New African Union in Works

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan told African leaders Monday that they will need courage and leadership to rebuild the continent and transform the loose-knit Organization of African Unity into a stronger, European Union-style organization, to be known as the African Union.

Plans for the union include a central bank, a court of justice, a single currency and a parliament. The union was proposed in 1999 by Libyan leader Moammar Kadafi.

Speaking at the opening session of the last summit of the OAU, Annan compared the continent’s challenge to that faced by Europe after the two world wars. He urged Africa’s leaders to shake off divisions and work together to solve the poverty, wars and health crises that plague the continent.

“This historic effort will require leadership, courage and a willingness to depart from the ways of the past, if it is to do for Africa what the European Union has done for Europe,” Annan said.

“That, excellencies, should be our aim--to rebuild, as Europe did, after a series of devastating wars, uniting across old divisions to build a continent characterized by peace, cooperation, economic progress and the rule of law.”

By Monday, 50 of the OAU’s 53 member states had ratified the charter creating the African Union, OAU Secretary-General Salim Ahmed Salim said. Delegates also selected a new secretary-general, former Ivory Coast Foreign Minister Amara Essy, to lead the group’s transition period.

Despite the enthusiasm for the new union, indications of the challenges ahead could be found at Lusaka’s main Catholic cathedral, not far from summit headquarters. Thousands gathered at the church for the funeral of Zambian opposition leader Paul Tembo, who was killed Friday before he was to testify in a government graft case.

Opposition leaders accused the government of killing Tembo, but state authorities have denied responsibility for his death. The killing has aggravated political tensions in the southern African nation.