AU Accra Summit: The Grand Debate on Union Government
Source: Afrimap
African leaders debated proposals for the rapid creation of a United States of Africa at the 9th Ordinary Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union that took place in Accra, Ghana, 1-2 July 2007. AfriMAP was the major sponsor of two important fora that took place in advance of the summit and enabled civil society organizations to debate the proposal for a Union Government and provide input to what was termed the 'Grand Debate'. The first was a one day roundtable during the official Pre-Summit Civil Society Forum organised by the AU Commission's Civil Society Directorate (CIDO), held on June 20. The second was a two day continental conference (June 22 -23) hosted by our national partner, the Institute for Democratic Governance (IDEG) that brought together over 150 men and women from 100 organizations in 30 countries across Africa and the Diaspora to discuss the proposal to establish a Union Government. Other sponsors of the meeting were the Centre for Democracy and Development-Ghana, Oxfam UK, the UN Millennium Campaign, the African Capacity Building Foundation, the Pan-African Movement, Action Aid and Fahamu. For these two discussions, AfriMAP commissioned papers on aspects of the Union Government proposal by several individuals who have been close observers of the project for continental integration. These papers – which will be supplemented by other contributions – are available on the AfriMAP website, with the communiqués from the meetings
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