This week’s AU Monitor brings you news from the African Union where a meeting of the Ministerial Committee on the Union Government is taking place in Addis Ababa between the 27th and 28th of November. According to the Accra declaration adopted in June 2007, the committee is set up for the: “identification of the contents of the Union Government concept and its relations with national governments; identification of domains of competence and the impact of the establishment of the Union Government on the sovereignty of member states; definition of the relationship between the Union Government and the Regional Economic Communities (RECs); elaboration of the road map together with timeframes for establishing the Union Government; and identification of additional sources of financing the activities of the Union.”

In regard to regional integration, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) held its annual coordination meeting with development partners’ where the Strategic Vision for 2020 was presented along with ECOWAS’ key strategic plans for the attainment of its objective to move from an ‘ECOWAS of states’ to an ‘ECOWAS of peoples’. The strategy aims at a borderless region “where people have access to and are able to harness its enormous resources through the creation of opportunities for sustainable production and environment”.

Whilst the Ministerial Committee meets to discuss continental integration, Joseph Coomson writes of the fragmentary effect of the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) on Africa despite the recently developed policy statement created by African, Caribbean and Pacific Ministers touted as the most comprehensive such position thus far in the negotiations. The statement not only underscores the differences among ACP country negotiations but outlines principles upon which the negotiations should be based.

Also in trade news, Xinhua reports that Sino-African trade is likely to grow faster than previously expected and will reach one hundred billion dollars before 2010. In addition, a China Africa Development Fund has been established and is expected to spend between $300 and 400 million in around twenty to thirty Chinese or Chinese-African joint ventures in 2008.

The AU Monitor also features an interview conducted by IPS with Dr. Tajudeen Abdul Raheem on the realisation of the Millennium Development Goals where he states that “one of the biggest scandals in the implementation of MDGs, and one that civil societies and the media really need to focus on, are the MDGs in relation to women. Indeed, all MDGs are about women because they are the majority, and therefore real development cannot take place without full participation and empowerment of women.” In regard to women’s rights, Faiza Mohamed introduces the special issue of Pambazuka News on the anniversary of the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa while a Ministerial Council on Science and Technology meeting this week decided to hold a forum for African women in science and technology.

Also in relation to the MDGs, Mukundi Mutasa writes about the recently released report “Our Environment, Our Wealth”, which highlights the potential of African natural resources for development. While the Southern African Development Community (SADC) is urged by United Nations Special Envoy on AIDS in Africa, Elizabeth Mataka, to strengthen their collective response to HIV/AIDS.

Good governance becomes the focus of the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) conference in Nigeria, where peer review was described as designed for and by Africans to encourage a culture of accountability on the Continent rather than for external benefactors. Yet it is to the “external benefactors” that Mohammed Ibrahim, who initiated a prize for good governance in Africa, directed criticism at an Africa Investor Conference. He claims that Western nations and businesses cannot be absolved for helping corrupt officials and for being conduits for stolen funds.

As the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights concludes in Congo Brazzaville, human rights defenders call on African States to prevent forced disappearances and the impunity that accompanies these crimes. This follows the launch of a Pambazuka News special issue on human and peoples’ rights reflecting on the challenges and accomplishments of the Commission as it celebrates its 20th year of existence.

Lastly, in peace and security news, the transition from the existing African Union peace keeping operation in Darfur to a strengthened hybrid United Nations-African Union force, known as UNAMID, continues as Chinese and Bangladeshi troops arrive in Sudan.