The Chairman of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki, explained the reason behind the expulsion of the Israeli official from the work of the 36th African Summit, which began on Saturday in Addis Ababa and ended on Sunday evening.
Faki said that the Israeli official was removed "because we did not invite Israeli officials." He also announced the suspension of "the decision to grant Israel observer status until this procedure is discussed by a special committee."
An Israeli delegation headed by Sharon Barley, deputy director of the Africa Department in the Israeli Foreign Ministry, tried to participate yesterday, Saturday, in the opening session of the summit, but the objection of African countries prevented the delegation from doing so.
Al-Jazeera correspondent said that the delegations of Algeria and South Africa objected to the participation of the Israeli delegation, which necessitated the intervention of the security services to ask the Israeli delegation to leave the hall.
Final statement: projects and decisions
The summit concluded on Sunday evening with the approval of the final statement, which included the most prominent projects and decisions submitted to the summit by the Ministerial Council.
Al-Jazeera correspondent stated that the final statement dealt with several economic, political and security issues, most notably the "Silencing the Guns" initiative to settle conflicts in the continent, within an African framework.
The statement also touched on accelerating the activation of the African Free Trade Area, supporting democratization processes, rejecting military coups and not recognizing the regimes based on them.
The statement also called for "supporting the State of Palestine's drive to obtain full membership in the United Nations, and we call for its international support."
Withdrawal of Mercenaries and the Implications of the Ukraine War
The Commissioner for Peace and Security of the African Union, Bankul Adewe, called on the sponsors of mercenaries and foreign fighters to withdraw them immediately from Africa.
In a statement to Al-Jazeera, he said that the "Silencing the Guns" initiative will focus in its next phase on confronting armed groups.
Regarding the repercussions of the Russian-Ukrainian war on the African arena, Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa said that Russia has become a major challenge not only in Ukraine, but also in other regions of the world, including the African continent.
In a statement to Al-Jazeera on the sidelines of his country's participation as an observer in the African Union summit in Addis Ababa, Costa stressed the need to strengthen the European presence in Africa to counter Russian influence.
For his part, Algerian Prime Minister Ayman Ben Abdel Rahman said that most African countries devote a large part of their budget to paying debt service.
Bin Abdul Rahman added, in a statement to Al-Jazeera on the sidelines of the summit, that many African countries cannot withstand until the end of this year because of the burdens of these debts.