Africa's leaders to discuss critical issues at summit

ADDIS ABABA

Africa Heads of State meet in Addis Ababa on Sunday and Monday to a packed agenda in the 30th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the African Union.

This year’s session will focus on governance issues and opening of African airspace to African airlines.

President Uhuru Kenyatta travelled to the Ethiopia capital on Friday evening shortly after he named his Cabinet.

RENEWABLE ENERGY

On Saturday, he joined other leaders for the 5th Board of Directors’ meeting of the Africa Renewable Energy Initiative (Arei).

The meeting, which discussed financing for renewable energy projects and the governance structure of Arei, was also attended by the African Development Bank President Akinwumi Adesina while the Presidents of Egypt and Chad sent representatives.

“What we need is to quickly agree on projects that should be given priority in this area,” President Kenyatta told the meeting that was attended by Presidents Alpha Conde (Guinea) and Hage Geingob (Namibia).

PEACE
President Kenyatta also met with UN Secretary-General António Guterres and discussed regional peace.

Mr Guterres acknowledged the South Sudan peace initiatives spearheaded by the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (Igad) and encouraged member states including Kenya not to give up their efforts.

The UN Secretary-General also called on all the parties involved in the conflict to work together in the search for a lasting solution.

President Kenyatta affirmed Kenya’s commitment to helping move forward the South Sudan peace process.

SECURITY

He assured Mr Guterres that the AU Summit provides an opportunity for Igad leaders to meet and discuss ways of rejuvenating the peace process.

President Kenyatta was also scheduled to chair the 27th Session of the Heads of State and Government participating in the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) forum.

On Sunday he will be among the leaders who will deliberate on the state of peace and security in the continent at the AU’s Peace and Security Council meeting.

Kenya is slated to chair the Peace and Security Council in February.

AU PRESIDENCY
First Lady Margaret Kenyatta will be attending the Organisation of African First Ladies Against Aids (OaflaA) General Assembly on the sidelines of the AU Assembly.

Current AU President Alpha Conde of Guinea is also expected to hand over the mantle to Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame – in what is a yearly rotation of the presidency.

But key to the summit will be the efforts to open Eastern Africa region airspace to African airlines.

On Sunday morning there will be official launch of the Single African Air Transport Market.

TRANSPORT
Experts believe opening the skies across the continent will impact positively on the regions and continent’s economic growth.

Kenya, Ethiopia and Rwanda are the regional states that have already signed the AU Solemn Declaration to unconditionally open their air transport markets to African airlines.

Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi, Eritrea and Sudan are yet to sign the commitments to the open skies movement.

They are however part of the 44 African states that adopted the Yamoussoukro Declaration of 1999, which calls for open skies across the continent.

AVIATION POLICY
AU’s Commissioner for Infrastructure and Energy Abou Zeid Amani said airlines of the 23 countries that have subscribed to this African aviation policy are this season entitled to conduct their business into the market.

“We expect an additional two or three countries to sign their commitment to create a single air transport market across Africa by relaxing the market access during the ongoing AU Summit,” she said.

In 2015, the African Civil Aviation Commission and International Air Transport Association commissioned a study about the benefits of full air transport liberalisation among the five East African Committee (EAC) countries (Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania and Kenya).

EMPLOYMENT

The research showed that complete liberalisation of air transport among the EAC Member States could result in an addition 46,320 jobs, billions of shillings per annum gain in Gross Domestic product, traffic increase by 46 per cent, fares reduction by nine per cent and increase in frequency by 41 per cent on average.

Additionally, Africa’s eight busiest airports are among 10 that are found within the current single market of the 23 countries.

They include Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Republic of Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Egypt, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Swaziland, Togo, Zimbabwe among others. 

Additional reporting by Wanjohi Githae