Culled from Clari World NG
*****************

DAKAR, July 12 (AFP) - A summit of African leaders to discuss
the financing of the African Initiative, a major development plan
for the continent, will be held here in November, Senegalese
President Abdoulaye Wade said late Wednesday.
International lenders will join the African heads of state and
government at the November 15-17 summit, Wade told reporters in a
statement.
"We have the support of the international community," he said as
he returned to Dakar from the final summit of the Organization of
African Unity (OAU) in Lusaka where the plan was approved.
The African Initiative is a merger of the Millennium African
Recovery Plan devised by South African President Thabo Mbeki and the
Omega plan, drawn up by Wade.
Its implementation is to be handled by a committee comprising
the heads of state of Egypt, Algeria and Nigeria as well as Mbeki
and Wade.
The Senegalese leader said the African Initiative would begin
bearing fruit in the first half of next year.
The African Initiative will be the cornerstone of the new
African Union, which is to replace the 38-year-old OAU in the coming
year with institutions including a central bank, court of justice
and parliament.

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