Panafrican News Agency

Dlamini Zuma due in Bamako for meeting on Mali

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (PANA) – African Union Commission (AUC) Chairperson, Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, is due in Bamako where she will chair the sixth meeting of the International Support and Follow-Up Group on the situation in Mali on Saturday.

The AU High Representative for Mali and the Sahel, former Burundi President Pierre Buyoya, African Academy of Languages (ACALAN) Executive Secretary Sozinho Francisco Matsihne, senior officials from ECOWAS, the UN and the European Union (EU) are also expected to take part in the meeting.

According to the AUC, the meeting will discuss progress and challenges with regard to security, governance, humanitarian and the overall development situation in Mali and the Sahel region.

It will also work out further roles the AU and other international institutions can play in a renewed focus on development and human security in the region in view of consolidating the progress made and overcoming the challenges that remain.

From 4-8 November, 2013, Dr. Dlamini Zuma will embark on a joint tour of the Sahel with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, the World Bank President Jim Yong Kim, and the African Development Bank (AfDB) President, Dr. Donald Kaberuka.

The tour will take them around Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and Chad.

“The tour is undertaken in the context of the OAU/AU 50th anniversary year-long activities, whose theme this month is Democracy and Governance,” the Commission said.
-0- PANA AR/VAO 1Nov2013