Some twenty member states of the African Union have got into contribution arrears of over $19 million, official sources told APA Saturday in Accra. Those countries said to be arrears are: Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, the Central African Republic , Chad, Cote d’Ivoire, Djibouti, Egypt, Gabon, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Niger, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, and Tunisia, according to a report on contributions submitted to the AU Executive Council which closed Friday its 11 th session in the Ghanaian capital city.

This session that brought together AU ministers of foreign affairs was held in the framework of the 9 th meeting at the heads of state and government summit billed for Sunday and Monday in the Ghanaian capital city, Accra, around the "big debate" on a Pan-African Government.

Egypt, with $5 million in arrears, contributes up to 15% of the total budget of the pan-African organisation, whereas Gabon contributes 0.62%, Cameroon 1.5% and Cote d’Ivoire about 1.61%, pointed out the report which provides a detailed statement of contributions of the 53 member states of the AU.

The Central African Republic, which contributes 0.11% of the total budget of the organisation, falls into arrears of $2 million, the report said.

Tunisia, with 2.96% of the overall AU budget, falls into arrears of $7 million in addition to another contribution to the tune of $2.8 million which had not been disbursed until June 21, the report indicated.

The 2007 Budget of the African Union amounts to over $54 million, mainly from contributions of member states of which $35.3 million have been disbursed for the current financial year, according to the document.