Alpha Conde calls for peaceful solution for the Qatari crisis

The 29th African Union (AU) summit concluded on Tuesday amid call for strong collaboration among African countries to tackle key regional and global issues. In his closing remarks, AU Chairman Alpha Conde, who is also president of the Republic of Guinea, called for strong collaboration and solidarity to deal with issues of development, peace and security. He called also for peaceful solution for the current Gulf crisis

Conde underlined the need for African countries to speak with one voice, and to address terrorism as well as migration, which he said takes Africa's vital forces, the youth, out of the continent. The closing session of the summit saw the swearing in of two senior AU officials: the commissioner for economic affairs from Madagascar and the commissioner for human resource, science and technology from Cameroon, who will be serving a four-year term in the positions.

At the summit, deliberations among African heads of state focused on hot issues including AU reform and youth empowerment. The source of financing, as an important part of AU's ambition towards institutional reform so as to ensure its financial independence and reduce over-reliance on development partners for funds, was one major topic of the summit, according to Moussa Faki Mahamat, AU Commission chairperson.

However, the AU financing reform remains at a slow pace despite the deliberations during the summit, with Faki saying the specialized committee comprising finance ministers from 10 countries will look into the matter regarding implementation. Faki also stressed the difficulties the African continent faces with regards to peace and security matters, saying that "Africa has become a theater of terrorism."

"Unfortunately, important parts of our continent are facing crisis in the horn of Africa, including south Sudan, Sahel region, Chad lake basin and the central African region," he said. Silencing the Guns, AU's major initiative to end all wars by 2020 and embark on efforts to promote an integrated, prosperous and peaceful Africa, was also one major topic of the summit, Faki said.

The summit was convened under the theme, "Harnessing the Demographic Dividend through Investment in the Youth." According to Faki, strong commitments have been made to promote youth empowerment in the continent as well as to reduce effects of migration on the people of Africa.