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The worsening food and security crises are likely to dominate the agenda of the annual summit of the African Union (AU) that the heads of state will hold this weekend, from 17 to 19 February, in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia.
Armed conflicts from the Sahel in West Africa to the Horn of Africa in the East and the effects of droughts and floods have driven more and more Africans from their homes, with numbers displaced south of the Sahara desert increased more than 15% in the last year, according to United Nations figures.
The UN estimates the number of displaced people at 44 million in 2022, compared to 38.3 million at the end of 2021.
African Union Peace and Security Commissioner Bankole Adeoye is expected to try to rally support for a proposal for new funding of security operations by the United States, members of the African Union and the European Union, they said. two diplomats who spoke on condition of anonymity told the Reuters news agency.
Funding has been a constant challenge for AU initiatives like its peacekeeping mission in Somalia.
In 2020, the African Union delayed plans to start funding security operations from a new fund until 2023 because it had received less than half of the planned $400 million.
Heads of state will also be briefed on the fighting in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo and the security situation in Mali, Burkina Faso, Guinea and Sudan, which suffered military takeovers in 2021 and 2022, the two diplomats said. .
Bankole and a spokesman for the Peace and Security Council did not respond to requests for comment.
Hunger, central theme of the summit
Another major topic of discussion is expected to be worsening hunger in various regions, which has been fueled by armed conflicts and extreme weather conditions that scientists have linked to fossil fuel-driven climate change.
Somalia is on the brink of famine after five failed rainy seasons, with hundreds of thousands of people suffering from catastrophic food shortages.
In addition to the leaders of the 55 member states of the AU, the UN Secretary General, António Guterres, and the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, will attend the summit.
According to a draft of the summit conclusions, African leaders will advocate for the continent to have permanent seats on the UN Security Council and in the G20 group of major economies.
They will also adopt a series of protocols aimed at accelerating the full implementation of the new African free trade zone, whose trade will officially begin in 2021.
*With Reuters; adapted from its original in English
