Gaborone: President Ian Khama will, for the fourth successive year since assuming office, not attend this week's African Union (AU) Summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Government spokesman Dr Jeff Ramsay confirmed that the President will not be attending but referred further Mmegi enquiries to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation. Speaking to Mmegi yesterday on his way to Addis, Foreign Minister Phandu Skelemani said that he was not expecting much from the first post-Muammar Gaddafi summit.
The former Libyan strongman was killed last October after ruling that country for 42 years and having attended more OAU and its predecessor, Organisation of African Unity (OAU) summits than any other leader in the continent.
This year's theme, "Integration of Africa for an Economic Union" - will dominate the discussions as the continent strives to achieve its goal of establishing a Free Trade Area for Africa (FTAA) by 2017, leading in the creation of an African Economic Union (AEU) in 2028.
"We (Botswana) think this is too ambitious," Skelemani said.
He argues that the continent needs to strengthen its regional trading blocs before going big. He said that at present the Southern African Customs Union (SACU), which comprises four countries - Botswana, Swaziland, Namibia and South Africa, "is facing serious challenges" that might break it apart.
The Foreign Minister said a continental free trade area was just too complex for Africa. "Our view, as the government of Botswana, is that the project is too ambitious," he said.
Skelemani said that Africa also needed to strengthen its Peace and Security Council as a matter of urgency, looking at the events of the past year in Ivory Coast, Tunisia, Egypt and Libya and other countries in the Middle East.
He said that he had initially intended to initiate a debate on the issue, but has since learned that the Peace and Security Council was going to present a report to the summit. His argument is that something needs to be done for the continent to curb conflicts that have badly tarnished its image. The summit will also receive a progress report on the transformation of the African Commission to the African Authority after legal experts were assigned to look into which AU documents needed to be reviewed to facilitate the process.
They were also assigned to study how it will impact on the sovereignty of member states. The Authority was a compromise from what Gaddafi and his allies demanded - to hastily establish the United States of Africa (USA) that was to be under his rule and a single currency.
After the compromise, Gaddafi called for the Authority to be established overnight, stirring friction among the member states at the 2010 summit held in Uganda, which was marred by controversy.
"The main difference we had with Gaddafi was that he wanted the Authority established immediately whilst we called for a careful approach to the process," he said.
Skelemani said that the next summit in July would decide the way forward after attorneys-general and justice ministers have studied the experts' report. The minister and his delegation return next week.
