SPOTLIGHT: How Sudan Lost the AU Presidency for the Third Time

In January 2008, for the first time ever, Ethiopian civil society organizations organized a pre-Africa Union Summit conference.

The session was held under the auspices of the Centre for Citizens' Participation in the African Union (CCP-AU), an organization which aims to encourage African citizens to engage with, and participate in, activities of the African Union.

Presided over by an interim steering Committee composed of Action Aid – Ethiopia, African Center for Humanitarian Action (ACHA), African Rally for Peace and Development (ARPD), Afroflag Youth Vision (AYV), Christian Relief and Development Association (CRDA), Organization for Social Justice in Ethiopia (OSJE) and Oxfam, the civil society forum brought together close to 30 local and international organization in order to take stock of the development of continental governance and agree on how best to input to the Africa Union summit.

Read the full article and the other newsletter articles here.

April 27: Media Statement - Anniversary of AU Abuja 15% Health Commitment * www.africa15percentcampaign.org

Read the statement here.

On April 8, Dismas Nkunda, Chair of the Darfur Consortium and Co-Director of the International Refugee Rights Initiative, talked to US radio show host at the "In My Pajamas Show".

Listen to the broadcast here.

Press Release

ISSUED BY: Institute for Democratic Governance, International Refugee Rights Initiative, Solidarity for African Women Rights and Oxfam.

Civil Society Organisations call on new AU leadership to prioritise peace and human security, gender parity and strengthening AU organs

Addis Ababa – 2nd February 2008 – Following the election of the Chairperson of African Union and the Commission and as the 10th African Union Summit comes to a close, CSOs have called on the African Union to prioritise peace and human security, gender parity and strengthening AU organs.

Read the press release here.

Country to sit on AU Peace, Security Council

The Times of Zambia (Ndola)
31 January 2008
By James Muyanwa

ZAMBIA and nine other countries have been elected as members of the African Union (AU) Peace and Security Council for the next five-years, amid challenges of conflicts in various parts of the continent.

The 10 countries representing five African regions were elected here during the 12th Ordinary Session of the Executive Council of the AU at the commission headquarters.

Read the article in which Dismas Nkunda, Chair of the Consortium, is quoted here.

South African musician, Hugh Masekela, becomes goodwill ambassador for Darfur

In June, 2007, at a solidarity concert during the AU summit in Accra, Masekela declared that the attainment of African Union government would be pointless if African leaders do not take steps to stem the genocide and other human right violations in Darfur and elsewhere.

(June 25, Accra) Hugh Masekela and Dismas Nkunda, Co-Director of IRRI and Chair of the Darfur Consortium

Read the full article here.

Enhancing Protection of Displaced Populations: Translating the Great Lakes Peace Pact into Action

On April 23-25, 2007, the International Refugee Rights Inititiative and the Norwegian Refugee Council’s Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre brought together civil society and international organizations from across the region to exchange ideas on the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region process to date and consider its potential to advance the rights of refugees and IDPs.

The workshop, which was made possible due to generous support by the Canadian government and is part of an ongoing project to leverage new African legal mechanisms for the protection of the displaced, was attended by 50 participants.

Read the workshop's background paper outlining the issues regarding the rights of refugees and internally-displaced persons in the Great Lakes region here.