Because of the covid-19 pandemic, whose second wave is affecting the African continent much more severely, representatives of the organization's 55 member states will not travel to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on 6 and 7 February, where the headquarters are located. African Union.
The summit will take place online and the agenda will focus on the "African cultural heritage" and address the organization's response to the covid-19 pandemic, which has already caused more than 93,000 deaths and more than 3.6 million registered infections on the continent.
Out of the program, due to the constraints related to the format of the summit, issues of peace and security, which usually occupy a large part of the agenda of the annual summits of the organization, should remain this year.
In addition to the transition of the rotating presidency of the African Union of South Africa to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), all attention should be focused on the election of the new president and vice president of the African Union Commission, the main executive body of the organization. .
The presidency of the Commission is disputed only by Chadian Moussa Faki Mahamat, who is looking for a re-election that is not guaranteed, since he will have to get the approval of two thirds of the countries.
Elected four years ago, Moussa Faki claims to have the support of the French-speaking countries and, among the Portuguese-speaking countries, at least Cape Verde has already publicly declared his vote to him.
However, Southern African countries have a critical understanding of the performance of the current chairman of the commission, which if he does not obtain the necessary support will allow the AU to open the seat to other candidates.
Moussa Faki and his team will then be provisionally in charge of the organization until the next elective summit that is due to take place in six months.
The current President of the Commission officially announced his candidacy just over two weeks ago and has been campaigning diplomatically with the Member States, having traveled to several countries, including Cape Verde or Sierra Leone.
The African Union was created on 11 July 2000 to replace the Organization of African Unity (OAU), founded on 25 May 1963, and currently brings together 55 member states, including Portuguese-speaking Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, Mozambique and São Tomé and Príncipe.
The organization's presidency rotates between countries for a period of one year and executive management is ensured by a committee consisting of a president, a vice president and eight commissioners, elected for four-year terms.
The heads of state and government of the 55 member states meet annually in assembly at the organization's headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
