Transparency International urges African leaders to sign and ratify AU and UN Anti-Corruption Conventions

Curbing corruption is a necessary step towards realising the AU summit goals of peace and development.

As African heads of state and government meet in Addis Ababa this week for the third annual summit of the African Union (AU), Transparency International (TI), the leading international non-governmental organisation dedicated to fighting corruption worldwide, calls on African leaders to sign, ratify and begin putting in place structures that would allow for effective implementation of the African Union Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption and the United Nations Convention against Corruption.

"Good governance is at the heart of the fight against poverty and economic underdevelopment," said TI's chairman Peter Eigen. "By tackling corruption, you strike at a root cause of war, human rights abuse and poverty." He added: "The recent commitment made by Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo through the G8/Nigeria Partnership to continue to implement a comprehensive national anti-corruption strategy is commendable. We hope that President Obasanjo's tenure as AU chairman will be marked by the same anti-corruption zeal."

"We urge governments to back up their words with action and ratify the AU Anti-Corruption Convention," said Muzong Kodi, TI Director for Africa and the Middle East, speaking from Addis Ababa today where he was participating at the summit. He continued: "By adopting the AU Convention, African leaders clearly demonstrated their commitment to the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD). But without the instruments being ratified and implemented, this commitment will come to nothing. That is why we are urging African leaders to take advantage of the window of opportunity created by this summit and live up to their commitments."

The AU Convention was adopted in July 2003 and the UN Convention in December 2003. The backing of these instruments by African leaders is a strong signal of their recognition of the harmful effects corruption has on national economies. This support is even more significant against the backdrop of the bold decision by African leaders to adopt and initiate a peer review mechanism as part of the monitoring process of NEPAD.

An overwhelming majority of AU member states have yet to sign or ratify the UN and AU Conventions, even though the implementation of these instruments at the national level is a key governance indicator evaluated in the NEPAD peer review mechanism.

At the time of writing, only 30 countries (Algeria, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cote d'Ivoire, Comoros, Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Gabon, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Mali, Madagascar, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, and Zimbabwe) had signed the AU Convention, and three (Comoros, Libya and Rwanda) had ratified it. The convention requires 15 ratifications for its entry into force.

Note to editors:For more on the African Union Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption and the UN Convention against Corruption, see TI's Global Corruption Report 2004 at
http://www.transparency.org/publications/gcr

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