African Union Focuses on Shared Values Essential to Continental Unity

DAKAR, Sénégal, November 28, 2012/African Press Organization (APO)/ -- Citing its commitment to a more integrated, peaceful and prosperous Africa, the African Union today announced a renewed focus on African Shared Values that can help the continent progress and prosper.

“Shared Values are an important part of African governance, the progression of democracy and of basic life in cities, compounds, villages and families across the continent,” said H.E. Aisha Abdullahi, commissioner of political affairs for the African Union Commission. “As a people, most Africans live by a strong set of values that guide our governments and our everyday lives. We at the African Union are eager to hear from the public at large – by engaging them in public discourse about Shared Values.”

Abdullahi notes that the AU expects the public will have good suggestions on how the organisation and its Member States can better incorporate Shared Values into its daily operations. “We need to hear and understand what is important to African citizens in order to successfully bring about continental integration,” she adds.

The AU kicks off a continent-wide series of African Shared Values Conversations, beginning this week with the first Conversation in Dakar, Senegal. The Dakar African Shared Values Conversation will be taped on 30 November for rebroadcast by Groupe Futurs Medias on its Dakar radio and television stations on Sunday, 2 December. Local radio broadcasts will be on FM 94.0 in Dakar and on TFM television.

This Dakar African Shared Values Conversation will build upon the issues identified during a three-day High-Level Consultation on Governance and Democracy in Africa held today through Friday at Dakar's King Fahd Palace Hotel. Attending this consultation are heads of state, leaders of civil society organizations, academics and appointed and elected officials from many African countries including Senegal, Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, Ethiopia and South Africa, to name a few.

Citizens interested in listening to the Shared Values Conversation can check local media listings for air times and by visiting the following:

African Shared Values website: www.africansharedvalues.org

African Union website: www.au.int

In Dakar, FM 94.0 and TFM television

Or by listening online: tunein.com/radio/Radio-Futurs-Medias-940-s54600

Dr. Abdullahi explains the importance of Shared Values to governance and democracy by noting that “the Member States of the African Union declared 2012 the year of Shared Values. In order to bring the vision of a better integrated and more unified Africa to fruition, we are encouraging every African – whether living here on the continent or elsewhere in the Diaspora -- to help us with his or her ideas, energy and support.”

“During this year of Shared Values,” she added, “We are encouraging Member States to sponsor national policy dialogues and community- level discussions about the shared values essential to Africa's future as an economically, politically and socially stable continent. This will help us gather input from people across the continent – from primary and adolescent schoolchildren to rural farmers, unemployed youth, academics and executives of multinational corporations. We ask all interested Africans to join us in this important effort.”

Leadership of the AU's Department of Political Affairs anticipates that the recommendations from this week's Consultation will help further shape the activities of the Year of Shared Values as well as the work of the African Governance Platform in evaluating implementation of the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance.

Please visit African Shared Values on Facebook and Twitter:

www.Facebook.com/africansharedvalues

www.twitter.com/ausharedvalues