The 33rd African Union summit kicked off in Addis Ababa on Sunday to address pressing crises and affairs in the continent.
Held under the theme “Silencing the Guns”, Chairperson of the African Union Commission Moussa Faki opened the summit with a call for reaching a political solution to the conflict in Libya.
He also called on the United States to remove Sudan from its terrorism list.
Faki highlighted Africa’s economic potential and stressed the need to prepare the necessary conditions to develop the continent.
Africa can overcome its problems with the help of partners, he declared, stressing that the continent is in “dire” need for freedom.
Egyptian President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi chaired the opening session of the summit, which will witness Egypt handing over the presidency to South Africa.
Turning to regional affairs, Faki expressed concern that the Trump administration’s peace plan would not help in resolving the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
On global developments, he voiced Africa’s solidarity with China over the outbreak of the new coronavirus that has claimed more than 800 people in China within two months.
Sisi, for his part, voiced Egypt’s readiness to host an African summit that would be dedicated to forming a joint counter-terrorism African force.
He presented before the summit Cairo’s achievements during its presidency of the AU 2019, adding: “Egypt will continue to be a main backer for bolstering joint African work.”
“The road to establishing the Africa that we want is still long,” he remarked, underlining the need for serious work to achieve this goal, while also noting that conflicts, terrorism and extremism threaten to undermine these efforts.
