AU celebrates Successful PAP election session, describes it as victory for Africa

The Conference Hall of the Mulungushi International Conference Centre in Lusaka, Zambia, where the 41st Ordinary Session of the Executive Council of the African Union was being held, was in a celebratory and joyful mood when the report on the implementation of the Executive Council decision EX.CL/Dec.1128(XXXIX) on the Pan-African Parliament (PAP) was presented. The new Bureau of the legislative organ of the Union was formally and officially unveiled to African Ministers of Foreign Affairs.

The Executive Council described the recent elections of the Bureau of the PAP, and the subsequent resumption of Parliamentary activities as a triumph of African unity and Pan-Africanism. In what was a moment of celebration following the stalemate that caused uncertainty at the PAP, the Council welcomed the sense of responsibility and the spirit of compromise of Parliamentarians that prevailed during the elections, which saw the application of African Union values, rules, and regulations, including the principle of geographical rotation of the Bureau. 

The Ministers of Foreign Affairs congratulated the newly elected leadership and all members of the PAP for acting in a manner that has redeemed the image of the Parliament as well as the image of the Union. This is a sharp contrast to the unfortunate incidents of May and June 2021 that led to the suspension of the activities of Parliament. The report, which hailed all the efforts deployed by all structures of the Union to restore calm and harmony at the PAP, was unanimously adopted.

Cameroon, DRC, Egypt, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Angola, Ethiopia, Saharawi Republic, Libya, Algeria, Ghana, Senegal, Cape Verde are some of the Member States who took turns to express the significance of the PAP as a continental Parliament and the extreme satisfaction with the outcome of the interventions by the AU to ensure a peaceful resolution to challenges faced by the Parliament in May 2021.

They called it a “moment of celebration for the continent”. According to the Executive Council, the ideals embodied by a continental Parliament and how these ideals contribute to a more integrated Africa, demand that all efforts be made to preserve the PAP.

Read more: https://pap.au.int/en/news/press-releases/2022-07-17/it-victory-africa-executive-council-celebrates-pan-african