Former Algerian President Ahmed Ben Bella visits ECA

21 February 2008 (ECA) - Former President Ahmed Ben Bella of Algeria, one of the founding fathers of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) now the African Union (AU), visited the Headquarters of the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) in Addis Ababa on 19 February 2008.

The UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of ECA, Mr. Abdoulie Janneh, welcomed Mr Ben Bella and his spouse, and took them for a tour of the Africa Hall, where the former President signed 45 years ago the constitutive chart of the OAU with his peers.

This visit of the former Algerian President comes at a time when ECA is preparing for the celebration of its fiftieth anniversary. ECA was created on 29 April 1958 and hosted the constitutive Conference of the OAU.

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