Heads of African Union (AU) states who met this week for the 29th ordinary session of the assembly were keen to highlight the past achievements of the commission and the goals for 2018. “Another EU meeting with all the usual formalities and the ambitious goals for more cooperation and development for the African states,” a diplomat who talked on condition of anonymity, said. “But the bottom line is the implementation of these decisions as the AU chairperson pointed out.” In his address to the assembly AU Chairman Moussa Faki Mahamat called for better alignment between the decisions made by the AU and their implementation. He focused in his address on the work to be done by the January 2018 summit. He highlighted the implementation of reform of the AU as its primary issue. The second area of concern is that of peace and security with the objective of silencing the guns by 2020. Humanitarian action to help victims of drought, famine and forced displacement is the AU's third area of action while the fourth is strategic development issues via integral projects for the benefit of the people. Speaking with one voice is the fifth priority for the AU commission, according to Mahamat. It was the first AU summit since Mahamat was appointed. The two-day AU assembly was held under the theme “Harnessing the Demographic Dividend through Investments in Youth” in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa. It aims to share with member states their experiences in empowering young people and preparing them for the future. It discussed other issues including reviewing a report by Rwandan President Paul Kagame on the AU's institutional reform, the summit's theme, the implementation of Agenda 2063 — introduced in 2013 as a framework for the socio-economic transformation of the continent over the next 50 years — and the 2018 AU budget. Reforming the union is one of the top issues on the summit's agenda. The union's budget is arguably one of the most important issues that need to be addressed soon. Various African leaders have repeatedly called on the union to take steps to become self-supporting. Nearly 60 per cent of the AU budget comes from donors, including the European Union, World Bank and non-member countries. In an attempt to partially solve the problem, AU leaders agreed last year to impose a 0.2 per cent levy on certain imports to cover its operational costs. Peace and security in African states is another issue that continues to concern member states. At present several African states are facing major problems that threaten their peace and security. The situation in South Sudan, Somalia, Libya, the Central African Republic, the difficulties in the application of peace accords in Mali, the political situation in certain African countries, including the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, Guinea-Bissau, were some of the issues discussed during the assembly. In order to deal with conflict zones, Mahamat decided to give priority to prevention and anticipation. He called upon the regional groupings and mechanisms to intensify their actions and work in close cooperation with the relevant AU bodies. The Egyptian delegation to the summit was headed by Presidential Adviser for National and Strategic Projects Ibrahim Mehleb. President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi, who was in Hungary to attend the Visegrad summit, was unable to participate. Egypt's Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukri attended the ordinary session of the AU's Executive Council that started on 30 June in Addis Ababa. On the sidelines, Shoukri held talks with Mahamat and met his Algerian, Moroccan, Nigerian, Somalia, Rwandan, and Democratic Congolese counterparts in addition to his crucial meeting with his Ethiopian counterpart Workineh Gebeyehu. During the meeting, Shoukri pointed to the fact that Egypt would suffer the most if concerns related to the Ethiopian Renaissance Dam are not met, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ahmed Abu Zeid said in a statement after their meeting. Abu Zeid added that Shoukri reiterated to Gebeyehu a request by Egypt's water and irrigation minister to his Ethiopian and Sudanese counterparts to hold an urgent meeting of the tripartite committee to follow up on an initial report delivered by the two French consultancy firms. To date the committee has not settled on the meeting. “Thus, wasting more time without finishing the studies in time will put the three states in front of huge challenges. The situation requires political intervention to put the matter back on track so that we can complete the technical path,” said Abu Zeid. The initial report was issued in April by the consultancy firms Arterlia and BRL, tasked with assessing the impact of the dam on downstream countries. The studies by the consultancy firms were scheduled to start in late 2016 and take up to 11 months to conclude. They are supposed to be on the environmental, social and economic effects of the dam. While the partial operation of the dam is likely to start soon there is a noticeable and unjustified delay in the completion of technical studies on the impact of Ethiopia's Grand Renaissance Dam on Egypt and Sudan. Shoukri stressed to Gebeyehu that the March 2015 declaration of principles signed between Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia affirms clearly the necessity of committing to the outcomes of studies on the possible effects of the dam on downstream countries. The agreement also stated that the three countries “shall take all appropriate measures to prevent the causing of significant harm in utilising the Blue/Main Nile.” Addis Ababa has repeatedly underlined that the dam, which Ethiopia says is being built for generating electricity, will not harm downstream countries. However, no studies have been conducted so far that confirms such a statement.
