JOHANNESBURG: The second summit of the African Union is likely to be marked by political wrangling as the continent’s leaders try to reach agreement on the functioning and final structures of the pan-African body.

The Second Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the African Union (AU) — the first was held in South Africa last year - will take place in Maputo, Mozambique, on July 4-12.

“The focus of this meeting will very much be on the structures of the AU and getting them to work,” says Jakkie Cilliers, the head of the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) in Pretoria, South Africa.

This is likely to disappoint many people who would like to see the African Union concentrating on achieving greater and faster success in ending conflicts, improving governance and kick-starting social and economic development on the continent.

More than 350 million people — over 50 per cent of Africa’s population — live below the poverty line of one US dollar a day, according to the World Bank.

The situation is more appalling in strife-torn Liberia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Zimbabwe, Somalia, Ethiopia, Sudan and Cote d’Ivoire.

While these concerns will undoubtedly be raised at the meeting, the election of the AU commission, which will play a central role in the day-to-day management of the Union, will be one of the main events of the gathering.

The Maputo summit will elect the chairperson, the deputy chairperson and appoint eight commissioners. The commission will prepare strategic plans and studies for the consideration of the AU executive council.

The finalization of the details of the African Standby Force (ASF) which will undertake peacekeeping missions on behalf of the African Union will also be discussed, as will the formation of the Pan-African Parliament.

The parliament will act as “an organ to ensure the full participation of African peoples in governance, development and economic integration of the continent”.

The protocol relating to the composition, powers, functions and organization of the Pan-African Parliament has been signed by member states and it is in the process of being ratified.

So far, Libya — which has no functioning democracy — and South Africa have shown interests in hosting the parliament.

Another delicate issue is likely to be the funding of the African Union, which will have to be supported with contributions from mainly poor African countries, many of which can hardly afford the expense. African countries are likely to be expected to contribute to the Union in proportion to their means.

Member countries owe the pan-African body a staggering $54.5 million. Out of the 53 members of the African Union only nine have reportedly fully paid their dues.

In the meantime, South African President and AU chairperson, Thabo Mbeki, who is often accused of spending too much of his time on the Union and the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) — a programme to kick-start the social and economic development of the continent — has defended his government’s African commitment.

Speaking in parliament on June 19, Mbeki said: “We will continue to be preoccupied with issues that are hundreds of miles away from home. We have no choice in this matter, unless we decide to extricate ourselves from the process of globalization, to lose interest in the development of the rest of our continent”.

“South Africa is linked to the rest of Africa,” he said. “We are not a small village stuck away in the middle of nowhere, which the world passes by.”

“We do not support the notion that our country can develop and emerge as a winning nation on the basis of its isolation from the rest of the world,” Mbeki warned. “The ‘issues that are hundreds of miles away from home’ are very directly relevant to whether we succeed in the effort to transform ourselves into a winning nation.”

“It would be uncharacteristic of us as a people that are very conscious of the concept of ‘Ubuntu’ — the oneness of all humanity. At the same time, we can best contribute to a successful African Renaissance if we succeed and are succeeding in the task of the reconstruction and development of our own country,” he said.

Mbeki will hand over the chair of the African Union to President Joaquin Chissano of Mozambique.

The African Union has replaced the Organization of African Union (OAU), which wound up two years ago.—Dawn/The InterPress News Service.