By choosing water and sanitation as the theme of the year, the African Union highlights the “crucial role of water in Africa’s development” and its “growing importance as a global geopolitical issue,” stressed Selma Malika Haddadi. Burundi will assume the rotating presidency of the African Union on 14 February, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, at the 39th Summit of Heads of State and Government, which marks the end of Angola’s presidency and the beginning of this year’s agenda, centred on the theme of water and sanitation.
The year now ending was a difficult one, complicating the agenda of Angola’s presidency of the African Union, with João Lourenço having to deal with a multiplication of conflicts at a time when the United States began to promote the dismantling of the United Nations and the world entered a phase of rapid transformation after Donald Trump assumed his second term in the White House.
On the continent, there was a worsening of the conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, following the capture of Goma in January 2025 by the M23, a rebel group supported by Rwanda, the intensification of the war in South Sudan, and the resurgence of political instability in several countries. In addition to the coup d’état in Madagascar, there was a failed attempt to overthrow power in Benin and Guinea-Bissau, where President Umaro Sissoco Embaló was deposed by a group of military officers, preventing the publication of the results of the general elections of 23 November.
But Angola’s presidency also had high points. On 24 and 25 November, Luanda hosted the 7th African Union–European Union Summit, an event that, in a context of growing geopolitical volatility, reaffirmed the will to “promote peace and prosperity through effective multilateralism.” This was, moreover, the theme of the Luanda summit, held in the year in which Angola celebrated half a century of independence.
“In these recent months in which the Republic of Angola has assumed the pro tempore Presidency of the African Union, we have defined clear priority axes that reflect both continental aspirations and our commitment to Africa’s transformation,” declared João Lourenço at the opening of the AU–EU Summit, referring to the “consolidation of peace” as an essential element to accelerate “economic integration” and ensure progress in climate resilience and the energy transition.
“None of this is achievable unless Africa’s voice is effectively heard at the level of global governance, where we must strengthen our role with regard to structural reforms capable of making international institutions more inclusive and representative, so that an international system can be designed in which all participate in decision-making on an equal footing,” stressed the acting AU Chairperson, who on 14 February will hand over the baton to Evariste Ndayishimiye, leaving under construction solutions to reduce the debt burden of African countries (see text on page 8).
The President of Burundi promises to continue the momentum of peacebuilding across the continent, as stated by his spokesperson, Rosine Guilene Gatoni, in a written message released on 30 January after meeting with the President of the Council of Ministers of Togo, the mediator appointed by the African Union for the crisis in the Great Lakes region, Faure Gnassingbé. Gnassingbé’s visit to Burundi, accompanied by three AU facilitators, is part of the discussions preceding Burundi’s rotating presidency, as Gatoni said, quoted by the Chinese news agency Xinhua.
Source: Expansão
