Sirte declaration

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Emblem of the African Union , the establishment of which was decided by the Sirte Declaration

The Sirte Declaration is a declaration that was adopted on September 9, 1999 during the fourth special session of the Organization for African Unity and provides for the establishment of the African Union .

Historical context

The Organization for African Unity (OAU) was founded in 1963, initially with 30 member states. In the 1990s, further steps towards cooperation between the African countries have been taken, particularly in the economic field, including the establishment of the African Economic Community by the Treaty of Abuja in 1991. In 1999, the Heads of State of the OAU came at the invitation of the then Libyan President Muammar al-Gaddafi to held a special meeting in the Libyan coastal city of Sirte .

content

The final declaration of the special session includes eight articles. In it, the member states commit themselves for the time being to the endeavor for closer cooperation between the nation states of Africa and pay tribute to the development of Africa in recent years, in particular the striving for political unity, independence, human dignity and economic development. Articles 5 and 6 state that the expansion and further development of international cooperation in Africa based on the Organization for African Unity and the African Economic Community is essential in order to prepare Africa for the challenges of the 21st century . Article 7 is an explicit appreciation of Gaddafi's commitment to the unity of the African continent. The concrete decisions of the meeting are listed in Article 8. These include:

  • the establishment of the African Union (AU)
  • the swift implementation of all contents of the Abuja Treaty, including the establishment of the African Central Bank , the African Court of Justice and the Pan-African Parliament
  • support for regional cooperation as a basis for increased cooperation at the African level

implementation

The declaration was adopted on September 9, 1999; on July 11, 2000, the founding statute of the AU was adopted during the 36th regular meeting of the OAU. In July 2001, at a summit in Lusaka, the principles for the transition from the OAU to the AU were agreed. From July 9th to 11th, 2002, the African Union met for the first time in Durban, South Africa, and started its work.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Fatsah Ouguergouz, Abdulqawi A. Yusuf: Appendices Sirte Declaration (1999) . Brill Nijhoff, 2012, ISBN 978-90-04-22772-9 ( brill.com [accessed April 12, 2019]).
  2. ^ Untitled Document. April 18, 2005, accessed April 12, 2019 .
  3. ↑ Today's Reality. April 19, 2005, accessed April 12, 2019 .
  4. ^ African Union (AU) | Treaties & Regimes | NTI. Retrieved April 12, 2019 .