2006 in Africa



Incumbents

International organizations

[African Union] (AU)

[Economic Community of West African States] (ECOWAS)

  • The Ordinary Summit of ECOWAS was held in Niamey on 13 January 2006 with the Heads of State of Niger, Mali, Togo, Guinea-Bissau and Nigeria. The 10 other member countries were represented by their Foreign Ministers. The ECOWAS asked the G8 to extend the cancellation of debt to the whole of the Member States of the organization. It re-elected its chair Tandja Mamadou and decided to transform the secretariat into a commission with a President, a vice-president and 7 Commissioners. ECOWAS is pleased with the nomination by consensus of a Prime Minister and the composition of a government of national unity in Côte d’Ivoire, as well as the presidential elections being held in Liberia and in Guinea-Bissau. On the economic level, the Heads of State expressed their support for a plan to create a regional airline company "to overcome the difficulties in air transport" in the subregion.
  • During the summit in Abuja on 14 June 2006, the Heads of States of ECOWAS approved a modification of the organization's hierarchy. The secretariat is to be replaced by a commission of the nine police chiefs of the member states. The 4-year term of the police chiefs from Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo will begin in January 2007. Ghana will head the commission, while Burkina Faso will take the vice-presidency. ECOWAS also adopted a convention which aims "to prohibit the sale of light weapons within the community and between member states, except for the legitimate defense needs of these states or for their participation in peacekeeping operations".
  • The joint summit of ECOWAS and UEMOA planned for December 22 and December 23, 2006, was cancelled following confrontations between soldiers and police officers in Ouagadougou on December 20.

[Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa] (CEMAC)

  • The 7th Summit of CEMAC was held in Libreville on March 16, 2006. The heads of state of the organization decided to form a strategic international committee to discuss and plan the proposed restructuring of the CEMAC's institutions. They were also concerned with the renewed spread of avian influenza brought up by Cameroon and gave its support to Chadian president Idriss Déby Itno in his opposition of Sudanese actions. Idriss Déby holds the chair of CEMAC.

[West African Economic and Monetary Union] (UEMOA)

Other organizations

Elections">Elections in Africa">Elections

Conflict and civil war

[Darfur conflict]

President of Sudan Omar al-Bashir refuses the deployment of 20,000 Blue Helmets in a United Nations peacekeeping force in Darfur in accordance with United Nations Security Council Resolution 1706 adopted on September 1.

Education">Education in Africa">Education

[Sports]

Athletics">sport of athletics">Athletics

  • Cameroon: eleventh edition of the "Race of Hope for Africa". This competition, organized by the Cameroon Athletics Federation joined a thousand athletes on a course of 42 km that included a climb of Mount Cameroon.

Cycling">Cycle sport">Cycling

[Wrestling]

  • Senegal: a "fight of the century" was organized on 1 January in Dakar between two great figures of Senegalese wrestling. Yakhya Diop, alias Tékini won from Mohamed Ndao, alias Tyson.

Culture">Culture of Africa">Culture

Film">African cinema">Film