The 37th African Union (AU) summit began on Saturday in Addis Ababa, with 34 African leaders and officials attending. The AU Commission president, Moussa Faki Mohamed, supported South Africa’s stance and urged the implementation of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) rulings, which he deemed a victory for all countries backing the Palestinian cause.
He condemned the extermination and oppression of Gaza’s people and demanded an immediate ceasefire. He also affirmed Africa’s solidarity with the Palestinians and their right to full freedom and an independent state.
The AU Commission chairperson expressed his deep concern over the violence in Sudan, Somalia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Sahel region, and Libya.
The Arab League secretary-general, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, said that Gaza was still facing a savage war that violated international humanitarian law and that the occupiers were committing massacres and pursuing a plan to ethnically cleanse the occupied land.
He said that this war revealed the international inability to stop the aggression despite the strong global opinion and the growing voice of rejection. He commended the African positions that aligned with the principles of justice, law, and human rights, and stressed that they should persist and intensify until the end of the occupation and the creation of a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders, as the only logical solution to end the conflict.
Aboul Gheit appreciated South Africa’s efforts to hold the occupiers accountable, expose their crimes, and seek to end the slaughter by suing Israel at the ICJ.
He considered the Arab-African partnership as one of the oldest partnerships that reflected the depth of Arab and African ties and hoped to enhance our efforts to push this partnership to wider horizons to benefit from the natural and human resources of both regions.
The AU summit will tackle the various challenges facing the continent, such as coups, conflicts, and political crises.
The AU’s effectiveness has been questioned due to its perceived inability to resolve conflicts and prevent power grabs. The summit did not include Gabon, Niger, Mali, Guinea, Sudan and Burkina Faso, which were suspended due to coups.
The summit also discussed the crisis in Senegal, caused by the election delay. The discussions went beyond Africa, to cover the conflict between Israel and Hamas, without inviting Israel.
