07 Feb 2019

President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi leaves today for Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to attend the 32nd African Union (AU) summit scheduled for February 10-11.

The  summit, themed “The year of refugees, returnees and internally displaced persons: Towards durable solutions to forced displacement in Africa” will be following a two-day ordinary session of the executive council which started yesterday.

 In an interview with Ministry of International Affairs and Cooperation permanent secretary, Mr Gaeimelwe Goitsemang said the session, the 34th to be held, was attended by ministers of AU countries.

He said Southern African Development Community (SADC) member states met on February 6 to take a position on issues on the summit agenda.

SADC, Mr Goitsemang said, played a pivotal role in ensuring due process in line with the African Constitutive Act during the ongoing AU institutional reforms.

He said during the discussion on a policy study on Western Sahara,  SADC’s position was that no country in Africa should be under colonial rule. Mr Goitsemang said the meeting agreed that a solidarity conference on Western Sahara would be convened in South Africa next month.

Also discussed, he said, was scale assessment on how AU could prudently manage its resources and ensuring that member states paid their contributions.  He said committees had been established to ensure AU became a high performing organisation.

The meeting also discussed reports on peace and security in Africa because in the absence of peace and security, there would be no development, Mr Goitsemang said. Ends