As part of the 48^th Conference of the Presidents of the African Parliamentary Union (APU), to be held on 13 and 14 November in Lomé, Togo, the organisation’s former Presidents of the Executive Committee and Secretaries-General will be honoured during a special ceremony organised to mark the Union’s 50^th anniversary, which is being celebrated this year.

During the ceremony, plans include the screening of a short film entitled ‘APU: 50 Years of Parliamentary Diplomacy in the Service of Africa’, the broadcasting of a message from the President of the Executive Committee to mark this 50^th anniversary, and the delivery of commemorative speeches.

The organisation’s first President was His Excellency Mr. Philippe Yace, former Speaker of the National Assembly of Côte d’Ivoire, whilst the current President is His Excellency Mr. Jean-Michel Sama Lukonde Kyenge, President of the Senate of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Founded in 1976, the APU aims to promote unity of action amongst the parliamentary institutions of African states, to establish itself as the forum for the national parliaments of the African continent and as an instrument of parliamentary dialogue and cooperation in the service of peace, democracy, good governance and sustainable development.

The organisation also aims to foster contacts between African parliamentarians, on the one hand, and between African parliamentarians and those from the rest of the world, on the other.

The APU has its headquarters in Abidjan and has 41 members, namely: Algeria, Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, the Comoros, Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Djibouti, Egypt, Ethiopia, Gabon, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, Kenya, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Mali, Morocco, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Uganda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, São Tomé and Príncipe, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan, Chad, Togo, Tunisia and Zimbabwe.