AU urges Africa countries to scrap visas for other Africans
The African Union Commissioner for Social Affairs Dr Mustapha Sidiki Kaloko has urged African countries to ease their visa polices to stem migration from Africa to places like Europe by stimulating national and regional economic prospects in Africa.
The commissioner specifically praised Rwanda as well as the island nations of Mauritius and Seychelles for allowing visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to their countries for anyone carrying the passport of an African country.
“Easier movement of people across borders like what we see generally in West Africa won’t stop migration to richer nations, but the economic benefits will lessen the impact,” said Kaloko at a media briefing on the margins of the AU summit in Addis Ababa.
He added that there was no reason why a person with a United Kingdom or US passport could travel from Cairo to Cape Town largely unimpeded, while those with African passports encountered obstacles.
He particularly praised the west African nations which were impacted by the Ebola crisis in 2014 and 2015 and which, despite initially closing borders and cancelling flights, eventually opened their borders and came together to combat the pandemic.
Kaloko added however that the fight against Ebola should not be considered over. The African Union had already put in place medium to long term plans to deal with future Ebola outbreaks or other similar health crises.
One such proposal is the slightly-delayed plan for the establishment of the African Centre for Disease Control (ACDC) to be headquartered at the AU, with four regional collaboration centres to be established also.
The AU had planned to open the ACDC by August of last year, but a proposed meeting of health ministers that was to deliberate on the matter didn’t happen until November.
According to Kaloko an important meeting will be held in March this year to thrash out plans for a governing body of 10 ministers, two from each of Africa’s five regions, to pave the way for the inauguration of the ACDC.
“We want to build the confidence of our people in our ability to tackle pressing issues like health crises, and to this end the AU is collaborating with the US and China equivalents of the CDC, while also eyeing plans for similar ventures with the Europeans, ” he said.
Comments
Press Office
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation