MAPUTO, 11 July -- The New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) is being integrated into the African Union in a three-year programme that seeks to synchronize and harmonize all the structures of the continental body.

If endorsed by the African leaders at the summit in Maputo, the NEPAD Secretariat, currently operating independently and hosted by South Africa, is expected to function under the AU Commission in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

NEPAD was formally adopted two years ago as the socio-economic development framework of the AU. However, its operations have hitherto been independent of the authority of the AU Commission, the Addis-based secretariat of the continental body.

Major organizations such as the United Nations, the European Union and the G-8 group of countries have formally accepted NEPAD as the key framework through which socio-economic aid shall be channeled to Africa.

Meanwhile, Alpha Oumar Konare, the former president of Mali, was elected on 10 July as the head the AU. Konare, who will be chairperson of the AU Commission, was elected unopposed after Ivory Coast withdrew their candidacy of Amara Essy, the interim chairperson.

Konare, 57, stepped down as Mali president last year after 10 years in office. His deputy, who was also elected by the leaders at the summit in Maputo, is Patrick Mazimhaka, a former special advisor to Rwanda President Paul Kagame.

The two will work with eight more commissioners, to be elected from the four regions of Africa. (SARDC)

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