The African Union meeting currently underway in The
Gambia will today discussed the need to enforce an AU Charter that will
finally banned coups on the continent. The said subject is viewed as
very controversial in many quarters, as host country The Gambia and
some other states came through a coup. Countries who came through the
barrel of the gun according to observers might lacked the moral
obligation or authority to comment more on the said subject. Coups had always been
termed as "undemocratic and unconstitutional moves." For the AU to come
up with such a topical issue at this hour would be welcomed by pro
democracy groups and promoters. But what many could not understand is
that why the delay to enforce the said Charter, when leaders like
Gambia's President Yahya Jammeh came through illegal means.
The AU which is widley accused in some quaters of "double standards" is
expected to discuss the need for African Heads of State to concede
defeat whenever their opponents emerge victorious in future elections.
Also expected to high on the agenda was to set up a term limit for the
Presidency to discourage power drunken leaders like Jammeh to further
cling on to power. The Freedom Newspaper culled the below piece
from the BBC website. The commentary above is from our editorial team.
Please read the full story of the BBC on the Banjul AU Summit.
....................................................................................................
AU to discuss democracy charter
Meeting host Yahya Jammeh came to power through a coup
|
African Union foreign ministers meeting in the Gambian capital,
Banjul, are to discuss proposals for a charter on democracy and
governance.
The charter would aim to make it easier for power to
change hands through the ballot box, but a BBC correspondent says some
clauses are contentious.
Several leaders have tried to overturn constitutional bans on presidents serving more than two terms in office.
The AU is already supposed to suspend governments which take power by arms.
A final version is expected to be put to African heads of state at their annual summit meeting this weekend.
The BBC's Elizabeth Blunt says the proposed charter is a
strongly worded document, considering the personal histories of some of
the men who will be asked to approve it.
The host of this meeting, Gambian President Yahya
Jammeh, like several of his peers, is a former soldier and coup-maker
who later legitimised his rule through an electoral process.
The most senior of the AU leaders, Omar Bongo, has been
president of Gabon since before many of the participants in this summit
were even born.
Controversial
If adopted, the new charter would condemn any
unconstitutional change of power, as well as any refusal to accept
defeat and hand over power after losing an election.
This much, as well as the threat of suspension from the
Union for offending governments, seems likely to be accepted by the
summit.
The attempt last year by the young Togolese President
Faure Gnassingbe to step into his dead father's shoes without an
election was greeted with general disapproval across the continent and
he was ostracised in just the way proposed in the new charter.
Mr Faure stepped down after being proclaimed president but won disputed elections shortly afterwards.
More contentious has been a clause condemning attempts to change the constitution in order to stay in indefinitely in power.
This is a live issue in several countries, including
Uganda, and Nigeria, where heads of state have changed or have shown
signs of wanting to change their constitutions to extend the
presidential term.
The proposed charter has strong support from the head of the African Union commission, Alpha Omar Konare, who in his opening address to the meeting, called for clear political engagement to bring this charter into force.