By Daily News Reporter and AgenciesTHE African Union (AU) Ordinary Session of Heads of State and Government started in Addis Ababa yesterday with pleas to have coordinated and collective responses to the continent's threats.
Chairperson of the AU Commission, Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, named the threats as terrorism, modern slavery in the guise of human trafficking; poaching, illegal logging and fishing and the destruction and plunder of African natural resources.
President Jakaya Kikwete arrived in Addis Ababa on Thursday evening ready for the session where African leaders also chose the continent's oldest head of state, Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe, as AU chairman for the coming year.
Mr Mugabe drew applause when he denounced colonialism. The chairperson started and ended her speech in Kiswahili which is spoken by various communities inhabiting the African Great Lakes region and other parts of Southeast Africa, including Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Mozambique and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
"Terrorism, in particular the brutality of Boko Haram against our people, the senseless killings, the destruction of property, the enslavement and sale of our people, our girls kidnapped and married and the terrorisation of villages are a threat to our collective safety, security and development," she said.
This, along with the senseless killings of our people, has now spread beyond Nigeria to Cameroon, Chad and Niger and requires a response that is collective, effective and decisive to achieve the desired results, she added.
"As we discuss the situations in Somalia, Libya, Mali, South Sudan and DRC, we should remind ourselves that on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the OAU, we vowed that we shall not bequeathed war and violence to the next generation of Africans," she noted.
Dr Zuma went on to state that it is imperative that Africans deny space to those who are bent on destroying the lives and prospects of Africans.
"This will require concerted efforts to unite our people. The core of our solution rests in our ability to speedily champion tolerant, accountable, democratic and inclusive political cultures and inclusive social and economic development," she observed.