African leaders set to sign landmark trade deal at AU Summit
Four hundred thousand people turned out on the streets of Madrid Saturday for a Gay Pride parade dedicated this year to pioneers of the LGBT+ causeAfrican leaders will meet Sunday in Niger for the African Union (AU) summit, to sign a landmark free trade agreement, and to discuss looming security and migration crises on the continent.
The agreement comes after 17 years of tough negotiations, and was formalised at the end of April when the agreement had crossed the launch threshold, which required ratification by at least 22 countries.
Nigeria, Africa's most populous country and largest economy, announced this week it would after all join the pact in Niamey, having unexpectedly pulled back from the agreement last year.
Nigeria's chief trade negotiator, Ambassador Chiedu Osakwe, said President Muhammadu Buhari would sign the landmark agreement, "opening Africa up to abundant opportunities.
"We weren't dragged into this, we are a leading advocate," Osakwe told AFP. "But it is about assessing how to make it work for Nigeria and indeed the continent."
State trade ministers agreed the zone should be operational from July 2020, AU Trade and Industry Commissioner Albert Muchanga told AFP, as countries needed time to adapt to the agreed changes.
An official start date will be agreed by heads of state Sunday -- with only Benin and Eritrea still to sign the agreement.
There are still key issues that need to be ironed out however, such as setting common criteria to determine rules of origin for traded products.
Amaka Anku, Africa analyst at Eurasia group, described the deal as a positive step but said the AfCFTA was still "a long way from taking off".
The AU estimates that implementing the AfCFTA will lead to a 60-percent boost in intra-African trade by 2022.
At the moment, African countries trade only about 16 percent of their goods and services among one another, compared to 65 percent with European countries.
- High security -
Also on the summit agenda is security -- an issue afflicting the Sahel in particular.
Summit host Niger has faced constant attacks by jihadist groups.
Its fellow members in the G5-Sahel security pact -- Chad, Mali, Burkina Faso and Mauritania -- will seek backing at the AU summit to push for a greater UN security force to address the terror threat.
The countries hope to activate Chapter VII of the UN Charter, a Nigerien security source told AFP. The chapter allows for the UN Security Council to determine a threat to peace and propose measures, including military deployment, to deal with it.
"No prosperity, no integration is possible without peace," said Faki, who stressed the importance of an AU Peace Fund launched in 2018 to finance security activities and called on member states to fulfil their financial promises.
So far, only $116 million has been received for the envisaged $400-million fund.
Niamey is under high surveillance, with summit facilities subjected to strict access controls and a heavy security presence.
"We have a special unit of several thousand men" on duty, said Defence Minister Mohamed Bazoum.
The city has been revamped and boasts a brand-new airport, upgraded roads, and new hotels for the occasion.
- Migration crisis -
The leaders will also discuss boosting intelligence cooperation and the global migration crisis.
An airstrike Tuesday on a migrant detention centre near the Libyan capital, Tripoli, killed 53 and injured more than 130.
The AU's Peace and Security Council on Friday condemned what it called a "savage attack", calling for an independent inquiry into the incident.
AU member states needed to quickly repatriate their nationals from Libya "in order to prevent any further exploitation of their fragile situation," they said in a statement., amid growing fears of fresh repression with the rise of the far-right in Europe.
The marchers converged on the Spanish capital's main Atocha train station for the start of the festivities. The 400,000 figure was later given by police.
The slogan for this year's march was "History, struggle and memory" and participants marked 50 years since the Stonewall riots in New York in 1969 which were the foundation of the gay rights movement worldwide.
Catholic Spain at the time was controlled by dictator General Francisco Franco and homosexual acts were illegal. Thousands of gay people were shipped off to rehabilitation centres or even jailed.
Homosexuality was decriminalised in 1978, three year's after Franco's death, since when Spain has become one of the most LGBT-tolerant countries in the world, authorising gay marriage and adoptions by gay couples in 2005.
"I'm 53 years old and I have suffered," said Manuel Carmona, carrying a large rainbow flag for Saturday's march.
"But those who are 63-years-old suffered more and those who are 73-years-old even more and I want us to recognise these people who have helped us," added Carmona, who has been attending the pride march for 30 years.
- Resurgent homophobia -
Madrid's city hall swung to the right in June after a conservative candidate was elected mayor with the support of newly-emerged far-right party Vox, in a move that has caused concern in Spain.
Vox has said that the Madrid Gay Pride Parade should be moved to a park in the suburbs and opposes public subsidies for the event.
"They do not want to understand that when we talk about LGBT rights, we are talking about human rights," said Spanish Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska, who is himself gay and took part in the march.
Activists say organised opposition against LGBT rights is growing across the continent, with populist politicians in Poland, Hungary and other European countries presenting gay rights as a threat to family values.
Resurgent homophobia made the headlines in Britain recently after a lesbian couple became the high-profile victims of a homophobic attack after refusing to kiss for a gang of youths on a London night bus.
The couple joined the annual Pride march through the heart of the British capital Saturday, which organisers said drew hundreds of thousands.
In the Hungarian capital Budapest, marchers carried rainbow banners and flew ballons at a rally that passed from parliament through the city centre.
Meanwhile, bishops in conservative, Catholic-majority Poland on Saturday denounced Swedish furniture giant Ikea for what they called "LGBT indoctrination" after an employee was sacked for refusing to take down a homophobic comment he had posted on the firm's internal website.
The bishops congratulated the man -- who had quoted passages from the Old Testament in the post -- on his "courage" in defending his faith in everyday life in an "exemplary" way.
The trade deal to be signed at the African Union Summit in Niger took years to negotiate
The agreement comes after 17 years of tough negotiations, and was formalised at the end of April when the agreement had crossed the launch threshold, which required ratification by at least 22 countries.
Nigeria, Africa's most populous country and largest economy, announced this week it would after all join the pact in Niamey, having unexpectedly pulled back from the agreement last year.
Nigeria's chief trade negotiator, Ambassador Chiedu Osakwe, said President Muhammadu Buhari would sign the landmark agreement, "opening Africa up to abundant opportunities.
"We weren't dragged into this, we are a leading advocate," Osakwe told AFP. "But it is about assessing how to make it work for Nigeria and indeed the continent."
State trade ministers agreed the zone should be operational from July 2020, AU Trade and Industry Commissioner Albert Muchanga told AFP, as countries needed time to adapt to the agreed changes.
An official start date will be agreed by heads of state Sunday -- with only Benin and Eritrea still to sign the agreement.
There are still key issues that need to be ironed out however, such as setting common criteria to determine rules of origin for traded products.
Amaka Anku, Africa analyst at Eurasia group, described the deal as a positive step but said the AfCFTA was still "a long way from taking off".
The AU estimates that implementing the AfCFTA will lead to a 60-percent boost in intra-African trade by 2022.
At the moment, African countries trade only about 16 percent of their goods and services among one another, compared to 65 percent with European countries.
- High security -
Also on the summit agenda is security -- an issue afflicting the Sahel in particular.
Summit host Niger has faced constant attacks by jihadist groups.
Its fellow members in the G5-Sahel security pact -- Chad, Mali, Burkina Faso and Mauritania -- will seek backing at the AU summit to push for a greater UN security force to address the terror threat.
The countries hope to activate Chapter VII of the UN Charter, a Nigerien security source told AFP. The chapter allows for the UN Security Council to determine a threat to peace and propose measures, including military deployment, to deal with it.
"No prosperity, no integration is possible without peace," said Faki, who stressed the importance of an AU Peace Fund launched in 2018 to finance security activities and called on member states to fulfil their financial promises.
So far, only $116 million has been received for the envisaged $400-million fund.
Niamey is under high surveillance, with summit facilities subjected to strict access controls and a heavy security presence.
"We have a special unit of several thousand men" on duty, said Defence Minister Mohamed Bazoum.
The city has been revamped and boasts a brand-new airport, upgraded roads, and new hotels for the occasion.
- Migration crisis -
The leaders will also discuss boosting intelligence cooperation and the global migration crisis.
An airstrike Tuesday on a migrant detention centre near the Libyan capital, Tripoli, killed 53 and injured more than 130.
The AU's Peace and Security Council on Friday condemned what it called a "savage attack", calling for an independent inquiry into the incident.
AU member states needed to quickly repatriate their nationals from Libya "in order to prevent any further exploitation of their fragile situation," they said in a statement., amid growing fears of fresh repression with the rise of the far-right in Europe.
The marchers converged on the Spanish capital's main Atocha train station for the start of the festivities. The 400,000 figure was later given by police.
The slogan for this year's march was "History, struggle and memory" and participants marked 50 years since the Stonewall riots in New York in 1969 which were the foundation of the gay rights movement worldwide.
Catholic Spain at the time was controlled by dictator General Francisco Franco and homosexual acts were illegal. Thousands of gay people were shipped off to rehabilitation centres or even jailed.
Homosexuality was decriminalised in 1978, three year's after Franco's death, since when Spain has become one of the most LGBT-tolerant countries in the world, authorising gay marriage and adoptions by gay couples in 2005.
"I'm 53 years old and I have suffered," said Manuel Carmona, carrying a large rainbow flag for Saturday's march.
"But those who are 63-years-old suffered more and those who are 73-years-old even more and I want us to recognise these people who have helped us," added Carmona, who has been attending the pride march for 30 years.
- Resurgent homophobia -
Madrid's city hall swung to the right in June after a conservative candidate was elected mayor with the support of newly-emerged far-right party Vox, in a move that has caused concern in Spain.
Vox has said that the Madrid Gay Pride Parade should be moved to a park in the suburbs and opposes public subsidies for the event.
"They do not want to understand that when we talk about LGBT rights, we are talking about human rights," said Spanish Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska, who is himself gay and took part in the march.
Activists say organised opposition against LGBT rights is growing across the continent, with populist politicians in Poland, Hungary and other European countries presenting gay rights as a threat to family values.
Resurgent homophobia made the headlines in Britain recently after a lesbian couple became the high-profile victims of a homophobic attack after refusing to kiss for a gang of youths on a London night bus.
The couple joined the annual Pride march through the heart of the British capital Saturday, which organisers said drew hundreds of thousands.
In the Hungarian capital Budapest, marchers carried rainbow banners and flew ballons at a rally that passed from parliament through the city centre.
Meanwhile, bishops in conservative, Catholic-majority Poland on Saturday denounced Swedish furniture giant Ikea for what they called "LGBT indoctrination" after an employee was sacked for refusing to take down a homophobic comment he had posted on the firm's internal website.
The bishops congratulated the man -- who had quoted passages from the Old Testament in the post -- on his "courage" in defending his faith in everyday life in an "exemplary" way.
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