The Third Ordinary Session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union has concluded its deliberations at the UN Conference Centre, Addis Ababa, the Head Quarters of the Union.

The Assembly is the highest decision -making body of the Union. Since the inauguration of the Union in 2002 the Summit has become an indication of the level of commitment of the leaders to the renewed enthusiasm for African Integration and Pan-Africanism. Most member states were represented by their Presidents, Prime Ministers or Heads of State. There were also many CSOs from Africa, the Diaspora and international organisations in attendance and also numerous advocacy and other parallel events on the back of the Summit.

In the past military coups and military dictators dominated the politics of Africa summits of the old OAU. In 1980, Master Sergeant Samuel Doe of Liberia did not even think twice before assassinating the serving Chair of the OAU, William Tubman, and promptly demanding to take Liberia's seat at the Lagos Emergency Summit. General Yakubu Gowon was overthrown by the Nigerian Army while handing over the Chair of the Organization to one Field Marshall Alhaji Dr Idi Amin Dada, self proclaimed Conqueror of the British Empire, in Kampala in 1975.

As the leaders feared insurgencies and military putsch in their countries many sat tight at home not bothering to attend OAU summits. They accumulated contributions due to the organization with reckless abandon. Until the Cairo Summit of 1993 the OAU did not even have a policy to sanction erring members. At that Summit The OAU began to name and shame failing states. The most dramatic effect of this policy was felt at the Durban Summit when the media got hold of the full list of non-paying states. This practice has now been codified in the new Constitutive Act of the Union. There are various sanctions against states that do not pay their dues such as withholding their rights to participate at AU meetings, voting on policy issues, etc. This has improved the efficiency of the payments even if black holes still exist in the funding of the organization especially with its new expansive institutions and noble ambitions.

The truth is that the AU cannot just survive on the formal membership dues of the states. There is no comparable multilateral institution that does. They rely heavily on the generous contribution of the richer member states who are willing to put their money where their mouth is. If Germany and other key EU countries, Japan , Canada and Scandinavian countries withdrew contributions from the UN the organisation would go bankrupt. We have seen the adverse effect of a reluctant and opportunistic US punitive relationship with the UN in the past two decades. The EU will not survive without the huge contributions of the key troika states: Britain, Germany and France.

Therefore the relatively richer countries of Africa have to put their money where their mouth is. Thus the most important item on the AU Summit agenda at the past meeting was the approval of ‘The Vision, Mission and Strategic Plan of the AU’ as put forward by the AU Chairperson, the indefatigable Alpha Konare.

It was accepted in principle but there are still concerns about the implementation including translating the plan into a popular mobilisation document accessible to the vast majority of Africans.

But the funding issue is what is occupying everybody's mind and rightly so. I think this is a red herring because I believe that the resources are there among African states to make it happen if they so wish. It is also defeatist to always put cash before strategic vision. If we agree on our vision and strategy we can now go about the logistical issues in a more coherent way.
There are debates about prioritisation and harmonisation. But the key issue for me is for us to look at more creative was of getting the necessary funds primarily from our own resources. For a start, all the rich states such as Nigeria, South Africa, Libya, Egypt, Algeria, Botswana, Angola, DRC (when it gets its act together), etc must dig deeper into their pockets. Even a fraction of some of the looting by the Nigerian or Angolan military/ political elite will go a long way in helping the AU. We could also consider:

- A dollar tax for the AU on all airline tickets to and from Africa deductible at source in member countries.
- Oil producing states in Africa can pledge X barrels of crude oil per day to a Trust fund for the Union.
- Union tax on businesses and labour benefiting from the intra African liberalisation of trade, commerce, freedom of movement.
- Creatively finding ways in which both the historic and immigrant African Diaspora across the world can make contribution both in human and material terms to the AU.

There are countless other means through which the Union can be funded from African sources. After exhausting our internal and Diaspora sources then we could invite others who are genuinely interested in partnering with Africa to come and help in areas we have identified and on terms dictated by us.
It will require great sacrifice and new ways of doing things both at the governmental and civil society levels of our societies. But it can be done, needs to be done and has to be done. If not now, when and if not us, by whom?

The agreement on the strategic plan for me represents a good starting point to mobilise our different forces for this task. Anybody who wants to help us should do so under that plan and not initiate anything else. Africa needs fulfilment of past promises not new ones.

* Dr Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem is General-Secretary of the Pan African Movement, Kampala (Uganda) and Co-Director of Justice Africa ([email protected] or [email][email protected])

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