African Union Malabo Summit: Key Takeaways

The 23rd African Union (AU) Summit took place on 26-27 June at Malabo, the capital of Equatorial Guinea. Although the theme of the summit was “2014 Year of Agriculture and Food Security”, a number of important issues were discussed.

First, the AU summit marked the resumption of Egypt’s participation in the AU. Egypt was suspended from the African Union after its elected government was overthrown by the military in 2013. After almost a year of suspension, Egypt was reinstated in African Union in early June. This reinstatement comes after the successful culmination of democratic elections in Egypt that has brought General Abel Fattah El Sisi to power. However there remain fears that Egypt’s reinstatement has set a bad precedent. These fears are driven by the fact that Sisi, the elected President of Egypt was the army chief and country’s defence minister when the unconstitutional change of the government took place. Under the provisions of an African Union rule adopted during the 14th summit in 2010, perpetrators of unconstitutional change of government are barred from participating in subsequent elections.1 It is feared that this disregard of the AU norm may undermine the application of this rule in future. It poses a risk of others in Africa following the example of Egypt to legitimise unconstitutional seizure of power by conducting elections.

Second, during the summit the African heads of State set forth concrete goals to be reached by 2025 on the crucial issue of agriculture and food security.2 In her address the AU chairperson Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma called agriculture and food security a critical priority for Africa and also an important part of the AU long term vision Agenda 2063. The summit also reiterated the commitments made under the Comprehensive African Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) launched in 2003. They also committed to ending hunger and halving poverty by 2025 through inclusive agricultural growth. They recommended measures that included maintaining an annual agricultural growth rate of 6 per cent; continued allocation of 10 percent of the government budget to agriculture; adoption of climate resilient farming techniques; enhancing public- private partnership with strong linkage to small holders and to create employment for 30 percent of the youth in the agricultural value chains. However it is to be noted that in the last ten years, while the agricultural production has increased, it still remains below the 6 percent annual growth target. Moreover most of the AU governments have not been able to achieve the target of allocating 10 percent of their spending towards agriculture so far. Also the African leaders have yet not been able to set common standards for measuring this 10 percent limit. At present, due to lack of common definition of agriculture expenditure and diverse sources of data used, the results vary. The decision to create a more enabling environment for private sector investment in agriculture and agribusiness sector is a welcome move. Similarly the call for supporting small scale farmers is also laudable.

Third, in the wake of devastating terror strikes in Kenya and Nigeria, peace and security issues, particularly the threat of cross-border terrorism, dominated the discussions during the summit. From Sahel, Horn of Africa and Central Africa extremist groups such as Boko Haram, Al Qaeda in Maghreb (AQIM), Ansar Dine, Al Shabaab and the Lord Resistance Army (LRA) have been sowing terror on the continent. In Nigeria, the Boko Haram (which implies Western Education is Sin), has been terrorising the country for the last five years. Over 2000 persons have been killed in the country this year in these terror attacks. The heads of states gathered at Malabo condemned the recent kidnapping of over 2000 young girls in Northern Nigeria by Boko Haram. In the light of these developments the leaders called for urgency in effective implementation of existing AU counter terror framework that includes the signing and ratification of the 1999 Algiers Convention on Prevention and Combating of Terrorism and its 2004 protocol that entered into force earlier this year. The African heads of states also expressed grave concern over continuing insecurity in South Sudan, Darfur, Libya and Central African Republic and stressed on the urgent need to disarm the militia in these countries. The AU summit called upon the member states to renew the efforts towards achieving the goal of “Conflict free Africa” or “Silencing Guns by 2020”, set forth during the 50th anniversary celebrations of the regional body in May 2013. While this is a laudable aspiration, achieving the target will be extremely challenging. Recent statistics from the Heidelberg Conflict Barometer suggest that there has been no clear overall decline in intrastate violence in Africa. Lack of funding and political will of member states to make bold decisions to prevent insecurity, minimise conflict escalation and to launch an effective response are some of the challenges that need to be addressed.

Finally, the African Heads of state also discussed the crucial issue of UN Security Council reform. The Malabo summit was preceded by a meeting of AU Committee of Ten (C10) at Oyo, Republic of Congo in mid- May that concluded with a restatement of the common position that is known as the Ezulwini consensus. The Ezulwini consensus advocates for two permanent members with the right to veto and five non permanent members from Africa. Despite several rounds of meetings, the AU has so far not agreed upon the African permanent members nor has it shown any flexibility about the extension of veto rights. Africa’s 54 member states are critical for any solution to the current dead lock in the UNSC reform process. Efforts are on to achieve a concrete outcome on this crucial issue by 2015, the 70th anniversary of the UN. However the steps taken by some of the African member states to moderate the African common position seem to have failed yet again. The summit concluded by reconfirming the known position and a call to member states to prioritise UNSC reform issue in their engagement with external powers.

At the Malabo summit, the member states of the African Union seem to have set forth ambitious goals for pushing development, security and the integration agenda in the continent. Translation of these goals into reality will require coordination and cooperation by the African leaders and other stakeholders at a continental level.