Coups d'Etat, Covid, Israel... A busy program for the 35th AU summit
Headquarters of the African Union, in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia).
REUTERS/Tiksa Negeri
Text by: RFI Follow
3 mins
It opens at the headquarters of the organization this Saturday, May 5.
Three months ago, several embassies called on their nationals to leave Ethiopia, fearing that the Tigray rebels could seize the Ethiopian capital.
In recent days, African delegations have been flocking there for this summit.
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With our special correspondent in Addis Ababa,
Florence Morice
There will of course be a question of this series of coups d'etat recently observed on the continent.
Since the last summit, no less than four countries have been suspended from the African Union: Guinea, Mali, Burkina Faso and Sudan.
Chad, on the other hand, was spared, even though a military council headed by the son of ex-president Déby has governed the country since his death.
This raises certain criticisms of a response deemed "
incoherent
" by the AU in the face of unconstitutional transitions.
The management of political crises will therefore be at the heart of the discussions at this 35th summit.
For Pape Ibrahima Kane, specialist in regional organizations at the Open Society Initiative for West Africa foundation, this summit will be an opportunity for heads of state to put things straight.
"
In the Sahel, there are two types of problems.
The first to manage is that of coups d'etat, which often stems from poor governance.
Then there are foreign interventions to help states fight terrorism in West Africa.
They are now taking on new dimensions with rearguard battles between France, Russia and to some extent Turkey.
The summit, I think, will help the States smooth things over and perhaps agree on a strategy to adopt so that the Sahel does not become a battlefield between foreign powers.
»
The inventory of the Congolese presidency
It will also discuss the African response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Former South African President Cyril Ramaphosa will present a report on the subject.
But it is undoubtedly about Israel that the debate will be the most stormy.
Last July, the chairman of the commission granted observer status to the Jewish state, sparking strong criticism and divisions within the organization.
The subject is therefore on the agenda, to which are added the various ongoing conflicts.
A busy agenda therefore which makes some fear that the war in Tigray is somewhat overshadowed.
Be that as it may, hosting this face-to-face summit in the midst of the conflict and in the midst of a pandemic is already a political victory for Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who has spared no effort to convince his peers.
At the end of the summit, Senegalese President Macky Sall will take charge of the AU for the coming year. It is the end of the presidency of Félix Tshisekedi. It is therefore time to take stock. Mixed, judge Pape Ibrahima Kane: "
Because of the prolonged absence of the DRC in the African political landscape for several years, and the lack of experience of the team around him, he could not really weigh with all its weight, compared to what the South African president
[Cyril Ramaphosa, his predecessor, Ed]
had been able to do with a better staffed administration, more substantial logistical and human resources, and therefore, in my opinion, it has a rather mixed record.
He could not put an end to the crisis in Ethiopia, he was practically invisible in those of the Sahel.
And in the Sudanese crisis, we saw little of it.
»
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African Union
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Felix Tshisekedi