Leaders of African Countries Arriving in Addis for AU Summit

Addis Ababa February 17/2023/ENA/ Presidents of African countries are arriving in Addis Ababa to take part in the 36th African Union Summit.

Chad President Mahamat Idris Déby, Central Africa Republic President Faustin-Archange Touadéra, Namibia President Hage Gottfried Geingob, Zimbabwe President Emmerson Mnangagwa, and Niger President Mohammed Bazouma arrived in Addis Ababa this afternoon.

Also, Djibouti President Ismaïl Omar Guelleh, Equatorial Guinea President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo and Gabon President Ali Bongo Ondimba arrived late in the afternoon.

Presidents of Kenya, Mauritania and Cape Verde have arrived early in the morning.

The current Chairperson of the African Union and President of Senegal, Macky Sall, and the Secretary General of United Nations, António Guterres, are in Addis Ababa to partake at the summit.

Senior government officials of Ethiopia welcomed the leaders and the secretary general.

Recall that African heads of state and government have been arriving in Addis Ababa since yesterday.

Several other leaders of AU member countries, including presidents of Rwanda, Angola, Lesotho, Guinea-Bissau, Burundi, Comoros, and Sierra Leone as well as the vice president of Uganda arrived on Thursday .

The summit that will be held on Saturday and Sunday is expected to adopt various protocols aimed at accelerating full implementation of Africa’s free trade area among other crucial continental issues.

The AfCFTA is one of the flagship projects of Agenda 2063 designed with a view to significantly boost intra-Africa trade, particularly trade in value-added production and trade across all sectors of Africa’s economy.