by John Mokwetsi
Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir who is facing a warrant of arrest from the International Criminal Court (ICC) and ousted Madagascar leader Marc Ravalomana are some of the controversial leaders who were at the official launch of the Common Market for East and Southern Africa customs union in Victoria Falls Sunday.
On Monday the regional bloc Comesa shocked all by supporting the Sudanese president, al-Bashir and condemning the warrant arrest by ICC.
“We condemn the warrant of arrest by ICC,” read part of the Comesa communiqué.
ICC charges stem from al-Bashir's Arab-led government's six-year battle with ethnic African rebels in Sudan's Darfur region. About 300,000 people have died in fighting and 2.7 million displaced in the conflict, according to U.N. figures. Sudan says the numbers are exaggerated.
Bashir told the conference here that Sudan was committed to finding peace in the Darfur region but was facing foreign interference.
"It (the ICC warrant) is an action aimed at isolating Sudan and eventually fragmenting and dividing our country," he said.
"But through our own efforts and resources we are going to overcome such designs," he said in a speech delivered in Arabic and translated into English by an official.
Comesa however castigated the regime of Madagascar which was unofficially represented by Ravalomana.
Ravalomanana was forced to surrender power in March following an uprising led by Andry Rajoelina, the 35-year-old former mayor of Antananarivo who spearheaded months of street protests demanding the elected president’s resignation
Addressing the ninth Comesa Foreign Ministers meeting, Comesa secretary general Dr Sindiso Ngwenya said the regional bloc needed to find ways of addressing the conflicts, which weighed on integration between member states.
"We should be mindful that as we address the conflicts that besieged us for the past few years, new issues of peace and security have emerged that have a negative impact on our integration efforts," he said in apparent reference to the situation in Madagascar.
"Such issues include piracy off the coast of Somalia and recent conflicts in Madagascar.
"These are issues that need your attention and I am pleased to inform you that the committee on peace and security which met two weeks ago in Mauritius considered these issues."
Mugabe and Bashir have over the last few years been isolated by the international community for their human rights record.
Zimbabwe takes over the Comesa chairmanship from Kenya. Besides the launch of the customs union, the leaders will discuss economic integration, security and value added tax.
The new Comesa chairman, President Mugabe Sunday launched the bloc’s Customs Union here calling for increased trade and investment to bolster the sustainability of the arrangement.
The historic launch went ahead despite reservations from some East African countries, particularly Uganda.
The Customs Union is expected to strengthen economic integration and eventually lead to a single currency.
Under the union, all 19 members will impose a similar tariff on goods from outside the region that will range from zero to 25 percent, depending on the category of the goods and services.
"We have come to the moment that celebrates our existence as Comesa — the launching of the Comesa Customs Union," said President Mugabe.
"This past year, everything on Comesa focused on the Customs Union.
"We have thought and talked the Customs Union, we have even slept the Customs Union, and we have dreamt the Customs Union. This is the hour we have been waiting for.
"On this occasion we say to each other, that we are Comesa, bound together as a region, and that together we can achieve what we set out to achieve. To the whole world, we want to say we are Comesa, and that we are serious as the region. We want to be taken seriously.
Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni said members of the East African Community were yet to fully deliberate on the implications of the Customs Union and could only endorse it after having done so.
He, however, said they had no problems with those countries that were ready to get into the union.
"We have a saying in our language that goes, ‘If one cow has a swollen mouth that does not stop the other cows from eating’," he said.
The Treaty establishing COMESA was signed on 5th November 1993 in Kampala, Uganda and was ratified a year later in Lilongwe, Malawi on 8th December 1994.
Member countries are Angola, Burundi comoros, D.R. Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Namibia, Rwanda, Seycelles, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
COMESA replaced the former Preferential Trade Area (PTA) which had existed from the earlier days of 1981.
COMESA was established 'as an organisation of free independent sovereign states which have agreed to co-operate in developing their natural and human resources for the good of all their people."
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Posted by: film | July 04, 2009 at 02:43 PM