The Pan African Parliament (PAP) in collaboration with the Southern Africa Trust held thefirst Consultative Dialogue with African civil society organisations under the theme“Building Effective Mechanisms for Civil Society Engagement with Pan Africanand Regional Institutions” on 7-8 May, 2007 at the Gallagher Estate, Midrand, SouthAfrica. Regarding the proposal for an African Union Government, CSOs concluded that while the long-term vision is desirable it iscurrently excessively focused on institutional reforms rather than mapping out theimplications for strengthened African citizenship and needs more popularisation andconsultation with citizens. It was agreed that CSOs must take the lead on generating aninformed public debate on this agenda.
