African Diplomacy Observer

The ten member States of the Economic Community of Central African States -ECCAS- (Angola, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, DRC, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and Sao Tome and Principe), plus a non-member State, Togo, carried out on 17 November 2007 a common military exercise in Chad. The exercise code-named "Bahr el-Gazel 2005" took place in the Chadian town of Moussoro, located at approximately 250 Km away from the capital N’djamena and rassembled a light brigade of 1,600 troops made of companies from the ten ECCAS members States.

The exercise was undertaken in presence of presidents Denis Sassou Nguesso from Congo, François Bozize from the CAR, Omar Bongo Ondimba from Gabon and Joseph Kabila president of the DRC and Head of the ECCAS. According to the organization Committee, this exercise was expected to be an inter-army multilateral peacekeeping simulation which envisioned to be an occasion for exchanging experiences on peacekeeping techniques, as well as an instrument of regional defence aims at preventing and resolving peacefully conflicts in Africa.

Source: Afriquecentrale.info

Amadou Toumani Touré, the President of the Republic of Mali  arrived in Algeria on Friday 23 November 2007 for a two-day visit of state at the invitation of his counterpart, President Abdelaziz Bouteflika. During this visit, President Toure is due to sign minutes of the 10th session of the Algerian-Malian Border Bilateral Commission held in Algiers on 19 and 20 November. He is also expected to examine with President Bouteflika means to strengthen the cooperation and concertation so that they become strategic axis of their bilateral relations.

This visit will be the occasion for addressing issues of mutual interest, notably for population living in border areas, in which cooperation should be strengthened. These issues include the circulation of persons and goods, cooperation between border security services, realization of the trans-Saharan road, development of the barter border trade, and the fight against terrorism and illegal immigration.

According to the Algerian Delegate Minister in charge of Local Collectivities, Dahou Ould Kablia, the results of the 10th session of the Algerian-Malian Border Bilateral Commission will certainly trigger a new momentum for this cooperation and set up an institutional framework that will deepen cooperation ties between the two countries, notably at their border areas.

Source: Le Jeune Indépendant

The president of the South African National Assembly, Mrs. Baleka Mbete, started on 23 November a-three-day-official visit in Algeria to "strengthen and reaffirm friendship ties" between the two countries. According to a communiqué of the Algerian National Popular assembly, the aim of this visit is to "contribute to the reinforcement of relations between the two parliamentarian chambers and to emphasize the important role of parliamentarians in the framework of African multilateral institutions".

Mrs. Baleka Mbete will be accompanied by an important delegation of South African parliamentarian and will have talks with the president of the Algerian Assembly, Mr. Abdelaziz Ziari, and with high political personalities as well. during this visit, a bilateral cooperation framework protocol is to be signed between the two parliaments.

The creation of an Algerian-South African inter-parliamentarian friendship group was mentioned in the communiqué as an instrument of parliamentarian diplomacy to strengthen and boost their bilateral relations and cooperation in all aspects.

The visit of the SA parliamentarian delegation will give the opportunity to examine the two countries contribution and commitments to the implementation of the New Partnership for Africa Development (NEPAD). Moreover, the two delegations will address and exchange views on possible solutions to resolve the conflict over the Western Sahara opposing Morocco and the Polisario Front. In that regard, a group from the SA delegation is expected to visit Sahraouian refugee camps as a sign of solidarity with the Sahraouian people in its struggle for self-determination. Should we remind that SA has been one of the first countries that recognized the Sahraouian Arab Democratic Republic as a sovereign State.

Source: El Moudjahid

Côte d’Ivoire Minister of Foreign Affairs, H.E. Youssouf Bakayoko, undertook a friendship and work visit to Kuweit from 13-14 November 2007. the Ivorian Foreign Minister was invited by his Kuwaiti counterpart and ws also carrying a message of the Ivorian President, Laurent Gbagbo, for the Kuwaiti leader, His Highness the Emir Cheick Sabah Al-Ahmed El Sabah.

During his visit, H.E. Youssouf Bakayoko also had talks with the Kuwaiti Foreign Minister, the Governor of the Kuwaiti Development Bank and other authorities with whom he evoked recent developments in the peace process in Côte d’Ivoire since the signing of the political peace Ouagadougou Agreement in March 2007 and addressed reasons for delays in its implementation. Ivorian Minister nonetheless emphasized the shared political will of the different parties for a rapid and definitive end of the crisis. H.E Youssouf Bakayoko received strong assurances of the Emir that his country was committed to taking the lead in conveying and hosting the Donor Round Table aims to raise necessary fund to support Côte d’Ivoire in the reconstruction of areas destroyed or damaged during the crisis. The decision of conveying this meeting had been taken at the 34th session of the Islamic Conference of the Foreign Ministers of the Islamic Conference Organization (ICO) held in Islamabad (Pakistan) from 15-17 May 2007.

Source: Côte d’Ivoire MFA

"The UN Experience deals with some of the many issues, affecting Africa, which came before the United Nations in the immediate, post-independence period. Of major importance were the establishment of the Economic Commission for Africa, and the revocation of the Mandate which conferred on South Africa responsibility for the administration of the Trusteeship Territory of South West Africa. The book also deals with some policy issues not strictly within the ambit of the United Nations, but which were of special international significance, such as the interminable controversy regarding Chinese representation in the United Nations (1950-1967), the Commonwealth initiative to end the conflict in Vietnam, and the complexities of multilateral diplomacy. The final chapter "Reflections on Some Contemporary Issues" discusses current issues of topical interest, including the effect of the Cold War on diplomatic practice, globalization, economic development, foreign aid, peacekeeping, and the failure of party politics in Africa. While the episodes dealt with in the book are not all in strict chronological order, they have been arranged to enable the flow of the narrative without departing unduly from the general chronology of the events."

Frederick S. Arkhurst. African Diplomacy: The UN Experience. Authorhouse, November 2006.

Book synopsis provided by the book shop.

Ambassador John Negroponte, the US Deputy Secretary of State, will carry out an African tour that will bring him to Côte d’Ivoire as from the 10th of November 2007. During this step, the US official will seize this opportunity to learn from the Ivorian peace process evolution. He will meet with the Ivorian President, Laurent Gbagbo, the Prime Minister, Guillaume Soro, and with some leaders of the opposition such as Henri Konan Bedié, leader of the Democratic Party of Côte d’Ivoire and Alassane Ouattara, leader of the Movement of Republicans.

After the Ivorian step, Ambassador Negroponte, accompanied by a delegation made of several officials of the State Department, including Jendayi Frazer, Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, is due to visit several other African countries, including Nigeria and Mali.

Source: Notre Voie

A couple of months ago, in July 2007, the African Union (AU) launched in the United States its first diplomatic mission ever accredited to a country. This mission is a fundamental shift in the AU representation policy and practice abroad. In fact, so far, AU’s representation or external relations on the continent and outside were managed through Sub-regional representations (there is AU’s sub-regional representation for Western, Central, Eastern, Southern and Northern Africa), particularly technical institutions whose primary responsibility has generally nothing to do with representation or liaison functions vested with them throughout Africa (in that regard, the AU’s representation in Central Africa is assumes by Interafrican Phytosanitary Council in Yaounde, Cameroon) and Permanent Representations to key international organizations in some diplomatic hubs (this is notably the case of AU’s Permanent representations to the League of Arab States in Cairo -Egypt-, to the UN Headquarters in New-York, and to the UN Office in Geneva).

Alongside these Permanent representations and Sub-regional representations, over the past years, the AU sent political missions to some African countries experiencing political crisis or instability (Côte d’Ivoire, Burundi, the Comoros, etc.). These missions are generally tasked with the monitoring and observation missions in countries experiencing political crisis and used as liaison offices with national authorities and different national stakeholders. In such contexts, AU monitoring and/or observation missions are kind of crisis diplomacy mechanisms.

The launching of this mission illustrates AU’s intention to become a significant player on the international scene and willingness to play a political and diplomatic role when it comes to African issues.

According to Amina Salum Ali, the AU’s Ambassador to the United States, the AU’s Representation, whose purpose is "to work with governments, Congress, international organizations, civil society in the Diaspora, and all friends of Africa and those who are focused to do business with Africa (…) would promote greater understanding between the peoples of the USA and Africa."

The African diaspora would also be one of the main targets and major duties of the Mission, the "biggest mandate" as Ambassador Ali said, with notably the promotion of relations between the African Union and the African Diaspora.

The opening of that mission in Washington has been under consideration at the AU for quite a long time, but according to the AU’s Ambassador, "sometimes it takes time; it takes resources, and it takes capacity, in terms of human capacity to be able to establish an office. So although the decision was taken since 10, 15 years ago, it was only last year we operationalized because we didn’t have enough capacity, enough resources."

Source: VOA

See also the following post

One year ago, in November 2006, China and African States gathered in Beijing for a Forum on Sino-African Cooperation. At the end of this Forum, the Beijing Action Plan (2007-2009) was set up to establish a new sino-african strategic partnership based on equality, mutual confidence in political relationships, wiw-win cooperation in economical relationships, and in mutual exchange and inspiration in cultural relations. In this framework, Chinese President, Hu Jintao, announced eight measures to be taken with a view to strengthen sino-african cooperation, support African countries’ development and give a new impulse to their cooperation.

In the document enclosed (in French), the Chinese Ambassador to Senegal, Lu Shaye, reviews efforts and achievements made by his country to meet these commitments. He sums up achievements in the political and economical fields and in the domains of "Cooperation in international affairs" and "Social progress".

See Ambassador Lu Shaye Assessment