This year’s summit comes as the AU faces mounting pressure to push for a ceasefire in host country Ethiopia, where a 15-month war has killed thousands of people and, the UN says, driven hundreds of thousands to the brink of starvation.
The conflict pits Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government against fighters from the northern Tigray region.
It has precipitated a rapid deterioration in ties between Abiy, the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize winner, and Western powers who once saw him as a reformer but have condemned alleged massacres and mass rape committed during the conflict by Ethiopian and allied forces.
The fact that Ethiopia hosts the AU has made any intervention by the bloc especially delicate, and Faki waited until last August – nine months after fighting began – to appoint Nigeria’s former president Olusegun Obasanjo as a special envoy tasked with trying to broker a ceasefire.
On Saturday, Abiy praised his fellow African leaders for what he described as their “support”.
Abiy said: “Ethiopia’s challenge was internal in nature and a matter of maintaining law and order. But the solution of our internal matters was made exceedingly difficult by the role played by external actors.”
“I wish to take this opportunity to thank you all for your support, solidarity and understanding as we underwent these trying times.”
Abiy also proposed the creation of “an African Union continental media house”, renewing his criticism of international media coverage of Ethiopia and the continent at large.
“Negative media representation of Africa not only disinforms the rest of the world about our continent, but also shapes the way we see ourselves as Africans,” he said.
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