African leaders attending the July 1-2 Ordinary Session of the Assembly of African Heads of State in Banjul have brainstormed on regional integration, migration, UN reforms, and a host of other issues facing the continent.

Speaking on the theme: Regional Integration and the Rationalisation of Regional Economies at the opening ceremony of the Summit, President Jammeh pointed out the imperative of regional integration, saying it is compelling not just in the areas of economics and trade, but "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." Full Inaugural Address to the Assembly

For  his part, Alpha Oumar Konare, Chairperson of AU Commission, lamented the mass exodus of young Africans to Europea. He described the situation as "terrible, tragic, shocking, and appalling". He said the situation present "us with a challenge and compel us to focus our attention on this issue".

He said the images (media) illustrate the despair driving youth of Africa. "They reflect the determination of our youth to reject the status quo and their will to fight on," he said.
He then slammed the "violent images", saying the "situation is fraught with all manner of violence. It challenges us to combat the structural causes of poverty, to implement programmes to create wealth and promote employment as recommended by the Extraordinary Summit on Employment and Poverty Reduction which was held in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, in September 2004; a summit consistent with the hopes and expectations of our youth; a summit held in fulfillment of the promises we have made to our youth".

"The images we have described further challenge us to engage in a genuine debate with the host countries, an open and frank debate without pre-conditions; a debate unmistakably anchored not only to the imperative of security, but also, and above all, on our vital need for solidarity and development."

However, the AU Commission Chairperson expressed his worry over the call to debate. "We the African countries of origin and transit countries have to be more coherent and more logical in our approach by applying to ourselves what we cannot accept from others. We must not accept the logic imposed by selective immigration which will irretrievably result in "brain drain", another pillaging of our countries," he said.

He said the images further challenge "us to, all said and done, implement our decisions on the free movement of persons, goods and services, so that at the end of the day, an African will no longer be considered a stranger in Africa or in any African country. Our nationals, students, sports men and women, artists, workers, tourists, and even our diplomats have been victims of escalating racist attacks.  This is disconcerting and unacceptable."

He then appealed countries and concerned sporting associations to take energetic measures to curb these "undignified behaviours. The treatment meted out to Africans abroad should serve as a tool for us to assess the quality of our bilateral relations. No one should claim to be a friend of Africa while at the same time maltreating African citizens. This whole situation should also serve to refresh our memories: Refresh our memories so that the truth about historical events, particularly colonial events can be told; refresh our memories so that the crimes of colonialism will be recognised as one of the imperative of the new partnership, just as, slavery was recognised as a crime against humanity; we should indeed refresh our memories so that our educational communication programmes may occupy the place they deserve in our common prehistory, our history of slavery, our history of national liberation struggle, our history of Pan-Africanism. Our programmes should also incorporate shared modules of civil education, environmental education, and health education, among others."

He then asserted: "Today, we are compelled more than ever before to take urgent and resolute action to address the situation in Darfur-Sudan and in Somalia."

About Darfur, the AU Commission Chairperson said the Abuja Agreement should be implemented without delay, saying "we have to provide ourselves the means, while counting on the support of our partners, particularly the United Nations". 

He added: "We should have to do everything to improve relations between Chad and Sudan. The improvement in the situation in Darfur largely depends on stability in Chad. In this respect, we should do everything in our power as a matter of urgency to implement the Tripoli Agreements. In Somalia, we should waste no time to massively support the transitional government; to encourage dialogue with the Islamist Movements and all other Somalis, based on our principles of tolerance, justice, respect for freedom, respect for human rights and non violence. With regard to the Somali dossier, our organisation needs to work in cooperation with IGAD and the league of Arab States."

Confirming the need to lend support to the ongoing initiatives in the Ivory Coast, Mr Konare said, it is imperative to support the electoral process in the DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo) to prevent the country from becoming mired in a protracted and "serious crisis". He affirmed that this can be done by calling on all the stakeholders to show a greater sense of "compromise, considering the situation in the country".

On conflict, Professor Konare observed the urgent need to exercise "our right to use the principle of "non-indifference" for timely intervention, to prevent conflicts (we can anticipate all the conflicts in Africa and we end up enduring them!). We should differentiate between African Forces and International forces".

"The second is the need to accurately evaluate our peace and security keeping capacities, namely our material, financial and human resources.

We should expedite the establishment of regional brigades as part of the standby forces so as to have real, integrated African forces required by the nature of today's conflicts, timely and expeditiously. We call on all states to adhere to the convention establishing the peace and security council and support the African Centre for the study and research on terrorism in Algiers," he said.

He added: "The third is the need to monitor and support countries in the aftermath of conflicts.  We welcome the take-off of the activities of the United Nations Commission responsible for countries in post-conflict situations."

"The fourth is to resolve, through dialogue, any disputes between countries, so that no act of aggression is committed by one African country on another African country," he prescribed.

According to him, many of these issues could be conveniently resolved once you have exhausted the central themes of this assembly, namely the relationship between the government of the Union and the harmonisation and rationalisation of regional economic communities.

"The two issues are intrinsically linked. The issue of the management of RECs can only be appropriately addressed within the framework of the Union's strategy. In 2005, in Abuja and in Sirte, you clearly indicated that the objective of the African Union is to move the United States of Africa, although of course, gradually, through phases which are yet to be defined," he said.

Other speakers at the Summit included President Muhammed Ahmedinejad of Iran, President Hugo Chavez of the Bolivar Republic of Benezuela, who deliberated extensively on the new world order and global phenomena confronting developing nations, particularly Africa.

Shortly after a string of presenations in the afternoon session, President Denis Sassou Nguesso of Congo Brazzaville, who doubles as Chairperson of the AU, emphasised the need for a political will to  avoid overlapping and waste of time. He acknowledged the clarity of presenations. The Assembly then adopted the recommendations and proposals contained in the presenations.

Heads of States then entered into a closed-door session. The Summit was brought to a successful close on Sunday.