EDITORIAL NOTE: Please note, previously we had incorrectly stated that Senegalese President, Macky Sall had taken over from South African President Cyril Ramaphosa instead of Democratic Republic of Congo’s Felix Tshisekedi. This has since been corrected.
Senegalese President Macky Sall has officially taken over the African Union chairmanship from his predecessor, Democratic Republic of Congo President, Felix Tshisekedi.
Senegalese President, Macky Sall takes over as the African Union Chairperson:
Meanwhile, Intelligence operatives in the Democratic Republic of Congo have arrested the security adviser of President Felix Tshisekedi in connection with an alleged attempt to destabilize the country. The arrest of Francois Beya prompted the president to cut short his visit to Ethiopia where he was chairing the African Union summit and return home. SABC’s correspondent has that report from Kinshasa.
The DRC President’s security adviser, Beya was arrested in Kinshasa on Saturday by officers from the national intelligence agency.
The agency has not yet given any reason for his arrest.
But a Congolese human rights activist who visited him says Beya was arrested in connection with an alleged attempt to destabilise the country.
Tshisekedi was chairing an African Union summit in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa when his adviser got arrested.
He had to cut short his visit and return to the capital Kinshasa after learning about it. There are reports of the arrest of other senior military officers as well.
Beya is a powerful official who’s been in the president’s inner circle since 2019. He served under former President Joseph Kabila as the head of the country’s immigration service.
His arrest has shocked many people across the country.
Intelligence operatives in the DRC arrest security adviser of President Felix Tshisekedi:
The African Union summit concluded, earlier on Sunday, with a unanimous condemnation of any unconstitutional changes of governments on the continent.
In the past 18 months there have been six coups or attempted coups in Africa.
The issue of peace and security as well as setting a new public health order in Africa, were also some of the main agenda items.
With much to discuss and many problems to overcome, there was a lot to pack in to this two-day summit.
Dominating large parts of the conversation was the resurgence of unconstitutional changes of government.
So far, four countries where that has happened recently: Guinea, Mali, Sudan and Burkina Faso are suspended from the activities of the African union.-additional reporting by Chris Ocamringa
