32nd AU summit concludes in Addis Ababa

Reuters - The 32nd African Union (AU) Heads of State and Government Summit concluded Monday evening in Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa, with discussions centered on solutions to refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the continent. Chairperson of the AU Commission Moussa Faki Mahamat, in his speech delivered at the closing ceremony, said that refugees and IDPs have become urgent issues that need to be addressed by the governments of African countries. Officials at the AU summit held discussions on the root causes of the issues and sought to find a feasible roadmap for solving the issues, he said. Under the main theme, "Refugees, Returnees and IDPs: Towards Durable Solutions to Forced Displacement in Africa", the two-day session also deliberated on issues related to the ongoing AU institutional reform and African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement among other continental projects and initiatives. Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi, who took over the rotating AU chairmanship from President Paul Kagame of Rwanda at the opening ceremony of the summit, said a major task during his term is to solve the IDPs-related issues, unemployment of the young people and encourage the ratification of the AfCFTA agreement. According to al-Sisi, the AfCFTA is expected to launch during another AU summit to be held in Niger in July. The AU, a 55-member pan-African political body, is headquartered in Addis Ababa. The AU heads of state summit is held twice a year.