By Seleshi Tessema and Addis Getachew

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia

A shift to peace and cooperation is taking place in Africa, said the UN head on Saturday after meeting with Moussa Faki Mahamat, chair of the African Union Commission.

“The wind of change is blowing in Africa, as exemplified in peace agreements between Ethiopia and Eritrea, South Sudan and the Central African Republic … and working together with the African Union on the Democratic Republic of Congo and Madagascar,” said UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres at African Union headquarters in Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital.

This cooperation aims at the African Union goal “of making the guns fall silent by 2020. And our cooperation will continue,” he added.

“Strategic cooperation between the UN and the African Union is the fundamental essence of the UN’s global function,” he said, also citing cooperation to fight climate change.

A high-profile dialogue and panel discussion was also held at African Union headquarters a day ahead of Sunday’s scheduled announcement by African leaders declaring 2019 the year of Refugees, Returnees and Internally Displaced Persons.

At the panel, Filippo Grande, the UN high commissioner for refugees, said there would be no solution to the crisis of displacement without a political commitment.