2006 жылғы Африка оқиғалары

Africa related events during the year of 2006

The AU met in Khartoum on January 23 and January 24, 2006. It decided against the extradition of former Chadian president Hissène Habré to Belgium and announced the formation of a commission to find an African judiciary to try him. Denis Sassou Nguesso, President of the Republic of the Congo, became the Chairperson of the African Union's Assembly of Heads of State. The chair was originally supposed to return to Sudan, but at the request of several AU members, President of Sudan Omar al Bashir decided to relinquish his position in view of the AU's participation in the resolution of the Darfur conflict. Members agreed that his chairmanship would affect the credibility of the AU.

The Ordinary Summit of ECOWAS was held in Niamey on 13 January 2006 with the Heads of State of Niger (Tandja Mamadou), Mali (Amadou Toumani Touré), Togo (Faure Gnassingbé), Guinea Bissau (Joao Bernardo Vieira) and Nigeria (Olusegun Obasanjo). The 10 other member countries were represented by their Foreign Ministers. The ECOWAS asked the G8 to extend the cancellation of debt to the whole of the Member States of the organization. It re elected its chair Tandja Mamadou and decided to transform the secretariat into a commission with a President, a vice president and 7 Commissioners. ECOWAS is pleased with the nomination by consensus of a Prime Minister and the composition of a government of national unity in Côte d’Ivoire, as well as the presidential elections being held in Liberia and in Guinea Bissau. On the economic level, the Heads of State expressed their support for a plan to create a regional airline company "to overcome the difficulties in air transport" in the subregion. During the summit in Abuja on 14 June 2006, the Heads of States of ECOWAS approved a modification of the organization's hierarchy. The secretariat is to be replaced by a commission of the nine police chiefs of the member states. The 4 year term of the police chiefs from Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo will begin in January 2007. Ghana will head the commission, while Burkina Faso will take the vice presidency. ECOWAS also adopted a convention which aims "to prohibit the sale of light weapons within the community and between member states, except for the legitimate defense needs of these states or for their participation in peacekeeping operations". The joint summit of ECOWAS and UEMOA planned for December 22 and December 23, 2006, was cancelled following confrontations between soldiers and police officers in Ouagadougou on December 20.

The 7th Summit of CEMAC was held in Libreville (Gabon) on March 16, 2006. The heads of state of the organization decided to form a strategic international committee to discuss and plan the proposed restructuring of the CEMAC's institutions. They were also concerned with the renewed spread of avian influenza brought up by Cameroon and gave its support to Chadian president Idriss Déby Itno in his opposition of Sudanese actions. Idriss Déby holds the chair of CEMAC.

The 10th Ordinary Summit of the heads of state and government of the UEMOA took place on March 27, 2006, in Niamey with presidents Tandja Mamadou (Niger), Mathieu Kérékou (Benin), Blaise Compaoré (Burkina Faso), Amadou Toumani Touré (Mali), Abdoulaye Wade (Senegal), Faure Gnassingbé (Togo) and prime ministers Charles Konan Banny (Côte d'Ivoire) and Aristide Gomé (Guinea Bissau). The heads of state could not agree on whether to allow Charles Konan Banny (the appointed Prime Minister of Côte d'Ivoire) and Yayi Boni (the newly elected President of Benin) to ascend to the presidencies of the Central Bank of West Africa and Development Bank of West Africa respectively. They instead decided to lengthen the terms of the current temporary presidents, Damo Justin Barro (Burkina Faso) of the Central Bank and Issa Coulibaly (Mali) of the Development Bank until the next summit. The joint summit of ECOWAS and UEMOA planned for December 22 and December 23, 2006, was cancelled following confrontations between soldiers and police officers in Ouagadougou on December 20.

The 6th World Social Forum (WSF), an alter globalization movement, took place in Bamako from January 19 to January 23, 2006. The debt problem was at the heart of the agenda for the meeting. For Barry Aminata Touré, president of the Coalition of African Alternatives to Debt and Development, "the simple cancellation of debt of Third World nations is finally putting poor countries on the developing track". Agriculture, and in particular genetically modified organisms, access to water, and immigration were some of the other topics brought up by participants. According to Diadié Yacouba Dagnoko, former Minister for Culture and one of the coordinators of the WSF, the forum, which accommodated between 15,000 and 20,000 participants, cost 700 million CFA francs. Falling under the framework for this WSF, the Collectif citoyen pour la restitution et le développement intégré du rail (Cocidirail) requested for the renationalisation of the rail network, and for the reopening of shut down stations. It promised to beat incumbent president of Mali Amadou Toumani Touré if he recontested in the 2007 elections to protest against his false election promises. The 5th Forum des peuples, an annual alter globalization demonstration, was held in Gao from July 14 to July 17, 2006. The majority of the participants came from Africa but representatives from Europe and North America were also present. In a final declaration, the participants pledged "the removal of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank Group and the setting up of new institutions controlled democratically by the various nations and their citizens with real and sustained development", the stop of privatization and nationalization of strategic companies and the total and unconditional cancellation of debt of Third World countries. The participants also rejected "the policy of repressive and selective immigration" and demanded a quick resolution to the conflicts in Darfur, Côte d'Ivoire and the Middle East. The 2nd summit of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (IC/GLR) took place in Nairobi on December 14 and December 15, 2006. Representatives from 11 states in the Great Lakes Region, including heads of state, government officials and delegates from the African Union and United Nations met to sign a security pact to protect regional stability and development, which envisages a development plan costing US$ 2 billion, to be financed by member states, investors and the African Development Bank. In July, the Pan African Non Petroleum Producers Association members sign a treaty.

President of Sudan Omar al Bashir refuses the deployment of 20,000 Blue Helmets in a United Nations peacekeeping force in Darfur in accordance with United Nations Security Council Resolution 1706 adopted on September 1.

June 2006: The 2006 Abdou Moumouni University protests over financial obligations to students from the university cause the temporary closure of Niger's only public university, Abdou Moumouni University in Niamey.

Cameroon: eleventh edition of the "Race of Hope for Africa". This competition, organized by the Cameroon Athletics Federation joined a thousand athletes on a course of 42 km that included a climb of Mount Cameroon.

Gabon: the international cycle race Tropical Amissa Bongo was held from 12 January to 15 January.

Senegal: a "fight of the century" was organized on 1 January in Dakar between two great figures of Senegalese wrestling. Yakhya Diop, alias Tékini won from Mohamed Ndao, alias Tyson.

Benin: Fourth edition of Quintessence, international film festival in Ouidah from 7 to 11 January.