The 36th African Union Summit was held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia over the weekend. African leaders discussed many topics such as security, peace and the economy, but also showed their desire to promote reconciliation and democracy on the continent.
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Reconciliation in Libya was one of the key topics of the summit, and the African Union has announced that it is working on the forthcoming organization of a national conference to bring together the different parties to the conflict and discuss the date and place of the conference. Democracy was also an important topic, and the African Union reaffirmed its zero tolerance for unconstitutional changes of government and maintained the suspension of four military-ruled countries, namely Burkina Faso, Mali, Guinea and Sudan.
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In addition, African leaders stressed the importance of the economy for the continent, and announced their intention to accelerate the establishment of the African Continental Free Trade Area (Zlec), which should achieve 1.3 billion people. All AU countries have joined except Eritrea, but discussions continue on the timing of tariff reductions, particularly for least developed countries.
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The objective is ambitious but achievable, according to Azali Assoumani, the president of the Comoros, who took over the rotating presidency of the AU following Macky Sall, the Senegalese head of state. Moussa Faki Mahamat, President of the African Union Commission, also stressed the importance of this agreement, while pointing out the challenges ahead on a continent where 600 million people do not have access to electricity.
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Finally, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has declared a “dysfunctional and unfair” international financial system that sees African countries borrowing money at exorbitant interest rates. For Antonio Guterres, Africa is facing “enormous challenges (…) on almost all fronts”, suffering the consequences of crises for which it is in no way responsible.
