Yesterday, at the African Union headquarters in Addis Ababa, African Heads of State and Uganda’s No.2 Maj. Jessica Alupo revealed a special monument of former Tanzanian president Mwalimu Julius Nyerere.
The statue was erected at the Julius Nyerere Peace and Security Building.
Elias Magosi, the Executive Secretary of the economic bloc SADC, stated that the monument was constructed to honour Nyerere, who played a significant role as one of the icons and founders of SADC and the African Union.
Magosi emphasized that Nyerere advocated for peace, security, and stability to foster development.
“Nyerere fought for freedom, unity and development. He was indeed a freedom fighter, peace builder, tireless mediator and beacon of leadership. This monument is therefore a notable and commendable gesture to keep alive the work of a (true) statesman” he told the presidents including Tanzanian president Samia Suluhu who stood alongside Uganda’s Vice President Maj. Jessica Alupo.
Workholic Alupo who is also Katakwi district woman MP, on Friday arrived in Addis Ababa to represent her boss Gen. Yoweri Museveni and she led Uganda’s delegation which included minister for foreign affairs Gen. Jeje Odongo and Uganda’s Permanent Representative to the AU also ambassador to Addis Ababa Rebecca Amuge Otengo.
Magosi said that Nyerere committed much of his country’s modest resources to support African freedom fighters to fight the tyranny of dictators like Idi Amin and also those who wanted to attain independence.
The African Heads of State have; since last week from February 14-18, been in Addis Ababa for the 37th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the Heads of State and Government of the African Union.
The Summit was held under the theme: ‘Educate an African fit for the 21st Century: Building resilient education systems for increased access to inclusive, lifelong, quality, and relevant learning in Africa’.
Several meetings including the 44th Ordinary Session of the Executive Council (Ministerial Session), and the 37th Ordinary Session of the AU Assembly (Heads of State and Government Session) were held. Before the official opening of the 37th Heads of State Summit, H.E Alupo together with African heads of state also held a Mini-Summit on the peace and security situation in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo with a view of finding a lasting solution to bring about stability in the region.
This region is home to various groups of negative forces fighting both DR Congo and the Ugandan government and has caused a lot of havoc including the killing of civilians, displacement of wanainchi and plunder of resources.
Meanwhile, VP Alupo in her closing remarks at the AU Summit, welcomed an offer by Algeria to host the next Ministerial meeting of the Committee of Ten (C10).
The C10 Africa Ministers of Finance and Central Bank governors were created during a meeting of ministers of finance and governors in Tunis in November 2008. This meeting which was sponsored by AfDB, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) and the AU Commission, was convened to assess the potential impacts of the then looming global financial and economic crisis on Africa and also to deliberate on the effective responses.
The C10 comprises eight countries and two institutions including Algeria, Tanzania, Kenya, Botswana, South Africa, Nigeria, Cameroon and Egypt. The two institutions include the Central Bank of West African States and Central African States.
“I welcome Algeria’s offer to host the next Ministerial meeting of the C10” H.E Alupo told the AU Summit.
Hereto attached are the videos!
