Following the 36th Ordinary Summit of the African Union on Friday in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, President Hage Geingob held consultations with the Secretary-General of the United Nations António Guterres to deliberate on peace and security for the Democratic Republic of Congo and the region at large.

The consultations were held ahead of the African Union Peace and Security Council meeting.Geingob, the chairperson of the SADC Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation, outlined regional efforts to foster peace in eastern DRC, and emphasised the primacy of diplomacy over war in resolving the conflict there.  He noted that Namibia supports the Luanda and Nairobi Processes. 

“You don’t make peace with your friends, you make peace with your enemies,” Geingob stressed. He also informed Guterres that Namibia had gone through a difficult period over the past few years, occasioned by external intervening variables, including Covid-19 and the commodity crisis.

With the discovery of oil and the promotion of green hydrogen as part of the energy transition, Geingob said he was optimistic about the future of Namibia.

Guterres commended the efforts of Geingob to champion peace in the SADC region, including the development of Namibia. 

The President also inaugurated the newly-renovated chancery building of the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Namibia to the Federal Republic of Ethiopia and the African Union.

He said “the investment in the reconstruction of this embassy building is another milestone that will positively contribute to the bilateral relations
 between our two countries”.

“The bond that was established before independence continues to shape our two countries to strengthen bilateral relations in various areas.”

African leaders met on Saturday to discuss a slew of challenges facing the continent, as UN chief Guterres urged them to do more to bring peace to conflict-hit regions.

Africa is reeling from a record drought in the Horn of Africa and deadly violence in the Sahel region and eastern DRC, with the two-day AU summit aiming to address these issues and jumpstart a faltering free trade pact.

Most of the sessions were held behind closed doors at the AU headquarters in
Addis Ababa, with more than 30
presidents and prime ministers in
attendance.

The summit was also aiming to kickstart the faltering African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement, launched in 2020. African nations currently trade only about 15% of their goods and services with each other, and the AfCFTA aims to boost that by 60% by 2034 by eliminating almost all tariffs.

But implementation has fallen well short of that goal, with governments at odds over tariff reductions.

Guterres called for Africa to take “action for peace”, adding that the continent of 1.4 billion people faced “enormous tests... on virtually every front”.

“I am deeply concerned about the recent rise in violence by armed groups in the eastern DRC, and the rise of terrorist groups in the Sahel and elsewhere,” he told the gathering. “The mechanisms for peace are faltering,” the UN secretary-general warned. Nevertheless, he urged the bloc to “continue to battle for peace”.

Guterres also announced that the UN’s Central Emergency Response Fund would release US$250 million to support some of the most vulnerable people in the world, including those at risk of famine in the drought-hit Horn of Africa.

He said 339 million people were in need of humanitarian aid, up 25% on last year.

At a mini-summit on Friday, leaders of the seven-nation East African Community pushed for all armed groups to withdraw from occupied areas in the eastern DRC by the end of next month.

Guterres furthermore met with several African leaders on Friday, including Rwandan President Paul Kagame, to discuss in particular the crisis in the Congo.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, host of the summit, lauded the bloc for its role in mediating a peace deal between his government and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) in November to end a brutal two-year battle in northern Ethiopia.

Moussa Faki Mahamat, head of the African Union Commission, told the meeting the bloc needed to come up with new strategies to counter the backsliding of democracy on the continent.

He said “sanctions imposed on member states following unconstitutional changes
of government... do not seem to produce the expected results”.

“It seems necessary to reconsider the system of resistance to the unconstitutional changes in order to make it more effective,” Faki added.

Created in 2002 following the disbanding of the Organisation of African Unity, the AU comprises all 55 African countries, with a population of 1.4 billion people.

While the bloc has been credited with taking a stand against coups, it has long been criticised as ineffectual.

Comoros President Azali Assoumani, leader of the small Indian Ocean archipelago of almost 900 000 people, took over the one-year rotating AU chairmanship from Senegal’s Macky Sall.

Assoumani (64) called for a “total cancellation” of African debt in his acceptance speech, but did not elaborate on how this would be achieved.

-Additional reporting by AFP