AU Leaders Launch e-Passport; Aims At Borderless Africa

Borderless Africa Possible as AU Leaders Launch e-Passport
Borderless Africa Possible as AU Leaders Launch e-Passport

Borderless Africa Possible as AU Leaders Launch e-Passport

The dream of a borderless Africa moved one step towards realisation as African Union leaders in Rwanda on Sunday, launched the new AU e-Passport.

The passport, which is intended to guarantee closer integration and visa-free passage across the 54 member countries, was launched at the 27th AU summit in Kigali.

African leaders on Sunday gathered at Rwanda’s capital Kigali for their biannual meet with the launch of the continent’s first-ever African e-passport.

The Chairperson of the African Union Commission (AUC) Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma announced the launch and presented the first two e-passports to rotating AU chairperson Idriss Deby, President of the Republic of Chad, and President of Rwanda Paul Kagame at the opening ceremony of the 27th ordinary session of the AU Heads of States.

According to AU, the first group of beneficiaries of the e-passport will include AU heads of state and government; ministers of foreign affairs; and permanent representatives of AU member states based at the AU Headquarters in Addis Ababa.

“We are agreed to create conditions in the member states to issue the passports to their citizens within their national policies as in when they are ready,” said Dlamini-Zuma.

More passports will be given to heads of states and governments during the two-day summit, she said.

AU members agreed the idea of a pan-African passport in 2014, as part of the plan to realize the goal of free movement of people within the continent.

The two-day summit is themed; “2016: African Year of Human Rights, with particular focus on the Rights of Women”, but African leaders are largely expected to discuss a wide range of topics particularly peace and security, in the wake of a deadly violence that erupted in South Sudan between forces loyal to two rivaling political camps.

A new AU commission will also be elected to replace the one led by Dlamini-Zuma since 2012.

AU Passport 2

The passport will first be issued to African heads of state and senior officials. It is planned to be issued to other citizens in 2018.
On Sunday, the first copies of the passport were issued to President Paul Kagame of Rwanda and Idriss Deby of Chad.
“This flagship project has the specific aim of facilitating free movement of persons, goods and services around the continent – in order to foster intra-Africa trade, integration and socio-economic development,” the AU said in a statement earlier this month.

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