Ghana is committed to the ideals of AU

Accra, May 24,GNA - Ghana is committed to the ideals of Africa Union (AU) and her faith in the eventual unity of the Continent is unshakeable, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, Minister of Foreign Affairs said on Tuesday.

He said in spite of the perceived and real problems facing Africans, the role of Africa Union in peace keeping and building was immeasurable.

The Foreign Minister, who was making a statement to commemorate Africa Day, which falls on 25 May, said all was not lost for Africans as a people.

He paid tribute to the early nationalist leaders like Dr Kwame Nkrumah, who fought to emancipate the Continent from colonialism, imperialism and racism.

Nana Akufo-Addo said those great leaders prosecuted their anti-colonialism agenda with passion adding that the present agenda should be the fight against political, economic and social problems plaguing the Continent.

He said HIV/AIDS was threatening the very existence of the Black race and called for action.

Ghana's Foreign Minister bemoaned the high levels of poverty, deprivation and ignorance on the Continent. On Africa's input in the reformation of the United Nations, he said Africa was asking for two permanent seats on the Security Council among other requests.

He said the African reformation dossier was being packaged for circulation to convince Africans and the rest of the World that Africa was claiming her right of place in the World body. Nana Akufo-Addo praised the brokers in the Ivorien Peace Talks aimed at leading the fractured nation to peaceful and successful elections.

He appealed to the various political groups in Togo to accommodate each other and to learn to build and not to destroy their nation. Mr John Mahama, Minority Spokesman on Foreign Affairs, said the AU could not be discussed without the putting in perceptive the personality and philosophy of Dr Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana's First President. "Dr Krumah had a vision of liberating the whole African Continent. He achieved a good measure of it but was overthrown in a CIA inspired coup, which dealt a blow to the struggle."

He asked that the AU should not become a talk shop but a place for mapping out strategies to take Africa out of the woods. He called for action to end the human suffering in Congo, Somalia and other places that blight the Continent.

Mr Mahama asked that the pace at which the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals was moving be hastened.

"We have 10 years to half poverty on the Continent in an environment where we contribute just two per cent to global trade and add very little to the world information and data flow."

Dr Benjamin Kunbour, NDC-Lawra, asked that Africans should be wary of the new breed of mercenaries "parading her corridors". He said the soldier of fortune had changed his strategies, "he is no longer the robust sweating guy in military fatigues. He is now a well-dressed gentleman, who would pass for an innocent businessman.