Egypt's presidency of AU comes amid challenges, OLC

CAIRO – 10 February 2019: Egypt’s Abdel Fatah al Sisi would officially receive the presidency of the African Union from his Rwandan counterpart Paul Kagame at the inauguration of the 32nd summit of the AU, the head of the office of the legal counsel of the AU (OLC), Namira Negm, told Egypt Today.

The summit is scheduled to take place from February 10 to 11 in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa under the theme “The year of refugees, returnees, and international displaced persons - towards durable solutions to forced displacement in Africa.”

The president would give a speech right receiving the AU presidency, followed by the start of the summit sessions, added Negm.

The summit is expected to deliberate on several issues on top of them, the sustainable development on the continent in the light of “2063 development agenda”, peaceful devolution of power and preservation of peace and security on the continent, said Negm.

Negm pointed out that the African leaders would discuss the reports of the African Peace and Security Council and the implementation of the AU road map capable of ending curb civil armed conflicts on the continent by the end of 2020.

African leaders would study the means to implement several common projects and legal agreements in order to boost cooperation between the continent’s states, said Negm. The legal counsel added that the leaders would discuss launching international institutions as sub-organizations for the AU, like the African Space Agency.

The leaders would submit their reports on different topics such as terrorism, education, health and climate change to be discussed during the summit, said Negm to Egypt Today.

Negm asserted that the AU has many partners looking forward to fund its activities such as Europe, India and China, however, there is an agreement to have the AU activities funded by the member states.