By Enyichukwu Enemanna
United Nations Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres on Saturday addressed the African Union at the ongoing ordinary summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia where he called on the continent’s leaders to take “action for peace” to combat rising violence in DRC and elsewhere.
“I am deeply concerned about the recent rise in violence by armed groups in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo and the rise of terrorist groups in the Sahel and elsewhere,” Guterres told the gathering.
The continent is battling a plethora of challenges, particularly the prolonged drought in The Horn of Africa that has brought about humanitarian crisis as well as violent extremism in the Sahel region and the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) where the M23 rebel group has killed several persons and displaced millions of others, a development that has pitched it against its neighbouring Rwanda and strained the relations between both countries that have accused each other of backing the militia group.
The African Union (AU) meeting is expected to address these issues and work out modalities to strengthen free trade through the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCTA) described as the largest free trade area in the world.
Most of the sessions at the two-day summit will be held behind closed doors at AU headquarters in the Ethiopian capital.
“The mechanisms for peace are faltering,” the UN secretary-general warned. Nevertheless, he urged the bloc to “continue to battle for peace”.
At a meeting on Friday, leaders of the seven-nation East African Community pushed for all armed groups to withdraw from occupied areas in the eastern DRC by the end of next month.
Guterres met with several African leaders on Friday, including Rwandan President Paul Kagame, to discuss in particular the crisis in the Congo.
