PM Modi calls for G-20 membership for African Union

What’s in today’s article?

• Why in news?
• What is African Union?
• News Summary: PM Modi calls for G-20 membership for African Union
• Analysis

Why in news?

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi has written to the leaders of the G-20 nations proposing that the African Union be given full membership of the grouping at its upcoming summit in India.
• India is hosting the G-20 summit in Delhi in September in its capacity as the current chair of the grouping.

What is African Union?

• About

Image caption: Members of Africa Union

• The AU is an intergovernmental organization consisting of the 55 member states that make up the countries of the African Continent. 
• Basically, it is a continental union with a wide range of goals aimed at strengthening its member states both individually and collectively.
• It was officially launched in 2002 as a successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU, 1963-1999).
• The AU’s headquarters are in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
• Purpose of AU
  • The AU is guided by its vision of “An Integrated, Prosperous and Peaceful Africa, driven by its own citizens and representing a dynamic force in the global arena.”
  • A deadline of 2063 has been set to achieve this mission, representing the centenary of the OAU’s formation. 
  • Agenda 2063’s aspirations include:
    • A prosperous Africa, based on inclusive growth and sustainable development
    • An integrated continent, politically united, based on the ideals of Pan-Africanism
    • An Africa of good governance, democracy, respect for human rights, justice and the rule of law.
    • To achieve the goals set by Agenda 2063, the AU is setting itself a series of five 10-year plans, with the first plan running from 2014 to 2023.
• Role of AU in promoting peace in the continent
  • The AU believes that conflicts must be settled before there can be a chance of achieving prosperity. To this end, it set up a Peace and Security Council in 2004.
  • The council may intervene in conflicts, replacing the principle of non-interference with one of non-indifference.
  • The council can deploy military forces in situations which include genocide and crimes against humanity. It can authorise peacekeeping missions.
  • The AU oversees the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (Nepad).
    • This is an anti-poverty blueprint which offers a bargain with the West: the promotion of good political and economic practice in return for more aid and investment.
  • The African Union has regularly suspended member-states over coups d’etat, re-admitting them when they return to constitutional rule.

News Summary: PM Modi calls for G-20 membership for African Union

• Recently, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has proposed inclusion of the African Union (AU) into the G-20 groping.
  • The G20 comprises 19 countries (Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, UK and US) and the European Union. 
  • The G20 members represent around 85% of the global GDP, over 75% of the global trade, and about two-thirds of the world population.
• The idea of including AU in G-20 originated after the ‘Voice of the Global South’ summit, in which most of the African continent’s 54 countries participated.
  • Voice of the Global South Summit was held in January 2023.
• It should be noted that any expansion of membership of the G20 grouping is based on consensus, and all G20 leaders have to come to an agreement on the issue.

Analysis

• By proposing the African Union for G20 membership, India has pitched itself as a leader of the developing and underdeveloped countries. 
• This is also in sync with India’s aspiration for permanent membership of the UNSC, for which Delhi is keen to garner support from Africa that has 54 votes.
• Also, analysts believe the inclusion of AU is a right step towards a just, fair, more inclusive and representative global architecture and governance.
  • There is only one country from the entire African continent in the grouping – South Africa. 
  • On the other hand, Europe is represented by five countries as well as the European Union (EU).

Q1) What is G-20?

The Group of Twenty (G20) is the premier forum for international economic cooperation. It plays an important role in shaping and strengthening global architecture and governance on all major international economic issues. India holds the Presidency of the G20 from 1 December 2022 to 30 November 2023.

Q2) What is Organisation of African Unity (OAU)?

The Organization of African Unity (OAU) was postcolonial Africa’s first continent-wide association of independent states. Founded by thirty-two countries on May 25, 1963, and based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, it became operational on September 13, 1963, when the OAU Charter, its basic constitutional document, entered into force. The OAU’s membership eventually encompassed all of Africa’s fifty-three states, with the exception of Morocco, which withdrew in 1984 to protest the admission of the Saharan Arab Democratic Republic, or Western Sahara. The OAU was dissolved in 2002, when it was replaced by the African Union.

Source: PM writes to G20 leaders: Let African Union be a member too | World Economic Forum | African Union  | The Hindu