07 February 2019•Update: 08 February 2019
By Addis Getachew and Seleshi Tessema
ADDIS ABABA
Africa should accelerate building its own institutions in order to withstand U.S.-style unilateralism and preserve its place on the world stage African Union (AU) officials said on Thursday.
Chairman of the AU Commission Moussa Faki Mahamat said in a speech that the rise of unilateralism as exemplified by the U.S. under President Donald Trump left African countries no alternative but to "close ranks."
Moussa made the opening speech of the 34th session of the AU Executive Council -- a meeting of foreign ministers -- in which the agenda was set for an upcoming AU leaders’ summit to be held on Sunday.
In the summit which is to focus on refugees and internally displaced persons, leaders will discuss a spate of issues ranging from the resolution of various conflicts to a continent-wide bank and a single passport.
Moussa further stressed that the continent needed to accelerate activities towards establishing common institutions such as the African Monetary Fund and the African Central Bank so as to withstand emerging global conditions in terms of economy and trade.
He said progress on the African Continental Free Trade Area showed encouraging progress as it is now set to go into force "in a few weeks."
The continent’s bid for a common civil aviation regulatory framework and a single passport would be "major steps to speed up the process of integration," he said.
Africa hosts 37 percent of worldwide refugees
UN Economic Commission for Africa Executive Secretary Vera Songwe said the 2019 AU summit theme "speaks to the deep fractures of humanity."
"Today, in our union we have 14.7 million internally displaced people and 7.3 million refugees," she said.
She added that two million people -- mainly from the Central African Republic, Nigeria, South Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo and Somalia -- were displaced in the first half of 2018 alone.
Underlining that Africa shouldered the greatest amount of displaced people per capita, Songwe said the continent hosted about 37 percent of the world’s 19.6 million refugees with 39.1 million internally displaced people.
"Together Asia and Africa host about 97 of the world refugee population and three-quarters of the world’s internally displaced population," she said.
She praised recent bill endorsed by the Ethiopian parliament to grant refugees special rights such as access to jobs, education.
Palestine visibility
Meanwhile, the State of Palestine, which is an observer at the AU, displayed an exhibition of photographs and paintings in the lobby of the AU Headquarters in Addis Ababa.
The gallery was themed on images of Palestine prior to its Arab population being driven out by the new state of Israel.
The AU as a bloc unequivocally supports the State of Palestine.
