Salim Urges PANA To Expose African Achievements

PANA, 31 July 2000

DAKAR, Senegal (PANA)—OAU Secretary General Salim Ahmed Salim Monday challenged PANA to use its newly acquired modern communication technology to enhance the communication capability of the African region.

He particularly asked PANA to help in explaining the process towards the African Union, whose treaty was signed during the 36th summit of the Organisation of African Unity in Lome, Togo, early July, so that the African media focus their attention on the union.

Project to Africans and the entire world about the whole process towards this union, its strong points and problems, Salim said at a brief meeting with PANA's Director General, Babacar Fall, and the Senegalese foreign minister, Cheikh Tidiane Gadio, after a tour of the new ultra-modern PANA headquarters complex.

The challenge ahead is to report objectively about our successes and failures, he added.

Earlier, Fall had told Salim that several African countries, including Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Egypt, Kenya, Libya, Rwanda, Senegal, and South Africa had put in 7.3 million US dollars to buy shares in the new PANA.

The private sector had also put in six million dollars, and is expected to buy more shares in the second phase of the PANA privatisation process.

Fall invited the OAU secretariat to improve its visibility by effectively using the new information technology like the Internet, where PANA has its Website with 1.2 million connections per day.

Salim, who is visiting Senegal at the invitation of President Abdoulaye Wade, arrived in Dakar Sunday and departs Tuesday.