Cairo ready to host the third all Africa head of Judiciary summit

By

Gift Friday

Preparations to host the third chief justice meeting in February 2019 for all African chief justices and presidents of the Supreme Court in Cairo are in high gear, according to an Egyptian government official.

Addressing a round table discussion with 22 young African Journalists in Cairo early this week, the President of Egypt’s Constitutional court Dr Hanafi Al Guebali said, the forthcoming meeting has been a priority for his government.

“This meeting is very important not only for the African continent but for the internal community as well, because it will discuss issues of daily life,” he said.

Dr Hanafi said, this will be the third all African heads of the judiciary and Supreme Court meeting following those held in 2017 and 2018. “This particular one will be very advanced compared to the last two meetings,” he added.

Meanwhile the deputy president of the Egypt’s Constitutional Court, who is also the Secretary General of the meeting, Adel Omar Sherif, said the meeting will host all different levels of the Judiciary depending on each of the country’s judiciary structure and that this summit is a follow up of the recommendations of the last two meetings.

Omar said that the 2017 summit tackled the challenges facing the judiciary in the African continent.

“The 2018 meeting resulted in the declarations of two important issues, one for the establishment of an online website connecting judiciary councils across Africa and a mechanism for training programs for the African Judiciary officials.”

He said last year’s meeting was attended by over 45 members, comprised of a President (or Chief Justice) and Vice-Presidents (or deputy chief justices), from all 54 countries. The Secretary General said President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has provided all the finance for launching the website early next year.

Egypt is due to head the African Union in 2019 and a number of activities are scheduled to be held concurrently with the assumption of the chairmanship of the African Union.

Journalists from 22 countries, Sudan, South Sudan, Gambia, Niger, Angola, Burkina Faso, Congo, Senegal, Zimbabwe, Egypt, Ivory Coast, Djibouti, Tunisia, Uganda Lesotho, Botswana  Ghana, Gabon, Ethiopia, and South Africa are attending a three weeks training for Young African Journalists organized by the Union of African Journalists (UAJ) in conjunction with Egypt’s Ministry of Information.

Gift Friday

Freelance Journalist from South Sudan, based in Kampala.