The African Union (AU) is convening for its annual summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, with a focus on jumpstarting the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) and addressing the continent’s most pressing challenges, including armed conflict and a worsening food crisis. The AfCFTA is the largest free trade agreement in the world in terms of population, with 54 of 55 African countries participating, and aims to increase intra-African trade by 60 percent by 2034. However, implementation has been hindered by disagreements over tariff reductions and border closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
At the summit, African leaders will also look to achieve ceasefires in the Sahel and the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), where the M23 armed group has seized swaths of territory and sparked a diplomatic dispute between Kinshasa and Rwanda. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for “action for peace” to combat rising violence and promote democratic freedoms on the continent. At a mini-summit on Friday, leaders of the seven-nation East African Community called for all armed groups to withdraw from occupied areas in the eastern DRC by the end of next month.
The AU was created in 2002 following the disbanding of the Organization of African Unity, and comprises all 55 African countries, with a population of 1.3 billion people. However, it has long been criticised as ineffectual, and Rwandan President Paul Kagame is due to present a report on the reform of AU institutions. He has been urging the AU to implement major reforms for years, including a push towards financial independence, with the bloc largely dependent on foreign donors. Comoros President Azali Assoumani is due to take over the one-year rotating AU chairmanship from Senegal’s Macky Sall.
Military-run nations Mali, Burkina Faso and Guinea have been suspended from the AU and cannot participate in this weekend’s summit. However, diplomats of the three Sahel nations are in Addis Ababa to push for readmission. For return to civilian rule, that decision lies with the African Union’s Peace and Security Council.
The two-day AU meeting in Ethiopia will look to address pressing issues facing the continent, including armed conflict and a worsening food crisis, while also accelerating the AfCFTA free-trade pact launched in 2020. The summit will focus on trying to achieve ceasefires in the Sahel and eastern DRC, while UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for “action for peace” to combat rising violence and promote democratic freedoms on the continent. Rwandan President Paul Kagame is due to present a report on the reform of AU institutions, while Comoros President Azali Assoumani is due to take over the one-year rotating AU chairmanship from Senegal’s Macky Sall. Military-run nations Mali, Burkina Faso and Guinea have been suspended from the AU but their diplomats are in Addis Ababa to push for readmission. The summit will be a crucial opportunity for African leaders to come together and address these pressing issues facing their continent.