The Socialist International Africa Committee held a meeting on 25 and 26 July in Dakar, hosted by the Socialist Party of Senegal, PS, whose First Secretary, Ousmane Tanor Dieng, chairs the Committee. It was addressed by the Prime Minister of Senegal, Habib Thiam. SI President Pierre Mauroy and a number of party leaders from the region, including the Prime Minister of Mali, participated in the meeting. The Committee discussed 'the Democratic and Humanitarian Challenges Facing Africa - the Social Democratic Response', as well as reviewing a number of recent and forthcoming electoral processes in Africa, and continuing its ongoing discussion on sustainable economic development, with a particular view to the next meeting of the SI Committee on Economic Policy, Development and the Environment, which will examine the African economic situation. The Committee also adopted the report of the Joint Working Group set up by the parliamentary group of the PES and the African and Caribbean members of the SI.
After a wide-ranging debate which included reports from the delegates of a number of countries where the situation gives rise to particular concern, the Committee issued a declaration reflecting the outcome of its discussions.
Initiatives agreed by the Committee included missions to Equatorial Guinea, Niger, Togo and Kenya, and to Cameroon at the time of the forthcoming elections. The visit of an SI delegation to the Great Lakes region at an opportune time also remains a priority. The Committee also considered the activities of the working groups it has established on cooperation between parliamentarians and on political training.