African students call for more "dynamism" into AU

Accra, May 24, GNA - The All-African Students Union (AASU) on Thursday called for more "dynamism" to be injected into the African union as it celebrates African Union Day.

The Accra-based AASU said in a statement that AU Chairman, President John Agyekum Kufuor, must encourage his peers to move away from rhetoric into action.

"They must realise that the destiny of millions of people is in their hands and the AU should not be limited to holding conferences left, right centre and patting each other (at the back) even when there are violations of the rights of their people," the statement signed by Mr. Ibrahim Murtala, Deputy Secretary-General said.

The students cautioned that the violent ethnic conflicts in Africa would not decrease until the continent's leaders accepted that local disputes were often ignored until they became crisis by which time they required massive infusion of resources to settle.

"Most often these conflicts begin as local misunderstanding and tension that could be resolved early at local, national and sub-regional level if there were adequate mechanisms and avenues for early warning, dialogue, mediation and grievance settlement." The AASU noted that the AU had not done much in resolving the conflict in Sudan's Darfur region, Somalia and Chad, adding that African leaders could not pretend that all was well with Nigeria considering the elections.

They said as the AU had a new agenda and new problems, the Chairman and his peers were expected to think, act and reshape the continent anew. 24 May 2007