relationship between the Regional Economic Commissions and the AU, the review of the Scale of Assessment of the AU as a source of funding for the programmes and projects of the AU, the review of the African charter on Human and People’s Rights and finalization and adoption of criteria for the hosting of AU institutions.
The mandate of the Peace and Security Council will include the right of the AU to intervene in member states in respect of grave circumstances, war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity. It may also respond to requests by member states to intervene in restoring peace and security and its primary function will be peace-building and post-conflict reconstruction.
In addition to the current situations, the Peace and Security Council will have to build on its anticipation, prevention and early warning capabilities by putting in place effective early warning mechanisms. The need for ready contingents stationed in member states will also have to be clearly defined as well as the need for a fund which could be used for their rapid deployment.
With so much taking place on forging regional blocks, the Africans having the AU, the Europeans with EU and the Americans with NATO and South Eastern countries with ASEAN, many wondered if South Asia could make the Saarc effective in ways different from war mongering.
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