Europe-Africa Summit: for Moussa Faki Mahamat of the AU, "African opinion wants something concrete"

African Union Commission Chairperson Mahamat Moussa Faki arrives for the first day of a European Union (EU) and African Union (AU) summit at the European Council building in Brussels on 17 February 2022. AFP - JOHN THYS

Text by: Paulina Zidi Follow

2 mins

The sixth European Union-African Union summit ends in Brussels this Friday after two days of discussions to try to renew the partnership between the two continents.

On the program: exchanges around development, security, governance and even climate change.

Mali also invited itself to the meeting with the announcement of the withdrawal of French and European forces.

Meeting with the Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat.

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RFI: What is your impression after these exchanges between the African Union and the European Union during this meeting in Brussels

?

Moussa Faki Mahamat

:

These discussions are very encouraging.

The message got through, we discussed in the different panels.

This is a new reorientation of this partnership for very concrete things.

As small as they are, they must be concrete.

It felt like some broken promises over the years have left a bit of skepticism on the African side.

Has Africa's voice been heard this time around

?

We will appreciate the results

.

Anyway, there is a new situation in the world, this very old partnership needs to be revitalized and it can only be appreciated by the results.

That, I believe, is an expectation of African public opinion, which wants concrete results.

A summit which comes as France and its European partners announce a military withdrawal from Mali.

What is the position of the African Union after these announcements

?

You know, today the Sahel is the soft underbelly of the African continent.

This has been going on for almost ten years and I think we have to admit that all the efforts have not yielded the expected results.

I believe that an assessment must be made at the regional level, at the continental level and at the international level.

We have started this work with the United Nations and at the end of the month there will be the first meeting in New York.

With regard to international forces, and European forces in general, we understand their position

in relation to the new situation in Mali

.

But at the same time, support for the African continent's fight against terrorism was reiterated.

Even if the circumstances do not currently allow these forces to operate from Mali, I believe that they will be able to operate from the neighborhood.

The main thing is that the transition in Mali takes place normally and in a reasonable time.

Is there any progress regarding the negotiations on the timetable for the transition

?

No.

We have a monitoring committee which is on site with representatives of the African Union, the United Nations and ECOWAS.

They will in principle start discussions with the Malian authorities.

I hope we will come up with something reasonable and acceptable.

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  • African Union

  • European Union

  • France

  • mali

  • sahel

  • Moussa Faki Mahamat