AU, MISAHEL launch project to support education in Mali

Pierre Buyoya, the high representative of the African Union (AU) for Mali and the Sahel and head of the AU Mission for Mali and the Sahel (MISAHEL), introduced a project Oct. 15 that will boost education in northern Mali's Gao region.

With the project, which is under the direction of the non-governmental organization Office of Research Action for Endogenous Development (CRADE), school kits will be donated to 3,500 children in the Bourem area.

"The AU has been with you during the liberation struggle, the AU has been with you during the negotiations in Algiers, the AU will continue to stand by you in the monitoring and the implementation of the Agreement for Peace and Reconciliation, the AU is with the people of Gao, it is with the children of Gao and supports education, a pillar for peace and development of any country," Buyoya said during the ceremony where the kits were presented.

Buyoya has also spoken with the governor of Gao about the region's political security situation and visited the Gao branch of the Observatory for the Rights of Women and Children (ODEF).