AU assembly: “peace”, a goal of Macky Sall’s 1-year term

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The African Union assembly came to an end on Sunday with new chairperson Macky Sall devoting his one-year term to “peace”

The 35th Ordinary Session of the African Union Assembly had many key moments over the weekend in Addis Ababa.

African leaders took the opportunity to review problems that affected the continent last year as Senegal’s President, Macky Sall, took over as the new AU chairperson.

Speaking during his inaugural, he presented peace as the main goal of his one-year term: “Our challenges are still far too numerous and urgent whether it be peace or security, unconstitutional changes of government, the protection of the environment, health as well as the economic and social development. We can turn a blind eye to the many grieving families, the lost lives, millions of displaced people, or refugees. We can look away from schools and health institutions that are closed or the torn fabric of social cohesion. Common sense commands us to silence guns and build, build a culture of dialogue and mediation through African mechanisms of conflict resolution.”

As the annual African Union summit drew to a close, the resurgence of coups in Western Africa was one of the hot topics of the summit. The observer status granted to the state of Israel was also placed in the discussion.

The AU formed a committee to re-examine this status later.