President Cyril Ramaphosa has led the South African delegation to the 11th extraordinary summit set for the 17th and 18th.
The summit will discuss how to reform the African Union and make it more efficient by adopting fewer priorities.
President Ramaphosa arrived in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on Saturday morning, accompanied Finance Minister Tito Mboeni.
He joins other heads of state at the AU headquarters for the agenda of the day, the African union reform agenda, and an effort to spearhead by Rwanda President Paul Kagame since 2016.
Paul Kagame says:” The purpose of the extraordinary summit is to advance the institutional reform of our union. Events on our continent and across the world continue to confirm the urgency and necessity of this project. The goal is simple to make Africa stronger and give our people the future they deserve”
The heads of state have also decided that the New Partnership for Africa’s Development, NEPAD agency, be transformed to be the African union Development Agency.
They will deliberate on its new mandate. The leaders also admit that the over 70% funding of the African union budget from donors needs to be covered with financing from African members states themselves.
Prime minister of Ethiopia Abiy Ahmed says:” The financing decision remains the heart of the reform. The road to financial independence is long and complicated, and our political commitment to fully implement the financing decision must be continually re affirmed.”
The reform agenda suggests that the African reduces its priorities to only four, peace and security, political affairs, economic integration and developing one voice on global issues.
The urgent need to reform the operation of the African Union comes in the wake of over 1500 resolutions made by the AU assembly over time but majority remain unimplemented.
President Cyril Ramaphosa has this morning arrived in Addis Ababa, Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, for the 11th Extraordinary Session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union, scheduled for 17 to 18 November 2018. https://t.co/QJDjChf4dv pic.twitter.com/Dvs0oZMygl
— PresidencyZA (@PresidencyZA) November 17, 2018
