Pan-African marathon to wrap up yearlong celebrations

Great Run Africa under the theme "Pan Africanism and African Renaissance" will wrap up the yearlong celebrations of the 50th anniversary of the Organization for African Unity (OAU) and African Union (AU) on Sunday in Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa.
At a joint press briefing on Friday at AU Headquarters here in Addis Ababa, Abdul-Hakim Rajab Elwaer, AU Director for Human Resources Science and Technology, told reporters that May 25 would mark the end of the yearlong of celebrations with a number of events.
"The events, the biggest one will be the actual sport tournament that will kick off on Saturday morning at 9 o'clock here at AU Commission. It is football and volleyball competitions involving teams from the AU Commission, the UNECA, all the AU embassies, staffs and families as well as embassies of the non-AU member states including partners. The U.S. and China and few others have already submitted their teams and that tournament will continue to Sunday," he said.
The AU Commission has planned a number of events many of them would be going during the weekend, he said, adding some of them have already started this week to mark the end of these yearlong activities.
The year-long celebrations included various dialogues and social activities, which saw Africans defining for themselves the Africa they want to see over the next 50 years, in what is known as Agenda 2063, said AU in its statement in connection with the conclusion of the Golden Jubilee celebrations.
Jointly organized by the AU Commission and the Great Run Africa, the marathon will be held in three categories of 10km, 21km, and 42km with participation of tens of thousands of runners in T- Shirts with slogans, "I am an African. I am the African Union."
The Great Run Africa comes one of the milestones and the landmark of the celebrations of the year, noted the Director.