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Moussa Faki Mahamat won a second term as head of the executive body of the African Union (AU) at the opening of a two-day virtual summit that is expected to focus on the continent’s pandemic response.
The former Chadian prime minister, who ran unopposed, received support from 51 of 55 member states in Saturday’s secret ballot, officials said.
“Deeply moved by the overwhelming and historic vote of confidence,” Faki tweeted. He also congratulated Monique Nsanzabaganwa, vice-governor of the National Bank of Rwanda, on her election as a deputy.
Deeply humiliated by the overwhelming and historic vote of confidence of AU Member States by voting 51 out of 55 to extend my term as the head of the AUC Commission for another 4 years. My congratulations to @mnsanzabaganwa who was elected vice-president. Together we will. pic.twitter.com/vyf2tCbwSW
Moussa Faki Mahamat (@AUC_MoussaFaki) February 6, 2021
The AU summit comes almost exactly one year after Egypt recorded Africa’s first coronavirus case, sparking widespread fears that weak health systems in member states will be quickly overwhelmed.
But despite early apocalyptic predictions, the continent has been less affected than other regions so far, recording 3.5% of virus cases and 4% of deaths worldwide, according to the African Centers for Control and Prevention. diseases.
However, many African countries are grappling with damaging second waves while struggling to secure sufficient doses of the vaccine.
Al Jazeera’s Malcolm Webb, who has covered AU affairs extensively, said the summit comes at a time when countries on the continent find themselves at the bottom of an “extremely uneven distribution of COVID vaccines -19 in the world ”.
“Experts estimate that the richest countries will have vaccinated most of their populations by some time later this year, and that the world’s poorest countries – many of which are on this continent – will not vaccinate the same amount. of their population before maybe three years after now or maybe never at all, ”said Webb, speaking of Kenya’s capital, Nairobi.
He added that the AU task force has tried to collectively buy vaccines on behalf of other countries – 600 million vaccines, half the number of people living on the continent.
In recent weeks, health experts and political leaders have warned that “the hoarding of vaccines” by rich countries is putting lives at risk in African countries.
“There is vaccine nationalism on the rise, with other rich countries skipping the line, some even pre-ordering more than they need,” Faki said in an interview posted on the website. ‘UA before the summit.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa was due to provide an update on the response to the pandemic during the closed portion of the summit on Saturday.
In a previous speech, he called for “a new injection of resources” from the International Monetary Fund to “correct the flagrant inequality of fiscal stimulus measures between advanced economies and the rest of the world”.
Elections and crises
Nigerian Bankole Adeoye has meanwhile been favored to head the AU’s newly merged political affairs and peace and security departments, diplomats said, though AU rules dividing the most positions. high between sub-regions of Africa could lead to a surprising result.
Whoever wins could play a critical role, along with Faki, in resolving crises that the AU is accused of neglecting.
There are multiple internal conflicts that the AU did not do to resolve.
Its Peace and Security Council has failed to hold meetings on a conflict between government forces and English-speaking separatists in Cameroon, for example, as well as the growing security crisis in northern Mozambique.
A three-month-old conflict in AU host country Ethiopia between Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government and the former ruling party in the northern Tigray region has proved particularly sensitive.
Abiy rejected calls from high-level AU envoys for talks with the Tigrayan leadership, sticking to his line that the conflict is a limited “law and order” operation.
The summit also marks the official start of the one-year AU presidency of the President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Félix Tshisekedi, who replaces Ramaphosa.
Addressing his fellow heads of state and government on Saturday, Tshisekedi pledged to make the AU more relevant by removing it “from the meeting rooms.”
Tshisekedi presented an ambitious agenda that includes responding to climate change, tackling sexual violence, promoting the African Continental Free Trade Area and accelerating his own country’s Grand Inga hydroelectric project, which the AU considers it an important source of electricity for the continent.
But Tshisekedi is also embroiled in a power struggle at home with supporters of his predecessor, Joseph Kabila.
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