The African Union Summit was headlined by the shift of power from H.E Macky Sall of Senegal handing over the presidency of the African Union to the President of Comoros, Azali Assoumani. AU summit had leaders focus on ways of enabling food security for Africa amid high dependence on imported foods.
The former president of the African Union called on fellow heads of state and government to endorse the Dakar Declaration 2 on Food Sovereignty and Resilience and instruct the African Union Commission to work towards its implementation in collaboration with the bank.
Brandishing a credo that he shares with the president of the African Development Bank that says; “No more ‘Africa of problems’, now it’s time for an ’Africa of solutions!”
African Development Bank received lots of lauding for its leadership in helping Africa to feed itself and become a breadbasket for the world as it indulges in spurring progress across the continent, including food security.
Macky Sall’s sentiments were also echoed by his successor Azali Assoumani who in turn urged for deeper engagement with concerned organizations, particularly the African Development Bank, “which spares no effort to support the agricultural sector in Africa, to obtain seeds and inputs for this production, but also to strengthen the capacities of our countries in an important field of agriculture.”
H.E Azali emphasized that the Russian-Ukrainian war, COVID-19, had demonstrated the urgency for African countries to break the cycle of dependence by growing food production proactively and, most importantly, by conforming to the Dakar Declaration on Food Sovereignty and Resilience.
The Comoros president furthermore made a case for a special place for young people in agriculture whom he said will have great potential and will allow our countries to get out of poverty, famine, malnutrition, and dependence.
“It is indeed essential to train and occupy these young people, to prevent them from becoming hostages of extremists of all kinds, who threaten the peace and stability of our countries, through their terrorist actions,” Assoumani said.
In conclusion, African Union Commission Chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat accentuated in his address that “the time for talking is over”. He called for a focus on “intra-African solidarity and the rapid implementation of African financial institutions”, which he described as “the road to salvation”.