Pretoria – African Union (AU) leaders, including President Jacob Zuma, are meeting this morning for their 17th summit that will focus on the leadership crises in Libya, Sudan and Somalia, as well as accelerating youth empowerment.
The meeting, which kicks off in Equatorial Guinea’s capital Malabo, will see leaders thrashing out a way forward for Libya, amid mounting calls for Muammar Gaddafi to leave office.
It is highly anticipated that the arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) – which has been labeled as adding fuel to the already raging fire – and the supply of weapons to rebels and NATO-led air raids in Libya, will be put on the table for discussion.
The summit will consider a report by an AU panel of leaders tackling the Libyan conflict. The high-level ad hoc committee, which Zuma is a part of, announced after a crisis meeting at the weekend that Gaddafi had agreed to stay out of talks on an interim regime for his country.
The panel on Libya met on Sunday in Pretoria on mediation efforts to end the four-month conflict, after Zuma’s visit to Tripoli last month.
Containing flaring tensions in Sudan ahead of the south of the country’s independence on July 9 will be another task for the African leaders.
The situation in Somalia will also be on the agenda. About 9 000 African troops from Uganda and Burundi are protecting a part of the Somali capital Mogadishu, where the Islamist rebels of Al-Shabab are battling to overthrow the western-backed government.
A discussion on Zimbabwe’s roadmap to the polls is also expected to take place.
The official theme of the summit is youth development, and it will cut across several issues, including peace on the continent, climate change, food security and economic development.
The theme of the summit is of particular importance to South Africa, more so as it coincides with the country’s Youth Month celebration, the month dedicated to youth development.
The theme is therefore consistent with South Africa’s commitment to working towards advancing youth development. – BuaNews
