The 29th ordinary summit of the African Union (AU) heads of state and government has officially opened in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia under new leadership elected in January 2017.
The new Chairperson’s of both the AU commission and the Assembly of the Union of heads of state and government, Mousa Faki Mahamat and President Alpha Conde of Guinea respectively both addressed the Summit.
The two leaders called on member states of the continental union to unite and work together in order to achieve peace and development as envisaged the AU’s agenda 2063.
As Chairperson of the Peace and Security Council, President Edgar Lungu gave a report on the state of peace on the continent under the theme, silencing the guns in Africa.
And President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe called on African leaders to wean the AU from donor dependency to create ownership of development on the continent.
The Zimbabwean president handed a cheque of $1 million to the African Union (A.U.) Foundation as part of efforts aimed at lessening the body’s dependence on foreign aid.
The 93-year-old formally handed over the cheque to the A.U. Commission (AUC) chairperson, Moussa Faki Mahamat, on the floor of the AU headquarters during the 29th Heads of State summit in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.
The amount had been raised from the sale of cattle donated by Zimbabwean farmers following an appeal by Mugabe to help the A.U. self fund its operations.
Meanwhile, President Edgar Lungu was last night was among several heads of state and government that attended the African Union committee of ten (C10) summit, which was called ahead of the 29th Ordinary summit, which has kicked off in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia today.
The meeting was called to follow up on the Committee of ten summit held in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea in May 2017.
During the open session of the Summit, Chairperson of the C10 group, President Ernest Koroma of Siraleone commended President Edgar Lungu and other heads of state that attended the Malabo.
“Let me thank the President of Zambia, Namibia, Equatorial Guinea and Congo who themselves attended the summit in Malabo and made valuable contributions to the meeting,” he said.
ZANIS reports that President Koroma called on members of the group to fully commit to the ideals of the group in order to achieve its mandate.
“Those of you that attended the Malabo meeting will remember that one of the conclusions was that we need to reenergize our efforts engagement in pursuing our mandate of the position of the C10 to be adopted,” said President Koroma.
The summit later went into a closed session in which a report of the Malabo summit was adopted.
And President Edgar Lungu’s Special Assistant for Press and Public Relations Amos Chanda disclosed that the C10 leaders reaffirmed the position of the C10 summit to push for reforms in the UN Security Council.
“The leaders of the summit met yesterday and reaffirmed a common position that the United Nations must accelerate reforms in the Security Council, if this does not happen quickly it will reinforce the view that Africa is marginalized,” he said.
Mr Chanda revealed that a report of the Malabo summit which seeks to strengthen the levels of engagement by the C10 in the quest for permanent representation in UN Security Council was adopted as a common position of the Committee of ten.
The AU committee of ten is a grouping of 10 countries drawn from each region of the continent mandated to spearhead Africa’s pursuit for permanent representation at the UN Security Council.
Dictatorship. Only the real son of soil hh is not there as he is fighting for Africas liberation. Africans are not chained by the westerners .it is our fellow African leaders who have enslaved and robbed Africa. Chaps like lungu
Mugabe died 25 years ago, that’s his doppelganger! Africa, you have been taken once again! However, Mugabe’s body is in Cryogenics in the US, awaiting thawing.
Nude princess you are not taking your medication again! Or maybe your psychiatrist needs to make some adjustments to your dosage.
If you have no clue what a state of confusion is, have a look at 1.1.
Take note that only Presidents of people and not cows are there. HH is busy fighting for freedom from lice, how can he be in Addis As who anyway !!!!
So the report from Edgar was about being accepted as president.
I see almost all participants were dossing off except Edgar.
Donating a million dollars by the country with no economy to talk about. Lungu help resolve the tension here home more important than worrying about other countries.
Its immoral for AU to accept Mugabe’s check when Zimbabweans are starving.
We have too many of these useless talkshops (AU, SADC, Comesa, ECOWAS, EAC, etc) and yet the Chinese are taking over the continent.
Actually AU should change it’s acronym to DC (dictator’s club). That’s why the democratic and prosperous Botswana does not attend this bull.
By the way has Mugabe read the report that says China is the new preferred destination of African students?
What a way of weaning ourselves of dependence when the idyots are destroying our education.
Let him continue who cares
How can Africa get liberated from dependency syndrome when MUGABE AND HIS PARTY MEMBERS ARE BUSSY LOOTING THE NATION’S RESOURCES. NEVER, NOT IN THIS MILLENIUM. ONCE CHINESE ARE PAID BACK FOR THE RESOURECES THEY ARE LOANING US IN 300 YEARS, THE ARABS WILL TAKE OVER AND ENSLAVE US FOR ANOTHER 300 YEARS. AFTER THAT IT WILL BE SOUTH AMAERICANS FOR ANOTHER 300 YEARS.
Mugabe the expired leader giving modern advice. Hmm. Lots we can learn from Zimbabwe. We need better leaders in Africa. In Zambia we have a waste of taxpayer money who is ever travelling and promoting injustice, brings politics of hate mainly because many disapprove of actions and how he came to win the elections
@NEZ, His Excellency, President Lungu of The Republic Of Zambia, is a Leader among Leaders calling for silencing of the Guns in Africa. What can you and your friends have against Peace in Zambia? What HH is not president? Come on.
The call to vanquish a Dependency on Donor Aid is an apt and important call for Africa. We must be supporting this.
Nothing excellent about him
@patriot abroad: i totally agree with you.Africa should be weaned from donor dependency, Zambia should reduce borrowing from the western countries.
A gathering of tyrants, despots, racists, evil thugs, Murderous devils, failurs, sycophants.
They all have nothing to show the world. They lack any sense of shame.
Nothing will come out of this gathering either.
Walasa muntu wandi. ..I mean accepting a check of $1m from a dictator by an organization like AU at the expense of poor Zimbabweans leaves me speechless. This goes to show how these African leaders view their people and just how deep corruption is embedded in their DNA. Where is AU about the disputed elections in Zambia. Where is AU when a sitting President falsely accuses an opposition leader for treason…??? AU is a body full of thugs.
MUGABE IS ONE OF THE STRONGEST LEADERS ON THE CONTINENT. HE HAS PASSED THROUGH THIN AND THICK AND STILL STANDING STRONG. I LOVE THE MAN.
You love for strange people is shocking this man has single handedly distroyed Zimbabwe!
Peter if you love that monkey Mugabe why are you hiding in the UK?
How can these chipmunks wean us off aid when they have failed to run our airlines ,develop industries and rid our cities of dirty places like Misisi ,Matero and Kalingalinga?
Heck ,we’ve been dependent on the same low return industries of agriculture ,oil and minerals thus totally failing to make inroads into intellectual property industries like software ,semiconductors and big pharma.
How about you revert the Zimbabwean currency to Zim dollar instead of using the USA currency. Probably and probably then will we start paying attention to your tantrums. You mean there are no young Zimbabweans being groomed to take over from you? Are you kidding me?
That picture of European carbon copies in jackets and ties is not inspiring. At least Kaunda and Nyerere refrained from being 100 perecent European imitators. Only the west Africans seem to be proud of their cultural dress.
Yes dress identifies who you are. It also hides who you are. You can deny your real self through dress. Those scared of their true nature will always imitate others
UPNDonkeys….if you need addirional confirmation look at @1. U5 is in Chimbokaila fighting for his personal freedom to return to his house in Ibex hill to enjoy his bedroom rights and some cretin of a donkey calls it fighting for the liberation of Africa! How can UPNDonkeys ever rule Zambia if they don’t know that AU members are all independent countries? You donkeys are a disgrace. AU members are now fighting for economic development, the very things that UPNDonkeys are now burning and destroying!
No single country in Africa has spoken for that cretin donkey U5, and you hate AU for that. But that is a broader form of tribalism and inferiority complex that can only practised by UPNDonkeys, because even in the rest of the world not even a single leader has spoken for your underfive donkey. Since you are (UPN)Donkeys incapable of reasoningblet me Terrible interpret that for you:
The world leaders are telling you that they cannot tolerate disrespect for authority, or worse still, attempts on a President’s life no matter how well disguised it is because if they did it can also happen to them. The world leaders are telling you UPNDonkeys that a President is the embodiment of a country, it is not Lungu or Trump, and it would not be underfive in the imaginary event that he became…
……. The world leaders are telling you UPNDonkeys that a President is the embodiment of a country, it is not Lungu or Trump, and it would not be underfive in the imaginary event that he became President of a country called southern zambolina.
And as donkeys you wonder why no world leader has ever mentioned or will ever mention tge correction of underfive. Remember one European High commissioner described underfive as “reckless behaviour” in referring to his arrest and charge?
Robert, the cheque you donated is denominated in the US currency and you talk about weaning yourselves from western donors. Shame.
I can see though you.Trying to silence the assembly with your bribe. You have outlived your usefulness. Only LPM had a spine to challenge your despotic tendencies, not these spineless misleaders who cheer you on.
Africa is like a woman who turns to prostitution to survive. She is beyond redemption. She has become addicted and dependant on America, Europe and now China.
The men in suits in the picture are the pimps that keep Africa in prostitution.
You know your lack of shame has become a disease as a continent when it takes a 93 year old man to tell you to have some self-respect an wean your donor dependency.
Donating $1m????
Mugabe is heartless Dictator indeed. He only thinks about himself and his legacy and meanwhile millions of Zimbabweans have no jobs,no incomes and sleeping hungry daily. This is what Lungu is learning from Mugabe and Mu7. Lungu aspires to be a fully fledged Dictator who can use taxpayers money as he wishes and enrich himself and become a Billionaire in record time. Zambia is doomed under Dictator and Sadist Lungu.
I am glad that Lungu is by the exit door. His time to exit is near
Anything wrong Mugabe giving $1m to the AU. You president want to build a state house for himself when people are dying because hospitals lack medicine. First sort you own problems than degrade others.
I just wonder why africans cannot even manage to fund themselves , yet we all know that has all the natural resources in their continent .
Whom are they waiting for to do their work all countries in the world developed on their own you dont need thinkers to come and think for you to feed your children in your house .
Africa must learn from how other continents have excelled in development while they continue to sleep.
Where did Mugabe get $1million from when his Country is so poor. Why donate such to AU instead of buying Panadol for his subjects in his country?
The 1 Million USD cheque is for the AU Dictator party that is happening over the next few days. But one thing has any one tried cashing it??? maybe it will bounce………….