The Africa Union (AU) is not doing enough for Africans, a former boss of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), Justice Emile Short, has said.

His comments come on the heels of the AU’s silence on the recent xenophobic attacks in South Africa, the death of African migrants who embark on perilous journeys to Europe and the crisis in South Sudan.

Speaking on World Affairs on Class91.3FM on Friday 10 March, Mr Short noted that the AU needed to do a lot more to stem the tide of conflict on the continent.

“Unfortunately, in my humble opinion, the African Union is not doing enough for Africans. I see the African Union as an organisation that is more interested in its own solidarity. Take for example migrants who are going from Libya and are taking such risks and are perishing on the sea. What is the African Union doing about it? You don’t hear much about it. The countries that are affected, what are they doing to stop this rush of migrants?” he asked show host Dr Etse Sikanku.

“Take a look at the situation in South Sudan. What has the African Union done about it? You have two individuals who have engaged in this ethnic war. Famine has been declared in South Sudan recently, thousands of people have been displaced, women and children have been killed, raped, and it’s such a tragedy. There are so many conflicts raging on the continent and I think the African Union needs to do a lot more to stem the tide of this conflict.”

Mr Short was of the opinion that the problems in some African countries was “a question of poor governance” and suggested that Africa go back to Dr Kwame Nkrumah’s Africa High Command policy of having an African army “that can step in to deal with some of these situations”.