Led by Morocco, an African Parliamentary Delegation Informs the President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Current Chairperson of the African Union, of the Imbalances within the African Parliament

President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo H.E. Félix TSHISEKEDI received, in his capacity as Chairperson of the African Union, on Thursday, August 19, 2021, in Kinshasa, a delegation representing the Speakers of the African parliaments.

This meeting falls within the framework of the follow-up and implementation of the recommendations of the consultation meeting held by the Speakers of the African Parliaments on July 08, 2021, in Rabat, under the auspices of the Moroccan Parliament. The participants in the said meeting unanimously endorsed the Final Declaration that shed light on numerous serious imbalances registered within the Pan-African Parliament since May 2021.

The Follow-up and Reconciliation Committee's delegation comprised the Speakers and representatives of the Parliaments of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Republic of the Congo, Cameroon, Mali, Gambia, Madagascar, Senegal, and Gabon. Meanwhile, Deputy Speaker Mohammed Touimi Benjelloun represented Speaker of the House of Representatives Habib El MALKI in this meeting.

On this occasion, and on behalf of the Follow-up and Reconciliation Committee, Mr. TOUIMI BENJELLOUN presented the recommendations arising from the consultation meeting held in Rabat. In this respect, he emphasized the necessity to address the underlying causes of the failure of the last Pan-African Parliament session and draw all the consequences from it, with the aim of achieving a compromise solution and, therefore, resuming all the legal activities of this continental institution. Mr. TOUIMI BENJELLOUN also expressed the common will of the Committee's members to achieve a compromise solution in a serene and cohesive atmosphere, namely by reconciling the different points of view in order to avoid estrangement and division that may affect the valuable institutional asset that the Pan-African Parliament represents for African peoples.

To that end, the Committee requested the valuable intervention and assistance of H.E. President TSHISEKEDI in order to find a viable solution to this crisis by taking joint initiatives with his counterparts and the AU bodies that he deems appropriate to achieve that purpose.

For his part, President TSHISEKEDI welcomed the Moroccan initiative and expressed profound regret at what happened during the fourth session of the AU General Assembly. He further added that "this sort of events reflect a bad image of Africa." Thereby, he urged the members of the Pan-African Parliament to overcome those events and "place Africa's best interests first."

Meanwhile, he pledged to invite the Chairperson of the AU Commission to hold a special meeting with the Bureau of the Assembly and the chairpersons of the Regional Economic Communities in order to "elaborate the guidelines" related to the Pan-African Parliament's crisis.