Events

HEAD OF ASEOWA AWARDED "DISTINGUISHED SERVICE ORDER" IN LIBERIA
AUC CHAIRPERSON PRAISES HIM FOR SELFLESS SPIRIT AND DEDICATION

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia 16 February 2015- The Head of the Africa Union Support to Ebola Outbreak in West Africa (ASEOWA) Major General Dr Julius Oketta has been awarded the Decoration of "DISTINGUISHED SERVICE ORDER" (DSO) by Liberian President Mrs Ellen Johnson Sirleaf for his “dedication to duty and outstanding services rendered to the people and government of Liberia through ASEOWA”.

The award was given to Dr Oketta on 11th February in Monrovia on the occasion of the 58th Armed Forces Day Celebration under the Theme: "Enhancing the Capability of the Armed Forces of Liberia to Conduct Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief Operations". Present at the ceremony were the Vice President, the Rt. Hon Speaker and members of the Liberian legislature, the Chief Justice, Ministers, Ambassadors and members of the Diplomatic Corps, Heads of Missions, Commanders of the US Army, General officers of the Armed Forces and citizens of Liberia.

Accepting the award and representing 2 Colonels from Ghana and Nigeria, and 3 American Generals who were also decorated at the same event, General Oketta praised the collective effort in fighting Ebola:
“Our collective actions under command and directions did matter, the collective military support to the civil authority in the on-going joint civil- military Ebola response, have bent history in the direction of African Union Solidarity and the unified collective international efforts, against the heinous attacks of Ebola virus against our people, the social fiber, the economy and the overall national security interest”.

General Oketta recognized the roles played by the African Union through ASEOWA, the Liberian people, and the United Nations: “This award belongs not just to us. We do not stand here alone”, he stressed.

He also said the recognition would bring tremendous joy and encouragement to the Liberian people, “for whom we have a special responsibility in total solidarity, to support the government’s on-going efforts to liberate the people of Liberia, the Land of Liberty, from the bondage of the Ebola Virus Disease”.

Finally General Oketta said the award reinforces the belief that, with solidarity, the world can be a better place:
“With the great honor that you give us today, on this thrilling occasion, you re-enforce our firm belief that we can create a world much better than what we have done so far. Let's believe in our solidarity, capacity building, preparedness, collective responsibility and sacrifice, and make it happen”.

General Oketta was appointed by AU Commission Chairperson Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma to head ASEOWA in September 2015. In her message of congratulations sent out on 13th February Dr Dlamini Zuma praised General Oketta’s “spirit of selflessness and the full dedication with which he leads the life-saving mission in the three countries affected by the Ebola Virus Disease”.

General Oketta has extensive experience in the coordination of military support to Ebola operations, gained from his work in his native Uganda. Working with the Commission’s Department of Social Affairs, which oversees the Commission’s Ebola response, and other departments of the AUC including the Directorate of Information and Communication, General Oketta has managed an 835 strong force of African health workers fighting to defeat Ebola in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia. ASEOWA’s presence has greatly contributed to the reduction of deaths and infections.

For more information on the AU’s response contact:
Wynne Musabayana | Deputy Head of Division | Information and Communication Directorate | African Union Commission | Tel: (251) 11 551 77 00 | Fax: (251) 11 551 78 44 | E-mail: MusabayanaW@africa-union.org | Web: www.au.int|Addis Ababa | Ethiopia
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Press Release on Working Breakfast Meeting of AUC Campaign to End Child Marriage in Africa, African First Ladies and Heads of State and Government

Africa Vows: “We must win the Battle by 2020 with Zero Cases of Early Marriage!” - His Excellency, The President of Chad, Mr. Idriss Deby Itno

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 30 January 2015: African Union Heads of State and Government and African First Ladies on the ‘AU Campaign to End Child Marriage in Africa’ gathered this morning for key breakfast meeting on accelerating efforts to end child marriage. The event, which was hosted by His Excellency, the President of Chad, Mr. Idriss Deby Itno and the First Lady of Chad, Mme Hinda Deby Itno, focused on mobilizing continental awareness of the campaign, build on recent achievement and make greater strides to prevent the harmful effects of child marriage in Africa

Child marriage is a social problem and a humanitarian problem according to His Excellency, the President of Chad, Mr. Idriss Deby Itno. He called upon all those concerned and especially the First Ladies of the AU Member States to be front runners in changing the continent and win the battle by 2020 with zero cases of early marriage. He stated that Africa should uphold positive values of traditional society and say “No!” to negative values such as child marriage, female genital mutilations and same sex marriages.

H.E. Mme Hinda Deby Itno the first lady of Chad admonished the practice stating that early child marriage caused early pregnancies which would lead to death. “Eliminating early marriages allows young girls to fully develop and contribute to the community”, she added. She urged heads of state and decision makers to spearhead a sensitization campaign at both national and family level to end the practice.
H.E. Mr. Hailemariam Dessalegn, Prime Minister of the Federal Republic of Ethiopia outlined the steps that the country had undertaken to end child marriages. He noted that Ethiopia is the first country to launch the campaign to End Child Marriage at a national level followed by Niger. He underscored that the campaign requires strong political will, needs to start at the political level and called for strong political will and commitment.

H.E. Dr. Mustapha Sidiki Kaloko in his opening speech said: “the campaign is set to face challenges as entrenched traditional practices and ideas embedded in the mindset of a people are hard to decay or be extracted easily. But our focus on the prospects- the prospects of a better and brighter future for the girl child, is more convincing and a greater weapon than the challenges of pulling us back into the abyss of an age old and nefarious tradition that has no future for the girl child.”

H.E. Dr. Kaloko’s speech heralded hope that the challenges should not hold the continent back, he noted: “It is our hope that countries where the practice is prevalent, would view the campaign as an opportunity to harmonize their national laws in line with regional, continental and international instruments on the rights of the child. Moreover, we hope that member states will seize the opportunity to ensure the enactment of laws against the practice as well as step up measures to punish perpetrators who find pleasure in destroying the innocence and the future of the girl child.”
Real life testimonies of victims of early child marriage were heard during the event.

About AU Campaign To End Child Marriage in Africa:
The historic Campaign to End Child Marriage in Africa was launched on 29 May, 2014 during the 4th AU Conference of Ministers of Social Development. The main aim of the Campaign is to accelerate and invigorate the movement to end child marriage by:
a. Supporting national policy actions in the protection and promotion of human rights, especially with a view to addressing violence against girls and women and promoting gender equitable social norms;
b. Mobilizing continental awareness of and engagement to end child marriage,
c. Supporting the removal barriers and bottlenecks to law enforcement to prosecute perpetrators of child marriage,
d. Increasing the capacity of non-state actors to undertake evidence based policy advocacy and enhancing the participation of young people through new media technologies, monitoring and evaluation among others

Press Release Nº11/24th AU SUMMIT

AU to launch Foundation, and introduce Ebola Solidarity Fund

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 27 January 2015: The African Union (AU) will officially launch its foundation, the African Union Foundation on Friday, 30 January 2015 during the 24th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government.

The AU Foundation is being launched a year and half following a decision taken by the Heads of State in May 2013 to enable voluntary contributions towards the financing of priority areas of the African Union.

The launch will be taking place in the form of a roundtable discussion, attended by Heads of States and Foundation council members, who will be officially introduced.

Ahead of the launch, the Chairperson of the African Union Commission H.E. Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma said, “it is time for Africa to mobilize its own resources in support of its development and take charge of its own destiny.”

The mission of the AU Foundation is to “mobilize resources in support of the African Union’s vision of an integrated, people-centered and prosperous Africa, at peace with itself and taking its rightful place in the world.” To accomplish this mission, the Foundation will focus on five key programme areas in its first five years:

1) Skills and human resource development,
2) Women’s empowerment and gender equality,
3) Regional integration,
4) Youth development and entrepreneurship, and
5) Advocacy and support for the African Union.

The Foundation will strive to engage Africa’s private sector, African citizens, communities, and leading African philanthropists to generate resources and provide valuable insight on ways in which their success can accelerate Africa’s development. The issue of domestic and alternative sources of funding has been an intrinsic element of the continent’s commitments of the Pan African values of self-determination, solidarity and self-reliance.

Alongside the launch of the AU Foundation, the Africa Against Ebola Solidarity Fund will be introduced after its inception at the AU-Private Sector Business Roundtable held on 8 November 2014.

For further information contact

Directorate of Information and Communication | African Union Commission I E-mail: dic@african-union.org I Web Site: www.au.int I Addis Ababa | Ethiopia
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Press Release Nº005/2015

AFRICAN UNION AND KENYA SENDING 170 HEALTH WORKERS TO EBOLA AFFECTED COUNTRIES

Nairobi, Kenya 8 January 2015- The general consensus among African leaders who addressed the official opening of the pre deployment training of 170 Kenyan health workers today, is that through solidarity, the continent will defeat the Ebola virus disease, that has so far claimed thousands of lives, mainly in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. The Kenyan contingent will be departing for the affected countries tomorrow, 9th January 2015.

The pre deployment and training workshop, held in the Kenyan capital cautiously welcomed the signs of decline in the rate of new infections in Liberia and expressed concern over the situation in Sierra Leone, which is now the most heavily affected. Calls were made for concerted efforts to rebuild health systems in Africa so that countries can cope with similar outbreaks in future. There was also a call to avoid complacency in the recovery period, which could see the infection rates going up again.

Speakers at the ceremony included Amb. Amina Mohamed, Kenyan Cabinet Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade; Mr. James Macharia, Cabinet Secretary, Ministry of Health; Amb Olawale Maiyegun, Director Social Affairs, African Union Commission; Dr De Kock of the American Center for Diseases Control and Prevention, and Dr. Khadijah Kassachoon, Principal Secretary in the Kenyan Ministry of Health.

The current Ebola virus disease outbreak, which first manifest in December 2013, is still killing people particularly in the three worst affected countries. The danger posed by the disease prompted the African Union to intervene by sending skilled human resources to treat victims as well as to carry out other associated tasks such as contact tracing, burials, decontamination, surveillance, social mobilization, community health education and psycho social support. 86 Africans joined the effort as individual volunteers between September and October 2014. They were followed by 197 Nigerians, 187 Ethiopians and 82 Congolese (DRC) in December. The 170 Kenyans now under training will greatly add momentum to an African Union and international effort that is starting to show positive result. Another 115 health experts from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) have joined the African Union Support to Ebola Outbreak in West Africa (ASEOWA).

“We took the fight against Ebola to the frontline because we needed to fight it where it is. New infections are flattening out and we should soon start seeing a significant decline. We very much appreciate the solidarity shown by Africa in this fight” said Dr Maiyegun of the African Union’s Department of Social Affairs, who spoke on behalf of the Commission’s Chairperson Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma and its Deputy Chairperson Mr. Erastus Mwencha.

“The crisis happened in countries that were coming out of conflict and their health systems could not cope. Kenya pledged $1million to the fight against Ebola. Today we are sending 170 Kenyans to the Ebola frontline. As Africa, we are always stronger when we work together”, said Ambassador Amina Mohammed.

Dr James Macharia called the health workers heroes and offered further information on the severity of the current outbreak. “This outbreak has surpassed all other previous outbreaks put together 8 times over. The African Union has shown serious commitment and we appreciate this”, he told the health workers.

Tomorrow, 9th January, the Kenyan health workers will depart Nairobi for the affected countries after a short farewell session with national president Mr Uhuru Kenyatta. The African Union Commission’s Deputy Chairperson Mr. Erastus Mwencha will be present to witness the event as well as to sign the memorandum of understanding between the Kenyan government and the African Union.

You can support the African Union Support mission to Ebola to Outbreak in West Africa (ASEOWA) on www.AfricaAgainstEbola.org or donate through sms on the short codes available in participating countries. Tweet and retweet: #AUonEbola. More information on ASEOWA is available on http://aseowa.au.int.

For more information on the AU response to the Ebola crisis and interview requests contact:
Wynne Musabayana | Deputy Head of Division | Information and Communication Directorate | African Union Commission | Tel: (251) 11 551 77 00 | Fax: (251) 11 551 78 44 | E-mail: MusabayanaW@africa-union.org | Web: www.au.int|Addis Ababa | Ethiopia

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