Military instability, famine and free trade noted at African Union summit

Security, free trade and hunger will dominate the 36th African Union Summit, where Portuguese Prime Minister António Costa and UN Secretary General António Guterres will be among the guests.

Until this Thursday, meetings of heads of diplomacy are being held in Addis Ababa, in which the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Portugal, Joao Gomes Cravinho, is taking part.

The Summit of Heads of State and Government, to be held February 18-19, will review a report on the activities of the organization’s Security Council (SSC) and the state of peace and security in Africa, as well as a strategic document on the management of global political, financial and energy policies, which will be presented by the President Senegal Maki Sall.

The military situation will also be in the spotlight after the governments of four member countries, Mali, Guinea-Conakry, Sudan and Burkina Faso, were removed from the African Union (AU) last year following coups d’état.

Issues related to the global food crisis, climate change and the continental free trade area are other major topics of the summit, which will also elect Senegal’s successor as AU president.

The situation in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo with tribal conflicts and the presence of the AU mission will also be discussed, as the Kinshasa government accuses neighboring Rwanda of supporting the rebels.

Instability in the Central African Republic and Mali, where the Wagner group, Kremlin-backed mercenaries operate, and the crisis in northern Mozambique, where attacks by Islamic extremists are taking place, are other topics linked to instability on the continent.

“Today we see that there is a definite need for work between Europeans and Africans on various topics, especially in the field of peace and security, the Gulf of Guinea, the Sahel, the Central African Republic, topics that we are engaged in. very involved and also very hot here in the African Union,” said Joao Gomes Cravinho to Lusa.

At present, Africa’s “security architecture” is “very fragile,” admitted the minister, who has already met with AU Commissioner for Peace and Security Bankole Adeoye.

From Commissioner Cravinho heard a desire for “African solutions to African problems” as well as a request for “support from countries like Portugal and institutions like the European Union” for peace efforts.

The Portuguese-speaking countries are expected to attend the heads of state of Guinea-Bissau Umaro Sissoko Embalo, Cape Verde José Maria Neves and Mozambique Filipe Nyusi.

The heads of diplomacy of Angola, Tete Antoniou, Guinea-Bissau, Suzi Chavez, Mozambique, Veronica Macamo, Sao Tome and Principe, Alberto Pereira and Equatorial Guinea Simeon Oyono Esono will be present.