The long-awaited African Union (AU) passport was on Sunday launched at the opening ceremony of the 27th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the AU Summit in Kigali, Rwanda.
The Assembly is made up of heads of states and governments of the 54 member states of the AU.
The AU Commission’s Chairperson, Dr Dlamini Zuma, who presented the passport to the Chairperson of the union, President Idriss Deby of Chad and President Paul Kagame of Rwanda, said the passport was a landmark achievement of the commission and was intended to help with regional integration of people of the continent.
“We see hope in the resilience of our people and the strides of countries towards eradicating poverty and transforming our economies.
“We see hope in the ever-changing landscapes of our cities and towns, as we steadily build roads, increase access to energy, ICT, water and sanitation and build schools, clinics and sports fields.
“We have hope, because the continent’s political and business leadership are preparing to act to make African industrialisation a reality in our lifetime, so that our people benefit from their natural and mineral resources,’’ she said.
She, however, said that the better Africa could only be achieved where peace and security reigned.
President Deby while declaring the session open, said:
“While putting an end to the compromising dependency of the union on external contributionsto the continent, it should be noted that the annual budget of the organisation which is to be paid up on time which will help us do away with external dependency.
“That is why I want to urge member states to pay up their statutory contributions even if our countriesare facing difficult economic and financial situation because of the world economic situation.’’
The years summit with the the theme “Year of the Human Rights’’ particular focus on the rights of women.
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This is a good initiative, but I still don’t get how useful it is, if I possess this passport would it enable me travel visa free to for instance southafrica????