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ADDIS ABEBA, 18 fev (AFP)- Foreign ministers in the Organisation of
African Unity (OAU) have agreed to set up a conflict-prevention bureau
for the continent, OAU Deputy Secretary-General Ahmed Haggag said here
Thursday.
Consensus was reached after a dispute among member countries as to
whether the OAU should ask for financial help from non-African partners
to set up the office or rely on the continent's resources.
But Haggag said the establishment of the bureau, its operating
mechanism and its funding must be the object of further consultation,
which will be held among the African ambassadors in Addis Ababa.
He was speaking to a press conference on the fourth day of the 57th
ordinary session of the OAU, due to end here on Friday.
OAU Secretary General Salim Ahmed Salim this week said the organisation
had set aside 250,000 dollars for the conflict-prevention office, but
warned that the sum was endangered by the failure of member states to
pay their dues.
Calling the financial state of the OAU very precarious,
Salim said
the total amount of unpaid dues was 70 million dollars.
During the session, Algeria, Djibouti, Kenya, Rwanda, the Seychelles
and Tunisia came up with a total 3.6 million dollars, while Libya and
Uganda each promised 2.5 million by the end of the month.
Ministers raised the option of sanctions against bad payers, including
the loss of any priority to have nationals employed by the pan-African
body.
Other motions approved during the week included a decision to send a
fact-finding mission to Togo, whose military ruler General Gnassingbe
Eyadema is at loggerheads with transitional authorities seeking to
introduce multi-party democracy.
Ministers also called on the main political players in South Africa to
negotiate to set up an interim government and press ahead with
elections to a constituent assembly to introduce multi-party democracy
as soon as possible.
They decided that the OAU should play a greater role in resolving
political crisis in Somalia, where the U.S.-led military Operation
Restore Hope to protect relief supplies is due to be replaced by a new
U.N. mission by the end of April.
The council called on OAU member states to provide contingents of
troops to work alongside the American soldiers and take part in the
U.N. operation.
sym-jpc/nb/agv AFP AFP SEQN-0287
