PAN AFRICAN PARLIAMENT DEBATES THE AFRICAN UNION THEME OF THE YEAR 2019

PAP President H. E. Hon. Roger Nkodo Dang

Deliberations on Monday May 13 plenary of the Pan African Parliament was focused on exhaustive presentation of Committee and other Reports and debates on the African Union theme of the Year “2019 the Year of Refugees, Returnees and Internally Displaced Persons: Towards Durable Solutions to Forced Displacement in Africa”.  

The Session began with introductory remarks by H. E. Mrs.Minata Samate Cessouma, AU Commissioner for Political Affairs followed by Mr. Cosmas Chanda, UNHCR Representative to the African Union and later Mr. Martin Chungong, Secretary General of the Inter-Parliamentary Union. There was also introductory remarks by Hon. Bouchared hamid, member of the People’s national Assembly of Algeria.

This was followed by presentations by Nelson Magbagbenia, ECOWAS Permanent Representative to the AU and H. E. Ambassador Hamuli Baudoin, Head of Political and Diplomatic Affairs, Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS).

The Chairpersons of PAP Permanent Committees also presented reports and they include Hon. Mc Henry Venaani, Chairperson of PAP’s Committee on Trade, Customs and Immigration  Matters; Hon. Aurelien-Simplice Zingas Kongbelet, Chairperson of PAP’s Committee on Health, Labour and Social Affairs and Hon. Ignatienne Nyirarukundo, Chairperson of PAP’s Committee on Justice and Human Rights.

Contributing to the debates, Hon. Kone Aboubacar Sidiki (Cote D’Ivoire) recalled his days as a refugee in Burkina Faso and noted that the issue is tied to the challenge of the fight against corruption and called for the building of the capacity of parliamentarians to fight corruption in government. He attributed the increase in the number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) to the mismanagement of resources, drought, climate change and the management of the environment.

Hon. Sidiki condemned the concentration of power at the national level by those who have no interest in rural development resulting in migration to the urban centres.

Hon. Pascal Tsaty-Mabiala (Congo) wants PAP to devote attention to how to prevent people from becoming IDPs and concentrate on eradicating the phenomenon instead of managing them.

In her contribution, H. E. Hon. Mrs. Suilma Hay Emhammed Elkaid (Sahrawi Republic) reminded the parliamentarians that people do not turn into IDPs as a matter of choice and recalled her experience in 1975 when she was forced to be a refugee in Algeria due to the conflict. “We did not want to be  refugees but we were forced by circumstances to leave our homes” she said. She took offence at comments by a Moroccan parliamentarian who questioned whether Sahrawi people should be regarded as IDPs which she described as insensitive.