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UN secretary general Antonio Guterres called for Africa to take “action for peace” to combat rising violence as the continent’s leaders held their annual summit in Addis Ababa.
UN secretary general Antonio Guterres called for Africa to take “action for peace” to combat rising violence as the continent’s leaders held their annual summit in Addis Ababa. Africa is reeling from a record drought in the Horn and deadly violence in the Sahel region and the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), with the African Union (AU) meeting aiming to address these issues and jumpstart a faltering free trade pact. Most of the sessions at the two-day summit were held behind closed doors at AU headquarters in the Ethiopian capital.
Guterres expressed his deep concerns over 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. The mechanisms for peace are faltering, warned the secretary-general. But he urged the bloc to continue to battle for peace.
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But all eyes are on the AU to see if it can achieve ceasefires in the Sahel and the eastern DRC where the M23 militia has seized swathes of territory and sparked a diplomatic row between Kinshasa and Rwanda’s government, which is accused of backing the rebels. Guterres met with several African leaders, including Rwandan President Paul Kagame, to discuss in particular the crisis in the Congo.
