Story by Oleen Ndori, Foreign Desk Editor
The 46th Ordinary Session of the African Union Executive Council has begun in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, bringing together African Foreign Ministers to debate key issues affecting the continent.
As African heads of state prepare to converge in Ethiopia for the 38th summit, the executive council discussed issues of enhanced trade, peace and security.
“The African continental free trade area is getting operationalised despite obstacles. African positions on climate change are being strengthened,” African Union Commission Chairperson His Excellency Moussa Faki Mahamat said.
“Agriculture and the blue economy are gradually taking their natural place in our strategic choices. The infrastructure and energy sector has made significant strides. Almost all the organs of the African Union and all the specialised agencies, whose list I want to spare you, have been making constant progress, both in terms of their institutional consolidation and in the diversity of the programmes and projects implemented.
“The institutional reform of our organisation has made significant progress and continues for positive conclusions.”
The AU Commission Chairperson also spoke on the peace and security situation in Sudan and the DRC.
“Violent conflicts continue on a large scale in Africa. The Sudan and Eastern DRC, that is the Democratic Republic of the Congo, are in all respects the most poignant, the most tragic,” His Excellency Mahamat said.
“The difficult financing of our organisation continues to weigh heavily on its effectiveness and independence of decision-making. The revitalisation of the Peace Fund and the attainment of its first objective is encouraging.
“The weakening of African solidarity and the sagging soul mate, Pan-Africanism, dampens our art and reduces the scope and resonance of our redeployment at the continental and international levels. This situation is all the more worrying at a time when multilateralism, already in bad shape for some time now, seems to have to face new challenges and blows from across the Atlantic. So we have to pull ourselves up and we need to do it now, here and now.”
On the sidelines of the council, the SADC Caucus met and Eswatini was chosen to represent the region to the African Union Peace and Security Council.
“With our regional colleagues we were discussing our candidate for the Peace and Security Council of the African Union as a southern region and we as a region because of our rotational principle and the spirit of consultation amongst ourselves have agreed that Eswatini will stand for us as a candidate for the Peace and Security Council representing the southern region,” the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, Professor Amon Murwira said.
“The meeting was very cordial, was very frank and was characteristic of a region that stands as one when it comes to collective decision-making. The African Union Executive Council meetings precede the 38th African Union Heads of State and Government Summit to be held at the weekend.”
The summit will see the voting for the African Union Commission Chairperson to replace Moussa Faki Mahamat and other senior positions in which Zimbabwe’s Dr Agnes Mahomva and Dr John Basera are vying.
