President Cyril Ramaphosa has committed to ensuring peace and security on the continent. He was speaking at the African Union (AU) after taking over the chairpersonship.
Ramaphosa has announced that in May this year, South Africa will convene an extraordinary summit on “Silencing the Guns” and to assess the progress made to end conflicts. He says the conflicts in Libya and South Sudan are pressing issues.
“We will work with President Deni Sassa Ngeuesso in his capacity as the Chairperson of the AU High Level Committee on Libya to convene an intra-Libyan conference to promote ceasefire and dialogue. We will continue to work with the parties in South Sudan with a view to implementing the outstanding issues of the revitalized agreement in order to pave the way for the government of national unity,” says Ramaphosa.
On behalf of the men and women of South Africa, I graciously accept your collective decision that I should chair the @_AfricanUnion in 2020- President @CyrilRamaphosa
33rd #AUSummit#SilencingTheGuns pic.twitter.com/KE37AYV2JN— African Union (@_AfricanUnion) February 9, 2020
The @_AfricanUnion Chairperson @CyrilRamaphosa “We must deal with the action of countries outside our continent that are fighting proxy wars and fuelling ongoing conflicts on our continent” #SilencingTheGuns @PresidencyZA @AUC_MoussaFaki
— African Union (@_AfricanUnion) February 9, 2020
Earlier, President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt handed over the chairpersonship of the continental body to President Cyril Ramaphosa during the Opening Session of the AU Assembly.
The African Union Summit is currently ongoing in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa, with heads of state across the African continent in attendance.
Amongst the guests in attendance is United Nations (UN) Secretary General Antonio Guterres and Canadian President Justin Trudeau.
