President Paul Kagame of Rwanda and African ministers of foreign affairs meet to put reforms in action

KIGALI, Rwanda, May 8, 2017/ -- President Paul Kagame of Rwanda, his AU reform advisory team and close to 40 African Ministers of Foreign Affairs met yesterday in Kigali, Rwanda, to discuss the implementation of the African Union (AU) reforms adopted in January 2017. 

In July 2016, at the 27th African Union Summit, member States of the AU entrusted President Paul Kagame of Rwanda with the mandate to lead the African Union reforms to enable the Union to better meet its mission’s goal and truly serve African citizens.

In January 2017, the proposed reforms were accepted by all Head of States and Governments. The reforms aim to make the AU more efficient politically, operationally and financially, so that the African multilateral organisation is better positioned to meet its mandate to member states and African citizens.

The African leaders are committing themselves to: 

• Focusing on key priorities to ensure that the AU efforts are not dispersed and that the AU is focused on priorities that will make a real difference to African citizens. This will also enable a clear division of labour between the AU and member states.
• Realigning the AU institutions to deliver against these priorities and ensure that the Union Commission structures, organs, and specialised technical agencies focus on the agreed priorities.
• Managing the AU efficiently at both political and operational levels, to allow the members to create an efficient and effective Commission staffed by the best African professionals. This would also strengthen the working methods of the AU Summit to improve the quality and impact of decision-making whilst ensuring the timely implementation of Assembly decisions; and
• Financing the AU  and sustainably to strengthen the African Union’s financial management and accountability.