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Rwandan President Paul Kagame, who led the active presidency of the reformist Union for the presidency of the African Union, pbades the torch to Egypt on Sunday deemed more likely to focus on security issues that extend the powers of the body.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi will officially badume the post of AU ceremonial president, who will replace the five regions of the continent at the start of a two-day summit in Addis Ababa.
Although multiple crises on the continent are on the agenda of the heads of state of the 55 member countries, the summit will also focus on institutional reforms and the establishment of a free zone. – exchange on the continent scale.
The Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA) was approved by 44 countries in March 2018, but only 19 countries have ratified it, but it takes 22 to enter into force.
The Single Market is a flagship element of the AU Agenda 2063 Program, designed as a strategic framework for socio-economic transformation.
Cairo supports the initiative, but badysts say it will be less likely to focus on the financial and administrative reforms proposed by Kagame.
Sisi should, however, focus more on security, peacekeeping and post-war reconstruction, issues closely related to the theme of the AU for 2019 titled "Refugees, Returnees and People". displaced in their own country ".
"Egypt has an interest in Africa, they want to strengthen their position on the African continent and do not want to be seen as a country focused solely on the Arab world," said Liesl Louw-Vaudran, an badyst at the Institute. Security Studies.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Saturday that peaceful elections in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mali and Madagascar, as well as peace agreements in South Sudan and the Central African Republic, and the truce between the United Nations and the United States, will take place in the country. Ethiopia and Eritrea witnessed a "wind of hope" on the continent.
Kagame, who has led the institutional reforms since 2016, has advocated for a continent – wide import tax to finance the AU and reduce its dependence on external donors. , which still fund more than half of the annual budget of the institution.
But member states resisted this with the reform of the AU Commission, its executive body. In November 2018, most states rejected a proposal to give the President of the Commission of the African Union the power to appoint MPs and commissioners.
Like other regional heavyweights, Nigeria and South Africa, Egypt does not like the AU much, an African diplomat told AFP.
Especially because Cairo has "never forgotten" its suspension in 2013 after the withdrawal of Islamist President Mohamed Morsi by the Egyptian army, which became in 2012 the first democratically elected president of the country, said the Diplomat.
"Traditionally, the leaders of great powers have not really helped the position of president of the AU because they do not want a too strong or intrusive AU," Elissa Jobson said. the International Crisis Group.
"The AU and the AU commission are as strong as its members want.In contrast to the EU, African countries have not transferred some of their sovereignty to the EU. 39; UA ".
Kagame suffered a fatal blow from the AU after expressing "serious doubts" about the results of the recent presidential election in the Democratic Republic of Congo, officially won by Felix Tshisekedi.
Although also challenged by the Catholic Church, the results were validated by the Constitutional Court of the DRC and hailed by the mainland heavyweights of South Africa, Kenya, and Egypt.
"All of this has been embarrbading for the AU, it has shown the limits of what the president of the AU can do," Jobson said.
Amnesty International is concerned that the Egyptian presidency will undermine AU human rights mechanisms.
"During his tenure, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has shown a shocking disregard for human rights, under his leadership, the country has suffered a catastrophic decline of rights and freedoms," he said. said Najia Bounaim, director of Amnesty Campaigns for North Africa.
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