President John Kufuor of Ghana and Chairperson of the African Union (AU) has called on Africa to play a frontline role in respecting and upholding human rights in the continent.

Addressing the opening session of the Seventh Ordinary Session of the Pan African Parliament (PAP) in Midrand, Johannesburg, Kufuor regretted the situation within some African nations, where he said, domestic policies are or seem to be at variance with the Constitutive Act of the Union and NEPAD.

"As much as we all value the principle of sovereignty and integrity, Africa of today should play the vanguard role in respecting and upholding human rights within the continent generally, and more so within the component states of the Union," Kufuor said.

Kufuor noted that NEPAD (the New Partnership for Africa's Development), which has its flagship programme for implementing political and economic reforms, gives guidance and encouragement to member states to move towards the realisation of the objectives of NEPAD within their respective domestic policies.

Meanwhile, President Kufuor assured PAP, which is facing budgetary constraints, that the Assembly of the Union is committed to making funds available for its work.

The two-week session will debate on peace and security in Africa focusing on the Great Lakes Region, the situation in Darfur, Cote d'Ivoire, Chad and Somalia, among other issues.