A. Attendance and organisation of work

1. The Sixth African Regional Conference on Women was held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from 22 to 26 November 1999 for the Mid-term Review of the Implementation of the Dakar and Beijing Platforms for Action (PFA). His Excellency, Dr. Negasso Gedada, President of the Federal Republic of Ethiopia, formally opened the conference. Mme. Aminata Mbengue Ndiaye, the Chairperson of the Fifth Regional Conference, presided over the opening ceremony. Statements were delivered by Mr. K.Y. Amoako, Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa; Ms. Angela King, United Nations Special Adviser on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women; Ambassador Habib Dentum, Assistant Secretary-General of the Organisation of the African Unity (OAU); and Ambassador Gertrude Mongella, Secretary-General of the Fourth World Conference on Women.

2. The conference was attended by government and NGO representatives of the following member States of the Commission: Algeria, Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, the Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, the Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Swaziland, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

3. The Organisation of African Unity (OAU) and the African Development Bank (ADB) were represented.

4. Other participants came from the following United Nations bodies and specialised agencies: United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), International Labour Organisation (ILO), United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), World Food Programme (WFP), World Health Organisation (WH0), World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF), International Telecommunication Union (ITO), Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), International Organisation for Migration (IOM), United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO), United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), United Nations AIDS (UNAIDS), Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (JON/HIV/AIDS), Economic Commission for Europe (ECE), United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), United Nations Centre for Human Settlement (UNCHS) and Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).

5. The following were the intergovernmental organisations represented at the conference: the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), East Africa Co-operation (EAC), Southern Africa Development Community (SADC), Pan African Institute for Development in Eastern and Southern Africa (PAID-ESA) and Eastern and Southern Africa Management Institute (ESAMI).

6. Also present were observers from the following member States of the United Nations and bilateral agencies: Austria, Belgium, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Ireland, Japan, Greece Republic, Sweden, Switzerland, Norway, Netherlands, Palestine, Spain, United Kingdom, United States of America, Canadian International Agency (CIDA), Italian Development Co-operation Office, United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA), the British Council and German Technical Cooperation (GTZ).

7. The international non-governmental organisations that had observer status at the conference included: Femmes Africa Solidarité, Public Services International, Conference des organisations non-gouvernementales, Commission Africaine des Droits de l'homme et des peuples, Confédération internationale des syndicate libres, Commission on the Status of Women, Good Shepherd Sisters, Third World Movement Against the Exploitation of Women, Centre for Women's Global Leadership, International Women's Rights Action Watch (IWRAW), Gender and Development Training Centre, Women's Environment and Development Organisation (WEDO), International Alert, International Federation of Women Entrepreneurs (IFWE), One World Action, Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, Soroptimist International, the Centre for Development and Population Activities (CEDPA), ENDA-SYNFEV, Centre for the Strategic Initiative of Women, Coalition contre le trafic des femmes - Afrique, Women Connect, Pacific Institute for Women's Health, Marche Mondiale des Femmes, International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), Association for Progressive Communication of Women Affairs, and Partnership Africa/ Canada.

8. The following regional non-governmental organisations also sent representatives to the conference: Inter-African Committee on Traditional Practices Affecting the Health of Women and Children (IAC), Pan-African Women Organisation (PAWO), African Information Society-Gender Working Group (AIS-GWG), Women in Law and Development in Africa (WILDAF), Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE), Association of African Women for Research and Development (AAWORD), Union Africaine des Femmes Parlementaires, African Federation of Women Entrepreneurs (AFWE), Council for Economic Empowerment of Women in Africa (CEEWA) and Eastern African Subregional Support Initiative for the Advancement of Women (EASSI).