African leaders were due to meet yesterday for their annual summit, with conflict topping the agenda, especially Nigeria’s Islamic insurgency group Boko Haram, as well as efforts to stem Ebola.
While the official theme of the African Union (AU) meeting is scheduled to be women’s empowerment, leaders from the 54-member bloc are once again beset by a string of crises across the continent.
Preparatory talks this week ahead of the two-day meeting at the AU headquarters in Addis Ababa have seen promises by AU Commission Chairperson Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma to drum up “collective African efforts” to tackle Boko Haram.
Photo: AFP
On Thursday, the AU Peace and Security Council called for a regional five-nation force of 7,500 troops to be deployed to stop the “horrendous” rise of the extremist group.
More than 13,000 people have been killed and more than one million made homeless by Boko Haram violence since 2009.
Leaders are also expected to elect Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe as AU chairman, replacing AU Chairman and Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz.
Mugabe, a former liberation war hero who at 90 is Africa’s oldest president and the third-longest-serving leader, is deeply respected by many on the continent.
However, he is also subject to travel bans from both the US and EU in protest at political violence and intimidation in Zimbabwe.
With over a dozen elections due to take place this year across Africa, the focus at the talks is to also be on how to ensure peaceful polls. African think tank the Institute for Security Studies said that “many of these are being held in a context that increases the risk of political violence.”
Wars in South Sudan and the Central African Republic — both nations scheduled to hold elections — as well as in Libya are also scheduled for debate.
South Sudan’s warring parties met on Thursday in the latest push for a lasting peace deal, with six previous ceasefire commitments never holding for more than a few days — and sometime just hours. Tens of thousands of people have been killed in South Sudan during more than a year of civil war.
Also topping the agenda is the question of financing regional forces, amid broader debates on funding the AU, a thorny issue for the bloc, once heavily bankrolled by late Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi..
African leaders are also set to discuss the economic recovery of countries affected by Ebola, setting up a “solidarity fund” and planning a proposed African Center for Disease Control.
The worst outbreak of Ebola in history has seen nearly 9,000 deaths in a year — almost all of them in the three west African countries of Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone — and sparked a major health scare worldwide.
OPTIMISTIC: A Philippine Air Force spokeswoman said the military believed the crew were safe and were hopeful that they and the jet would be recovered A Philippine Air Force FA-50 jet and its two-person crew are missing after flying in support of ground forces fighting communist rebels in the southern Mindanao region, a military official said yesterday. Philippine Air Force spokeswoman Colonel Consuelo Castillo said the jet was flying “over land” on the way to its target area when it went missing during a “tactical night operation in support of our ground troops.” While she declined to provide mission specifics, Philippine Army spokesman Colonel Louie Dema-ala confirmed that the missing FA-50 was part of a squadron sent “to provide air support” to troops fighting communist rebels in
PROBE: Last week, Romanian prosecutors launched a criminal investigation against presidential candidate Calin Georgescu accusing him of supporting fascist groups Tens of thousands of protesters gathered in Romania’s capital on Saturday in the latest anti-government demonstration by far-right groups after a top court canceled a presidential election in the EU country last year. Protesters converged in front of the government building in Bucharest, waving Romania’s tricolor flags and chanting slogans such as “down with the government” and “thieves.” Many expressed support for Calin Georgescu, who emerged as the frontrunner in December’s canceled election, and demanded they be resumed from the second round. George Simion, the leader of the far-right Alliance for the Unity of Romanians (AUR), which organized the protest,
ECONOMIC DISTORTION? The US commerce secretary’s remarks echoed Elon Musk’s arguments that spending by the government does not create value for the economy US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick on Sunday said that government spending could be separated from GDP reports, in response to questions about whether the spending cuts pushed by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency could possibly cause an economic downturn. “You know that governments historically have messed with GDP,” Lutnick said on Fox News Channel’s Sunday Morning Futures. “They count government spending as part of GDP. So I’m going to separate those two and make it transparent.” Doing so could potentially complicate or distort a fundamental measure of the US economy’s health. Government spending is traditionally included in the GDP because
Hundreds of people in rainbow colors gathered on Saturday in South Africa’s tourist magnet Cape Town to honor the world’s first openly gay imam, who was killed last month. Muhsin Hendricks, who ran a mosque for marginalized Muslims, was shot dead last month near the southern city of Gqeberha. “I was heartbroken. I think it’s sad especially how far we’ve come, considering how progressive South Africa has been,” attendee Keisha Jensen said. Led by motorcycle riders, the mostly young crowd walked through the streets of the coastal city, some waving placards emblazoned with Hendricks’s image and reading: “#JUSTICEFORMUHSIN.” No arrest
RSS