40th Ordinary Session of AU Executive Council begins in Ethiopia

Addis Ababa, 2 February 2022 (TDI): The 40th Ordinary Session of the Executive Council of the African Union (AU) is being held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Foreign Ministers of many African countries have arrived for the summit.

Aïssata Tall Sall, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Senegal opened the session of the meeting of the Executive Council (Council of Ministers) of the African Union, in the morning.

Ouverture ce matin à Addis Abeba de la réunion du conseil exécutif (conseil des ministres) de l’Union africaine que j’ai eu l’honneur de présider en lieu et place de mon homologue de la RDC empêché. pic.twitter.com/W8REp8S37N

— Aïssata Tall Sall (@AissataOfficiel) February 2, 2022

Amongst the attendees are the Foreign Minister of Libya, Najla Mohammed El Mangoush, Ismael Ould Cheikh Ahmed of Mauritania, Mahamoud Ali Youssouf of Djibouti, Aïssata Tall Sall of Senegal, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Niger, Hassoumi Massaoudou and Naledi Pandor of South Africa.

Moreover, the Foreign Ministers of Chad, Mahamat Zene Cherif, Cameroon, Lejeune Mbella Mbella, Côted’Ivoire, Kandia Kamissoko Camara, Deputy Foreign Minister of Angola, Esmeralda Mendonca, and Foreign Minister of Congo, Jean-Claude Gakosso are in attendance for the summit.

In addition, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Somalia, Abdisaid Muse Ali is also participating in the 40th Ordinary Session of the Executive Council of the African Union.

The 40th Ordinary Session of the Executive Council of AU is scheduled to be held for two days i.e. 2 and 3 February. Moreover, the 35th Ordinary Summit is scheduled for coming Saturday and Sunday.

The leaders of the AU Commission and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) gathered together for the summit. They expressed concern over rising security threats including infectious diseases like COVID-19 as well as unconstitutional changes of government across the African continent.

The Chairperson of the AU Commission, Mussa Faki Mahamat addressed the summit. Whilst addressing, he stated that Africa has been impacted by a series of conflicts that have destabilized many people.

The peace and security situation of the continent has been seriously endangered resulting in multiple territories of the continent experiencing increasing intra-state conflicts, military coups, and expansion of murdering groups.

Mussa Faki Mahamat reprimanded the inadequate economic, political, and social governance in Africa for the increasing insecurity problems. In addition, displacement and migration are major problems of the continent as well.

He underscored that the resurgence, as well as unconstitutional change of government, are the factors that dangerously affect the continent in the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic and deteriorating climate change.

The United Nations Under-Secretary and the Executive Secretary of the UNECA, Vera Songwe also addressed the occasion. She underlined various risks that threaten the continent.

According to her Africa needs to build resilience against threats like pandemics and infectious diseases, climate change, cyber security risks, weak governance and conflict. Already, Africa is afflicted with issues like high levels of unemployment and an increasingly closing civic space.

The theme of the summit this year is “Building resilience in nutrition on the African continent: Accelerate the Human Capital, Social and Economic Development.”