INAUGURAL ADDRESS

BY

H.E. ALHAJI DR. YAHYA A J J J AMMEH PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF THE GAMBIA

ON THE OCCASION OF

THE SEVENTH ORDINARY SESSION OF
THE ASSEMBLY OF AFRICAN UNION HEADS OF STATE AND GOVERNMENT SUMMIT

1-2 JULY 2006

BANJUL , THE GAMBIA

 

 

Mr. Chairman of the African Union

Your Excellencies Heads of State and Government of the African Union and Our Very dear First Ladies

Your Excellency President Hugo Chavez of the Bolivar Republic of Venezuela

Your Excellency President Muhammed Ahmedinejad of The Islamic Republic of Iran

Your Excellency Professor Alpha Oumar Konare, African Union Commission Chairman

Your Excellency Mr. Kofi Annan, Secretary General of the United Nations

Former Heads of State

Your Excellencies Observers and true Friends of Africa here present representing Government: and institutions friendly to Africa

Honourable Ministers

Commissioners

Honourable Parliamentarians

Venerable Religious Leaders

Distinguished Guests

Ladies and Gentlemen,

 

On behalf of the people and Government of the Republic of The Gambia, and on my own behalf, 1 have the singular honour and noble duty to welcome you all to The smiling coast, The Gambia, for the Seventh Ordinary Session of the Assembly of African Union Heads of State and Government. I greet you all in the name of The Almighty Allah, the Most Merciful and the Benevolent, as well as convey the deep gratitude of the Government and people of The Gambia for honouring the invitation to attend this all important summit of the AU Authority of Heads of State and Government.

Let me also take this opportunity to extend special thanks and appreciation to the valued friends of The Gambia and all those who have contributed and supported The Gambia in one way or the other in hosting this Summit. Similar sentiments of gratitude are being addressed to indigenous Gambians and non-Gambians, as well as private sector and individual Members of society for their financial assistance, logistical and moral support. I also wish to seize this opportunity to express special gratitude to the National Coordinating Committee and the Summit Coordinating Secretariat for the impressive arrangements they have put in place to ensure a very successful and rewarding summit that would bring hope and greater prosperity to present day Africans and future generations yet un born.

Please allow me to offer special welcome to two distinguished guests, true Friends of Africa and Champions of South-South Cooperations in the persons of President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and President Muhammed Ahmadinejad of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Their presence in our midst is both a moral booster as well as an assurance that Africa can also make it and, we will make it if we become more focused in Africa and utilize our vast natural resources more judiciously and for the benefit of our countries and peoples. Here we have a choice to make; independent, self reliant and develop faster or maintain the status quo and stagnate at best or slide backwards at worst.

Let me also offer special welcome to Her Excellency our dear sister President Ellen Johnson-Shirleaf of the Sister Republic of Liberia, the First ever elected Female President in Africa . Her election to this high office is an epoch-making breakthrough in the empowerment of Women as a clear demonstration of our continent's noble commitment to gender Equality.

Mr. Chairman, today represents a milestone in the history of The Gambia, and indeed in the history of the continent. We have had the honour to welcome some of you in the past, but this is the first time we are welcoming so many of you at the same time. Let me therefore tell you how, at a more personal level, I feel honoured and humbled by the presence of so many distinguished and elder statesmen in our midst. Besides the honour you have conferred on my country, your presence here today signifies the importance you have attached to our continental organization and to the success of t he Summit in particular - a Summit devoted mainly to the theme of regional integration and other legal, budgetary and administrative matters as well as reform of the United Nations.

It behoves me at the outset to pay tribute to the Executive Council and other Sectoral Ministers for the attention they have given to these issues since our last Summit in Khartoum . The Assembly has today and tomorrow to consider the recommendations of the Ministers in the various areas, take decisions and give clear policy guidelines.

Mr. Chairman, please allow me now to comment on important issues before this Assembly.

First, I note with satisfaction that the main theme of this Summit is "Regional Integration and the Rationalization of Regional Economic Communities". This touches on the raison d'être of the AU and the path towards the fulfillment of our shared goal of an African economic community. Fortunately, this is a theme on which we are neither devoid of ideas nor bereft of practical experience from which to draw instructive lessons. In the realm of ideas, the theme resonates the gestation of the ideology of Pan-Africanism as expounded by Dubois, Garvey and Padmore in the diaspora and the thoughts of our celebrated predecessors of blessed memory such as President Nkrumah's revolutionary path to Pan-Africanism, President Nyerere's incremental approach, President Senghore's negritude, the etatist orientation of President Ahmed Saikou Toure's brand of African socialism, and the restoration of the worth of the dignity and identity of the African that was the driving force of the revolution led by Amilcar Cabral.

Past efforts at regional integration had to contend with inadequate funding given that most of our economies were at the subsistence level, and physical infrastructure was geared towards trade with the colonial powers and not with other parts of Africa , as well as simmering ethnic conflicts and language barriers. The result is that development o f free trade, dispute resolution mechanisms and effective supranational political institutions are still in their infancy. While it has ta h en almost two decades to effect this institutional adjustment, and in spite of the relatively low rate of implementation we have registered in our regional programs, we should not allow our modest achievements to stifle our inspiration. Instead it should motivate us to opt for higher achievements as the obstacles we confront are not insurmountable.

Indeed regional integration arrangements can scale­up investment in member countries by reducing distortions, enlarging marlrets and bolstering the credibility of economic and political reforms. The results can raise the returns on investments, ma k e larger investments and the exploitation of economies of scale more feasible, as well as reduce economic and political uncertainty. In addition, regional integration could offer the much needed solution to Africa 's perennial development problem migration and human trafficking, and can enhance our collective bargaining strategies.

Mr. Chairman, the case for Regional Integration is urgent and compelling not only in the areas of economics and trade. It is equally valid in the area of peace and security that we all so cherish and on which our very survival as a people depends. The relationship between economic integration and the functions of peace and security is symbiotic and mutually reinforcing. Peace and security creates the impulse towards economic integration which is in turn facilitated by peace, security and stability. Economic integration creates commonalities of interest among different interest groups including governments across the region. It helps to create a `we community' that transcends ethno-linguistic and national affiliations and a `security community' in which the resolution of disputes by resort to conflict is unthinhable.

But, Mr. Chairman, Your Excellencies, distinguished delegates, in spite of this positive relationship between economic integration and conditions of peace and stability, history has proven that economic integration is a process that involves friction and attendant costs and benefits. Successful integration requires strong institutional mechanisms for pre-empting conflicts, containing friction and resolving disputes. !'ortunately, a strong sense of common identity is already beginning to emerge across the continent. This precondition augurs well for efforts to raise political morale across the continent and build confidence in political institutions and political leadership. Our experience has also demonstrated that a sustained political vision and regional statesmanship is an essential element in legitimizing regional integration initiatives.

Mr. Chairman, Your Excellencies, the choice therefore is not whether or not we need integration at the regional level; rather, it is how do we enhance regional integration so that we could move forward towards a continental union that would bring greater economic prosperity and dignity as well as respect for our suffering African peoples.

The proliferation of separate groupings within larger blocs has elicited the call for a swift response to re-align and rationalize the multitude of agendas of the respective regional economic communities within the overall African Union Agenda. However let me hasten to state that in our multi-layered setup, some duplication may be inevitable, even desirable as in the incidence of the buttressing of the efforts of national governments by – municipal government at the local level to hit poverty reduction targets. Indeed, duplication has not prevented progress in our experience in regional integration.

Yet, Mr. Chairman, it remains incontrovertible that our regional pacts may carry duplication to the point of wastage of limited resources, enormous strains on individual government's ability and resources to cope with diverse agendas. As this runs counter to groupings within the AU, it is therefore necessary as called for in the Abuja Treaty, to reflect deeper into the harmonization of our policies and programmes.

The Summit is therefore required to take bold and courageous decisions, that will enable us overpower and overcome the inhibitions that have for decades undermined our common interest, and deprive us of the restoration of our past glory. However, I am gratified to learn that the competent Ministers have made concrete recommendations in line with our shared vision and collective endeavor to bring about meaningful and urgent changes to the existing situation. 1 am convinced that our decision on this item will inform our deliberations on a related and important item - the proposal of a Union Government that the Committee of Seven Heads of State has been mandated to consider and make recommendation on to this Assembly.

Mr. Chairman, when we offered to host this Summit several years ago, little did we realize that 2006 would be with us faster than we thought. What this signifies for us as Africans is that time is of the essence and unfortunately, it is not on our side and we must forge ahead. But we must distinguish between what is desirable and what is possible. Therefore while we all desire a union government, we are convinced that a considerable amount of work is still required to get us to strengthening the regional economic communities in accordance with the Abuja Treaty. This exercise, my dear colleagues, need not be seen as being in favour of or against any particular Community; it is needed simply to operationalise the provisions of the Abuja Treaty to which we have all subscribed.

On a separate but related issue, I am pleased to share with you, my dear colleagues that 1 have been reliably informed by the African Satellite Communications Organization (RASCOM), that construction of the Pan African Communications Satellite System is now complete and ready to be launched in 2007. At this point in time, RASCOM and its partners are engaged in a strong resource mobilization drive, to raise funds to meet the cost of launching and other incidental outlays.

Colleagues, you will recall that at the conference of Heads of State of the AU, held in Sirte, Libya, in 2005, this project-venture was fully endorsed as the Pan African Union Satellite System, to provide complete connectivity for the entire Continent. Once commissioned, the Satellite System will serve as a social, political and economic tool and help buttress our integrations efforts. The successful implementation of this venture must be made a top priority if Africa is to position itself as a strategic partner in global communications and information technology. Having our own satellite system also guarantees that we are in control of our own affairs and can leverage better as an investmer A location in global business and competitiveness. Through this initiative, we will also be able to promote and deeper our cooperation programmes especially in the dissemination of information in the areas relevant to our integration agenda.

Therefore expect that with your full support, buttressed by strong political will, we will do everything within our power to ensure that the necessary funds are fully mobilized and that the launching can, indeed, take place, making another landmark development in our quest to emancipate our continent from centuries of foreign hegemony and merciless exploitation and marginal isation.

Before I turn to the reform of the United Nations, let me once again welcome in our midst our brother, the Secretary General of the United Nations, Mr. Kofi Annan, and congratulate him for the excellent work he has done during the ten years he has served as the Secretary General of our global organization. Brother Annan's distinguished career at the service of humanity, and especially his years at the helm of the United Nations will remain engraved in gold for the present and future generations. He has indeed been a rich source of pride for the continent, and for humanity at large. May 1 therefore ask this gathering to join me in giving Mr. Annan a hearty round of applause.

While we relish Mr. Annan's achievements, let us hope and pray hard that his impending departure at the end of this year will not bury the reforms he has embarked upon to make the United Nations more inclusive more democratic and responsive to the challenges of the 21 century. We strongly believe that those reforms offer us as Africans a unique opportunity to have a permanent seat at the Security Council. It is just unacceptable that a body of this nature that decides on life and death issues for millions of Africans includes no African country among its permanent members. Allowing the present state of affairs to continue will constitute an insult to our humanity as Africans and relegate us to third class citizens of the world both of which are unacceptable to we the present day generation of Africans and African leaders. It is also a mockery of Democracy, good governance, equity and justice.

In this regard, I would like to commend the Ezulwini Consensus that represents the common position of Africa . We must pursue our objectives on the basis of that consensus and ignore strategies that promote interests detrimental to Africa 's, and which are a wholesale betrayal of African people and our dignity.

Mr. Chairman in our drive to reform the United Nations, we need not be confrontational, but at the same time, we must not mince words in demanding our legitimate rights to be respected and represented in our global organisations. Either we become full members legitimately our continent, or we cease to be the obliging honorary members with no voice even in matters concerning our continent and our very existence.

Mr. Chairman, Excellencies. Distinguished ladies and Gentlemen, after all that has been said about Regional Integration and Rationalization of Regional Economic Communities, the necessity for the creation of a Common Market is an understatement. 1 therefore, task the Economic Communities of Africa to work aggressively towards making Economic Integration a reality.

In July next year, we will celebrate the fifth anniversary of the African Union. Five years may not be very long (in the life line of time), but it is sufficient to allow us to take stock of our collective performance and to chart the way forward for the African Union. We do hope that the Banjul Summit will set the ball rolling in the direction of stock taking and self- assessment.

With these words Mr. Chairman, let me conclude by welcoming you all once again...

In this warm summer morning,

And as we gather here at the mouth of the Atlantic

Where the blue waters wed the open heavens 1 welcome you all.

I welcome you to The Gambia, our land, your land, an African land;

The abode of the River Gambia, and so many more waterways.

 

I welcome you to our land, to Africa ;

The origin of Kunta Kinteh, the African youth who,

like million more fellow Africans, was chained in the homeland,

snacled out of Africa the mother land

in slave ships across to a foreign land

in the darkest age humankind has ever witnessed.

 

I welcome you to The Gambia in the name of Banjul , Kombo,

Foni, Kiang, Jarra, Niumi, Baddibu, Sine, Saloum,

Fulladu, and regions in the hinterland.

To first visitors, welcome; to the repeaters, welcome back

to our grassland, to our valleys, our forests, our hills, and our waterfront,

to our homes, the front yard and the backyard.

 

Let peace and serenity, God's own gift to The Gambia

Be upon you and your court

May heavenly wisdom guide your counsel

That Africa stands at once

To celebrate peace each day, and dance

Towards a future of hope, of choice and prosperity.

Welcome!

Bienvenue!

Bien Venido!

Karibu!

Bem Vindo!

Ahlan Wa Sahlan iN'a Marhaban Bihum,

-End-