It is a new day for the AU

Chad's foreign minister Moussa Faki Mahamat will lead the AU after his election on Monday. Mahamat has been at the forefront of the fight against Islamists in Nigeria, Mali and the Sahel, raising his profile at home and abroad.A loyal ally of President Idriss Deby, the 56-year-old has held a number of senior Chadian posts, including prime minister (2003-2005), before being named foreign minister in 2008.As head of the African Union Commission he has said he dreams of a continent where the “sound of guns will be drowned out by cultural songs and rumbling factories” and wants “development and security” to top the agenda during his four-year term.He also wants a less bureaucratic, procedural AU where free circulation of goods and people is made easier.Faki was elected AU chief on Monday by member states after seven rounds of voting, beating candidates from Botswana, Equatorial Guinea, Kenya and Senegal.He replaces South Africa's Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma who is standing down after a single term. Also, the AU has agreed to readmit Morocco 33 years after it quit the bloc, following a difficult debate over the status of Western Sahara, according to presidents attending the summit.“Morocco is now a full member of the African Union. There was a very long debate but 39 of our 54 states approved the return of Morocco, even if the Western Sahara question remains,” Senegalese President Macky Sall told journalists. “As we have said, if the family grows bigger, we can find solutions as a family,” he added.Liberia's President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf confirmed that “the majority of the member states have accepted Morocco's application to rejoin the African Union.”“Africa wants to speak in one voice. We need all African countries to be a part of that voice.”Delegates attending the debate described an emotional and tense discussion, with heavyweights like Algeria and South Africa against the re-admission of Morocco.These nations have long supported the campaign for self-determination by Western Sahara's Polisario movement.Morocco maintains that the former Spanish colony under its control is an integral part of the kingdom, while the Polisario Front, which campaigns for the territory's independence, demands a referendum on self-determination.ChallengesA dark cloud has hung over the AU following Brexit and new American isolationist policies, and has prompted AU officials to call for greater unity among member states and the message is that Africa can only weather this storm by relying on its own resources.In her opening address, Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, the outgoing chairperson of the AU Commission said that “Africa's only protection in these treacherous global waters” is to honour commitments like setting up its own Continental Free Trade area as soon as 2017, the deadline set by the AU. The “neo-conservative pushback” against women's rights and the threat against multi-lateralism calls for the revival and strengthening of “the spirit of pan-Africanism” she said. Abdalla Hamdok, acting director of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, said that “regional co-operation and policy co-ordination for Africa's development cannot be emphasised enough”.These calls – along with statements made from the podium, and the presence of so many heads of states – create a semblance of unity. Yet the AU is more divided than ever. On a number of crucial issues, it is clear that the continent is far from united, and there is little evidence of the pan-African solidarity that prevailed during the early days of the organisation. The consensus politics resulting from a common desire for unity is, to a large extent, a thing of the past.For example, Morocco's membership of the AU has created a stir that pits countries and regions against each other – with apparently little appetite for compromise. On the other hot topic of the summit – namely the election of a new chairperson of the AU Commission – competition among states led to some negative campaigning. Divisions The divisions among the continent's leaders are not only evident when it comes to the big issues and decisions that confront African heads of state. More mundane matters, such as the election of officials for the United Nations system, are also seeing confrontational campaigning as never before.According to an AU insider, key positions at the UN used to be assigned following a lengthy and orderly process whereby proposed names would be circulated months before final decisions were taken at a summit. Consensus would then be reached through a process of give-and-take, and compromises reached long before the vote by the executive council of AU foreign ministers. The vote would be a mere formality.This time round, last-minute candidates who didn't have the endorsement of their regions emerged. Voting by the executive council dragged on for hours on Thursday last week. “This is a breach of the way things are normally done in the AU. Many people think that countries who do this should be sanctioned,” said a former AU ambassador. When the various leaders take up their positions behind the microphone at the official sessions of the summit, they will no doubt repeat the call for Africa to stand together in an increasingly troubled world. They will recall the important steps that have been taken towards greater solidarity on the continent – such as the recent successes by the regional organisation, the Economic Community for West African States to oust the Gambia's ex-president Yahya Jammeh through a show of force and unity among leaders willing to uphold democracy. There is no doubt that this was a major achievement and set a precedent for dealing with leaders who cling to power.They will also point to progress with economic trade blocs – which are increasingly functioning well – and continent-wide campaigns. These include rooting out archaic practices that are harmful to women, or efforts to harness the blue economy; something that also requires countries to stand together.Yet when it comes down to decision-making within the AU, there is still a long way to go. African states are seemingly threatened by increasing globalisation and are clinging to their sovereignty and not budging from their positions, regardless of the consequences.The AU and the new commission that should emerge from this summit can do better to promote the ideals of African solidarity through its leadership and setting an example of unity of purpose. – Additional reporting by ISS Today NAMPA/AFP

It is a new day for the AU

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Namibian Sun 2025-01-15

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It is a new day for the AU

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Namibian Sun 2025-01-15

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