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The African Union met between the 25th of January till the 2nd of February for their 14TH ORDINARY SESSION OF THE ASSEMBLY OF THE AFRICAN UNION ADDIS ABABA: ETHIOPIA.

The Theme for the meeting was “Information and Communication Technologies in Africa: Prospects and Challenges for Development”. African Rights Monitor-ARM commends the AU for choosing a very important topic that is much needed in the continent to be competitive in this advanced technological world. However, ARM must appeal to the AU to do more than just meet and express their intentions but act.

One of the areas that AU can achieve their goals is to promote the freedom of the press and expression. The world was only able to see how many undemocratic governments were treating their own citizens by the video blogs, Facebook and Twitter entries that were available in websites. The AU must allow the freedom expression and promote development in infrastructure, education and workforce to achieve and be a competitive member in this world.
None of these can be achieved without constant peace and security and this is an area that the AU countries must act NOW. There are many African Nations that detain their journalists, citizens, workforce if they show the slightest disagreement with the leaders or one ethnic group is targeted. One example is the country that is hosting the AU: Ethiopia. Ethiopia has a long history of violating human rights and not allowing freedom for the press or expression. Ethiopia has consistently and deliberately targeted different ethnic groups and followed the handbook of Mangistu in recruiting militias, aid workers
and blocked certain territories from the world to enter due to the constant violations and genocidal acts that are being committed.

ARM is urging the AU and the world to act and protect the innocent civilians that are chess pawns in political wars that they have no control or say.

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African Rights Monitor-ARM: www.africanrightsmonitor.org
Contact: Huda Yusuf
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