The pandemic is one of the highlights of the two-day summit debate. The African Union launched its 34th summit on Saturday but this year the 55-member pan-African bloc are meeting virtually due to coronavirus. While several countries on the continent have started vaccination programmes, it has been much slower than in developed nations.
Since the outbreak in March, the continent has registered more than 3 million infections, and economics has shocks and shutdowns. The bloc summit was held by South African President Cyril Ramphosa who said that, despite IMF and world bank resources, more needs to be done, particularly access to loans on favourable lines.
The summit will also discuss security concerns in Africa, in the Sahel, Libya, South Sudan and Somalia as well. It is also proposed that the leaders nominate the chairman of the African Union Commission and vote on six commissioners. The outgoing President of the Union Moussa Faki Mahamat has taken over the helm from South Africa to serve as the one-year chair of the Union for the second term of office.
Data source: Africa news
