Biden Wants African Union to Be Added to Group of 20 Nations

US President Joe Biden delivers remarks about unions and pensions in the South Court Auditorium at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on December 08, 2022 in Washington, DC. (Getty Images/AFP)
US President Joe Biden delivers remarks about unions and pensions in the South Court Auditorium at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on December 08, 2022 in Washington, DC. (Getty Images/AFP)
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Biden Wants African Union to Be Added to Group of 20 Nations

US President Joe Biden delivers remarks about unions and pensions in the South Court Auditorium at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on December 08, 2022 in Washington, DC. (Getty Images/AFP)
US President Joe Biden delivers remarks about unions and pensions in the South Court Auditorium at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on December 08, 2022 in Washington, DC. (Getty Images/AFP)

President Joe Biden plans to announce at next week’s US-Africa summit that his administration supports adding the African Union as a permanent member of the Group of 20 nations, according to the White House. 

The African Union represents the continent’s 54 countries. The G20 is composed of the world’s major industrial and emerging economies and represents more than 80% of the world’s gross domestic product. South Africa is currently the only African member of the G-20. 

“It’s past time Africa has permanent seats at the table in international organizations and initiatives,” the senior director for African affairs on the National Security Council, Judd Devermont, said in a statement Friday. “We need more African voices in international conversations that concern the global economy, democracy and governance, climate change, health, and security.” 

Biden has invited 49 African leaders to take part in the three-day Washington summit that starts Tuesday. 

The G20 representation would allow African countries to more effectively press the group to implement its pledge to help the continent to cope with climate change.  

The high-profile push for inclusion in the G20 comes at a time when the AU has shown renewed unity and purpose on some high-profile issues, banding together to combat COVID-19 and establishing the African Continental Free Trade Area, which came into force in early 2021. 

African Union officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the White House announcement. 

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, at last month’s G20 gathering in Indonesia, underscored the importance of African Union membership in achieving climate goals. 

“We call for continued G20 support for the African Renewable Energy Initiative as a means of bringing clean power to the continent on African terms,” Ramaphosa told the gathering. “This can be best achieved with the African Union joining the G20 as a permanent member." 

Devermont said the announcement builds on the administration’s strategy toward Sub-Saharan Africa and its advocacy for adding permanent members from Africa to the UN Security Council. 



Florida Man Shot Israeli Visitors Thinking They Were Palestinians, Police Say

 Relatives and supporters of Israelis held hostage by Hamas in Gaza mark 500 days of their captivity by spreading a massive Israeli flag depicting an hourglass in the Mediterranean Sea, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Monday, Feb. 17, 2025. Hebrew of the flag reads "Without the abductees, Israel runs out". (AP)
Relatives and supporters of Israelis held hostage by Hamas in Gaza mark 500 days of their captivity by spreading a massive Israeli flag depicting an hourglass in the Mediterranean Sea, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Monday, Feb. 17, 2025. Hebrew of the flag reads "Without the abductees, Israel runs out". (AP)
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Florida Man Shot Israeli Visitors Thinking They Were Palestinians, Police Say

 Relatives and supporters of Israelis held hostage by Hamas in Gaza mark 500 days of their captivity by spreading a massive Israeli flag depicting an hourglass in the Mediterranean Sea, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Monday, Feb. 17, 2025. Hebrew of the flag reads "Without the abductees, Israel runs out". (AP)
Relatives and supporters of Israelis held hostage by Hamas in Gaza mark 500 days of their captivity by spreading a massive Israeli flag depicting an hourglass in the Mediterranean Sea, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Monday, Feb. 17, 2025. Hebrew of the flag reads "Without the abductees, Israel runs out". (AP)

A Florida man was arrested and charged with two counts of attempted murder after shooting at a vehicle with two men who he thought were Palestinians but turned out to be Israeli visitors, local authorities and media reports said.

The website of Miami-Dade County Corrections says the suspect, 27-year-old Mordechai Brafman, was charged with two counts of attempted murder and booked on Sunday for the shooting on Saturday.

A police official confirmed earlier reports from local media that Brafman said in an interview with police that while he was driving his truck in Miami Beach, he saw two people he thought were Palestinian. He stopped, shot at and killed them.

However, the victims survived. One was shot in the shoulder and the other had a wounded forearm. They turned out to be Israeli visitors and not Palestinians, police said.

A representative or lawyer for Brafman could not be immediately identified by Reuters.

Human rights advocates say there has been a rise in anti-Muslim, anti-Palestinian and antisemitic hate in the United States since the start of US ally Israel's war in Gaza following an Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Palestinian group Hamas.