. Zuma

By KAIKO NAMUSA –
AFRICAN Union (AU) Commission chairperson Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma has urged AU member states to play the Union’s anthem along with national tunes at all official functions.
Dr Zuma said singing of the AU anthem at all official functions is one way of popularising the AU as well as promoting Africa’s integration.
She was speaking during the ongoing two-day Retreat for AU and Permanent Representatives in Hawassa, Ethiopia.
This is according to a statement issued yesterday by First Secretary for Press and Tourism at the Zambian Embassy in Ethiopia, Dorcas Chileshe.
Dr Zuma said that many people in Africa did not know the AU anthem yet it should be known by all the people in the AU member states.
She commended Namibia as the only country in Africa that led by example by playing the AU Anthem along with the Namibian national Anthem at all official functions.
She reiterated the need for all AU members to start playing the AU anthem so that people all over the continent including children could know their continental Anthem.
Meanwhile, Zambia’s Permanent Representative to the AU Susan Sikaneta yesterday appealed to the AU to appoint more women to high level assignments such as mediating and election monitoring.
Ms Sikaneta, who is also Zambia’s Ambassador to Ethiopia, said that Africa had a lot of educated and intelligent women capable of serving as mediators on AU Peace Panels but that most of the panels were dominated by males.
She said the AU as a continental body should lead by example in promoting gender equality.
Ms Sikaneta said Zambia was one of the few countries where President Michael Sata had appointed women to positions of authority.
She also cited other countries such as South Africa, Rwanda, Uganda, Cote d’Ivoire and Nigeria but added that if AU led by example, its member countries would begin to appoint more women to decision-making positions.
The two-day retreat taking place at Haile Resort in Hawassa Town, about 300kilometres south of Addis-Ababa had brought together more than 200 AU Commission staff and Permanent Representatives accredited to the AU to discuss ways of improving service delivery in the continental body.