AU summit in Addis Ababa ignores Nile dam crisis
The 35th African Union Summit was held in Addis Ababa to discuss peace and security issues in Africa, but the Grand Ethiopian Renassiance Dam was not on the agenda.
CAIRO — Even as negotiations on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) remain stalled, the 35th African Union (AU) Summit was held on Feb. 5-6 at AU headquarters in Addis Ababa. The summit did not tackle the GERD crisis, which has been strongly disputed between Cairo, Khartoum and Addis Ababa for more than a decade in Africa.
Heads of states and governments from the 55 AU member states participated in the summit’s meetings, including Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry.
The agenda of the summit focused on African peace and security-related issues and the repeated military coups in Africa. Four coups occurred within 10 months in the western part of the continent, including in Burkina Faso, Mali and Guinea, as well as a failed coup in Niger.
The agenda also included the repercussions of COVID-19, the member states’ positions on the decision to grant Israel official observer status at the AU, migration, poverty and economic integration.
