African women urged to join fight against corruption

Rabat, Jan 18 (IANS/MAP) The African Union's 10th Pre-Summit on Gender has called on African women to join the fight against corruption on the continent.

The two-day meeting kicked off on Wednesday at AU headquarters in Addis Ababa under the theme "Winning the fight against corruption: A sustainable path to gender equality and women's empowerment in Africa".

It focused on the impact of corruption, the objectives of equality between men and women and the empowerment of women with the aim of proposing concrete actions to fight against corruption based on gender.

In her opening remarks, the AU Commissioner for Political Affairs, Minata Samate Cessouma, emphasised that gender pre-summits have played an important role in influencing and shaping the African Union's policy on gender issues, gender equality and women's emancipation.

Cessouma said that the 10th Pre-Summit would be an opportunity to reflect on the progress made over the last decade and to plan for the future, particularly in the context of the new reform of the AU and its Agenda 2063.

Reaffirming that corruption would be a major impediment to the successful implementation of Agenda 2063, Cessouma said that forums were essential to assist AU to develop innovative strategies in the fight against corruption.

"The struggles for gender equality and women's empowerment can't be won without eradicating the scourge of corruption that plagues our people and hinders the development of countries," said Ambassador of the Republic of Guinea, Sidibe Fatoumata Kaba.

--IANS/MAP

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