African Union
African Union
Dear Delegates,
Hello! My name is Jovana (pronounced as “Yóvana”) Šljivančanin. I am a senior at Harvard College, concentrating in Applied Math to Economics, with a secondary field in Spanish language and literature. During my lifetime, I have been a citizen of four different countries, without ever changing my hometown: I was born in what was once called The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, then lived through the lifetimes of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and Serbia and Montenegro, and since May 2006 I have been a national of Montenegro. I have also spent two years living and schooling in the UK, and for just over the last three years I have been living in the Cambridge, USA. My favorite activity by far is travelling – I use all the opportunities out there to explore different regions and experience different cultures. When combined with my many friendships with people from all around the world, and my genuine interest in the events affecting their countries, the foundations of my enthusiastic participation in model UN become quite obvious.
Even though it was only last year when I first got involved with the HNMUN, my wonderful experience turned my initial curiosity into a great passion for this organization. I am very excited about directing the committee on the African Union at this year’s conference, as I find that many of its pressing problems have been recurring, and should be addressed with great attention and urgency. Inspired by some of the recent conflicts and unrests, I have chosen to focus on the interaction of politics and religion in AU, and the management of Africa’s natural resources. I hope that you too will share my enthusiasm when preparing these topics for the conference, and I really look forward to having a great discussion in February!
Sincerely,
Jovana Šljivančanin
Director, African Union
Harvard National Model United Nations 2011
Topic Area A: Religion in African Politics
Religion has always been an important factor in African politics. Throughout history, many of the Kings and chiefs have traditionally ruled by divine will and right. More recently, religious identity has perpetually affected key political decisions within African republics, such as: electing country officials and governing bodies, encouraging democracy, and maintaining peace and stability within the nations. Moreover, in the republics where Christianity and Islam are both largely represented, much civil unrests has erupted and genocides have occurred from trying to attach a religious tag to fighting for political power. In Nigeria, themost recent of the recurring violent religious clashes in the city of Jos erupted after Nigeria’s Christian vice-president, Goodluck Jonathan, took the place of the Muslim president-elect, Umaru Yar’auda (due to Yar’auda’s illness). Additionally, the unrests and enforced censorship during Sudanese first multiparty presidential elections in more than 20 years are also strongly correlated with religion.
The issues of preserving countries’ peace and stability, as well as protecting human rights and ensuring transparency are of great concern to the African community, and to the world community in general. The African Union will not only need to find a way of efficiently resolving these problems on case-by-case basis, but also needs to identify their causal circumstances and come up with a set of actions or regulations that would prevent such issues from arising in the future, or tackle them more efficiently may they still happen.
Topic Area B: Managing Natural Resources
Management of natural resources in Africa the way it is today could be called anything but efficient. This inflicts a range of highly negative socio-economic consequences for the countries that own highly demanded resources, such as diamonds (Liberia, The Republic of Congo, Sierra Leone) and oil (Sudan, Nigeria, Angola). Lack of transparency and corruption within resource management inevitably contributes to uneven income distribution and slower economic growth, due to poor revenue allocation. Additionally, the ambition to satisfy the demand at all costs can lead to severe violations of human rights, such as in the case of Angola, where rape and torture of oil workers has been reported.
Moreover, severe conflicts and political unrests have been caused by, or encouraged through, the fight for natural resource management, or their illegal distribution. Examples include the trade of Sierra Leone’s “blood diamonds” for weapons during its civil war (1991-2002), the Darfur conflict and its correlation with the rich Sudanese oil resources, and the conflicts over who gets to be in charge of exploiting the oil in the Niger delta. Efficient management of natural resources, as well as resolution of conflicts related to it, are essential for maintaining regional stability on the African continent, as well as for the development and prosperity of Africa. It should thus be carefully addressed by the African Union, and long-term solutions on natural resource-management regulations should be found.
