[ 2013-05-25 ]

Africa to celebrate progress and 50 years of 'unity'
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AFP) - African leaders
gathered Saturday ahead of extravagant
celebrations for the 50th jubilee of the
continental bloc, with Africa's myriad problems
set aside for a day to mark the progress that has
been made.

Mass dancing troupes are set to perform musical
dramas to some 10,000 guests in a giant hall in
the Ethiopian capital, home to the African Union
(AU).

Today's 54-member AU is the successor of the
Organisation of African Unity (OAU), established
amid the heady days as independence from colonial
rule swept the continent in 1963.

African leaders are expected to be joined by
French President Francois Hollande, China's Vice
Premier Wang Yang and US Secretary of State John
Kerry.

AU Commission chief Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said
the "celebration of all Africa" was "historic",
and that it was a time to both look back at the
past and consider how the continent can tackle the
many challenges ahead.

"The future is in our hands, its bright... the
opportunities are great for the continent to be
prosperous," Dlamini-Zuma said in a statement late
Friday.

South African choreographer Somzi Mhlongo, who
organised the opening and closing ceremonies of
the 2010 World Cup as well as this year's Africa
Cup of Nations, said the celebrations he had
organised would be "an extravaganza".

Musicians playing include Congolese music legend
Papa Wemba, Mali's Salif Keita and British-based
reggae band Steel Pulse, with giant screens set up
across Addis Ababa also showing the festival.

The AU has budgeted $1.27 million for Saturday's
celebrations, according to official documents seen
by South Africa's Institute for Security Studies
(ISS).

AU Commission deputy chief Erastus Mwencha said he
did not have the exact figure but that some $3
million would be spent on Saturday's festivities
and on other events over the coming year.

The AU took over from the OAU in 2002, switching
its name in a bid to shrug off its troubled past.

OAU non-interference in member states' affairs
allowed leaders to shirk democratic elections and
abuse human rights without criticism from their
neighbours.

In recent years, the AU's role in combat -- such
as its mission in Somalia to battle Al-Qaeda
linked Islamists -- has shown it can take concrete
action, even if the funding for that mission comes
mainly from Western backers.

But at the same time, the splits revealed by the
2011 conflict in Libya -- when members squabbled
between those wanting to recognise rebels and
those backing Moamer Kadhafi -- showed its
disunity and lack of global clout.

Kadhafi's death also stripped the AU of a major
source of funding. Leaders will discuss finding
backers for the cash-strapped body at a two-day
summit following Saturday's anniversary
celebrations.

Development indicators on the continent --
including health, education, infant mortality,
economic growth and democracy -- have improved
steadily in the past 50 years.

Africa is home to some of the fastest growing
economies in the world according to the IMF, and
has attracted huge amounts of foreign investment
in recent years.

At the same time 24 out of the bottom 25 nations
at the bottom of UN human development index are in
Africa, and the subsequent summit will tackle a
range of crises the continent faces.

Mali is expected to be discussed: it is preparing
to receive a UN peacekeeping force to support
French soldiers fighting Islamist rebels in the
desert north since January.

The agenda will also likely include Madagascar --
in political deadlock since a 2009 coup -- and the
eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, where United
Nations-backed government soldiers are struggling
to quash rebels.

Source - AFP

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