Conflicts in DRC, Sudan and Mali, to top agenda at AU Summit

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(l-r) Benin’s President Yayi Boni with new AU Chairperson Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn

The Assembly of the Heads of State of the African Union (AU) convened in Addis Abba January 27 with the election of Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn as Chairperson of the AU, replacing Benin’s President Yayi Boni.

The theme of this years’ Summit is Pan-Africanism and African Renaissance, in reflection of the founding principle of the precursor to the AU, the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) in 1963, the decade when the pan-Africanist and liberation movement was strong in Africa.

The new second vice chairs are Mauritania’s President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz and Armando Gebouza of Mozambique.

In his final statement as Chairperson of the AU, President Boni called for a taskforce composed of eminent African personalities to review the mechanism of governance so as to strengthen the AU in view of the African Renaissance.

“How can we ensure the renaissance and prosperity for Africa if we do not work hard to improve security sand reduce poverty?” said President Boni.

The 54-member continental bloc’s assembly will discuss challenges on the continent, including rebellions in Mali, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo and the Central African Republic, and continuing tension between South Sudan and Sudan which have failed to implement agreements on borders.

The AU appealed to the United Nations for money and emergency logistics to get the regional intervention force known as the Africa-led International Support Mission in Mali (AFISMA) fully deployed. Regional army chiefs have said a total of 7,700 African soldiers would be dispatched.

Addressing the session, newly elected President of Ghana John Mahama paid tribute to one of the founding fathers of the OAU, Dr Kwame Nkrumah. 

“We recognise that notwithstanding that Ghana was his birthplace, his desire for African unity made him a citizen off Africa.” Said President Mahama.

Ghana was the first country in Africa to gain independence from British colonial rule in 1957. The AU will celebrate 50 years of existence at a special summit in Ethiopia, in May this year.

In addition to heads of state, other prominent leaders at the Summit are United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon, President of the Palestinian Liberation Authority Mahmoud Abbas,  senior representative of the United Nations and international organisations, civil society groups and the diplomatic corps.

The UN Chief said he had given the Security Council his recommendations on a logistics support package for AFISMA, a force that had been in the making months before France's intervention in Mali.

On Friday, the NEPAD Heads of State and Government Orientation Committee (HSGOC), a high level body of twenty African leaders that provides leadership and policy guidance to the Agency, held a special summit to assess NEPAD’s achievements and challenges in the period July to December 2013.

The President of Senegal Macky Sall was elected chairperson of the HSGOC, taking over from the later former Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Meles Zenawi. The grouping, which meets twice a year on the fringes of the African Union Summit in Addis Ababa, also sets priorities and the programmes of action for NEPAD.

NEPAD’s Chief Executive Officer Dr Ibrahim Mayaki presented the Agency’s Results-based Activity Report of July to December 2012, where he highlighted effort for sustaining the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP)) momentum and the various tools and mechanisms for domestic resource mobilisation for the NEPAD programmes.

“The NEPAD Agency believes that the time has come to give new impetus to CAADP to meet legitimate expectations of member states while providing a clearer perspective and overall role for agriculture in the economic transformation of the continent. To support this transformation NEPAD has launched the Africa Rural Development Forum as platform for knowledge sharing on polices on rural transformation.” said Dr Mayaki.

CAADP has emerged as a key vehicle to diversify economies, grow agribusiness, ensure food security and thrive. It also stimulates access to finance, inputs and markets for smallholder farmers.

To sustain the its momentum, there’s a need to assess how non state actors can take ownership of the CAADP process by contributing to the development and implementation of agricultural policy in their respective countries