Botswana Vice-President Mompati Merafhe on Monday strongly criticised the July 1 to July 3 summit of the African Union (AU), held in Libya.

Speaking at a media briefing in Gaborone, Merafhe directed his remarks at the chair of the meeting, Libya, but did not name the incumbent, referring only to "the chair", "him" or "his".

"The chair has no respect for established procedures and processes of the AU and this may be motivated by his burning desire to coerce everyone into the premature establishment of an AU government," Merafhe said.

His strongest remarks were that "the chair" had not presented the proposed make-up of the new African Union Authority which would, at least in name, replace the present African Union
Commission, as it had been agreed by member States.

"It was clear that the chair was not prepared to entertain opposing views or opinions calling for a gradual approach to continental integration," Merafhe said.

"Given the way the meeting was presided over, Botswana found it fruitless to oppose the adoption of what is essentially the framework of the AU government, the issue on which our position is well known.

"Whilst the summit was forced to adopt a document most countries did not agree with, the test will be in its implementation."

On investing in agriculture for economic growth and food security - the theme of the summit, he said: "We had hoped the summit would come up proposals for a concrete plan of action; unfortunately, it missed the opportunity to do so."

Proposals by Libya to establish the African Defence Council and an agency to protect Africa's territorial waters were adopted with no debate allowed.

"This was a rushed decision: financial and other resource implications for establishing these bodies were not properly examined. Indeed, Botswana is concerned about the proliferation of structures established by the AU without the capacity to sustain them."

He was further of the view that Africa should not try to undermine the work of the International Criminal Court simply because "one Head of State called Bashir" had been indicted by it, he said, referring to Sudan's President.

"The chair did not permit much debate on this matter and therefore, we did not get an opportunity to put our opinion across."

Merafhe said the summit had failed Africans.

"The AU needs to get its priorities right if the hope of functional unity among African countries and peoples is to be kept alive.

"Until we can all appreciate what democracy, rule of law, respect for fellow Africans and the dignity of others mean in practice, Africa has a very long way to go."