By JAMES MUYANWA –
ELEVEN member countries of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States are currently serving sanctions by the group for non-payment of annual contributions.
The 11 countries include the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan and Central Africa Republic.
This is according to a document titled list of States under sanctions as at May 25 2015, which was obtained in Brussels, Belgium during the 101st ACP Council of Ministers’ meeting last week.
Apart from the three African countries, other states under sanctions are Antigua and Barbuda, Grenada, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Dominican Island, Palau and Sao Tome E Principe.
The DR Congo has defaulted for one full year while Sudan is entering its second year of default and the rest have not paid the fees for at
least three years.
While serving the sanctions, the affected ACP member states will not be receiving any ACP documents and their officials will not be allowed to be members of the bureau of council of ministers or committee of ambassadors.
Further, the representatives of the affected countries would not be eligible for the presidency of the council of ministers and other organs of the ACP.
For Sudan, whose default was entering its second year, the officials will not be allowed to take the floor during any ACP meeting.
It will further not benefit from the financial assistance accorded to member countries of the ACP for participation at meetings organised by the group.
Additionally, Sudanese will no longer qualify to be hired by the secretariat for any positions.
For the other nine countries, in addition to all other sanctions, their representatives will be debarred from participating in any ACP meetings, including the council session.