ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (PAMACC News) - The 28th Summit of the Heads of State and Government of the African Union (AU), officially opened today at the headquarters of the African Union in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia with a strong call for unity to uphold the maintenance of peace and stability in the continent.

The Nelson Mandela plenary hall was full to capacity with delegates and special invitees coming to witness the important event. They heard from distinguished speakers who took their turn on the podium to enlighten the world on the progress made so far in the continent and some of the challenges that Africa faces, as well as proposals for the way forward.
The event this year is holding under the AU theme: “Harnessing the Demographic Dividend through Investments in the Youth”.
 
The outgoing Chairperson of the Union, President Idriss Deby Itno of the Republic of Chad declared open the official  ceremony of the 28th AU summit before handing over the baton of command to the newly elected Chairperson of the African Union, H.E Alpha Conde, President of the Republic of Guinea who in his acceptance speech said “ It is with honor and humility that I accept to preside at the destiny of our Organisation during the year 2017 and I promise to ensure that we implement all the objectives we have set to achieve during this period with the view to enhance the development of our continent ”.
 
Meanwhile, outgoing Chair President Deby wished a happy new year 2017 to all the delegations and invited guests while underscoring the need to continuously preserve peace, stability and prosperity in the continent. He expressed his appreciation to H.E Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, Chairperson of the AU Commission and her team including the Commissioners and staff of the AUC, for the support given to him during his mandate as Chair of the Union. He commended the Commission and the Government of Ethiopia for the successful organisation of the 28th AU Summit.

On the other hand, President Idriss Deby warmly welcomed the newly elected Presidents of the Gambia, Ghana, Sao-Tome and Principe and Seychelles, who worn through a democratically electoral process organized in their respective countries. He also warmly welcomed H.E Mr.  Mahamoud Abbas, President of the State of Palestine and the new UN Secretary General, Mr. Antonio Guterres to Africa, wishing him success in his new functions and reiterates the support of the African people to the UN given that “Africa has found in Mr. Guterres a sincere, committed and sensible person who will stop at nothing to address the issues currently faced by the continent”.
 
Speaking at the opening ceremony of the 28th Summit of the African Union, Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, Chairperson of the African Union Commission (AUC) warmly welcome to the UN Secretary on his first AU Summit in this capacity. “We appreciate the appointment of our sister Amina J. Mohamed of Nigeria as Deputy Secretary General of the UN, and congratulate her on this new responsibility”, underlined the AUC Chairperson while extending a special welcome to the members of the Assembly whose mandates were renewed and to the newly elected Heads of State, since last Summit.
 
Dr. Dlamini Zuma recalled that the year 2017 is heralded by some important developments. She said last year, Cuba, Africa and the world bid farewell to the greatest revolutionary and internationalist of our time, Fidel Aleandro Castro Ruz. “He played a critical role in the global struggle against colonialism and imperialism, and for non-alignment and unity of the countries of the South… His sustained contributions to Africa are legendary: the support to liberation movements, to newly-independent states, in the development of African education and health systems; the training of health personnel, all in the spirit of solidarity, friendship, internationalism and mutual respect”.
 
The AUC Chairperson said “this year marks a number of historical milestones. Firstly, 2017 marks 55 years since the formation of the Pan African Women’s Organisation (PAWO) in 1962, a year before the OAU.  The women came from newly independent states and liberation movements, determined to play their role, side by side with the menfolk, in liberating Africa. She added that “the women’s movement, as we celebrated the OAU/AU Golden Jubilee in 2013, recognized the role of the founder mothers, when they declared: “…African women and their Diaspora sisters played a critical role in the evolution of Pan Africanism, through their contributions to the anti-slavery, anti-colonial and liberation struggles.
 
Through their efforts, women ensured that African struggles for freedom, dignity, development, peace and self-determination also addressed our aspirations for women’s emancipation, gender equality and women’s empowerment.”
 
Dr. Dlamini Zuma emphasized that in tribute to the founding mothers, it is therefore appropriate that the Assembly recognizes PAWO as a Specialized Agency of the African Union. “The task of PAWO today is to continue the struggle for the empowerment of girls and women, through education and skills, in the political, social, cultural and economic spheres.  They must continue to advocate and work for a peaceful and safe Africa for all its people…Without this mobilization of women, progress on Agenda 2063 will be slow... As we start this year of youth, we must indeed commit to value our youth and deserve Africa’s future.” Underscored the AUC Chairperson. (See complete speech of the AUC Chairperson on the AU website:( www.au.int ).
 
The United Nations Secretary General, H.E António Manuel de Oliveira Guterres, who was addressing the AU Summit for the first time as special guest also expressed strong support for the AU’s annual theme: “Harnessing the Demographic Dividend through Investments in the Youth”. He reiterated the will for the UN to support by the African people and contribute fully to the peace missions in the continent.
 
H.E. Mr. Mahmoud Abbas, President of the State of Palestine and Chairman of Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Executive Committee thanked the African Union for the support to his government’s desire and efforts to achieve a Palestinian state living side by side with the state of Israel as an independent state with distinct borders. He expressed gratitude to all countries of the UN Security Council who voted for this resolution.
 
Addressing the Summit, Mr. Salvador Valdez, Vice President of the Republic of Cuba thanked the AU and the African people for the solidarity showed during the death of the liberation leader, Fidel Castro.
 
Issues of peace and security dominated many of the presentations by the African and visiting Heads of State and Government. Many of the leaders condemned terrorism in very strong terms. Various speakers at the summit’s opening ceremony expressed their commitment to mainstreaming youth’s programs in all socio- economic activities.
 
Present in today’s event was H.E Mr. Erastus Mwencha, Deputy Chairperson of the AUC, the Commissioners, Heads of AU Organs, representatives of the RECs and staff of the Commission servicing the Summit.

ABUJA, Nigeria (PAMACC News) - Ahead of the upcoming 28th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the African Union
holding 30th and 31st January 2017 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the African Ministers’ Council on Water (AMCOW)
has activated the online portal of the continent’s water sector and sanitation reporting system.

The new Pan African Monitoring and Reporting System serves as a platform to report progress on the
implementation of the AU Heads of States and Government Sharm el Sheikh Commitments to accelerate the
achievement of the Africa Water Vision 2025, as well as the global high level political commitments on the
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on water and sanitation. Considered as one of the most ambitious
attempts at tracking sectoral progress, the system represents Africa’s readiness to learn from past mistakes in
monitoring the implementation of the MDGs as well as efforts being made to attain Africa’s Agenda 2063.

Speaking on the successful activation, the AMCOW President and Minister for Water and Irrigation, Tanzania,
Engr. Gerson Lwenge stated “The AMCOW Monitoring and Reporting System helps to address Africa’s
longstanding challenges in producing harmonised water and sanitation monitoring data”. Engr. Lwenge recalled
that lack of credible national and regional water sector and sanitation monitoring and reporting systems in Africa
was widely recognised as a critical constraint to making informed policy and investments decisions on the
development and effective use of water resources and sanitation in the continent”. Commenting, the AU
Commissioner for Rural Economy and Agriculture, Rhoda Peace Tumusiime said “ongoing actions such as this
ensures Africa’s readiness to monitor and report on progress towards achieving the SDGs while providing a
great opportunity to establish baselines not just for the global indicator framework, but also for the African
commitments for which efforts to monitor progress towards attainment are constrained by the lack of baseline
data.”

The System developed by the African Ministers’ Council on Water (AMCOW) working with the Commission of
the African Union captures the harmonised monitoring and reporting indicators for the continent and links with
other global monitoring and reporting processes. The AMCOW Executive Secretary, Dr Canisius Kanangire
believes “the system provides African Member States an opportunity to own and manage the water sector and
sanitation data”. Dr Kanangire reiterated that the issue of water sector and sanitation monitoring and reporting
gained momentum in July 2008 with the AU Sharm El-Sheikh Declaration requesting AMCOW to report annually
on the state of the continent’s water resources and sanitation” to the Summit.

The web-based Reporting system was developed with funding from the African Water Facility (AWF), and
supported by the M&E Task Force, the German Cooperation as well as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
(BMGF) and with technical assistance from UNEP-DHI. The highlight of the portal which can be accessed at
http://www.africawat-sanreports.org is the 2016 Status Report of 42 African member states
submitted using an online reporting framework. It also contains the 2013 and 2014 data submitted by Member
States using a temporary paper based template.

The system which serves as database on water and sanitation for Member States in Africa is expected to
promote cross-sector learning and knowledge dissemination within the water, sanitation, food, energy and
climate nexus while supporting joint sector reviews. The online portal comes with maps and tabular view options
which makes it easy to compare progress on various indicators across Member States in Africa.
Launched by AMCOW Ministers during the 2016 World Water Week Africa Focus Day in Stockholm, the online
portal supports AMCOW’s efforts in developing regular progress reports for submission to the African Union
Heads of State and Government Summit.

ABUJA, Nigeria (PAMACC News) - Ahead of the upcoming 28th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the African Union
holding 30th and 31st January 2017 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the African Ministers’ Council on Water (AMCOW)
has activated the online portal of the continent’s water sector and sanitation reporting system.

The new Pan African Monitoring and Reporting System serves as a platform to report progress on the
implementation of the AU Heads of States and Government Sharm el Sheikh Commitments to accelerate the
achievement of the Africa Water Vision 2025, as well as the global high level political commitments on the
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on water and sanitation. Considered as one of the most ambitious
attempts at tracking sectoral progress, the system represents Africa’s readiness to learn from past mistakes in
monitoring the implementation of the MDGs as well as efforts being made to attain Africa’s Agenda 2063.

Speaking on the successful activation, the AMCOW President and Minister for Water and Irrigation, Tanzania,
Engr. Gerson Lwenge stated “The AMCOW Monitoring and Reporting System helps to address Africa’s
longstanding challenges in producing harmonised water and sanitation monitoring data”. Engr. Lwenge recalled
that lack of credible national and regional water sector and sanitation monitoring and reporting systems in Africa
was widely recognised as a critical constraint to making informed policy and investments decisions on the
development and effective use of water resources and sanitation in the continent”. Commenting, the AU
Commissioner for Rural Economy and Agriculture, Rhoda Peace Tumusiime said “ongoing actions such as this
ensures Africa’s readiness to monitor and report on progress towards achieving the SDGs while providing a
great opportunity to establish baselines not just for the global indicator framework, but also for the African
commitments for which efforts to monitor progress towards attainment are constrained by the lack of baseline
data.”

The System developed by the African Ministers’ Council on Water (AMCOW) working with the Commission of
the African Union captures the harmonised monitoring and reporting indicators for the continent and links with
other global monitoring and reporting processes. The AMCOW Executive Secretary, Dr Canisius Kanangire
believes “the system provides African Member States an opportunity to own and manage the water sector and
sanitation data”. Dr Kanangire reiterated that the issue of water sector and sanitation monitoring and reporting
gained momentum in July 2008 with the AU Sharm El-Sheikh Declaration requesting AMCOW to report annually
on the state of the continent’s water resources and sanitation” to the Summit.

The web-based Reporting system was developed with funding from the African Water Facility (AWF), and
supported by the M&E Task Force, the German Cooperation as well as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
(BMGF) and with technical assistance from UNEP-DHI. The highlight of the portal which can be accessed at
http://www.africawat-sanreports.org is the 2016 Status Report of 42 African member states
submitted using an online reporting framework. It also contains the 2013 and 2014 data submitted by Member
States using a temporary paper based template.

The system which serves as database on water and sanitation for Member States in Africa is expected to
promote cross-sector learning and knowledge dissemination within the water, sanitation, food, energy and
climate nexus while supporting joint sector reviews. The online portal comes with maps and tabular view options
which makes it easy to compare progress on various indicators across Member States in Africa.
Launched by AMCOW Ministers during the 2016 World Water Week Africa Focus Day in Stockholm, the online
portal supports AMCOW’s efforts in developing regular progress reports for submission to the African Union
Heads of State and Government Summit.

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (PAMACC News) - Members of African Civil Society organisations (CSO) on Climate change are worried that President Donald Trump may derail his country’s progress towards implementation of the Paris Agreement that seeks to slow global warming, which was coined particularly to accommodate the United States of America.

“The Paris agreement was weakened because we were looking for a treaty that the US President could sign by Executive Instrument, since it is usually very difficult for US to be party to a legally binding treaty that require ratification by the Congress,” said Dr Seth Osafo, the Legal Adviser to the African Group of Negotiators at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

However, with the president’s latest moves to dismantle the legacy of his predecessor Barrack Obama, CSO representatives are afraid that even after accepting to weaken the treaty, Trump is likely to withdraw from the process.

Their worries are complicated by the fact that during his campaigns, Trump had indicated that "the concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make US manufacturing non-competitive."

“He is a climate denier and that is very unfortunate for the entire world,” said Mithika Mwenda, the Secretary General for the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance during a workshop to review the 22nd Conference of Parties (COP 22), which was held in Marrakech, Morocco.

In one of the presidential debates, Trump further said that the issue of climate change is an issue that requires further probing, and that money used to fight the phenomenon should be channeled to other uses.

"There is still much that needs to be investigated in the field of climate change. Perhaps the best use of our limited financial resources should be in dealing with making sure that every person in the world has clean water. Perhaps we should focus on eliminating lingering diseases around the world like malaria,” said Trump.

Perhaps, he continued, “We should focus on efforts to increase food production to keep pace with an ever-growing world population. Perhaps we should be focused on developing energy sources and power production that alleviates the need for dependence on fossil fuels. We must decide on how best to proceed so that we can make lives better, safer and more prosperous.”

To cement his words, he has already selected a close ally of the fossil fuel industry to head up the environment department, which analysts say may do a big blow to president Obama’s progress on climate change.

So far, in less than fortnight after his inauguration, the President has already changed the federal government’s approach to the environment by clearing the way for two major oil pipelines that had been blocked by his predecessor.
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