Seventh Report of the Working Group on the African Union, dated 3 June 2003:
1. Introduction
Following its Sixth Report, adopted by the House on 11 April 2003, the Working Group would like to report as follows:
2. The Pan African Parliament Steering Committee The Working Group reported in its Sixth Report that it would follow up with the African Union on the establishment of a representative steering committee of Parliamentarians to support and co-ordinate the steps necessary to achieve the ratification of the Protocol. The African Union Interim Commission has since established the Steering Committee which is made up of two member states from each of the five African regions. Members of the Steering Committee have been selected on the basis of precedence in the ratification of the PAP Protocol. In the case of those regions where no member states have as yet ratified, members have been selected on the basis of precedence in the signing of the Protocol. The Southern Africa region is represented by Botswana and South Africa. The first meeting of the Steering Committee was held in Addis Abbaba, Ethiopia on 28 April 2003. At the meeting, the Speaker, Dr F N Ginwala, was elected as the Chairperson of the Steering Committee. At the end of the meeting, the Committee issued a communiqu@ which, among others, appealed to all member states that had not signed and/or ratified the Protocol to do so as soon as possible.
3. Meeting of African Parliaments
The Working Group also reported and recommended previously that a meeting be convened for countries that have ratified the Protocol to begin to develop a common vision and understanding. The Working Group has since agreed that this meeting of African Parliaments should involve not only the countries that have ratified, but all the African countries. The Working Group has established a Task Team comprising ten members to deliberate and make recommendations on the programme content and resource people for the Meeting.
4. Recommendations The National Assembly should consider -
(1) Convening a Meeting of African Parliaments on 30 June and 1 July 2003 to exchange views on the Pan African Parliament with a view to building a common vision.
(2) Inviting the following participants to the Meeting:
a. 1 Speaker and 2 members from each Parliament, with 1 out of the 3 delegates being a woman;
b. The Speakers of each of the regional Parliaments;
c. Members of the Pan African Parliament Steering Committee; and
d. South African members of Parliament.