Sweden backing reforms in the African Union

Next month, during a summit in Addis Ababa, the African Union will again be continuing work on its reforms, and Sweden is encouraging the reform agenda.

"We feel it's important that the African Union has the capacity to really drive African ownership of issues on the African continent, which they're already doing - but they need to be capacitated to do that,"

Johannes Oljelund, the Director General for International Development Cooperation in the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs, tells Radio Sweden.

Radio Sweden speaks to Oljelund about what he means by the word ownership and why the relationship to African countries and to the AU is important to Sweden. Sweden is a donor country to the AU. Last year, the AU commission received SEK 49 million in direct support and 97 million in indirect support, for example, through the United Nations Development Programme.

Radio Sweden also speaks to Cristina Duarte, member of the African Union Reforms Advisory Committee and former finance minister of Cape Verde, about why she believes the reforms will make the AU more relevant.

Duarte describes the AU as having a complicated and inefficient structure, and as not being financially independent or self-sustaining, but she says that moves to impose a 0.2 percent levy on imports are already helping.

Brett Ascarelli
brett.ascarelli@sverigesradio.se