AU summit: angry subjects pointed out
Opening of the African Union summit, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on February 2, 2022. REUTERS - TIKSA NEGERI
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Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital, is hosting the 35th summit of the African Union (AU) this Saturday, February 5, for two days at the headquarters of the pan-African organization.
Senegalese head of state Macky Sall takes over the rotating presidency of the AU after the tenure of Congolese Félix Tshisekedi.
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In his traditional opening speech, AU Commission Chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat defended his controversial decision to grant observer status to Israel.
Above all, he pointed out the shortcomings of the AU in the face of the challenges of terrorism and repeated coups on the continent.
Moussa Faki Mahamat even speaks of disability.
The Chairperson of the African Union Commission did not mince his words on the challenges facing the organization: "
A dangerous resurgence of unconstitutional changes as well as the scourge of terrorism which is taking on an unprecedented scale by spreading to regions of the continent hitherto spared.
»
Moussa Faki Mahamat believes that in the absence of a burst of intelligence and a new approach by the African Union to these challenges, “
serious questions arise about its ability to silence the guns
”.
In particular, he calls for more power for the president of the AU Commission, more leeway for the organization or else it will sink "
into a gradual political and diplomatic slumber
".
He also defended his decision to grant observer status to Israel last July.
A statement just before the Palestinian Prime Minister calls on the African Union this Saturday morning to withdraw this accreditation from the Jewish state, which he describes as “
undeserved reward
” for the Israeli government to the detriment of the Palestinians.
This debate, which promises to be heated on this subject, is on the agenda this Sunday.
►
To read also: Coups d'Etat, Covid, Israel ... A busy program for the 35th AU summit
The Ethiopian Civil War
The most explicit reference - and almost the only one - to the Ethiopian civil war which has been tearing Tigray apart for more than a year, came from the UN Secretary General.
António Guterres called once again for a ceasefire, the end of humanitarian access restrictions and an inclusive national dialogue in Ethiopia.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who also spoke at the rostrum of the AU, also mentioned the conflict but without explicitly designating Tigray.
He presented the ongoing war as a domestic conflict.
But at the same time, he repeatedly thanked his peers for their support.
This may seem paradoxical when his government is reluctant to open up to the peace initiatives proposed, since the beginning of the conflict, by the African Union.
A way no doubt, for the Ethiopian Prime Minister, to underline the political victory represented by having succeeded in convincing his peers to hold this summit, physically and not virtually, in Addis Ababa, in a country still in conflict.
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