Howard University, home to one of the oldest African Studies programs in the US, is hosting the 11th Annual National Model African Union Conference this weekend. The Keynote speaker is the Lesotho Ambassador (interesting choice given the country’s miniscule size).
The list of participant universities is quite diverse, and it is fascinating to see how many southern schools are involved. I won’t be attending, but it would be great to hear from any students out there who were involved in the process. It’s terrific to hear that students are moving beyond Model UN’s. The AU is probably to unwieldy to start playing a drastically more prominent role in African affairs in the coming years, but I think the smaller sub-regional organizations will play increasingly critical roles over the next decade, particularly as South Africa becomes more interventionist.
Africa in DC 
Interesting that you find the choice of keynote speaker interesting.
Yea, I would have thought they’d either go for someone from a larger country or someone working directly for the AU. I don’t know if Lesotho was a conscious choice to engage a smaller nation or if they tried to pull someone else but couldn’t.