President Paul Kagame yesterday said the African Union (AU) and the East African Community (EAC), served as ideal platforms for Africans to address their own challenges. The Head of State was reacting to questions about the recently concluded AU Heads of States Summit, which was characterised by open differences, resulting in a stalemate in the election of the AU Commission chairman. Admitting that the continental body has had a fair share of its own challenges, Kagame said: “If we talk about AU, you would think Africa is the only one with problems, but I am seeing everyday in the news problems of different nature in different continents – there will always be problems,” he noted. “The most important thing is that we should be able to build our own capacity in order to be able to resolve our own problems.” Kagame said the donation from China in the form of the new AU conference centre in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, was ‘fine’ just like other donations African countries, including Rwanda, continue to receive from donor countries to be able to develop.“China donated the building for the good of the continent,” he said. The President, however, said that the donation signifies a bigger problem - despite huge resources Africa still depends heavily on donations, calling on Africans to “work harder and be smarter” to get out of the dependency situation. President Kagame said that Rwanda and other African countries can get themselves out of the dependency trap, given the available resources on the continent. In reference to situations on the continent like Libya where NATO had to intervene, he said it was largely due to internal weaknesses on the continent. On the EAC integration process, Kagame said it remains ‘as complicated and not easy’ as many initially thought, but pointed out that the most important thing is that there is a framework to guide the process. He said that some problems remain along the way, some originating from the means of partner states, citing an example where at a certain point, a partner state failed to honour its membership fee obligations, not because it lacked commitment but rather the means. Kagame noted that while such difficulties may exist, the five-partner states needed to stay the course and not lose the vision. He said some countries still find it difficult to deal with Non-Tariff Barriers than others, while others find it difficult to let go of some things. “It’s a give-and take-process. You let go of something you didn’t want to let go, but in the process, you benefit more from the largerintegration. If you are susceptible to frustration you can really get frustrated,” the President explained. “But one way of dealing with problems and keep progressing is not to allow frustration to overcome you. We need to keep working and understand that such problems will always be there,” Kagame said. He, however, said that there has been significant progress, for example, in the area of Customs Union, Common Market, and discussions about the envisaged Monetary Union and the ultimate Political Federation. The President said the Secretariat and its institutions are running well, which, in itself, is a sign of progress, much as they are not where the bloc wants them to be.
